//------------------------------// // Chapter 197 – What Did it Cost? // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 197 Equus Canterlot, Equestria Celestia’s Quarters 2:22 a.m. Princess Celestia had no nightmares, but still couldn’t sleep. Her night was filled with an incessant flow of thoughts that couldn’t be bothered to let the Princess of the Sun earn her rest. Even when all else was settled for the day, even when the nations were at ease and the next day would yield another bridge to cross, there was never a dull moment. Not anymore. Not after all that had happened. Removing her sheets, Celestia arose from her bed and slipped her hooves onto the cool, marble flooring. She escaped the hold of her chambers, pushing aside the doors that led to her balcony. As once before, the soothing, summer wind washed the worries of the day and night away from her nerves. It cascaded across her features, her body, her lightened expression in order for her eyes to flutter to a close. She took in that deep, calming breath, assured herself that it was and she was. The elements persevered and filled her with life. She had survived and managed to gaze upon another day, another night, with that assurance that all of their efforts were made worth it. Her eyes slowly opened, that dream-like trance she was temporarily trapped in fading away when the harsh reality fell upon her. Like the light of a shattered moon. That light fell over Princess Celestia in its haunting white glow, only amplified by the dozens of fragments pockmarked across the night sky. From the two moons, from Luna’s and Earth’s own, that light covered her balcony, all of Canterlot, and the mighty new empire Princess Twilight Sparkle had crafted in her absence. The light of the moons could never have been alone. Resting on the horizon, planet Earth maintained its position forever caught in Equus’ orbit. The lights shimmering across the dark continents brought forth a whole new idea of size and scale to the princess. It developed into a greater sense of what exactly would come next for her, for her sister, or for her little ponies. Thanos had come and gone, but the repercussions to his actions remained. Typhon was defeated, and his armies of Tartarus with him. The war was long over. The world had been rebuilt in their absence. The sun and the moons moved without their aid. What more was needed out of the Royal Sisters that Twilight and her friends hadn’t already proven they could handle? “An empty dream?” Her ears perked up at that, Celestia turning towards the undeniable sound of the fluttering of wings and saw Princess Luna land on her balcony. Her wings folded neatly by her sides, the Princess of the Night and of the Moon approaching her older sister steadily. Slowly, cautiously, before settling herself on Celestia’s right side. Together, they stared at the remnants of the moons, the Earth, and let those winds take their breath away. “There was no dream, Luna,” Celestia finally answered. Luna pursed her lips, sighing and turning aside from her sister’s far away stare. “If my thoughts share yours, we both ponder on the same possibility.” Celestia turned to her. “Which would be…?” Princess Luna gazed longingly to the starry night skies, the scattered moon pieces, and to the world resting beside their own. The ghostly white shimmers from the moons illuminated her face into a pale expression of wonderment and anxiety. Her emotions clashed, her face torn, eyes staring off into the expanse with no clear end in sight. All she could say was, “Where to go from here.” And that was certainly a question Celestia had pondered from time to time. More so currently than ever before. Her eyes fell away from her sister, gazing to the balcony floor. A moment later, she was staring back to the emerging clouds infecting the black and white canvas. She was staring long and worrisome onto the Earth and the possibilities it planted upon their world, their very way of life, and the future. “I believe I might know,” Celestia said, quickly earning Luna’s eyes. “But for now… let us allow Twilight and her friends to reconvene. As well as to rest. They deserve it.” Luna rose a surprised pair of brows. “You truly believe it’s time?” she asked. “Princess Twilight will ascend to the throne soon enough. Naturally, without force. The world has little need for us any longer,” the eldest responded. Her voice seemed shockingly distant, almost as if the words pained her to say. Except, there was no pain, not any Luna could find. Celestia seemed oddly at peace with what she uttered, with what she believed. She seemed settled with what fate had given them and their worlds. “It has changed in more ways than one. With that change came great suffering… great turmoil… great pain.” As she spoke, she could only imagine such sufferings from the final battle. The change in all of their lives had affected not only Equus, but Earth as well. Their human allies suffered just as much as they did, and when the time came to end that suffering, to bring about retribution for the universe, the real heroes did not hesitate. Tony Stark’s sacrifice undoubtedly saved them all. It was the sacrifice of the Avengers as a collective whole that brought back the Vanished and saved the universe from evil. It was their sacrifice that ensured her little sister was returned to her. There was a time Celestia thought she had lost her for good, when Thanos’ depravity was first inflicted upon Equestria. There was a time… when Celestia had nearly lost all hope. But the time for hopelessness, for pain, had finally ended. Strengthening and recovery would be needed for the days to come. The Royal Sisters were finally reunited thanks to the Avengers. They—like trillions of others—were avenged. That was enough to bring a thankful smile to her lips. “But out of it also came something beautiful,” Celestia finished. Luna broke away and stared at her shattered moon, tried to stare exactly where her sister did. She could not see what Celestia saw, nor could she understand exactly what Celestia meant. Perhaps someday, when the worlds would appear to Luna the same way they appeared to Celestia. Someday, where Luna could finally see the beauty within the chaos. That wasn’t to say she was ungrateful for the heroics of the Avengers, or those who had given their lives for a greater meaning. She showed her appreciation in her own way, masked it under the duty and perseverance the Princess of the Night exemplified to her people. To carry on their selfless attitude was her way of saying thank you. Her moon—the moons—remained and assured Luna that was still work for her to do. Amending the past, fixing what was broken, and assuring their future was the best it could ever become was the first of many duties Luna had set for herself. And thankfully, she wouldn’t face it alone. “What must we prepare for?” Princess Luna asked. Princess Celestia turned to her and smiled that warming, motherly smile. She draped her wing over Luna’s withers, the Alicorn sighing contently under that touch, under that embrace, and growing a soft smile at the sound of her sister’s voice. The voice that seemed to wash over all of Canterlot, all of the Equestrian Empire, and across the cosmos when Celestia faced those heavens and breathed. “A new beginning.” Reunited at last, the two sisters nuzzled and stared together. Stood under the light of a new moon, at the edge of a new universe.