//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Fall 
// Story: Celestia: The Fall of the Alicorns 
// by Deuterium 
//------------------------------//

A few hours later, in the small hours of the morning, the Queen returned. She’d been busy discussing the various issues that plagued Equestria as of the moment - the economy, potential threats from the Changeling kingdom to the North, delegation of control to the Crystal Empire, and so on. And after all tat, she could finally relax. That is, after one more little job…
“Mommy!”
These two little tykes had increased her itinerary by quite a considerable amount - but she didn't care. These two little alicorns were her children, and she wanted to spend as much time with them as she could. As they rushed towards her, she greeted them as any loving mother should
“Heyyyy, girls! C’mere!” Picking them both up with her magic, she planted a kiss on both of their cheeks. “Have you slept at all this evening?”
The smiles faded slightly from the two children's’ faces.
“Well…” Celestia murmured. “Maybe we did…”
The bags under their eyes was a dead giveaway, and Galaxia was not at all convinced.
“Come on now, you girls know that you need your sleep - you have school tomorrow!”
In reaction to this, both kids let out a resounding “Awwww…”
Galaxia had dealt with situations like this before. 
“Come on now, this isn't a mind-set that the future queens of Equestria can be in!”
That always shut them up.
“OK, you win!” Luna griped as she, with Celestia, returned to her room and got back into bed. Her mother always seemed to win in the end… She always used to tell them about all those political debates she’d won by a landslide, even showed newspaper articles about it to the pair, just to prove it. There was no doubt that she was a role model for the two - they would almost never be quiet about how much they were looking forward to being queens, just like her…
“And when I become queen, I'm gonna make Friday free ice-cream day!” Luna piped up at the end of one particularly long rant. She was sensible for her age, but this topic always got her mind racing with weird and wacky ideas.
“But wouldn't that cost TONS?”
Celestia, on the other hand, always had more realistic goals, not as power-abusive as Luna’s ideal world.
“Yeah, but…”
“And as for the other ideas… The idea with the hot air balloons is good, but I don’t think Saddle Arabia will agree to…”
“They will! I know they will! It’s too AWESOME to NOT agree!”
“Girls, you’re getting overexcited.”
Galaxia had to butt in. As much as she loved seeing her children so enthused about something, it was getting very late. “It’s time to go to sleep now-- I know, but like I said, you need your sleep - without sleep you’d be too tired to organise free ice-cream days and economic stability! Now put your heads down and go to sleep…”
Eventually, the two little princesses drifted off, Luna dreaming of her ideal world of ice-cream and parties, and Celestia dreaming of hers - political stability and no economic crises to worry about.

It hadn't been very long, however, before something woke the princesses from their slumber. The two heard a very loud “bang”, emanating from the room next to their bed-chambers - their mother’s office! Their emotions changed from excited, yet sleepy, to alert and fearful, as they heard hoofsteps on the stone floor, and a deep, gruff voice speaking slowly...
“Queen Galaxia… At last we meet.”
The young Princesses could tell by the very way that this stallion spoke that he had malicious plans. But what? 
They heard their mother speaking. But this wasn't her warm, kind voice that they were accustomed to, this voice was angered, determined, as if her own voice was becoming a weapon.
“Who goes there? Set another hoof forward and you’ll be sorry!”
The deep voice spoke again, coldly retorting to the Queen’s threat.
“Oh, I'm sure you know me…” And then there was a noise as if a hood was being removed, followed by a moment of silence. Then, the deep voice spoke again.
“Lost for words? You remember me now, don’t you?”
“Indeed I do… Why have you returned here, Grogar? I hope it isn't to attempt to curry favour with me again.”
“Oh, I remember that time. That fateful day, long ago, when your ‘council’ rejected my genius… They were sorely mistaken. I left society behind for my research…”
“That would explain your sudden disappearance. But since you’re not here to try and convince me again, what is it you want?”
“I shall have to explain… Up until now my experiments have been… less than adequate. On smaller animals, my techniques worked, but it’s different with ponies… They need more power to reanimate. I tried my techniques on cadaver after cadaver… I trust you must have heard of the disappearances?”
There was a pause. Then Galaxia spoke again.
“But I sense you didn't come here just to tell me that you’re the Canterlot Ripper. Why is it you came?”
All this time, the two princesses had been quietly tiphoofing closer to the door, to better hear this confrontation. The deep voice spoke again.
“I had a brainwave not a few hours ago. I need more power to bring a pony back to life… But I ask you… who has that sort of power?” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Exactly. That is where you come in.”
“I am NOT doing anything for you, Grogar.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do anything… All I need is… your eternal silence.”
No sooner than the gruff voice had said this, there was a sudden crashing noise behind the door, and the Princesses heard their mother let out a muffled grunt of pain, then they heard magic being used, but just for a second, because soon after there was a sound as if it was being… doused in some way. “Don’t think you can do THAT, Princess… I’m more prepared than you think.” 
Celestia and Luna could take it no more. With great effort, they pushed open the door and barged in on the situation… and immediately wished they hadn't.

Their mother, Queen Galaxia, was being pinned to the wall by a tall, brown Unicorn with black, messy hair, who was wearing a hooded cloak. In his other hoof, he had a small, crown-shaped, spiked implement which glinted in the meagre light. The princesses assumed that this was the ‘Grogar’ that Galaxia had been talking to.
The Queen’s would-be assailant turned around to see what was going on.
“Oh ho… So this must be the Queen’s new children I heard about on my way here… What was it… Celestia and… Luna? What beautiful names for the first natural alicorns in millennia…”
Celestia wasn't going to take much more of this. Stepping forward, she spoke defiantly to the great, dark aggressor.
“Let her go, right now!”
The assailant merely raised an eyebrow.
“Or what?”
“Let her go or…”
Celestia stopped. What COULD she do? She could run and tell the guards, but by then it’d be too late…
“Exactly.” Grogar sneered before turning back to Galaxia, who opened her mouth to shout…
“Celestia, Luna, go! You need to get out of here! You have to--”
But her speech was cut short as the Unicorn plunged his bladed weapon deep into the Queen’s heart, multiple times. Galaxia groaned in pain, blood spurting from her abdomen as the unicorn stabbed her over and over. Finally, after the unicorn had punched several holes in her, he let her go, and Queen Galaxia fell to the floor in a bloody heap.
“Mother!” Celestia cried out in shock and horror, running to her side, as Grogar threw his head back and laughed.
“Queen Galaxia… is dead! And soon, her pathetic little empire of ‘Equestria’ will follow in her footsteps! Soon my power shall grow, and those power-hungry alicorns will fall to my army of darkness!”
And with that, he teleported away, cackling with evil laughter. Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna lay over their mother’s dying body, tears running from their eyes like rivers of grief. While Luna just lay there and cried, Celestia cried to her nearly-dead mother…
“No, no, no, no!!! You can’t die! You can’t leave us alone in the world! Not after all you've done… For us and for Equestria…”
“Celestia, my darling… it’s... too late for me…” Galaxia said through pained breaths. “You have... to be... brave. Look after… Luna… It so… pains me to… say it… To put such a… burden on your... back, but… Equestria is in… your… hands…”
With that, Galaxia let out her last breath and closed her eyes for the last time… As Celestia felt her pulse go flat, her eyes opened up again, as she tilted her head to the heavens, and let out a long, resounding scream...
“CURSE YOU, GROGAR!!!!!!”
She, along with Luna, then dropped on top of her mother’s corpse, weeping rivers onto the floor of the study...