Luna Eclipse

by Teeemu

Chapter I: The Woes of Alouette

"How much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice?"

There are three things that the Province of Isabella is known best for: warm weather, wide open plains of endless prairies and the conservative nature of its pony inhabitants. Traditional family values are upheld by all. The stallion; provider, father and leader. The mare; caretaker, mother and follower. That is how it’s always been.
If you couldn’t be a mother, couldn’t conceive or suffer the tragedy of stillbirth, then you were seen as nothing but an empty vessel. Cursed with the sterility disease and unworthy of any title or respect within the small communities that dot the area surrounding Lake Faroe. Stallions who are unfortunate enough to lay claim to a sterile mate are forced to either abandon their companions or suffer the shame of being unable to father an heir.
The larger towns close to the city of Isabella are at least, if anything, forward thinking. Ponies there have a modicum of understanding when it comes to a mare's inability to have a foal. Yet further to south such disabilities are never looked upon with anything other than utter disdain.
It is here in the dry and dilapidated village of Faroe de Luna that our story finds its roots. A place so far removed from the laws that govern Equestria that the grace of harmony was nothing but a whisper. It's here that Alouette, a well proportioned, brown-coated unicorn mare with a thick, luscious black mane, had lived for her entire life. Faroe de Luna was a small village. Everypony that lived there existed in an extremely close knit community. So it was no strange thing for a young filly to be married off at a young age and Alouette was no exception.
Her father had jumped at the opportunity to offer her as his first born to the son of the region's figurehead. Every county in Isabella had a figurehead. A well respected member of the province's society and governmental member that usually had access to wealth and influence. In Alouette's case, the figurehead's son and heir to his name was a perfect match. Her father had almost gone bankrupt securing the dowry, but in the end the contract was made and the young filly was betrothed at nine.
Alouette had never even heard of the figurehead's son let alone known if she could ever love him. Yet a lifetime of conditioning lead her to believe that a mare never had a choice in the matter. They were there to produce an heir, to bolster a family name and to care for their offspring.
Years had passed and when she was fourteen, she was finally permitted to see him. It was an occasion she had felt her entire life had been building up to. The opportunity to finally lay eyes on her husband-to-be for the first time. She and her father had taken the day's journey to the city of Isabella to meet with the figurehead and prepare for the wedding. Yet even though she was only days away from her marriage, she was still not able to meet with her husband.
Alouette could never remember a time that she had experienced such anxiety. Shut up in a big city manor and fussed over by a bunch of mares all trying to gussy her up for her big day. It had felt like an eternity and all she could ever think of was home. The place that she may never see again. In many ways she secretly resented how her father had simply sold her off and perhaps the hope of falling in love with a dashing stallion was all she needed to push through her nerves.
Eventually the day had arrived and just before the ceremony had started she was permitted to know his name. For no other reason than for her to say her vows properly. The stallion's name was Quicklight, and somehow knowing his name was all she needed to see this through, to play her part and to bring honor to her family.
Walking veiled down the aisle, she laid her eyes on a striking young unicorn standing at the altar. His coat a charcoal color, his eyes a luminous green and his mane silver and glistening. For all intents and purposes he was perhaps the most dashing stallion she had ever seen. Her heart had gone all a flutter and all her previous woes had disappeared. Alouette had become infatuated.
Yet she still felt her body trembling the closer she trotted to him. His eyes locked almost expectantly upon her as she approached. What was he thinking? Would he love her? Would he even like her? Her mind continued to plague her with every step she took. It wasn't until she had stood before him and waited for him to magically lift her veil did she finally have her answer. A simple yet graceful smile as if to say, "It will be okay."
It was only when the two of them had finally exchanged their vows, when Quicklight had smiled his secret smile and when their lips had finally touched that she had felt it. The spark. Alouette knew that he was the right one. That the two of them were meant to be.
The wedding ceremony was short and soon she had found herself in the bed chamber of her betrothed. Yet even though she had mentally prepared herself for the act that would finally make her a true mare, Quicklight had been a proper gentlepony. He treated her with respect, took it slow and tenderly. Alouette could never have asked for a more caring or better lover.
And so her life continued along the path that was already planned out for her. She attended luncheons with all the well-to-dos of the city, quickly became friends with her local group of gossiping housemares, and did all she could to keep Quicklight happy. The longer she lived with him, the more her love for him grew. There was nopony in the world that could ever compare to him in her eyes.

I know you, Alouette... You are worthy...

"Urgh!" Alouette woke with a start, lifting her head up quickly and breathing fast. She looked about her frantically, trying to remember the being that had visited her in her dream.
"Hmmm..." grunted a voice next to her. "What troubles you, my love? Nightmares once more?”
She placed her hoof to her face, falling back onto her pillow and trying to wrack her brain for any detail of who the voice had belonged to. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to wake you," she said groggily.
"It's no trouble," Quicklight replied, turning onto his side and facing her. "Your nights’ rest have been disturbed of late. It's not the first time you've had one of these dreams, is it?"
She rolled over and kissed him with a smile. "It's nothing. Go back to sleep."
He stroked her cheek and turned over. "I love you," he whispered after a short pause.
Alouette's smile faded as she rolled onto her back. She hadn't told him about the cold sweat that matted her fur, that this was no ordinary dream. Despite the fact that she could hardly remember what it was about, that eerie voice was like nothing she had ever heard before.
The thoughts lingered on her mind for a while longer until she found herself drifting back into an uneasy sleep.

The following morning continued just as every other day. Alouette's routine consisted of preparing breakfast for Quicklight and seeing him off with a peck on the cheek. Although the heir to a fortune, he was still his own pony. Running a small business in the center of town that sold fine garments. His independence was just one of the reasons why she loved him so much. She could remember the first time his father had tried to intervene in how their marriage should be. That it was imperative that she produce an heir as soon as possible. Yet despite tradition, Quicklight had made it clear that they would only have a foal when Alouette was good and ready.
It wasn't for lack of trying on Quicklight's part. As a customary show that he wanted a child whenever she had reached the pinnacle of her estrous cycle, he had presented her with a basket of strawberries three times in their marriage. Each time, she had somehow refused him.
The first time was weeks after they had first married. He had taken her out to an amazing sing and dance show at the plaza, walked close by her back home, kept her warm in the cold night's air and even ran her a hot bath on their return home. She knew what she was getting into, that he was ready for a baby. However, Alouette was not. The moment he had left the bathroom she stepped out from the bath and towards the bedroom without even glancing towards her husband. An hour later, a disappointed Quicklight had returned to their room. Shuffling towards the bed, climbing in next to her and gently touching her cheek as if to give it one more shot before shaking his head, rolling over and falling quickly into a deep sleep.
The second time had been a year later. Alouette had experienced a rather a grumpy cycle due to more cramps than anticipated. The last thing she needed was to see a basket of strawberries on the dining room table and a smirking Quicklight staring hopefully up at her when she entered. Yet with a forced smile, she had sat with him and pretended to be excited about the prospect of having a baby. All the while leading him on, steadily getting him drunk on wine and forcing him to follow her upstairs with a promiscuous grin just to guiltily finish him off in other ways.
The following day, Quicklight had awoken with a headache, a running stomach and absolutely no recollection of the night before. Alouette had cared for him by bringing him medicine, forcing him to drink water and treating his hangover just as any devoted wife.
Yet when he had kissed her in the kitchen after recovering later that evening and expressed how happy he was to finally have a baby, her stomach had churned at just how guilty she had felt. How could she have ever lied about something so important? Worse... she had lead him to suspect she had indeed conceived a foal. Only to later lie once more and claim she’d had a miscarriage.
The third time had been a genuine failure to conceive. Once again it had been another year until Alouette found a basket of roses in her bedroom with a note. The note had written instructions that lead to a secluded roof balcony on the top of the apartment. There she found him lying in an extremely wide hot bath with the night’s sky above them. With a smile she climbed in and joined him, the gesture too romantic to deny him a third chance. They had made love under the stars, lay in each other's hooves after they were done and then proceeded to make love once more. Alouette had felt the fear of motherhood during the days that followed. Only to be told weeks later by her doctor that she wasn't carrying.
In many ways she had felt relieved. Being married off at such a young age was fair enough, but having to raise a foal was something else entirely. Something that she had dreaded her entire life. But in the back of her mind she knew that a foal was something Quicklight had always wanted, and after five years of marriage she had come to terms with the fact that now was the best time to conceive.
Alouette trotted over to the kitchen window of their second story apartment and gazed out towards the street. A pair of ponies crossing the cobbled road had caught her eye. A young filly and her father both heading towards a cart bound for school. She watched as the stallion kissed his daughter goodbye with a smile and levitated her up onto the cart's seat. Alouette knew that one day such a simple act would give her betrothed more joy than anything else. She turned from the window and made her way towards the entrance hall. A trip to the doctor would indeed be the best way to start.
Isabella was perhaps one of the most iconic cities in Equestria. A trip to anywhere in town often had you trotting past at least some building of significance. The road that Alouette lived on crossed through the heart of the city, meandering at some points to show off visages of the city's past. One such visage was the Statue of the Three Graces. Three ponies standing side by side and holding their heads to the sky as to signify a higher understanding. Each pony resembled a member of the three races. Unicorn, Earth pony and Pegasus. In the early days before the Diarchy, the southern provinces had held onto traditionally pagan beliefs. The Three Graces were predominantly believed to be the founding ancestors of ponykind. Although now believed to be nothing but old mare's tales, the statues and histories still remained. Isabella was nothing if not traditional.
Alouette couldn't help but spend a few seconds gazing up at it as she passed. It had an oddly nostalgic feel for her each time she did so. A reminder of what was and what now is. In the years that had followed her life here in the province's capital, Alouette had witnessed the birth of a new kind of religion. One that had deified two ponies who held the power to control both the sun and the moon. These ponies had become so powerful that they had seemed to surpass the boundaries of even race itself. A pair of sisters who bore the traits of all three. The horn of a unicorn, the wings of a pegasus, and the bodily strength of an earth pony. They had become the very first of a race defined as Alicorns.
Civil unrest in the following years grew before she had ever set hoof in the city. There were always clashes between those who defended the old ways and those who followed a new religion devoted to the sisters. Or at least that was as much as she had ever paid attention to. Religion and faith was never something Alouette found solace in.
She passed the statue and continued on her path towards the clinic. She considered the time she was living in; a time of tumultuous change and upheaval. A time where the norms of the old had been challenged by the rise in power of the twin sisters. She could remember all the times she had chatted with her gossiping friends at the tea garden. How they spoke of these alicorns with such reverence.
Alouette couldn’t help but think of her family back home. How much had changed there? What did her parents think of these ponies that were now affectionately dubbed as princesses? And finally, how were her parents? She had no idea whether or not they were still alive. A part of her didn’t even want to.

Alouette approached the front door of the clinic and headed inside, magically closing the door behind her as she did so. She made her way to the front desk, slightly scrunching her muzzle at the sterile smell of antiseptics covering up the stench of decay in the entire building.
The clinic wasn’t as full today as her previous visits. Only a few patients sat in the waiting room, two of which were reading books and a mother on the opposite bench, stroking her sickly looking foal.
“Excuse me,” Alouette said in a whisper to the assistant behind a small wooden desk, her eyes falling upon the mare and her foal.
The assistant looked up casually. “Can I help you, miss?”
“Yes,” Alouette responded, glancing finally at the assistant. “I’d like to see Dr Esteril.”
“Are you here for another maternal check-up?”
“Um… an unannounced one,” she responded casually.
“Okay, please scribe your name and reason for your visit here.” The assistant mare levitated a small piece of parchment in front of Alouette, “and then take a seat by the other patients.”
She did as she was told before offering a final smile and taking a seat next to the mother and her foal.
“Hi,” the mother said with a slight shiver, shifting slightly for Alouette to join her on the bench.
“Hello,” she responded tersely, sitting next to the mare and looking straight ahead.
“Are you expecting?”
“Sorry?”
“You’re here to see the maternity doctor are you not?” the mare probed.
“Oh… sorry. Yes, yes I am.”
The mare smiled and continued to stroke her young filly. Alouette chanced a look at the foal. She was wrapped in a small blanket and looked anything but healthy. Her breathing was shallow and there were slightly matted watermarks in the fur next to her eyes. Alouette gazed up and looked at the mother’s face quickly. Spotting the same marks on her eyes as well. It seemed as if both of them had recently been crying.
“Is… Is your foal unwell?” she asked quietly with concern.
The mare forced a smile. “She’s been struggling for the past few weeks. Her breathing has been oh so terribly wheezy. Because she can’t breathe properly, she cries, and when she cries she makes it worse for herself.” The mare’s eyes began to water. “I honestly thought she would be okay, but she's only gotten worse.”
Alouette opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the arrival of a doctor who had called for the next patient. The two ponies seated opposite them had both folded their reading material and proceeded to join the doctor in his office.
Alouette looked back at the mare, not sure how to respond.
“S-sorry,” the mother stammered. “I did not mean to worry you… worry is bad for a pregnant mare.”
Alouette shook her head. “I’m not pregnant… not yet anyway.”
The mare looked back at her. “A check-up, then?”
“Well it’s my cycle and my stallion and I have been thinking about it,” Alouette began. “I’ve just been… putting it off.”
The mare began to smile once more. “Oh! That is such a wonderful thing to hear! Are you excited?”
“A little nervous, actually,” she responded truthfully.
The mare placed her free hoof upon Alouette’s, her touch making her feel slightly awkward. “A foal is a wonderful gift, friend. You’ll see! Motherhood is a gift from Celestia, the bearer of light, herself.”
Alouette raised an eyebrow. “Celestia?”
The mare seemed slightly taken aback. “You know!” she exclaimed. “The princess of the sun? She and her sister, Luna, defeated that awful draconequus all those years ago."
"But I thought that the fable of Discord the Chaotic was just an old legend," Alouette responded. "A story meant to scare foals into behaving and not acting out."
"Dear me, no!" the mare continued. "Discord truly did exist! It was due to the heroics of the Sisters of Harmony that he was finally put in his place, locked in stone and never to cause disharmony upon the land again."
Alouette sat back and considered the mare's words for a moment. "Their names are Luna and Celestia?"
"Princess Luna and Celestia," the mare corrected. "They're the true goddesses all should be worshiping. Not the false idols of old."
Once again Alouette was saved from having to answer by the arrival of a doctor who had beckoned the mare and foal towards his office.
The mare slowly stood up and levitated the filly gently onto her back. The small blanket became slightly unwrapped, revealing a tiny feathered wing on the foal's body. Alouette had only noticed now the foal had no horn. In Isabella, the site of anypony who wasn't a unicorn was indeed rare. Rarer still was a pegasus.
"She's truly a gift from the goddess," the mare said, noticing Alouette's gaze as she stood up. "Celestia answered my prayer when she came out with wings. Perhaps she may do the same for you should you have faith." With one final smile, the mare trotted her way towards another office, leaving Alouette alone in the waiting room.
Alouette wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved to see the back of the mare as she glanced out the window, reflecting on the conversation they had just shared. The mare had told her that motherhood was a gift. Yet in the back of her mind, Alouette couldn't help but doubt that the mare had been as devious towards her husband as she was.
And then there was that whole speech about the Princesses. Alouette had never known their names nor had she ever cared to. Immortal Alicorns or no, they had not sought fit to spread their so called "Harmony" down south. Even the mere idea that mares could call themselves rulers was foolish enough for Alouette to doubt why she should spare a thought for them anyway.

You are worthy…

Alouette had suddenly remembered something about her dreams. That voice... It had once appeared to her in its true form, she was sure of it! The creature was dark, really dark. Yet radiating light from its outline as if the moon had eclipsed the sun. It had beckoned her with its hoof, its slender body taller than any pony she had ever seen. Its horn seemed sharper, longer than her own and then... it did something else... It had something else…
"Alouette?" a deep voice spoke from behind her.
Alouette shook her head, slightly annoyed by the interruption. "What?"
"Well..." the voice responded. "If you wanted to speak to a doctor about how to treat a mild form of Tourette's, I would have told you that you're in the wrong clinic."
Alouette spun her head around and gasped when she realized she had just snapped at her own doctor. "Dr Esteril," she exclaimed. "My apologies, I had no idea it was-"
"That's quite alright, Alouette," he responded with a tired grin. "I know your voice all too well. Otherwise I may have been vaguely offended by that outburst."
She felt her cheeks go red. It wasn't so long ago that the poor old stallion had to deal with her losing her temper over him simply urging her to discuss her fear of conception to her husband instead of hiding it from him. In true Alouette fashion, she had stormed out of the office. But not before calling him an old coot and yelling at him to mind his own business. Despite her outburst, she had still made it a habit to continue with quarterly check-ups.
It had all started back before she had even met Quicklight. Alouette's first few days in Isabella had been nothing if not completely invasive on her privacy. On her first day there, the old doctor was called in to examine her marehood so as to confirm the legitimacy of her virginity. However, instead of performing the frighteningly rigorous procedure, Dr Esteril had merely called for a few minutes alone with her to check her blood pressure and make sure she was feeling altogether healthy. He had then proceeded to the door before she had stopped him to ask why he hadn't performed the procedure. He simply sighed and told her that he didn't need to invade her privacy to trust that she was a virgin, that he had been a doctor long enough to tell anyway.
The old stallion had been more respectful towards her dignity as a mare than even her own father. Because of this, Alouette had formed an almost paternal bond with him. In the years that followed, he had been the only outsider she could truly trust in this city.
"So shall we proceed with the check-up, or are you going to continue to sit there with that erythematic tinge on your cheeks?" he asked in a dull monotone.
"Of course not," she announced, standing up and trotting past him towards his office. "I was also hoping you could give me a small run down of what to expect when, well... expecting."
Dr Esteril walked in behind her, closed the door and motioned for her to take a seat.
"Are you saying you're with child?" he asked with a slightly surprised tone.
"Well, no. Not yet," she answered whilst taking a seat. "But I feel as though the time is right."
Esteril raised an eyebrow. "Truly?"
"Yes," she responded defiantly. "It's not fair to keep him waiting."
He quietly considered her response before speaking up again, his voice resuming its normal torpor. "Ah... So you're not ready. Only ready to appease your soul mate."
"Sometimes we all need to sacrifice a bit of ourselves for the ones we love," she answered immediately.
Esteril grinned once more, realizing that she had thought this through. "Indeed we do... But how much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice?"
It was Alouette's turn to raise her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
The old stallion’s smile faded, exposing the lines of his tired face. "I was expecting your return a little sooner than this, my dear."
"What do you mean?"
Esteril moved towards an old filing cabinet behind his desk, magically extracted a file from its contents, and placed it neatly upon his desk. "How have your cycles been? Have you still been experiencing more cramps than usual?"
"I... no. In fact, these days my cycles have been completely painless."
"Ah..." he chimed with a sigh.
An awkward pause had developed between them. Something about the way he looked at her sent shivers down her spine.
Alouette leant forward, "Doc? Is there something wrong?"
Esteril gazed sadly down at her before taking a seat himself, clopping his forehooves together before speaking once more. "Do you remember the first time you experienced those severe cramps? They were quite bad to begin with, but in the years that followed I had noticed that you had begun to complain about them less and less. I thought little of it until you had returned once more, expecting to be pregnant but only to be told that you had indeed failed to conceive." He stroked his chin." I was perplexed... How could a mare who had coupled with her husband at the perfect time and age miss her window for pregnancy? I decided to take a blood test after your next visit and..." The usually calm visage of his face had now begun to crack slightly. "Well, I had decided that since you had come less and less for maternal reasons that it would be easier not to share this with you. But now I know that it was a seriously grave error in my-"
"Doctor..." Alouette whispered, her eyes shut tight. "Please just make sense... What's wrong with me?"
"These... were all indicative signs that you had been plagued by the sterility disease," he responded uncomfortably. "Alouette, you were rendered unable to have foals."
Alouette had felt as though a deluge of gushing water had opened up inside her and crashed towards the very pit of her stomach. The misdeeds of her deception had finally caught up with her in the form of the curse of the empty vessel. The dreaded and hated disease of all southern mares.
Another awkward, longer pause.
"Alouette?" he whispered cautiously. "My child, are you-"
"Alright?" she finished in a monotone to rival his own. "No. I'm the furthest thing from that."
The deluge had finally receded, leaving in its wake an empty feeling in her body. It was as if something vital to her existence had been washed away and drowned by the harsh realization of the truth. The irony of everything that had lead up to this moment was staggering. From her motherhood dilemma to her deception and then finally to the mare and foal she had spoken with moments ago. It drove a tear to roll down her cheek.
Esteril stood up immediately at the sight of the tear and ambled around his desk to her. "My dear," he sighed, placing his hoof gently upon her hunched shoulder. "Please forgive me for not telling you sooner."
Alouette slowly looked up at him, a glimmer of hope somehow making its way to the surface. "But doc, should I not get a second opinion? Maybe there was something you had missed or, or..."
He shook his head slowly, "No, my dear. The file I retrieved has the results. It's definitive. I... I'm sorry."
"You should have told me sooner!" she choked, feeling a deluge of a different kind beginning to well up. "Why would you h-hide this from me?"
Esteril blinked. "My child, I... I had thought only to protect your secret for as long as possible." He lowered his voice. "You know how mares with this affliction are seen. I couldn't bear to look upon your face the day I would have to finally tell you. Please... My dear... Forgive my error in judgment."
Alouette placed her hoof upon his. "It's okay," she whispered. "It would have been far worse to have to explain this to Quicklight when he was really trying."
"You are worthy of far more than what life has dealt you, my dear."
"No," she responded. "I deserve this... Worth has nothing to do with it"

You are worthy...

"Child, you are worthy." Esteril insisted. "Don't let these notions-"
Alouette suddenly stood up. "Why do I keep hearing that phrase?"
The old doctor look slightly taken aback. "Phrase?"
She turned her head to the door and began to make her way towards it, her mind unsure of what she was truly doing. "Doctor, I must leave now."
"Pardon?" Esteril stood up. "Now? My dear, we need to discuss alternatives. There is still hope."
She placed her hoof on the doorknob and turned back to look at him. "Another time." With that, she open the door and headed out of the office, leaving an utterly bewildered Dr Esteril behind her.

Where are you going, Alouette?

Why had she just stormed out of his office yet again because of a phrase? Why had it brought her out here into the lobby of the clinic with no intent to prove anything? Alouette shook her head at her sudden and strange behavior and was halfway between turning back towards the office when she spotted the mare and her filly exiting the opposite door.
The mare looked up at her with a smile. "Hello again, friend."
Alouette looked towards the mare but said nothing. Her body caught in a strange limbo between turning back to the office or heading towards the exit.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at the curious expression on Alouette's face.
Alouette slowly nodded, her eyes drifting towards the filly on the mare's back. She saw its steady breathing and the shifting of two winged shapes through the blankets.

Wings.

Her mind had quickly jumped back into the recollection of the voice in her dream. That slender eclipsed creature with its long, sharp horn. Again it extended its hoof to her as if to beckon her towards it. The closer she stepped, the more it beckoned. Finally, it reared its head to reveal two bright white eyes, and extended a pair of massive wings at its sides.

The creature in my dream is an Alicorn?

Alouette's revelation had caused her to do a double take. The coincidences of today had been too numerous to ignore. All her ponderous thoughts inspired by statues, the strange conversation with the bewildered mare in front of her, the connection to her dreams and the soul crushing diagnosis. All these things were connected, she knew it. She just didn't know how or why.
A strange tingling in the back of her neck edged her towards the next step of her journey. Somehow, Alouette knew where she needed to go.
"Pray for me," she finally said to the mare before darting out of the clinic.

Clean white marble columns, golden inlay in the corner stones of its chapel and the stark contrast of oak wooden flooring. The Church of Harmony was the only known shrine in Isabella that was built solely for the glorification of Princess Luna and Celestia. Because of this, it had the pristine glow of a monument that had been freshly built, its designs still fully visible and its art new and glistening.
The small church was no taller than three stories high, yet it had been erected the same year that Canterlot had been proclaimed the capital of Equestria. It had just so happened that this was the same year that Alouette had moved to the city of Isabella. Despite its rather humble size in comparison to the Temple of the Three Graces, she couldn't help but feel a sense of something truly omnipotent hidden in its design and imagery.
She had seen that massive temple that towered over the municipal buildings in the city center far from here. Its structure was encircled by its own road that had the city’s most important avenues jutting outwards from it like a giant spider web. Eight roads in total, all heading in different directions and all stretching to the furthest corners of town. The temple itself was round in shape and stood over ten stories high. A massive dome encircled the roof with a ten meter wide oculus at its apex and an ossuary anex enclosed in granite on the floor beneath it. Dubbed as "El Sepulcro”, the enclosed annex formed the only entrance to the city’s catacombs. Although initially used as a cheap gravesite, it was later expanded upon into a network of sub-levels used to bury most of the city’s dead. The inner sanctum consisted of shrines in three recesses along the interior wall, each dedicated to a bronze statue of one of the three pony races. Alouette had remembered their faces, all of them stallions and all of them harsh and imposing. The presence of patriotic superiority whistled in the wind through the ever-open access of the monument’s grand entrance.
But standing alone for the first time in this simple chapel, Alouette felt something glow within her very soul. A positive presence… a benevolent presence. A presence of two harmonious entities with a power that reigned supreme.
Without even knowing why, Alouette had become a believer. Taking a step closer inside, she gazed up and into a grand stained glass mosaic on its ceiling. Basking in a ray of its warm light, she peered into the eyes of two ethereal alicorn sisters circling in unison with each other in the glass. Alouette felt her hind hooves relax as she sat neatly upon the wooden floor, her head craning upwards as if to pose an awe struck filly at the hooves of her ever-loving princess mothers.
After gazing up at them for a while longer, she closed her eyes and lowered her head in prayer.
“My name is Alouette del Faroe,” she said in a soft voice. “I'm sorry, but I have no idea how a pony like me should address you. I don’t know why, but… I see you in my dreams.” She opened her eyes. “Is it you, Celestia? The Alicorn who believes me worthy? The sister of life and the sun? Well I’m here. I followed the path. What do I do? How do I escape this mess I’ve created for myself? Am I even worthy of your help? I know I shouldn’t be asking so many questions, but I’m scared. I’m scared that I will lose my husband. I’m petrified by the terrible things I have done to deny him the one thing he has ever asked of me. A foal. And now… I fear I’m too late.” She closed her eyes tight. “Please, dear Celestia. Please grant this foolish mare a sign that she’s not crazy. That you’ll help her… please.”
The chapel remained silent and the sun continued to glisten through the mosaic. When she finally opened her eyes and looked up, she could still see the two princesses frozen in a glassy limbo. Silent and still.
With a sigh of disappointment, she stood up and turned for the exit. Her hooves dragged upon the floor as she went. Her mind reeling over the prospect of having to confess her sins to her husband.

No! You have to help me!

Alouette stopped just before leaving, looking at the ceiling one last time. “You have to!” she pleaded.