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// Extinguished Sun 
// Story: Figurehead 
// by Dapper Guy 
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	I felt my body begin to become solid again as the world formed around me. I could feel sensation of earth beneath my hooves, my senses blazing to life in this dream world. My mane was pointing upward as if I had been struck by an odd bolt from a thundercloud. Luna, on the other hoof however, remained composed and as regal as ever. Not a single hair out of place on her visage. “Come, Mayor Mare. There is still much to be seen on this night,” said Luna as the earth began to form beneath her hooves.

Grass began to sprout up as the earth came to life around us. Oak trees were scattered across the plain so finely I expected somepony planted them there. Several small rock outcrops jutted out of the ground, various small gems glinting in the sun’s light. As the wind of my dream world blew through my mane, I couldn’t help but wonder where Luna had taken me. “Luna, where are we?” I asked.

Luna merely continued walking forward. “The better question thou should be asking is when are we?”

I bit my tongue as Luna’s rebuttal baffled me.  I remained silent as we continued our trek across the open plain, the mountains of Canterlot far off in the distance. Soon enough, we came to a small stream, a makeshift bridge of river stones making it accessible for somepony to get to the other side. Luna walked over the stony bridge but when I walked over it, I could feel the icy water lapping against my hooves. I never fully comprehended that while I was still sleeping, I could feel all of the sensations of the dream world as if it was the real one.

“You are not wrong in your assumptions, fair mayor.” Luna stopped on the other side of the river across from me, giving a nod of understanding. “The dream world could be considered a collection of memories, a vast collection of what one has experienced, felt and observed in the waking world.” Small blue orbs began to whirl around Luna’s hoof, coalescing together into a small floating ball. Extending her hoof out, I backed away hesitantly as the ball was brought closer to my muzzle. “Imagine a certain texture you’ve felt before, mayor. Focus on that sensation and how it felt against your hoof. Then touch the ball.”

While I wouldn’t dare question the princess of the night’s sanity, what she was saying sounded too ludicrous to be true. I decided the feeling of sand, coarse and grainy, would be easy enough. Putting my hoof against the ball, I ran my hoof over it, astounded to feel like my hoof was indeed pressing against a floating ball of sand.

“Textures, sounds, and other sensations of the physical world all make up the dream world, fair mayor,” explained Luna. “Here we are limited only by our imagination, but this is not why we have brought you. Come, we must make haste.” The ball splintered apart in a dazzling array of lights, before disappearing from existence.

We traveled on, the sun remaining in place as we continued to walk. “Brace thyself, dearest mayor,” started Luna. “What comes next will surely be one of the most unsettling sights you will bear witness to.”

I felt myself stumble but quickly righted myself. The longer I was here, the more I questioned if I hadn’t finally succumbed to the sweet song of madness. Luna stopped in front of me so abruptly I nearly bumped headfirst into her. Trotting to her side, I nearly fell over in shock but Luna grabbed a hold of me with her magic.

Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria laid sprawled out on a white slate of stone. The once regal looking alicorn looked like a vile caricature of what she once was since I had seen her. Several, white pristine feathers were scattered across the ground. Her mighty wings were matted with filth, her pinions sticking out at odd ends. Her usual, prismatic mane laid out over her back in a shade of dull pink, in desperate need of a brushing. Several patches of hair were missing on her now skeletal body, exposing peach pink skin beneath. Her ribs were stretched tightly against her skin, her stomach nearly non-existent. The once all mighty alicorn that laid sprawled out in front of us, a shell of her former self.

Celestia laid there, her violet stunning eyes sunken back into her skull. Her horn needed a thorough polish, her hooves in need of a serious hooficure, by all means Celestia looked like she banging against the white stallion’s door.

“H-h-h-how?” I sputtered out finally.

“Remember, dear mayor, that the dream world is a collection of memories. What thou now sees is the memories of Celestia’s self-exile from the rest of the world,” she said sadly. A small tear trailed down her muzzle, falling to the earth beneath her hooves. “Thy sister’s guilt of banishing us was the final nail in the coffin for her. The act of taking up arms against me drove her away from our subjects and to seek seclusion in the untamed wilderness.” Luna walked up to Dream-Celestia’s side, putting a hoof against Past-Celestia’s marred wing.

This almost seemed too unreal to believe, even if it was in the world of dreams. Celestia was always there for her ponies, even when she was overwhelmed by Chrysalis during the royal wedding. To see her broken form laid out bare right in front of her eyes, her knees buckled underneath me as I fell to the ground.

“Tis truly a most heinous sight, is it not, mayor?” spat Luna. I looked into those eyes, those deep, remorseful eyes of Luna, glittering like stars in the sky with torrents of emotions behind them. “With the severance of her connection to the elements of harmony, our sister wished to tear herself away from everything. She wanted to escape it all, the nobility, the responsibility, everything. What mattered in this world, if it forced you to take up arms against your own family?”

A stone lodged itself in my throat. The sheer impossibility of the situation I was facing rendered me speechless. Luna lifted my head up with a hoof, her expression a mixture of pity but understanding as well. “Celestia was, and still is, capable of making mistakes. Something many ponies seem to forget. Yet, in our darkest hours, we can still find a small shard of hope to guide us out of the darkness.”

The sound of crunching grass caught my attention. A white unicorn stallion made his way past us, his face somewhat familiar. “Your highness,” he said. Celestia’s horn lit up like an exploding star, her eyes growing wild at the sound of the intruder’s voice. I leapt back from him as the grass around Celestia began to singe and burst into flames, the earth turning bright red as if it was lava. Yet despite the violent response Celestia displayed with her magic, the lone stallion remained still, not even so much as a twitch in his knees.

“You must come back, princess,” began the unicorn. “The capital is tearing itself apart with petty squabbling. The pegasi have left to form a city of their own and the earth ponies have uprooted their crops and renounced their loyalty to the crown. The grand nobles of the unicorns have decided to form a new line of government to rule over your city in your stead but it’s only lead to further rioting.”

Slowly, the roaring flames settled down s;sightly but the earth around Celestia continued to burn like a waking volcano. “And why, Captain Blueblood, should I truly care for such paltry problems?” Past-Celestia weakly replied. “I have sacrificed so much for them, yet like a swarm of locusts, their insatiable demands can never be quelled. I wanto nothing to do with such selfish ponies.”

Captain Blueblood sat down in the grass, wincing slightly from the roiling heat permeating from the ground that distorted even the air around the two. “My princess, for the past thirty-six days, I have traveled here and told no pony where you are. I come to you, my rightful ruler not just as a captain of your guard, but as somepony who truly wants to see Equestria to return to harmony. Am I too, one of these selfish ponies?”

The fires around Past-Celestia snuffed out entirely in an instant, the earth stopped bubbling as the magic of the sun princess finally stopped. Small trails of smoke drifted up into the open air and carried away in the wind. Celestia raised her head up to meet her loyal captain eye to eye. “Leave me, I have no more love to give,” Past-Celestia cried. Tears feel freely from her eyes, evaporating as soon as they touched the stone she laid on. 

Captain Blueblood hesitantly rose up, his eyes never leaving Celestia. Eventually, he turned away, trotting at slow pace as if he was expecting to be called back. When he finally disappeared over the slope of the hill, Celestia rested back down on her white stone bed.

“Celestia continued to waste away for another few months until my sister decided to retake the mantle of princess again.” Luna stood by her sister’s side, a hoof on the dream version of her sister. "Years passed until she was finally able to unite the kingdom once again but some scars still remain. Unicorns mostly populate Canterlot while the rest of the three tribes continue to spread outward. The earth ponies only swear fealty to Celestia again after she promised to allow them to settle and form their own colonies with their own forms of government. The pegasi were less than cooperative, seeing her absence as a sign of weakness. In the end, she allowed them to establish what is now Cloudsdale. It was nearly two hundred years afterwards was my sister able to reform our once broken nation and cease any further infighting. Such a heavy price by stepping down from one's station.”

I felt a wing resting on my back, Luna appearing by my side in an instant. “Thou should not delude thyself, fair mayor. You've done what you could do for Ponyville. When we fall from our greatest height, we become open to our flaws in this life. Celestia and I know this better than anypony else.”

A small, purple light begins to form in front of me, steadily stretching outward and growing denser in color. A six pointed purple star begins to form from within the light until finally spreading out into a rectangular shape. “This will be the final dream we shall step into this night, fair mayor. Undoubtedly, you know who this dream belongs to,” said Luna. “But what you don’t know about this pony will surely help you come to terms with yourself.”

I brace myself for what will come next. I turn the handle on the door and step through, ready to see the mare I’ve come to respect and despise the most. Princess Twilight Sparkle.