Beginning
Once upon a time, a captain and a princess fell in love. Their love was so powerful and strong, that it drew the attention of a power-lusting Changling Queen. In her greed, she bound the princess to a prison, and the captain to a web of lies. The Changling Queen plotted, manipulated, and deceived, until her grand chess game of power was nearly complete. Until, that is, one lilac unicorn threw one massive monkey wrench into it all. Even though it was not, perhaps, with the most noble of intentions, the captain’s younger sister ended up destroying all of the Queen Chrysalis’s ambitions. With a single motion, Twilight Sparkle toppled all of Chrysalis machinations- By simply freeing the young Princess of Love. Bride and groom reunited in a tearful embrace, and the darkness of Chrysalis’s greed was banished from the land with the brilliant light of love’s candle.
Or so everyone thought.
For it seemed that everything in Equestria had been peaceful since the rather impressive, if somewhat clichéd, eviction of the changlings. Parties had been had, celebrations held, and many a hangover cursed. Life had been going on as it always had, with the sun and moon directing time’s wheel through their paths across the sky… Until the evening upon which our story truly begins, when the sky darkened with the suns early dimming, and the last trace of Chrysalis’s darkness was discovered.
Luna was struggling not to panic. The fact that she was maintaining a slow and regal pace as she wound her way through the maze-like halls of the palace, was a feat in and of itself. Teal eyes flickered first at one of the ornate clocks standing peacefully in the corner of a tea room, and then out the window just behind a stoic guard’s head. It was only three in the afternoon, and yet her sister’s usually glowing sun had dimmed to a bloody red, and was brushing the horizon, as if it was far too eager to go back to bed for the day. The amusing image did nothing to ease Luna’s anxieties, and she slowly quickened her pace as the door to the Solar Tower came into view.
Crystal horseshoes clicked against polished marble as the Lunar Princess fought against every nerve in her body to not gallop up the grand staircase, throw her sister’s door open, and demand what the matter was.
Perhaps Tia is just playing a little joke on everypony. Luna said to herself, trying to ease the sense of doom that was slowly cracking her practiced composure. It would be like her, after all. To have some fun when she isn’t feeling well to make everypony relax and laugh again. She’s done that to us plenty of times. A small smile flitted across the dark alicorn’s face as she remembered the time that Celestia had dyed her mane black and declared that she had caught vampireitis when Luna had been freaking about the old mare’s tale back when they were fillies. The dye had, of course, washed out the minute it rained, and she could still remember how her elder’s sister white fur had slowly streaked with various shades of grey as her mane quickly returned to pink even as it matted and stuck to her soaked body. The rather comical sight had done wonders for the younger sister’s nightmares.
Feeling a little more optimistic about the current situation, Luna took in a slow deep breath as she reached the top of the stairs, with only the pastel wooden door standing in between her and Celestia’s room. She exhaled quietly, straightened her back once more, and pushed the door open with a flicker of magic.
Luna blinked in bemusement as she stepped through the doorframe and into her elder sister’s room. Usually the brilliantly painted walls, cascading crystal chandeliers, and glowing windows would have the Sun Princess’s private quarters the brightest room in the castle. Today however, rather than the light, Luna’s eyes were instead quickly adjusting to the dark grey gloom that seemed to fill the area. The growing darkness was more noticeable than ever now.
“Luna…”
A weak voice, soft and barely audible, stopped the younger princess in her tracks. She had been about to pull the curtains open to see where the sun was resting now, and to bring some warmth back into the room, but now her ears were swiveling in disbelief. Although no-one other than an alicorn would have been able to hear the call, let alone identify it; Luna had heard it quite clearly, and even as panic returned to her eyes, she refused to believe that it could have come from her sister. Slowly, she turned to face the source.
“T-tia?” Her voice betrayed her false act of composure, coming out as a squeak as panic tightened its cursed claws around her throat. Swallowing once, twice, Luna found her voice again as she carefully stepped towards the large bed that stood in the centre of the room. “Is everything alright, Sister?”
Although she didn’t get a reply, Luna got her answer all the same as her eyes finished adjusting, and she took in the scene before her.
Celestia laid sprawled across her bed, sheets and blankets crumpled beneath her, as if she had simply collapsed there and found herself too tired to move herself or the bedding into a more comfortable arrangement. Her mane’s usually brilliant colors had dimmed, and was lying as flat and still as an otherwise colourful blanket. Upon hearing Luna’s question, the elder alicorn had moved as if to sit more upright, just to find all her bones turned to lead and to collapse once more into her previous position after a moment’s struggle.
With this, composure and regality were thrown quite thoroughly to the wind, as Luna galloped up to her sister’s bed, and pressed her muzzle to Celestia’s head. Her sister’s solar magic usually had her body temperature riding a few degrees above a normal pony’s. Now, however, Celestia felt undeniably cold. Luna struggled against another wave of panic as the implications began to hit.
“I-I thought you said you just had a cold,” Luna stuttered, even as she worked to think through the fog that seemed to be clogging her mind. “H-how did this happen…?”
Celestia gave a weak laugh, a sound somewhat both comforting in its existence, and frightening in its lack of volume.
“There’s…” Celestia’s voice cracked, and she stopped, pausing to swallow and to take a gulp of air, before finishing her sentence in what was almost a wistful sigh, “There’s a reason why in the days we held the Elements… You were the one that held Honesty.”
Luna blinked, at first not understanding what she was saying, and refusing to let herself wonder why her sister’s voice was holding such a nostalgic tone. Then through the fog, with the darkest of epiphanies, she realized what Celestia meant behind the old memory’s mention. Luna took a small step back, shaking her head in silent denial, panic tightening its grip around her throat, as her eyes unwillingly filling with tears.
As if she was taking cue from Luna’s dark realization, Celestia’s eyes slid shut, and a sad smile crossed the white alicorn’s face.
“I’m a terrible liar at times, aren’t I?”
“T-tia, why-?”
Luna had barely gotten her question out when Celestia’s soft voice cut her more cleanly off than any shout could.
“I just… Didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily. Even I thought it was nothing more than a cold at first… And by the time I realized…”
“Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Celestia winced at the anger of betrayal that filled every word of Luna’s choked out shout. She let the question hang in the air for a long moment as she struggled to find the words to answer it properly. Then, she smiled slightly, as an old and beloved quote came to mind.
“If you can solve your problem, then what is the point of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?” Celestia asked softly, smiling as a look of confusion replaced the anger in Luna’s features. A soft chuckle escaped the elder’s lips as another memory arose. “You used to love that saying when you were little. Yet it seems that we’ve forgotten it in the past few centuries, haven’t we, Luna?”
Luna didn’t know how to respond. Her mind was still wheeling, trying to understand, sometimes just trying to find a way through the fog that even now was present. Swallowing, she mimicked her sister’s small smile, and tried to hold her voice steady as she asked the question that had brought her to this spot to begin with.
“What is the problem though, Tia? I cannot help you solve it if I do not know what it is…” She found herself unable to continue as she caught the look in her sister’s eyes.
“Lulu, you know as well as I do… that this time, it is the second one.”
No. Luna stepped back again, finding herself shaking her head once more. She refused to believe it. There was always an answer. There was always a plan.
Celestia hated seeing the look of fear and denial that had settled across her little sister’s face. This was exactly what she had been trying so very hard to avoid.
“You deserve to know what is happening though… and I promise that I’ll explain it all now… I just-” Tia stopped, cutting herself off with a sigh. She knew she was just rambling at this point, and tried to pull her mind back to the problem at hand. Back to what needed to be done. “I need your help Luna.”
“Of course! Whatever you need!” Of course her sister had a plan! Luna almost felt silly for doubting her now, she should have known that Celestia always-
Tia had winced at the hope in her voice.
-Always-
Celestia held a look of steel as ice covered words were spoken.
-Had-
“I need you to help me create the Rejal Medallions.”
- a plan…
“W-what?”
“I can’t keep the spell steady by myself while creating them. I need you to keep the magic stabilized.” Celestia stated simply, forcing herself to stare straight past Luna at the white tome that was sitting on her bookshelf across the room. She refused to meet her sister’s eyes.
Luna’s heart was sinking through the floor. A Rejal Medallion, in short, was a portion of an alicorn’s essence and magic condensed into a single crystallized drop of blood. It would then bestow the partial powers and form of the alicorn onto whoever was granted to be its bearer. For Celestia to want to make them now, when she was already so weakened…
“W-what?” She was spluttering, demanding an answer- “Why?!”
An answer she already knew.
“I’m dying, Luna.”
Three words; Spoken as calmly as a comment on a early spring rain. Three, short, simple words, that caused the Ruler of Dreams and Nightmares, the Lunar Princess, to forget how to breathe for one long minute.
“N-n-no…” Luna gasped, as her lungs recalled their function, “No, that is impossible! You are immortal! The only things that can even hurt you are Celestial Weapons and… Black… Magic...” Her voice failed her, fading off into silence as the last piece slid into place.
“…You are cursed…” It came out as a horrified whisper, the last straw of her composure shattering under the realization of everything it meant. Unable to hold them back any longer, tears rolled down her cheeks, leaving behind black streaks through her dark fur.
Celestia somehow found something funny in the realization, or perhaps she was merely trying to ease her little sister’s tears with the soft laugh she knew so well.
“Chrysalis was more spiteful than I expected,” she chuckled gently. “At least, she won’t have the power to harm anypony else now.”
Silence hung in the air, the only noise Luna’s almost inaudible sobs. Slowly, Celestia’s own fragile smile broke, and she closed her eyes as she bit back a choked sob of her own.
“I’m sorry, Luna. I’m so sorry. I’ve already tried everything…”
Luna wanted to snap, to deny it, to reject everything she was hearing. However, whether she was too strong or too cowardly, she found herself unable to do so. Instead, she let the tears fall, and gave into the truth. For a moment, it felt like falling into despair. Yet, at the bottom, she felt steel, the strength that had pulled her through many a battle, and would pull her through this as well. If there were no answers left, then as always…
“What is your plan?”
The quiet question brought Celestia’s own fragile smile back. It was somehow encouraging.
“I wish for Twilight and her friends to take my place. The Elements have aligned with them in a greater way than they ever did with us. I can not think of anyone better…”
Here, both of the royal sisters indulged in a bitter smile, but it was the elder that put voice to the reason.
“After all, I know you, Luna. You won’t be able to do this alone, not for a long time yet.”
Luna nodded, somehow finding a way to give her sister an honest smile. They both knew that she wouldn’t be able to rule as a Queen should, not for centuries from now. Until then, she would be too absorbed in grief and rage. Perhaps it was the mental image of Nightmare Moon tearing apart Chrysalis and her entire hive that was making Luna feel as if she could laugh despite it all.
The two sisters met each other’s eyes, and shared one more smile together. Then, Luna took a deep breath as she strode forward, her magic already rising up to help make the six Rejal Medallions that were required.
Arcane magic filled the room, tinting the grey gloom shining shades of blue and gold. As the spell began to form, Luna was surprised by how easily she could hold the threads of magic still. The spell was so simple, despite its power and purpose. The fact that Celestia had been unable to hold them steady herself was yet another unwanted confirmation that her sister was not exaggerating in any way.
The threads vibrated, pulling and tugging as they began to change, the magic forming ancient circles and symbols, brilliant and white in the dim darkness of the room they stood in. Luna could feel the spell quickening, drawing together its purpose in seconds, like an orchestra eager to play.
As the crescendo of the magic began, Celestia smiled sorrowfully as she raised her head, the colors draining from her mane as six teardrops of blood rolled down her cheek. Before they could strike the ground, the spell whisked them up, turning each one into a beautiful red crystal, a single pendant on a chain forged from the energies of magic itself.
The Rejal Medallions were complete, but Luna knew her sister's plans were just beginning.