Heavenly Turmoil

by TheManWithTwoNames

Chapter 5

Standard Legal Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained in the following work.  “My Little Pony” and all subsequent properties belong to Hasbro.

“Happy birthday to you!” Discord bellowed, stomping in place and blowing on a harmonica.  A bass drum was strapped to his back that rung like a gong with every step; an accordion hanging from his arms made a sad slide-whistle sound as he brought the two cymbals in his hands together and apart with what sounded like a duck call. “Happy birthday, dear Celestia!”

“It’s not my birthday,” Celestia moaned, too exhausted to work up any genuine anger.

“Happy birthday tooo yooouuu!” he finished the song operatically and the instruments vanished.

“It’s not my birthday for another three days,” Celestia moaned again.

“Really? Your birthday’s coming up?” Discord asked, truly surprised. “I was just having some fun. I should get you something nice.” A catalogue appeared in front of the draconequus and he buried his face in the paper. Celestia curled her wings over her head, trying to drown out the cretin’s “oohs” and “aahs” and return to sleep. She heard paper rustling in the wind and felt something drop on her.

“Well, I see plenty of things that I’d like for my birthday,” Discord said as he conspicuously tapped on a circled item in the magazine, an alicorn’s skeleton labeled “Wet Blanket Princess.” “But I don’t see anything in here for you. What do you get for the two thousand, five hundred twenty-five year old alicorn sun princess who has everything?”

As Discord invested himself in thought, Celestia was feeling the onset of a crisis. Two thousand years. Over two thousand years. She had lived for two and a half thousand years, and ruled Equestria for fifteen hundred years. It wasn’t that she was unaware of her age, she simply never put much thought to it. She was beyond old -- she was ancient. A relic of generations and histories long since forgotten. A living myth. While wide-eyed ponies might have seen her age as something to be adored and revered, she saw it for the reality of it.
        
She was old. But worse than that, her youth was behind her, and she would move farther and father away from that blessed time in her life until the end of time.

“I give up. You’re impossible to shop for,” Discord surrendered, grabbing the magazine off the floor and flipping through the pages, whistling “The Old Gray Mare” as he busied himself. He looked at the princess out of the corner of his eye and frowned. “Quit the pity party, you’re starting to bum me out. I was going to just get you a gift card, but if you’re really so upset about being an old hag...”

Before Celestia could rage about Discord’s seeming intrusion on her thoughts, she cried out in pain as the draconequus grabbed her horn and began to crush it in his grip. Wave after wave of blinding pain flooded her body, causing her legs to kick wildly and her body to violently jerk back and forth as she struggled to escape from the pain. She opened her mouth to scream again, but the smoke that coiled around her ceiling struck out like a serpent and dove down her throat, filling her body with the black haze, as saliva foamed from her mouth. Ultimately, the excruciating torture was too much, and Princess Celestia went limp.

Celestia opened her eyes and found herself falling toward a thick forest at an extreme speed. But rather than shouting in fear, she was laughing. She tried to pull up out of the dive, but her wings did not respond. She passed through the brush and braced for the end.

Celestia nearly choked as her body snapped up just before colliding with the ground, leaving a blast of ethereal light to spread around the forest. The healthy green leafs released their grip on the trees, and in one fell swoop Princess Celestia had stripped four acres of forest of its lush green.

“I love forest-clearing. It’s just another opportunity for me to kick your butt, little sister!” Celestia’s words were not her own. She had to find out what Discord had done to her; she had to get back to Canterlot.

“Nice try, but I think that I can top it.” Celestia watched with a smug grin as Luna flew up into the night sky and disappeared behind a cloud. Her expression finally broke, and Celestia had control of her body again. “What is happening?”

“Happy birthday tooo yooouuu...” Celestia’s magic flared and she turned with a hideous expression toward the draconequus behind all of this lunacy.

“What have you done, Discord?”

“Oh, hey, Discord, thanks for the present, I really love it. You’re welcome,” Discord said with an insulted sniff, folding his arms and turning his body away from the princess.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look at the stars, Celestia,” Discord said as he appeared behind her, pointing her nose up toward the night sky and delighting when he saw her eyes widen. This was not one of Luna’s nights. To an average pony, there would be no discernible difference. But Celestia had an astute eye and could recognize the subtleties. This was not her sister’s night. It was something that she thought she would never see again.

It was her mother’s.

“And the last horse crosses the finish line,” Discord congratulated mockingly with a slow clap, though each clap made a random noise. “Welcome to your memories! Now, I wasn’t really paying attention, so I don’t really know or care where you are.”

Luna swirled around a cloud, painted blue by the dark of night, built up speed, and fired toward a section of forest in the distance.

“So, enjoy the next three days,” Discord continued.

“What’s happening to your legs?” Celestia asked, watching as the spirit was beginning to rapidly fade away.

“Oh, that. Well, I’m not exactly part of your memories, am I?”

“You aren’t going to be tormenting me?” Celestia asked suspiciously, ready to disbelieve whatever answer she received.

“These are your memories, Celestia,” Discord said with a suddenly grave tone. “Nothing can hurt you here. So, three days to relive your youth. And there... I... go!” Discord’s voice echoed as he vanished just in time for Luna to blast the leafs off of every tree in a five acre radius and curve back up to her, flapping her wings proudly.

“Sorry, Tia, looks like I win this time.”

Celestia took a moment to let the reality of the situation sink in. It was everything she wanted. The wind in her wings, the breeze in her hair, her mother’s night wrapping around her like a blanket; all the freedom she’d been craving all this time was laid out in front of her. She was Princess Celestia again -- the real Princess Celestia.

“Let’s go best two out of three.”

After Celestia had just narrowly trounced her sister in their competition, though Luna was convinced that Celestia had used magic to cheat, the two sisters soared back to Canterlot. These were the moments she had been missing; sneaking out in the middle of the night with her little sister, getting into mischief. It was remarkable how many details that had been lost over time were flooding back to her. The comfortable coolness of a mid-summer night, the way the soft starlight glimmered even through the gentle clouds sleepily drifting through the dark blue sky, as all of Equestria seemed to radiate with magic.

It was remarkable that Luna now appeared to be just barely younger than she did in the present. Not that she could say the same about herself. Celestia marveled at her reflection in the water of the lake below her as she flew above -- she was only a few hands taller than Twilight, and her mane was a solid pink curling waterfall of hair that rolled down her shoulders. She could barely remember when her mane had become so colorful, or when she started enchanting it to flow in the air.

The most surprising thing was that she didn’t have her cutie mark yet, the symbol of her control over the sun, though there was good reason. The royal alicorn family passed down their cutie marks when they stepped down from power. Her father bore the mark of the sun, and her mother wore Luna’s crescent moon painted against a night sky. Celestia always thought the marks looked better on the two sisters than on their parents, mainly due to the clashing appearance of the brilliant yellow sun on the pitch black flank of her father and the dark stain on her mother’s vanilla coat.

Celestia closed her eyes and basked in the light as the sun rose over the horizon. The princess was taken aback by the harshness of the sun’s glow. More memories rushed back to her of her father’s bellicose nature. He was a gruff, stocky stallion whose hair-trigger temper was kept in line only by his queen’s assuaging personality. Whereas Celestia ruled Equestria with benevolence and tolerance, her father demanded total obedience and ruled with an iron hoof. King Equinox, the Black Sun of Equestria, was a fearsome ruler, and Celestia thanked the stars above that it was her mother that discovered the two sisters as they tried to sneak back into the castle.

“Girls, don’t you think you are too old for this sort of behavior?” Queen Cressida asked with a sigh as she looked down at her two ashamed daughters from her throne. Her creamy white hair was speckled with black dots and rolled elegantly down her back. Her mother was a demure woman and didn’t care for many of the theatrics of royal life, such as that obnoxious bellowing voice or enchanted mane, but it was that plainness and approachability that had endeared her to her followers.

“It does not do the balance of nature any favors when you start stripping the trees this far away from autumn.” Celestia and Luna kept their heads down as their mother descended the stairs.

“We were just having a little fun. Maybe we could call it an early birthday present?” Celestia asked hopefully, but deflated when she met her mother’s unhappy gaze. “I get restless being cooped up in the castle day in and day out. It feels so long since we’ve been allowed to leave.”

“And with good reason,” Cressida said firmly. “Equestria is in turmoil, Celestia, you know that.” Her tone became soft again as she wrapped her head tenderly around her daughter’s neck. “I worry for your safety. It’s just so dangerous. There are many out there who would try to threaten your life to strike at your father.”

“When is Father going to return, Mother?” Luna asked respectfully. “It has been so very long since he left for war.”

The war. How could she forget? The terrible, bloody war that history forgot. Celestia couldn’t remember precisely how it was started. There was a dispute over territory, and it had come to violence, though no one was sure who made the first strike. As the battle raged on, other provinces began to feel threatened and sent confused and angry volunteer soldiers to aid different sides in response, with earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike entering the fray. Opportunistic beasts sought to feast upon the dying carcass of civility, with dragons and wolves offering their allegiance for treasures and jewels. It was complete chaos. The armies began to attack buffalo and griffin lands for materials, forcing the peaceful species to war. The battle raged for years until the madness grew so great that no soldier was sure what they were fighting, killing, and dying for. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Equinox rode off into battle with the royal army, determined to cripple both forces and restore peace to his kingdom through force.

Celestia could feel a pressure building in her head; there was something important she had to remember. Some detail like rising waters pounding against a flood gate, threatening to break through and overwhelm her. There was some significance, she knew it. She had to remember what happened.

No she didn’t. She had to enjoy herself. This was a gift for her, and she would make the most of it.

“Sorry, Mother,” Celestia apologized insincerely.

“I am sure you are,” Cressida sighed. “I do not want to see you two sleeping through the day because you stayed up all night. And you know that you can go to town whenever you like, as long as Captain Ratch and the guards are with you.”
        
“Must they always be with us, Mother? Even Luna could hold her ground without help from Uncle Sourpuss,” Celestia groaned, receiving a stern look from her mother in response. She supposed that she never really did like having babysitters that were centuries younger than her. Though she didn’t particularly dislike Clayton Ratch; in fact, she loved him like family. But his strict dedication to protocol while on duty had earned him the loving nickname. And she knew that she could always count on him -- he was a tough old stallion, unlike the mere colts who led her guards. Ratch’s family had a long history as part of the royal guard, something that his descendants were incredibly proud of, but she was certain that he would have whipped them all raw if he could see the shoddy excuses for soldiers that guarded the palace.

Oh heavens above, she had forgotten so much! But now it was all coming back as clear as crystal. Celestia could hardly contain her excitement for the day ahead.

“Fine, fine. Come on, Luna, I’ll race you to the garden!”

Princess Celestia let her mind wander as she ran through the halls on familiar route to the gardens. It wasn’t of dire importance to her, but she was curious about exactly how far back in her memories she had been sent. She couldn’t simply ask how old she was turning, both because at times she felt that her body moved of its own volition to stay true to the original memory, and because it would simply seem silly. So Celestia let it be and resigned herself to the pure pleasure of it all.

“Come on, little sister, it’s supposed to be a race,” Celestia taunted between pants and gave her sister a playful push.

“Oh sure. I’ll bet it’s easy to run when you’ve got those freakishly long legs,” Luna retorted.

“Sounds like somepony’s a sore loser,” the older sister said in a sing-song voice.

Celestia missed these games with Luna. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that the princesses were competitive, but they saw it more as simply finding ways to fight off boredom. They were centuries older than most creatures in Equestria, and while they could act their age whenever they liked, deep down they were about as mature as ten-year-old fillies. The two sisters only had each other when it came to genuine companionship, and as she looked into the smiling face and shimmering eyes of her little sister, Celestia felt a warmth in her heart.

“Alright then, fine. Let’s get cerebral then,” Luna challenged. “First one through the labyrinth?”

“You’re on.”

Luna must have been memorizing the maze in her spare time, Celestia surmised as the younger princess did her usual victory dance, throwing her legs out to the side at a time and shaking her tail in her sister’s face. She gave her little sister a half-hearted congratulation and went off on her own to explore the castle grounds, starting with the gardens. Celestia had always loved the vibrant flowers and lush plants arranged so beautifully when she was younger, and it saddened her to think that many of those gorgeous plants would not be waiting for her when she left. Either through extinction, evolution, or magical alterations to the foliage, most of the species were long gone.

The statues in her garden were nothing but restored replicas of the original articles. Time took its toll on everything, Celestia was well aware of that. Out with the old, in with the new. But standing there, in the home her dreams were made of, in the world that lived only in her memories, with the delicious aroma of forgotten flowers wafting around her and birds serenading her with the sweetest music, she wished that moment could last forever.

“Ah!” Celestia cried as she felt several cold claws wrap around her rear hooves and pull her downward. She instinctively bucked and kicked her legs, fighting valiantly against the cowardly wolves trying to abduct her. Before she could call upon her magic, or even open her mouth to shout again, there was a violent crash above her. A large figure landed over her, standing tall and protecting the princess from the raining glass shards. The diamond wolves immediately released their grips and retreated down their tunnel, howling in fear. Celestia’s savior stepped around her and dove down the hole after the beasts in an orange blur, though Celestia could just make out the image of a blue and gold shield cutie mark with a heavy scar across it on the haunch of the guardian before he vanished.

Princess Celestia sighed as Captain Clayton Ratch’s rather colorful and creative obscenities and death vows emanated from underground. Sometimes she wondered if the old stallion was really that gung-ho, or if he simply enjoyed showing off.

The Sun King Equinox looked down at the ravaged landscape in dissatisfaction, a snarl contorting his frightening features. His orange eyes narrowed and his flaming red mane ran wild down his back. His black coat was covered with once-glorious golden armor; though the metal had become tarnished from the long fighting, it still served its purpose well and protected the king from even the most ferocious of enemies. His powerful muscles tensed in anger, his curved black horn glowed a bloody red, his sharp wings were spread wide. Frightened ponies who had the poor fortune to see the King of Equestria fly into battle had often described him as the manifestation of war itself.

“Major Dash,” the king boomed and the pegasus snapped to attention. “We find it disturbing that it we had rode off to war three years ago. And yet, here we are. We had to slay a dragon earlier out of necessity, rather than sport. We have not seen our darling queen or our beautiful daughters in three years. These foals have shunned our divine authority and our generous attempts to save their wretched lives for three years.” Major Dash swallowed nervously and froze in self-preservation when the king turned his thick neck to glower at the soldier.

“Do you understand our frustration?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“We hope that this situation brought under control soon. We desire to return to Canterlot for our eldest daughter’s celebration.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Do not concern yourself. Their wills are weakened, and our forces are still emboldened by your magnificent presence. The end is in sight.”

“We have heard similar promises in the past. Do not disappoint us.”

It was shapeless. It was mindless. It was unstable, unliving, and unstoppable. It hovered over the land like an invisible mist, filling the minds of the ponies fighting against brothers and neighbors and becoming ever larger. It watched. It was a force of nature, but for the first time It knew that. It had never felt stronger. It had never felt before. The madness and the bloodshed had given It consciousness. It watched.

Clayton Ratch, Captain of the Royal Guard, was quite possibly the finest specimen ponykind had ever known. Solid as a mountain and built like a buffalo, he was often mistaken by uneducated ponies for the King himself, despite being an earth pony. He was nearly as tall as Equinox, and his orange coat had been thinned and grayed by age, laying clear his sinewy muscles and the many scars he earned through his loyalty to the kingdom. He could pin a dragon to the ground, inspire fear in any living creature with a deathly glare, kill a parasprite with a swat of his enormous mustache, even outrun a flying griffin; it was said he could crush boulders with a kick, divert a stampede with just the ferocity of his battle cry, and had lived to be over a hundred years old through sheer will power. And even Clayton Ratch, the most decorated and heralded hero Equestria had ever known, could hardly control two alicorn princesses when they had their minds set on leaving the palace.

“You two girls need to learn yourselves some respect!” Ratch’s perpetually hoarse voice shouted at the two sisters running in circles around him.

“Is that any way to talk to your princesses?” Celestia asked with feigned shock. “Maybe we should have Father teach you some respect!”

“I’m well within my authority to talk down to you two,” Ratch said in his usual growl, though the corners of his mouth curved up almost imperceptibly as he said it. “And I’m not sure if His Majesty would want to pick a fight with me. He limped for a month the last time he wanted to spar.”

“Then at least respect your elders,” Luna joined in.

“Don’t give me that, you’re practically fillies next to me.”

“I’m at least one-hundred and fifty years older than you, Captain,” the younger sister said with a coy smile.

“You know who else was older than me?” Ratch spoke louder than what was probably necessary.

“The dragon,” the two sisters answered simultaneously with a bored tone.

“That coltdamn dragon that tried to snatch your mother!” Ratch ignored the two girls. “I chased that flying snake around Equestria -- twice! And when I finally caught up to him, the coward was ready to pack it in, but I was still raring to go...” Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled as the captain went on his rant. The story was more and more fantastic every time, and even their eternally grateful mother found some of his creative amendments to the story to be ridiculous. But the old earth pony had his pride, and Celestia loved a good pony-tale, so she never dared interrupt him.

“...entire village ate like kings for a month!” Ratch finished. He looked down at the two princesses and his mustache bristled when he saw that they were intentionally ignoring him. “Harrumph! I’m surprised that you’re so willing to put yourself in the open after those wolves tried to take you yesterday. There could have been trouble if I wasn’t around to keep an eye on you!”

“Well then, it’s a good thing we have you around,” Celestia said as Luna gave the old stallion a playful kiss on the cheek. The sisters laughed at their guardian as he forcibly shook the blush off of his face and turned around to glare at the stone faced guards following them, daring them to smile.

“You girls will be the death of me,” Ratch grunted as the guards continued to escort the sisters to Canterlot Commons.

The hamlet seemed so small, Celestia thought as she walked into the city. Well, maybe not small, but unsophisticated. The buildings were made of humble yellow stone rather than the brilliant marble of the castle, with some of the thatch roofs on the buildings supported by tree branches. Ponies bowed as they saw the royals, stopping whatever they were doing to show their respect.

“So, which way are you going?” Luna asked just quiet enough for Celestia to hear.
        
“I was thinking right.”

“Then I’ll go left.”

“See you back at the palace.”

In the blink of an eye, the two princesses dashed off in opposite directions, their hoofs pounding against the dirt road as they galloped with all their speed away from the shouting guards.

“You little brats! After them, you hoof-biting misfits!” Ratch’s voice shouted behind them. Celestia cheered as she ran through crowds of confused ponies, taking cover inside of buildings, hiding behind carts pulled down the roads, and doing everything in her power to slip away from the guards. After a chase that spread across all of Canterlot, Celestia breathed easy, confident she had lost them. She slowed her pace to a casual saunter and took in the sights of Old Canterlot.

Something that had confused Princess Celestia for a moment was how casual the ponies treated her. They weren’t disrespectful, but she wasn’t precisely greeted with “the royal treatment,” for lack of a better word. She wanted to say something, remind them who they were addressing and how honored they should be just to lay their unworthy eyes on her.

“Hello, Princess,” a smiling unicorn greeted as she walked past.         

“Good morning, Lavender,” Celestia answered with a friendly smile. She loved being able to break away from the regimented nature of palace life. Celestia felt dizzy, like the entire world was tilted to the side. She staggered to her side, colliding with a pony before the ground righted itself.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Celestia apologized, looking very flustered.

“It’s going to be alright, Princess,” the pony, a purple unicorn, replied before walking off briskly. Celestia gave her a lingering look as she walked around a corner, and for the first time in two days, Celestia’s mind drifted to thoughts about Twilight Sparkle. It was just like her to concern herself with such small problems when she was taking a well-deserved reprieve.

She walked in and out of stores, peeking at what new trinkets the merchant ponies had for sale but always keeping an eye out for Ratch’s goons. She eventually found herself in front of Canterlot’s infirmary. She normally wouldn’t have stopped, but she kept hearing crowds of ponies whispering about some important pony that had taken a bad turn and decided to see if there was anything she could do to aid the sick creature.

Princess Celestia strode forward to push through the swinging door, but the wooden frame wouldn’t budge. She took a step back and examined the door quizzically. There weren’t any locks on it, and it wasn’t as if a swinging door could be jammed. She took a few steps back and narrowed her eyes when she saw a pink earth pony with several balloons tied to her tail and a pegasus with a basket of flowers brush past her without even paying her any notice and enter the building without any issue.

The door swung on its hinges a few times and went still. Princess Celestia padded the ground a few times and hunched her body, ready for a charge. She dove at the door, horn glowing with power, and pierced through. She stumbled into the building and felt a chill. She opened her eyes to find a nurse to complain to, but when she tried to see, her vision was blurred by pain. She fought to stand her ground and stay strong to see through the pain at the building’s flickering interior. Utter blackness flashed between a myriad of colors and blank, featureless pony faces.

She had seen enough and backed out of the infirmary, finding that exiting the building was much easier than entering it. The pain immediately subsided, allowing Celestia to think clearly. She guessed that was a case of what happened when she forced herself to go against her memories and gave it no further thought. After all, there was still one stop she simply had to make.

[
Celestia eyed the mouthwatering assortment of pastries and treats laid in front of her with utter desire. The Sweetness was possibly the finest catering service in Equestria -- or at least it was the closest to the palace, so the easy accessibility definitely earned it points in Celestia’s mind.

“See something you like, Your Highness?” the grinning chef asked helpfully as he leaned over the counter, with frosting staining his apron. Churnie was a pudgy, jolly old green unicorn with a wonderful sense of humor and a tender heart. He was among the most generous folks a pony could ever hope to meet, routinely giving free sweets to children and ponies that had fallen on hard times. He was a guy that ponies just loved to open up to, and it warmed his heart to help ponies in any way he could.

“Nothing looks better than frosting, Churnie!”  What a sweet tooth she had! She could hardly believe that she put such heavy restrictions on sweets in her diet when she ascended to the throne.

“Ha harr! When you’re right, you’re right! I’m making something special for the big day tomorrow,” Churnie said with an excited smile, wiggling his bushy eyebrows and making Celestia giggle. “I can’t believe it’s here so soon! It feels like it was just yesterday I was busting my flank to get that ten foot monster of a cake ready! It’s been twenty-five years, and I still have nightmares about that thing! I just pray to the sun and the stars that I don’t live to see your sister turn five hundred! Haarr har har!”

“Well, if you decide to stick around for another two hundred years, I’ll be happy to help out in the kitchen,” Celestia teased.

“Oh no you don’t! Your sister tried to help me when it was time to make your cake, to give it some ‘personal flair.’ Place looked even more like a disaster zone than usual!” Celestia fell to the floor and laughed until her sides hurt.
        
“Wow. In that case, I’ll have to keep her out of the kitchen,” Celestia said, struggling to keep a straight face.

“Harr! Go easy on the little screwball. Maybe when she turns five hundred and twenty-five, she’ll have learned how to turn on an oven without burning half the building.”

Ponies screamed all around Celestia as the body crashed onto a table, cracking it in half. Her mother wailed and charged at the smoke, her eyes burning with an intensity that no one could have ever imagined from the tranquil alicorn. With a swift swat, the cloud smacked the alicorn into a wall. Shards of glass from the broken window rained down on her, cutting her white coat and staining it with blood. She looked up into the eyes of her terrified daughter and shouted with all of her strength.

“Celestia! Run!”

“Your Highness? You okay, sweetie?” Celestia bit her lip, not entirely sure of the answer. What was she seeing? What had she forgotten?

“I’m... fine, Churnie. Don’t you worry about me,” Celestia assured the baker with a wink. The unicorn wasn’t fooled, but he knew better than to try to force someone to talk when they weren’t in the mood to share.

“Well, I’ve got to put the finishing touches on,” he said with a bow and headed back to the kitchen int he rear. “Help yourself to a few cookies! And keep your sister away from any bags of flour! Harr haaar!”
        
Celestia helped herself to a sugar cookie and happily licked the bits of pink frosting off the corner of her mouth as she walked out the door into Canterlot Square. She stumbled a bit when she bumped into another pony.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m just so clumsy today.”

“I’d say ‘bratty’ fits better,” a scratchy voice spat. Celestia looked up at the imposing frame of Clayton Ratch, his orange face burning red. She was going to need some careful wording to get off relatively easy on this one, but the look her quivering sister standing behind the captain sent her told her that there was plenty to fear.

“I tracked five diamond wolves that were escaping down that tunnel yesterday without any tracks or trace to follow. How long did you think it would take me to find you two?”

“Heh heh... Um... I think that I’m ready to go back to the palace,” Celestia said meekly. Ratch lowered his head and stared her dead in the eyes, and she immediately wished he hadn’t. Her entire body felt cold. That glare could pacify dragons and turn small animals to stone. She was certain that the old captain’s fury would be eternal. It would be passed down for eons through his bloodline, a bottomless well of power for his children’s children to draw upon and petrify pony and beast alike.

“Glad to hear it,” he spoke almost inaudibly, packing as much anger as possible into every staccato syllable. “Let’s go.”

        
The rest of the day was just as entertaining as the time in Canterlot Commons, and the two princesses were exhausted come nightfall. Dinner was mostly pleasant; Cressida raised an eyebrow at her daughters’ guilty grins when she asked them about their trip but said nothing about it. She delivered the unhappy news that the battle Equinox would likely be unable to return to Canterlot in time for Celestia’s celebration which was met with premeditated disappointment. Not a soul with any idea of the magnitude of the warfare harbored any ideas of seeing the king, but that didn’t make it any less upsetting for Princess Celestia.

Celestia sulked around her room, a smaller chamber than she presently lived in that was  decorated with rich purples and whites, feeling sorry for herself, but mostly mourning the chaos gripping Equestria. How many lives had been claimed in that horrible war? It didn’t matter; even one was too many. Celestia had snuck off on her own one night to see the battle with her own eyes, and the horrors she saw would never leave her.

She stepped out on her balcony to get some fresh air to clear her head, but it did nothing to help. Celestia couldn’t keep her mind off of the blood and the tears spilled over lost brothers, the destruction, the absolute abandonment of decency; precious, irreplaceable lives extinguished by the hundreds.

It was then that Celestia had a silly thought. Perhaps she could be the one who reminded them; ponies were dying for a cause they didn’t understand or believe in, so it was time for them to see why live was worth living.

It was possibly the most unrealistic and fanciful thing she ever attempted, she’d admit, but she had to try to make a difference somehow. She wouldn’t be a princess forever; one day she’d have to rule Equestria and learn to be responsible. Princess Celestia inwardly cringed at her childish sentiments, but found herself unable to control her body or her mind and resigned herself to allowing the memory play out. Celestia aimed her horn at the night sky, closed her eyes, called upon her magic, and released the spell. The green light twirled through the air, curling and dancing around her and vanishing out of sight.

A glorious olive tree would bloom in the center of the warring forces. With any luck the spectacle might give them a moment of reflection. Celestia smiled at the thought; it would be a beautifully poetic scene. Celestia nestled into her bed and sighed happily as she imagined it.

“The Peace of the Olive Tree,” Celestia purred. Before sleep could take her, she heard the sound of hooves gingerly stepping closer to her. She opened her eyes and saw her sister smiling sadly down at her. Celestia hadn’t heard her come in.
 
Luna walked to her side and tenderly wrapped her head around Celestia’s neck. She caressed her sister lovingly for a moment before stepping back and watching her sister lie tranquilly on her bed. Celestia felt a great sense of unease, not daring to move a muscle as she watched her sister in confusion. It wasn’t like Luna to act like this; her eyes were red and raw from freshly-dried tears and her lip trembled if she dared to look at her for too long.

“Luna, is something the matter?”

“It’s going to be alright, Tia,” Luna said quietly and quickly, sounding on the verge of breaking into tears. “I’ll be here for you.” The younger princess glided soundlessly out of the room, and Celestia fell into a peaceful sleep.

The day had finally arrived. Celestia sprung from her bed and ran down the halls, where happy ponies were in the middle of hanging tasteful streamers and decorations of all kinds and colors. Ratch was bickering with a flustered coordinator about the lack of easy-to-access escape routes in the ballroom. Celestia kept an eye out for anyone watching her as she trotted to the ballroom doors. Seeing that the coast was clear, she slowly pushed on the doors and nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud “Haar!” called from behind her.

“Sorry, toots,” Churnie said with a cheeky smile, “orders from the boss lady herself. She doesn’t want you getting in there before everything is ready for you.”

“Come on, Churnie, just a little peek?” Celestia asked, putting on her most pathetic puppy eyes.

“My hooves are tied. And I don’t want anypony to see my arrangement before it’s ready. In the culinary world, the magic is all in the presentation,” Churnie said with a wink. “Go outside and enjoy the weather for a few hours, why don’t you? Your mother had the weather team plan the entire month’s weather ahead of time so that it’d be beautiful out today, so make the most of it.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll go see if Luna wants to step outside for a bit,” Celestia called over her shoulder, defeated.

“The curtains are all closed.” Churnie chuckled and shook his head as Celestia kicked the air dejectedly before he slipped back into the ballroom.

Celestia couldn’t keep her eyes off the windows of the ballroom as she and her sister enjoyed a breakfast salad.

“The curtains aren’t going to open if you stare at them long enough, Celestia,” Luna said after swallowing a mouthful.

“I know that. I’ve been trying to use magic.” The sisters laughed with each other for a short while and Celestia returned to her salad. So many important things were on her mind: what should she wear? What would it all look like? Who would be there? Would it be boring? How much could she eat before it became unseemly? Whatever became of her vivens venerat spell? What was Luna doing now?

Celestia looked at her sister and saw that her glass was floating expectantly in the air halfway across the table.

“You know something, Celestia? This is really nice. We should do this more often.”

“I completely agree.” The princess returned the gesture and clinked her glass lightly against Luna’s and the two sisters drank.

It had feelings now. It did not understand how It understood, but It did. It did. The chaos was greater now than it had ever been before. It wanted more. It saw the dying breaths of ponies, green clouds of shimmering light invisible to all others, float up to the sky and fade away. These were their lives. They. They were They, but what was It? It could think, It could feel, It could desire. But It was not like Them.

A green light rose over the horizon, just a narrow mass of energy. It had found what It wanted. It felt itself drawn to the light and the fog receded from the minds of the confused soldiers. All of It had to be there. To be. It would be like Them.

It would have life.

It was late afternoon and Celestia proudly strode down the hall, wearing a light and elegant gown decorated with dazzling gems. She wore a thin golden tiara around her horn and wrapped gleaming silver bands around her hooves. Well-dressed ponies signaled her approach with a proud trumpeting of the Equestrian anthem. The doors opened wide to greet the princess with a spectacular sight. Due to the sheer magnitude of the royal family’s celebrations and the longevity of the alicorns, the family only celebrated a birthday every quarter of a century after the first hundred years. And however grand her five hundredth birthday was, this was greater by far.

The first thing that Celestia notice was the massive cookie Churnie had brought that was suspended in the air at the end of the room, standing thirty feet in diameter and decorated in her likeness with frosting. A choir of happy birds sang through the air in perfect unity and harmony, moving from nest to nest among the wreaths of all her favorite flowers hung on the walls. Her entrance was received with an enthusiastic cheer, and Celestia walked forward to meet her mother and sister, who was guiltily licking some frosting off of her nose.

“Happy birthday, Celestia,” Cressida said warmly.

“Thank you, Mother.”

Standing there, surrounded by her mother and sister, with the birds above and the smell of flowers and sweets filling the air, with a crowd of ponies who genuinely loved the young princess, Celestia truly knew happiness.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

It stood at the center of the warring bodies, marveling at itself. Paws! It had paws -- no, one paw, and the other was a claw! But It’s leg wasn’t a claw or a paw, and neither was the other one. And neither leg was like each other at all! It felt long and tall, and It laughed in pure ecstasy. It felt. It felt! It felt its bottom swish back and forth and laughed again.

“What in Equestria is that abomination?” It heard a voice shout. It was interested to see this abomination. It looked around, staring emptily at the horrified faces of ponies looking directly its way. It looked down.

“Brown! It has brown fur!” It shouted spontaneously, patting and rubbing its legs and arms and face, delighting in the feel of hair brushing against skin. “And these! And that! And -- what’s this?” It stopped and scratched its head, feeling its paw bumping against two hard things on his head. Touching them with infinite wonder, It stretched its arms as far as they could go to understand itself.

“It has... horns! Yes! Horns! Horns like you!” It cheered, pointing at the unicorns. It had watched. It had witnessed the unicorns’ power. They used magic. They changed the world around them by wanting to. Perhaps It could do the same. But they seemed angry with It.

It couldn’t be bothered to think about that, It felt a strange sensation on its... back. Yes, between its arms. It felt like a mild burning. It clumsily reached around with its claw and scratched. It felt amazing. It noticed that it had two things curled on its back. Stretching, It was able to make the things unfurl. It flapped them. It rose off the ground without any effort and was thrilled by the experience.

“Wings!” The word came to It. “Wings like you!” This was amazing. It wanted life, and life was amazing. Amazing. Having life was a wonderful, wonderful thing. But the pegasi seemed angry too.

“You are nothing like us, monster!” a bold soldier shouted.

“You?” It puzzled, bringing a paw to its mouth and poking it on something. “It... is a You! I’m a You!” It’s entire body trembled with each new realization. This was life! This was being! “I’m an I! I am a Me!”

“What is this... creature?

“I’m a Me,” the creature intruded. “And you are a--”

“We are the Sun King Equinox! Ruler of all Equestria!” The battlefield was silent at the booming announcement.

“You’re a Me, too!” It shouted happily, clapping in enthusiasm. “You have horns! You have wings! You’re just like me!” It was confused why they started laughing when he spoke.

“Thou art nothing like us!” the black stallion declared, cutting his cruel laughter short. “We are Lord of All, and thou be a monstrosity!”

It felt something deep inside. It knew what it was, it could feel the sensation coming from the creatures as they watched each other die.

Anger. It had life just like them. What gave them the right to laugh? But it would stop their laughing. It had magic. It had power. It knew it. It had spent all of existence being nothing, knowing nothing, doing nothing.

But now... It could do whatever It wanted.

“Happy birthday, Princess!” Celestia smiled and thanked a party-goer once again. Everything was absolutely wonderful. She could even tolerate the Grand Galloping Gala every year if it could capture a fraction of this celebration’s magnificence.

“Lighten up a little, Uncle Sourpuss! It’s a party!” Celestia teased Captain Ratch as she waved one of Churnie’s famous cupcakes in front of his face. The grizzled veteran didn’t react as he continued to watch the party from a corner of the room.

“I’m on duty, Princess. After those wolves couldn’t get you, I wouldn’t be surprised if those bastards sent a dragon to snatch you,” Ratch said with his usual growl, keeping his eyes peeled on the window.

“Looking to get another dragon-slaying story, Captain?” Luna butted in, carrying a glass of wine. Celestia and Luna smiled at each other. He didn’t stand a chance against the two of them.

“He’s already going down in history for the first one, I think he deserves a break,” Celestia said.

“I agree. Being so tense all the time isn’t good for his health, anyways. He should drink some wine to loosen up a little. It’s good for the heart.”

“Are you suggesting I drink on duty? The King would have my head!”

“We wouldn’t tell him.”

“Nopony’s going to take you less seriously if you get some frosting on your mustache, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Girls,” the three turned to see Queen Cressida elegantly walking toward them. Ratch saluted smartly and the two girls put on their best innocent faces. “The captain is enjoying himself well enough.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Ratch said respectfully.

“Come along, girls. There are plenty of other guests you can bother, and there are a few ponies I would like you to meet,” Cressida said as she led the two girls away. Ratch looked around the room in suspicion before bringing his eyes back to the cookie floating in front of him covered in Cressida’s white glow. Certain he wasn’t being watched, the captain surreptitiously grabbed the cookie out of the air, swallowed it in a single bite, and checked his mustache for crumbs.

Celestia went from crowd to crowd, greeting and talking with several lords and ladies of Equestria, though she mostly enjoyed when she was able to talk to the guests without high pedigree or the ego that came with it. Talking to those ordinary ponies was such a pleasure; there was something honest about them. The highlight of her night was getting to talk to Churnie and listen to the proud unicorn excitedly explain the painstaking measures he took for every pastry.

“I think that might be a new Equestrian record,” Celestia said as the two walked past the enormous cookie.

“That cake definitely has competition in my nightmares. Haaahr har!” Churnie laughed. “The whole thing was cookie dough baked into different pieces. Then I had to glue it into one big shibang with frosting. I was actually in the middle of it yesterday when you walked in.”

A nervous-looking pegasus fluttered over the crowd and hovered over the squat unicorn, whispering into his ear.

“Hey, boss? We’ve got an issue with a... guest.”

“Oh for crying out loud...” Churnie sighed. “Isn’t there somepony else who can handle it?”
        
“Well, he’s asking about the food, but he’s starting to get rowdy.”

“I’m sorry, Princess, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” He bowed low to the ground and followed the pegasus to the opposite side of the ballroom to where some of the guests where whispering and talking nervously.

“So where is the... fell...ah... ah,” Churnie’s words died in his throat when he bumped into who--or what--he presumed was the cause of the problem. He had never seen anything like it in his entire life. It didn’t look like any pony he had ever seen -- it hardly looked anything like a pony.

“You! You made this, right?” the creature asked with wide, uneven eyes as he held a slice of pie in the baker’s face.
        
“Yeah. You like it?” Churnie asked with uncertain pride.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten! What is it?”

“That’s pie, pally. If you like it, there’s plenty more where that came... from?” Churnie was shocked when he looked at the banquet and saw that nearly everything had a bite taken out of it or had been thrown against the wall. Even the tablecloth looked as if a manticore had gotten its claws on it. The creature ran over to the table and retrieved a plate with a half-eaten slice of cake sitting on it.

“Ooh! It likes--I like this! What is this?”

“That’s chocolate ribbon cake...”

“Oh, this is better!” the thing said after taking a large bite out of the cake and the plate. “What is this? This is better! Tell me!”

“That’s... the plate.”

“It crunches, and then it’s... goopy,” the thing said thoughtfully. “And it sorta tastes like... oh, where did I leave him?” The thing snapped his claw and was gone. However startled the baker had been by the sudden disappearance of the monster, nothing could have prepared him for its return.

“It tastes like him!” the thing said excitedly as he held up a limp figure. He was dangling the large thing by its wild red hair; the blood trickling across it would have been invisible against the black fur if it weren’t for the chunk of flesh that had been torn from its neck. Terrified ponies cried out at the sight of their great king dangling around like a limp puppet.

Celestia flew over the frightened guests when she heard the scream and saw that Luna was right beside her while Ratch fought through the crowd. She found the source of the chaos and screamed. More and more ponies began to panic as the news spread, and many mobbed the door.

“I never should have brought you!’ the monster shouted at the barely-alive king. “You ruined everything!” Equinox weakly spat on its face, earning him a violent toss against the room. The king crashed against a support column, and there was a sickening crack of bones snapping. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Ponies screamed all around Celestia as the body crashed onto a table, cracking it in half. Her mother wailed and charged the monster, her eyes burning with an intensity that no one could have ever imagined from the tranquil alicorn. With a swift swat, the beast smacked the alicorn into a wall. Shards of glass from the broken window rained down on her, cutting her white coat and staining it with blood.

“Celestia! Luna! Run!”

She couldn’t move a muscle. Celestia was frozen in horror, watching helplessly as Ratch and the other guards torpedoed through the crowd and tackled the thing to the ground. It squirmed and struggled as the guards pinned it down while Ratch stomped down on its face again and again, aiming to crush the assassin’s skull into a pulp. His fury intensified as the thing laughed off every kick as if it was simply being tickled. The thing snapped its fingers and the guards were thrown into the walls.

“Sister, we have to do something!” Luna pleaded, pulling on her wings.

Celestia couldn’t wait another second. With a shout, she charged forward with her horn aimed to pierce the terror’s heart. Before she could get close, something tackled her to the ground. She looked up and saw Captain Ratch standing over her, his eyes trained on the beast as Cressida flung spell after spell at it only for each to be harmlessly deflected.

“Get out of here! Now! We can handle this on our own! Take your sister to safety!” Ratch barked as Celestia rose to her hooves.

“But I can--”

“I will not fail my king twice!!” Ratch roared. Celestia looked into the eyes of her faithful protector and for the very first time, rather than anger, she saw a pleading desperation. “Now go!” Ratch bucked Celestia in the side and sent her rolling toward the broken window. She couldn’t stand to watch as Ratch was thrown into another wall after his charge and shouted for her sister. With one last fearful glance, Princess Celestia fled from Canterlot.

After flying for hours with no sense of destination, Celestia and Luna finally descended upon a thick forest. The girls found a large cave and took cover for the night, curled silently in the darkness. Neither one said a word to the other, but Celestia could hear her sister’s soft crying and was sure Luna could hear hers. She couldn’t have known then, but she knew now what was waiting for her when she woke up. She and Luna would spend the next five hundred years in hiding, moving from place to place as Discord wreaked chaos across Equestria. She would never see her mother again, or Ratch, or Churnie, or any of the ponies she had known and loved, or know whatever became of those who stayed behind to fight Discord, though she knew her parents had been murdered -- the appearance of the sister’s cutie marks left no doubt of their fates. They would do their best to help ponies in however little way they could through deeds that would later inspire the sisters to create the Elements of Harmony and rise up against the creature.

But that was all ancient history, Celestia thought as she blinked her eyes open, looking in confusion at her surroundings. She was in a small bed with white sheets, and there was a long tube leading out of her arm into a plastic bag with clear liquid that was hanging on a hook over her. Ponies shuffled back and forth, talking to each other about treating patients for this and that.

“Where am I?” Celestia asked weakly. The ponies all stared at her, some dropping whatever they were carrying. Some ponies began to aggressively probe her, asking her about how she was feeling, if she was experiencing any dizziness or nausea, if she could understand them, could she feel it when they did this?

“Where am I?” she repeated, trying to rise out of the bed only for the ponies to hold her down firmly.

“Princess, please stay still until we can be sure you’re well,” one of the ponies begged.

        
It did not take Celestia long to deduce that she was in the Canterlot Infirmary. Word had been sent to Luna the minute she was awake, and the younger princess was at her sister’s side as soon as she was able.

“Celestia! Thank heavens, Celestia, you’re awake!” Luna cried into her sister’s chest.

“Luna, please, what has happened? Why am I here?” Celestia asked concernedly.

“The doctors aren’t sure,” Luna said slowly to avoid shocking her sister, “but they think that you had some sort of seizure. You fell into a coma and you’ve been unresponsive for the last three days. Oh, Celestia, it’s been horrible! It’s been solid night for three days! All of Equestria has been in absolute chaos!”

“What happened to you?” Celestia asked as she finally noticed her sister’s changed appearance. She was taller, and despite her exhaustion, seemed stronger. Her coat was darker and her mane and tail were starry clouds of deep violet.

“I tried to raise the sun on my own, but... I didn’t have the strength. I had to force my magic to return to me, but it still wasn’t enough... I wasn’t strong enough...” Luna’s mood fell again and the princess looked on the verge of tears.

Celestia saw several semi-deflated balloons buoying at the foot of her bed, and the smell of flowers drew her attention to a basket of dying daisies next to her.

“Who brought these?”

“T-Twilight and her friends came to check on you yesterday. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy thought that they would c-cheer you up when you woke up.”

“It would make me happier to see them gone.”

Princess Celestia was returned back to her castle later, assuring Luna she would raise the sun as soon as she woke up. The alicorn was short-tempered with the ponies in the palace that greeted her return and snapped at them without provocation. Luna was astonished by her sister’s hostility, and thoughts of Celestia’s unnerving attitude prior to her hospitalization pushed their way to the front of her mind. Perhaps a visit from Twilight would remedy her mood, but until then the princess of the night would keep a closer eye on her.

Celestia examined herself in a mirror and snorted in displeasure. She obviously received inadequate care while in the infirmary, clearly evident by how pale she appeared; even her glorious mane looked gray. Other ponies might tolerate that sort of shoddy treatment, but she was a princess, and it didn’t seem outrageous to ask to be treated as such. A small voice in the back of her head suggested that things would be better in the morning, and Celestia retired to her room.

They all must have been terrified for her, Celestia considered as she lied down to sleep. Without any warning, Equestria had been left without its ruler and the vital sunlight she brought them. Crops wouldn’t grow correctly, nocturnal animals were most likely disturbed by the strange night, and it wouldn’t surprise her if she was told that ponies had accused Luna of trying to stage another coup.

But when she thought back to her own experiences over the last three days, reliving the best, worst, and most exciting days of her life. All things considered, Celestia thought, she had no regrets.