Day 5
Waning
Celestia was alone. The years rolled on, and in the blink of an eye an entire generation was born, grew to adulthood, and withered and died without the Princess of the Sun so much as paying a minute’s attention to them at all.
She was heartbroken.
Her kingdom knew of the tragedy that the royal family had undergone, and had done everything they could over the course of almost two centuries to cure Celestia’s intense depression. The sun was cold and stark, and every day was a barren winter that reflected her heart. Nothing really mattered to her any more.
Only Sagittarius remained, and he had been silent to her since his…injury. She winced as she remembered the euphoria she felt after disabling her older cousin, and the horror and regret she felt later after realizing what an irreversible and debilitating injury she had inflicted upon him. He could never forgive me after that, she thought to herself morosely. After all, I can’t even forgive myself. And why should I? I banished my own sister after losing the rest of my family. Family…
Celestia sobbed into her pillow. Her father’s parting gift had been her bearing twins; even if they had been opposite colors, they looked exactly alike. It was an immaculate conception, her mother had told her, and her children had been born to full consciousness, forgoing their infancy entirely. The pain from the birth had been lessened significantly by her mother, whom without her spell in question, Celestia would have succumbed to the pain and died in childbirth.
Though not true offspring in the normal sense, they were by no means clones, or anything as simple as mating with another colt. They were her perfect, beautiful babies. She had named them Ahn’e’va and Ahv’e’na after the dual spirits of creation. The colt was black as the void, and never cried once even after his birth, whereas the mare had laughed coming into the world, and held her mother closely, warming them both with the embrace.
They had been not even a century old when their lives were cut short. Though they were already powerful enough in their own right, they had been no match against…that thing that had taken ahold of her sister. Nopony was. She rolled into a fetal position, shivering at the memory. While her sister had always been more gifted in magic than herself, the possession had made Luna vastly more powerful than anypony short of her father, who had not seen it fit to save his own family. She glowered. Why could he not return? Was he unable, or was what he had found so important as to render anything else but his own revelation insignificant? She felt her hatred ebb. Her father could never be so callous. He loved them all, and his ascension was as much a surprise to himself as it was to all of them. He could be forgiven.
Luna, though…
How could she possibly bring her sister back after what she had done? Could she even begin to forgive the murder of her children, and could her subjects do the same? They will forget with time, as they pass on. It will be as a legend, and I will scour clean all mention of her. I will give her a new life to return to.
“Mummy?” Celestia froze stiff. “Mummy I’m scared; the timba wooves are howing again. Can I sleep with you tonight?” Celestia fought back tears, and regained her composure with only the fiercest of efforts. “Y-yes, Cadance. You can sleep with me. Come here.” She smiled a little, and felt what little joy she had been feeling die inside as her sister’s daughter, Cadance, blissfully unaware of anything but her mother’s warm embrace, snuggled up to the Princess of the Sun. I am so sorry, Luna. She cried silently, as she felt her niece fall asleep in her embrace. I don’t deserve her, for least of all do I deserve a child’s unconditional love. But there is nothing else for me to hold on to. Forgive my weakness for your daughter’s affections, my sister…
Celestia woke up. They had spent the previous days organizing the troops in preparation for a major assault, and she had collapsed on her bed in exhaustion after canceling her appointments in preparation for the attack. She had not led her forces into battle in an age, and the effort involved with weaving the ward spells around the entire kingdom, and the tripwire around the Everfree forest had taken a serious toll on her. The dream had rolled on, dredging up vivid memories of the past. She could not shake the flashbacks she had been forced to endure since her sister’s return, and each night was a harrowing experience for her.
She shook the unsettling feeling the memory had given her, and focused on the task at hand. Chrysalis had already frightened her long before her invasion of Canterlot, and although Celestia had tried many times to root the rogue Queen out of the forest, she and her minions had always eluded her. And she would never do anything as drastic as burning the entire forest to the ground, which had provided a template for much of her Aunt’s magic to sink its teeth into the re-growth of the forest, and its twisted and toxic nature.
But it was different, now. As surprised as she was at being defeated by her, Chrysalis’s invasion had allowed her perspective. Her aunt had not mounted an offensive in over a thousand years, and yet it was only after her Sister’s return that she had decided to attack. This screamed a need for absolution, and at least part of her aunt wanted to be rid of her madness, even if she herself could never admit to it. She rose from her bed, and walked over to the balcony.
Celestia had been awake for the good part of half a week prior to her nap, and Luna had deigned to raise the sun in her sister’s temporary absence. Celestia closed her eyes and felt the dusk wind roll in off the mountains from the north, and the familiar smells of the start of the evening reach her nostrils. As she opened them, she took in the glory of her sun setting, which she usually was not awake for, as Dragolis had taken the burden of raising the moon off of her for the past seven centuries. She simply could not muster the energy at the end of the day to plan out such a complicated operation as designing the night sky and the raising and lowering of the moon, which appeared during the day as well as it ran its mad orbit around their world.
The guiding of the day-moon had always been Celestia’s lifeline to her sister, as it meant that Luna had to trust her enough to let her sister take care of her charge. The sun had always remained Celestia’s responsibility, except on very rare occasions like this one.
She smiled as she watched the sun slowly sink down, and her eyes saw the shimmer of the heat from the far desert distort the horizon almost imperceptibly. Luna always paid immense attention to detail, and she had notice the painstaking detail she put into the myriad colors of this sunset. Celestia took a moment, and sat down on her outdoor lounge chair, and for the first time in a very long while, focused her uncanny hearing on the night. Crickets and a thousand different insects raised their song in a cacophony of blissful noise, and she heard the faint fluttering of bats emerging from their caves.
As she sunk further into the simple joy of hearing her realm prepare itself for the night, the range of her hearing extended beyond the castle grounds. The closing of shops and the opening of the clubs and various night restaurants that catered the ponies of the night creaked their doors open, flicked their signs on, and screeched and clattered with the arranging of chairs and tables, dishes and food. Snippets of conversation from darker streets and parks made her blush at the rare opportunity to eavesdrop, and the sounds of passion from places more isolated still raised the feathers on the back of her wings in excitement of the voyeurism of it all.
At the edge of her range, she heard the denizens of Ponyville prepare for the night, blissfully unaware of their princess’s coming battle in the forests that lay beyond. She grinned inside as she heard her most faithful student, and family member now, recite her bedtime checklist, as well as Spike’s grumbling. She frowned slightly in discomfort as she felt a slight headache coming on from all the information assaulting her.
“HELLO SISTER!” Celestia shrieked and fell off her chair, clutching her ears in agony. Luna had whispered to her, recognizing what she was doing. But being so close, and despite being intentionally quiet, it still felt like a thunderclap but a hair’s breadth from her head. Her sister chuckled. “Oh dear, did I interrupt your eavesdropping on our subjects? You know mother always frowned upon using that ability.” Celestia glared at her. “Certainly she did, but I…well…simply fell into it during a relaxed state. It’s not often I get to enjoy your night, you know.”
Luna snickered. “At least you don’t get to see their dreams. Dare I speak of what torrid wonders my new niece has dreamt? Oh, what-” Celestia stuffed her hoof into her sister’s mouth, silencing her. “Mfggfsmmnghh?” Luna glared at her. “What was that, you say, dear sister? You’ve had a change of heart about the winter solstice celebration? You want ME to design your dress?” Luna’s eyes widened in horror. “MMFFFF! MFGLB- JOKE ABOUT THAT AGAIN! THAT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY, CELLY!”
Celestia fell laughing, and looked up at her sister from her back, who half-glared at her. “In all seriousness, you should have just given me a poke to get me out of that. If you had used your full voice…I doubt I’d be able to have this conversation with you right now.” Luna put her hoof to her mouth, suppressing a giggle. “Anyway, sister,” she began, “I am here to inform you that the Sagittarius has the night guard prepared for the assault. He is seeing to it personally, and we are ready to lead the charge. Has Shining Armor prepared for an incursion by the enemy?”
Celestia nodded. “He said he wouldn’t dare be caught unprepared after what the witch did to his wife and himself. It’s as personal for him just as it is for you. Are you certain you’re up to this, Luna?” Luna’s face hardened from the normally serene face she held into one she was uncomfortably familiar with. “I will not let that vile demon garner any more power or ruin any more lives that it has. The time has come, sister, to end this decisively.” Luna looked to the moon, her expression softening. “For the time it stole from me…from you…cannot be taken back. There must be a new moon for me.” Celestia smiled, and got up, walking towards her sister. Nuzzling her, she took in her rich scent, and felt the peace her sister had given her that she so sorely missed in her absence. “It shall be ended, and we shall be happy at last. An eternity is a long time to spend alone, sister.” Luna smiled, and spoke back to her in a whisper. “And I’m glad I have it to spend with you.”
He had felt pain. He had his soul rent from his flesh, and eaten by the only creature in this world he truly loved in his long, long life. But he never once felt betrayal. Never once did he see her as anything other than his wife, his troubled soulmate, the mare whom he had pledged his love to so many aeons ago. His realm now consisted of a forest so dark and silent not a single ray of light entered, not a single sound uttered. It was peaceful. He had found a single, thorny rose growing on a hill on the only clearing in the forest. It was blue, like the eyes of his love. It shone softly, and spoke to him all the kind words he had heard from her throughout his life. He had held it close, and clutched it with the care and reverence one would expect of a monk handling a reliquary. A widower carrying his wedding bracelet. A thing more precious than all worldly goods.
He knew she was not evil, for he saw in her eyes on her wedding day whom she was, what she was. She was a butterfly. Chrysalis, she had been named, and her mark was that of the caterpillar. She basked in the love and affections of others, and ate and drank the wisdom of the ages. As time passed, she grew into the wise matriarch of the court, a being of eternal and countless beauty, both of mind and body. She was loved by all. More time passed, as did the lives of many under the relentless march of eternity. Her wisdom and love eased tensions and cultivated the future as she always had, but something had changed. Her mark changed, as did her mind. The caterpillar had grown fat, and one day, before his astonished eyes, it changed. A cocoon weaved around the insect on his love’s flank, and became the chrysalis of her namesake.
She changed in but a single day. The family knew it; they could see the change as clearly as if it were etched onto her. But not a word was spoken. No prophecies had been writ of this, no warnings, no precedent of any kind prior to this. It was an unknown, and they all feared it. Within the course of a decade, she changed from loving her family to avoiding them. Her kindness changed to paranoia and malice, and her wisdom changed to madness. Her body changed. What was once a sapphire blue mane, shimmering with magic, fell down around her face and shoulders as a wet, unnatural thing of turquoise and green. Her magic turned to some fel thing, twisting her. Her fur hardened into the black exoskeleton of an insect. She grew fangs to feed upon the magicks of others. But she was still his wife.
Upon confronting her, she told him of the world reborn, twisted and terrible to his ears. He said to her that he could help, as could his brother, and care for her in this difficult time. He spoke out of ignorance, perhaps, but it was a single phrase that set her upon him. “You need help, love.” He knew he could not fix his beloved’s metamorphosis, for he did not understand its purpose, or its workings. What he had not prepared for was her eating him. He felt the fangs pierce his neck, and in an instant he felt his body die, and his soul pass into her. He had been trapped.
Now, a foul smell and a vast field of stars had opened up in the sky above him. While the sight was glorious, he could not stand the smell of rotting flesh that so strongly permeated the once serene forest. The light of the rose dimmed, and he held it closer to him, nuzzling its petals with his pale muzzle. “It’s alright. We can get through this together as we always have. There is always room for hope.” The flower brightened at his words, and felt tears in his eyes at the words his wife had said to him. She had wanted to forget him, but some part of her still knew. Still remembered.
Still understood who he was and what he represented.
“I will love you always, my dear. In sickness and in health.” The rose warmed him with its light. He was content.