Night and Day's Youth

by Excellen

Chapter 2

Starshine, Celestia's mother, walked into the small empty room that now had freshly painted walls. She walked in slowly, not to disturb the small filly who slept soundly on the plush carpeted floor.

“Celestia, what am I going to do with you?”, she asked quietly. She didn't expect a response.
She levitated her oldest daughter lightly onto her back, before looking around the room. Her daughter had done a wonderful job, the color of the walls looked very vibrant. Looking up, she found a very large crescent moon on the ceiling. The color that surrounded the moon and covered the rest of the ceiling was a black color, with very small specks of white dotted here and there. It looked like you were looking up into the night sky.

Celestia shifted on her back, her body recognizing that her position had changed, and the small white filly dug her face into her mothers fur, and her body remained still after that. Seeing this gave Starshine a smile on her face, and with that, she trotted out of the door, shutting it with her golden-colored magic.

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Celestia drifted in and out of sleep, each time growing closer to fully becoming aware of her surroundings. She noticed a very sweet smell, but she couldn't quite place it. Her hold tightened on whatever soft, furry item she was holding on to. She noticed it seemed to rise in fall in a rhythmic sort of way. Her eyes opened to a blurry whiteness. Her eyes focused, and she was staring right into the chest of her mother. Her hooves were laid over Celestia's body, pulling the small filly closer to her. Celestia shifted her body, and gently tapped her mom with a hoof.

Starshine's eyes slowly fluttered open, but it took her a couple of moments to realize her surroundings. She opened her mouth wide and yawned, and looked down at Celestia.

“Good morning, Celestia.” Her mother gave her a warm and inviting smile. Celestia looked up at her mothers face and put her hoof over her mouth to suppress a giggle. Her mother looked at her in confusion. Celestia started laughing openly now, rolling around on the bed.

“Celestia, why are you laughing like that?”

She only put her hoof over her mouth and grabbed a mirror. Handing it to her mother, she started to giggle again.

Starshine picked up the mirror with her magic, a golden aura encasing it. Holding it up to her face, she looked into it. Her normally ethereal flowing mane was now solid-looking, and had a very bad case of bedhead. Her hair was a golden-yellow color, and it was long enough that it reached a little bit higher than her front knees. Her horn lit up, and so did her hair, as it returned to its flowing state that almost everypony saw her in. Her attention returned to her daughter, who was still sitting on the bed. Her hair had not fared any better.

“Come, Celestia. We need to get you tidied up, as for this is a very important day for your sister.”

She nodded and hopped off of the bed. Following her mother into her private bathroom, she rubbed her eyes. She had the same nightmare as the day Luna was born. It disturbed her, but she felt like she shouldn't tell her mom. This would be the very first thing Celestia had kept from her. She had entrusted her mother with every other thought, feeling, or event that happened to her. Something, she didn't know what, just told her not to. It creeped her out a bit, but she dismissed the thought very soon.

After she and her mother were all cleaned up, they decided to head downstairs. Making their way to the royal dining room, Celestia asked her mother about the spell she used for her hair. Her mother told her it was passed down throughout the years, when the current ruler was about to pass on, they taught it to their heir. The only other time it is taught is when the ruler is being married to somepony. She said when she was about to die, she would teach Celestia the spell. Even though that won't be happening in a long time, as a normal alicorn's lifespan is tens of thousands of years.

They made it to the dining room, and they both ordered a warm soup. After finishing their meal, they headed downstairs to where Luna's party was to be held. It was a a very large banquet hall, and it was covered in decorations. She couldn't believe this was all for her little sister. She was so excited for her to see the present she made. She had worked all of last night on it. Come to think of it, she dosen't remember going to sleep in her mom's room. She probably fell asleep in the playroom and her mom carried her back.

“Starshine?” They heard a voice call from up the stairs, presumably Solaris'.

“Yes, Solaris?” He came down the stairs with Luna on his back.

With the mare that the party was dedicated to in attendance, the party started. They helped Luna open up her presents, which were mostly stuffed toys and such. After that was done, they had cake, and Celestia's parents took turns feeding Luna little bits of frosting. When everything was finished, Celestia announced she had something to show everybody. Her mother, who had already seen the surprise, just smiled and played along. Her father though, had not, and was genuinely curious to what Celestia had to show. She led them to the room she had worked very hard on. Opening the door, she showed them into the playroom. Her father's eyes grew wide. He was quite impressed.

“Celestia, where did you find the time to do this?”

Her mother answered for her. “She stayed up quite late in the night, which I will have a talk with her later for.”

“You shouldn't punish her, dear, she was doing no harm.”

Her mother sighed. “My dear, sometimes you are too lenient on her. But today is a special occasion, and I will allow it to slide.”

“Well, I have some duties to attend to. I'll leave you with the children, Solaris.”

Her father replied playfully, “Its our youngest daughters first birthday and you leave to do royal duties?” His expression turned more serious, and he said “Fine, you go attend to what you need to do. I'll stay here with Celly and Luna.”

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That night, all four of them shared a bed together. After all the festivities they had they were greatly tired. Celestia awoke with a start. She looked around to see everypony else was still asleep. Thats weird, she could have sworn she heard a---!!

A fiery red ball burst through the window across from the bed, and exploded at the wall to Celestia's left. That woke everypony up in the bed. She heard her mother shout something about a cult, but she suddenly yelled at everypony present in the room “GET TO SAFETY NOW!”

Not needing anymore instruction, Solaris picked up his children and ran out the door, turning his head to see another large ball of flame enter the room, his wife dodging it by a fraction, and the bed bursting into a fiery inferno.

He stopped and yelled, “STARSHINE, RUN!”

His wife turned and looked at him with her eyes solid white, and her mane had turned into pure fire. A godly-like voice boomed when she opened her mouth “LEAVE. NOW.”

Regaining his sense, he ran downstairs. He reached the fourth floor without hassle. Rounding a corner, he was met with a group of about 10 unicorns, all in dark black cloaks with a red slash mark that looked like blood on them.

“Your escape ends here.”

“I don't think so!”

He blasted one of the ponies with magic, sending it flying into the wall. They returned with nine times the blasts, and while her father was very powerful, he had never learned any combat techniques or spells. These ponies, however, seemed like they had gone through much training. He blocked as many as he could, but he took quite a number of hits. He charged his horn to retaliate, but the unicorns quickly shot him down again. They barraged him with fire for what seemed like minutes, but was actually only a couple of seconds. He had dropped the kids behind him before the confrontation, so he hoped that they were safe. Starting to lose consciousness, he heard a large explosion and a white ball of fire flung itself at his assailants. He regained his thought and looked up to see his wife enraged. She was charging everywhere, destroying any enemy in her path. After the area was clear, she returned to her normal state, and ran over to her husband.

“Solaris! Your going to be fine, we'll get you to a hospital and-

Her father silenced her.

He stood up on his bloodied legs,

And pulled her into a tight embrace, staining her coat with his blood.

They stayed there like that for a couple of seconds, before her father broke the embrace and said

“Take the kids and get out of here.”

“But you are in no shape to fight! I'll stay here, defend the castle, and-”

“You are more fit to take care of the kids. I would have died back there if it wasn't for you.”

“But-”

“No. no more.”

Her mother shed a single tear, picked up the shaking fillies beside her, and ran down the castle.

On the ground floor there were unicorns everywhere. They were wrecking everything. Windows were smashed, potted plants were shattered. Royal guards lay dead on the floor.”

“No....” Celestia's mom whispered.

“No.”

“NO!”

She knew that they would all never make it out alive. There were simply too many. She noticed that they were piling many red bars of something in the middle. At a closer look, they were bundles of red sticks with black wires. They were making a huge bomb to blow up the castle.

Her mind instantly raced into action. The castle was lost. That was for sure. There was no way she could stop them, as her magic was mostly fire magic, and would set off the bomb. She had to get the children out of there, even if it meant losing her own life in the process. She went up to Celestia, who was crying heavily now.

“Celly.” That got her attention. Her mother always called her “Celestia”, or “Princess Celestia”.
She looked up at her mother with teary eyes. I’m going to teach you a spell. It is very important. Celestia nodded. Ignite your horn with magic, then think of me. Think of me as I am right now. Her mother looked like she always did, elegant, caring, and beautiful. She saved this image of her in her mind. She did what she was told, closed her eyes, and cast the spell. When she opened them, she was greeted by a waving mane that seemed to be made of a liquid, and it was moving like a calm river.

The realization hit her. “But.. But.. Mom... that means.. but you can't...” She started choking on tears, knowing that she will never see her mother again.

“Every morning, when you cast this spell, you will remember me. This way you can never forget me. Equestria is yours, and when your sister comes of age, she will have ownership also.

She hugged her oldest daughter into a tight hug. While still in the hug, her mothers horn lit up, and engulfed Celestia and Luna in light. After a second, they were gone. Tears started flowing from her eyes again. Her husband was most certainly dead by now. She had teleported her children to the nearby town of Ponyville. That was far enough away from what she was about to do.

Comments

[Excellen]

Dang, this was actually hard to write for me.
Sorry this took forever.
This is BY FAR the longest thing i've written.
EVER. and i did it all in one day too

So tired right now. Im heading to bed.
G'night.

[Clarity]

Hi, this is Clarity from the forums! This seems quite interesting. ;) I'll take a look at it after my class.