Start, Fall Apart, Rebuild

by Fret

Blinding Sun

With a yawn, the young Princess blinked her eyes open. She lifted a hoof to her face to move the pink tresses away from her eyes, and lifted her body off of her mattress. She heard and felt the bones down her spine click as they found a chance to expand on their space.

As she rubbed her eyes, Celestia let her horn glow to open the curtains. She opened them apart to bring in the light, opening her eyes to see her room clearly.

But there was no light.

Her eyes widened as she stumbled off of her bed onto the floor towards the window - only to see the moon still high in the sky.

Am I early? She thought. Just a she did, a loud thump hit the door behind her. The alicorn turned her head, spotting Luna opening the door with her magic, also rubbing her head.

"You're awake too?" Celestia asked her sister.

"Duh. It's morning!" She replied.

"Clearly not." The pink maned mare turned to her window. However, Luna thought otherwise.

"I can promise you sister, it's nine o'clock!" Her horn started to glow again, as she held up a clock in front of her face. The large arrow pointed upwards, while the smaller arrow pointed to her left. Celestia blinked, and grabbed hold of it with her hooves.

"Wha... is this some sort of prank?" She raised a brow at Luna, who shook her head desperately.

"Something's caused this, Celie! Come on, we gotta go find out!" With that, the blue mare dashed out towards her door, yet followed by another thump!

Celestia sighed, her own horn sparking with a golden aura. The light worked as a torch, guiding a visible path for them both. Luna looked up from the floor with an embarrassed blush on her face. She copied her sister's spell, and the two started to trot through the hallways.

Eventually, the two managed to arrive outside of the castle, where the moon glowed more brightly. They both looked around, wondering where to start looking.

"Who do you expect would of done this?" Luna looked at Celestia. The older sister glanced back at her uncertainly, ignoring a certain name that was at the back of her mind.

Celestia opened her mouth to suggest something, but was interrupted by the familiar ringing of bells. They turned their heads to the bridge only a few hoof lengths away, and recognized a certain unicorn wizard.

"Starswirl!" Celestia rushed over to him, followed by Luna.

"Woah... what happened?" Luna blinked. The last time they both saw the unicorn, he had traveled somewhere to age him to have a very short and brown beard. Yet now, it was long and white, with additional bags hanging under his eyes.

"Where did you travel to cause this?" Celestia gasped. Starswirl gazed at them with a tired expression.

"Time travel didn't cause this." He explained.

"Then what did?" Luna urged, her head moving close.

"Lack of magic."

The two sisters paused, and looked at each other, confused. Celestia turned back to the wizard. "Say what now?"

Starswirl looked up at the moon. "You may be wondering why it's still nighttime." He guessed. They nodded their heads. so he continued. "Tonight, I tried to raise the moon by myself."

"But... but usually there's a whole group of unicorns who do that. There has to be!" Luna protested

Starswirl went on to explain how there were no other unicorns to help him, for when they raise the sun or moon, their magic departs. Celestia and Luna listened, standing in awe.

"You should of told us!" Celestia exclaimed. "This is a disaster... what are we going to do? It'll be nighttime forever!"

Starswirl lifted a grey hoof to silence the Princess. "It won't. Us unicorns don't have enough magic to control celestial bodies, but you do."

The two sisters both looked at each other, eyes wide.

"B...but we don't know how..." Luna's ears drooped. Starswirl just but a hoof on her shoulder.

"You won't know that until you try."

Luna glanced at Celestia. Celestia glanced at Luna. The white alicorn watched as the younger princess' horn started to glow it's blue aura, and as she closed her eyes. Celestia ignored her uncertainty, and copied. All of her concentration turned towards where the large fiery ball of gas may be. Her magic eventually reached it, and grappled around it. It somehow gave her a strange warmth as she yanked it from behind the hills up to the sky above. The ground below her fell, and her mane began to flow with the wind. Despite her eyes being shut, she knew it was no longer dark. Her magic stopped, and the ground appeared again.

The strain had made her pant, but it didn't leave her exhausted. Her eyes moved towards her sister, who had also stopped.

"Your mane!" Celestia gasped. The first thing she noticed about Luna was that her once light blue mane was no more - instead replaced by a long, dark - as - night colour.

"Your mane!" Luna stared at her. Celestia raised a brow and grabbed her pink hair to look at it.

Wait.

That wasn't pink.

She gasped, and let go of it. From the corner of her eye, she saw that there was only a small amount of pink colour left. The rest was blue... green... another blue... and each strand flowed. She swung her head back towards her sister, whom was grinning oddly at her.

"What?" She blinked. Luna just tilted her head towards where her tail was. She glanced backwards, not seeing anything new at first. Obviously her tail was flowing like her mane, and she'd always had a sun on her flank -

"WOAH!" She jumped. "I have my cutie mark!" Her eyes moved to Luna. "So do you!"

"I know, it's awesome!" Luna grinned. "I'm a different colour... it's weird." She lifted a hoof, noting that her coat was now a much darker blue.

"Wait... I'm sure I've seen these before..." She tapped her chin as she looked at both of their cutie marks. Then it hit her. She galloped off towards the gorge up ahead and flew down to the cave. She started at the tree that was hidden in there in awe. "Luna! We're on the Tree of Harmony!"

---

Celestia trotted happily through the Everfree Forest, excitement making her heart beat faster than usual. On a normal day, she'd be plodding through the forest, her hooves being pulled down by exhaustion. But today wasn't a normal day. You don't earn a cutie mark every day.

She eventually made it to the usual meeting place, where she hoped to once again meet her best friend.

"Discord?" She called. A few moments of silence, before she heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. She turned her head, seeing a familiar head poking out the bundle of leaves. Her whole body changed direction, facing towards the draconequus, a grin spread across her face.

Discord slowly moved closer to her, slithering across the ground, to standing up in front of her. His brow was raised at the sight of her.

"Celestia? Is that you?" He tilted his head.

Celestia blinked. "Of course it's me!"

"You look... different." He gazed at her now multi-coloured mane, which flowed, even without a breeze. His red eyes then moved to her flank, which had a newly printed sun on it.

"I know. I got my cutie mark!" She briefly explained, still smiling.

But Discord wasn't.

In fact, he was frowning.

So did she.

"...I thought you'd be excited." Her ears drooped, disappointed.

"I uhh... I am..." He rubbed his lion arm with his eagle talon nervously.

"Then what's wrong?" She moved closer to him, and put a hoof on his shoulder. Discord gave an uncertain look, not making eye contact with her.

"You look different." He repeated. Celestia tilted her head.

"...Yeah. I do."

"You've changed." He sat down. The alicorn was still left confused.

"...Yeah. A bit." She glanced at the sun on her flank. "So?"

"You'll have more responsibilities. You'll have a bigger role. You'll... mature as a princess." The draconequus finally locked eyes with hers. The sentence left her in awe, causing her to lose herself for words.

"You're afraid I'm going to change..." She concluded with a murmur. "I'm still the same pony, you know." Her muzzle was now lightly touching his cheek. "I know that having a cutie mark is a big step for me, but I'm..." She trailed off, wondering what to say next. Her eyes angled to the ground, then looked back up at Discord, whom now had his head turned away from her.

"...I'm still your Tia."

His ears perked up, followed by his head slowly rotating back in her direction. Once she had his full attention, she thrust her head forward and locked lips with his. She refused to move before a while passed. Eventually, she pulled away, but still touched noses with him.

"Okay, I believe you." He smirked, running a talon along her chin, making her shiver out of pleasure. She gave a relaxed smile, and slipped her head onto his shoulder. Her hoof hooked around his eagle arm.

"The skies prettier." Celestia murmured. "Luna controls the moon and stars now."

"Oh, so you control the sun and she controls the moon?" Discord said. "Heh. Funny."

Celestia buried her muzzle into his fur. "It's still cold though. Can't wait to raise the sun again..." She felt a feathered arm wrap around her.

"I guess you'll have to leave rather early then..."

"Sorry... I have to." She closed her eyes.

"It's fine..." He sighed. Celestia was sure that there was something more to his tone though...

Author's Note:

Over a frickin month... my gosh ;-;

I know, I said that the happy chapters were over. And I was telling the truth.