Celestia gave one final, shuddering breath, and exhaled. As she went limp, a few drops of salty water fell from the eyes of the ponies watching. Celestia had known it was her time, and had asked to be moved to a private location, where the only ponies watching at her time of passing would be Princess Cadence, Princess Twilight, and Princess Luna. As the Princesses snuffled their tears, they waited in mourning for a few minutes before carrying her body to a private location. Princess Celestia was buried in the maze at the garden, by the three remaining ailcorns. They reflected on the cause.
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Celestia groaned in agony. It seemed that her injuries finally caught up to her. An alicorn doesn't age, but has a specific amount of Life Force. Every time she sustained an injury, she lost some, and it would not recover naturally. Every paper cut, scratch, scrape, wound she had ever had slowly drained her Life Force. She had initially predicted a couple thousand more years of life, but this was cut short by Nightmare Moon's massive attacks, and when Chrysalis burnt her horn she knew it would soon be time. She quickly summoned Cadence, Twilight and Luna with letters. She was too weak to move. As she gasped out her knowledge, they began to cry. She managed to get a couple of final requests in: To die in a private location, to be buried in the maze, and one other request. She smiled, despite the situation. It was time.
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Twilight stood nervously in front of the massive crown watching. She had seen and heard many nobles debating who was next in line to the throne, but only she knew the truth. She smiled nervously as the ceremony began.
"The next in line to the throne is... Twilight Sparkle." Luna read, as the nobles gasped in surprise. She smirked, and wondered how they never thought of this.
"Twilight Sparkle, approach the throne and claim your crown."
Twilight walked forward, each step measured. She knew she would never live it down if she tripped here. "Your Royal Highness, it is an honor." she stated, as per the memorized notecards she had written to help herself remember the words to the ceremony.
"Are you ready to uphold the throne of Equestria, for the population of the same?"
"Yes."
"Are you willing to uphold the throne of Equestria, even at the cost of your life?"
"Yes."
"Are you able to uphold the throne of Equestria until the day you die?"
"Yes."
"Then by the power of the Moon, I bestow upon you the Stewardship of the Sun. Use it wisely."
Twilight used her magic to levitate her crown into the proper position, and knelt.
"Rise, and be ready, Princess Twilight."
With that, the crowd burst into applause. Twilight was not happy that the required duties of a new princess included having to shake the hoof of every noblepony. After the first fifty, her hoof felt sore. After the next hundred, it felt like it was going to fall off. After everypony shook her hoof, she wasn't sure she was going to survive the first day. Strangely, she felt slightly energized by the whole performance. When she asked Luna, she learned. One of the few ways to restore an alicorn's life force was, by coincidence, coming into direct contact with one who has positive feelings for said alicorn! When Twilight asked about other ways, Luna just shuddered and asked her to cease the line of questioning. When she went to bed that night, in an alicorn sized matress, she thought to herself.
"What could possibly go wrong?"