The sun slowly set over a peaceful Canterlot as a purple alicorn with a darker shade of purple bangs trotted next to a taller, white alicorn who had a rainbow-colored mane. The smaller one walked eagerly behind her mentor.
“How do you think you did today, Twilight?” asked the older alicorn.
Twilight looked to the floor nervously as they walked. “I’m not… really sure…” Twilight responded quietly. “Did I do anything wrong, princess?”
The princess smiled with a motherly affection. “No, Twilight, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Princess Celestia looked to the younger alicorn. “And, besides, you don’t need to call me princess anymore.”
Twilight blushed as she looked to the ground. With a sheepish smile, she asked, “if you don’t mind, Princ…” Twilight caught her mistake. “Oops… I mean, Celestia. Um, I was wondering… um…” Twilight stumbled with her words. “I wanted to learn more about what other ponies look for in a princess.”
Celestia beamed in pride for her student. “Twilight, I can’t help you with that, but I’m certain you’ll find that out yourself.”
Twilight looked away, her mind swimming in what she could possibly do to learn the best way to lead.
Celestia and Twilight passed a hallway filled with stain-glass windows visualizing previous events dedicated to the history of the world. A dark-blue alicorn walked down towards Celestia and Twilight, her stature shorter than that of Celestia’s, but taller than Twilight’s. “How fares thee dear sister and Twilight?”
“Ahh, Luna. Wonderful to see you. I assume you’re making your way to raise the moon?” Celestia questioned, a smile plastered to her face.
Luna nodded with a small smile. “And you, dear sister?”
“I was called to meet with the royal guard. Something about new recruits and better methods of training,” Celestia sighed, her smile dimming slightly. She began down the corridor from which Luna came from. “Sweet dreams, dear Twilight. Farewell, dear sister.”
Twilight looked to her mentor as she left her with Luna. “Oh, uh, good night, Princ… err… Celestia”
Twilight began walking on her original path. Luna followed after Twilight. “Princess Twilight, how has your day been?”
“I was worried at first, but I think I did good enough,” Twilight said, her face brightened with a smile.
Luna also beamed. “That’s nice to hear, Twilight. You know, you’re very lucky to be a princess.”
“I know, Princess Luna, but were there any other ponies who became alicorns?”
“Actually, Princess Candace was a pegasus before she…”
“I actually know that story, Princess Luna. She told me herself. Are there any others?”
“Well,” Luna raised her eyes in thought. “Starswirl the Bearded came close, but other than him, nopony else was as skilled as you and Candace.”
“What stopped him from becoming an alicorn?”
“He learned da…” Luna cut herself off. “Err… I think I’ll tell you at a later time; your room is right here.” Indeed, Twilight’s bedroom was just to their right.
“But Princess, couldn’t you…”
“No,” Luna interjected, her voice raising in a bit of annoyance. “Just… no. Not right now.”
Twilight wanted to interject, but she knew better. She knew to just respect Luna’s wishes. “Err… very well. Good night, Princess Luna.” Twilight went into her room and prepared for sleep.
In the hallway, the Princess of the Night looked back to the room nervously. ‘I know I should have told her…’ Luna looked forward. ‘I must bring it up to Celestia before I meet with Twilight again. It’d be better for her permission to tell her first.’ With a final worried glance back, Luna continued to raise the moon for that evening.
“Princess?” Twilight asked. Celestia sat on her throne when Twilight walked in.
“What is it, Twilight?” Celestia asked, standing up from her seat.
“Well,” Twilight began, her face showing worry. “I was talking with Luna last evening when I brought up Starswirl…” Celestia’s left eyebrow rose slightly as worry shined in her eyes. “It sounded like she was trying to hide something, but I…”
Celestia raised a hoof, signaling her to stop. “I feared you would ask this one day.” Celestia closed her eyes and had a solemn expression on her face. With a glow of magic from her horn, she closed the doors and began to speak. “You see, Starswirl was just as powerful as you when he was my student, but only after he was much older. He was very smart, but he never learned about friendship. He spent all his time inside studying. I knew he had to learn about friendship in order for him to learn more, so I sent him to the Crystal Empire- this was before Sombra took over.” Twilight bobbed her head understanding. “Even though he was able to learn new and more powerful spells, he never got to know the ponies of the Crystal Empire, so he couldn’t learn about the most important magic of them all.”
Twilight nodded her head in sadness, understanding how that felt. “I know what you mean…”
Celestia nodded solemnly before continuing. “He began to believe that the crystals that surrounded the Crystal Empire gave him great power and strengthened his skills.” Her head drooped in memory. “I guess they might have, because he became so powerful that he even learned how to do Alicorn magic. I became worried, so I personally visited him to see what was wrong. However, he became distant and even acted out against me. I tried to reason, but he only sought out power. I stayed nearby and did my best, but he grew even more distant and more enraged. Eventually, he used the Alicorn magic to corrupt the Crystal Heart and began to suck the power from it and all the Crystal Ponies. I tried to stop him, but he’d already changed.”
Twilight gasped. “You don’t mean…”
“Yes. He became Sombra. He forced me out and took control of the entire empire. In desperation, Luna and I used the elements to hide the empire away for thousands of years, but he still stayed in control until you and Princess Candace dethroned him.”
Twilight looked mortified. “Is there a way to help him?”
Celestia frowned. “We’d need to change his heart; however, not even I know how to do so.” She looked to the sun’s rays entering through the stained glass. “Maybe he’ll have a change, but that’s still unknown…”