Celestia, Princess of Equestria and guardian of the sun paced up and down the cloud floor of the room. “How did that spell get into the library of Ponyville?” she all but shouted. “Why was it there and why did we not know it was there?”
The sea green unicorn mare sat in a weird position on a cloud seat. Her back was to the fold of the seat and her rear legs dangling over the front. Her head was up high and she was rubbing her forehoves together nervously. “We are not sure your Highness,” the young unicorn said, trembling.
“Why are we not sure?” Celestia snapped. “We should be sure. Do you know what sort of damage that spell could do?”
“Calm down Tia,” a rather more relaxed voice said.
Celestia rounded on the other occupant of the room. “Calm down?”
The other pony took a sip from the chilled drink sitting on a cloud bobbing to her right and brushed back her fiery orange mane. “Yes, calm down. It is not Miss Heartstrings' fault and I am sure that the Mayor has it all in hoof.”
Celestia paced up to where the orange pegasus was lounging. “Has it all in hoof!? Spitfire, were you not paying attention at the cloudasium? Did you not see those wings!?”
Spitfire shrugged casually. “They were certainly pretty enough but they looked far too fragile for my tastes. All surface and no bracing; they looked as if they would barely take any force at all - probably rip right off first time you tried to pull up out of any sort of dive.”
Celestia suppressed her anger at her friend's casual attitude; she was a flyer pony not a unicorn and she could not be expected to understand. “The wings are a manifestation of the spell.”
Oh by the nightmare that spell, she thought, then turned and snapped at the unicorn. “Lyra, how in all Equestria did this happen.” She noticed that the young mare was trembling but did nothing to reign in her temper.
“Y...Your Hi...Highness,” she stuttered. “The message was relayed to Pinkie Pie that it was essential that all the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony were at the cloudasium for the competition. Pinkie Pie apparently found this spell and Miss Sparkle cast it on Miss Rarity.”
“Why was Pinkie Pie not told specifically what spell to use?” Celestia almost screamed.
“It was not thought necessary. P...P...Pinkie Pie works better with some latitude,” the young mare stuttered.
“Was not necessary! Do you know what that spell can do? How terrible its effects are?”
“No Celestia, as a matter of fact we don't,” Spitfire added calmly. “All it seems to do is give an earth pony or unicorn wings - pretty flimsily wings at that as they seemed to be burnt by merely some strong sunlight. What is so bad about that?”
Celestia took another deep breath. “The sun did not burn up those wings Spitfire. I did - or more to the point I destroyed the spell and made it look like the wings had burnt and even that was not easy. No, that spell does not just give a pony wings it...it...” She waved her forehooves round her head. “It messes with a pony's mind. The wings are just a visible effect of it. The spell takes one of a pony's strong qualities and enlarges it till it starts to occupy their entire world. Did you not see her? Did you not hear her 'look upon me Equestria for I am Rarity?' Could you not see the madness infecting her mind? If we had left her it would not have been long until she was insisting that the world worship her for her beauty. And that was just Rarity - imagine if it had been Twilight.”
Celestia started to pace again. “If Twilight had cast that spell on herself the same things would have happened to her but then...” she slammed the breaks on that train of thought and turned to Lyra again. “Where did that book come from?!” she shouted.
“Celestia, who used that spell before?”
Ponies often underestimated Spitfire Celestia thought, they saw just the classic acrobatic, adrenalin fuelled flyer pony. They forgot that Spitfire was not just a member of the Wonderbolts; she was the team leader. You needed to be able to read ponies in a job like that. You needed to be able to tell if any member of your team was worried or if any had had a falling out. Because if you did not...little mistakes in a flight became big problems in the hospital afterwards. Or worse. Spitfire's comment was a dam in her stream of fear. She lowered her head. “Sun Dancer,” she said softly. “Sun Dancer used it when she went after the Elements of Harmony.”
===
Celestia forced herself through the sky. The air itself was resisting her and her wings did not seem to be working properly. Another tremor shook through her bond with the sun and she screamed again, wings spasming. She felt herself starting to fall when a strong body propped her up. She regained control, righted herself and saw that it had been Night Sky that had steadied her; he was flying on her right with another pegasus on her left.
“Are you sure you are okay to fly Princess?” the worried pegasus asked her.
She shook her head, trying to get a grip on the bond with the sun. “It is getting worse,” she told Night Sky. “But I can manage to fly. Anyway, we cannot afford the time to stop.” Night Sky looked worriedly at her but he did not say anything else. Spread out around them were the rest of the pegasi that were accompanying them. They had been all that Night Sky had been able to gather up when Celestia had called out to him. There was not as many of them as she would have liked, but they had been pressed for time. It had been midday when Celestia had first felt the sharp tug on the magic bond between her and the sun and it had been getting swiftly worse. If they did not get to the source of it soon she did not know if she would be able to set the sun properly without losing control of it. Behind them flew a couple of chariots and a cargo sled, filled with some of the Canterlot guard unicorn ponies and a hurriedly assembled set of supplies. Everypony looked very worried. The goddess of the sun was unwell. This was a crisis.
“Are you sure it is this way?” Night Sky asked.
Celestia nodded - it was impossible to explain how she knew where the disruption was coming from, but she did. “I wish Sun Dancer was here,” he continued. Celestia agreed with him on that one but for different reasons. Oh Sun Dancer, she thought, what has happened? There was a sudden scream of distress from their right. They spun their heads in time to see a young pegasus kicking out at one head of a hydra. The flight had been flying low and the creature had been hiding under the mud of a swamp; now it was using its heads to snap at the pegasi. Suddenly there were hydra heads everywhere as what seemed to be half a dozen more of the beasts reared up out of the waters of the swamp and struck at the ponies.
“Ambush!” Celestia heard Night Sky scream and then she felt a thud as something hit her left flank, knocking her sideways. A hydra head snapped through the sky where she had been, tearing into one of her pegasus guards. Celestia realised that he had seen the hydra and had knocked her out of the way.
“Land the chariots,” somepony ordered, ”they are not agile enough. Flyers form up and stay sharp.”
This was not right, Celestia thought as she kicked out at a hydra head. Hydras were not this intelligent and they were solitary creatures; there was no way that they would work together like this - let alone lay an ambush for a flight of ponies. Celestia dug her wings into the air and sought the open sky - from up here she could see what was going on. There were only four hydra but there were at least a dozen heads snapping and flailing at the ponies. The pegasi had split up into two flights, the first was darting in and out of one of the hydra's necks trying to confuse it while the second was making swift slashing runs at a another. The chariots had landed and the unicorn ponies were making a dash for the trees where the hydra would be unable to easily get at them, some stopping to fling magic at the remaining monsters.
Celestia gritted her teeth and focused her magic. Her horn started to glow and she concentrated on the hydra that was chasing down the unicorns. Usually this sort of thing would have been well within her abilities but the struggle for the sun was taxing her and she struggled to do even this. A matching yellow glow surrounded the hydra and it slowly rose out of the swamp, a confused expression coming over half of its heads. The unicorns, having now reached the tree line, turned and stood, their horns starting to glow, a line of multicoloured lights in the shadow of the trees. The hydra was surrounded by the rainbow nimbus of a multi-unicorn telekinesis spell and was very quickly picked out of the swamp. Its heads snapped at the trees as the combined efforts of her and the Canterlot guard flung it as far away as possible. Celestia let go of it and refocused her magic, she was just starting to lift the next hydra when another tremor hit her. She spasmed, her wings going rigid and useless. Tumbling from the sky she blacked out .
Darkness. A voice filtered through the darkness to her. “You failed Celestia.” The voice was familiar. “You failed and ponies died.” That voice had a gloating quality to it that Celestia thought she recognised.
“Nightmare Moon?” she asked quizzically, a cold chill running through her.
The voice laughed. “No Celestia, I am far more powerful than that foal of a sister of yours. Your time is over Princess. The sun is mine now.”
“Princess?”
Celestia woke with a start and grabbed at her bond with the sun. The pain shot though her but she held on and managed to regain some control over the celestial orb. She opened her eyes. She was sitting on the over-grown floor of the Everfree Forest, dappled sunlight filtering through the trees. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her pegasus and unicorn ponies - there were less of them and most of them where carrying some injury.
Night Sky's face was right next to hers. He broke into a relaxed expression. “Princess you had us worried there for a few minutes.” Celestia climbed slowly to her hooves; she had been worried herself. Her legs wobbled and she could still feel the other presence on the connection with the sun. She was getting weaker; they needed to get to the source soon.
Just then a pegasus darted up to them, flying low and fast he stopped in front of Night Sky. “Two more moving in from the west,” he reported.
Night Sky swore under his breath. “We managed to get away from the hydras by retreating into the forest,” he explained to Celestia. “But now we are being hunted by lupus minors.”
Celestia was shocked. “Star creatures! What are star creatures doing out in the daytime?” Star creatures were one of the more exotic inhabitants of Equestria, they were usually fierce but with their misty bodies and bones made of compressed starlight they where vulnerable to the bright light of the sun
“Hunting us,” Night Sky replied. “Together with manticores and the odd cerberus. Celestia, these are organised, there is some sort of controlling intelligence. We have to get going. Which way Princess?”
Celestia felt at the pain carefully. “That way,” she pointed.
They set off as swiftly as they could manage through the forest, keeping to the ground, not wanting to risk trying to fly through the trees. Celestia was worried she would not have the strength to get airborne and considered riding in one of the chariots, but she decided that she needed to be running. Several times as they galloped she heard the howling of lupus' and the crash of other creatures moving through the forest, but the main party managed to avoid any further fighting. Eventually they arrived at the edge of a ravine; there was a bridge spanning the chasm and on the other side...
“The Castle of the Pony Sisters,” Night Sky said with awe. Celestia nodded it seemed obvious now. Their old castle. The place where three hundred and fifty years ago she had finally confronted the beast that had been her sister. How could they have been going anywhere else?
“Come on,” she told her group. “We do not have long.” Just as she finished speaking another tremor struck her and she fought for control. She heard screaming and as her vision started to dim she saw a large star wolf bound across her vision. Another ambush, she thought, fighting for control must... help... Her vision failed completely as with a scream she lost consciousness.
Darkness and the voice again. “You could have done something Celestia.” She tried to get a focus on the voice - it was frighteningly familiar. “So many ponies died and you could have saved them.”
“When?” she weakly asked the voice.
It gave a harsh grunt “When? When? All the time Celestia. You were weak, you were always weak. When your sister turned you refused to recognise the danger until it was too late and even then you refused to act until it was far too late.”
“She was my sister,” Celestia screamed into the darkness. “I had to try to save her!”
“But you failed and because you failed ponies died and worse. Well no more Celestia. From now on there will be a strong ruler of Equestria.” Celestia felt the voice fade, push her away, down into the darkness. Desperately she tried to fight it but she could not get a grip; her mind was weak and there was no power. Suddenly there was a light. A flame in the darkness. The point of light drifted towards the disembodied essence of Celestia and wrapped itself around her. She felt the fire warm her, burn into her, giving her strength. With one burst she threw off the darkness and the voice.
Darkness. No, she realised, not true darkness this time. It was the non darkness of the inside of your eyes in a bright light. She opened her eyes. The scene in front of her was brilliantly lit. By the bright light she could see the carnage left from the ambush - there were ponies lying all over. Some injured, some definitely beyond help, but there were still a lot of ponies standing. She could see the bodies of star creatures smouldering and evaporating in the harsh light. She raised a hoof to shield her eyes and looked up to see what was causing the light.
“Philomina!” she said in a gasp. There, hovering above the scene of carnage, was her pet phoenix. Philomina seemed to be burning, her every feather a radiant flame. At the sound of her name the phoenix looked down and gave a cry, then glided down and came to rest on Celestia's back. As soon as the bird landed Celestia felt its magic rushing through her body, filling her with renewed strength.
“Thank you very much my pet,” she said, Philomina cooing back at her. Celestia looked round, searching for Night Sky and found him. He had claw marks all down his flank and a nasty cut above his eye.
“Get everypony ready who can still fight,” she told him. He looked at her and started to protest. “Get them ready Night,” she said over his objections. “This is not over yet.”
Two strong pegasi kicked at the gates to the courtyard. They parted from their hinges and thudded to the ground. Celestia and her ponies moved through into the courtyard, Philomina flying over head providing a contrast to the dull light of the nearly set sun. The Castle of the Pony Sisters was ancient; it had been old even before it had been abandoned and now it was overgrown. For the past three hundred and fifty years the forest had been trying to reclaim it. The courtyard was covered in vines; grass was growing out of the cracks in the paving and the dried up fountains. The long brittle stems brushed at Celestia's hooves as she strode forward.
“Nice to see you again Princess.” That voice echoed off the stone of the courtyard.
Celestia froze. It was the voice form the darkness but now she actually heard it she recognised it. Celestia looked up at the end of the courtyard where the owner of the voice was standing at the top of the stone steps.
“Sun Dancer,” she breathed.
“I am so glad you remember me” the owner of the voice said.
The only thing that tied the creature now standing proud on the steps with the pony Celestia knew as her friend was its colouring and the voice. The thing standing on the steps was at least twice the height of Sun Dancer - closer in height to Celestia herself - its pupils were narrow vertical slits, more like the eyes of a dragon than a pony. Sun Dancers normally yellow coat was now radiant and her mane and tail billowed out round her. But the most striking feature was its wings.
Its wings did not resemble normal pony wings. They did not even look like Celestia's. They where shiny like they were made of splinters of glass but they bent and flexed as the creature stood there. They seemed to shine and glow as though they were somehow made of light itself.
“Sun Dancer what happened to you,” Celestia said as she came to the bottom of the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Night Sky flanking her on her right and a unicorn on her left.
“Oh these,” Sun Dancer replied, flexing the unnatural wings. “Pretty are they not?”
“Sun Dancer,” Night Sky said from Celestia's right. “What is going on?”
“Ah Night Sky my sweet,” Sun Dancer cooed. “I am going to make things better. I see it all now. I can do it, I can remake the world, it will be better.”
“Sun Dancer,” Celestia cried. “You are ill, let us help you.”
The creature on the steps laughed “YOU help ME?! No Celestia, it is I that is going to help. Help make things better for everypony.”
“Sun Dancer you can't.”
“Yes I can Celestia. I have power, I have always been powerful and now the world will know how powerful I am. I will reshape the world and everypony will worship me.”
“You can't Sun Dancer. Please you must know that however powerful you are you cannot out match me,” Celestia almost begged. The voice, the struggle for the sun and the creatures in the forest that had been Sun Dancer. She could, HAD been challenging Celestia.
Sun Dancer looked at the Princess. “Oh I can Celestia. I found them.”
Cold fire ran through Celestia's vanes “No,” she whispered.
“Oh yes,” the creature crowed. From behind her six coloured orbs floated into view. “I found them Celestia. It cost a lot but I found them.”
The Elements of Harmony. The greatest magic known to ponykind. The force Celestia and Luna had used to banish Discord and restore the balance of the world. Celestia understood now. With that power Sun Dancer could challenge her, but there was one thing she still did not understand.
“How?” she asked. “The Elements only respond to me or Luna. They require our harmony of purpose.”
The creature on the steps laughed again. “It is not easy Celestia, they fight, they resist.” The orbs floated round her like obedient fireflies. “But I keep them in line just like I will keep the world in line.”
“Princess...”
Celestia heard the pony to her right whisper. “I know,” she whispered back. She could feel them. Star creatures and worse were creeping into the courtyard, surrounding the small force of ponies and chariots. She turned back to the pony on the top of the stairs.
“Sun Dancer please I am begging you one last time. Stop this madness.”
Night Sky stepped forward. “Sun Dancer love, please listen to her.”
Sun Dancer looked at her mate. “Don't worry pet, I will still want you when she is gone. When I rule the world.”
Night Sky lowered his head and stared at the ground, his body seeming to sag for a moment. “No,” he replied with sadness in his voice. Then his head came up, wings flaring out and hoof pawing at the ground. “NO! I will not join you and I WILL NOT let you do this.”
The creature on the top of the steps sighed. “Oh well. So be it.” Then it struck.
The spell was so quick that Celestia barely had time to register it and start a defence before it hit. The blast threw Night Sky back down the steps and buffeted Celestia. On the edge of her awareness she heard the sound of the star creatures attacking but she had no time to spare for them. All her memories came flooding back, the fights with Nightmare Moon. The twisting of power that could shatter mountains. She struck back, throwing all the power she could in her weakened state. She felt it slide off the creature defences.
“Is that all you have left Princess?” the creature sneered at her. “So pathetic, so weak. How you managed to defeat the Nightmare is beyond me.”
Celestia saw the Elements flare and the creature struck again. This time she was ready, she had warning and she had her defences up but still the force of the blow staggered her. Through the red mist of pain she saw Sun Dancer walk slowly down the steps, the Elements of Harmony still floating around her. Celestia saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Night Sky was on his feet, wings spread. She saw him leap and she played the only card she had.
She drew all the power she could. The remaining power of the sun and all the power that Philomina could lend her. With a small part of her mind she saw the poor phoenix tumble from the sky, its feathers going dull and lifeless. And then she drew on the power of the moon. She felt the presence of the other, twisted and jealous, the nightmare made incarnate, but it was trapped, a voice shouting ineffectually at the door. She drank all the power and struck. She felt the smooth glassiness of Sun Dancer's defences and she stuck, trying to force open a weakness, a crack.
Nothing. Her power slid off the smooth shield as water off a stone. Time seemed to freeze and she saw Sun Dancer look at her and then strike, a power blow radiating out, blowing Night Sky back and down the steps. He landed badly and Celestia knew he was dead. Then the blow hit her and she sank to her knees, the red mist closing in on her.
“So Celestia," she heard the voice say. “So this is how it ends. One sister imprisoned in the moon, the other dispersed, gone forever. Your time is over Princess.”
“Mummy.” The quiet voice cut through the noise of the battle like a lance. “Mummy what are you doing?”
“Sunset?” Sun Dancer exclaimed.
Sunset? Celestia thought, Sun Dancer's foal - how was she here?
“Mummy, what is going on? What are you doing?”
“Sunset my foal,” the creature on the top of the steps purred, shifting her attention from where Celestia lay. “My little filly what are you doing here?”
Sunset looked at where Celestia was crouched. “Mummy what are you doing?”
“Sunset dear - mummy is making things better.”
Sunset walked in front of Celestia. “But you are hurting aunty Tia - and have you hurt Dad?”
Sun Dancer looked over at where Night Sky lay. “Yes it is a pity, but sometimes you have to show ponies who is in charge.” She looked back at Sunset. “Now you be a good little filly and move out of the way. Mummy has to finish this.”
“But why mummy. Isn't aunty Tia your friend?”
“Sunset do what your mother tells you. I have to finish this then I can make the world better.”
“How can it be better without Dad and Aunty Tia?”
“SUNSET MOVE,” the creature roared.
Sunset planted her legs four square on the ground between Celestia and Sun Dancer. “NO,” she screamed, tears in her eyes. “You are not my mummy my mummy is nice my mummy would not hurt ponies you are evil and I will not let you hurt aunty-TIA!” Celestia saw a flash from Sunset's flank just before the filly's horn started to glow. She could feel a very weak form of the defence spell she had used build itself around her and the little filly.
The creature gasped; she could obviously sense the spell as well. “You dare defy your mother?”
“YOU ARE NOT MY MUMMY!” Sunset screamed.
Sun Dancer's eyes flickered. For a moment they where the eyes of a normal pony again but then they returned, hardened. “So be it then,” Sun Dancer said. “Everypony's hoof is against me.”
Celestia felt Sun Dancer starting a spell powerful enough to sweep Sunset’s little shield away without noticing and in desperation she struck out again. The creature's defences where still there, still as solid and smooth as before. In desperation she scrabbled at the smooth surface with all the magic she had left looking for a way in. Then suddenly nothing.
Light. The world was filled with light.
“Celestia.”
A voice came to her. She recognised the voice, Sun Dancer, but her normal voice, not the voice the unnatural thing had used.
“Celestia, I am sorry, so very sorry.”
Celestia did not understand what the voice was talking about.
“Let me put this right.”
Understanding dawned on Celestia. “No Sun Dancer, no don't - we can find another way. I can help,” she called out into the light.
“We both know that this only ends one way,” the voice said sadly. “There is little time. I cannot hold onto this part of myself much longer. Tell Sunset...tell her...her mother loves her, her mother always loved her and tell her I am sorry”.
“NO. Sun Dancer, no don't,” Celestia screamed urgently.
“Good bye Celestia,” the voice said and the light intensified and then vanished.
Celestia awoke with a start and instinctively reached out for the sun. The connection was pure again, no challenge, no pain...but she could hear the crying of a foal. She opened her eyes and found she was lying in the broken remains of the fountain. All around the courtyard she could see the scattered bodies of ponies. Some were moving, stirring...others. Well, others were not moving and would not move again. Of the star creatures and other monsters there was no sign. She turned her head to where she could hear the sound of crying. It was coming from the steps. She picked herself up and walked in that direction.
At the bottom of the steps she passed the body of Night Sky, his dark coat stained red and lying in a way that told Celestia all she needed to know. Slowly, deliberately, she walked up the steps towards the noise. At the top of the steps she found Sunset. The little filly was nuzzling at the still form at the top and crying. As Celestia walked towards them she felt her hoof knock against something. Glancing down she saw it was a stone orb, levitating it up to eye level she examined it. She closed her eyes and let the orb fall back to the floor; on one side it had born the symbol of “kindness”, one of the Elements of Harmony, but it had been dead, inert. She let the orb roll on the ground and moved over to the little filly.
Sunset was nuzzling at the body on the top of the steps. Sun Dancer's body was twisted and broken, the glass-like wings now shattered. Oh Sun Dancer, she thought, why did it have to come to this. She looked at Sunset, the little filly was nuzzling at the still body of her mother. She did not seem to be hurt but she was crying, her tears running down onto Sun Dancer's yellow fur. Celestia examined her and saw what she thought she had seen earlier - Sunset's flank was no longer bare. Emblazoned on it - still glowing slightly - was a image of a setting sun within a shield. She folded her wing over the little filly.
“Come on Sunset,” she said softly. “It is time to go back to Canterlot.”
Sunset looked up at the tall white mare. “Mummy's gone isn't she?”
Celestia took one last look at the deformed body of her friend. “Yes dear,” she said, softly but firmly turning the foal round. “She went away a little while ago. Let's go home.”
===
Celestia took a sip of the drink that Lyra had placed on the cloud next to her. “We sorted most of the details out later of course. Sunset had apparently been hiding in the cargo sled - how she had gotten there and remained unnoticed nopony could tell. I decided that it was best to leave the Elements of Harmony where they were in the castle, after all they were inert. When Sun Dancer had forced them to turn their power against those she loved they had rebelled and the backlash of power when Sun Dancer destroyed herself was just too much for them”
Celestia stopped, forcing back the memories. “Well you know how much effort it took to reawaken them. We never found out where Sun Dancer found them or why she used that spell - we assumed she needed to fly to get them - or what had happened to the rest of the ponies that went with her. Nor did I ever get an answer to how Philomina arrived in the forest - I had left her in Canterlot. It took her years to fully recover, poor thing, I drained her almost completely in the battle.” There was a knock at the cloud door and Spitfire got up and answered it.
“So now you know. That is what that spell can do, that is why it is so dangerous.” Celestia took another sip of her drink and tried to regain her composure.
Spitfire closed the door and sat back down on her cloud. “That was a message for our friend the Mayor of Ponyville. She says that she had managed to remove the book from the library and has co-opted Winged Sword to ensure it is taken to Red Star for safe storage.” Celestia nodded, Red Star could be trusted with it, he knew the risks of managing dangerous magic. “She also says that she has managed to arrange matters in the library to divert Miss Sparkle's curiosity when they returned from Ponyville.”
“Have they all returned now?” Celestia asked.
Spitfire shook her head. “Twilight, Applejack and of course Rarity returned immediately. Fluttershy stayed on for a bit with Pinkie Pie.”
“And Miss Dash?”
Spitfire chuckled. “Last time I saw Rainbow Dash she was racing Soarin' and Tornado through a thunderstorm. Having the time of her life that pony is. In terms of what we initially wanted this did not turn out so badly. When Rarity fell and Rainbow saw that it looked like we were not going to be able to save her she got over all her inadequacies and managed to pull off the sonic rainboom again.”
Celestia took another sip of her drink. “I am not really sure that Miss Dash needed more self confidence.”
“Don't get her wrong Tia,” Spitfire said. “Rainbow may come over all brash and boastful but she has a lot of self doubt underneath, she needs to get over that a bit. Plus we rather wanted her to win the best flyer competition.”
“Um...excuse me.”
Both ponies looked at the green unicorn. She was again sitting in her odd position on the cloud seat her fore hooves fiddling nervously. It is a harp, Celestia suddenly realised. Or maybe a lyre like her cutie mark - her forehooves are playing a lyre, that is why she sits like that.
“Yes Lyra,” Celestia said softly.
“I am sorry to interrupt, but there is something I do not understand.” Celestia made a gentle gesture for her to go on. “But was it not very dangerous to let Miss Rarity fall like that? I mean if Miss Dash had not recovered then not only would Miss Rarity have hit the ground but so would Miss Spitfire and her friends who were knocked out.”
Celestia and Spitfire looked at each other and burst out laughing. “See, I said you were convincing Spitfire.”
“Lyra, if ANY of my ponies were stupid enough to get themselves knocked silly like that they would find themselves back laying morning dew on buttercups before their wings could touch cloud.”
Celestia took pity on the confused unicorn. “It is called a 'Dead Fall' Lyra,” she said. "It is a trick that the Wonderbolts perform some times. I have seen them practice it. It looks like they are falling and then, at the last second just before they hit the ground suddenly they are not. You can rest easy, at no time was Miss Rarity in any danger.” She stopped to replay the events of the day back in her head. “Not from the fall at least.” She stood up. “Anyway ponies, I must return to Canterlot and make sure that we have properly dealt with that book. Lyra if you would be so good as to tell the Mayor I will see her in Ponyville soon, Spitfire I will see you at the gala.”
Spitfire rolled her eyes. “That boring event?”
Celestia smiled “I think this year will be livelier that you might expect.”