Nighttime had fallen over Canterlot once again, cradling the city in its velvet blanket. Lamps and torches now long snuffed out, it danced freely through the streets, while the hooting of owls and the melody of sweet silence accompanied its movements. Every so often it would pause and peek its head through the window of a certain house in order to affirm that all the little fillies and colts of the town were blessed with sweet dreams. Then the Night would brush its gentle hoof over the rooftops before twirling into the darkened sky. Up above, a thousand stars playfully winked as they watched over the ponies’ slumber, with the moon as the mother and guardian for them all. She turned her loving face upon her twinkling children until at the stroke of midnight, her grandest hour, she let her radiance pour onto the world below, bathing it in silver light.
Some of that moonlight spilled onto the floor of Celestia’s bedchambers, where there resided the one filly in all of Canterlot that hadn’t been subdued by the night’s song. She had heard singing though, but its magic seemed to have the opposite effect, enticing her not to rest but to action.
Celestia’s snow white hooves treaded silently, quietly, calmly across the floor, although her heart was anything but. She had felt like this before, and the déjà vu filled her with dread. A part of her mind screamed to turn back, but it was sorely distant, like a cry muffled through a pillow. She needed to find the source of the music; it was an innate need, without reason because it needed none. It simply was. The drive of her curiosity won out over her misgivings, so she continued walking until she reached the two gold and purple curtains that led to the Solar Balcony. The weighty fabric, however, did little to muffle the siren song that floated to Celestia’s ears.
With a flicker of magic, she impatiently threw open the curtains and made her way out onto the balcony, where the city of Canterlot lay below her, the domain of the heavens dwelled above her, and her sister stood before her, looking up at the stars and singing a sweet lullaby.
“Luna?” Celestia whispered, taking a tentative step forward.
She didn’t respond, so Celestia came closer, trying to make her voice be heard above the resonant song. “Luna?” she called. “Luna?”
The music, once so sweet and peaceful, now took a darker, haunting turn. The wind moaned through the tree branches, and the warm summer’s eve dropped ten degrees, shuddering as an unearthly wailing, the cry of nightmares, rose up from the ground. And still, Luna continued the melody as she sang words Celestia couldn’t understand.
By this point, Celestia had come to the edge of the balcony next to her sister, and she still had yet to take her eyes off the starry night. “Luna!” Celestia cried, tugging on the night princess’ mane like a frightened foal. “What is happening? Answer me, please, my sister!”
At that, Luna finally turned to acknowledge Celestia. “Sister?” she repeated coldly. “Am I really? You lost your sister the day you failed to save her.”
“No,” Celestia murmured, shaking her head. “No! That can’t be true! There must be away to get you back; there has to be! Please, please don’t leave me,” she cried, burying her face in her hooves. “I… I don’t want to be alone.”
Even though Luna had stopped singing, the melody continued, drowning Celestia in despair. Storm clouds rolled in, obliterating the stars with spears of lightning; raging fires sprang to life; and ponies throughout Canterlot awoke from their dreams with cries of terror. And yet Luna remained deadly calm through it all, even as Celestia covered her ears in pain from the ghostly music reaching its crescendo.
“No,” Celestia whimpered, wanting to block it all out. “No, not again…”
Luna turned on Celestia with eyes as slits of darkest night. “If you truly wanted to save me,” she hissed, “all you needed to do was catch me before I fell.”
Then Luna hurled herself over the rail of the balcony.
A cry caught in Celestia’s throat as she reached out with her forehooves, desperately flailing for purchase on Luna’s falling body. Leaning over the railing as far as she dared, her tear-blurred eyes latched onto a navy blue mass just below. And for a split second, she actually managed to grab hold of her sister.
Then Luna slipped through her hooves like sand.
Celestia could only watch, her eyes wide in frozen horror, as Luna fell, down, down, down, until she was swallowed up by tendrils of darkness.
A scream.
Then the singing died.
“Luna!” Celestia screamed, sitting bolt upright in bed.
Right on cue, her personal maid Rose Petal came rushing in at the sound of her princess wailing like a windigo. “Oh dear, not again,” she lamented before coming over to sit at Celestia’s bedside. “There, there, it’s alright, princess,” she murmured soothingly, taking Celestia into her forehooves. “It was just a nightmare. There’s no need to cry.”
But cry she did, as she clung to Rose Petal with the desperation of a filly weeping for her mother. Rose Petal’s pale pink fur gained a glossy wet sheen as she held the princess even tighter, rocking her gently while she unleashed a fresh storm of tears.
“I s-saw her again,” Celestia wept in between great, heaving sobs that left her gasping for breath. “It was th-the same thing that h-happened, exactly the s-same! I let her f-fall, and there was n-nothing I c-could do!”
Rose Petal sighed. She had received this exact same recount every night for the past three weeks. So she remained silent while she ran her hooves calmingly through Celestia’s sunset pink mane. She stayed for a good twenty minutes until her sobs faded in a decrescendo, becoming quiet and subdued. Then, with the utmost tenderness and care, Rose Petal tucked the princess underneath her silken covers before silently walking out the door.
Only when she heard the click of the lock falling in place did Rose Petal let out a tired sigh. That had been two minutes longer than last night.
“How is she?” asked an approaching voice.
With bleary eyes, the maid looked up to see none other than the Grand Mage Starswirl coming up to meet her. Even when clad in a nightgown and a lopsided nightcap, he still exuded the air of authority that made Rose Petal automatically incline her head in a bow before falling into step with him as they walked down the palace halls.
“She’s sleeping now, or at least, she’s pretending to be,” Rose Petal began. “The poor dear will probably be just as exhausted as she’s always been.”
“Was there any sign of improvement?” Starswirl questioned. “Any at all?”
Rose Petal shook her head.
“Horseapples,” he muttered, his dejected heart not in the curse. “That was a Somni Invicta spell we cast on her; not even a griffin invasion should have been able to wake her. I don’t understand how this is possible.”
“Well, can you not just try something else?” Rose Petal suggested as she idly pushed back her wavy turquoise tresses out of her eyes. “Another spell, another potion?”
“What do you think the Mage Council has been doing, Miss Petal?” Starswirl demanded, the moonlit corridor washing out the stallion’s brown coat to a gaunt, grim grey. “You have witnessed our futile attempts to enchant her. Perhaps it is a unique characteristic of an alicorn to resist such spells; we do not know, nor do we have the time and resources to rule out thousands of unknown variables through such intricate and magic-draining spellcasting. The Mage Council is, quite frankly, tired of this whole affair, and if this same lack of results continues for much longer, we will turn our attention to more productive causes.”
“In other words, you intend to give up,” Rose Petal said, her expression dark in disapproval.
“What else do you expect me to do?” the Grand Mage retorted. “It has been three weeks since the banishment of Princess Luna. We moved the princess from Everfree Castle to Canterlot, erased nearly all reminders of her sister from Canterlot Castle. If she still cannot get over her heartache, then she is the only one to blame for her weakness.”
At that, Rose Petal’s normally demure features were set ablaze by her piercing green eyes, so unnatural a hue compared to the pastel colors of her coat and mane that they looked otherworldly. Those eyes were her greatest weapon, and now they were positively livid as she stopped in her tracks and glared at Starswirl. “Weakness?” she repeated in a low, deadly voice. “Is it such weakness to feel, to love, to hurt? Princess Celestia was forced to do the unthinkable that night, and now she is suffering because of it. She cannot simply ‘get over it.’ She needs time to grieve and ponies to comfort her.”
“Both of which are luxuries she cannot afford,” Starswirl said. He glanced around the deserted hallway warily, as if expect spies to jump out of the potted plants, before saying in a low, hushed voice, “Have you not heard the rumors, Miss Petal? The whispers and murmurs that vibrate through the air of this very castle, as well as across the land? Princess Celestia’s dominion over Equestria is wavering. Ponies are beginning to question the details of Princess Luna’s rebellion and banishment, and those questions are blazing like a wildfire, engulfing the truth and replacing it with lies that may very well threaten the crown. I will not have a weak ruler in such times of crisis. Either Princess Celestia will become a ruler of strength, or she will be replaced with somepony that is. Either way, she will do it alone.”
The mare’s scowl only darkened. “That is no excuse for abandoning her. It is a sad day indeed when even Equestria’s princess is denied love and friendship. And if you possessed but an ounce of those qualities, you would understand that!”
“I am her Grand Mage,” Starswirl reminded Rose Petal coldly. “I serve in her Court on her Council. I am not her foalsitter.”
“Yet you still speak of treason.”
“I speak of reality!” shouted Starswirl with a stomp of his front hoof. “Princess Celestia is nineteen years of age—“
“—barely older than a filly—“
“—and should be responding to this situation with maturity befitting her station. As for me, there is nothing I can do for her. There is no spell for bringing a pony back to rational thinking, except perhaps a slap in the face, of course.”
“No, that can’t be the only answer,” Rose Petal insisted while her mind desperately scrambled for a convincing argument. “I… I may not know much about magic,” the earth pony began, “ but the princess always wakes up from her nightmares at exactly midnight every night. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Starswirl scrutinized the mare intently before saying, “It means that it is late, and both of us should be retiring to bed,” he answered curtly. “Goodnight, Miss Petal.”
Rose Petal watched as the Arch Mage retreated back the way he came. She waited until his cobalt blue tail disappeared with a swish as he turned the corner before letting out a sigh that came out sounding more like a suppressed sob.
Something’s not right about all this; I know it, she thought, impatiently wiping away frustrated tears from her eyes, letting a spark of determination shine through. And I’m going to find out what.
“Princess? Princess Celestia!”
A firm caramel hoof shook the princess out of her drooling stupor. “Huh?” Celestia asked, raising her head from the mahogany desk, only to realize she was most certainly not in her bed chambers, but in her office, with her head financial advisor looking sternly down at her.
“I-I’m sorry!” Celestia stammered, a nervous blush forming on her cheeks. “I was listening to you; I was just signing some documents.”
“Oh?” Apple Harvest asked with a lifted eyebrow. “Since when did you start signing papers with your left cheek, princess?”
Celestia lifted a hoof to her cheek and was appalled to find it smeared with ink. Her bloodshot eyes looked down to find an overturned inkwell, with the black substance steadily oozing from the top. Her blush spread in tandem with the growing puddle.
The princess hung her head in defeat. “I’m sorry,” she said, not taking her eyes off the ground. “I’ll clean it up.”
Apple Harvest watched with growing concern as Celestia wearily trudged across the room to get a washcloth, then stifled a yawn as she wiped it up.
“You didn’t sleep again, did you, princess?” Apple Harvest asked gently.
“What?” Celestia asked, her words slurred. “No, of course I slept.”
“For how long?”
“Um… two hours?”
Apple Harvest sighed. “I understand how torn up you must be about Princess Luna, but the Mage Council is doing all they can to devise some method to bring her back to Equestria. Your sister’s fate is in capable hooves with them, so the best thing you can do for yourself is concentrating on the needs of Equestria as well as… Princess Celestia? Can you hear me?”
Celestia’s eyes were glazed and unfocused, staring at a specific part of the wall opposite her with frightening intensity, yet not really seeing anything at all. “The music,” she whispered, “can you hear it?”
Apple Harvest perked up his ears, straining for the slightest sound, before he shook his head. “I hear nothing, princess.”
Celestia sighed. “I did not think you would,” she lamented, her voice like that of one half in a dream. “It’s the singing. I keep hearing it, over and over again, in my nightmares and now my waking moments as well. It’s why I can never sleep; I keep listening to it all night, until it drives me mad, as I try to understand the lyrics. It… it terrifies me, because it sounds so ominous and foreboding. And yet I love it, even as it destroys my mind. It’s the only time I can hear her voice.”
Okay, that’s downright creepy, Apple Harvest thought to himself as he watched the princess start swaying back and forth dizzily. Still, she’s awfully tired…
“Princess, why don’t we just take a break for a few minutes?” her advisor suggested. “It’ll give you some time to catch up on some sleep.”
Celestia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head at the thought. “No, I can’t!” she cried, already grabbing for random papers in her panic. “I can’t possibly shirk my duties! There’s still so much to do, and I—“
Her protests were cut off as Apple Harvest placed two reassuring hooves over hers. “Celestia, please look at me,” he asked.
Celestia slowly lifted her eyes, puffy and bloodshot with tears. Dark crescent moons cast a shadow over the sun princess’ eyes, now so dull and empty, as if her own sunlight refused to reflect off those vacant orbs of glass. It was like staring into the eyes of a corpse.
She’s getting worse. “Celestia, you’re beyond sleep deprived,” Apple Harvest began, “and you’ll be doing more harm than good by pushing yourself so hard. There’s nothing more you can do here.”
He glanced out the window at the sundial stationed in the center of the courtyard. “Now, we have twenty minutes until Day Court begins, and we can’t have you falling asleep during that. So why don’t you take a nap right here, and then I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go, alright?”
The clunk of her head against the desk was her only response.
“…And that is why I demand that the Blueblood Estate be the first to receive government reimbursement for the damages caused by the Lunar Rebellion!”
Celestia internally groaned, not so much because of the noble’s complaint, which she had grown almost accustomed to hearing over the past three weeks, but because of the skull-splitting headache she was enduring. A few days ago, she would have been grateful for the jolt of pain keeping her awake, but now, not even that could keep her from dozing off. Only her sheer force of will kept her alert as she looked down upon the noble with a mask of false serenity.
“As you well know, We are doling out financial aid region by region, beginning with those whose homes were the most severely affected,” Celestia said, her regal voice ringing with authority. “The Bluebloods, on the other hoof, have three other mansions in Equestria, one of which is in the very heart of Canterlot. Forgive Us, Lord Blueblood, but We fail to see the urgency that would warrant such an exception.”
The proud white unicorn was left with his mouth agape. “But Your Majesty,” Lord Blueblood protested, “the manor has been left in shambles! The roof’s been smashed, the floors are caving in, the dark magic is beginning to overrun—!“
“Luna smashed a window,” Celestia interrupted coldly. “We daresay you’ll survive.”
As the noble was sent away grumbling, Celestia suppressed a cry of pain as the haunting music from her nightmare started up again with full force.
Not here, not now! she pleaded, looking down at all the nobles still sitting in their wooden benches and looking up at her. I can’t make a scene!
Closing her eyes, Celestia briefly used her magic connection to check the sun’s precise position in the sky. Ten minutes until Day Court ends, she thought in relief. I can handle ten more minutes. After letting her eyes wander over her guards and council that surrounded her, just to affirm that she was indeed trapped atop her golden throne, the princess let out an inaudible sigh. Ten whole minutes.
“Presenting the final petitioner of the day, Your Highness,” announced the unicorn guard by the door.
Thank the stars, Celestia rejoiced, even as she fought to tune out the moaning and wailing melody in her head. Stop it, she ordered in annoyance. Stop it!
The golden double doors were opened to allow a blue earth pony stallion to trot down the center aisle. At once, the din of court was hushed, though not out of reverence but disdain. Some of the nobles muttered to themselves warily as he walked past; he looked so out of place compared to Canterlot’s high society. He wore no clothing, his steel grey mane was an unkempt mess of tangled barbed wire, and yet he still walked with a confident stride, paying no attention to the whispers floating around him. Instead, he kept his fire-gold eyes fixated straight in front of him, until he genuflected at the base of Celestia’s dais.
“Iron Strike of Trottingham, Your Highness,” he announced boldly, only to add fuel to the incessant chatter of the court.
Oh for heaven’s sake, you’d think poor ponies were as legendary as dragons, Celestia thought irritably. Still, the stallion did peak her interest. Trottingham was hundreds of miles away from Canterlot; the journey must have taken at least two weeks, and judging by his haggard appearance, it must not have been an easy trip. This must be important.
“Rise, Iron Strike,” the princess ordered, “and state your petition to the Crown.”
Celestia’s magenta eyes widened as Iron Strike matched her serene gaze with one of burning hatred. “Princess Celestia,” he began, “I demand to know the reason why there has been no increase of the Royal Guard around Canterlot Castle in light of the Lunar Rebellion.”
The princess raised a questioning eyebrow. That was all? “We can assure you that Our safety is well in hoof, and that—“
“You misunderstand me, princess,” Iron Strike interrupted, cueing an overdramatic gasp from the court. “I speak not of your protection, but that of all of Equestria against you.”
What was once a hushed murmur now rose to a nervous babble as ponies shared worried conversations with their neighbors. Even Celestia was taken by surprise. “Why would you believe We are a threat to Equestria?” she asked.
“Because of the Lunar Rebellion!” Iron Strike shouted with an angry stamp of his hoof. “Princess Luna went mad and wreaked havoc on Everfree City, as well as disrupted the cycle of day and night for the entire planet! Who is to say you will not do the same?”
“How dare you!” came the outraged cry of Lady Sunshine Diamonds as she emerged at the front of the nobles and rushed to the princess’ defense. “To think that Princess Celestia would succumb to such evil! You speak of treason, fiend!”
“My daughter died in Everfree City because of Princess Luna!” Iron Strike shouted, burning tears now dripping down his muzzle. “I will not allow the possibility of the same tragedy to befall anypony else! The very least that can be done is to ensure that the Royal Guard can guard us as well, can keep anypony else from losing a life!”
“SILENCE!” Celestia yelled, her Royal Canterlot Voice thundering above the pandemonium of the Day Court. At once, the room was instantly silent, as if her voice had cut out their tongues.
Even with his face doused in tears, Iron Strike did not flinch at Celestia’s gaze; rather, he remained defiant, as if wanting to challenge her to a fight.
Celestia was barely able to conceal the hurt behind her eyes. He treats me like an enemy, she lamented before her eyes frosted over in ice. Well then, an enemy is what he shall get.
The lords and ladies of Canterlot watched with baited breath as Celestia descended from her throne, each clink of her golden horseshoes echoing forebodingly in the silence, and began to march straight up to Iron Strike.
“Your Highness, wait!” called one of the guards at the base of her throne as he put up his hoof to stop her, while others pointed their spears at the stallion.
“Stand down,” she commanded her guards, her tone biting and unrelenting. “We will deal with this Ourselves.”
“But it’s not safe, princess!” protested another.
“According to this stallion, Our safety is not Equestria’s top priority,” Celestia retorted before brushing them aside with a wave of gold magic. A hundred fearful eyes bored into the princess like puncture wounds, but she ignored them all as she came to a standstill, just inches from Iron Strike’s face.
“Do you think I know naught of loss?” she demanded of the stallion. Her voice was quieter than a whisper, yet the cold anger behind the words made them more forceful than if she had been shouting them in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Do you think you were the only pony who suffered that day? Then who do you think Princess Luna was to me?”
Iron Strike had lost all his courage by this point. He didn’t dare answer as the princess of the sun regarded him with a glare of coldest ice. “She was more than just my sister,” Celestia said. “She was the only pony who I knew would never leave me. No matter how many centuries I would live or how many loved ones I would watch die, she would remain by my side. She was the reason I could face the prospect of immortality with joy. And still, I took her for granted, believing in my naivety that I could have everything, and now, because I chose Equestria over her, I have nothing. Do you truly think I would go back on that sacrifice?”
Celestia ignored the swelling music in her head. “You want to kill me in revenge for what Luna did to your daughter, don’t you?” Her voice dropped to a blood-chilling whisper. “But you would be doing me the greatest mercy.”
Then holding her head high so that nopony could see her tears, Celestia stormed out of the throne room.
The sound of the golden doors slamming shut served to break the spell of silence cast over the room. At once, ponies began milling around in confusion, uncertain of what to do except for one particular noblemare.
“Celestia!” Sunshine Diamonds yelled, jostling the other nobles in a decidedly unladylike fashion as she fought to chase after her. Her sunhat fell off somewhere in the confusion, but she could honestly care less. With her teal curls whipping around her face like a hurricane, she threw open the door once again, and ignoring the protests of the guards, she darted off into the labyrinth of palace halls.
The pounding of her hooves against the stone floor provided a steadying beat in the midst of the chaotic music swirling about maddeningly in Celestia’s head, perfectly reflecting her inner feelings. Stupid, stupid, stupid! she cursed as she fled from the throne room. How could I have said those things, and in front of my own Court, no less! Oh, I won’t hear the end of this for months…
Eyes blinded by tears, she ran aimlessly through the castle until finally she stumbled her way outside into the castle courtyard. It was in the middle of a downpour, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have the energy to care. So she just collapsed in the bed of tulips, indifferent to the mud smudging her coat and crown. She curled herself into a tiny pink and white mass to keep herself from breaking, and let the dark sky scream down at her, all the while pretending it was just the rain dampening her cheeks and welling in her eyes.
She tried not to think too much about anything, yet the thoughts closest to her heart rose unbidden to the surface nevertheless. Could his fears be right? Could I really fall prey to the same evil like Luna? We don’t even know how it happened, but if it’s true that sorrow and hatred can indeed twist an alicorn like that… then I am a threat, aren’t I? They won’t be able to stop me. Nopony else can use the Elements of Harmony. I’ll end up condemning every living being in the world.
I need Luna back. She’s the only one who could save me or end me. I… I can’t go through this without her. I just want her to come home.
Sunshine’s galloping faltered when she saw Celestia crying in the garden. “Princess,” she murmured sadly, her icy blue eyes softened in pity. No, that wasn’t right. This was not the glorious ruler of Equestria that was letting her tears mingle with the rain. She was simply Celestia, a pony just like any other, now left all alone.
It was terrifying. Sunshine cast her eyes downward, not wanting to see her leader so broken. It was that fear that kept her rooted in place underneath the archway, sheltered from the rain. She shuffled her hooves nervously, wanting to help and yet unable to take the first step. She wanted to reach out, but the distance was too far, as far as the distance between heaven and earth, between a goddess and a pony who could never understand.
So with tears stinging in her eyes, Sunshine walked away, leaving Celestia crying in the rain.