Celestia moved out of the castle, the sounds of the world were returning as she left the broken halls of the crumbling castle to the dirt paved road before her that lead two ways. One was into the deep forest that separated the rulers...ruler from the rest of her country. The other led down a cliff, to a cave below the castle which lead to her destination, the tree of Harmony.
She hadn't failed to notice she was limping, that her magic was unstable, having to require constant concentration on the six elements she was holding as she dragged her dirtied hooves across the ground. Having removed her damaged royal jewelry from her room before undertaking this journey.
Her magic provided her with enough light to see her way along the path, the two guards following her stepped in a marching motion that she welcomed. The noise was much better than the silence. But soon, like all things, it had to end. She came to a stop when the paths divided. Without looking to her guards behind her, she spoke.
"Leave, I will go alone from here."
It had been a mere hour or two, Celestia wasn't quite sure, since the attack. She had been to the medical bay once out of necessity, thanks to the Royal Captain pestering her. She saw the wounded, she saw the dead. She saw the scared, and angry bat ponies lashing out at anyone who wasn't their kind or their ruler. The whole castle was on high alert due to them and the lingering fear that the "demon" would return. It made sense when she didn't hear the sounds of hoofs retreating right away.
"Your highness, the Cap-"
"I know his orders. But, I, as the sole ruler of this nation-" Celestia bitterly replied, again, without even a glance to her guards, "Am ordering you both to return to the castle and help the rest." She took a breath before softening her voice. "I will be alright. If the Captain needs me, I will be at the Harmony tree."
The guards, she knew, were hesitating.
"Y-Yes, your highness." One of them finally agreed before backing away towards the castle. Celestia continued on her path, focusing her hearing on the nature around her, on the little sounds of birds flying around, the movement of creatures within the forest, the hum of her magic holding the elements, and her hoofsteps against the dirt.
Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, she reached her destination. She, soon, found herself looking straight at the crystal tree of Harmony. She carefully guided the elements back to their rightful place in the tree. As they clicked into place, she saw the sun on the tree brighten softly and the moon darken before they returned to normal.
Celestia had come for a reason. She needed answers. She was desperate for answers on how this would end. How or...Faust, forbid, if Luna returned to her one day.
"I need answers." She said softly, her voice coming out like a pathetic plea to a god she could not see. The noise around her dimmed. A sign that Harmony itself was listening. "I-I need Luna back. I c-can't rule Equestria without her. She didn't deserve this. It was my fault she fell into darkness. Please, please, she has to come back."
She waited, she knew harmony was listening.
No response.
"Answer me." She pleaded before rage consumed her mind. "Answer me, damn it! Give me an answer! Tell me how to bring Luna back!"
Soon light lit up in front of her, she backed away a few startled steps before watching as the ball of light materialized into a small unicorn filly with white fur and a light pink mane to match, looking angry. Celestia quickly recognized the pony as herself from another time, another life before she was thrust into being an alicorn.
"You have abused, misused the Elements of Harmony." The younger pony sneered, using Celestia's young voice as she gestured to the Harmony tree behind her. "They are to be used by two beings. Not one."
"I am painfully aware of that." Celestia hissed. She twitched in irritation at the being. "L-Luna...Luna fell into darkness, I couldn't reach her. The Elements were my only option left! No reasoning, no negotiations other than my surrender and death would have ended this...that...bloodshed."
The being simply stared back at her, without a hint of remorse. The being studied her, tilting her head slightly as she looked over the broken Alicorn in front of her.
"There is always another way. There is always another option."
"That is a lie." Celestia snapped back.
"You broke Harmony by using the elements to banish the other bearer." The being replied with equal rage. "You are the Alicorn of the Sun. You broke harmony, and abused it. You are paying for your crimes, Celestia. You ignored your sister's suffering in favour of appearing like a god. You are selfish. You are no better than those nobels you despise so much. This is your karma, Celestia."
"No- I-I-" Celestia's response died in her throat as she found she could not argue with Harmony.
"Look at the tree. Look at what you have done."
Celestia's eyes drifted to the tree to see the chambers holding the elements grow dark before they opened to spit them out. The Elements clattered to the ground, not as dull crystals, but as stones with a faint design of each element on five of them...
Five?
Celestia looked from each of the five stones back and forth before looking back to the image of her younger self in panic.
"There are five, where is the other?" She asked in a panic. She looked down at them again as she realized what element was missing. "The Element of magic is gone, what-what have you done?"
The being shook her head in disapproval.
"The Elements can no longer be used by you, by anypony until one thousand years have passed. This is the consequence of your actions, Celestia. You wanted answers? Here they are. You abused harmony, and your sister and yourself are paying the consequence of betrayal. Live with it. Like your sister must live, being banished on the moon for one thousand years."
The being shimmered away as quickly as she appeared. Leaving Celestia alone in front of the Harmony tree with five stones, unable to process the answer she had desperately craved.