Waking up
When Rainbow Dash woke next, it was to the dim illumination of the moon outside her window casting stripes of pale light across the floors and walls of her bedroom in Canterlot castle. Turning her still heavy-feeling head to the left, she could just make out the flowing aetherial tale of Princess Celestia poking out from the balcony. Considering the angle, Rainbow guessed that the night had just now gotten fully into motion. After a few seconds, Celestia turned around and slowly stepped inside the room, her eyes downcast and her ears flat against her head. She glanced up and jumped in surprise to see Rainbow Dash looking back.
With a long, tired groan, Rainbow sat up slightly to stretch. “Oi… what, ugh… what happened?” she mumbled softly, reaching her forelegs up to rub at her eyes. Celestia looked at Rainbow for several seconds, her eyes shifting rapidly, a sign that Rainbow had come to learn meant that Celestia was trying to think of something quickly.
“I’m not sure of all of the details. From what I understand, both you and Twilight passed out after going still and silent for several minutes. According to Fluttershy, you were both having flashes before losing consciousness.” Celestia explained slowly before sitting down next to Rainbow’s bed and reaching a hoof out to stroke her mane.
Rainbow hummed and relaxed under her adoptive mother’s ministrations, closing her eyes. Then her eyes opened up wide and she looked to Celestia urgently. “Wait, Celestia; how long were we out?”
Celestia flinched and set her foreleg down on the floor beneath her. “You’ve been out for four days, Rainbow Dash. I don’t know if Twilight is awake yet, as her parents are the ones looking after her.”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped in shock. She looked down at her blankets and took a deep breath. “Wow… that long, huh?”
Rainbow was snapped out of her despondent mutterings when Princess Celestia climbed up onto the bed with her, settled down behind her and pulled her into a relieved embrace. “I… I was worried about you…” she muttered quietly to Rainbow, who in turn let herself be hugged, even snuggled into it a bit, though she would forever deny it.
“Huh? Really?” she asked all the same, glancing up at Celestia curiously, who then nodded slowly.
“Yes. When I examined you and Twilight after you passed out, your minds were incredibly active. There was so much going on that… I was afraid you either wouldn’t wake up or, if you did, you would be… damaged.” Celestia admitted, a nervous shiver passing through her entire body as she pulled Rainbow closer.
“Damaged?” Rainbow asked carefully, reaching her forelegs forward to drape them over Celestia’s in as much of a hug as her current angle could allow.
“A brain that doesn’t rest can suffer serious damage. You may not have been yourself, you may have awoken with amnesia or, worse, you may not have been able to do anything… awake but unaware...” Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly when she felt something wet drip onto the back of her neck. She craned her neck to see that Princess Celestia’s eyes were letting the occasional tear slip out.
“Woah… are you okay?” Rainbow asked gingerly, shifting so she could face the alabaster alicorn more directly. Celestia nodded rigidly before wiping a foreleg over her eyes to brush away the tears.
“Y-yes… I am. I just… I don’t want to lose you, Rainbow, not when…” she fell short in her words, her eyes turning down to evade Rainbow’s gaze.
“...Er, ‘not when’ what?” Rainbow pressed gently, touching a hoof to Celestia’s shoulder in reassurance.
Celestia looked up for only a moment before dropping her eyes again. “...Rainbow… forgive me, I said too much. I can’t tell you; not quite yet-”
Rainbow’s eyes turned firm as a disapproving frown crossed her face. “Nuh-uh, not this again.”
“I’m sorry?” Celestia looked up at Rainbow in surprise at the filly’s words.
Rainbow jabbed Celestia, albeit lightly, in the chest with her hoof. “You’re not dodging this one. I let you dodge it every other time as it was related to the flashes Twi and I keep having, but those are usually harmless. But this?” Rainbow shook her head fiercely. “It sounds like you’ve got something up your sleeve for me directly, and I for one would very much like to know!”
Celestia fell silent for several seconds before a small smile formed on her face. “...You are so much like your aunt…”
The room fell completely silent. Rainbow Dash got up and took a step back to look at Celestia more completely. “...What?”
Celestia sniffled slightly, a fond smile crossing her face. “Your aunt… Luna. My little sister.”
“Luna? That doesn’t sound familiar… where is she?” Rainbow asked curiously. She was taken aback by the sudden fragility Celestia was putting on display. Her eyes slowly turned back up to Rainbow’s from the sheets they had been staring at, revealing a dozen lifetimes of regret.
“Princess Luna… is…” Celestia stood and slowly trotted to the balcony, beckoning Rainbow Dash to follow her. Rainbow did as instructed, coming up to Princess Celestia’s side and looking up. Celestia pointed at the moon and the etchings of ‘The Mare in The Moon’ looking back at them.
Rainbow’s eyes widened in realization. She turned to Celestia, gawking at her disbelievingly. “Woah, woah, woah! You mean that Nightmare Moon is your little sister?!”
Celestia turned a firm look on Rainbow, making her go quiet. The intensity in her eyes was swiftly lost to one of guilt. “...In a way. Nightmare Moon was the new name that all of my Little Sister’s jealousy and resentment took up for itself. It… usurped her, in a way.”
Rainbow watched as Celestia sat down, locking eyes with the Mare in the Moon longingly. She turned to look and gulped before voicing her next question. “Uh… so, she changed?”
Celestia sighed heavily. “One of the gravest risks of becoming an alicorn is the duality of the mind it creates. Every spark of magic creates a sort of light within the pony that magic belongs to. The brighter that light, the more powerful and more concentrated that magic becomes, the longer and darker the shadow it casts will invariably become. The ascension of an Alicorn brings even more magic into the pony, allowing for truly monstrous shadows to be cast in their wake.
She turned her gaze back to Rainbow Dash. “It was that darkness burning behind my sister that swallowed her. Took a life of it’s own… Nightmare Moon was born out of Luna’s own jealousy and resentment.”
“Jealousy and resentment…?” Rainbow echoed, most of that magic talk going over her head. She looked away for a moment in thought before glancing back up at Princess Celestia. “What was she jealous about?”
Celestia grimaced and looked up at the moon again. “...Me.”
“Huh?”
“Princess Luna raised the moon each and every night. She always had a fondness for the calm and quiet, for softer shades and subtler notions. She found the night a perfect time to relax and reflect, to appreciate the less obvious beauties of our world.” Celestia closed her eyes and sighed. “I should have seen it sooner, but… there were very few ponies who actually saw her night. Most went to sleep at sundown, and most still do. She saw such a wellspring of beauty and wonder in the night and nopony else even bothered to look, preferring to work and play in the day before turning in.”
Rainbow looked down slightly at the city beneath them, deep in thought. She turned her eyes back to Celestia sympathetically. “...And you had to send her away?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes… it has been almost nine hundred and ninety six years since then by now.”
Rainbow wilted and looked away. “I… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. She won’t be gone much longer…” Celestia said with a small smile forming on her lips. Rainbow looked up with a raised eyebrow, seeing an eageress in her adoptive mother’s eyes she had never seen before. Celestia turned her eyes back to Rainbow Dash. “Before I say anymore, I want you to swear to me that you will not repeat any of what I am about to tell you.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened just slightly in surprise, but she nodded solemnly. “I won’t say a word, I promise.”
Celestia nodded, satisfied before speaking. “Her imprisonment will end on the one-thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration… And I want so very much for you to meet her. She will finally come home and… and I can introduce her to her new niece, you to your aunt and…” her smile only grew. “...and I can finally have my sister back home.”
Rainbow nodded slowly, unsure of what to say. She looked away again before closing her eyes. A thought occurred to her. “When Princess Luna comes back… will she, you know, still be Nightmare Moon?”
Celestia wilted and nodded. “Yes… but that is a matter we can address when the time draws nearer. For now, we have almost five years until she is released. Let’s not worry too much about it for the time being, okay?”
Rainbow nodded in understanding before reaching over and hugging Princess Celestia’ foreleg. Celestia giggled and brushed Rainbow’s mane back a few times before the filly looked back up at her. “On a somewhat unrelated note, were you by my bed the whole time I was out?” Rainbow asked with a small smirk starting to form.
Celestia nodded and reached down to nuzzle her daughter. “Of course I was, Rainbow Dash. Why wouldn’t I be? Even if others see it as only by paperwork, you are my daughter and I love the same way any mother should love their foal.”
“Uegh,” Rainbow play-gagged before play-punching Celestia in the elbow. “Try not to take the sap too far. I can only take so much.”
Celestia merely smiled and nodded. “As you wish,” she then slowly stood back to her full height and turned. “As it is, however, the hour grows late and I need rest. I will speak with you in the morning, my little pony.”
“Alright. Good night, Tia,” Rainbow called back before letting herself up into her bed again. “Dunno how I’m going to sleep. I mean, I’ve been out for days, but, well, I’ll think of something.” she grinned confidently at Celestia.
Celestia paused halfway through the door before looking back at Rainbow Dash with a smile of her own. Said smile slowly faded, however. “Actually, before I forget, there is one last matter I wish to discuss with you before I go to bed for the night.”
Rainbow lifted an eyebrow as Celestia closed the door, locked it, and then cast a sound-proofing spell over the entire room. She slowly stepped forward and sat down to look at Dash carefully in the eye. Rainbow fidgeted under her gaze. “Uh, okay? What?”
Celestia sat upright and nodded, as if to herself, before speaking. “The flash that you and Twilight had. I wish to know exactly what it was you saw,” she raised a hoof before Rainbow could begin, leveling a firm look at her. “This flash is greatly different from the others, so I do not want you to spare any details. Tell me everything.”
Feeling suddenly nervous, Rainbow Dash could only hope that Twilight’s eye for detail had rubbed off on her a little bit. She opened her mouth and began to recite what she and her friend had seen.
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I thought Rainbow's eye and memory are exceptionally enhanced when she is in the air.
8480755
She isn't in the air right now. She's in her bed.
Plus, when she was having the flash, she also wasn't flying.
think it should be "tail"
put being and rework the rest... Luna and Celestia were BORN Alicorns.
Ehr... the count seems off...
8480960
Actually in the episode that Flurry Heart is introduced Celestia says, and I quote, The birth of an Alicorn is something Equestria has never seen! End quote
8481066
Celestia and Luna are OLDER than Equestria.
They were already somewhat adult at the time of Heartwarming.
You can read about that in The Journal of The Two Sisters. [and it is canon]
That's why Equestria has never seen the birth of an Alicorn.
8481066
Been covered several times. They knew Starswril the Bearded who taught Clover the Clever before Equestrian was founded. So if they where born alicorns and Equestrian has never seen an alicorn birth then the sisters weren't born in Equestria. As to why the sisters didn't know about alicorn babies, then must not of known any adult alicorns, there wasn't anyone to teach them about alicorn babies.
8481104
I honestly operate off of what is in the show and other visual / audio media like EQG and the movie. Not everyone in the community is going to read all of the side content and so not everyone is going to know about all of the side materials 'canonicity.' Besides, if they WERE born alicorns, you'd think they could still explain it. They would understand it if they WERE born alicorns, but given Luna admits that it is outright beyond their understanding, I feel it isnt too far fetched to feel they were not born alicorns.
Plus, Equestria was founded by the three pony tribes before Discord ever showed up. Luna and Celestia, we can safely theorize from what we've seen in the show, only took the throne AFTER Discord was banished. I'm pretty sure we don't have any indication IN SHOW of where Luna and Celestia were born, so I feel it's safe to assume they were born in Equestria as non-alicorns.
Plus, it just makes them feel a touch more relatable to me.
You certainly know how to keep the hype up, I'll give you that.
8481564
Hm you can get that they were already the princesses before Discord as they already have their Regalia [Crown, Peytral and so on]
And as Xanderfox has said they knew Starswirl who is the master of Clover so also the time line works for them to be born BEFORE Equestria.
[Going by the Journal they got to be princesses BEFORE even getting their cutie mark, by virtue of being Alicorn and embodying the virtues of the tre races]
"Hi, I'm your aunt. I'm probably gonna try and kill you in a few years, but after that we'll get along just fine!"
Well, they were at ground zero...
I'm sure having your adoptive daughter and daughter figure both drop into a bit of a coma at once on what was meant to be a fun trip was anything but a fun experience.
I shall reference you to my first statement in this here comment.
And I'm sure having this knowledge revealed years early hasn't fucked the timeline more than it has already...
Case in point:
derpicdn.net/img/2017/6/11/1459600/full.gif
A very roundabout way of saying "she went insane".
I'm sure there's at least one cosmic reality out there where simply talking it through and maybe a hug worked...
Hey there. Great job on this latest chapter. And, yeah, I DID love the chat between Celestia and Rainbow, particularly where Luna/Nightmare Moon was brought up. And, yeah, I can see the points you made in the other reviews concerning Celestia and Luna's origins. Of course, when you said "nearly 996 years ago", the correct amount of time remaining would be "just over four years" rather than "nearly five years". Or did I do an error on the math?
Anyway, as usual, excellent job on the characterizations and future arc set-up as usual.
And yeah, I could EASILY see Rainbow being EXTRA determined to make as many friends as possible. More than that, I could ALSO easily see her encouraging TWILIGHT to make as many friends as possible. That way, when the time comes, the two of them will, between them, have MORE THAN enough friends to stand a VERY good chance of literally AND figuratively saving the day. Though, I WILL admit that I COULD be wrong.
At any rate, I will VERY certainly be looking forward to more of this, but will also be quite willing to be patient.
8481564
First of all, if you operate off of EQG, then you admit to operating off of what is confirmed to be non-canon. Secondly, if it hasn't been confirmed prior, the movie certainly confirms that Equestria is not the entire world.
You don't have to read it to be able to do research about it. I've known about those facts and I've never even seen that book.
Perhaps it's not "too" far fetched. But the thing is, how do we know what Luna said was in response to what Celestia said? Perhaps my theory is stretching it. But in my headcanon, Luna could've been referring to an alicorn being born from non-alicorn parents. And Cadance was born a pegasus, so that would make her genetically a pegasus. I won't deny that it's more farfetched. But it's not beyond the realm of possibility.
Except that's fallacious reasoning. When they took the throne does not indicate when they became alicorns. Especially since it's confirmed that they were alicorns when they faced Discord. Also, where and when they were born does not indicate what they were born as.
To be fair, I'm not criticizing your decision on how to do alicorns or why. I just hold the stance that I believe the show intentionally left the question unanswered, because if they confirmed anything, half the fandom would complain about their headcanons being proven wrong. But if you want to get technical, the princesses weren't born as alicorns. The term "alicorn" is a fan given term that the show later adopted in season 3, first being used for the Alicorn Amulet. The word "alicorn" is actually defined as the material a unicorn's horn is made of. Before then, the official term was "winged unicorns". This is backed up in the first scene of the first episode of the series. The book that Twilight was reading referred to the princesses as unicorns. So Flurry Heart was the first alicorn born. The princesses were born winged unicorns...if you want to get technical.
8481715
And that's a roundabout (though accurate) way of saying it was her time of the month.
This story is getting more and more intriguing. Four days is a long time to be unconscious. This flash was a much bigger deal than the others. Though, I wonder if there's a reason Fluttershy didn't get a flash. I would have figured she would, since she was there both in the present and at the race in the past.
Once again Celestia is more honest with Rainbow than she used to be. Granted, she still didn't tell her about the Elements, but she did tell her about Luna/Nightmare Moon.
8488545
Fluttershy, at the time of the original Rainboom, was actually down on the ground, remember? The start of the race knocked her off of the clouds.
8488662
Good point.
I hope that, when I get to the sequel, I'll find you've taken the opportunity to draw a parallel between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo in that they complain about how much "sap" they encounter.
Since this sentence was the end of a quote, it needs an end-quote.
Congrats on 666 likes!
8481564
That's a good rule of thumb, not to mention spin off media is usually retconned by the mainstream series or is made non-cannon in the long run. (The Star Wars EU is a good example of this)