//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Night and Day's Youth // by Excellen //------------------------------// Her mother had been rushed to the hospital quickly, with the doctors taking her as soon as she went in through the doors. Her father, Solaris, stayed with Celestia, in the waiting room for a couple of hours. Celestia was worried, even though she knew she shouldn’t be. There had never been so much commotion in her life. Celestia looked up, at the clock. She had been there for 4 hours now and was getting tired.. A doctor emerged from the white doors, and motioned them to follow him. Hoping that she would be able to see her mother and new sibling soon, she and her father followed the doctor quickly. They both followed the doctor higher into the hospital, until they stopped at a large white door. The doctor opened it, beckoning them inside. The door swung closed behind them almost immediately after setting hoof in the room. The room seemed so big to Celestia, but she soon reasoned that she was just small. She saw her mother in a bed, holding a blanket rapped into a cylindrical shape. She creeped up next to the bed, as her mother unraveled the blanket she was holding. A small Dark blue filly with short light blue hair stared right back at her. She instantly fell in love with the small bundle that was her sister. Everything about her just made Celestia want to smile. Celestia asked in awe, "What’s her name?" Her mother replied in a very soft voice, "Luna. We named her after the moon which she will eventually come to rise." Celestia said the name again in her mind. "Luna." It sounded fit for the filly that would, as her mother had mentioned, raise the moon when her time came. Celestia, being the other sister, was going to be tasked with raising the sun later in her life. She asked her father when they would be able to return to the castle. Her mother gave her an awkward look. She turned her head to her husband. Her father replied in a sweet tone, "I don't know, Celestia. Let me go find the doctor." He left the room, to search for the doctor that cared for his wife. Celestia's mother seemed so happy. She was usually so strict, and Celestia almost never saw her. She was always so busy with her royal duties. "Well, cut her some slack," Celestia thought. "She IS the ruler of all Equestria." She still didn't like her mother's strictness though. She always said that discipline and proper manners were the main makeup of a ruler. Now her father, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of her mother. He was very playful, funny, and nice. He was also quite the prankster. Most of his harmless pranks were aimed at unsuspecting staff at the castle, but Celestia got hit with a good portion of them. Her father still had his royal duties also, which consumed most of his time. The only person she really ever spent time with was Mr. Ivory, her fillysitter. Mr. Ivory and her father go very far back, apparently since they were young foals. Mr. Ivory played the piano at royal occasions, along with the rest of the royal orchestra. Oh, and Discord, who is a draqonequs. He was fairly nice, and they got along great. But he can sometimes be extremely boastful, always having to be better than her. She wondered how he would be without her. Discord didn’t have any other friends than Celestia, and she didn’t know anything about where he lived or who his parents were. Every time she asked he either got angry, or he just started crying. Her father came back into the room, and said, "The doctor says that you will stay until tomorrow at the least. He said he didn't want to rush you. Even though you are an alicorn, giving birth can still be tough on your body." Her mother replied, "Thank you for the news, Solaris." Her father said, "If need anything, you can ask me, the doctor, or even little Celestia here. Right Celestia?” Deep in her own thoughts, suddenly came to attention, somewhat startled, “Oh, um. Right!" The doctor then came in, saying that he need to run some tests on Luna to make sure she was healthy. Her mother was reluctant to let her newborn go, but she knew she had to do it for the safety of Luna. Celestia's stomach rumbled loudly. Her father said, "Sounds like somepony is getting a bit hungry. C'mon, let's go get something to eat." Celestia happily followed her father out of the room and down onto the bottom floor, where the cafeteria was located. Celestia mulled over what she should get. A sandwich? Or maybe a salad? Ugh, she couldn't decide. The events of the day were too exciting for her small filly body to handle. She decided that she would get a sandwich, for now she just wanted to get to sleep. When she got it, she wolfed it down. After devouring the sandwich, she leaned back in her chair, her belly full, eyelids starting to get heavier as each second went by. She was very soon asleep. Solaris looked down at her sleeping daughter. She seemed so peaceful. Careful not to wake her, he picked her up with his magic and carried her off to the guest wing, where they would be staying for the night. As he settled into bed, with Celestia tucked in beside him, he couldn't help wondering what having 2 fillies running around the palace would be like. He soon expelled the thought. Don't get ahead of yourself Solaris. Think of the task at hoof. He suddenly noticed how tired he was, his eyelids slowly closing. He didn't know why, but he had the urge to fight off the sleep. He struggled to keep his eyes opened, but in the end, sleep overtook him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She craned her neck in vain, trying to see something, anything. But she couldn’t. Everything was blacker than the night. She saw a large shadow fly up from what she assum, a tall figure appeared in front of her. It was just a Silhouette, about 5 times as tall as her. As soon as it appeared, she felt a strong sense of dread. Slowly, its mouth opened. Its teeth were large and spiky, the only contrast to the black entity that stood before her. Out of nowhere, a maniacal evil laugh filled the dark void, and bat like creatures spewed from its mouth. The entity suddenly grew to be 50 stallions tall, and it turned to look at Celestia. She looked into where its eyes should have been, and saw only hate. Hate, agony, pain, torture, jealously. The screams of thousands of burning ponies could be heard throughout the void. Celestia screamed, suddenly feeling her being shaken. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Solaris was desperately trying to awaken his daughter. She had just started screaming halfway through the night. She suddenly bolted upright, sweating profusely. Her breathing sounded heavy. Her normally tidy pink mane was now a mess. Her father tried to quiet her by rocking her back and forth, all the while she was sobbing on his chest, her tears dampening his fur. Celestia looked up at her father, and sobbed, "Who would do such cruel things?" Then she just started crying even harder. Solaris knew what he had to do. His horn started glowing, as did Celestia's shaking body. He laid her down back into the bed, now sound asleep. "The sleeping spell, a father’s best friend." he said. Soon enough, he was right beside her, sleeping as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Celestia woke up first the next morning. She walked over to her slumbering father's bed, and shook him gently with a hoof. He rolled over in his bed and looked at his daughter. She looked terrible. It was obvious she had gotten little to no sleep last night, even after he had cast the spell. He slowly rose out of bed, his hoofs moving across the floor towards the bathroom. He splashed water on his face. He had a lot to do today. He looked in the mirror. He didn't look any better than Celestia. He had been worrying about his wife and Luna all night. "How about we go check in on mom, eh?" he said. Celestia simply nodded her head. They opened up the door, and started walking toward the main hospital. Eventually, they made it to the floor that she was staying on. Solaris lightly tapped on the door with a hoof. He opened the door, and they both walked in. Her father asked, "How is Luna? Did all of her tests-" Her mother nodded before she could finish. A great wave of relief swept over him. That means they could leave the hospital today, as planned. The doctor soon came in with Luna, handing her to Celestia's mother. He then left to go file checkout papers concerning her mom. The rest of the time before their departure was idle chitchat (In which her mother told them that they looked like sleep-deprived-zombie-ponies, which made Celestia giggle.) Eventually the doctor came back, telling them that they could go now. They made it slowly down to the ground floor, in which a member of the royal guard was waiting for them. They all got into the royal carriage, which abruptly started forward. They rose higher and higher into the sky until Celestia couldn't see the ground. She couldn't help thinking "I'm a sister."