All Dead, All Dead
Inspired by the original song by Queen
“I know what you’re thinking, and it’s ridiculous.”
Celestia turned away from the grave marker, allowing her bloodshot eyes to fall on her sister standing in the doorway of the massive mausoleum. “You judge me now, after all these centuries?” The solar princess had wasted the day away, wandering between the tall, white marble columns and glancing forlornly at each of the graves. Every one of them represented a failure on her part. Far above her, the intricately painted ceiling stretched across the room. Enchanted suns shone above each of the markers that adorned the walls.
“I didn’t agree with you the first time you went about this insane plan of yours,” Luna sniffed.
“Then why do you keep helping me?”
“Because maybe, just maybe, you will grow out of it one day.” Luna sighed and moved to nuzzle her sister’s neck. “It’s too soon, sister. Your last student hasn’t been gone a week and you have already chosen another. It’s too soon, Celestia. Why not wait a while. A decade?”
“The devil finds work for idle hooves, Luna.” Celestia put on a fake smile, still struggling to keep the tears from her eyes. “I dare not rest until I have found her.”
Luna turned to look at the grave. It was one of around twenty that decorated the walls of the mausoleum. “This is unhealthy, Celestia. You can’t force this. If this is to work at all, you can’t rush things.”
“I’m not rushing it.”
“The hay you aren’t,” Luna snorted. “Shimmer Shine’s funeral was last week, and yet even as you stand here mourning you have already found somepony to replace her. What’s her name?”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said, her eyes never leaving the grave marker. “Her exam is scheduled for next week."
Luna shook her head in disgust. “Why do you insist upon torturing yourself like this?”
Celestia cast a pained, puzzled glance at her sister. “Torture? I’m not sure I understand, there is no torture in this. Only hope.”
“Instead of letting an old wound close, you insist on renewing it time and time again. If and when you succeed, do you not think it will have left a scar?”
“A scar or two is meaningless next to what this will achieve.”
“What makes you think you will achieve it this time?” Luna asked. “What makes you so sure this ‘Twilight’ is the right one?”
“This one’s different, I’m sure of it.” Celestia turned to stand at the window, looking towards the School for Gifted Unicorns. “This will be the one.”
“I’ve heard you say that before,” a concerned edge entered Luna’s voice. “I’ve heard you say that too many times.”
“This one is different, you shall see,” Celestia whispered, a silent tear trickling down her cheek. “This one is different.”
Turning to leave, Luna pleaded with her sister a final time. “I’ve watched you do this so many times, Celestia; over a score in the last millennium. Worse yet, I’ve assisted you in it. I can’t keep doing this forever, my sister. One of these days, you will have to let her go.”
The doors of the mausoleum swung shut, leaving the grieving monarch to her sorrows.
---
“Everything is in place?”
The princesses stood at the entrance to the main balcony in Ponyville’s event hall. The building was old, although the citizens of the town had tried to spruce it up a bit. The paint was still cracked here and there and the entire building had that musty smell of aged leather and pine.
Celestia nodded, tucking a faded photograph beneath her wing. The sounds of the assembled citizens of Ponyville drifted from the auditorium beyond the curtain. “You know what to do, right?”
Luna’s horn glowed and light flowed over her as she donned her guise. Her proportions grew to match those of her older sister, her mane flowing into a translucent tapestry of stars. “I’ve hardly forgotten from the last several times, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“I promise you, Luna. This time it will work.”
Nightmare Moon snorted. “Caution, Celestia. You should not make promises you cannot keep.”
Celestia’s determined gaze met her sister’s eyes. “I will not fail.”
“Think about what you’re doing, what you have been doing for the last millennium,” Nightmare Moon pleaded. “You may raise the sun but you are not almighty. There’s only so long we can continue this ruse. I have put up with your eccentricities for half an eternity in hopes you would find it in you to move on, and yet here we are again.”
“What’s done is done,” Celestia intoned. “There is only the bright hope of the future to look forward to.” The princess turned to leave. “I appreciate you doing this, Luna. More than anything.”
Directing a woeful glance at her departing sister, the princess of the moon called softly after her. “This is the last time, Celestia. After tonight I will no longer take part in your charade.”
“I told you, this one is different. I’m sure of it.”
From beyond the curtain, the Mayor’s voice echoed. “And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the Bringer of Harmony to all of Equestria… Princess Celestia!”
---
“I told you she was different,” Celestia said proudly, kneeling upon her cushion within her palace chambers. Book cases embedded with ivory and gold lined several of the walls and a massive window looked out upon the vast kingdom of Equestria. Bronze braziers burned brightly along the walls, their light reflecting off the crystal chandelier that hung from the domed roof.
“She is not the first to grasp the element of magic,” Luna replied, unconvinced. “It is still the only one she herself holds. Do you really think she will be able to learn the others from her friends?”
“This is the first time all the elements have manifested. She’s also the best student I’ve ever had.”
“Exactly.”
Celestia glared across the room at her sister. “Just what exactly are you implying?”
“I’ve seen her, Celestia. I’ve watched the way she works and how she interacts with her friends. She may have discovered friendship with your help, but she is far from a shining example when it comes to the other elements.” Luna used her magic to pour herself a cup of tea. “And besides, I’ve seen the lesson plan you have set up. I’m not sure it meets all the goals.”
“How is it lacking?”
“The problems she is to encounter will instruct her about friendship, most assuredly. But she already has friendship.” The midnight alicorn shook her head and sighed. “The elements are manifested in the hearts of the ponies that bear them. They indicate their best virtues. In all your years of searching you have yet to find one that would match any more than one or two of the elements at a time.”
“So you’re saying my task is impossible?” Celestia stood angrily. “You’re saying it can’t be done?”
“Not at all. I’m saying you should let it go,” Luna whispered. “Let her go.”
“Don’t you dare,” Celestia hissed. “Don’t you dare presume to lecture me in this matter. You know nothing of how I feel.”
“But I do, Celestia. I have watched your feelings slowly eat away at you over the past thousand years. You can’t hold on to her forever.”
“YOU KNOW NOTHING!” Celestia shouted. “You have no idea what it is like! Lest you forget, your child is still alive.” The monarch’s words hung in the air and for a while everything was quiet.
Celestia was the first to speak again. “Luna, I’m sorry.”
Luna nodded, whipping away her tears with a hoof. “The moon must rise soon,” she said as she rose and turned to leave. Looking over her shoulder, she shot a glance of pity at her sister. “This won’t bring her back. You know that. No matter how you mold or sculpt this student, she will never be your daughter. It doesn’t matter how many of her traits you instill in her, she will never be ‘good enough.’ Please, for the sake of her memory, just let your daughter rest in peace.” With those final words, Luna rose into the twilit sky and the moon rose with her.
Eyes brimming with tears, Celestia turned from the window and sat at her writer’s desk. Dipping her quill in ink, she began to fill out and sign the various forms, documents and bills that needed her approval. She didn’t get far before her writings became smeared and blotted by the tears which flowed freely along her muzzle.
“I… refuse,” the princess vowed. “I will not fail.” Wracked by silent sobs of grief and anger, she directed a strand of magic into a hidden place beneath the desk, unlocking a secret panel within the wall.
Opening the drawer, she removed the contents and gingerly placed them on the desk in front of her. They were simple things, objects one would hardly expect to find tucked away in the bed chambers of the most powerful being in Equestria: A crumpled letter, the words long since faded into illegibility, a golden lock of hair taken from the mane of a certain mare, a broken pair of spectacles and an old photograph. It was the photo that Celestia took with her as she lay down to rest.
It was from that time before color photography had been discovered. Everything pictured was depicted in various shades of brown, but Celestia remembered the colors well. A golden mane fell around a small, alabaster face. A young Celestia’s pink mane flowed elegantly to the ground and wrapped around the filly seated in front of her. In those days one had to sit very still for the picture to take hold. Most ponies couldn’t keep their smile that long, but during that time Celestia’s loving eyes had never left her daughter’s.
“My angel,” Celestia whispered. “How I miss you so, my little Harmony. We will be together again. I promise.” With a great sigh, the weary ruler doused the lights and drifted into sleep. Harmony waited in her dreams.