Many think that the life of an Alicorn is an easy one. After all, one has immortality, incredible power, and the only two members of that race that anypony had ever seen wielded more influence over the Realm than any other beings in recorded history. Sure, when a crisis arose things could become complicated, but Celestia did such a good job ruling Equestria and Luna such a good job defending it that such events were rare. The two sisters themselves occasionally fell into that form of thinking; after all, who could possibly challenge them?
Celestia watched in horror as her sister writhed in pain. The view was disjointed and covered with shadows; it was all but impossible to tell what was going on. She heard screaming, as well as somepony chanting in a foreign language. She saw that the mare chanting was Twilight Sparkle, and her anger rose. "How dare you!" she cried. "After everything she's done for you!"
Twilight didn't hear her, of course. She carried on, reciting from a piece of parchment that she held with her magic. “Όσυμ. βάνι. λμάτ!” Luna fell terribly silent. Celestia threw herself forwards, but there was nothing that she could do. Her sister fell to the ground, unconscious. Energy flowed from the younger Alicorn into the little Unicorn's body.
Twilight staggered back, looking almost drunk. "Di- did tha' wo'k?" she slurred. Celestia ignored her, instead looking over her sister for signs of harm. She's still breathing. Whatever happened to her didn't kill her. As far as I can tell, at least. Who knows what kind of—
The door slammed open. Celestia glanced up to see the sight of herself standing in the doorway. She was shocked... but only for a moment. Of course. I'm back here again.
She watched her past self stalk forwards. Normally, Celestia was a calm force of reason. Normally she relied on her intelligence and wit to solve troubles. Normally, her sister wasn't lying in a heap in front of an obvious culprit. "I should have known," she watched herself hiss. "I warned her not to trust you, but she didn't listen."
Twilight backed away from the taller mare, still clearly out of it. Celestia hadn't noticed when she had lived out the events originally, but there looked to be something wrong with Twilight beyond simple magical overexertion. Her mouth moved wordlessly and her eyes wouldn't focus correctly. "N-no, you don' unde's’and," she tried to get out. "I—"
Celestia winced as her past self magically slammed Twilight's mouth shut. She'd had visions of Twilight for several weeks, each connected to an unknown horrific event. While her sister had taken precautions, she had also insisted on trusting the apprentice mage. At the time, Celestia had reluctantly agreed. That time had passed. "Twice now, you have sought out powerful and dangerous magic for no other reason than to gain knowledge of their workings. And this time you have somehow managed to lay low my sister."
Celestia watched as Twilight was wrapped helplessly up in her past self's magic field. She winced, knowing how this would end but unable to alter events.
Utterly panicked, Twilight lashed out with her own magic. While the Daymare might not be as powerful as most immortal beings, she was still far superior to the average unicorn. But thanks to Twilight's spellwork, she was now very far and away from average. Her field darkened, taking on a hue closer to her sister's own workings. It lashed out, shredding Celestia's field and destroying the entire room. The sound cracked stone and blew the wall behind Twilight out, allowing her to jump out of the room to an adjacent building. Celestia glanced back at her past self trying to stand, and her gaze lingered on her sister.
Back in the present, Luna was still in a coma. Twilight's spell had somehow stolen all of Luna's magic and contained it within the young mare. Celestia wasn't entirely sure how; the spell she had used was made to pry a monster named Nightmare Moon out of her sister's mind. What Twilight had done should have killed her. And what was she saying? Magic doesn't require incantations.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time to dwell on it. The scene distorted and Celestia found herself within some kind of city. It was huge, with towers surrounding her on all sides. Despite the fact that the sun had gone down, the street was well lit by some kind of apparatus mounted on a post. Everything seemed built to accommodate much taller beings than the Daymare was used to— They would have to be around the size of Minotaurs, maybe taller. Celestia moved to examine one of the posts more closely. It was easy to charm an object into providing light in such a manner, but its power would fade too quickly for it to be useful. Wherever this city was, the inhabitants had either more magic or considerably more advanced technology than Equestria.
There was a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and saw some kind of creature staggering down the street, likely a member of the species that built this city. It stood taller than Celestia herself, with a dirt-encrusted mane and filthy clothes. It stood upright, with long limbs that were currently wrapped around itself in a futile attempt to contain what little warmth it still had.
The creature— a girl if she had to guess— leaned against a nearby wall for support. Another wave of cold ransacked her body, leaching warmth and life from her bones. She slowly sank down, her body surrendering against her will to the cold. Celestia longed to do something, anything, but she wasn't really there. This was a vision, and she could do nothing except watch.
There was some kind of distortion behind the creature. Light flared and space twisted, in a way Celestia couldn’t quite perceive. The Alicorn narrowed her eyes as she tried to see through the haze.
She blinked in surprise. Standing behind the creature was some kind of bizarre amalgamation of a Unicorn and some kind of biped. It was a dark lavender and looked almost like it was made from metal. Its thin, bat-like wings folded behind its back and its horn was glowing with power. It was the eyes that drew Celestia's attention the most. They were black as pitch, with glowing irises.
The bipedal monster knelt down beside the creature, holding a bracelet in its claws. As tenderly as she could, the thing wrapped it around what Celestia supposed was the creature’s wrist. The world twisted again, and for a second Celestia couldn’t look at either of them directly. When she could look again, the creature had been altered.
She now stood with no sign of weakness. Her skin was a dark, crimson red, and almost looked like smoked glass. Her own wingers were huge, as long across as she was tall. Her mane was wreathed in fire, glowing brighter than Celestia's own did. Despite their differing appearances, it was clear that the two were now the same species. She stared down at herself in shock. “What did you do to me?” she snarled at the demon.
The monster was undaunted. “I’ve simply given you something you’ve wanted since you came here,” the demon said as it rose to its feet. Celestia noticed that its movements were very smooth; it was clear that this mare had spent a lot of time in that form. “Power. My name is Starlight Glimmer, and I need your help.”
The fiery monster glared at its new ally. “Why should I help you?” she demanded.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Well, if you don’t want this power, then I’ll simply-”
The demon took several steps back. Celestia could sympathize with her; the Alicorn had been stuck without shelter in the middle of winter before. Death by exposure was the last way Celestia wanted to die.
The mage nodded. “Great! Now, there’s no need for us to be unfriendly with one another, is there?" She smiled and walked up to the demon, and extended her hoof in greeting. "Let’s introduce ourselves properly. Like I said, my name is Starlight Glimmer.”
The demon glared for a long moment. “...Sunset,” she finally said. “My name is Sunset Shimmer.”
Celestia’s heart leapt straight through her chest. No. It can’t be.Sunset had left, but how could she have possibly traveled to another world? Another Realm?
It was too late. The vision flowed away from her, regardless of her protests. It began to form a new scene.
It was another bipedal creature, garbed in golden armor layered over some kind of pink and white cloth. It resembled whatever it was that Sunset had been before she was transformed. She struggled against a larger monster that was holding her by the neck. It was thin and skeletal, but clearly strong. It had large, insectoid wings that buzzed as she moved. Celestia couldn't see its front, but it's glowing green eyes were visible in the warrior’s visor. It slammed the smaller creature into a stone wall hard enough to leave a crater. Celestia twitched in sympathetic pain; that would have killed an ordinary pony.
*You are far too late, hero.* Its voice had an inequine buzz that gave the Daymare chills. *I own the Earth. And the days of the Power Rangers are finally finished!* A sickly green glow pulsed from her hand, and she levitated a spear up off the ground. With a simple motion, she stabbed the warrior through the gut.
The warrior's armor disappeared in a burst of light. Underneath it was what looked like a girl, perhaps an adolescent. Her mane was scarlet red that had been cut short, and she wore a simple white top that was getting more and more stained with blood. Her hands grasped around the spear, trying in vain to push it out. "Doesn't... matter," she got out. "Even if you... win here. Humanity won't... give up."
If anything, the monster looked annoyed. *You barely have lungs anymore and yet you still find time to prattle on.*
She chuckled. "Well, you're gonna have ta... try harder to... shut me up."
Celestia bowed her head in respect as the warrior took her last breath. Whoever she is, she died fighting with all that she had. She turned her gaze to the killer. And what of you? Is this the past or the future? Will I be tasked with preventing this, or avenging it?
Before she could probe deeper, the vision began to change again. Unlike the other times, it did not form a new location. Instead, Celestia found herself in an empty void. She found it disturbing.
“Who is there?” she called out. “My name is Celestia Invictus. Who are you? What is happening?”
All was quiet for a long moment. There was no motion, no sounds, nothing. Then, It spoke.
T͏͡Ḩ̧͠E͡͞ WO̢̧R͠L͏̨D͢ ̸͡HA͘S̶ ̨ BE̡͝EN̸̕ ̴͝ALT͡ER͢E͡D
Celestia shuddered at the words. The voice that it spoke with; there was something wrong with it. It didn’t sound like it was speaking with words; it was more like a feeling, a sensation that somehow transcribed itself into words inside her head. It was as if the voice was hijacking Celestia’s own mind in order to speak. It was vaguely female, and spoke in insidiously personal tones, making Celestia feel a little violated just listening to it.
TH͘AT ̛͘͡W̛H̢Í̛CH͜͠ W̶A͘͏Ş ME͏́͏A͘Ǹ͠͝T͝ TO B̷͟͟Ȩ Ş̢͟E̵͞͞P̸͘A̕R͠AT͜E̴̕,́͘ ̕H̸̷̷A͘S ̡͡B̨̛E͏C͞Ǫ̢M̵̢͝Ę ͡͞WH͟͝O͘͢LÈ̛͘
TḨ͡I̛Ǹ́G̸S̢ T̛ḨAT͏͡ ́S̛H̢O̷ULD̀̕͝ ̀N̨Ó̴͘T H͘AV͞É͡ ́B̡E͟E͏N̢ ̴WIL̴͜L͟͟ Ņ̷OW͢ ̴C̸͝OMÉ̛͟ TO̷ ̧͘PA̷S̷S
D̴͜͠A̢RK ̛D́͜͜AYS̢͝ LA͟Y A̸̷H̀E̛A̶̧D͢͏, C̴E̡LES͘͏T̵ÌA.́͘ I H̶O̡P̧͠͏E͠ YOU͝'R̕E Ŗ͘E̛AD͢Y̛͢
Celestia screamed as cities were struck down. Titans of metal fell to their knees as they were consumed with despair. There was nothing good left, no reason to fight, nothing to keep her spirit from—
“Your Majesty!”
Celestia shot awake, breathing heavily. I’m… in my room. She closed her eyes and concentrated on slowing her racing heart. Those things haven’t happened. Equestria wasn’t dying. I am here, and this is now. Slowly, her breathing slowed. “Thank you, Cadance,” she said, her voice much more steady than she felt. “I’m fine now.”
“Are you sure?” the other mare asked in concern. “You sounded like you were hurt.”
Celestia waved away her concerns. “Don’t worry about that. I’m alright, I promise.” She stood up, stretching her stiff wings. They gave a satisfying pop as they extended to their full length. After the incorporeal feeling her visions gave her, it was always an odd sensation to have the aches and pains that came with her body. She cracked her neck and rubbed her horn as she trotted over to her closet. Now that her rest had been disturbed, she may as well get up and about. “Have there been any changes since I went to bed?”
The pink Pegasus followed her over to the closet. “I’m afraid not, your majesty,” she said respectfully. “Your sister has yet to stir from her coma. And with all due respect, I don't believe for a second that you're alright.”
Celestia took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "You know me all too well, old friend." She levitated her crown into place, watching to make sure the charms laid into place inside it automatically applied her makeup and altered her mane. "I just had a vision again."
The words were casual, but the effect they had on Cadance was anything but. She actually took a step back, and her wings flared before she got them under control. "But that's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Whatever's been blocking you has disappeared, right?"
Celestia shook her head. "No. If anything, I'm just more aware of how precarious our position is." She sighed, before letting her back legs relax and sitting down on the floor. "Whatever's blocking me, it isn't some force. It's a sapient being with some kind of goal. I don't know who it is or what it wants, just that it felt like... " her voice trailed off as she uncharacteristically struggled for words, "like evil itself."
Cadance sat down and pulled her boss into a one-winged hug. "Whatever it is, we can stop it," she said in a voice brimming with confidence. "It can't be the worst thing you've fought, can it?"
No, but the other times I had my sister with me.
Celestia managed to stop herself before she said that aloud. It wouldn't help anypony. "I saw Sunset," she said instead.
Cadance gasped. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
The Daymare chuckled lightly at her secretary’s sudden exuberance. It felt good to laugh, but it faded quickly. "I'm afraid I don't know, to both questions." She looked at the floor. "She left Canterlot through the Crystal Mirror before we moved it back to Everfree Castle. I saw her in that other Realm, wherever it was. There was somepony else as well."
Cadance looked surprised. "Somepony?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. Whoever it was, they traveled without the mirror and used some kind of metal bracelet to turn Sunset into something that could use magic." She shuddered at the monster Sunset had turned into. She could only hope that Sunset's mind wasn't altered by the transformation. "She gave her name: Starlight Glimmer. Have you heard of her?"
Cadance shook her head. "Do you want me to have Spike expand the search to include her as well as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash?"
Celestia nodded again, deep in thought. She turned the words from her vision over inside her head. The world has been altered… What could that mean? “Tell Captain Spike to keep the pressure on. If Luna's apprentice does make a mistake, I want to be ready to take her in once and for all.”
Cadance nodded and stood. She gave Celestia one last hug. "We'll get her, don't worry."
Queen Celestia watched her leave, before walking over to the balcony to raise the sun. She looked out over the Realm of Arcadia. Every country in the Realm, from Griffonstone to Equestria, had united under her and her sister’s wings. It was a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity. It was an impressive achievement, worth every second of pain that she and her sister had endured together over the last thousand years.
So why does it feel like it could fall apart at any moment?