The Silver Stars

by David Silver


119 - To Enter the Sun

Luna led the way to a flower that rose above the others, shining gently down on them. "This is sister's dream, or should be. I have a feeling it is, and isn't." She turned to Silver. "There is a complication."

"What?" It came to Silver quickly. "Right, do you think her copy has as much control?"

"We have no reason to assume she does, or does not. Tia had full control over her mind, to the point that even my power paled in comparison, but only within her dream scape. We may be walking into a very dangerous situation."

Silver took a step back before advancing. "But we must. Living with this isn't much good, to be blunt."

"Agreed." She turned to the petal. "Let us go together, and face what we will face."

She put a hoof forward, and Silver matched it. Together they were engulfed, and the dreamworld was forgotten.

Celestia sat on her haunches on the floor of a bare room. A sliver of light came in through the lone window, shining on her almost mockingly. She looked up out at it, to the greater world outside. She was motionless, and the sun was slow. Both were silent.

The door to her small chamber swung outwards, allowing another Celestia to enter. "Your people are kind and loving."

The first Celestia frowned. "They are good and wholesome."

"Unlike you." The second Celestia gave a dismissive flick of a wing. "I will leave you here, soon, I think. There are only a few left that would ever know what happened, or even question it." She leaned in on the first. "You'll die here in this already dead world, and not a soul will mourn your passing."

"You weren't supposed to do this..."

The second Celestia struck the first across the snout savagely, forcing a line of red to run down from her nose. "Be silenced! This world wasn't supposed to be this way. Its people... What did they do to deserve it? Nothing! Just a roll of the cosmic dice. My world, dying, yours thriving. I can do... What you would do, were our situations reversed."

Luna hovered, floating beside Silver, neither able to materialize properly. "We don't understand."

Silver gave it a try with a grunt, but his attention kept sliding to the two Celestias. "What if... We're already dead here?"

Luna froze. "That would make sense. We can't truly be here then. What a nightmarish world, where Celestia scrabbles for any chance to save anypony at all..."

"This is a waste of time." The second Celestia turned away. "I won't bother coming back. Do you have any final words?"

"Don't do this... You know it isn't right."

"No... None of this is." She stepped out and closed the door behind her. "I hope you find peace."

Silver clopped his hooves together, a sound he and Luna could hear, but neither Celestia showed signs of. "It's like the mirror portals, minus the mirror. We have to be something that exists here, and we don't have the mirror to cheat the process."

Luna smiled brightly. "Excellent idea, so what exists here?"

Silver pointed at Celestia. "Well, there's already two of her?"

Without another word, Luna ceased to be, and a third Celestia stepped into the world. "Stop this moment!"

Celestia 2 whirled on Luna. "What? How?!"

Luna, wearing the flesh of Celestia, scowled at the imposter. "Whatever your reasons, they are ultimately meaningless. Let my sister go."

"Luna?" Celestia 2 trembled. "Oh it is you... I missed you so much. You cannot believe how thrilled I was to see you there, in the other Equestria..."

With a sudden flash, another Celestia appeared, Silver within. "Let Celestia go!"

Celestia 2 raised a brow, glancing between the other two. "Alright, who's this one?"

Luna stomped the dusty ground. "It matters not, release her immediately."

"And quietly die? I should think not." Her horn began to glow brilliantly with the fury of the sun. "You don't even begin to understand how powerful the angry sun is in this world, and you are a creature of the moon, dear sister. Don't make me hurt you."

"Luna? Is that you?" The true Celestia had her face up to the bars of the door, looking out over the scene. "Please, all of you, stop fighting."

Silver circled around, putting the false Celestia between him... her?self and Luna. "I don't think there's a peaceful way out of this. Would you live in a world with two Celestias?"

"That's not how it works." She sneered, then her horn flared and fire rushed out, burning at Luna and Silver, but they were Celestia. The sun's fire did not burn as easily, though it started both back. "There can be only one of a person, or both universes crumble in time." With a powerful beat of her wings, the false Celestia rose into the sky rapidly.

Luna and Silver took off quickly after her even as flames licked over their fur, slowly going out, but not without some residual pain. Luna looked to Silver. "We don't have much time to figure out her magic, or to play around. We must end this."

Silver didn't move to attack, instead swerving in front of Luna. "Wait. We need to talk."

The false Celestia raised a brow. "About?"

Silver hovered in large wings. Being Celestia was an interesting sensation. He was so large, and powerful, and female. "What happened to your world?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She waved a hoof about. "Look."

So Silver did, beholding the blasted ruins of what may have once been Equestria. It made a nuclear wasteland look hospitable, with just how little life there was, even vegetation. "Yes, I see this, but how? You know how, right?"

Second Celestia lowered her head. "The sun... It turned against us, destroyed most of the world, and left what it didn't destroy unfit for any pony or much anything else... We were waiting to die, until another Celestia came, and gave us hope... Hope to escape to her world."

Luna growled behind Silver. "What are you trying to do? We must destroy her!"

Silver lifted up a hoof slowly. "You are Celestia."

"Yes I am. So are you?"

"Not exactly, but that doesn't matter. You are this world's hope, not running away from it. You must tame your sun, and bring balance back. This world is hurt, but not dead. You can turn it around." Silver made as if to clop the ground, which didn't work as well while hovering. "We'll help, we're here! But running is never the answer."

Luna suddenly dove down toward the small prison, drawing the second Celestia's attention. With a flash she appeared before Luna, blocking her. "Stop that!"

Silver span to face them both. "No, let her go, for your sake. For this entire world."

"What?"

Silver put a hoof to her chest. "I'm willing to help, but I'm not Celestia. She's in there. She knows how to be Celestia because she is Celestia. Let her help you."

Luna glanced up at Silver in the form of her sister, then at her false sister. "Well, what say you?"

The false Celestia trembled with uncertainty before turning to the true one. "Can you even do this?"

She knocked on the door from the inside. "I don't know, but I'm willing to try. If I fail... then you can leave me here, of my own volition."

Luna paled, wings fluttering and almost falling from the sky. "What? No! Sister, don't speak such vows so easily."

"You heard her." She landed lightly before the prison. "I know myself well enough to know she speaks truly." With a flash of magic, the door swung outwards. "Come out, and let's see if your other friend is spouting the truth or more desperate lies."

Celestia stepped out, and the two spoke softly for a moment before they turned to the sun together. "I will handle the west."

"And I the east."

Silver awoke with a start in his bed. What had happened?! He tried to will himself back to sleep, but even his domain over slumber didn't allow his adrenaline thumping heart to calm down enough for that. Jittering with excitement, he slowly descended the stairs towards the kitchen to fetch a glass of water, hoping he hadn't failed somehow and doomed everything. "What woke me up..."