//------------------------------//
// Chapter 171: Sunrise 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 171: Sunrise





“PRINCESS CELE—?!” Twilight Sparkle tried to exclaim, but was abruptly cut off.

“SISTER!!!!!!” Luna charged forward, her eyes wide as she galloped. 

“Wait, wait! Lulu!” Discord called out, but Luna was set on course.

Celestia quickly stepped to the right, veering Luna’s path away from Soarin’s direction.

Luna leapt at Celestia with her arms outstretched, but she went right through her, yelping in surprise as she tipped forward and hit the ground face first. After sliding on her face a few yards, her horn stuck into the ground and flung her body all the way over, landing roughly on her back with a painful yelp and a loud THUD.

Everypony cringed and winced at the extremely graceful display.

“That had to hurt…” Discord commented as Luna rolled over and groaned, rubbing her hooves to her head.

“Sorry, Luna. I’m not very… solid, I’m afraid…” Celestia said as Twilight and Cadence came forward at a much calmer pace. Celestia smiled weakly at them both as Twilight swiped a hoof through the image and pouted. Celestia turned and briefly glanced at Luna twitching on the floor. Luna sat up and shot a sad look towards Celestia, like she was a little filly denied an ice cream cone. But as Celestia turned back to everypony else, they were all just staring at her. Luna’s epic crash only held their attention for a few moments.

There were varying degrees of expressions coming her way. 

Shock.

Surprise.

Confusion.

Frustration.

Anger.

Rainbow Dash was struggling to hold just one of those, her expression scrunching and failing to hold one reaction for more than a couple of seconds.

Though she seemed to be in the minority in this case. Several of them had very distinct reactions. And a majority of the negative ones were coming at her directly from the Wonderbolts. Spitfire in particular had a harsh glare in her eyes, as if Celestia simply popping up and saying ‘hello’ was insulting.

Celestia scanned all the looks she was receiving, her smile faltering and averting her eyes.

“I… well…” she swallowed and tipped her head to the side awkwardly. “I assume you all have… many questions…”

“Now isn’t THAT the understatement of the century?” Spitfire sharply spoke up as she stepped forward. “I not only have questions,” she sat down and started pounding one hoof into the other. “I have complaints, demands, and frankly, some choice words for you, your highness!”

“Alright you…” Discord suddenly shifted in front of her. “It’s a wonder that we can ever have nice things around here. Let’s not get hostile, do you have to make everything about you?” 

There was a very visible and audible stir among the present Wonderbolts as those particular words came out of Discord’s mouth. Spitfire looked like she was doing everything in her power not to break his neck.

“Did… you… really just say that? REALLY?!” Spitfire growled up at him. She pointed past him towards Celestia. “After all that’s happened to the world, to us, and to Soarin… because of her actions?”

Fleetfoot stepped up beside her and glared at Discord.

“Yeah, all the shit that you played along with? Don’t you talk to us about being selfish, you snake-breath prick!” she hissed. 

Discord snorted and flattened his brow. 

“Okay, perhaps that was a poor choice of words…” he admitted, but the rest of the Wonderbolts were already advancing, the rest hanging back, still showing mixed surprise. Twilight and Cadence had stepped back, both wary of how things were quickly escalating.

“Most definitely a poor choice of words,” Fire Streak spoke up with a stern glare. “We are owed answers and we are owed them now.”

“Don’t start acting like everything here is happening because of her!” Discord adamantly defended Celestia. “Last time I checked she isn’t in charge of the Shadowbolts.”

“Sure, she ain’t,” Lightning Streak stepped up beside Fire. “But they weren’t what put our asses through a wringer two weeks ago. Though I dunno, at this rate I’d believe she had a part in that too.” Lightning lifted an eyebrow as Discord snarled at him. “Oh what up, D, can’t handle the heat?” he bobbed his head back and forth. “Give me one good reason not to think that. If she wants us to be happy, she better start talkin’,” he added. “I ain’t one to get my balls in a knot over stuff, but this shit’s been brutal. We’ve lost ponies, come on, man.”

“Hmmmmm?” Spitfire hummed towards Discord, tipping her head towards Lightning Streak as if to signal that if he of all ponies was demanding an explanation then there was no wiggling out of it.  

Discord looked around as Misty, Blaze, High Winds, and Surprise all stomped forward, all glaring at him. Surprise half turned towards Misty, ready to translate for her while angrily pouting at Discord. He looked past them at Dash. She had remained in place, but her face spoke for itself. 

Discord sighed, leaning back and crossing his arms. 

“Look…” he began, huffing in frustration. “Fine, I get it… perhaps you have some things you want to ask of her, but don’t pile on her right out of the gate. For heaven’s sake, it’s like none of you even took a moment to think about how much of a blessing this is!”

“Sorry if we’re just a BIT… FUCKING… BITTER.” Blaze spat. “Being lied to and led on a fucking personal goose chase in the middle of dealing with edgy mercenary fuckwad wannabes doesn’t make me very civil. Want the right hoof or the left? I guarantee I can hit you as hard as I fucking can with both!”

“Goodness, do you kiss your half-sister with that mouth?” Discord asked, motioning to Spitfire as Blaze lobbed the foul language at her.

“No… just mine,” High Winds clarified casually and yawned, her body shimmering brightly. “But I agree… start talking, bitch.” She said while leaning to look past Discord at Celestia.

“Okay just listen to me!” Discord thrust his arms out, a faint barrier of magic pushing out and forcing them all back. “Look! It’s Princess Celestia!” he motioned to her multiple times. “You know, a very valuable individual whom we could REALLY use the assistance of right now! And who, without a doubt, will help in figuring out what the hell happened to your fellow Wonderbolt you all just tried so hard to save from the clutches of an arrogant tyrant hell-bent on achieving the power of a god!” Discord snarled. “Sheesh, I saw this as an opportunity for us to solve several problems and all you ponies can think about is how much you want to tell her off! Is anypony being real about the current situation?!”

The Wonderbolts all glared. Fleetfoot grabbed her mane and yanked on it.

“An ‘arrogant tyrant’ that SHE STUFFED INTO HIM! Good gravy, are you even listening to yourself right now?!” she pushed her way into Discord’s half-baked magic barrier and jammed a hoof into his stomach. “You are… SUCH… a piece of SHIT!” she yelled. “And you know what?!” she pointed past him at Celestia. “SO IS SHE!” She pointed towards Luna. “HER TOO!” 

Discord quickly looked towards Spitfire. But Spitfire just lifted her brow at him, letting Fleetfoot vent.

“We’ve been through hell! For some of us, worse than hell! And then BOOM! One of our best turns into a big ass wrecking ball that we’re forced to go after! And you want us to be happy?! You fucking kiss-ass white knight! Own up already! You’ve done nothing except enable her and your own selfish ambitions at the expense of the rest of us!”

“That’s an unfair way to put it…” Discord growled.

“It’s plenty fair! Now SAY IT! OWN IT! Actually all three of you! Come on! Go on! I wanna hear it from all of your mouths!” Fleetfoot continued to yell, now hovering up into Discord’s face. “I’m waiting!”

Discord gritted his teeth, his aura appearing around his frame as he clenched his fist. He started lifting it towards her. Everypony else present in the room had been effectively silenced. Nopony moved a muscle as the Wonderbolts took over the situation. 

“Stop.”

Discord froze in place as Celestia stepped up beside him. Her head was tilted down, a somber look on her face.

“That’s enough… I didn’t want…” she paused and hid her eyes with her mane for a moment, swallowing. “I don’t want my first time seeing all of you again to become volleys of hostilities.”

Discord’s aura vanished and he relaxed his hand, sighing as he looked to the other side of the room.

“I was happy,” Discord said with a snort. “They ruined it.” He said in a rather childish manner as he crossed his arms and turned his nose up and away.

“They have every right to be upset with me, Discord. Let it be,” Celestia said plainly.

Spitfire blinked and Fleetfoot shifted back with her eyes growing wider. That was the last thing they expected to hear come out of her mouth after putting up with Luna and Discord’s stubbornness for so long.

“I will gladly talk to them about my actions… my reasoning and the mistakes I made that led to this, but before I do… I want to put them at ease about somepony else,” she said as she glanced towards Soarin.

Dash audibly gasped, drawing attention to herself. She stood up and stepped forward, pushing her way through the Streak twins and moving up between Spitfire and Fleetfoot.

“Soarin! Is Soarin okay?!” Dash demanded. Both Spitfire and Fleetfoot eagerly looked to Celestia as well.

Celestia gave them all a smile and nodded.

“Soarin is fine,” she assured them. “He’s… scared. But alive and well.”

“Scared?” Dash’s ears flopped down. 

“Indeed,” Celestia said with a frown as the others began gathering around to listen. “And it should not come as a surprise, considering what’s happening to him right now. He’s being exposed to something that no mortal should be able to experience.”

“Well, we have many questions,” Spitfire spoke up. “But since this is definitely the most important, we can start with this one. What exactly happened to Soarin? Is he really a divine Alicorn?”

“One of those I can answer, the other I cannot,” Celestia admitted. “Yes, he has taken on the form of a Divine Alicorn, much like myself and Luna…” she paused and looked towards Soarin’s floating form. “The tell is the ethereal, flowing mane. Simply becoming an Alicorn does not make one an immortal,” she explained as she motioned to Twilight and Cadence. “It is a sign that Soarin’s form and its luster are indeed a product of my power flowing within.” She looked Soarin up and down… more than once. “And it is quite a spectacle to say the least… I have not seen a divine alicorn stallion in, well, far longer than I can recall.”

Everypony looked amongst themselves curiously. That statement alone raised other questions, but Celestia, Luna, and Discord had existed for eons after all.

“And considering Soarin was already a very impressive stallion on his own…” Celestia continued as she kept staring. Spitfire and Dash both perked up quickly. “Becoming one of the divine has created quite a spectacular form. Though that might be—”

“OKAY… okay…” Spitfire cut her off, pressing a hoof to Dash’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Let’s just continue please. We’ve already had some… issues with where you’re going with that,” Spitfire said while looking towards Luna. Luna’s eyes grew very wide and she quickly turned her back to everypony else.

“Eh? What?” Fleetfoot blinked and glanced back and forth.

“Oh, yes I… am aware of that,” Celestia said, causing Luna to freeze and whimper quietly to herself. “I won’t speak for Luna, but I can’t say I blame her,” Celestia said with a slight chuckle, glancing at Soarin again. 

But when it became clear that neither Spitfire nor Dash found it funny, she cleared her throat and continued.

“Ahem, yes… he has become one of the divine, but… as for how? I’m afraid I have absolutely no idea,” Celestia said with a heavy sigh. “I saw what he did, and I saw how it occurred, but I am at a loss as to how he was able to.”

“Woo!” Fleetfoot hooted sarcastically while turning to Discord. “She can’t tell us anything! Boy, we sure are happy!” 

“Okay, can you at least walk us through what you saw or felt?” Spitfire asked Celestia as Fleetfoot stuck her tongue out at a growling Discord. “You were right there, it’s your power.”

“I was…” Celestia nodded. “At any point in time while I was within Soarin I could have called my reserves of power to him to end it once and for all. However I was hesitating because Soarin’s body was that of a mortal, and my magic reserves would… or now I guess I’ll say should have destroyed his body from within, taking him, Sombra, and even myself with it. As I watched Soarin fight for his life against Sombra, I finally came to the conclusion that in order to right my great wrong, I had to set aside my fear and make the ultimate sacrifice. I called my power and was prepared to destroy us by overloading Soarin’s body with my divine power for the sake of stopping Sombra. Sombra himself tried to absorb my power, but he was overwhelmed quickly. I stood over him and used the moment to pay him back for his actions and all the things he thrust upon me verbally while in control of Soarin. I wanted to make him see how foolish he was for seeking godhood as the very power he desired destroyed him.” 

She paused and glanced towards Soarin.

“I… had completely ruled out Soarin being able to do anything. But while Sombra failed and broke, Soarin refused to lay down and die and attempted to absorb the power himself. I did not expect him to even know how to do such a thing since he’s a Pegasus, but I clearly underestimated his resolve. Perhaps his time with the horn and things he had learned about using magic also allowed him to come to a workable conclusion… which seemed to involve leaning on the support of Rainbow Dash, and even Sombra himself to take on the endless flow.” 

She shook her head as she looked back to them. 

“But even with their support, he should not have been able to contain it all. The limits of my magic reserves are incomprehensible to even a skilled unicorn, nor Alicorn,” she said while looking towards Twilight and Cadence. “It requires immense willpower, intense spiritual energy, and a level of mental capacity well beyond what a mortal can perceive to even begin to understand. Yet Soarin managed to pull it all into his body and then keep it in there long enough through determination and sheer force of will alone. The support of the other spirits likely helped him hang on, but he was still the one taking it in. He held it together long enough until… the power accepted him and embedded in his body, physically changing him into something that the power saw more fitting to exist within.”

They all looked towards Soarin.

“Saw more fitting…?” Spitfire said while tipping her head. “You’re talking like your magic itself is its own being.”

“The nature of my power and its depth is… different. Simply being a god or an alicorn does not make one worthy of it. My power chose me through a great sacrifice I made many centuries ago. What Soarin did here… was not unlike what I had to do to obtain it,” she continued. “My great power was not something I was blessed with. I once, to fill the gap left by those who came before me, took a risk and opened my mind to the endless possibilities of divine magic. I was subjected to extreme pain as the power surged through me and my body was nearly destroyed, but I held on long enough for the power to accept me in its full form. I speculate… that Soarin’s actions did the same, whether he meant it to or not.”

“So he did it by accident.” Spitfire said flatly.

“That is the most likely explanation,” Celestia agreed.

“Typical…” Spitfire sighed. 

“And if this is what he’s experiencing… then I’ve no doubt he is also being subject to the horrors I was when I first became what I am,” she explained, shuddering slightly. “And I had the ‘luxury’ of already being a divine Alicorn and experience with the magic in its more subdued form. With some effort I was able to adjust over time since I was already familiar with its properties. But Soarin… is a Pegasus, his experience with magic has been brief and the power he has wielded was not even natural to his body. I can remember how it felt for me and how scared I was when my eyes were first opened. I can only imagine how terrifying it must be for him right now… the visions he is seeing, the perception of things that greatly differ from everything he has known… All things no mortal should ever have to bear witness to being forced through his mind… I would not wish it upon anypony…”

Everypony just stared silently as Celestia trailed off briefly, several looking towards Soarin floating in the aura, looking peaceful and resting. 

“Soarin…” Dash said quietly to herself, holding a hoof over her heart. Perhaps there was some truth to Discord’s concerns over Soarin. If what Celestia said was true, Soarin would no doubt be in an extremely unstable mental state. Would he be able to get out of it? And if he did, would he even be the same stallion after?

“That…” Spitfire looked between Soarin and Celestia. “Okay, that was a lot to process and there’s clearly a few things in there that require a lot more detail, but you can explain it to us later. He’s alive, and he’s stable, right?”

“Mostly, yes,” Celestia nodded while glancing at Discord, who only grunted to himself.

“Mostly? Is he at risk of randomly… say… going boom?” Spitfire pressed.

“I would say no,” Celestia assured her. “The risk of total catastrophe ended when the power imprinted itself in him. What I would be worried about now is his mental state. He’s unwittingly been put into a position that, well, I never thought was actually possible. He likely will have little to no control over anything he’s capable of for some time. Resting will likely help the adjustment, there is no safer state for him to be in right now.”

“Is there a way to… get him back to normal?” Dash suddenly asked, a long pause following as Celestia just stared.

“It’s… impossible to know at this point,” Celestia admitted, knowing it was not what any of them wanted to hear. Dash’s ears flopped down and she backed away slightly, but Misty and Fire both rested hooves on her back to comfort her.

“I…” Spitfire sighed as all the Wonderbolts looked him over with concern. “We’ll take your word for it on that one. I’m just happy to hear that he’s mostly fine and still in there…” Spitfire said with a sigh as she slumped, placing a hoof on Fleetfoot for support as she sat down. The Wonderbolts all perked up as Spitfire seemed somewhat faint, but she smiled. “That takes a load off my shoulders. The big idiot is always giving me heart attacks, but this is way out of bounds,” she exhaled and looked towards Celestia again. “So I have to ask… what took you so long to get out here?”

“Ahah… well…” Celestia awkwardly tipped her head to the side. “This may sound odd, but… you have Luna and Rainbow Dash to thank for that.”

“Eh?” Dash blinked, Luna perking up and glancing over her shoulder.

“First let me explain,” Celestia continued. “I’ve been trapped. The moment the power jumped from my control and jumped to Soarin, I was crushed beneath it, held down and forced to watch as Soarin’s soul was bombarded by it and… nearly went insane. It was not a pleasant sight. I’d rather not detail how painful it looked.” She glanced towards Dash. “I could not move and could not help. And as I said, it was at that moment that risk of catastrophe was high. The power decided to accept him, but he still had to hold on long enough for it to imprint. Though I assume he would have become completely unstable on the spot had it not been for Rainbow Dash here.”

“Me?” Dash blinked.

“Indeed,” Celestia smiled. “The piece of your spirit persists within him still… You helped his spirit resist breaking apart as my magic let itself into his life force and I believe it is helping Soarin’s spirit manage the adjustment now, easing the weight on his shoulders as he grows used to its presence. I wouldn’t be surprised if your spirit was exposed to some of the power as well.”

“Oh…” Dash looked down at her hooves and over her body. “Well, I guess… that explains that.”

“Explains what?” Celestia asked curiously.

“I’ve been randomly glowing yellow recently,” Dash said with a flattened expression. “I’m also stronger, have random surges of excitement, yadda yadda, it’s your power I’m feeling, isn’t it?” Dash said with some slight sarcasm.

Celestia stared blankly at her.

“Your… connection with Soarin is quite powerful if you are being affected by my energy that much through a spirit connection alone,” she said, impressed.

“I dunno if you’ve heard…” Fleetfoot leaned on Dash and lifted her brow. “But the two of them are kind of a thing. I hear it’s pretty serious.” She giggled as Dash playfully nudged her off.

“Okay, so I’ve got a buff bod and some extra oomph out of it… could you tell me what LUNA has to do with it?” Dash sharply demanded. “Because so far I’m not too happy with how she’s been ‘involved’ with this situation.” Every word was harshly directed in Luna’s direction and Luna tucked herself in more with each jab as everypony started looking towards her. Only Dash and Spitfire knew exactly what was being talked about after all.

“Again,” Celestia quickly interjected while shifting to block Luna from view. “I won’t speak for her, but… it was her actions, and your response to it that set off a slight chain reaction.”

“A… what?” Dash tipped her head.

“When you caught my sister and your emotions surged, the power inside of Soarin reacted with you. It did not risk overloading or overwhelming him, but it threw a thinly held balance into a bit of a jittering fit. The shift in the power gave me a small window to shimmy my way through, and just enough time to scoop up a tiny bit of my power back into my spirit. I’m now able to fool the magic into believing I’m simply part of it, and can now move freely within.”

“Huh,” Spitfire lifted her brow. “Who would have thought a 1000 year libido would be the key to letting you show yourself?” she said sarcastically, making Luna cringe and whimper again.

“Okay, can someone explain this to me?” Fleetfoot suddenly asked, looking between Spitfire and Dash. “There have been too many references to sexytime being thrown around here that I don’t understand and that’s a problem.”

“Later,” Spitfire quickly shot down the request.

“Aw…” Fleetfoot pouted and crossed her arms.

“So what does this mean? You can wander freely? Are you disconnected?” Spitfire asked.

“Unfortunately no,” Celestia shook her head. “My spirit is still very much tethered to Soarin and the power within. I can use the little bit of magic I managed to grab to do things like project myself outside of him. I can also…” she looked up at her horn and took a breath. A yellow glow appeared around it, a magical aura taking form on its surface briefly before she released it. “I seem to be able to project it using this image as a focal point too. But I’m still tethered to Soarin, I can’t suddenly fly this projection all the way back to Canterlot. I doubt I can go far from him before the image fades or I’m pulled back within range. I’m also only able to use the power in my grasp right now because the majority of it is at rest. If Soarin were awake and aware right now I’m unsure if I could keep this up.”

“This is fucking weird,” Blaze randomly chimed in from behind. 

“I think Blaze speaks for all of us,” Spitfire agreed with her half-sister. “But… here we are, here is Soarin, here you are… and we’re not dead. So, I guess we’ll do as Discord says and make the most of it.”

Celestia smiled warmly.

“Thank you, I appreciate that—”

“WHICH MEANS…” Spitfire abruptly cut her off as she stood up and jammed a hoof in Celestia’s face. “Now that the subject of Soarin has been addressed… We can start with you EXPLAINING yourself… THOROUGHLY.” She demanded. Discord’s eyes narrowed into a glare and he started tapping a finger to his arm, but he held back. “Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Because you completely lied to us about Soarin after our Shadowbolt confrontation in Ponyville… and then your stooges,” she motioned to Discord and Luna. “Ran with the lie, or maybe they didn’t know about it, or maybe only one of them knew about it? At this point I’m willing to consider any of those after what we’ve been put through. You owe us some explanations… so start talking.”

“Don’t let them talk to you that way!” Discord suddenly remarked, turning to Celestia. “Are you just going to bend down and let them walk all over you?!”

“Oh this is rich, are you going to act like we have no reason to be angry and bow at her hooves with formality? Back off, she can speak for herself,” Spitfire snapped at him, but Discord growled and placed himself in front of her. 

“Not if you’re going to disrespect her like this!” he huffed. “I won’t allow it.”

“Wow Spitty, check out P.L. 2.0 over here!” Fleetfoot jeered. “So if I become a divine princess do I get a personal ass kisser too?” She turned and wiggled her plot at Discord. “Pucker up, silly snake! You’re not sucking hard enough! C’mon, praise the sun like you mean it!” she egged him on while rubbing her hoof over her butt.

Discord clenched his fists and ground his teeth together, but… Celestia giggled behind him.

Discord looked at her with his ears flopped down and his eyes wide.

“Sorry…” Celestia continued to chuckle. “I thought it was funny…”

“You know what, I’m just going to stand over here…” Discord said flatly, grumbling to himself as he took a few paces towards Luna and turned his back to all of them.

“I appreciate you trying to stand up for me, Discord,” Celestia said to his back as he shook his head, mumbling. “But I’m not going to sugarcoat it for my own benefit, and neither should you. After all…” she looked towards Spitfire. “With how this has all played out, I’ve left myself no room to really make any excuses. I’ve already tried and…” she looked down. 

She glanced towards Soarin briefly before sitting upright and clearing her throat.

“I lied, yes,” she admitted outright. “In fact, I lied the moment I stepped into the hospital room where Soarin was in critical condition.”

The Wonderbolts all looked around one another. Twilight and Cadence gasped, the rest of Dash’s friends all reacting in kind. Applejack in particular looked like her brain broke.

“I have the power of premonition,” Celestia explained. “And I made the claim in the hospital that I saw a future conflict that Soarin was a key part in solving. I made that up, or at least half of it. I did see the conflict and I did see the Wonderbolts. But… Soarin was not among them.”

“Huh?” Spitfire blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Soarin was supposed to die in the hospital, succumbing to his injuries at the hooves of the Shadowbolts.”

The room went completely silent. Dash was frozen in place and the rest of the Wonderbolts weren’t very far behind her, but Spitfire and Fleetfoot looked the most shocked. Fleetfoot placed a hoof over her mouth and stared directly at Soarin… while Spitfire looked over her shoulder right at Descent sitting in the back with Lightning Dust.

While Descent did not look surprised, he was clearly caught off-guard by it, staring towards Celestia with his lips slightly parted. 

“I decided… to change a moment in history, altering the vision I foresaw,” Celestia said in a heavy tone of voice. “But I did not do it entirely for Soarin, or for the sake of what I saw,” she explained, sounding like she was trying to hold it together. “I also used it as an… opportunity to do something that I had, until that point, had no real solution to for a very, very long time. Something that was clearly very personal and very selfish, all the while convincing myself that I could not go wrong, and that it would all work out in both my favor, and the favor of those risked in the future. With Soarin’s life force fading, only the life force of another could have restored him to health. I completely made up the story about a spell I knew, and even crafted a narrative of it being one devised by Sombra, assuming you all considered him a tyrant through the known history of Equestria. But what I really did was—” 

“You stuck your old fling inside of him, we know,” Spitfire stated flatly. “Discord let us in on that part.”

“Yeah, ya know… he told us after he got loose and kicked everypony’s asses,” Surprise added while reaching up and draping herself across Misty Fly’s back. “You really shouldn’t put angry ex-coltfriends in other ponies’ bodies.”

“Sombra’s role in this is very obvious to all of you now and I’m not going to act like it was the right choice, but…,” Celestia gave a firm nod. “I want you all to understand what my intentions were. There’s no reason to keep secrets anymore.”

“That’s a refreshing thought…” Fire mumbled while leaning towards Spitfire.

“Mmhmm…” Spitfire nodded and hummed in agreement while shooting a brief glare towards Discord and Luna. “We’re listening, continue.”

“Do we REALLY need to talk about Sombra?” Discord suddenly interrupted. “He’s been taken care of. Why bother?”

“Go back to staring at the wall, please,” Spitfire hissed at him. “I want to hear it from her.”

Discord murmured several things to himself as he did just that.

“I had preserved Sombra’s life force after I faced him in battle a thousand years ago,” Celestia went on. “I don’t know exactly how much Discord has told you about the history of Sombra and I, but what matters is that I was ignorant in my belief that the outcome would be the preferred. As a precaution I temporarily placed a large portion of my consciousness within Soarin, quickly hiding myself away afterward so I could transfer my mind entirely. I wanted to make sure Sombra’s spirit fully repaired Soarin’s and the two became what I wished. It was my goal to not only craft a warrior of incredible power and ability to face the coming conflict, but also to give Sombra a chance to redeem himself. I believed that he would jump at the opportunity, that he would be thrilled at another chance to join the fray and be the warrior he once was, fighting for a just cause.”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaand that sure went as planned…” Discord grumbled loudly behind her, drawing attention briefly.

“In the end I was blinded by my own hope and lingering feelings for him,” Celestia admitted. “The moment Sombra’s spirit regained its conscience, he revealed a harsh bitterness born from the circumstances of his demise, the actions of both Discord and myself, and the way in which his good name had been tarnished.”

A few ponies looked over as Discord made very exaggerated quotation signs with his fingers when Celestia said ‘good name’.

“I quickly realized that I had created a potentially drastic situation. Nothing I could say swayed Sombra, he was dead set on using the opportunity I gave him to achieve his own goals instead. But regardless… I decided to keep my spirit within Soarin in hopes that there was something I could do, or perhaps something Sombra could see from the eyes of Soarin that would turn him… that would bring back the Sombra I thought I was getting back. But it never happened. His anger never wavered, he brushed aside everything Soarin experienced. He didn’t care for your conflict, for Soarin’s experiences, nor for his tender moments. A few cracks showed in his anger from time to time… but the fire would not die out. He was determined to get revenge and retake what he had lost. His honor and his pride that he held dear dashed, and history written to denounce him instead of acknowledging the stallion he truly was.”

Celestia trailed off, looking away from them all. Spitfire tapped a hoof on the ground, holding a flat expression which she held against what she felt was currently a play at sympathy. The other Wonderbolts seemed to feel the same, though Dash glanced towards Discord briefly, examining his back as he continued to grumble and tap a finger against his arm as if he wanted to say something, but decided to let Celestia speak.

“I could have left at any time. I could have removed myself from Soarin and returned to my power, then handled the situation… but I couldn’t do it. I was compelled to stay, compelled by my heart that I could reach his. And even if I did leave and return to all of you, I doubt I would’ve been able to destroy Soarin to stop Sombra. I was too emotionally attached to him, too hopeful that there was some way to turn him from his path. I was unwilling to face anypony about such a grave and childish mistake. The goddess of the sun, a being looked up to by all ponies, trapped in a scandalous lie over an attempt to bring back an ex-lover.” 

Discord snorted and walked further away, still grumbling loud enough for others to hear.

“And because of my hesitation, eventually… he was freed. And once he was, I was trapped within, much like Soarin. I let it go too far and it was my own fault. At that point, the only option I had left was to remotely call my power reserves to Soarin’s body… unfortunately, that would destroy Soarin along with Sombra… and since my spirit was within, it would obliterate me as well. Sombra knew this… and he knew that I was afraid of death. He openly invited me to do it, but when I couldn’t bring myself to do it, he punished me by binding my spirit painfully, forcing me down and breaking any form of focus I had left, making it impossible for me to do it if I wanted to. From there… He mocked me, jeered me, and rubbed my nose in the mess I had created and my unwillingness to face it. But… perhaps it was all well deserved. Nopony has ever shamed me for my mistakes, but everything had become so far gone that I felt I deserved everything he said. There was little I could say to argue against it… and it hurt even more coming from a stallion that once meant everything to me.” Celestia looked up towards the Wonderbolts. “It would not shock me if you were to be skeptical of my words after all that’s happened as a result of my actions, but… Sombra already forced my eyes open to accept everything I had done wrong. You will hear no protest from me towards criticism.”

Spitfire lifted an eyebrow, not sure how she was supposed to react to that. It didn’t sound natural, genuine, or sincere, but whether it was or not didn’t seem to be the question. Celestia sounded like she didn’t know how to express such a thing, which added a whole new layer to how Spitfire and the others had come to perceive the gods. Was it really that hard to admit they were wrong? And if what Celestia said was true, was it still hard for her to do after taking an extreme verbal beating from Sombra that she claimed to be humbled by?

Celestia exhaled and looked down. 

“Perhaps, in a way, we owe Sombra…” she started again. Discord visibly twitched, but said nothing. “His harsh words mixed with Soarin’s display of will and determination were what pushed me to do what I couldn’t before… He had laid my weakness bare before me and Soarin showed me how to fight against it. It may not be the outcome I was expecting but…” she glanced towards Soarin. “We are here now… and I’m able to finally speak to you.”

“And that really makes everything better,” Spitfire suddenly said sarcastically. Celestia picked up on the tone, wincing as she watched Spitfire roll her eyes. “Forgive me if I’m not dry humping you like Discord right now, but… This whole scenario, Sombra and his personal vendetta against the gods and what not… has been an extreme pain in the ass and caused us great internal hardship at a time when we have our own problem to deal with. So you’ll have to excuse me if I have literally zero sympathy for you.”

“I…” Celestia awkwardly looked down. “I’m sorry, I was not trying to gain any sympathy.”

“Coulda fooled us…” Fleetfoot snorted.

“Sombra is an emotional subject for me, is all,” Celestia tried to explain, but Spitfire rapped a hoof on the floor. 

“An emotional subject that nearly caused a complete and utter disaster. And you know who got hit the hardest by it? All those involved not named Celestia,” Spitfire snapped harshly. Discord spun around, holding up a hand with his teeth gritted, but held his breath and turned his back again. Twilight tried to come forward with a look of concern on her face, but she froze as Dash shot her a stern look. 

But Luna suddenly could not sit still, overcoming the jittering that came with all the prior jabs to her recent actions as she took several steps towards Celestia, staring towards Spitfire with an expression that failed to be intimidating at all.

“Have you no appreciation for what she has done for you at least?!” she belted towards the Wonderbolts as they all harshly glared at her. “Would Soarin not be dead if she had not done something?!” she added while throwing a hoof towards Soarin. 

“Enough, Luna,” Celestia spoke up before Spitfire could unleash on her. “I received their thanks when I committed the act. Perhaps I did save his life and return him to those who hold him dear… but I lied about exactly what I did and never told anypony about it. Discord wouldn’t have even known had he not figured it out himself.”

“Grblrbghrgh… I still owe Mr. Pantaloons a drubbing for using me as target dummy…” Discord grumbled to himself.

“And he proceeded to not tell us, or tell Luna, am I right?” Spitfire asked while tipping her head towards Luna.

“We… um…”

“I didn’t because she asked me not to,” Discord said while pointing a thumb over his shoulder at Celestia.

“And the suckin’ power just got stronger,” High Winds commented sleepily as Discord shot steam out of his nose and tapped his fingers on his arm faster.

“Indeed, I did…” Celestia admitted without protest. “I refused to admit that the situation was far gone and kept assuring myself, and later Discord, that I knew exactly what I was doing. So much for all the lessons in friendship I had taught and read about from my faithful student all those years, he simply didn’t budge, but I couldn’t let it go…”

Celestia paused. She took a long, deep breath and sat up straight, giving Spitfire a serious look. 

“I was wrong. My actions were my own, but they were inconsiderate, not well thought out, and rife with wishful thinking. I hijacked your problems for my own personal gain while believing nothing could possibly go wrong. And when it did I refused to believe it and held on despite all the problems that arose for many others, and all the pain that it may have caused. I will not ask for your forgiveness because I do not deserve it. That was made clear to me by the very stallion I was casting everything else aside to persuade. Right here and now where we stand I will do all I can to help figure out what has happened to Soarin and what to do about it. It’s the least I can do.”

“Huh…” Spitfire lifted an eyebrow while turning to Discord and Luna. “See? Was that so hard? The two of you gush over her so much, you ought to take notes.”

“Oh… shut up…” Discord grumbled.

“Well, Celestia,” Spitfire returned her eyes to her. “You’ve got one thing right. You are NOT getting anything even remotely close to forgiveness from us. This is the cherry on top of all the other red tape we’ve been forced to wade through to get anything resembling straight answers from Discord and Luna on anything related to you, Soarin, or whatever the hell is going on around us. Don’t expect us to be very eager to work with you, this won’t be going away any time soon.” She glanced back at all the Wonderbolts. All of them appeared to share the thought through their angered expressions alone. Even Air Mach, who had surprisingly obeyed her order to keep his mouth shut, had his glasses removed to make sure Celestia could see his discontent as well. “If you want us to ever trust any of you again… then you have a lot of work to do to earn it back.” She hardened her glare further. “And don’t expect it to come to come back any time soon.”

“Very well,” Celestia held herself strong despite the verbal lashing. “I just…” she sighed and shook her head, sounding frustrated. “I had really hoped that this would have worked out in everypony’s favor. Had Sombra cooperated from the start, perhaps much of the hardship could have been avoided.”

“But would you have told us?” Dash suddenly stepped forward, catching Spitfire by surprise. “Would you have admitted that you put Sombra in him?” she said angrily while pointing at Soarin.

Celestia looked towards Soarin, scanning him up and down.

“No, I don’t believe I would have…” she said honestly. Dash scoffed.

“So how would that have been any better? I’m not going to act like you didn’t save Soarin’s life, but to use his body for your own secret project? That’s—”

“Unethical, unnatural, appalling,” Celestia cut her off, swaying her head back and forth and holding a flattened expression as she spoke. Dash blinked and her eyes widened. “Shameful, despicable, disgraceful, disgusting, unheard of, selfish, scandalous, arrogant, self-serving…” she paused and looked down at Dash. “I wasn’t kidding when I said Sombra shamed me thoroughly. I could probably continue for several minutes.”

“Geez!” Fleetfoot chimed in while scrunching up her face. “Did you two have angry sex in Soarin’s brain too while you were at it?”

Celestia just stared blankly at her.

Fleetfoot’s eyes grew extremely wide.

"NO. FFFFFFFFFFNO. OH GOD, WHY DID I ASK?!" she cried out while turning, pressing her face to Misty Fly’s body and letting out a muffled scream. Misty jittered and flinched as Fleetfoot’s voice buzzed against her.

“OH!” Discord suddenly threw his arms up into the air. “HEY!” he suddenly coiled his body around towards them, his legs following only after his body stopped. He had a very forced and exaggerated smile on his face. “I JUST REMEMBERED!” He clasped his hands together and batted his eyelashes. “Even though you’ve effectively ruined my good mood, I was wondering why I was still very happy!”

“Oh, this should be good…” Dash groaned as she turned her back to Discord, but he reached down and forced her to turn back to him.

“Oh but my dear, Rainbow Dash, you should be happy too!” he turned and pointed at Soarin. “You know, Soarin is that way because HE… was the one who absorbed the power! You know who DIDN’T absorb the power?” he flattened his brow in an instant and snorted. “Sombra…” he said with a low pitch growl, but his face returned to cheerful as he let go of Dash and stood up right. “He’s gone, poof! No longer in control of Soarin! He got what was coming to him and it was well deserved! Walking around in somepony else’s body, going on and on about things he could never begin to understand like it was his right to take our place PFFFT PLEASE!” 

He flopped down and laid out in front of Celestia, looking up into her eyes and lifting his brow.

“Turned out to be quite a dick after you kept him alive for so long, huh? Isn’t that a shame, such an unappreciative brat. So you know what? How about we PLEASE stop talking about him now! Pretty please, before I start vomiting assorted chaotic colors all over everypony!” 

He rolled up and stood upright, pointing a finger towards Spitfire. 

“So you tried your best to ruin my mood by turning sour on Celestia and making her talk about that big headed buffoon she used to bang, but…” he backed up and crossed his arms, nodding firmly. “I… for one… am still HAPPY because that son of a bitch is gone for goo—!”

“Ahem…”

Discord flinched so hard his chaos magic accidentally made the sound of glass breaking.

His eyes slowly opened wide. 

His ears flopped to the side of his head.

His lips stiffened as his teeth ground together.




















.





An image of Sombra was leaning against the pillar behind him.

“As if you could get rid of me that easily.”

---To Be Continued---