Forty years after the first Hearth's Warming and the founding of Equestria, a unicorn filly discovers a magical secret that will change the world.
But her sister worries that's not all that will change.
*Entry in Fanofmosteverything's Imposing Sovereigns II: Once and Future contest. For Coronation: Celestia
Edit: Won a Honorable Mention!
*Set in the distant past, but background details are helped by having seen S2E11- Hearth's Warming Eve, S3E13 - Magical Mystery Cure, and S8E07 - Horse Play
*Editing by ClanCrusher
*Cover done by Wolfmask
Highly Recommended - Presentperfect
*Cleverpun’s Review
*Featured on Seattle's Angels!
*Featured on Equestria Daily's 2020 Luna Day Fic list! 🌙
*Featured on Equestria Daily's 2021 Celestia Day Fic list!🌞
*Featured on Equestria Daily's Spotlight! 
The entire chapter is in itallics after this point
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Ugh! Thank you for letting me know. I had some formatting wobbliness between word processors. I fixed it now!
Ok. I'm done reading this now and I have to say, well done. I want to say something whitty and philosophical, but the story covers everything I can think of with the immagery of orreries and the inner workings of alicorn ascention, and then the interaction between Beard Pony and the Princess at the end killed me with how totally unsurprised yet still annoyed they we're at the sisters antics.
Well done.
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Aww, thank you so much!!! It really means a lot (been sweating on this for the contest for weeks). Thank you for reading and enjoying !
I really liked this tale. Good job to the author!
Okay, Celestia picking that name because it's what Mama Fausticorn uses for her deus ex machina character is too perfect for words. To say nothing of a playwright mother leading to a love of theater.
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I am so very glad someone picked up on that.
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Thank you! So very happy you liked it!
I'm fairly certain Luna says "Celestia" at some point in the show... but that may just be because nopony would know who Lumina is.
Brilliant work throughout. Fantastic sisterly interactions, great continuity, and some wonderfully literal celestial mechanics. I can only imagine the discussion if Twilight ever asked them about this. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging.
Much as I disliked Horse Play and everything to do with it, I like how this story works with that episode and builds upon the ideas it introduced. And I like how it actually crafts an original backstory for the princesses that's more or less compatible with new seasons canon, while still diverging from previous interpretations.
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As always your comments make me happy for running through all the coffee in the house writing this.
I am certain the judge is an incredibly intelligent and handsome and insightful person. Whoever they might be.
But more seriously. I'm thankful just for the chance to entering. Even with the sleepless nights, the contest was really fun to do and was what I needed to boot me out of my writing slump. So I've already won a prize out of this already in a way.
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I know it is sometimes an effort to read something that might not be your cup of tea so I am glad you gave it a chance and found it interesting in its own right! Thanks for always swallowing for me, Danny. Swallowing the bitter pill, that is.
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Let it never be said that I do not swallow.
Really enjoying this so far
It puzzled me how quickly the narration took to calling her Celestia, when it seemed to be from her perspective, but that was a small complaint.
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Thank you for saying so! It always makes me happy to hear people enjoying. It feeeeeds us.
I debated quite a bit on how soon I should have had that detail happen. But then I thought it was a lot to ask a reader to endure if both main characters were off-named for like 99% of the story.
If I had room to write an act before this one I’d probably have peppered in Lumina’s hero worship more and perhaps more scenes where she’s trying it out in public before donning it wholly.
Hopefully it still works in a narrative way, as being one more thing Luna to worry over along with all the other changes happening to her sister.
This is a small moment, but I love it. It just feels so authentic and does a lot to make me empathize with Luna--which is made even more impressive by how the story's not from her perspective.
This clearly deserved to place. Brilliant work.
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Thank you so much for the kind words
And I am happy with Honorable Mention. There were some amazing stories in the contest!
Mm, I would have expected her self-concept to take some time to shift to being Celestia given that setup, especially in the scene where they go to see their mother. If anything's going to send someone back to their old way of being and acting it'll be going to their childhood home.
But yes, this is very well done. Absorbing and believable worldbuilding for a period that's hard to get much coherent facts out of the animated canon, and probably has three inconsistent versions in the comics canon to boot.
Yep, this was really excellent. Great stuff. I particularly like the interactions between the sisters, but Platinum and Star Swirl are excellent as well. I love Star Swirl's line about mysteries.
Speaking of which, the mirror is distinctly mysterious. I think the implication is that Star Swirl can see bits of the future through it (and so does Celestia at one point)? Is that item in canon?
The dreamworld is also distinctly mysterious. I'm not sure whether the implication is that anypony could use that spellbook to become an alicorn?
Despite my unanswered questions, the fic was extremely enjoyable and just generally superb. Congrats on the HM!
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Thank you so much for reading and the nice comments! I admittedly threw what snippets of workable canon I could draw on and stuffed it in a blender with some Fylifa ideas to try and make a narrative.
Regarding the mirror, I imagined that it would be silly for Star Swirl to be able to throw the sirens to another world if he didn’t have his own preliminary grasp of other-world jumping already. As he mentions to Celestia, with her taking over sun raising it’d given him time to explore other magic fields.
As for the mirror’s ability being canon. It’s been awhile since I’ve read the comic Reflections if it specifically mentioned anything about giving glimpses of the future. Though I know in the comics Celestia brings Sunset specifically to look into the mirror for a look at a possible self. In the Journal of The Two Sisters, Celestia mentions that Star Swirl looks visibly older in places and I think he has a line that suggests he foresaw her sun raising.
The MLP episodes It’s about Time and the scroll Starlight steals for S5’s finale at least lay the groundwork that Star Swirl at some point does start playing around with the idea of time travel.
So you can take your pick of explanation! The mirror does have a wobbly time dilation thing going on in Equestria Girls. So, perhaps you can view alternate universes that are ahead of you in the future?
And I am glad you picked up on that part when she leaned her head against it.
For the dreamworld, that’s to my knowledge only shown in Magical Mystery Cure and Twilight asks no questions about it.
But I like to think it still requires an understanding or an explosion of harmony magic to get there. Considering the book she gives to Twilight is not the book she herself used. Perhaps Celestia finds a way to recreate the spell! Or understands that the ‘test’ part is only to provoke a friendship epiphany at a suitable supercharged magical moment.
I quietly hope that she does give mom her own chance at visiting. She’d be good at having a empty surreal canvas to explore other worlds.
I wrote a critique/review of this story. It can be found right over here.
Literally the last place I ever expected to see a PH reference. O.o
Major points for not calling her anything resembling "Faust" though. :)
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If it fits, I sometimes like to sneak a reference to a fandom thing once per story.
Plus if you remember Starkatteri-style wish granting well… being cursed to turn into a pair of immortal alicorns fits the ‘never losing my sister’ in that monkey paw kind of way.
And I am glad you appreciate! I sweated for like a week over what to call her.
I thought about using the name Fortuna, Then maybe have her be fond of wearing laurels, but I figured that was too 20D chess for folks. When in doubt with a pony. Just stare at their bum and inspiration will come
Fantastic. :)
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Means a lot coming from you! I am glad you enjoyed and had fun.
A very clever and entertaining way to pull everything together.
Seeing their bond tested and reforged as a matter of will and friendship was heartwarming. Even the non-apocalyptic stakes match the ascension of Twilight in the show!
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I wanted to go for the 'humble beginnings' style vs the usual 'gods from above'. But a kind of familial love and friendship was still important in the ascension as much as it was in Twilight's.
Yes! I am glad that came through.
Thank you for the comment! And even more bigger thank you for enjoying!
soloquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Motivational-Quotes-Stay-Amazing.jpg
ahah.