The battlefield was ash. Celestia walked towards Sagittarius, who had been lying in the dirt. He was very badly injured, and she bit her lip in concern as she realized just how broken he was. A cough resounded in the silence, and she whipped around.
A strange stallion sat near her, roughly the size of Cadance, with wings and horn both. His coat was a deep red color, and his mane the purest white. His eyes were orange and lacked pupils. He was smiling up at her.
“Thank you, my niece. You have set us both free, and saved her soul. I had hoped for so long…ah. She is stirring at last.” Celestia watched in amazement as she saw…Chrysalis. Her exoskeleton was at last fracturing; hundreds of fissures ran through it, with a curious blue light peeking out between them until- FLASH!!
Celestia stood as still as a statue, her mouth agape at the sight which now greeted her.
A being of unearthly and unfathomable beauty emerged from the broken shell that was Chrysalis, and opened its huge wings to the air. Her aunt…had at last emerged from her cocoon. Celestia stopped breathing, and barely noticed herself sit down as Chrysalis’ true face came into view.
Sagittarius watched with a mixture of pride and awe as his mother at long last broke out of her shell. Threads of indigo magic swirled around her, and her massive wings sparkled like sapphires.
She was beautiful beyond anything he could even conceive of.
Her left wing finally opened enough for Celestia to see Chrysalis as she truly was for the first time.
Chrysalis had her eyes closed. Her fur was a deep, rippling sapphire color like her wings, and seemed to echo its hue like an ocean; so deep was its blue. Her mane did not flow in the wind, but flowed from her head straight, and across her back and piling at her feet.
It was pure platinum.
She slowly opened her eyes, her long white lashes sparkling from light of the dawn that was now creeping up over the horizon. Celestia had raised the sun without even realizing it.
Her eyes shone a hard amethyst; a violet more deep and pure as any gemstone could ever hope to compare, and the sun twinkled its depths like a lost coin in a sea of purple.
Then she spoke.
It was as if eternity opened its doors, and she heard a chorus of angels spin their voice into silk, nestling her in pure, utter bliss.
“The light of truth is borne upon the wings of dawn, savior niece of mine. It brought to my sheltered heart of hearts, hidden by jealous and fearful demons, a familiar song I thought forgotten; a thing to shepherd my soul. Words, no matter their number or quality, could ever express my joy, or my gratitude, for granting my freedom…and that of my beloved.”
Sagittarius saw that Celestia had returned to her former look, and was at an utter loss for words. She had heard her aunt was beautiful, but this…this was nothing like she could ever have imagined in her wildest dreams. Even Cadance would look plain by comparison. The being that was once Chrysalis turned to her husband.
“My husband; your faith brings my shameful heart up from its misery, and to the joy we once shared. You have waited long for me, and I you.”
She turned to Sagittarius, who could barely stand to look at his mother, so much had he been overwhelmed by the moment.
“To you, my son, I shall express nothing short of astonishment for your perseverance. I love you, child of mine. I love you enough that I can remember my real name, as it was given to me from before the day I was born, as it is one among many gifts of my birthright I can now appreciate.”
She stood up, her ethereal silken hair falling from her head like a silver waterfall. She looked into the rising sun and spoke.
"I am called Ahvari of Light; such is my power that my love and wisdom may bring barren grounds to life, and heal that which was broken. Watch my work, all of thee, that you may know me at last.”
She closed her eyes, and Sagittarius felt a slight rumbling beneath his hooves. Beneath them erupted a field of wildflowers, covering the plains of Valore into the horizon where the sun rose. Butterflies emerged as drops of dew came off of the flowers, transforming from water into a flock that undulated and shimmered with such varied wonder and color, it overwhelmed the senses and stymied the mind, which could not hope to place labels upon such beautiful transmogrification of color and form.
The flock swirled around Ahvari, once known as Chrysalis, and she brought her husband into her embrace. She turned back to them, a smile on her face.
“Remember us, my niece; in the cloister of your mind, in the catacombs of your memory. Forgive me, if you have the grace within you, for indeed I have much to atone for.”
She turned to him, in all her glory and he found himself stricken with fear, and turned away from his mother’s perfect visage.
“My son, for your bravery and faith, I offer a place at our side, that we may at last be a family, if you so desire it. Come forward that I may mend you, first.”
He gulped and stepped forward, looking off to the side. He could not stand to look at her; it was overwhelming. He turned to Celestia, who had recovered from her initial shock at his mother’s work. She walked up to her, whispered something in her ear, and embraced her. His mother’s wings visibly relaxed, as at last he could train his eyes upon at least part of her form.
He gasped as he felt her cool touch, and his wounds closed. He felt her lightly kiss his forehead, on the nub where his horn was…and felt a new weight upon it. It was only when he saw Celestia’s slack-jawed expression that he knew his horn had returned to him. Looking down in a puddle, he saw the impressive fluted spike of his horn rise above his head, making him tower over Celestia. He felt an unfamiliar tingle along his spine, and felt a numbness and slight throbbing across his body as his many wounds closed.
He at last looked upon his mother fully in the face.
“I have waited…so long to see you like this…”
His mother took him into his embrace, and he felt the soft touch of her feathers cover him. By the gods, her wings are massive, he thought to himself. I should not have expected anything less, I suppose.
“I must admit, unfortunately, that I have lied to you.” Ahvari looked upon him, a playful confusion in her face.
“I do in fact feel quite a bit of loyalty to this realm, and my cousins within. I…I think that even though I would desire nothing more than to leave to far away lands with you and father…” he motioned to the bemused looking red alicorn, who was marveling at the scenery around him, “I cannot rightly abandon it, especially with Luna back after so long.”
A long silence ensued that ended as he felt the soft touch of Celestia on his shoulder.
“You have done so much for us already, my most faithful of friends. But as you said, Luna has come back to us. She is my responsibility, but more importantly, she is my sister. The rightful state of Equestria has at long last been restored with her return, and we will rule together, as was always intended. Go with your family; explore new and old lands, write to us stories of your travels. If you grow weary or homesick, we always will leave you a place to return home to.”
He stared at his mother with tired eyes. She responded in her uncanny voice:
“I cannot force you one way or the other my son, but it seems you have been given your answer. Your cousin’s blessing is simply that; a blessing. She has released you from your service to her. Come with us; there is so much of this world I wish to see, and my heart aches at the memories this land brings to me. I cannot bear to see the castle after all the pain and suffering I have caused, so it is beyond this blasted horizon I long to journey.”
Sagittarius sighed. It was an easier decision that he was letting himself think.
“I shall go, but I will need time to prepare, as well as organize the guard to stand down after this. I cannot leave without saying my farewells to my youngest cousin, and replacing the nightguard with somepony…suitable. I do have my responsibilities.”
He turned to Celestia, and she nodded to him before he took off. He was quite eager to show off his new horn to Luna, and relearn much of the magic he had so long been without.
Celestia turned to the two of them. “As much as it may pain you to return to the castle, even if for the briefest of visits, I cannot see you sleeping out here overnight, or going into town during the day. The former would be unacceptable, especially after what we have all been through, and the latter even more undesirable, as your…presence would cause more than a little confusion and chaos. Please, at the very least, you both can stay my mother’s old room. It’s not home, but many of the older furnishings that survived the cataclysm were carted over to it, and after her passing, it was converted into a guest bedroom.”
Ahvari, once a being so malicious and powerful she had very nearly overthrown Celestia after besting her in combat, turned lovingly to her husband, who nodded in acceptance of the proposal.
“We cannot refuse such a generous offer, and I doubt having everpony hounding us everywhere we went would be conducive to the, ah, atmosphere of privacy we wish to enjoy prior to departing.”
Celestia smiled. “I’m so glad to have you both back; I remember you particularly well, Tahvorin, when I was younger. Can you still do that…wonderful thing with your horn?”
The sights that followed were to be left with the minds of those far less constrained by reality, as Tahvorin, husband to Ahvari, was one in particular whose mark was that of a door surrounded by stars.
Luna could not decide between being overjoyed or bewildered. It had happened so quickly, she had very little time to process the events that had transpired, or the rushing and shouting that had turned into an overwhelming cheer as her sister’s overwhelming light had laid waste to the changeling army. Sagittarius returning with his horn only furthered her bewilderment and wonder.
As she neared him, he was talking with Shining Armor and some of the higher-ranking members of his nightguard. Apparently, her aunt had at last emerged from her metamorphosis, and the talisman which her sister had so…flamboyantly wielded…had been successful. Chrysalis’s actual name was Ahvari; a fact that Luna had been deprived of as she had been born after her aunt shed her birth name in favor of Chrysalis. It was a windfall, in every sense of the word.
“And lastly, do not forget about the evening rituals and rounds, Darkstar. While Shining has his own duties to attend to, You’ll be expected to hold the Night Court whenever Luna is away, or unable to perform her tasks. Ah, speaking of which…”
Shining Armor gulped audibly as his mother-in-law approached. Though he had long since shed any doubt of her since her return to palace life after her exorcism, he had been confronted by her prior to the wedding, and given an earful beyond anything he was comfortable with, volume and diction-wise.
“Sister has sent word to me that you are leaving; is this to be true?” Luna’s voice was thankfully subdued, and he watched his now much-taller counterpart turn to address her.
“It is, although fortunately I shall be visiting when time permits me to. I was hoping to spend some time with you again before my departure, as I will undoubtedly miss your company.” He motioned to him and the others to be on there way, but shining lingered behind a hallway, listening in on their conversation.
Luna sighed. “It will be most difficult to be without you; your insight and company have been a great comfort to me. I cannot begin to imagine how life will be like for you, after leaving the castle. That and your horn; my goodness…”
He heard a light chuckle. “I admit that I cannot remember even half of the spells I used to know, but what I remember should be enough for the journey. It will be as much a campaign of discovery and wonder for myself as well as my parents.”
A short but awkward silence ensued. He heard Luna’s voice, more tentative than he’d ever heard it. “Perhaps…perhaps I could come with you? Perhaps I should not have to watch you leave?” Another silence ensued, this one longer than the last.
“Luna…Luna it is important that you stay here. Your sister needs you more than you know, and even though I do so very much feel as you do…I cannot. We cannot. I love you deeply, and although my heart tells me that I should take you up on your request, my mind tells me that what I go to is for the best. My father…my father can takes us anywhere. ANYwhere. His realm is that of the corridor; he bears the power of sight and travel to any place at any time. I cannot hope to even imagine the places we will travel to.”
Shining Armor felt he could cut the tension in the short silence with a sword.
“I will write to you. I will stay in touch, but more than that, I will look to the skies for your handiwork. You are talented and wonderful beyond anything any of us could ever hope for, or choose to adore. Your people need you, and you should not fear their attention or adulation. You are amazing, Luna, and this kingdom deserves your wisdom and the wonders your magic can bring to it. They need to recognize you as the equal to your sister, and love you just as much as they do her. They will see the beauty of your night.”
He could her soft sniffling of Luna crying. “I…I cannot think you could have spoken saying kinder words to anypony. Will you spend the night with me, before you leave in the morning? There is so much I have wanted to share with you, and so little time since coming back home. Please, will you at least grant me that as a parting gift?”
“I will, if only for you.”
Shining heard a squeal of joy, a short silence, and a surprised chuckle.
“Well…shall we go to the observatory or bedroom? I’m admittedly confused at the moment.”
“Oh goodness…well, uh…”
Shining was galloping off down the hallway before he knew it. Eavesdropping was never a good idea, and he had just been reminded why.
“And that’s the whole of it. Are you comfortable with the resolution, my niece?” Cadance looked up at her aunt with wonder and mild distress. She opened her mouth and closed it, ensuing a long pause. Celestia took the opportunity to sip some of her favorite tea, which she saved for the very rare occasions where she truly felt great relief towards favorable outcomes.
“I…I do not quite know how to come to terms with this, let alone…her. Mother told me my Sa-aunt’s past, and I pitied her. But I did not think…I did not think for a moment that she would return, or at the very least find the redemption she needed. It…it is very strange, her transformation, by any standard. You said…you said her actual cutie mark changed? Twice? How is that even possible?”
Celestia took a long draw from the teacup. “My aunt…Ahvari, we should now call her, is unique in every respect of the word. But so is her husband. Do you know what Tahvarin showed me, after Sagittarius left?” Cadance shook her head slightly in confusion.
“He showed me the door to infinity. He has the ability, as mad as it sounds, to open a literal door into other worlds. Not just of this particular plane of existence, either. All different times, different branches of the same world, with different outcomes; through a single door, anywhere you could possibly imagine and more.” Celestia smiled at the slack-jawed wonder on her niece’s face.
“But…the truly amazing thing, what caught my wonder and appreciation for him the first time…was what he chose to do with that power. He chose not to run, not to fall into vanity or vices, and leap across time and space on a whim. He fell in love. He fell in love so deeply with her that he did not open a single door without her. He kept the doors locked from her when she turned into…into what she was, and carried the burden of her madness until the very day she ate him in an attempt to gain his power. She thought he was changing, leaving her, but he was doing just the opposite; he was giving up more and more of what he was to light her way down her own particular journey and version of reality.”
Celestia paused to let the gravity of what she had said sink into Cadance’s remarkably astute mind. “He had all that power…all that freedom…and he gave it up for her. He…he must have seen-” “He did not see. That is what he showed me. He closed off his own and her own future to himself, that he may not know the outcomes. He did not see what she could become, to let himself hope. All those long years ago, before Luna, before all that I had known withered and burned, he showed me for the first time what power love has. What it means to wield the power of our blood, of royalty. It means service to our love.”
Cadance was brimming with tears. It was a beautiful story, certainly. But what made it truly special in her mind was how much her aunt had apparently taken that lesson to heart, for everything she was, and everything she did. Celestia loved her kingdom, her subjects, and her family without a single care to her own well-being before others.
She had the power to subjugate every single one of them under her hoof once her sister was gone, and there would have been nopony for a thousand years who could even come close to challenging her rule. But she was not that pony. She loved, and was loved for her role as the matriarch of Equestria.
She knew, deep down, that to be certain of a future was to be damned by it, for better or for worse. Cadance knew the moment she agreed to be more than simply attracted to Shining Armor that she would be there the day he died, and she would have looked as she did on her wedding day to him. But she knew at the same time that she would care for her descendents, and cherish them as her mother had the nobility.
But that love that Celestia had talked about…that love that denied one’s self, that accepted death and forsook the wonders eternity and all of creation held…it was something she couldn’t begin to understand. She was too curious to let something like that go. This must have been what mother’s problem was with the nightmare; it fed on her curiosity. She banished the thought.
She remembered something important. “Celestia…where is my mother right now?” Celestia’s eyes widened slightly, and she paused with the tea in front of her mouth. The cup dropped and shattered as she heard some giggling down the corridor.
“…Cadance…please tell me that is not what I think I am hearing from my sister’s bedchambers.”
Cadance gulped and bit her lip as she was trying very hard not to burst out in riotous laughter. Another round of laughter came from her mother’s bedchambers, and watched with fear as Celestia got up from her table, the tea that stained her white coat sizzling into steam. “I must have words with my sister. Wait here.”
“Ohhh and then…and THEN he actually thought it was a good idea to teleport behind me and shoot off one of his fancy starburst spells. I swear I had never seen anypony more surprised when I swatted it back at him with my wing. It took him about a month for his coat to grow back right, but oh goodness…” Luna was laughing with Sagittarius over a bottle of very fine wine from the royal cellars that had been magically aged and kept during her exile. It was one of the few that Celestia hadn’t downed.
“Ooo did I tell you about the time Celly razed my coral summerhome? See, the seapon-” A very loud slam came from the direction of her door, and after turning around a little too quickly, Luna’s blurry vision cleared up enough for her to make out her sister, standing very confused in her doorway.
“Luna…what…I thought-” “You thought more of it than you should have, sister. What did you think we were doing? In here? In my bedroom?” Luna’s drunken gaze was not blurred enough to miss her sister’s furious blush, and Cadance’s curious face poking up behind her, snickering. “I…never-mind, I wasn’t here. Cadance, will you stop laughing?” Luna smiled and gave her daughter a shaky high-hoof, falling over each other.
“Got you good, Celly.”