“Is it really possible for a pony with a good heart to have done the things that I’ve done?”
- Journals of High Princess Celestia, (Vol. 3)
It was still hot and dry in Canterlot, but rain was coming. The new Windcaster had confirmed to Celestia that he would have showers made up for the whole country over the next couple of weeks, and more would be made available as necessary. The Senate would have to agree to a weather schedule and an arrangement with Cloudsdale for due compensation, but these were all practical matters, solvable with delicate negotiation and compromise. Exactly the sort of problem that Celestia was good at solving.
She was back in her office, another stack of new legislation ready for its markup, another lunch ready at the table side. To her tastes, these beans from Cloudsdale were lacking in almost every aspect that made food worth eating, but they were sustenance, and they would be the national ration for a few months yet. It wouldn’t do for the citizenry to have nothing but beans while their Princesses got to enjoy what good food there was left, so Celestia would just have to grin and bear it. But compared to what had almost happened without them, she thought she could get by on eating rocks if that’s what it would take.
In front of her was Ink, and between them were several sheaves of documents, the working matters that the Senate would have to consider in its next session. The senator pulled another sheet out. “There is the matter of Pensive,” Ink spoke, eyeing the document carefully. “Locked up in the dungeons, but we still need to put him on trial.”
“He’s not a priority,” Celestia replied, barely paying the document any mind. “Though he will have to answer for his crimes sooner or later. Perhaps in a couple of weeks once things have settled down somewhat.”
“And what of his seat? Not only is Canterlot’s Fifth District without a senator, but the chamber now needs a new speaker.”
Celestia gave her a level look. Ink’s new cutie mark was a gavel after all.
But Ink shook her head. “Oh, heavens no. I’ve got so much left to learn before I could feel comfortable with that kind of responsibility. We’ll need to find someone else within the chamber, one of the more senior senators.”
“Fair enough. But please don’t sell yourself short. From what I’ve heard, you performed very well for my sister while I was gone. When this is all behind us, I might see about giving you some sort of award.” Her and several others. Based on the reports, many of Luna’s guards deserved posthumous Silver Shoes for their conduct during the recent battle. But again, all of that could wait until things had settled down.
“Whatever you think is best, Your Highness.” After a moment’s silence, Ink shuffled the parchments aside. “Actually, concerning Luna,” she began again, somewhat haltingly. “How is she holding up with everything?”
Celestia’s eyebrows came down into a frown. She hadn’t spoken with Luna in two days, not since their confrontation in Southoofton. A report had reached Canterlot that she had come to Harmony Tower the day before, so Celestia was hopeful that her sister was merely taking a break to work through everything that had happened.
“I’m afraid that I’m not sure,” she said, her concern clear. “We haven’t spoken in some time.”
Ink nodded along, her eyes saying that she understood. “She was put through a lot, and I could tell how much it weighed on her. Did everything that she could, but…” She didn’t need to finish that sentence.
Celestia turned to look out her windows, down over Canterlot and into the countryside beyond. The city was back to normal, ponies going about their routines once more, and to a large degree the same was true across the country. It was almost normal now, but it had come so very close to ruin.
“I wish that things could have gone differently,” she said, half to herself and half to Ink. “I left her to manage the worst of it, without any instruction or guidance. It’s understandable that she would need time after all of this. But she did an outstanding job to limit the damage to what there was.”
“You both did a good job,” Ink affirmed. “Better than any of us could have hoped for.”
Turning back to face her, Celestia stood up. “Thank you for saying so. I’ll see you in the chamber this afternoon.” Ink gave her a small bow before leaving, down to the cafeteria to get her own ration of beans most likely.
Celestia got up from the desk and paced about the space, her gaze falling equally on the Triumvirs’ Circlets and the Elements of Harmony, each on their own small plinths, polished to a regal shine by the servants. Three hundred years ago, when she’d faced down the last existential crisis for Equestria, the aftermath had been joyous, simple and pure happiness. Sure, a lot of hard work had been necessary to get Equestria back into shape after Discord had been defeated, but it was made simple by the lustre of the moment. The crisis had passed, and the future looked bright.
It should have been the same today, but something was wrong, and she knew what it was. Without Luna here by her side to share in the celebration, the picture was incomplete. She could only hope that her sister would work through her difficulties soon.
The sight of the Elements stirred Star Swirl’s consciousness at the back of her mind. Powerful magic, the old wizard thought. I should have liked to have something like these to study when I could still do research!
Maybe you still can, she thought idly. I am going to need a new side project now that I’ve found you. Perhaps we could spare a few idle moments here or there to look into them.
Speaking of, he continued, much more grave now, There is the matter of the Hill. I can’t watch over it anymore, so something needs to be done to prevent other ponies from venturing there. In seeming answer, Solaris’s magic stirred as well, in what came across as a low, discordant humming sound that Celestia pushed away.
It was a fair point, but Celestia didn’t have to think about it very long to see a possible answer. Indeed. I shall bring it up in the Senate this afternoon. We can make that part of the forest a National Historic Site, and then restrict all access to the Hill.
There was silence from Star Swirl, but Celestia got the sense that he was giving her a prudent nod. The question of Solaris was yet another matter for her to attend to. Getting his magic out of her mind was going to be no easy task, but could prove to be another worthwhile puzzle to work at in the years ahead.
Something passed in front of the Sun’s light, casting a sudden shadow through the room. A passing cloud, or so she thought. But instead of returning, the light only waned further, through a dim twilight, then finally into the black of night. Without candles lit, the room was plunged into darkness, and Celestia turned once more to the window. What she saw took her breath away.
The Sun had not merely been dimmed: it was gone entirely. It was suddenly the middle of the night, as it would have been during Discord’s reign, and the only illumination was an enormous, silver, full Moon, seeming to hang directly over the city. Down through the streets there was now chaos, ponies running everywhere as they attempted to adapt to the sudden darkness, and everypony looking skyward.
Opening the window, Celestia let herself out and into the air. The sudden change of day made Discord her first thought, but it only required a single look to see that he was still calcified in the palace garden. Then, she saw something in the distance. A black silhouette against the shining brilliance of that Moon. The profile looked familiar, and with the wings and the horn there was only one pony that it could be.
Celestia felt her anxious heart settle. Whatever was going on, if Luna was here to help then it would be a lot easier to solve.
But something was still strange as she approached. Firstly in that Luna did not immediately call out and rush to join her. Second, in that Luna’s coat appeared much darker than usual, almost as black as the night sky overhead. And third, that as soon as their gazes met Luna lowered her horn and fired a white-hot bolt of magic her way. Celestia barely had time to dodge, but the shot hit the palace wall behind her with a boom like thunder.
“Luna!” she called out, in shock and anger. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” Putting a bit more pace into her wings, Celestia tried to rapidly close the gap between them. That had to be Luna in front of her, right? There was only one other alicorn in Equestria, so far as she was aware. But Luna would never try to hurt her. Even then, she found herself having to guard against another blast, this one thankfully sailing off into the sky behind her and not threatening the city.
“Heh, Luna?” her sister’s body answered, though it was not in her voice. Instead Celestia heard a deep undertone of hatred crackling like a fire. An undeniable voice, heralding an unbelievable truth.
“Not anymore,” Solaris continued. “She came to me, desperate and afraid, a perfect pawn. She’s gone now. Now it’s just me and you.”
Luna’s magic crackled with a black energy layered on top of its usual purple, as with it Solaris cut a scythe across the sky. Celestia’s shield held, but underneath her she heard screams. The magic sliced through buildings and streets, sending masonry falling and the citizens running for cover.
“Then you will give her up.” Celestia let her voice drop low, and lowered her own horn into a fighting posture. “And leave this place forever.” Don’t hold back, Star Swirl, she said to him inwardly. I’m going to need your power here.
With pleasure, he thought back. Solaris’s magic roared along too, desperate to be unleashed, seeming to sense the presence of its master, but Celestia kept it on a tight leash.
Solaris threw his head back and cackled, the sound reverberating against Canterlot’s mountainside to fill the air. “We get a fair fight at last, usurper. No dirty tricks here, just a duel to the death. Like the old days.”
“Not to the death,” Celestia whispered, but then Solaris was upon her. Unlike their earlier battle up on the hilltop, this time they were both in the air, and with lots of room to manoeuvre.
Solaris kept on the attack, offering lances of power from all directions, free to teleport around the battlefield and pepper her with strikes. Celestia countered those that she could, and tried her best to block the others. Solaris kept to the higher sky, surely knowing fully well that every missed shot would hit the city below.
She answered back on occasion, giving him bolts of golden light that cut through the darkness of the sky like shooting stars. But Solaris easily checked them. Celestia’s spells were always non-lethal, and consequently less powerful. For all that Solaris claimed Luna was no more, she couldn’t believe that was the case.
“You will have to come for me eventually!” Solaris shouted down at her, watching her circle in the distance. He bore down with another salvo, and this time Celestia met him in the middle, their beams colliding over the city, a shower of golden dawn and midnight black. Celestia set her teeth and concentrated, pouring everything that she had into the spell. Her magic had the hint of azure on it, marks of the aid that Star Swirl was giving her.
But Solaris’s magic had tinges of Luna’s purple on it too, and Celestia could see a grim smile on her sister’s face. Slowly, the black beam advanced, cutting through the gold in spite of all the strength that Celestia could bring to bear on it. Finally she had no recourse but to dodge out of the way, Solaris’s bolt cutting through a bridge behind her and triggering an avalanche of stone debris.
How? She thought desperately. We should be evenly matched. A unicorn and an alicorn each.
Somehow, Star Swirl’s thoughts sounded out of breath. I’m afraid that I have to keep some in reserve. I have to keep a lid on the dark magic in your own mind.
Of course that dark magic was still there, frothing and buzzing merrily as it strove to be let off the leash. For an instant, just as a test, Celestia let off her control. The darkness closed in at once, billowing out to fill her vision. It felt just like she was back up on the hilltop, losing herself to the icy cold of the mad King’s grip. She fought it off again.
Never, Star Swirl cautioned. With his magic you are strong, but if you let it in it will consume you, just as it has your sister.
Above, Solaris had seen her effort. “Yes!” he called excitedly. “You know what you must do to beat me. Embrace it! And even then I will win!” His laughter again echoed over the city, harmonizing hellishly with the screams below.
She dove down once more, avoiding a crackle of lightning that arced across the sky and set trees ablaze below. Then what am I supposed to do? she demanded of Star Swirl. If we cannot overpower him then how can we win?
Trust me that I would be telling you if I knew. I spent centuries trying to figure out how to destroy him. If his spirit can be unbound from its anchor, then it will dissipate. Not possible while it was bound to the Hill, though I suppose now that if you did kill her…
Not an option, Celestia cut in before he could finish that thought.
Are you sure? Star Swirl sounded cautious. You told me that you wouldn’t allow Equestria to end in fire and death, as my kingdom did. How else will this end?
She physically shook her head to rid herself of his thoughts. Trying to buy some time, she cut back up the mountainside, hoping to lure Solaris away from the populated lower city and up to the palace, which was probably fully evacuated by now. Plus the closely-spaced towers and ornate bridges offered more hiding spots.
As she turned back to look, Celestia once again saw her sister’s form silhouetted against the full Moon behind her. Despite her vastly different appearance, Luna was still there, of that she was sure. Her magic was still alive, added to Solaris’s own, and that meant that her spirit had to be in there too. Consumed by the dark magic, but alive still.
The thought gave her a moment’s pause. Star Swirl, is there any other way for a binding to be undone?
The old wizard was silent for a moment, which was well enough as Celestia had to throw herself into a hard right-hoof turn around one of the palace’s towers, the acceleration rippling the feathers on her wings. Solaris’s magic crashed into a buttress behind her, throwing masonry and coloured tiles everywhere as he laughed on.
In theory, yes. Star Swirl finally said. I don’t know how you expect this to help, but the resident spirit can leave voluntarily, the same way that I rebound my spirit from the cottage to you. Or, in principle, if the host can overpower the resident, he can be forced out. But we would need your sister’s help with that, and right now she is gone from our influence.
Celestia didn’t reply. Instead she pulled up, arresting her forward momentum with her wings and climbing to the sky, stopping at the top of the tower. It was her own tower, and so from this vantage point, she could see out to the city again, to the fires and ruin below, and hear the cries and shouts. Another arc of magic announced Solaris’s arrival, but this time Celestia held her ground with a shield.
Seeing that she had stopped, Solaris approached slowly, circling, looking for his opening. When Celestia only held her ground, he laughed again, but not the mad cackle of before, instead the cold chuckle that she remembered from the inside of his mind.
“Finally!” Solaris declared, twisting Luna’s features into a smug grin. “You’ve come to your senses.” Dramatically he swept Luna’s hooves over the horizon, as plumes of smoke from the city below cut dark gashes across the pale silver of the Moon. “There is no need for this destruction to continue. Give me back my throne, or give in to my magic and rule with me. Either way, this will all be over.”
Celestia glanced back over her shoulder, seeing the top of her tower near at hoof, the vast empty expanse of the desert far behind to the east. “That’s all that you want?”
He nodded, a moment of lucidity cutting through the madness in Luna’s eyes. “Yes. Just what was taken from me and my family.”
Celestia shook her head resolutely. “You expect that we can negotiate after all of the things that you’ve done? No. You’ve had your fun, Solaris, but I will not let you destroy any more of this city, this country, or of my sister! It ends here!”
I sure hope that you’ve got a plan, Star Swirl whispered.
“Fine!” Solaris roared back, a snarl once again twisting Luna’s features. “We will dispense with the games and settle this horn to horn. Embrace my power and win, or stand and die!”
She lowered herself into the dueling stance. No matter what, it was ending here. Her evasion had only succeeded in allowing Solaris to wreak destruction on the city. She would not embrace his magic, though. She had a different end in mind.
Solaris wasted no time on his spell, leveling Luna’s horn and giving her a bolt of the same black and purple magic as before, its darkness drinking in the light of the city around it. Celestia met it once again with her own golden ray, and once again she was pushed back, without the strength to prevail.
“Yes! YES!” Solaris yelled as Celestia’s magic waned. “You will join her with me, and together the three of us will rule, unchallenged, forever!”
“No,” Celestia whispered through gritted teeth. But she did not have the strength to stand any longer. With a shower of sparks her magic fell away, and Solaris’s spell took her full in the chest, driving the breath from her lungs and hurling her backward, through the great window at the top of her tower, down into her office in a torrent of shattered glass.
Celestia held her wings out behind her, trying to protect herself, but felt more than one shard slice through her back. Her impact bowled over the desk and chairs in the room, and overturned the bookcases sending parchments flying.
The magic stayed on her, pushing her down like heavy chains around her shoulders and hooves. Yet still, with an effort she struggled to one knee, grabbing hold of the plinth where the Elements sat and pulling herself up to it. Just in time to see Solaris fly in and set down on the wooden floor.
He folded Luna’s wings up to her sides delicately, and took a step in toward her. “A good fight,” he acknowledged, “but a doomed one. Now come. Give in to me and end this struggle.” The wicked black orb of his spell appeared on Luna’s horn, swirling in the silver light of the Moon. In a second, it would all be over.
But Celestia had one card left to play. With one hoof she grabbed the Elements, and with the other she grabbed onto Luna’s body. With a crackle, the Elements came to life, and Celestia felt herself taken inward as the magic joined their minds together. She was pulled along the link between her sister’s body and the magic of the stones, to a place where the world was black.
Waking as if from a slumber, Celestia found herself floating in an inky void, chill as the depths of winter. She felt a blast of warmth, and in a moment Star Swirl had materialized beside her, dressed just as he had been when they had first met, only without the many patches on his old robe. The blue of his own magic cut through the blackness like a knife through butter, leaving only tattered remnants and a dark blue background behind.
Solaris’s magic left her too, freed from her mind to join with the rest of him here in Luna’s mind. Celestia was all herself again, and once they could find Luna’s spirit, she could do the same for her sister.
“A splendid idea,” Star Swirl said from beside her, tired but resolute. “Though I doubt that we’ll have much time.”
The darkness around them gathered into itself, rolling up like a loose bit of cloth, until it had morphed into a recognizable silhouette. Solaris once again stood with his long mane waving behind him, a scowl on his muzzle and his eyes flaming crimson. He towered over both of them, three times as tall as in reality.
“Hmmph,” he grunted, barely fazed. “More tricks. But our situation still has not changed. This will only end when I have you as my own!”
“Deal with him, please, Star Swirl,” she said. Solaris would get his horn to horn duel, and against his oldest enemy, no less.
Star Swirl needed no further instruction. He was off in a blaze of azure, a storm of sparks and a torrent of lightning, as the two wizards traded blows that shook the foundations of the space.
Celestia was left to herself, and cast about at once to find her sister. Luna’s spirit shouldn’t have been far, and indeed it only required a moment to find her, curled up as if asleep, perhaps twenty metres away. In here she looked normal, her coat the usual purple and the silver and black of her cutie mark in perfect evidence upon her flank. Yet Luna’s head was cradled in darkness, wisps of ebony magic that came together around the base of her neck like a hood tied around her shoulders.
Celestia rushed up as torrents of black and blue magic fell from above, the fallout of Solaris and Star Swirl’s duel.
“LUNA!” she cried out as she approached. “Luna, I’m here! Luna!” She saw her sister’s head stir, as if only hearing the words through a fog of sleep. Landing, she took her sister by the shoulders. “Luna, please wake up! I’m here! I’m here to help.”
It took an agonizing moment, as her sister shook the bonds of sleep from her eyes, but then they opened and settled drowsily upon her. “Celestia?” she said softly.
Seeing the normal dark purple of her sister’s eyes put a surge of hope into Celestia’s heart. “It’s me, Luna. I need your strength. You’re under the influence of a dark power, but I can help you fight it off.”
Suddenly Luna’s eyes snapped open, sharpening into clear focus, and she stood up. Celestia’s heart soared, but when Luna spoke, her voice was low and distant, as though her mind was still elsewhere. “I couldn’t bear to watch,” she said, shaking her head. “All of the chaos, the fear. I didn’t think that it would happen this way.”
They weren’t the words that Celestia had been expecting, not by far. “What are you talking about?”
Gesturing up at the flashes of light and darkness above, Luna cocked her head. “Him,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have done this the same way that he has. It would be better if so many didn’t need to be put in danger.”
“No,” Celestia said back, a bit more sure of herself now. “Come on, that’s not you. He has a hold of you, Sister, and I need you to fight him!”
But Luna simply turned to face her once again. Her big eyes were clear, her eyebrows up. “Do I not sound like myself? In here, Solaris and I are separate. In time I will have to fight him, but for now it’s probably best that he stays in charge.”
Celestia couldn’t believe it. Her sister really had said those words, honestly, and so far as she could tell without any subconscious influence behind them. For an instant Celestia wasn’t sure what to say.
“You can’t really mean that?” she finally managed.
Her sister nodded, closing her eyes and perhaps thinking over the point. “What difference does it make?” she mused. “Whether he or I is the one that challenges you? Some pain was always going to be necessary either way.”
“This is about me?”
“Yes, of course this is about you!” Luna erupted, anger filling her tone as a flash of darkness swept through the whole space. “You’re wrong! You’re so wrong and you refuse to understand why! You’ve put Equestria onto a path darker than any other! Worse than Discord! Worse than Solaris!”
Luna held her glare for a second, so intense that Celestia had to shrink away, before she let out a deep breath, and hung her head, suddenly gone from rage to seeming shame. “Somepony had to do something,” she continued, a tear in her eye. “He, well, he is at least willing to do what may be necessary.”
Once again Celestia didn’t know how to respond. She was torn between a multitude of emotions. Urgency, to shout some sense into her sister as their time surely ran short. Anger of her own, at having her plans and intentions once again attacked. A desire to console Luna and help her with her obvious pain. Fear, as she wondered if Solaris might come out victorious after all. And, buried at the bottom but bubbling up, a growing despair and anguish, as she realized what this all meant, even before Luna said it out loud.
Luna clenched her eyes shut, then turned away. “I’m afraid that this has to be the end for us,” she said, the quiver in the words betraying the emotions behind them. “Goodbye, my sister.”
Solaris’s mad laughter echoed back through the space. Above, Star Swirl’s magic was only a burning blue star now, a pinpoint of light against the infinite darkness all around him.
“No!” Celestia cried. “No, that can’t be it! After everything, we can figure this out! We have to! It’s been you and me together for three hundred years. You can’t… you can’t just decide to throw that all away!”
“I am not throwing it all away!” Luna shouted back. “You are! I remember the oath that we took. I’m doing what’s necessary, to protect Equestria from one who would do it harm.”
“But you’ve got it all wrong! Please, just talk to me. Let us work through this.”
Her sister only shook her head, as a wind now grew behind her, billowing her mane over her shoulder and grabbing the tears that fell from both of their eyes. “No,” Luna said. “That’s it! It’s over! I said GOODBYE!”
Overhead, the darkness once more became absolute.
Star Swirl’s voice boomed out, shouted as from a distant mountaintop. “Celestia!” he called. “He’s too strong! You have to get out, before he takes you too!”
“I’m not leaving her!” she cried back. Desperately she lunged forward and grabbed hold of her sister’s hoof, holding it tightly. “You must remember this, Luna! I’m here for you, do you hear me? I’m never letting go! Never!”
Her sister looked down at her, and with all her heart Celestia willed her to see the light. Luna frowned. “But I am,” she said, before roughly tearing her hoof free.
“NO!” Celestia collapsed down, awash in the cries of her anguish. She didn’t see Star Swirl come down, as the tendrils of Solaris’s magic wormed their way over Luna and once again up to her. She didn’t see the old wizard’s final act, throwing her back along the pathway of the Elements as he too was consumed.
“Luna,” she whispered, so soft that she could barely hear it herself. “Luna, please.”
She awoke once more in her office, winds ripping through the space, tearing parchments from her books and hurling them about in a tempest of broken glass and splintered wood. Solaris was still in front of her, eyes cloudy but for a moment. Her head was all a blur, her heart broken.
Yet still through the window Celestia could see Canterlot below. She wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and weep, yet at the same time she knew: if she didn’t act now, Equestria was doomed.
Frantically she ran her eyes over the space, scanning for anything that might be of use. Books of law were scattered all about. Her forgotten lunch of beans was splattered against the far wall. Seeing the map of Star Swirl’s journey, however, she knew it.
Star Swirl’s spell. Just as Solaris had been bound to the hilltop, and Star Swirl to her, she could bind Luna’s spirit somewhere else. Somewhere safe, and somewhere Solaris couldn’t hurt anyone. Through the window, hanging over the city, the giant full Moon beckoned.
So she called forth her magic once again, the last strength that she had, and built it quickly into a kaleidoscopic weave of colour and power, a ball of shimmering magic that engulfed Luna’s form. She grabbed her sister’s hoof again just as she finished, feeling its warmth once more.
“I will get you back,” she said, the words a mess with the quiver in her voice. “I will, Luna.” As the spell ran its course Luna faded away, her hoof suddenly disappearing from Celestia’s own. Celestia held on tightly as long as she could, until she was left grasping at thin air.
Her strength gone, Celestia fell to the floor, as out over the burning city the Sun shone once more.
End Act II