If You Had To Choose

by Black Hailstorm

Epilogue: The Spear of The Stars

Princess Celestia moved slowly, a careful trot as she limped forward in the daylight of her Sun.

It had been six weeks since it all came to an end and not a day went by did she not go without regret on how things had come to their conclusion. So many lives lost. So much to work through since she had announced Princess Luna’s appearance and the sacrifice she made in defeating the Alicorn known as Nightmare Moon.

A ceremony had been held in honor of Princess Luna and a statue had been made and commissioned in her honor to be hosted in Canterlot at some unknown point in time. Rumors would have it one day, the lost Princess would return while others claimed she had already long since been gone the day that monster had appeared.

Celestia had decided to let the pieces fall where they may be while she held kept herself busy.

The dead were still being accounted for. So many lives had been lost and simply thinking about it made Princess Celestia shiver with revolution and shame as well as fill with sadness at how much of an impact this would have on the country. The day the sun had returned was the same day many had cursed the name Nightmare Moon and even now Celestia wished she could do so also, but not if it meant cursing her sister as well.

Turning to the guards that escorted her to the bridge Princess Celestia offered her little soldiers a comforting smile, and gently touched the two unicorn guards that had joined her from one free wing.

“Thank you for coming Sergeant Twist.” She smiled as her wing moved away.

The bruised stallion offered a smile and said nothing as he nodded. The gash across his throat would make certain he’d never talk again but at least he still knew how to smile during these tough times.

“Princess?”

Rising to her full height Princess Celestia looked at the pale blue pegasus with lime green eyes. “Yes, Specialist Cartwheel?”

Rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof the former First Class blushed then coughed into a hoof as he looked back at the Princess with a more serious expression. “Will you um, really be alright?”

The look of surprise on Celestia’s face did not go unnoticed and almost instantly Specialist Cartwheel Drag got nudged roughly in the ribs by Sergeant Twist for talking out of turn. With a grunt he stomped his hoof and raised a withering glare at the former private.

“Wha-- OW!” He jumped, “Sir?”

Unable to speak but certainly able to gesture Sergeant Twist tapped with his hoof on the ground to get his point across, a feat that only confused the pegasus even more as he clearly had no idea what was being said.

Lemon Twist realizing this decided to try using a stick to get his point across in the mud with writing. Picking one up, he began to write, till the stick broke.

Frustrated he tossed it aside and threw a hoof at Specialist Cartwheel, pointing at him then Celestia.

Commander Flake, the co-driver of the chariot that brought the unicorns here moved from his mount and raised a brow at what was happening, saying nothing.

Lemon Twist scowled and seemed to grab another stick in an attempt to try again, only for it to break also after the first stroke.

He huffed, now realizing that this was going to be far tougher than he thought.

Cartwheel looked at one of Sergeant Twist’s officers, a stallion just a few years older than him. Somehow hoping this unicorn would understand what was going on-- aaaaaand the unicorn behind the older stallion merely shook his head with a equally confused shrug.

Suddenly exploding into laughter Princess Celestia’s sudden laugh caught all the guards off guard as they watched their divine monarch smile in a way they hadn’t in a long while even after Nightmare Moon’s defeat. And in some way, it put them all at ease. She’d been preoccupying herself with nothing but work since the system had suddenly switched from diarchy to monarchy and many of the nobles had whispered word to some of the officers that there was concern Celestia might fall under too much stress.

“Uhhh, P-Princess?” Before he could say much more Specialist Cartwheel Drag found himself dragged into a tight embrace, one that made him freeze instantly for touching his all powerful monarch in such a rare display of affection and no sooner had the contact started did it end almost as quickly.

“Thank you, all of you.” Princess Celestia said with a warm smile as she looked at her silly officers. “I think after this, I feel a bit better about coming back here. Don’t worry Specialist” a wing gently brushed the younger officer. “I think I’ll be fine now.”

---

An ear twitched at a distant sound as Celestia stared up at the massive tower that seemed to go past the clouds and into the stars.

The tower was thin, long, black like ink and carried numerous numerical patterns across its surface. The surface of it was smooth, and it glinted like a blade in the warm daylight giving it a polished and clean finish that reflected nothing back save for oddly the light. As Celestia stared at these patterns she noticed how some had a similar resemblance to the alchemical patterns the Chamber of Harmony had once held on its floor.

“Its beautiful, isn’t it?” came a deep yet warm voice.

Celestia’s ears raised and her tail flicked casually. Not at all alarmed or surprised at the sound of this familiar voice.

“...It is”, she smiled sadly without looking at her companion. “You did a fine job Weyland.”

The minotaur smiled a sincere smile. “Thank you Ilios.” Soon though, his smile turned somber as he looked back to the tower before them.

“I...I must say, I doubted you.”

“Oh?” The minotaur responded as he rubbed his silver beard.

Smiling sheepishly, Celestia looked at the minotaur that towered her by a full foot and she couldn’t help but look away as the gold brown minotaur stared at her with a raised silver brow. “I suppose it was impolite of me to not trust you all after you’d found Magic so quickly for me. I also never got to thank Cria for her help finding the rest of the Elements. Nor you for helping me with the Chamber or the others with their aide in all of...” she trailed off, eyes wide almost at a loss of what to say.

Waving a hand in dismissal, Weyland’s smile returned. “Bah, it is nothing Ilios. Think nothing of it. We do what must be done for the good of all. Be wary though, there are only so many times we can intervene like this again. From what Taurin says, father was busy on the other side of the world during the time your Sun was absent. You know as well as Star Swirl--”

“Yes”, Celestia’s ears splayed and her posture slightly slumped with her sigh. “There are rules. And if we are to keep things stabilized we must be more careful.”

“I couldn’t have said it better, my friend.” Weyland responded.

Birds chirped happily in the distance and Weyland could not help but look around. “Tell me, what do you plan to call it?” He finally asked.

“What?” Celestia asked in surprise, something Weyland did not take notice of immediately.

“The tower, surely you plan to name it after your sister, yes?”

Mouth opening to respond Princess Celestia found she couldn’t. Looking back at the tower she looked back at Weyland once, a wing twitched as she looked back to the distant Everfree Castle, then turning without a word, Princess Celestia headed to her old castle, limping as she moved..

“Ilios?” The minotaur called from the ground. “Where are you going?” He asked louder the further she got.

Celestia did not reply. In fact half way up the slope her horn glowed and she teleported.

---

Getting comfortable in the demolished throne room, Princess Celestia looked at the ever stretching tower.

“Ilios?” Celestia did not respond.

“Was...was it something I said Ilios?” The minotaur asked, now concerned. But what should’ve been more concerning was a minotaur who could ride atop clouds of unnatural glowing light that was in the form of some chariot, tethered to a strange winged creature. A creature that licked its chops with a thin tongue and bathed Celestia in warm air as it breathed on her before the energy based entity disappeared with the chariot as the minotaur patted its side and moved towards the Princess.

“No”, Celestia replied as she stared at the distant, pencil thin tower that continued to stretch upwards for miles, almost as if it was an illusion of its own. Then after a second she sighed and conceded with, “...maybe.” Only because she herself wasn't quite certain if it was completely his fault.

“I apologize”, Weyland tried. Celestia could only offer a sad smile to her companion, knowing it wasn’t his intention.

“I really did not mean to offend you Ilios, surely you understand? I was just excited is all. It’s… it’s been awhile since anyone has commissioned anything from me-- even if this wasn’t a commission so much as your plea and my offer to help-- I suppose I just got too excited to see the final result. My apologies, I spoke out of turn to you…” shimmering gold eyes looked to the tower, “and to your sister.”

Leaning in nuzzling the oaf, Celestia sighed. Sitting in the demolished space that was once her throne room, a castle that was going to be quarantined from the public with a new one in Canterlot that had been completed three weeks ago, yet of all the places she was at this moment it was up in a cloud with an enigmatic minotaur who could perform feats of magical craftsmanship not even Star Swirl could perform with all his transmutation skill.

Then again, Star Swirl never really was one for labor work unless it meant studying magic theory and application.

“I forgive you”, she smiled. Both at the thought of her old friend and mentor, and the apology offered.

“I thank you Ilios.” The minotaur said in turn as he offered a returning hug, careful of the Princess’ injuries. The two watched over the collapsed wall of the throne room, looking towards the tower that stretched for miles and miles, never ending, always going. Almost like the world had grown a horn and this was its way of showing it.

“Is it natural for it to do what it does at night?” Celestia inquired.

“You mean...the mark? The one after you defeated Nightmare Moon?”

The princess nodded although her eyes never moved from the tower.

“It will happen every night I’m afraid. Whenever the moon is full, it will appear. When I designed that trap for you, it was a last resort method.” Celestia nodded, so he continued. “I designed it specifically based around what I understood of your sister's magic from what your element had told me. I will not fault you however, your sister is perfectly contained. Magic was required to activate the trap but to make it work properly you needed powerful magic. I’m glad you followed our advice.”

“I would’ve done so without hesitation. It’s better this way than the alternative.”

Frowning at those words Weyland reached out and gently scratched behind Celestia’s ear. An action that made her whicker, which simply made the minotaur chuckle as she leaned into his touch. “I do apologize for your loss though Ilios. I wish there was a way my brothers and sisters could help you with this. I know our elders, especially father will not be so willing but…”

Reaching out with her wingtip Celestia prodded the minotaur’s side. “You and the others have done enough, thank you for everything.”

Weyland smiled. “We do what we can. We are not omnipotent but we try to do what must be done….has Accord?”

Celestia frowned. “No, I haven’t seen him in awhile since his visit a decade prior. I hope nothing terrible has happened but”, she turned back to the tower. “I suppose I will have my plate full for quite some time also.”

“Mmm”, the minotaur hummed in agreement. “I would advise you keep an eye out for those followers of Frengari.”

“Oh I shall, don’t worry.”

The two turned back to the tower. Watching it in pleasant silence for a time till Celestia’s ears perked as something came to mind.

“Star Spear.”

“Hm?” Weyland inquired more with his expression than with his words.

“We’ll call the tower Star Spear.” Celestia said with a smile.

Rubbing his chin the Minotaur chewed on it. It wasn’t a bad name but, “Why Star Spear?”

“Look at it.” Celestia gestured with a wise smile and gentle nod. “At night you can barely see it stretch out into the clouds and disappear into the sky. And it always seems to shed something close to my sister’s mark no matter where I put the moon. In the day like now, it reaches out clearly and if you wanted, you might think it could reach for the sun. The spear to touch the stars.”

“The spear that touches the stars”, Weyland mumbled as his face scrunched in thought. He grinned, “I love it!”

Celestia smiled as she looked at the tower where her sister lay. Banished and exiled she may be, but she hoped at least in the tower she would be safe from harm till the time was right and the right bearers were found. Till then, she’d have to do her job and try to manage things till Luna returned.

“Star Spear”, Weyland said the words again. “Brilliant!”

Smiling as a feather brushed a tear away Princess Celestia nodded. “Thank you, I think so to.”

Author's Note:

It goes without saying that this ending is vastly different from how things are depicted in the show. There's going to be quite a number of differences with not just events but characters as well in this universe, all of which I'm still planning.

Initially I planned on just ending it on Chapter 3. Then I thought how in future stories if I ever referenced this tower, no one would have a clue what I was referring to. So I thought it'd be better to just add this in as a filler.

Overall, my next story is probably going to be focusing on Twilight and if you all picked up on anything particularly odd or different from previous chapters I've actually hinted on a few things that will be different about her story wise.

In conclusion, hoped you guys enjoyed this and as always lemme know if there are any mistakes.

Comments

[Golden Fang Ryu Shenron]

Celestia smiled as she looked at the tower where her sister lay. Banished and exiled she may be, but she hoped at least in the tower she would be safe from harm till the time was right and the right bearers were found. Till then, she’d have to do her job and try to manage things till Luna returned.

And when that time comes...the girls be ready to face the wrath of the fallen moon!!!