Canterlot Palace Throne Room
April 15, 9:09 AM
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been here before. It wasn’t the splendor of the hall, or the grandeur of the throne, or the glory of the one sitting on it. By now, it was all a familiar scene.
And yet, it was entirely different.
“I…I’m sorry, what?” Sky stammered, trying to wrap his mind around the statement. He was donned in the bright golden armor of the palace guards, which would have lent itself to his stern appearance had it not been for the flabbergasted look on his face. “Princess Celestia, are…are you asking me for advice?”
Before him, the Solar Princess rose from her throne like the sun rose over the horizon at the dawn. As she descended the stairs to where he stood, he could feel his muscles tense. Over the past year, during his service in the Alicorn Guard, he had gained a new respect for the power and elegance of Princess Celestia. He had thought he had known her. He had thought he knew how powerful she was. He had thought he knew all about her benevolent reign over Equestria over the last thousand years.
He thought wrong.
The history of Equestria had unfolded before him during his studies, revealing a long and bloody past, filled with war and strife. Peace had been a fleeting comfort, and as one war came to a close, another was right on its heels. Fortresses had risen and fallen. Armies had assembled and been scattered. Cities had been laid waste. Landscapes had been changed in the wake of conflicts that rent the earth.
And in the midst of it all, the stories told of the terrible wrath of Celestia, as her magic shook the mountains and smote entire civilizations with paralyzing fear. She was a mighty warlord; a relentless warrior who gave her enemy no respite and little mercy. Tales gathered from other nations spoke of her arrival on the battlefield as being accompanied by raging storm clouds that rained fire. Others stated that she could open great fissures in the earth to swallow entire armies that opposed her. And others claimed that her gaze was enough to cause her enemies to burst into flame, or, at the very least, flee in madness.
Glad that she’s mellowed out a bit.
At last, within the last two hundred years, a long-awaited peace had fallen upon the land of Equestria. Celestia returned to her throne upon Canterlot, and the neighboring nations sent emissaries to her to broker deals and treaties to ensure that the newfound peace would last. None wished to see the return of the mighty Goddess of the Sun.
The peace did last. And the lands prospered. The great champion Celestia put away her sword and put on her crown. No more would she conquer. Now she would rule.
And now, that same powerful warrior of ages past stood before him, staring at him with concerned eyes. Those same eyes that had caused generals of lesser nations to tremble in fear now silently pleaded with him to help her.
“I am concerned for my sister, Luna,” Celestia explained, snapping Sky back to the present. She turned to a nearby wall, where a mural of the sun and moon hung over a closed doorway. “I cannot help but notice that she has grown quiet and unsociable—more so than usual.”
She slowly lowered her eyes from the mural, passing by where Sky stood anxiously, until her gaze was fixed firmly on the long red carpet beneath her hooves. “I do not want to make the same mistake I made a thousand years ago, Sky Streak,” she continued softly. “Back then, I did not see the signs. I failed to understand the jealousy and anger that arose in my sister’s heart. It was because of my ignorance that I had to banish her to the moon. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.”
Sky watched as a sparkling tear fell from Celestia’s face to the plush carpet below. “And how can I help, Your Highness?” he asked, suddenly finding his voice.
Celestia looked up at the pale blue pegasus. “You have always been fond of my sister, just as she has always spoken well of you. I wonder if she has mentioned anything to you that may be on her mind and causing her to seem a bit…depressed.”
Sky blinked vacantly for a moment as his thoughts slowly began to organize. Between regular guard duty, the strenuous exercises required by the Alicorn Guard along with the tasks that they performed, and his personal time (usually spent with Lily), he had found it increasingly difficult to remember anything for long. But as his mind managed to sift through his memories, he found himself hearing the voice of Princess Luna from last summer, when she revealed the truth of their first meeting.
“As for that pegasus…I do not know of his fate. I have yet to find the courage to ask my sister whatever became of him.”
“I think,” he began, “that she is dwelling on her past.”
“In what way?” Celestia pressed.
“Last summer, right after my acceptance into the Alicorn Guard, she explained to me the real reason she approached me that first night we met.” He shifted nervously. “She told me about this pegasus she knew long ago, before her time on the moon. She said that he had been willing to do anything for her, and that just before she fought you, that she had sent him to start a rebellion in Equestria. She never found out what happened to him, and I think she feels guilty about how her actions led him down that path,” he said. Somehow, telling Celestia all this without Luna here felt uncomfortably like going behind her back.
But to his surprise, Celestia’s frown broke into a wide smile, followed by a gleeful giggle. “Is that all?” she asked, making no attempt to hide her sudden happiness. “Oh, Sky Streak, if that is all, then I can put Luna’s fears and guilt to rest.” She turned and gleefully trotted back to her throne. “His name was Storm Emblem.”
“Storm Emblem…” Sky echoed.
“And it is true, that he went and attempted to start an uprising against me. But after Luna’s…exile,” she managed after a moment’s hesitation, “he disappeared, trying to hide away in the wilds of Equestria. But it was not long before he was found and brought to me. He was proud and fiercely loyal to my sister, but I could tell that he had not been twisted to evil as Nightmare Moon had been. I pardoned him, granting him the opportunity to start a new life. He accepted this and went to live in the area of what is now Vanhoover. And all indications were that he lived a happy life. He got married, had children, and lived out his days in peace. Luna has no need to burden herself with guilt about his fate.”
Sky had slowly perked up as Celestia had spoken, and now he was nearly as giddy as she was. “That’s great!” he exclaimed. Then, almost comically, he attempted to compose himself. “Oh, uh, I mean, that’s excellent news.”
Celestia brought a hoof to her mouth as a she chuckled lightly. “Sky Streak, there is no need to hide your enthusiasm. We both know how close you are to my sister, so it is only natural that you would be excited to hear that her grief can be so easily handled. And as such,” she continued as she came alongside the armored pegasus, “I think it appropriate that we take care of it now. Would you care to join me?”
An all-too-familiar grin flashed across his face as he turned and walked with the princess. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Sister? Are you in there?” Celestia asked through the closed door.
The grand entrance into Luna’s chamber was adorned with many lovely jewels and trimmed with silver etchings that glistened in a light all their own. Sky had passed this door many times while on guard duty over the past year, but he had never seen inside. He braced himself for what he would find within.
From behind the door, the muffled but unmistakable voice of Princess Luna floated to them. “Yes, I am in here, Tia.”
Celestia eyed the door as Luna spoke, then turned to face Sky as she responded. “I’ve brought a friend of yours with me, and we’d like to talk to you. Is it alright if we come in?” she asked with a distinct cheerfulness in her voice.
A moment quietly passed before there was the sound of a click as one of the doors opened. “You may enter,” Luna said clearly, her voice now unhindered by the doors.
Celestia gave Sky an assuring nod before turning and entering. He gulped nervously. I’ve faced the Everfree Forest, an army of windigoes, and a Chimera. And I’ve still never been as nervous as I am about entering the chambers of Princess Luna. With a deep, calming breath, he strode into the room.
It was surprisingly bright within: the walls were a glossy blue color and were studded with colorless gemstones that broke and scattered the light throughout the room. The many windows were open, and a cool breeze seemed to blow, though the curtains did not move. Ornaments and mobiles were scattered around the room, hanging from fixtures that caught and reflected the light even more. In fact, the whole scene seemed to Sky to be point in space, where the lights of a billion stars glittered all around him.
Across the room, on a canopied day bed, Princess Luna sat facing away from her two guests, gazing out one of the many windows. In the silken curtains running across the canopy, emblems of the moon and sun surrounded the Equestrian crest. The sight caused Sky’s heart to swell with pride. That’s how it’s supposed to be. The sun and the moon both belong. They work together.
Luna slowly turned to acknowledge her guests, and her eyes lit up as she recognized Sky. “Oh, Bli—I mean, Sky Streak, I didn’t realize it was you.” She rose and approached the pair with typical grace. “What can I do for you?”
Sky bowed his head respectfully as Celestia answered. “Luna, I’m worried about you. You’ve been isolating yourself and acting rather…well, gloomy. Won’t you tell me what’s on your mind?”
Luna frowned but kept her eyes fixed on the blue pegasus before her. “I do not think you will truly need the answer if you have brought Sky with you,” she responded. “He knows what has been weighing on my mind.”
His heart began to race, and he bit his lip in apprehension. “Then you are thinking of Storm Emblem?” Celestia pressed.
Luna whipped her head around and grimaced as though she had just taken a hoof to the nose. The pain and grief of a thousand years was so evident on her face that Sky could have sworn his heart shattered from pity. It took every ounce of his will to keep his hooves from carrying him to her side and taking her in a reassuring embrace.
However, all the willpower in Equestria would not have been able to hold back the flood of apologies that spilled from his mouth. “I’m sorry, Princess Luna! Please don’t be upset. We’re just worried about you. And Princess Celestia knows what happened to him! It’s not bad! Everything turned out alright!”
He was ready to continue, but the voice of Princess Celestia cut him off. “Thank you, Sky Streak,” she said simply before turning her attention back to her younger sibling. “But he is right, sister. Storm Emblem was granted a pardon not long after the rebellion, and he lived out his days happily with a family in the northwest corner of Equestria. You do not need to concern yourself with his fate.”
Sky looked eagerly to Luna, hoping to see a positive change. And indeed, she took a deep breath and began to walk forward again, but her head hung limply and her steps were slow and lethargic. “I thank you for telling me this,” she began, her voice so soft that Sky had to strain to catch every word. “To know that he ended his days peacefully means a great deal to me.
“But that does little to relieve my worry about the results of my actions.”
Sky raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Princess Luna?”
“The truth of the matter remains that I caused great pain and suffering to hundreds upon hundreds of ponies across Equestria during that time,” Luna continued. “And while my thoughts have many times turned to Storm Emblem and what became of him, I cannot ignore the fact that there were multitudes of ponies that may not have had such a pleasant end.”
“Princess Luna, that was a thousand years ago,” Sky protested. “You’re not the same pony now. I don’t see how something like that should affect the here and now.” He looked up to Celestia for support. But instead of a supporting gaze, her eyes were glassy and filled with tears. For a moment, Sky thought he saw visions of unfamiliar memories: a clear yet dark sky, the moon blotting out the sun, a castle engulfed in flames, and two alicorns, one as dark as the deepest pit in the dead of night, and the other bright as the sun at high noon. He heard a loud scream and saw a bright flash of brilliant color. And as he did, he felt the sudden crushing weight of many centuries’ worth of sorrow and regret.
His breath was snatched away as he reeled from the wave of emotion. But almost as quickly as it had arrived, the feeling was gone, leaving him back in the sparkling room that he had been in mere moments before. He brought a hoof to his head as he tried to work the cobwebs from his mind. He slowly opened an eye.
Two alicorns stood opposite one another, just as he had seen. One dark like the night, and the other as bright as the day. But now, they were not combatants; he knew that. No, now he understood: they were both victims. Victims of their past, haunted by the terrible choices they made and the actions that came as a result of those choices. They shared their sadness and grief between them.
Sky suddenly felt very out-of-place in the presence of the two princesses. He slowly began to back towards the door when Celestia called out to him. “Sky Streak, where are you going?” she asked without casting even a glance in his direction.
“Oh, uh, well, I was kinda feeling like the odd pony out here, so I thought I’d excuse myself…you know, in case you wanted some privacy,” he replied sheepishly.
“I ask that you remain here, for just a few more minutes,” she said in an even tone. Even though her speech was courteous, Sky knew that it was more of a direct command than a request. He quickly returned to her side.
“Luna, we both have regrets about our past. But it was one thousand years ago. This is a new age of Equestria. Can you not move beyond the mistakes of so long ago?” Celestia pleaded.
Luna sighed, never looking up. “My sister, it may have been one thousand years ago, or it could have been last year. The truth remains that I betrayed the trust of everypony in this land. And no amount of time can change that simple truth. I am a traitor. And as such, I have no right to rule over Equestria, either alone or beside you.”
Sky gasped in shock, but never managed to utter a word. “Luna, I have forgiven you. And there are ponies all across Equestria that love you and would not hesitate to do anything for you, including this one here,” Celestia said, laying a wing across Sky’s back. “They do not view you as a traitor, but as their beloved princess, whom they trust and follow.”
Luna turned back to the window, finally raising her head to gaze out into the bright sunshine. “I am sorry, sister,” she began. Sky caught the sun reflecting off the wet streaks upon her cheek. “Perhaps you are right. But the past clouds my vision, and I can see little without seeing the face of somepony that suffered in that terrible conflict so long ago. Maybe in time I will find a way to move beyond that, but that time is not now.”
Celestia nodded. “I understand, Luna,” she said softly. “If you ever need to talk, you know you can come to me. Come along, Sky Streak,” she added, turning and walking toward the door.
Sky hesitated just long enough to catch Luna’s eye. He held it for a split second before bowing. “Princess Luna,” he said before turning to follow Princess Celestia.
As he exited the room, he saw Celestia’s glowing horn close the door behind him. “Thank you for coming with me, Sky. I now better understand what Luna is going through.”
“Princess, did you let me see—”
“Just a moment, Sky,” Celestia interrupted. “Let’s move out of earshot. We can return to the throne room now.”
They passed through several hallways before Sky began again. “So, I saw a vision back there of you and Nightmare Moon. Did you show that to me?”
“Yes,” she answered. “You needed to understand what was going on between us. It is so much more than you can read in any history book. Luna and I share the grief and pain of those dark times. The fact that she is reliving those days now makes my heart ache. I wish she could move past that, but I can understand where she is coming from. She is displaying a great amount of maturity to recognize her mistakes and accept the responsibility for them, but she lacks the wisdom and experience to know how to let them go.” She paused for a moment and turned an appraising eye to Sky. “And that is where you come in.”
Sky lurched forward as Celestia’s statement caught him off-guard. “I’m sorry, what?” he said as he stumbled, attempting to steady himself.
“Luna sees you quite uniquely, Sky,” Celestia explained. “You told me that the real reason she approached you that first night was because of Storm Emblem. I can only interpret that as meaning that you remind her of him?”
Sky straightened up, having once again gotten his hooves beneath him. “Yes, that’s right,” he answered. “She told me that I was very much like him, and that it was her desire to honor his memory by helping me avoid the same tragedy.”
Celestia turned her gaze to the hallway ahead of them as she continued. “I thought as much. And she’s right; you are very much like him.”
He looked curiously at the princess, but she made no other remarks about his ancient doppelganger. “But this tells me something: Luna takes your accomplishments and deeds very much to heart. Every success you have will lift her spirits, and every failure will bring great disappointment. I don’t know if she ever told you, but it was she that convinced the Council to send you to the Everfree Forest.”
Sky raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really?” he mumbled to himself.
“She was your most outspoken supporter. She spoke many times to have us send you on difficult missions because she thought you were capable of handling them. And even after your defeat in the Painted Forest, Luna never lost faith in you. Perhaps it is because you both share so much in common. I saw it that night that you vanquished the Chimera. When she spoke to you about facing your darkness, I could feel the power she put into her words. She knew you would win, and she knew how to get you past your apprehension. And now, I think you are the solution to Luna’s depression.”
Sky narrowed his eyes as he looked to Celestia. “How?”
Celestia’s brow furrowed. “The evil you faced before is not dead, Sky. It is merely patient.”
It was a memory he had not forgotten. He would probably never forget it. There, in his moment of greatest triumph, as he watched his archenemy dissolve into nothingness, it had boldly looked him in the eye and laughed, telling him that a great source of hatred still existed within Equestria. And as long as hatred was alive, the monster would never truly be defeated.
“The Chimera,” he muttered. “You think that it has something to do with Luna’s depression?”
But Celestia shook her head, causing her mane to ripple as it flowed beside her. “No, but I do think that it can be used to help Luna.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Luna takes pride in your accomplishments, and she knows as well as I do of the Chimera’s last warning. If you can find this source of hatred and eliminate it, your victory may be enough to pull Luna out of this mood.”
“But there hasn’t been any indication of any concentration of hatred of any kind for the last year,” Sky protested. “We haven’t got a lead at all.”
“Which is why I said that it is patient,” Celestia replied, adjusting her wings against her body. “But just because we do not know where it is does not mean that it cannot be felt. Just as the positive emotions and qualities of ponies can power magic, negative emotions can do the same. And anger of that kind leaves a very distinct…mark.”
“Meaning…?”
“Just like how you could feel the Chimera, I can sense the animosity moving. It’s growing; preparing to act. But there’s more than that. Luna has mentioned nothing of this, and neither has Cadance, Discord, or even Twilight.”
Sky grimaced at the mention of Discord. It had not been so long ago that his friends from Ponyville had released him from stone at the behest of Princess Celestia herself. After a week or so, Discord returned to Canterlot, claiming to have been “reformed.” But ever since his initial attempt to cast Equestria into a new age of chaos, Sky had been wary of Discord and his supposed “conversion.”
He moved the thought to another corner of his mind, returning to the matter at hoof. “So?”
“You were the only one able to sense the Chimera, correct?” Celestia asked.
“As far as I know,” Sky said. “But what does that have to do with this?”
“I believe that you were able to feel the Chimera because you were the object of its animosity. Its attacks were mostly directed at you, and as a result, you were connected to it, however marginally.”
“Wait,” Sky said, eyes widening as he suddenly caught on. “You think that since you are the only one that can sense this hatred, that you are its target?”
“I do.”
A ripple of magic ran along his wings as they flexed. “Oh, nuh-uh, not happening. Not on my watch. If anything wants to get at you, it has to get by me first.”
“I don’t think you will have to worry about that, Sky,” Celestia replied softly. “I think it has its eyes set on you, too.”
“Good!” he exclaimed. “I’d like to meet this pony, so I can teach him a lesson about threatening one of the princesses of Equestria.”
A large white wing flapped open in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. As it retracted, he saw that Celestia had moved directly in front of him, staring him in the face and looking more serious than he could ever remember.
“Sky, listen to me. The Chimera told you that this hatred could bring it back. What if the same source of anger was what brought the Chimera in the first place?”
“Hang on,” Sky said as a new realization hit him. “You mean the Chimera and this pony might have been working together?” He bristled at the thought. How could any halfway-decent pony even stand to be around such an abomination, much less work with it?
Celestia nodded. “And if that’s the case, then this pony already knows everything about you. It knows your strengths, your weaknesses…and the identities of those you care about.”
The color began to drain from Sky’s face almost as soon as the words reached his ears. “Lily…my family…all my friends…” His mind reeled as he fell back on his haunches. “Princess, we’ve got to do something!”
Celestia sighed. “Calm down, Sky. I’ve wondered about this for some time, so I have instructed several guards to keep a close eye on your family in Foalumbus, as well as Lily Pond here in Canterlot. There have been no incidents, but I do not want to risk anything.”
Sky’s heart began to slow down as he tried to calm himself. “Thank you, Princess. You’re always looking out for me, aren’t you?”
“I try. But this is now urgent on two fronts,” she continued, redirecting the conversation back to its original track. “Evil is on the move again, and if it carries a vendetta, then it may strike at both of us. But also, if you can defeat it for good this time, it may be just the thing my sister needs to recover from this depression.”
“One job, two reasons,” Sky said contemplatively. “Guess I’ve got my work cut out for me. Where do I begin?”
“Just be alert. If you feel something peculiar, pay attention to it. If my guess is correct, then you are a target of this thing just as much as I am. Which will hopefully mean that you will be able to feel it, too. Also, do not tell any of this to anypony else. The Chimera caused enough of a panic in its first coming. I can only imagine what would happen if word got out that it might return,” Celestia added.
“I understand,” he said with a nod.
“Now, I think you had best be on your way,” Celestia commented, looking out a nearby window. “I wouldn’t want you to be late again for your meeting…Blitz.”
Sky looked in all directions to make sure that no pony was nearby. Seeing nothing, he leveled his eyes and smirked. “Thank you, Solace,” he answered quietly. Then, with a bow, he took off down an adjacent hallway.
The evil is growing.
The thought lodged in his brain like a splinter as he raced along the corridors of the palace. It was a constant, uncomfortable reminder of a much larger problem somewhere in Equestria. And yet again, he had been tasked with the unenviable chore of defeating it.
Well, he thought to himself, who else?