Princess Celestia stood on the palace balcony, closing her eyes in concentration as she summoned the sunrise to signal another new day.
The spell she used was incredibly complex and only possible for a being as powerful as her. There were only two other creatures on the planet that were capable of it – one was encased in a stone prison and the other was her sister.
It was a common misconception that she actually moved the Sun itself to bring the dawn. Although she had the ability to direct and manipulate the life-giving energies of the massive star, its mass was far too much to physically shift though magic. Besides, if she performed such an act then the other planets in the solar system would be catastrophically shunted out of orbit.
No, what she was actually doing was maintaining her planet's orbit and ensuring it kept spinning on its axis. For this, she used a spell that lasted for a full 24 hours – once cast, the day's natural cycle would take care of itself until the time came for a "top-up".
The spell was fuelled by Celestia's innate power – as long as she remained healthy, then it would remain in operation.
There had been times during her reign when she had been unable to maintain it. Almost all of these times fell within the early centuries of her life, but the most recent period had been a matter of days ago.
Discord. The princess looked out on her garden and the statues within it. In the most prominent position, near the entrance to the palace maze, stood the god of chaos, his terrified face frozen in stone – hopefully forever, this time. A being as powerful as him could not be trusted to be allowed to roam free and Celestia was incapable of killing him. To do so would go against her moral code.
It was highly likely that she wasn't strong enough to carry out the deed anyway. Discord had ruled the planet for many hundreds of years before she and Luna came into being, and it was only through their combined power that they managed to take him down.
She was afraid of what would happen if she engaged him in straight combat again. Many of the peaks and valleys just outside Appleloosa had been created during their only battle, the land forever brutalised by the vast outbursts of energy they unleashed.
He was defeated through his own overconfidence – their fight had taken a lot out of him but it had affected her more. Hours into their struggle, with Celestia on her knees and Luna seemingly knocked out, Discord had stood tall and proud, declaring his victory to the heavens…
At which point the two sisters hit him with one final attack, putting every last ounce of their strength into a petrification spell. It hit him so hard and fast that he didn't even have time to react – he was instantly turned into stone.
And that was when the real trouble began.
Celestia jumped as somepony playfully tapped her flank – it was Luna, who was trying and failing to prevent an amused smirk from forming on her face.
"Daydreaming, sister?" she asked, "Honestly, one would have thought you would have grown tired of seeing the sunrise after the first few hundred thousand times."
Luna, her sister – she was still not quite used to the more informal modern way of speaking. Much as she controlled the planet's orbit, Luna was responsible for maintaining the cycles of the moon. During her exile, Celestia had to take on both duties, which had been a severe drain on her powers. Only her happiness at being reunited with her sister outweighed the relief of having somepony to share her workload with.
"It's good to see you back. How did your visit to the zebra kingdom go?" she asked. After the chaos caused by Discord's return, Luna had gone on a diplomatic mission to explain what had happened and reassure their neighbours that everything had been returned to normal. She had kept Celestia informed of her progress every step of the way up until now.
"Perfectly well, as expected. The zebras have a keen sense of history and had come to the conclusion that the draconequus was the one responsible for the disorder," said Luna, "They are certainly more forgiving than the griffins. Argumentative ruffians, even after all these years – though it is reassuring to see that some things never change."
"Very true," said Celestia, smiling, "And what about you? Did you enjoy yourself?"
The dark-coated alicorn made a disapproving noise and held her head high. "Did I enjoy myself? Sister, what a question to ask. It was one's responsibility to represent Equestria, a most noble duty that had to be carried out with all due diligence and respect," then she broke into a happy grin, "And I loved every second of it, Tia. The chance to be out in public again, to redeem oneself in the eyes of the world – oh, I'm beginning to feel like myself again."
Celestia smiled again. Luna had already reconnected with the citizens of Ponyville at their Nightmare Night celebration and now she was retaking her role as a world statespony.
She cast a quick look back at the statue of Discord before coming in from the palace balcony.
The two sisters were the only living beings who fully remembered the days of his rule – the details had mostly been lost to the sands of time. After all, history books are written by the victors.
The reality of it was more complicated. Back when they took control away from the draconequus, there were plenty of citizens who saw them as villains.
Discord's madcap behaviour during his recent escape was not representative of how he had behaved as ruler. The world had been in chaos when he ruled, but it had been an organised chaos. He had reshaped it as he saw fit and everything was connected. Each little piece of insanity linked to the other to provide one cohesive whole.
And the world as it was now was disturbingly similar to the one he ruled over.
It was he who created the changing of the seasons by adjusting the planet's axis, simply because he had grown bored of having similar weather day in, day out. It was he who had created the diversification present in ponyfolk and the other races. With the ponies in particular, he had caused them to evolve so they came in all manner of colours, while introducing little mutations that led to the birth of unicorns and pegasuses.
He created bright and bizarre varieties of plants that could have strange effects on other forms of life – Poison Joke was one of the few examples of Discord's creations that still survived today, mostly because it was near impossible to kill off.
His subjects were miserable – all life was victim to his whims. That was why the ponyfolk gave life to Celestia and Luna.
A unicorn's magical ability grows throughout its lifetime and, with the right training, it can become a veritable powerhouse by the end of its life. But by then its body has grown too fragile to use it effectively.
Celestia and Luna were mortal once. They had shown a great aptitude for magic and, if nature had been left to take its course, could have died as the most powerful unicorns who ever lived.
But their elders had other plans. Neither of the two alicorns could remember the names or the faces of those responsible now, but the memories of that great and terrible experiment would never fade.
They had just reached maturity when they agreed to take part in the plot to overthrow Discord. The greatest, oldest unicorn mages of their day gathered to cast a spell that tapped into powers that were never meant to be unleashed, that opened the darkest sides of themselves.
The mages infused the two young unicorns with more magic than they could have developed in a hundred lifetimes. Their blood boiled with energy, their bones twisted and snapped as their bodies transformed and the very air around them crackled with a mystical aura that had never been seen before or since.
The mages' bodies were unable to take the physical strain caused by their spell, but they did not die that day. Instead, they transferred their soul into six stones that later came to be known as the Elements of Harmony. These stones were incorporated into Celestia's armour so the mages could lend her their strength.
The two alicorns defeated Discord, as planned, but with it came an outcome that nobody had expected.
He had presided over a grand folly of an ecosystem, all intertwined and developed to match his twisted sense of fun. But it depended on his innate power to keep it running.
With Discord gone, the natural order he had created stopped operating – and there was nothing to replace it. He had altered and damaged the planet to the point where it could not survive without him.
The world stopped turning, all weather systems broke down and life began to wither and die. Equestria was left on the side of the planet facing away from the Sun and was plunged into an eternal winter's night. Creatures on the planet's near side faced an eternity of summer, with no cloud cover to protect them.
Ponyfolk became the target of attacks by other species, who blamed them for Discord's legacy. Many called for him to be reinstated as their leader – tyranny was better than the prospect of death.
The two alicorns were unwilling to release him, fearing that he would seek retribution on their kind and they would be unable to stop him.
In the end, they had to reach a compromise. They had the power to start the world spinning again and bring back the natural day and night cycle, but maintaining the weather systems at the same time was too much. The ponyfolk took on that responsibility. Today, ponies only looked after Equestria but for the longest time they had been the caretakers for the entire planet.
Many ponies accepted their new roles with grace – they saw it as a price they were willing to pay for the end of Discord's rule. A few became great innovators of their time, coming up with methods of weather control that were still in use today.
A few centuries into the sisters' reign, one particular pony gained favour with Luna – a brown-coated, white-maned doctor called Pertwee, who had an hourglass cutiemark.
He was a skilled and authoritative diplomat, though he could sometimes be arrogant and critical of the two alicorns. His many inventions helped greatly in allowing ponykind to progress.
But some of the ponies grew resentful of their new roles and deemed Celestia and Luna as tyrants, forgetting that their ancestors had suffered far greater indignities under Discord's rule. Their anger led to tragedy.
****
The dark-coated princess of the Moon walked alongside her sister as they headed through the palace corridors and into their inner chamber. Once inside, hidden from the eyes of the palace guards, Luna broke into a hop, bouncing all the way to her bedside cabinet.
Using her magic, she raised a brush and started combing through the ethereal mist that was her mane. It didn't actually do anything to alter her look – she just liked the sensation of it.
Meanwhile, Celestia climbed up onto her bed and rested her head between her hooves. She closed her eyes for a few moments and allowed herself to drift – the alicorns did not sleep so much as rest.
She was roused suddenly by a sharp gust of breath on her ear. Luna was the culprit, grinning as she watched her sister open her eyes.
"You are tired already? The dawn has barely broken. We still have business in the council chamber," she said, referring to the morning meetings that were held to keep the sisters briefed on activity within their realm.
"I'm sure you can take care of it. We need to increase your presence as a leader and I don't believe you've ever chaired a meeting by yourself yet, have you?"
Luna blinked, then said: "By myself? Are you trying to get out of something? Let me guess, there is going to be a long and boring presentation today, is there not?"
"No, no," she said, "It's just that I've had responsibility for the Sun and the Moon for the past two days and I need to rest a while."
"Rest? Hmph. I would say you were feeling your age if it was not for the fact we are ageless. Are you feeling alright? It is not like you to be so… lazy," Luna said the last word with a grin.
"The council chamber awaits," retorted Celestia, "You wouldn't want to keep them waiting – they have so many exciting things to tell you."
Her sister regarded her warily, unsure whether she was teasing her or if today's meeting really was going to be a drag, then turned to go.
She stopped just short of leaving the room and came back for a final word: "Sister, I… on the night of the Canterlot party, I had a long chat with your student, Twilight Sparkle."
Celestia waited patiently for her sister to make her point.
"I can understand why you chose her as your protégé. She is most intelligent and very sociable despite her lack of social graces – she will likely make a fine member of government when she grows up," said Luna, "But I saw no indication of her magic ability being as powerful and unstable as you claimed it to be. Even if this were the case, she seems to have a sensible head on her shoulders and not one given to emotional outbursts. What I'm trying to say, Tia, is… she does not seem dangerous."
The white alicorn did not respond at first. Her sister was quite right, of course – Twilight had calmed down in recent years. When they had first met, the young unicorn had been over-anxious and eager to please, most likely due to her bad experiences in magic kindergarten.
As time had gone on, she had proven herself to be academically adept but had secluded herself from other ponies, which had concerned Celestia greatly. That situation now appeared to have been remedied.
But there was one fact that still played on her mind – when Twilight had lost control of her power while trying to hatch that dragon egg, she had subconsciously cast spells that should have only been possible for somepony who had trained in magic for decades.
That was why Celestia had taken her under her wing and tried to steer her development so carefully – Twilight's potential ability was a significant step above any unicorn who had ever lived and she was only going to get more powerful. On some level, the alicorn was afraid of her.
"With the combined power of her friends, she has taken down both Nightmare Moon and Discord," she said, "Of course you're correct that she poses no danger to us, but that's only because she was brought up right. It's all too easy to imagine what could have happened if she had been born into a broken home or mistreated as a filly. It also raises the question of whether there are others like her."
"I suppose you have a point," said Luna reluctantly, "But just keep in mind that she's more than just your student. She's more than her ability in magic. She's a young pony who still has much to learn – and she doesn't seem to realise that part of growing up is being allowed to make mistakes so you can learn from them."
Her point made, Luna left the room to attend council.
Celestia owed a lot to Twilight. If not for her, freeing Luna from the corruption of Nightmare Moon may not have been possible.
She was still not sure how her sister had been transformed in the way she was, but was convinced it had something to do with how they were created – those unicorn mages had tapped into dark energies to bring about their rebirth.
The trigger for Luna's transformation had come after an attempt by a rebellious group of ponyfolk to dethrone the two princesses. They had tried to create their own champion, much in the way the sisters had been created to depose Discord.
A group of high-level unicorns had instilled their power into an earth pony – the result was a being called Krastos.
He had remained an earth pony but his natural abilities had been enhanced greatly. He had become strong enough to physically injure the two alicorns, while being impervious to damage himself.
Even worse, the unicorns had chosen unwisely. Krastos had given the impression of being a noble pony whose intentions were solely altruistic but, once he had attained power, his cruel nature became apparent.
Several guards were needlessly killed in his assault on the palace. Celestia had been away on business in another country at the time, so Luna faced the beast alone.
Their battle was brutal and the tide turned in Krastos' favour early on. Luna had launched a number of attack spells but they did little to phase him. By the time she realised that a new tactic was needed, he was already upon her. Unwilling to flee, she took him on in physical combat – a mistake.
By the time Celestia had heard of the attack, her sister had been overpowered. As fast as she was, she would not have reached the palace in time to save her had it not been for another pony who stepped in to rescue the princess.
Pertwee threw himself at Krastos, causing the earth pony to overbalance and fall down the steps of the throne room. The doctor was about to give chase when Luna called out for him to stop – he would not stand a chance against such a foe.
He took one look at the wounded princess, who was barely able to stand, and spoke a warning, one he had repeated many times throughout their friendship: "Remember – power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
With that he stormed down the steps, ignoring Luna's cries, and took on Krastos himself. It had been a delaying tactic to give Celestia time to get there – it played out more like a sacrifice. Krastos just about broke him in two.
By the time Celestia arrived, the palace was in ruins. She did not engage Krastos in direct combat – by now she had become skilled in the use of the Elements of Harmony. Like Discord before him, Krastos was frozen in stone.
The clean-up operation took days, even with the princesses involved. Pertwee's body was never found, though Celestia was convinced this had just been a move on the guards' part to spare Luna's feelings. With the destruction that had been caused, there may not have been much of him left to bury.
Luna withdrew into herself for a while after that, at times behaving with hostility towards the ponyfolk she had been created to protect. Pertwee's death hit her hard. Celestia once caught her attempting to destroy Krastos' statue, to no avail. Even when turned to stone, his body was invincible.
Several years passed and Luna's outlook on life grew bitter. Her happy-go-lucky demeanour darkened and her smile faded – the anger and hatred of the rebel faction had taken its toll.
This continued until the fateful day that everything changed. Luna came to her sister and told her of a grand idea she had had, a scheme that had come to her in a dream.
She believed she had found a way to restore the natural order that had existed during Discord's reign without the need for ponykind to maintain it; she believed she could make it so it was self-sustaining once more.
To test her theory, she chose a non-inhabited area to carry out an experimental spell – the Everfree Forest. She called upon a power deep inside herself and set her project in motion.
To Celestia's surprise and delight, it was a great success. All weather systems in and around the forest began to operate autonomously and the creatures that had previously depended on the care and conservation skills of ponykind became able to exist independently.
A castle was built in the centre of the forest at Luna's request, so she could monitor the situation and ascertain whether her spell could be spread across the planet without ill effects.
And then she cut off all contact with Celestia.
The princess' fears grew as she began to hear stories of dangerous creatures being born in the forest. The troubles escalated as ponyfolk living near the forest began to fall sick, with the infected becoming aggressive towards anyone who had not been touched by the illness.
All of Celestia's investigations came to nothing until the day Luna finally re-emerged from the forest – her power had grown exponentially and she had adopted the mantle of Nightmare Moon.
Her attack was as unexpected as it was brutal. Unwilling to harm her sister, Celestia was severely wounded and was barely able to escape with her life. Nightmare Moon took over Canterlot and eternal night descended upon the planet.
The Elements of Harmony had been damaged during the fight and had become dormant, but Celestia was about to find help from some unexpected allies.
The other nations who had demanded reparations from ponykind after the fall of Discord stepped forward to unite against their common foe. Alone, they could not stop Nightmare Moon, but together their spirits temporarily reignited the Elements and gave them the power they needed.
Yet it was still not enough to free Luna from the grips of madness. In later years, Celestia came to realise that although the Elements could be wielded by anyone who was pure of heart, their power depended on the bond between their users.
She was emotionally incapable of inflicting the same fate upon her sister as had befallen past enemies of the state – of course, everypony knows of the compromise she reached.
The battle with Nightmare Moon slowly led to improved relations between the various nations and, after long negotiations, ponykind was finally freed from its contract with the rest of the world.
Many years after Discord's deposition, lasting peace finally came to Equestria. But this was not the end of Luna's story.
Almost a thousand years after her banishment, Nightmare Moon began to regain control of the Everfree Forest, which had long been a no-go area for ponyfolk. The creatures within became restless, more aggressive. Celestia had known for centuries that her sister had been building up the power she needed to break free from her confinement.
The Elements of Harmony were needed once more, yet they had lain dormant throughout her banishment. They needed to be reactivated.
Celestia had already pegged Twilight Sparkle as the one who would use the Elements against Nightmare Moon, but the mission to re-energise them was too dangerous for her to be involved in.
An alternative six ponies were selected to undertake this task. Their mission was difficult and strenuous, and it took two years for them all to fully recover from its final result.
Lyra was among their number. For years she had kept watch over Twilight Sparkle, under the orders of Celestia. Now the princess called on her to set in motion the events that would save the world from the threat of Nightmare Moon once and for all.
During her mission, the young unicorn spy revealed an incredible capacity for self-sacrifice. The things she was willing to do almost suggested that she felt her own life was unimportant.
But the mission was a success. With the Elements reactivated, Nightmare Moon's hold over Luna weakened, softening her up for the final showdown with Twilight and her friends.
Luna was herself once more and Celestia finally had her sister back where she belonged, ready to rule by her side.
But history has a habit of repeating itself and past sins can come back to haunt you. Equestria was far from safe.