"I hope it's still there," Twilight gulped as they each flew back to where they started.
"If it's not, can I hit my sister in the face?" Luna hinted, giving Celestia a glare. But Celestia just rolled her eyes.
"It's not my fault, I though it was in my saddle bag."
"Which you are not wearing." Luna pointed out, tilting her head towards her back, which had nothing but wings connected to it. The white alicorn pouted. Once they had gotten over the Everfree forest, the three princess started to glide down towards the both more, and yet less familiar ground.
"I still can't believe this is Ponyville..." Despite being quite, Twilight's voice echoed in the silence. She was so used to at least a little chatter in her small village, now she could only hear their wing flaps.
"Hey, it's still there!" Luna pointed to a book in the distance.
"Thank the stars..." Celestia sighed. It didn't take long to finally levitate it and pull it towards her. "Okay, how do we reverse this?" she muttered to herself, flipping through the first few pages. "Where did we read up to?"
"Something about hating Equestria," Luna shrugged.
"Oh, right," the sun princess stopped on the page they had finished on, then carried on reading out loud.
"Now all you know is washed away
And you may wonder where and why
The place you stand is far different
Than the place you call home. And this isn't helping." Celestia sighed.
"Keep reading..." Luna told her.
"...What you have learned so far
Is that things are different
But you can not go back
Only forwards is safe..." That was the last straw. Celestia buried her face in the book and started to whine, leaving Luna and Twilight to stare at her, concerned.
"She's lost it," Twilight said dryly.
"Dear me, today I've learned that everything is my fault because I'm too ignorant to notice the simplest details. Sincerely, yourself," The princess breathed. Her sister blinked at her.
"Yep... she's gone insane," Luna agreed, "Celie, don't be ridiculous, how is this, or anything, your fault?"
"You out of all ponies asked me that question?" her voice was on the edge of a snarl.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Luna marched over to her sister, who was now lying on the floor with her head buried in her hooves. She crouched down next to her, and nudged one of her hooves.
"It's my fault you were banished. It's my fault Discord betrayed Equestria. It's my fault we're here in the first place!" she yelled.
"That... None of that were your fault Celie. You're blaming yourself because you're the Princess, you feel like you're going to succeed in everything," Luna soothed. Celestia looked at her.
"Isn't that what I'm suppose to do?" she whimpered.
"Of course not! That's impossible for anypony - anyone to do!" the Night Princess let out a giggle, in which her sister echoed.
"I... I guess not," she smiled, only looking slightly uncertain.
Twilight just stared at the two. She had no idea her former mentor could descend into madness so quickly. "Are you okay, Celestia?" She asked, still concerned for her.
Celestia nodded. "Sorry Twilight, but that happens a lot more than you may think." She rubbed her head as she stood up.
"Uh... what does?"
"Me breaking down like that. Only Luna knows about it but..." she trailed off, "no matter," she cut herself off, going back to reading the spell.
"You have reached the second step of your quest,
And now you must learn,
Only you can save this place
So learn how it's so evil."
"Oh, so we've passed pretty much three steps already?" Twilight piped up. "Three more to go!"
"Well... almost three..." Celestia sighed.
"What do you mean? We know how this world got in this condition! No Tree of Harmony, can't banish Nightmare Moon. The end, eternal night," Luna summed up.
"Yes but... isn't it wise to know the smaller details?"
"Like what?"
"Like how Discord's a slave?"
---
"How long have they been gone?" Rainbow Dash sighed, as she and Pinkie Pie followed Applejack through Sweet Apple Acres.
"Three days," Applejack muttered, bucking an apple tree as she said so.
"Actually, it's been two days, twenty-two hours, fifty-three minutes and sixteen seconds," Pinkie corrected, "well, now eighteen seconds. Now nineteen seconds. Now twenty-"
"We get it," Rainbow Dash cut her off. "I wonder what they're doing..."
"Maybe they're blasting some sort of villain with magical lazer beams, oooor maybe they're running away from some sort of avalanche!"
"Whatever they're doing, they should hurry up. I can just imagine what sort of nightmare Princess Cadance is having right now."
"What sort of nightmare?" Pinkie asked.
"Paperwork."
The pink pony gasped with pure terror.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Discord was having a nightmare either," Rainbow scoffed.
"Why would he be having any trouble? He can raise the sun with a snap of his fingers," Applejack said.
"Yes, but he has to be organized," the pegasus told her.
"It can't be that hard."
--
"This is so hard..." Discord rasped.
"Calm down... all you have to do is organize these letters into piles," Cadance instructed.
"Organize? Organize? HAVE YOU EVER MET ME?"
"Yes. Don't you remember when faked that illness? That was the first time I ever met you."
"It was an expression, you pink alicorn," he mumbled. She glanced at him with a dead-panned expression.
"Was that suppose to be an insult?" she raised a brow.
"Yes... the worst kind."
--
Applejack handed some cider to her two friends. They both gulped it down quickly, letting out a satisfied gasp as the taste still remained in there mouths.
"Y'know, it's pretty weird," Rainbow Dash started.
"What, the cider?" Applejack quickly asked.
"No, the ciders awesome. I mean, Twilight going on an adventure without us."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Applejack smiled.
"I know but... we've done so much together. Defeated so many villains... been so many places. It's just weird to even be here without knowing where Twilight's gone." she ranted.
"I suppose..." the farm pony sighed.
"Who knows? Maybe she's in another dimension with other versions of us!" Pinkie laughed.
"Pfft... I doubt that," Rainbow scoffed.
---
"A slave?" Twilight echoed.
"Well why else would he be in chains?" She shivered as she remembered the cuffs locked around his two different limbs.
"Maybe he's just imprisoned. Considering he can't be turned to stone," Luna suggested.
"But why would he be kicked out the castle? Or why doesn't he just escape when he can just teleport out of his chains?"
"We could always ask him," Twilight told them.
"Oh, now you agree with me!" Luna rolled her eyes.
"Well, Celestia wants to find out the small details, and I couldn't find any history books in the library about Discord!"
"Everything has to be in a book in your world, doesn't it?" Luna muttered to herself.
"I'm not sure how we ask him though," Celestia said, "he knows who we are, we weren't always in those forms you described before, Luna. If I were him, I'd be weirded out."
"Either way, we shouldn't go now," Twilight fretted, "we can go tomorrow... maybe, but I think we should wait. Just to space out our appearance. And not cause a rift."
Celestia nodded. "But Twilight, there isn't a tomorrow. It's eternal night, remember?"
"Well surely the sun must come up at some point. I mean, the plants and crops need to perform photosynthesis, but without the sun's light, they cannot make their own food, and I highly doubt the moon's reflection of the sun will be even close to the amount of light needed to stop the land below it to freeze under absolute zero."
Celestia and Luna just stared at the smaller alicorn.
"I didn't think my eternal night plan through very well, did I?" Luna realized.
"Nope," her sister giggled, "speaking of absolute zero, I'm getting cold. I think we should go and find shelter."
"Yeah, my wings are starting to shiver," Twilight agreed, shaking up her feathers in the cold atmosphere.
"Cold? This weather's mild!" Luna retorted.
"Says the Princess of the Night," Celestia smirked. Luna gave a cute grin.
"Point taken. Okay, let's find shelter."
---
The three managed to find a cave in the Everfree forest. None of them realized they were tired, since they didn't know they'd been up for so long.
"Well, this cave's still really cold, but it's something," Twilight yawned, "we could rest in this patch right here..." She poked a soft patch of grass, and settled on it, her eyes already starting to droop.
"I know I say she's all grown up often, but I still see her as a child," Celestia smiled, walking over to her so she could lie next to her like a mother would. Luna followed, and rested her hooves on Celestia's back, like the little sister she was.
"You really see her as a daughter, don't you?" Luna commented, as her sister put a wing over the shivering alicorn.
Celestia nodded slowly. "I'm glad she's stuck with me all these years... I've failed so many. Even you."
Luna looked at the ground. "You didn't fail me. If you did, I wouldn't be your little sister," she gave her an affectionate nuzzle.
"Thanks Luna. You don't know how much I missed you," Celestia returned her nuzzle, smiling.
"I can say the same. But... I'm glad you banished me. I never wanted Equestria to become... this," she looked outside, and cringed as she stared at the dying trees.
"I know. Which is why we have to save this place."