Ashes

by Cloud

Long Ago

While it is true that Celestia seized the Elements with intent to defeat her sister early on in the War of the Eclipse, it is also true that she failed to carry through with the act. In the Princess’ clash at the royal gardens, Celestia was able to subdue Nightmare Moon, (then Luna,) but did not take any further action.

As a result, Luna, now under full influence of the Nightmare, retreated in safety. But rather than departing from Equestria, she merely changed her field of battle. By infiltrating dreams, she influenced, brainwashed, and by this seized control of a great percentage of the populace before Celestia or her council could take definitive measures.

The result was what is known as the Siege of Everfree – although the Palace in the Everfree Valley was only a small part of the loyalists seeking to hold out against Nightmare Moon’s tyranny. Nightmare, seeking to press her advantage, struck directly at Celestia there. Out of time and options, Celestia, bolstered by the Elements, tried yet again to vanquish the Nightmare that held power over her sister. She was defeated, and nearly killed in the process.

After the fall of the Everfree Palace, Nightmare Moon consolidated her power, believing Celestia's threat destroyed with the Elements. However, Celestia was not dead – coming to the realization that Nightmare Moon and her former sister could no longer be separated, she sought forbidden magics once sealed away with the tyrant, Sombra.

Returning with the power of the ancient Empire’s greatest crystals, the Eclipse culminated in the Sun's Weeping. The day of the Sun's Weeping is a day held in infamy. Great fiery tears rained from the sky, and the very stones ran like butter in the final clash between sisters. And in the aftermath, the few survivors looked across this land of apocalypse and witnessed the victorious Celestia, standing alone in this calamity she had wrought, giving her a new moniker: Ash.

Her once brilliantly-white coat turned grey with the dust of a dead Equestria – her eyes wept dark and foreboding magics. As she gazed upon survivors, she saw not the love she had once felt from her little ponies, nor the hope she shared with them during the war, but fear, pure and unbridled. Heartbroken by the loss of both her sister and her subjects, she hid herself in the caves of the high mountains, and remains there to this day…

Author's Note:

That could have gone better.