The Blackened Skies

by gosha305

Celestia...

The place wasn't as Twilight would have liked. It was silent. Silent and dark. The building almost seemed abandoned. All this weird atmosphere meant nothing good.

Marching in the empty corridors, the mare scanned her surroundings trying to find any signs of activity. The normally lively castle felt... dead. No guards were patrolling the mysteriously deserted structure, no servants were bustling, attending their usual jobs. Even the furniture looked like it had suddenly aged, some even lying on the ground, completely collapsed. On the dusty floors, occasionally covered with dirty rags, many hoofprints were visible in the dust and dirt, all looked as if those who left them were running in great hurry.

Nearing the throne room, Twilight's worry and fear started to overtake her. Where was Celestia? Where were all the other ponies that usually inhabited this place? And why did everything look so abandoned? Her mind buzzing with questions, the young princess decided to take a break and try to calm down. She sat down on the floor, taking Spike from her back and putting him on a neighboring rag with great precaution. The little drake, still stunned after their unfortunate crash, remained in a state of dreamless sleep.

Reasoning about the situation they were currently in, trying to convince herself that everything was going to be alright, the mare remembered that dream she had during their train ride. Did the Entity enjoy this? Was torturing innocent ponies a thing able to distract another sentient being? Or was power really all it sought, completely ignoring even the direst of consequences? She was starting to regret the fact she didn't have the time to inform Spike of this vision.

Looking at the sleeping dragon, the peaceful expression on his face slightly calming her down, the purple mare decided to resume her search. After all, dwelling on her problems probably wasn't the best way to spend her precious time.

Getting up again, Twilight set herself a goal: find Celestia. The Solar Princess was probably somewhere in the castle... unless... no, this wasn't possible, she would have never got caught by this strange cult, worshiping the Entity. It was inconceivable.

Summoning up her courage, the mare entered the throne room. This place looked even worse than the rest. In addition to the dust and feeling of decay and emptiness, here the floor was covered with books, a lot of books. All appeared in pretty bad shape, some pages torn off, others scrambled. It was like someone was looking for something, something they didn't find. In the middle of this papery disaster, on the far end of the chaotic room, the figure of Princess Celestia was visible, lying on the countless parchments.

She looked terrible. Even though her mane still continued its perpetual movement, it no longer had the regal shape it used to possess. Singular locks of hair pointed in all and every direction, making the whole resemble a bird's nest. The Princess herself didn't look well either, her bloodshot eyes, tired of examining all those innumerable pages were now fixing some unremarkable dark space near the castle's roof. Her expression was a mix or exhaustion, fear and extreme shame. Staring into the void, she didn't even acknowledge Twilight's arrival, completely consumed by whatever thought that plagued her fatigued mind.

Seeing her former teacher in such a disastrous state, the young princess rushed towards her mentor, hoping to discover the reason of its distress. The latter slowly turned her empty gaze towards the rapidly approaching mare.

"Celestia! What happened to you?" Twilight asked, overwhelmingly worried.

"I have failed..." replied Celestia, her voice not stronger than a whisper.

"What did you fail? What are you talking about?" quizzed Twilight, her worry only increasing.

"I have failed you all. I have failed, and now, this colorful word is going to pay for it with its life."

"What do you mean?"

"My inactivity caused all this, I should have acted as fast as I could, trying to stop this being by myself. I shouldn't have sent you anywhere, dealing with this situation wasn't your duty. Oh, why did I have to be so stupid!" anger was now starting to appear in Celestia's voice, slowly replacing the weakness and exhaustion.

"But, you had no way to anticipate the turn of events, it isn't your fault!" getting the Solar Princess out of this state was becoming a necessity.

Completely ignoring Twilight's response, Celestia continued her bitter monologue "And now, I have failed again! None of these books held any solution to the disaster we're facing because of me! I can't even fix my own mistakes! I didn't own my title of Princess of the Sun, I don't merit my crown, my castle, I merit nothing!" once these last words left her mouth, the anger disappeared once again and the once great Celestia burst into tears, wetting the dusty books on which she was lying.

"STOP!" snapped Twilight "None of this was your fault! You are the best leader this country ever had and you were the greatest teacher anypony can ask for! You taught me everything I know and one of those things was that you should never give up! None of your actions were the cause of the disaster we're facing! Get a hold of yourself, I want the Celestia I knew back!"

Hearing these words visibly infused the Sun Princess with a new hope. Sometimes, even the greatest of teachers must be taught something by their students...