I'll keep singing songs to the birds, until you return.
For all intents and purposes, life returned to normal following this event. I could only assume Vorjhan had used his new freedom to explore the world which Rose had created. Morrow, not Rose anymore, I had to keep reminding myself. She was still, on the outside at least, the same pony that I loved from our beginnings of life, save for a slight diminish in the shine of her coat. Her mannerisms, though, had changed.
As our newest foal grew in her womb, courtesy of Vorjhan, she grew more irritable. She'd never been this way during any of her other pregnancies. She snapped at the other foals if they got up to mischief, or approached her when she wished to be alone.
Even I was unable to comfort her at times. She would shrug off my advances and stew in her own thoughts. She created far less frequently. She would even go for periods without eating. I knew it couldn't be healthy for her, or our alicorn filly relying on her mother's increased nutritional requirements.
Vorjhan did something to her.
It was the only explanation that seemed reasonable. For what he promised to deliver us with the upcoming birth of Celestia's supposed "equal," it felt like it had come at a significant cost. I could feel how different Rose’s nature had become since she renamed herself. Her heart was no longer fully into creating a beautiful word. What she did create lacked the same shine as before. I found myself wandering near the Neverbloom bush more and more often, contemplating.
What were your intentions for this odd flower? They remained shining, but drooping. Unlike the other plants and animals, they seemed to require no light or nourishment of any kind to endure. They simply remained in a state of stasis.
At times like these, Celestia could always be depended on to cheer me up. Sometimes, it felt like she was my second sun. She always knew how to make me smile. Whether it was by bringing me a platter of my favourite quinces, or telling me about her latest grand adventure exploring mother's deep forest, or simply just wrapping her wings around me and holding me in a warm enveloping hug. She was not so naive that she failed notice the change in her mother. She simply chose to not dwell on the matter and looked excitedly to the future instead. To the birth of her new baby sister.
A morality issue began plaguing my mind after a while. Vorjhan had allowed our future daughter to exist, but at the cost of an innocent life. I hadn't even considered it at the time, still shocked by what had been happening before my eyes. But now that I had time, I had to wonder. What right had he, to remove Celestia's double from the world like that? Even if she did lead to the creation of a true sister for Celestia? Was she even a real pony like the rest of us? Was she an illusion? Could I, or should I have considered her real in any sense? The thoughts nibbled at me like the fish in the streams nibbled at the reeds.
Celestia would, of course, tell me not to worry about it. She herself was feeling much more comfortable at the prospect of having a true sister, rather than to simply have another "her" running around. I understood her point of view, yet I remained uneasy.
Was it another life, or wasn't it? How would the foal be born? What kind of attitude would she have? Would she grow up to be as wholesome as my perfect Celestia, or would there be something... less pure about her? It made my head hurt thinking about every possible scenario.
* * * * *
We could have laughed, and cried, and dreamed our nights away.
The day finally came to pass when, after an extended pregnancy, Morrow gave birth to our newest precious herd member. We had no idea what to expect from her. I wondered myself, as I had for over a year. When she finally arrived, nopony was prepared for it.
She was the first of our ilk to be coated in a regal, midnight blue. The rest of us were simply varying shades of white to brown, with shades of white and blonde manes. Celestia, with her white coat and pink-pigmented mane, was the only exception. Not only was Luna's coat dark blue, her mane and tail shared the colour, albeit a lighter shade. That wasn't the only surprise that came with her birth, though. We'd known that she would be born an alicorn, and so expected her to be of a decent size as Celestia had been. She was tiny. Barely as large as our smallest regular foal had been, as if she had been stunted halfway through development.
The next surprise came not from our little filly, but from Morrow herself. Her demeanour changed. Seeing her new foal for the first time, she seemed to rediscover part of who she had once been. She became more like Rose, once again. Happily, we both gazed upon our gorgeous little blessing. A true sister to our perfect, darling Celestia. We named her Luna.
Luna may have been small, but she was in no way limited in power. I could feel the untapped potential in her. I wondered if one day she would be as powerful, or even more powerful than Celestia. The fact that she had been created by Vorjhan worried me, though. While Luna’s birth was certainly a blessing, that did not mean I could trust everything about Vorjhan’s gift. Despite this, I resolved to love my daughter just as she deserved, though never to let my guard down around her. Even with Rose seemingly returned to normal, I could not take Vorjhan’s gift at face value.
* * * * *
At the end of it all is only a teardrop to remember you by.
Many years later, Morrow’s and my own herd numbered into the hundreds. The ponies that populated the herd today were now not only our original foals, but also grand-fillies and grand-colts. Interestingly, since Luna's birth, they'd begun to have multi-coloured coats and manes. Greens, purples, pinks and blues... we even had a rainbow-maned colt. I could only assume that this was a lingering effect of Vorjhan's magic on Morrow. Morrow could not be prouder of our herd. Each of our children had grown up. Luna, in particular, had successfully alleviated our fears by growing to a size just shy of Celestia.
They had also begun to put their special talents to use. Some, mostly the earth ponies, were more gifted in cultivating the land and growing flowers and seedlings. Others—mostly our pegasi offspring, but a small number of unicorns too—had learned to control the weather, bringing rainclouds specifically where they were needed and even bringing about the change of seasons. Special marks now appeared on their flanks—marks unique to each pony—upon discovering something they were exceptionally talented at.
Our world changed from simply having the sun and moon rotate time and temperature. The forest became overgrown and thick if we left it unchecked for too long, at which point my children would bring colder weather and less rains. Snow, even.
Oh, how they loved to play in the snow. I remember copping a massive snowball to the face one day, after foalishly stepping into the thick of a "battle" between the different races. Celestia and Luna were on a team all by themselves. It was only fair, since they were immensely more powerful than even our most gifted unicorns. It was the most cold, shocking experience I'd ever felt. Still, after I melted the snow off my face and warmed myself up, I could see the humourous side to it.
Everypony had laughed except for Celly, who somehow managed to stifle her own giggle. Luna, who had long-since proven herself as a practical joker—no doubt another piece of Vorjhan showing itself—was laughing her head off louder than anypony. Which was a bit louder than one might expect, as her voice had, at times, the power to shake the very foundations of the Earth and send anything caught within earshot scurrying away.
One night, Luna accidentally frightened one of the younger colts, Starshine. He loved to gaze at the sky after dark and was particularly attached to his dear midnight-blue auntie. On this occasion however, she had slipped into one of his dreams—a talent that she had inherited from her mother—and terrified him with an illusion of us all being driven from our home. In his dream, the forest was twisting itself into something... evil. Plants mutated and tried to ensnare us all. The wolves and lions, once strictly herbivorous like ourselves, began trying to devour us instead. Some animals even merged with each other, becoming more fearsome still.
He also claimed that Luna herself had appeared much darker. "A coat of pure black," he said, "with a shimmering mane and a helmet partially covering her face." But far from these other dream traits, what terrified him the most had been Luna's eyes. He described them as "Cold, dark, with slits for pupils that gave no sign of love and showed only pure malice."
Luna did not deny what she had done when I confronted her, but she appeared incredibly remorseful. She claimed to have "no control" over her actions in that instance, but instead felt "possessed." This served only to confirm my fears that she had been affected by Vorjhan somehow. I implored her to try to stay out of other ponies' dreams in the future, unless she was certain that she could make them better. The poor dear took my words to heart and made it her new mission to help ponies weather their nightmares. She would offer advice in the darkest times, as well as an ethereal shoulder to lean on. I was indescribably proud of her.
That was, until the night I had a dream similar to Starshine's.