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// Epilogue 
// Story: Break of Dawn 
// by SupaSqueegee 
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Time was rarely something that Celestia cared for.  She had lived for far too long to worry about so minor a thing as time.  The years went by just like all the others before them had done.  She made friends, she had students, and she watched them die.  For a long time, she had allowed her heart to turn to stone.  Especially after everything that had happened with Luna all those years ago.

But something happened that had caused her to feel again.  She had met someone, someone who had changed her.  And now, even though it had been almost two years since his death, she still mourned for him.  It wasn’t often that an immortal cried over the life of a mortal.  Even the ones that she held closest to her rarely invoked the tears of pain that she now shed.

She was grateful for the company she kept, though.  Those that would share this eternity with her.  There were only a few, but she loved them dearly.  Her sister, Luna, had been there since the very beginning.  Princess Cadence had come much later, and then Twilight some time after that.  It was strange, if she thought about it, how at one time she had expected to have no one to share this empty life with.  But now she had many, and she was happy for that, if nothing else.

Still, their company could only do so much.  Because when she was alone, especially early in the morning when she was raising the sun, a tidal wave of emotions would come crashing down around her.  Some days she would cry and keep herself locked away from the world.  Other days she collapsed in and around herself, showing no one the hurt and heartache she felt inside.

Not today, though.  No, on this day as she raised the sun, a smile actually pulled at her lips.  Because she thought, if only for a moment, that she saw his smile on the horizon.  It was as if he was telling her that this was not the way she should live.  She needed to be there for her friends and family, and for her kingdom.  And she needed to live a full life, even if it was an eternity, for him.

A single tear rolled from her eye as she set the sun in it’s path for the day, and she smiled a real smile for the first time in almost two years.  She finally understood what his sacrifice had meant.  Oh, she had always known that it had been for the greater good.  That if he hadn’t of done what he had, that it was likely Equestria would have been much different right now.

No, she finally understood what his death meant to her.  He had never been placed before her for her to spend her life with.  He had been an opportunity for real love, and she had taken advantage of that.  He had showed her, in his brief time here, that she needed to be the kind and compassionate Celestia with all of her citizens as she had been with him.

The pain she had felt when he died was the wake up call that she had needed.  It was a jolt to her system, waking her up to the world around her.  It had just taken her all this time to fully realize that.  

The facade she had used for so many generations would no longer be needed, because she knew now what she had forgotten.  To be the ruler that was supposed to be, she had to feel every death, take in every pain, and feel them as deeply as she could.  She had lost her empathy somewhere along the way, and while Twilight had brought a bit of it back, it had taken Cale and his death to bring it back the rest of the way.

So, as she turned away from the early morning sun, she knew that this was not just a new dawn for her kingdom, but for her as well.  And she was going to be the pony that Cale had loved, and she was going to make him proud.