Celestia dropped to her haunches beside the incubator, its occupant having finally gone quiet. She lowered her head, feeling the added weight of the crown resting on it. Tears flowed freely from her eyes and mixed with the sweat on her face. She suppressed a whine as she spoke in a soft whisper.
"Forgive me, Luna..."
Twenty-Two hours until sunrise…
The morning sun glistened on Sultry Breeze's back as she rode the thermals that hugged the Canterhorn. Cool mist sprayed on her face as she soared past the waterfall that fed into the city below. She continued dancing with the mountain as she rose, fell, coasted, and twirled merrily under Celestia's cerulean sky.
Sultry's frolicking was cut short when a falling rock clipped her wing.
Sultry Breeze woke up to a cornucopia of pain as she lay on a hidden alcove in the Canterhorn. The nearby waterfall emitted a gentle whooshing sound and bathed the area in a petrichor aroma. The beauty of the surroundings belied the direness of her situation. She'd swerved onto the rock wall when the rock clipped her wing and tumbled onto her current location. Worse still, the fact that she was on vacation meant that nopony expected her to be home for another four days. Steeling herself, she started pushing.
Fourteen hours until sunrise…
The monotonic sounds of verbal discourse echoed in the walls of the palace's conference room as pony and griffon leaders discussed the trivialities of a proposed new trade agreement. As the ruler of the country hosting the forum—and to her chagrin—Celestia was front and center during the negotiations. She didn't bother putting up her façade of wisdom and serenity as she pretended to listen to the debate.
She had literally directed hundreds of meetings like this one over the centuries. The roles and motives of every leader, diplomat, and business executive in the room were as familiar to her as the spell she used to raise the sun every morning. Even the faces of the pony and griffon delegates seemed to be only slight variations of those she'd seen through the generations. Her eyes drifted toward a nearby window as the griffon ambassador droned on about the "paramount" importance of species-agnostic signage on transnational roads crossing pasture lands.
She used to put more effort into her responsibilities only for a couple of centuries of her lone reign. In order to maintain pony social stability, she had to project a perfectly-manicured image of herself as a motherly goddess toward her subjects. Any deviations from it caused panic and dissent among her ponies.
Celestia eventually found a different way of maintaining the status quo. On one particularly difficult day, after hearing from two neighbors about a dispute regarding a pile of debris in one of their yards, she walked out of her court without saying a word. The expected fallout from that one egotistic act never materialized. In fact, the two neighbors ended up settling their disagreement and her court docket was free from inane issues for the following month.
Having failed to notice an extended moment of silence, she was prodded by one of her aides.
"Your thoughts, Princess?" her aide said as all eyes looked expectantly at the alicorn in the room.
"…let's adjourn for today." Responded the Princess, to the surprise of all present.
"But Your Highne—"
"We'll pick this up on Monday." Celestia interrupted in a firm tone before standing up. Her right ear flicked in two quick bursts. The other ponies in the room looked at each other in slight concern and confusion. The griffon ambassador seemed affronted but did not speak up as the princess left the conference room.
Celestia sighed as she reached the balcony outside her bedchamber. She might've brought a hard-fought peace to Equestria and beyond, but she had trouble bringing herself to care for the needs of ponies lately. Days like this one served to accentuate the monotony that had become her life during these last few centuries. Looking at the city below and the scenery beyond, she took off into the evening sky.
Eleven hours until sunrise…
The mountain bluffs overlooking the Everfree Forest were cast in the golden light of the late evening. Celestia felt a cool mist as she landed near the edge of a hidden alcove in the Canterhorn, facing the horizon. The endless humdrum of palace life ceased to exist in this cozy haven. She found it nearly a century ago, on a long day not unlike today. Since then, this place served as a private retreat.
As Celestia closed her eyes to take in the sound of running water, a ragged breathing brought her out of her reverie. Behind her, she found a bruised and disheveled pegasus mare struggling on the ground. This mare had an ochre coat and a golden mane. Her cutie mark displayed a pair of clouds pushed by a breeze with a sun behind them. One of her wings was splayed at an odd angle. When the mare met the eyes of the princess, exhausted relief showed on her face.
"Please..." the mare said to Celestia before her eyes lost focus and her breathing came to a stop. The shadow of relief lingered her face. Celestia continued to gaze impassively at the pony for a several seconds before replying to the now-dead mare.
"The sun, moon, and stars will not delay their passage—regardless of circumstance—my little pony."
At that, she turned around and reached for the sun with her magic. She nearly lost her focus as she set the sun below the horizon when she heard a cry behind her. She looked back to find a unicorn foal hidden under her mother's good wing and cradled in her forehooves.
The foal was in bad shape. Her size was the smallest of any newborn foal Celestia had seen in her life. She could tell that the foal was struggling to breathe from the erratic jerking of her tiny body. After readying an emergency flare with her horn, Celestia looked over to Canterlot below and back to the foal with a scrutinizing look across her face. She changed her mind and gently lifted the foal by the scruff with her mouth. In the blink of an eye, she teleported herself and her newest subject to a hospital.
Eight and a half hours until sunrise...
Celestia's wings readjusted their position awkwardly while she waited outside Canterlot General's neonatal ICU. Her facial expression was fixed with slightly pinched eyebrows and her lips forming a small frown. The faint buzz emanating from the fluorescent lights in the ceiling and the sterile atmosphere permeating the waiting area did little to ease her sour mood as she sat waiting for news on the baby unicorn's condition. Eventually, she was led inside by a slovenly nurse.
An assortment of equipment and monitors attached to an incubator kept the newborn in what Celestia thought must be an uncomfortable position. She noticed that despite having an oxygen tube fastened to her muzzle, the foal drew short, wheezy breaths. Beside the incubator, a unicorn doctor was writing some notes on a document while taking occasional glances at the monitors.
"Doctor, how is she doing?"
"We managed to remove the remaining amniotic fluid from her lungs. She is stable now and her breathing is no longer labored but her heart is too underdeveloped. I'm afraid she won't survive the night."
Celestia mulled on the doctor's words before replying. "Would an aging spell help her?"
"I'm afraid not." The doctor replied. "She has an unusually high resistance to magic for a newborn unicorn. Casting an aging spell on her is almost certain to fail catastrophically."
Celestia took a moment to process the news. The foal's mother was a single parent with no next of kin. While unfortunate, the newborn was in good hooves. Her role as a good Samaritan was at an end. "Thank you doctor."
"My pleasure, Your Highness." With her job finished, the doctor took the chart she was filling out and affixed it to the front of the incubator before leaving to tend to other matters. The letters DNAR were featured prominently at the top of the document.
About to take her own leave, Celestia paused when she heard the foal stir. With a rising feeling of apprehension, she darted her eyes around the room. None of the staff showed any awareness of their increasingly perturbed patient. When a nurse did walk by, she only took a look at the chart and walked away.
Sigh.
Seven hours until sunrise…
Philomena cocked her head as she saw Celestia wheel in the incubator to her bedchamber. She flew over to get a closer look and gave a questioning look at Celestia when she noticed the foal sleeping within.
"I'm just looking after her for tonight."
"…" Philomena continued her glance at Celestia.
"I'm only making sure she's comfortable. She'll soon be rejoined with her mother in the Empyrean Steppes."
Philomena eyed the foal in question before glancing back at Celestia. She spread her wings and wiggled her feathers in suggestion. Celestia shook her head in response.
"I'm afraid that won't work. It would only delay the inevitable."
"..." Celestia's pet did not seem satisfied with that response. She continued to scrutinize her master's eyes, her tail feathers fanning out.
"Don't look at me like that. You know I can't." Celestia said as she averted her eyes away from her old friend.
"…"
Their one-sided conversation came to an end when the foal woke up and began crying. Philomena flew back to her perch, facing away from Celestia, and huffed.
Sigh.
Three hours until sunrise...
Celestia tossed away the feeding syringe. The formula that had spilled on the floor and the stains of it on her coat were evidence of the pointless battle against her charge an hour ago. Despite Celestia's effort to keep the foal comfortable, her wheezing had become erratic. All Celestia could do was sit and wait for the newborn to release her grip on life. As they looked each other in the eyes, a tacit meaning passed between the foal and the princess in a fleeting moment.
"You need to move on. It only gets more painful from here."
"..."
With the moment lost, Celestia's ear twitched and she moved her eyes away from the foal's defiant gaze. The ringing that plagued her ears turned deafening in the relative quiet of her chambers. Looking for any distraction from the growing headache, she turned her head up and froze at the sight that had caught her peripheral vision.
It was herself.
She was splayed on the ceiling looking down at herself with an emotionless expression. Her mane, tail, and wings stuck to the surface as if held by a static charge. Upon blinking she found herself now looking down at her other self from above. Her body was numb and unresponsive as she watched her doppelganger approach the foal with a pillow held in her golden magic.
Her face showed no emotion as she smothered the infant.
"NO!"
The ringing in her ears came to a sudden halt as Celestia found herself again looking at the filly's teal eyes. Beeping from the monitor caught her attention before she could process the dissociative episode. The foal's blood pressure was dropping quickly. With her mind made up, she turned to her friend, who was hovering next to the incubator.
"Philomena, I need to get the elements. Please don't let her go." She pleaded. The moment she received a nod in reply, she threw herself off her balcony and sped toward the heart of the Everfree forest.
Landing right next to the newborn, Philomena plucked a downy feather from the base of her tail and placed it gingerly on its snout. The beeping from the monitor ceased as the feather melted into the foal's nose and a small strand of the foal's crimson mane turned golden.
One hour until sunrise...
Celestia stood by as she watched the Elements of Harmony finish their work in aging the foal up to a size appropriate for a newborn. The amber filly was gently lowered back in the incubator as she slept peacefully. Around Celestia, five gems slowly turned into stone balls while a sixth sublimated into the aether. She lowered her head as she sat down in exhaustion.
"Forgive me Luna." She cried. "Our subjects aren't safe anymore because of my selfishness."
Celestia was laying on her side when a ray of sunlight fell upon her eyelids. She spat out a stray tuft of her mane as she slowly stirred awake. She was mildly surprised that she didn't consciously bring out the dawn. She was yawning when she noticed an unusually strong warmth emanating from her core. Oddly, this feeling was coupled with a faint tingling in her belly.
As her mind slowly cleared the grogginess of sleep, the events of the previous night flashed into her thoughts. She snapped her eyes open and looked around her chambers in a brief bout of panic until a tugging drew her eyes down her barrel to a sight she had never witnessed.
She was nursing the foal.
Celestia gave into the whirlwind of emotions raging inside her and bawled. Soon enough, two sets of cries resonated around her bedchamber.