//------------------------------// // Celestia // Story: A Certain Happening. // by Sasquatch1812 //------------------------------// Another week went past. All the time there seemed to be a growing... something. Ponies were arguing over the slightest thing. What should have been simple disagreements turned into loud arguments and even coming to blows. Friendships were being torn apart. The ponies weren't the only ones affected. I watched several fights between dragons, something that Splash had said she'd never seen before. Timberwolves could also be heard snapping and snarling in Everfree Forest. There was something else, too. Something unsettling for those who relied on it. The unicorns' magic was decreasing. They were becoming less able to do things that they used to find quite simple. One day I was wandering through Everfree Forest looking for timberwolves They roamed Everfree and were a danger to foals and adults alike, so I was on the lookout for them. But I was also enjoying just being here. In some ways, despite the stories of the place, Everfree was rather nice. It would have been nicer with the sun shining, but even with only a bright moon, it was still an interesting place. The trees close around you, almost blocking out what light there was; great old trees rendered almost ghostly in the moonlight and the odd bramble underfoot to trip the unwary. Then, suddenly, you would find yourself in a small clearing. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for these. They were just... there; in the middle of everything. A bit like back home. Perhaps that's why I found it nice, a bit of 'normal' in amongst everything. I wondered how some of them had been caused. Was it when an old tree fell? But there would be no sign of a fallen tree, just soft grass. Had something poisoned the soil? But if the soil was poisoned, where was the grass. I stopped at the edge of one of these little clearings and leaned against a tree. It was only a small clearing, probably about twenty feet across. Light erupted around me. It was almost like a physical blow and my eyes, so used to the darkness, stung in the sudden glare. As my eyes adjusted and I could actually see again, what I saw was a tall, white pony with a long, rainbow-coloured mane and tail standing in the clearing. I had to admit to myself that she was a truly beautiful princess; although in my eyes, Luna was the prettier. But then I've always preferred brunettes to blondes. It looked like my expectations of a visit had come to pass. "Hello, Princess Celestia." I said calmly and politely. "You don't seem shocked that one banished from this place would seek you out?" she asked, regally, sounding rather disappointed that her – admittedly, rather spectacular – entrance didn't have seemed to affected me as much as she'd hoped. "Actually, I expected to see you some days ago. You're late." "Late?!" Her voice told of her astonishment at my reaction. I took it that she was far more accustomed to being treated with more deference. "Late.” I repeated. “If I am the one who's supposed to decide the fate of Equestria I'd like to know what I have to know before things get too bad. I take it you want me to hear your side of the story? You want me to tell you I'll support you against your sister?" "Well, you see what the effect of her rule is, cant you." she snapped tossing her head. I'd always thought Celestia was supposed to be the calm one but, there again, I guess being tossed out of your own world by your little sister wouldn't do much for anyone's mood. I merely leaned against a tree and looked at her. She looked at me for a moment. "I suppose you've already made up your mind. What did she offer you? How much wealth?" "Actually, she offered me nothing. She said she had nothing to give for everything she had belonged to the kingdom, and was not hers to give. “ “She offered you nothing?” again the voice crept up the register. “Nope. What are you going to offer me?” “Anything you could wish for.” “And what if I were to say that my wish involved your mane and tail?” Why I said that, I don't know, but it seemed that she paid great attention to it and it seemed somewhat important to her. Especially when you took in the light breeze that had come from nowhere blew just enough and in just the right direction to make the rainbow-coloured mass lift and float gently beside her. She flinched a little. “My mane and tail?” she echoed, puzzled. “I am not going to say this is, or is not my wish. But what if my wish was to cut both your mane and tail down to stubble and have you promise, on your word as a princess, that you would let them grow back, rather than restoring them with magic?” “I...” she looked sideways at the rainbow-coloured masses of mane that streamed away in the gentle breeze. “I.... Did you ask Luna the same question?” she asked suddenly “No, I didn't.” “Yet you expect me to answer.” I shrugged. “You're the ones doing the pleading. It's my prerogative to ask for what I want.” “Is that what you wish?” “No.” I watched as she sighed with relief. “But it might be.” I relented a little. “Go on,” I said, in a slightly more polite tone, “tell your side of the story. I've already had Luna's.” “What did she tell you?” The ears were forward now, she was curious and anxious. “That's for me to know.” I told her. “If she wants to tell you, that's her business.” She sighed. I must confess, I don't really know why I was treating her like this, I really didn't, it was just something about her that... “As she has probably told you,” she interrupted my thoughts. She'd brought herself under control, now and the voice carried the quiet, almost melodious tone I'd heard in the show. “it was a matter of daylight. She was jealous because ponies slept in the night while she ruled, but woke and worked and played during the day, when I ruled. She wanted more darkness, she wanted the moon, which she controlled, dominant for longer so that ponies would be forced to work and play in the moonlight.” There was a pause. “Did she tell you this?” she asked me “Something similar, yes.” "I suppose she told you that I wanted everlasting daylight, that I wanted to shun the moon forever. But that is not true. I merely did not want her to encroach on what I believed were the times that the sun should rule.” “Anyway,” I added, “your rainbow mane and tail look better in the sun.” “Yes. They do.” she preened, before catching herself. “But that wasn't the issue, I tell you.” I just grinned. “If you say so.” “We argued,” she went on, slightly huffily, but trying to calm herself. “But my reasoning was for naught. Things grew in the daylight. The sun caused grass and trees to grow and the birds sang in the daylight. Not in the darkness of the moon. Other things came out in the darkness. Things that could hurt or scare somepony. I didn't want that. I didn't want no moon at all, but I wanted to give the trees and the flowers maximum time to grow and the birds a good time to sing.” “Where they would also give thanks to you, rather than your sister.” Yeah, I'll admit, I was being an ass. She glared at me and went on. “We fought. We fought for several days for we were both strong and our magic was strong also. I was wearing her down. I could tell. I thought she was about to give in. Then I got careless. I did not think she was capable of the treachery she would show.” “Oh?” “She slipped and fell. I stepped back to allow her to rise as I did not want to take advantage of her. For despite our differences and even despite the fight I felt I should behave honourably. But then, even as I waited for her to rise and resume the fight, she hit me. Stunned me and then, when I was the helpless one, and could do nothing, she used more magic than I believed she had to cast both myself and the sun out of this plane of existence. She got her wish. Now Equestria was lit only by the moon. The sun does not shine. There is only the moon and the stars. “But despite her best efforts, she could not stop me from returning. I was weak, at first. I still am. But my magic grows and soon I will take my rightful place as queen of Equestria. I will cast her out as she would have cast me. But my cast will be stronger and never will I allow her to return and threaten Equestria again. It will be her name struck from the history books. Luna shall be known no more, only Celestia will be known and I will be made queen.” It seemed she realised that what she'd said might not have been the best thing to say to me. “That is what she wished for me. That is what shall become of her.” I felt the ground shivering as she spoke those last words, it was like something extremely heavy had fallen some distance away It wasn't much, but I felt it. “If you are as powerful as you say.” I said thoughtfully. “Why do you need me.” She frowned slightly. “I don't know. All I do know, deep where all knowledge in me resides, is that I do.” She looked up at me. “Help me and I will get you as many manes and tails as you wish. I will collect them from every pony in the land, If you wish certain ones, tell me and I will get them.” I noticed that she did not offer her own, only those of others. I merely looked at her. “I will tell you this, though. I have seen the dragons and other beasts. They even argue amongst themselves. They fight almost anything. It...” “'It' what, princess?” “It reminds me of when an animal is in pain and it strikes out, even when a friend tries to comfort it.” I thought on this for a moment. I knew what she was talking about. I'd had a dog who'd been badly injured and in great pain. When I'd gone to help, it had snapped at me, biting my hand quite badly. “Yes.” I mused. “I've seen that happen. It seems the same is happening throughout Equestria. Arguments are breaking out at the slightest thing. Even Twilight and the others are feeling it.” “I can only wonder if it is the result of there not being a sun.” she said quietly. I studied her carefully, for my first thought was that she'd said that to put me on her side. So that she'd see that she had to regain power over her sister. She looked up at me—not an easy thing for a pony to do—but, again, either she was a good actress or she was genuinely concerned. I hoped it was the latter. “I have to go shortly.” she told me. “I need to rest if I'm to gain the strength to defeat Luna. I must be the best I can be.” I looked at her. “I, too, have much to think on.” I told her. The light blinked out, leaving me in comparative darkness. By the time my eyes adjusted there was no sign of Celestia.