//------------------------------// // VII - Closed Doors // Story: Rise and Shine // by Skijarama //------------------------------// And then the snow came… “Celestia!” Celestia’s ears perked up at the sound of her name being called. The voice was far off and distant, but it was unmistakably that of Luna. Celestia turned in place, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. To her shock and rapidly mounting unease, she was in the middle of a four-way intersection in a gargantuan hallway. The walls were made of massive stone bricks with distorted windows unevenly spaced between support pillars, allowing in shafts of golden sunlight and pale moonlight. Her stomach churned as she lifted her eyes to look at the ceiling. The walls just kept going and going and going, until they disappeared into a shadowy blue fog.  The air was frighteningly cold. Celestia shivered uncontrollably, and she realized she could see her breath condensing into a thick cloud in front of her with every exhale. She could hear the distant howling of wind blowing through the halls, though there didn’t seem to be any particular direction. It was like it was coming from all around her.  Her ear twitched as another sound joined that of the ghostly wind. She strained, turning her head this way and that, trying to discern what it was. It sounded like… humming? Celestia blinked in confusion, turning towards the sound. It was undoubtedly someone humming… But who? Celestia swallowed heavily. “L-Luna?” she called out weakly, her voice echoing ominously all around her. “CELESTIA! HELP ME!” Luna’s voice came again, barely inaudible and yet paradoxically deafening. She sounded terrified, as if some horrific monster was bearing down on her, about to rip her to pieces. A spike of adrenaline flooded through Celestia’s veins. Once again, however, she could not determine a direction. Like the wind, it was as if the scream had come from all around her. She turned on the spot, her breath starting to quicken with fear. “Luna?! Where are you?!” she called back, raising her voice to be heard. She winced as it echoed back into her mind, drowning out Luna’s frantic response. She growled in frustration under her breath. She had to get to her sister, now, but without any idea which way to go, she was just as likely to abandon her sister by accident as she was to come to her rescue. “PLEASE! HELP!” Luna’s wailing voice came again. There was no more time for hesitation. Celestia gave a shout of frustration before picking a direction at random and breaking into a mad sprint down the hall. The sound of her hooves scraping and pummeling against the stone floor thundered in her ears, while the constantly shifting light from the windows played tricks with her eyes. “Luna! Just hang on! I’m coming!” Celestia cried out between her own frightened pants. Her eyes darted this way and that. She thought she could see things following her from the shadows. She picked up the pace, moving as quickly as her little hooves could carry her. The humming was getting louder. Turn after turn, corridor after corridor, Celestia ran and ran, all the while listening to that haunting, harrowing hum, and Luna’s panicked crying. Her legs and lungs were beginning to burn, and she began to flap her wings in an effort to speed herself along. The shadows following her were growing more numerous, and she thought she could see flickers of blue light within. She dared not look at them. Finally, she rounded a corner and saw a door up ahead. Just as disproportionately huge as the rest of this unnatural place, it was made of finely-cut wood that would put even Sprout’s best work to shame, and was reinforced with bands of thick metal. At last, the sound of Luna’s crying, and the humming that terrorized her, came into clear focus. She had to get through that door. Celestia pushed herself to go as fast as she possibly could. “LUNA!” she shouted out. She was so close. So tantalizingly close! To her horror, the harder she ran toward the door, the farther and farther away it seemed to become. The hallway was stretching out before her, broadening the distance between her and her sister. What was more, it felt as if her legs were being filled with lead. It was becoming almost impossible to lift her legs, or to move at all. “NO!” she shrieked, pumping her wings, only to find they did not possess the strength to get her off the ground. Now hyperventilating, she focused her eyes on the door and reached out. “LU!” The hallway kept stretching, and the door vanished into the distance. The light from the windows began to assault Celestia’s vision as they rocketed past her. She winced and stepped back, trying to shelter her eyes with her hooves, but no matter how hard she tried, the light of the sun and moon snaked around her hooves to blast into her eyes. Her head was beginning to hurt. The distant whisper of the wind had become the roar of a hurricane. The humming was louder than the most cacophonous thunder. Luna’s crying and pleading bled through all of it, begging Celestia to come to her aid. Suddenly, the moon’s glow faded from the windows, and Celestia’s vision was filled with the blinding heat of the sun. She cried out in shock and pain, her eyes stinging from the light. She cowered back, covering her face in a vain effort to keep the light out, but it would not be denied, nor could she look away. The heat enveloped her. Filled her. Burned her from within. She screamed. A voice answered. “Rise and shine...” Celestia was pulled from her dreams by a shrill cry emanating from the bed across from her. She opened her eyes with a gasp of alarm and lifted herself up. It was still dark in her room, and the curtains were pulled shut. Unable to see, she lit her horn with magic, casting a gentle golden light across the room. Her heart twisted. Luna was screaming in her bed, tossing and turning as if she were fighting for her life. She was getting twisted up in her blankets, and her cries were becoming muffled and strangled. Celestia quickly leaped out of bed and went to her sister’s side. “Luna!” she called out, groggily pulling at the blankets until they came away from Luna’s smaller form.  The little foal’s screaming began to devolve into pathetic whimpers and sobs, her hooves reaching up to cover her head. “Help me,” she sobbed. “Tia, please…” Celestia grimaced and took a hold of one of Luna’s hooves. “Luna! Wake up, you’re having a nightmare!” she said forcefully. She gave Luna a shake for good measure. “Come on!” Finally, with a sharp gasp and shrill cry, Luna’s eyes snapped open, bloodshot and glistening with tears. Her breath came in heaving gasps as she looked up into Celestia’s eyes. Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but Luna didn’t give her a chance. The smaller filly lunged forward, wrapping her forelegs tightly around Celestia’s neck in a tight embrace, clinging to her as if she were a lifeline. Celestia staggered back from the force of the hug, but wasted no time in returning it. She enveloped Luna in her hooves and wings, sheltering her from the world. Neither of them said anything for several minutes. Luna sobbed and blubbered incoherently into Celestia’s chest for the entire duration. It sounded like she was trying to speak, but she just couldn’t speak clearly. Celestia did her best to comfort Luna for the entire time, but she didn’t even know where to begin. She had no idea what to say, or what to do. She had never seen Luna respond this intensely to a dream before. She’d had nightmares before, sure, but they never made her panic like this. In response to the crushing hug, Celestia just held her little sister close, nuzzling her and whispering stammering reassurances that everything was going to be okay. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Luna began to calm down. Her shuddering sobs dwindled, though the tremor never left her body entirely. Her breath began to slow down and level out, and before long, the room was silent. Celestia took a long, deep breath, then leaned back to look into Luna’s eyes. They were tired, half-closed, but still alight with fear. Celestia swallowed heavily. “...Are you okay, now?” she finally asked. Luna nodded, sniffling. “M-m-mhmm…” the shaking was still audible even in that barely voiced response. Celestia frowned and pulled Luna close again. “Pretty bad dream, huh?” she asked quietly. Again. “Mhmm…” “What was it about?” Luna was silent for a few seconds. She shook her head. “I don’t remember…” Celestia sighed. Go figure. She could barely even remember the dream she had been having before all of this. Although, the whimpering pleas for help Luna had uttered just before she woke up seemed awfully familiar… Luna’s crying in the real world must have invaded Celestia’s own dreams. After a moment, Celestia pulled back again. With the excitement over, her own feelings of exhaustion were beginning to creep back into her mind. Her thoughts were becoming cloudy and unfocused, and she could practically hear the siren song of her bed calling her back to it. She smiled down at Luna. “Well, it was just a bad dream. Nothing to be scared of, huh?” she said optimistically. Luna did not seem convinced. Celestia forced her smile to widen somewhat. “C’mon, let’s go back to bed. It’s way too early for us to be up.” Celestia released her hold on Luna and rose to her hooves. As she was turning back for her bed, though, she felt Luna’s hooves latching onto her tail, holding her in place. She grunted in mild annoyance and looked back, opening her mouth to tell Luna to knock it off. When she saw the borderline panicked look in her sister’s eyes, though, her words faltered. Luna swallowed heavily. “I, uh… I’m scared,” she admitted quietly. “I don’t wanna go back to sleep… what if I have bad dreams again?” Celestia frowned. “Luna…” she said softly, though she was unable to bring herself to say more than that. After a moment, she sighed in defeat. There was just no winning with Luna when her eyes got all sad like that. “Okay, okay. Come on, you can sleep with me in my bed. I’ll be right there next to you and keep you safe. Sound good?” Judging by the relief in Luna’s face, it did indeed sound good. She leaped to her hooves and followed after Celestia enthusiastically. After a minute or so of making the bed back with both sets of pillows and blankets, the foals were soon snuggled up with one another on the elder’s bed. The extra layer of blankets and the shared body heat did wonders to chase away the winter-like chill that had seeped into the home since the snow started falling. Soon, both of the foals were relaxing, and Celestia felt herself drifting off back into the land of sleep. “G’night, Lulu,” she whispered just as the darkness claimed her. “Night, sister. Sweet dreams.” When Celestia awoke that morning, she felt surprisingly well-rested. She lifted her head off the pillow and opened her eyes. Judging by the light, it was a little earlier in the morning than it usually would be when she woke up, but that didn’t really bother her. She felt awake, alert, and ready to tackle whatever challenges the day would throw at her. A content smile wormed its way onto her face when she felt Luna shifting against her. She shifted her attention to her sister to see her peacefully slumbering face. Her muzzle twitched slightly in response to the subtle movement, but otherwise, Luna remained locked in slumber. Celestia’s smile grew. She didn’t feel like disturbing such a peaceful scene right now, and so merely contented herself with closing her eyes to get a little more rest. She pulled Luna a little closer, offering her sister a gentle nuzzle. The smaller foal murmured quietly at the touch and stirred in Celestia’s hooves, but she did not wake. The two remained locked in one another’s hooves for a while, with only the quiet whistling of the wind outside and their rhythmic breathing to break up the silence.  Celestia allowed her thoughts to wander as they lay there. She recalled, however vaguely, that she had had a strange dream herself, though try as she might, the exact details eluded her. All she knew was that Luna’s crying and screaming had inserted itself into whatever she had been seeing before eventually rousing her from her slumber. She soon gave up any hope of coaxing the details of her dream from her memory. It was gone and faded, and there was no longer any point in lingering on it. So instead she turned her thoughts to the oddities that had enveloped the world outside the warmth of her home. A frown marred her serene expression. Her tranquil mood was soon laid to waste, and any further rest became quite elusive. Celestia sighed. “Might as well get up anyway…” Carefully, so as not to disturb Luna, Celestia crawled out of bed. Her sister grumbled and groaned in disappointment once Celestia was out of her grasp, but the older filly was quick to place a pillow where she had been, giving Luna something to cling onto and cuddle. That seemed to do the trick, and Luna went back to her peaceful slumber a moment later. Celestia smiled down at her sister, briefly allowing her worries to dissipate. “As long as she’s okay, so am I,” she thought. She gently tucked Luna back into bed with her magic, and then slipped out of the room. Neither Sprout nor Honey was up yet, by the looks of it. The room was empty, and the hearth was out, leaving the air frigid and still. Celestia involuntarily shivered as the cold seeped into her muscles, all the more jarring when contrasted with the warmth she had been sharing with Luna mere moments ago. Yet, even with the hearth out and the curtains pulled, it was surprisingly bright. Her eyes were drawn to the curtains. They were practically glowing with a pale light. A lump formed in Celestia’s throat. Celestia carefully crossed the distance between them until she could see outside. Her breath hitched in her throat. The world outside was almost entirely made of white. Snow had covered every conceivable surface in a thick, dense blanket. Icicles were already forming along the rim of the roof, dangling ominously overhead, sending a tingle down Celestia’s spine. Worst of all, more snow was coming down. A lot more. The flakes were enormous. Celestia’s eyes locked onto one, following it on its journey to the ground. She gasped as her eyes caught sight of her father’s crops… or what was left of them. “Oh my gosh…” she choked out, a hoof drifting up to hover over her heart. The coverings they had erected a few days ago were proving insufficient against the storm. She could see how the snow had already crept in under the edges, and she didn’t doubt that the first lines of plants were well and truly dead already. In other places, the protective coverings had failed and caved in, presumably under the weight, leaving the plants underneath uncovered and at the mercy of the elements. Celestia didn’t imagine that the elements were feeling particularly merciful right now… “What do I do?! What do I do?!” she thought in a stammering panic, walking anxiously in place. It was difficult to think properly through the sight before her eyes and the cold, unflinching feeling of dread it instilled in her. Finally, she found enough clarity to formulate the workings of a plan. “Dad!” she cried out, turning and sprinting up the stairs for her parents’ room. “Dad, we have a problem!” By the time Celestia threw the door open, Sprout and Honey were already getting out of bed, looking groggy, grumpy, and confused. Sprout leveled a deadpan glare at his daughter. “Celestia? Guh, what in the world’s got you so-” “Dad, look outside!” Celestia said, cutting him off. “It snowed more. It stuck.” That got Sprout’s attention. He blinked at Celestia once, the gears turning behind his eyes, before he himself turned and moved quickly for the window. Celestia hung back, no longer sure what to do as he threw the curtains aside and peered out into the world. She heard him swear under his breath before turning back to her. “Stay inside.” Celestia didn’t answer. She doubted she could have even if she wanted to. The sheer force in his voice as he said that one command quelled any notions of heroics or disobedience. She quickly stepped off to one side, allowing him to pass unhindered before turning to look at her mother. Honey looked down at her, her ears lowered and her expression grim. She then slowly turned her eyes to gaze at the snow continuing to blanket the world through the window. Celestia spent the next hour or two watching Sprout working to salvage their food supply whenever she could get a chance to. Such chances were painfully scarce, though, as Honey often called her away from the windows to help her with menial chores around the house: cleaning things, getting food laid out for breakfast, and other such trivialities. Celestia wasn’t stupid, of course. She knew exactly why Honey kept calling on her. It was to keep her distracted from what was going on outside. Honey was trying to keep Celestia’s spirits up by filling her time with something to do. To her credit, it worked, at least in part. The chores did keep Celestia’s thoughts occupied while she was doing them, but never so much as to completely wipe away the anxiety of what was going on just a few yards away from her at any given time. Whenever she had a free moment to watch Sprout, it was often to see him hunched over, working tirelessly through the bitter cold in his winter clothes. She could only guess as to all of the work he was doing, and every fiber of her burned with the intense, fervent desire to ignore Honey and go out there to help her father, but his earlier words held her back... She had only heard him speak with such intensity on a small number of occasions. She winced as her mind drifted back to the day she and Luna had gotten lost in the woods when they were really little. “This is bad… isn’t it?” she thought, realizing after the fact that it was pretty obvious. Things had been bad since the animals started attacking each other, and they were only getting worse. She just counted herself lucky that she hadn’t seen any of their violence first-hoof yet. Just the aftermaths. It was just as she and Honey were putting the finishing touches on a late breakfast that the relative silence and grim monotony were broken by the sound of Celestia’s bedroom door opening. She turned to look and saw a still sleepy Luna stepping out. She looked a lot less rested than Celestia had felt. Dark rings made themselves at home under her eyes, and her mane and tale were messy and unkempt, lending to her disheveled and tired appearance. Celestia forced herself to smile. “Luna. Good morning.” Honey looked over as well and joined her voice to the greeting. “Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?” Luna grimaced, her eyes wandering over to look out the window. Celestia’s smile faded away at the barely concealed fear on her sister’s face. “...It’s still snowing,” Luna remarked in a barely audible whisper. Honey stepped across the room towards Luna, her own eyes glued on the window. “Yeah, it is…” Luna shivered anxiously and looked up at her adoptive mother with a pleading look on her face. “Are we going to be okay?” she asked. Honey visibly hesitated. It was only for a second, and Celestia wondered if Luna would even notice. She did, and a pit formed in her gut as a result. After a second of silence, Honey gave a nod and smiled at Luna. “Of course we are. Your dad’s out there making sure of it right now.” Luna didn’t say anything in response. She simply gave a slow nod before allowing herself to be guided over to the table. Celestia watched them getting situated at the table before refocusing on the meal she had been helping to prepare. It all looked to be in order, and so, with nothing else for it, she scooped up the bowls in her magic and brought them over. “Thank you,” Honey whispered as Celestia set the food down. Celestia put on a smile and gave a quiet nod, then sat down next to Luna. The three of them ate in silence, the only sound being the crackling of the hearth and the occasional, muffled grunt of exertion from Sprout outside. Celestia’s eyes had a hard time deciding where they wanted to focus. On her sister, or trying to find her father through the windows.  Eventually, she chose the former. Her brow furrowed when she saw that Luna was eating far slower than usual, even with her incredibly picky eating style. She was just stirring her porridge with her spoon more than she was actually eating it. On top of that, there was the groggy look in her eyes, the slouch in her posture. Celestia refrained from grimacing as it dawned on her just how exhausted Luna looked. “Was her nightmare really that bad?” she thought to herself. She was not the only one to notice Luna’s exhaustion, as evidenced by the worried frown on Honey’s face as she leaned towards her youngest daughter. “Lulu? Everything okay, sweetie? You seem kind of out of it.” Luna nodded. “Mhmm. Just tired. Didn’t sleep very well,” she mumbled quietly. Honey nodded quietly. “Oh… How come?” “Bad dreams,” Luna replied. She sighed and set her spoon down in her bowl. “I don’t remember what they were about… but I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared…” “I believe it,” Celestia said sympathetically. “You were screaming and crying when you woke me up. For a second, I thought you were hurt or something.” “Oh, baby…” Honey cood, reaching a hoof over to gently pat Luna on the back. “I’m sorry… But if you were screaming that loud, I’m surprised Sprout and I didn’t hear you.” Luna gave Honey a reassuring smile. “Tia was there. She took care of me.” Celestia’s heart twisted slightly in her chest, especially from the look of raw admiration she saw in her sister’s eyes. She looked away awkwardly and coughed into her hoof. Honey turned to look at her next, her smile growing. “Is that right?” Celestia nodded. “Uh, yeah.” Honey pulled Celestia over and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “That’s my girl…” she whispered quietly.  Celestia leaned into the display of affection, grateful for her mother’s body heat. It did wonders to chase away the cold, albeit only for a few precious seconds. After those few seconds were over, Honey pulled back and the three went back to eating. Thankfully, the silence from before did not follow them. Celestia spoke to Honey animatedly about nothing in particular, losing herself in the mundane social interaction. Luna pitched in here and there, but she largely remained quiet. It was just as they were wrapping breakfast up that the front door opened, admitting a cold, tired, disheveled looking Sprout. Celestia swallowed on seeing him, whatever she was saying dying in her throat. The look in his eyes made a pit form in her stomach, and she immediately felt the urge to rush over and hug him. He looked defeated and battered. At once, fear and trepidation took hold of Celestia’s heart. “What happened to the food? Did dad save it? What about the snow?” She could hear the wind howling through the threshold of the door, but she couldn’t get a good gauge on how heavy it was getting through Sprout’s form.  Sprout trudged inside and pushed the door closed. Oddly, he almost seemed to be fighting against it for a moment, as if something was pushing back to keep it open, before it finally shut with a satisfying clunk and click. Honey was by his side in an instant, draping a foreleg over his back to provide support. “Sprout! Are you okay?” she asked anxiously. “Heavens, look at you! You look like you lost a fight with a cave bear!” Sprout snorted. “Hah! Oh, don’t make me laugh,” he said, lightly brushing her away. “I’m fine. Cold, sore, and hungry, but fine.” Celestia sat up in her seat, waving him down. “Oh! Oh! We just got done making breakfast a little while ago! There’s still some waiting for you on the counter whenever you’re ready!” Sprout trotted over to her, smiling all the while. Honey remained close by the whole way. Sprout reached out to ruffle her mane, helping her to relax a little from the display of affection. He withdrew after a moment and turned back to Honey. “Hey, Hon? Mind coming up stairs with me for a little bit?” Celestia blinked. There was something odd in the way he had said that, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. She watched him critically, even as Honey raised an eyebrow to respond. “Uh… sure, I suppose? Why, what’s going on?” she asked. “Nothing much. I just wanna check on something real quick. Won’t take a minute.” Celestia watched Honey intently as she mulled over her response. Whatever it was that was off about Sprout, she seemed to catch onto it as well, but unlike Celestia, she knew exactly what it was. She gave a slow nod before looking down at her foals. “Tia, Lu, why don’t you two head to your room and rest up for a little bit?” Celestia blinked. “Huh?” “Luna’s dead tired from bad dreams, and I’ve been working you to the bone all morning,” Honey reasoned with a shrug, though it sounded like she didn’t entirely buy her own argument. “You could use a little bit of time to relax, and I think Luna would like some company if she decides to take a nap.” Celestia eyed her mother doubtfully. It was clear that there was something more going on here, but whatever it was, she was not currently privy to it, and her parents wanted it to stay that way. She glanced over at Luna in the hopes of seeing the same recognition in her eyes, but the smaller foal honestly looked ready to pass out.  “Honestly, a little more rest would probably do her some good,” Celestia conceded after a few seconds. She smiled and nodded up at Honey. “Okay.” Honey nodded down at her before she and Sprout both made their way upstairs. Celestia watched them go, listening to their hooves and the creaking of the floorboards as they ascended. After a few seconds, she turned toward Luna, who was sliding out of her chair to head for their room. “Okay, come on, let’s get you back in bed,” Celestia said, trotting over and nudging her sister for the door. “Mmph, okay,” Luna grumbled, offering no resistance. As they went, though, Celestia couldn’t help but feel like they had missed something. It was right on the tip of her tongue, too… Quite literally, she found out a second later when a leftover piece of her breakfast came dislodged from her teeth to tickle her tastebuds. Her eyes widened slightly. “Ah, crud. Dad forgot his breakfast!” she realized, resisting the urge to slap a hoof to her face. She had spent a while getting that porridge all nice and warm, she wasn’t about to let it go cold before it could be eaten. “Hey, go ahead and get comfy, I’ll be right back,” Celestia said as she urged Luna towards her bed. Luna turned to look at her groggily. “Huh? Where are you going?” she asked. Celestia gave her a reassuring smile. “Not far. Dad forgot his breakfast is all, so I’m gonna take it up to him.” That seemed to satisfy Luna, who smiled and nodded before climbing into bed. Celestia spared a moment to tuck her in with her magic. Once her sister was nice and comfy, she slipped out of the room and began the ascent up to her parents room, carrying along her father’s bowl of porridge in her magic. She paused halfway up the stairs, looking up into the second floor. She didn’t go up here as often as she used to, and all of a sudden, the air felt… wrong. Like she was walking into something she really shouldn’t. The top of the stairs almost appeared darker than she was used to, and the colors felt less vivid. It must have just been her imagination, but it was still unsettling. For a moment, she toyed with the idea of just not bothering and going back to her sister. But, she reminded herself, she had already started, and it wasn’t like she was doing much. She was just passing a bowl of food to her father so he could eat and warm up. That was it.  Still, to her confusion, she had to take a deep breath to steel herself before beginning the climb in earnest. As she rose, she realized she could just faintly make out the voices of her parents through the walls, muffled and indistinct. She couldn’t make out any words, but she could hear their tones. And they sounded scared. Celestia slowed to a crawl, the food she was bringing with her all but forgotten. A lump formed in her throat, and the sense of wrongness only got worse. She strove to make as little noise as possible, her ears pointing forward and listening intently to her parents voices, trying to make out words. Finally, their voices became clear enough to make out words once she reached the top of the stairs. “Sprout, honey, are you sure? Absolutely sure?” Honey asked nervously. “Yeah, I am,” Sprout replied, his tone grim and somber. “The food’s gone. The cold wiped it all out. The coverings were useless this time…” Celestia froze, her breath catching in her throat. The food… gone? But that didn’t make any sense. How could the covers they had put up do nothing? They had worked every single winter before this one with minimal losses! She resisted the urge to shiver at the mental image of all of her father’s hard work shriveled up and dead in the cold. Honey continued. “But… but that doesn’t make any sense… how could that be?!” “I don’t know, hon, I really don’t…” “What… what do we do, then? If our crops are all dead, then all we have is what’s in the house, and that won’t last us long…” “There’s only one thing we can do,” Sprout said, his voice low with resignation and defeat. A long pause followed, and Celestia leaned forward, pressing her ear up to the door to better hear what he said next. When he spoke again, Celestia heard it with crystal clarity. “We can’t stay here. We have to leave.” Celestia’s already pale face turned absolutely ashen. She took a step back from the door, her ears pinning back against her head.  “Leave? But where would we go?” Honey asked, mirroring Celestia’s own formless thoughts. “We go back to where we came from,” Sprout replied. “We head back to Flatstone.” “Flatstone?!” Honey echoed in disbelief. “Sprout, are you mad?! After all the effort we went to to get away from there-” “Where else is there?!” Sprout cut her off, his voice raising in volume. Celestia flinched back as if struck, and she could imagine Honey looking much the same. A moment later, he continued. “Look, I don’t like it either. But I am not going to let my daughters freeze or starve to death up here! We made a promise, and I’m gonna keep it.” Celestia backed away from the door. Whatever Sprout and Honey said next, she didn’t hear them. Her mind was a swirling maelstrom of chaos. Anxiety, fear, dread, doubt, and confusion were all waging a war for dominance in her psyche, throwing her thoughts this way and that.  Her chest constricted at the notion of leaving their home. The furthest she had been from the house was the river where she found Luna all those years ago. She had never set hoof farther than that, but here it sounded like they were going to be leaving the mountain entirely. A cold feeling built up in her gut, and she found she no longer had the bravery to stay here by the door. She quietly set down the bowl of porridge by the door before retreating back down the stairs as quickly and as quietly as she could. She couldn’t hear anymore. She couldn’t listen anymore. She had to get away, get back to Luna.  In a few moments she was coming back into her room. She closed the door behind her and slumped against it, her eyes wide and unfocused. She took a few harrowing seconds to calm down, taking deep breaths to soothe her thoughts and slow down the racing of her heart. “...Tia?” Luna’s voice came from behind her a moment later, quiet and anxious. Celestia’s blood turned to ice in her veins. She hadn’t given any thought whatsoever to how Luna would react to seeing her like this, or even to what she would say once she was back in her room. She slowly turned back to Luna, trying her best to hide her distress behind a friendly mask. “What’s wrong?” Luna asked, sitting up in her bed. She was so small, compared to Celestia. And somehow, hiding behind her blankets and shrinking back in fear, she seemed so much smaller. Weak. Fragile. Defenseless. Vulnerable. And in that moment, Celestia understood exactly why Sprout had lied earlier. Why he had told them everything was fine. Why she was asked to go to their room. Celestia forced herself to smile. “N-nothing. Nothing’s wrong,” she lied.