Electro Swing

by Rego

Chapter 49: The Silent Princess

The grip on Fancy’s foreleg finally loosened with the steady rise and fall of Vinyl’s breathing. It’d taken almost an hour for the poor girl to calm down, and even longer to finally fall asleep. When she’d broken down, his first thoughts were to get her family. But even after she’d stopped crying, Vinyl desperately clung to him, refusing to let go. She didn’t want to be alone, even for a second, and he didn’t want to leave her alone either.

So, he stayed by her side, quietly comforting her as best he could the entire time. There were so many things he wanted to know about what had happened and what she’d heard, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask them. Inquiring would be too cruel. She didn’t need to relive what she’d heard. Vinyl was so attached to his mother now, despite never meeting her. It was a testament to just the sort of incredible mare Sauna Summers was, and how unfortunate it was the two would never meet.

Fancy could almost see it, the old, graying queen with her unquenchable disco fever meeting the next world-changing mare in music. They’d have so much to talk about. They’d laugh, sing, make music, and all the while, Summers would smother Vinyl with the love she deserved. Before he could stop himself, Fancy found his hoof gently running through Vinyl’s side-swept mane as the lingering jolt of electricity shot through it. Cadance’s words pulsed with every beat of his chest, along with the needling shock of joy he feared to entertain. Even if the princess was right, and it was something worth pursuing, Vinyl deserved far more than what little love his hardened heart had to give.

“Pleasant dreams,” he whispered as he stood up from the side of the bed.

Fancy carefully tucked Vinyl in before sneaking out of the room. The lights in the studio were still on, meaning Luna was still there. He crept inside to find the princess pouring over Vinyl’s notes. A sharp ferocity boiled just behind her eyes that flared into a wince with every new line of information. The only thing holding it all back was the pensive scowl keeping a lid on the rising pressure.

“Luna?” he finally asked. The princess’ ear twitched, registering his presence, but she did not look up from her work.

“If you are here, then Vinyl Scratch must finally be asleep. Good.” She took a deep breath through her nose and stepped away from the desk. A silver drop of magic arose from her horn that swept through the air towards the door and vanished. “That shall ensure a peaceful end to her fraughtful night. For now, I require your immediate assistance.”

Fancy stepped closer to the desk hoping to glean what she’d uncovered. “Of course. What do you need?”

“I…” The princess shook her head before turning to face Fancy. Her eyes watered with great despair. “I do not know if I should be enraged or terrified beyond measure.” Luna took a calming breath to refocus. “Tell me: did the young DJ mention anything about my sister’s presence in Summers’ final moments?”

“No. Vinyl barely said anything at all.” Fancy steeled himself as he thought back to that terrible day. “If the princess had tried to intervene, that would explain why Mother spent her last moments at Canterlot General across town.”

“Fancy Pants, Celestia is Sunny Skies.”

Fancy paused and took a step back, dumbfounded by the idea. He wanted to say no, but Luna had called Sunny out by name. It couldn’t be a mistake.

“Your deafening silence tells me you were unaware of this as well.”

The mystery pony Vinyl had been looking for all this time had been Princess Celestia herself. He met her highness weekly for tea, yet the thought hadn’t ever crossed his mind to ask her highness about this Sunny character. One little question might have spared Vinyl months of her wild goose chase.

“We were not always the Alicorns of Heavenly Harmony,” Luna explained. She lifted Summers’ biography from the desk and passed it to Fancy. Her magic encircled another instance of Sunny Skies talking to Sauna Summers after a concert. “In a different lifeage of this world, when time required no keepers, we were simple ponies. She was a pegasus cloudkeeper named Aprīca Caela.”

The princess closed her eyes and shimmered into pure, blinding moonlight that collapsed in on itself. When Fancy’s vision returned, a small unicorn no taller than Éclair de Lune stood proudly before him. A short bob of blue mane encircled her head like a bowl barely large enough to support her oversized tiara. Combined with the princess’ royal peytral slumped over her shoulders and fetlock boots fit for a mare four times her size, she might as well have been a filly who’d just finished raiding her mother’s closet.

“And I was a unicorn starcharter called Stēllāris Media Nox,” the little unicorn proclaimed. Her once boisterous voice had lost all of its royal depth, reduced to the gentle timbre of an ancient bookworm. The mare turned and showed her flank’s crescent moon was nowhere to be found, replaced by a simple three-star constellation connected by lines of light. “When we suppress our power, we become like we once were. We honor our ancient identities by using our given names in the modern tongue: Sunny Skies and Starry Midnight.”

“My word. I never knew. I’m honestly surprised I didn’t. Such information would be crucial to ensure nothing happened to you.”

“That would defeat the entire purpose. If not for the present circumstances, you would never know this deepest of secrets.” Starry Midnight materialized a pair of wings as she flared them outward, flashing brilliantly with ancient might. A pulse of arcane power swept through the studio as Luna resumed her true form once more. “We flow as silent as raindrops through a stream so that we may feel ‘normal’ again. Finding Sunny Skies so brazenly printed upon a magazine cover is anything but normal.”

“Well, you can rest assured that your sister has done a bang-up job of covering her trail,” Fancy said with a knowing chuckle. “Vinyl has been searching for her full name for months and hasn’t found a shred of her existence outside of these recordings.”

“Yes. I presume that’s what my sister's excuse will be as well.” Luna lowered her head and looked at the table with its spread of notes and damaged record. “But what I have found goes far beyond mere obfuscation. I must confront my sister regarding this matter. What I read here points to a far more disturbing abuse of our timeless power.”

Fancy Pants’ felt his heart sink. “What in heaven’s name did you find on that disk?”

“A pattern.” Luna’s face sank as she tried to hang onto any shred of resolve she had. “Celestia is… different than I remember. At first, I thought she was merely making up for our lost time in her own, smothering way. My sister held me close in her warm feathers and shined her light onto the path through this modern world. However, her wing upon my withers pulls taut when I try to step away. I can neither see where we are going nor whence we came.”

The conversation was quickly escaping Fancy’s grasp. “I’m not sure that I understand what’s wrong. I can’t speak for her highness, but it sounds to me like she simply wants to make sure you’re safe. Why is that a problem?”

“Fate is woven from more than a single thread. Be it an illusion or not, we must be given the freedom to choose how we weave the tapestry of our lives.” Luna levitated the record from the table and held it between them. It was chipped and warped from multiple strikes against the floor, but still whole for the most part. “It is fortunate that Sauna Summers’ extraordinary legacy has been meticulously preserved for all who come after it. However, it also makes me wonder if she was truly the author.”

“You’re speaking as if she had no control over her life. I never even knew this Sunny Skies pony existed before Vinyl found her.”

“Your experience may be true, but the young DJ’s notes are what alarm me. Sunny Skies was a looming presence during every major branch of her life. I cannot dismiss this as mere coincidence.” The princess lowered her head as her confident front waned into distress. “However… I am still diminished. I will be powerless to hold her accountable if she resists judgment.”

“Resist? But she would never raise a hoof against you,” Fancy assured his frightened friend. “Your sister loves you.”

“Yes, she does, just as I love her. But even sisters quarrel at times. Sometimes over trivialities, others are… more serious.” Luna turned to face him, her formidable mask cracking under the looming dread. “I swear I would not ask this of you without reason. Please, I beg of you. I cannot face her alone.”

“As I told your sister before, I wouldn’t dare abandon you. Of course I will help—” Before he could finish, his vision was shrouded in midnight as the princess embraced him.

“Thank you.”

He reached a hoof around and held her close, trying to chase her worries away just as she had done for him many times in the past.

---

Fancy’s heart was racing a mile a minute. The warmth of the fireplace and the pristine comfort of royal cushions did nothing to put his mind at ease as they waited in Princess Celestia’s reading room. He’d rarely stepped hoof into her most private spaces even during his ambassadorship, and every time it was a matter of dire urgency. Given what he was preparing himself to do, tonight would be no different.

“Calm yourself, Fancy Pants. Focus only on the task,” Luna whispered as she sipped her tea. “We are here to ask my sister a few questions.”

“Quite the understatement, wouldn’t you say?” he remarked, reaching for his own tea. His mask would easily fool the guards outside, but there was no way it’d be a match for her highness’ discerning gaze.

“Indeed. Which is why we must be careful. This will be a negotiation of information. Speak only when spoken to and tell her nothing she doesn’t already know.”

Fancy knocked back another cup of rose congou and reached for the kettle. “I’ll do my best, but you should know that I’ve neither beaten her highness at chess nor in a battle of words. You also know I barely have any magic to speak of. Assuming you’re correct and Princess Celestia becomes—” Fancy cleared his throat to settle his nerves, “—disagreeable, what is it you expect me to do that won’t just get in your way?”

The princess sat her tea down and gazed into her reflection. “If I am honest, I do not know what my sister will do if she feels cornered. However, I am confident that if this is a game, she believes you to be her piece on the board. She won’t expect treachery from her most capable envoy, which gives me an advantage.”

Fancy tilted his head. “I prefer to think of myself as an intermediary, but I fail to see how that will prove beneficial against the most powerful pony in existence.”

“Do not discount your strength here, Sir Fancy Pants. You are the Kingmaker of Canterlot, and the queen on my chess board.” The princess forced a confident smirk. “And I’ve never lost to my sister in a game of chess. We’ll just need to be ready when she tries to flip the table.”

With that, the doors opened to the Princess’ bedroom, revealing Celestia draped in a fluffy nightgown. She lightly yawned into her hoof and smiled at her guests as she approached the table. “Good evening, Lulu. Fancy Pants. What brings you two here at this hour? I was just about to turn in for the night.”

Luna smiled softly. “Good evening, dear sister. We’re sorry to bother you, but there is a matter that I urgently wished to discuss with you.”

Her solar highness sighed as she plopped down on her large cushion. “That’s what the guards said, though I specifically remember telling them I wished to not be disturbed tonight for any reason,” the sleepy princess grumbled to her nightowl sister. “Could this wait until breakfast? I need to be rested for the start of the Crystal Summit.”

Luna’s ears dropped with a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, sister, but I’m afraid this is a matter that has been put off long enough. I just finished a tour of Fancy’s estate, and I had a rather pressing question.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow as she sipped her cup. Then, her eyes flickered with an idea. “Oh, is that all?” her royal highness giggled and leaned over the table with a playful smile. “I guess you found an unexpected mare in one of the more notable pictures.”

“Y-yes, we did,” Luna replied warily, not expecting such a straightforward admission from her sister.

“Okay, fine. You caught me. I may have snuck out of the castle to have a little fun with the Queen of Disco. Which photo was it, by the way? The magazine cover or the afterparty?”

“The cover. It was far more eye-catching.”

“Indeed it was.” The elder princess’ eyes glistened with nostalgia for a bygone era. “A pity really. I hid myself so well, too. Even made sure my bad wing was turned away.”

“We’re sisters. You cannot fool me so easily.”

“You say that as if I was trying to. I expected this though, with you getting so close to Fancy Pants and all. You’d stumble across it eventually and I’d have to be taken to task for having a little fun.” Celestia laughed to herself and shooed the little trouble away with a flick of her fetlock. “You don’t have to worry though. It was just a one-time thing as a backup dancer. Nopony even remembers that I was there. If they do, I guess I may have to wait a while longer before I sneak out again for some R&R. Not that I have time these days anyway.” The princess laughed once more to herself before savoring her favorite brew.

Fancy’s ears flicked. That wasn’t right. After all the time Vinyl had spent researching, she’d found Sunny Skies all over the place in Summers’ early career. Why would Celestia lie about—

“Something the matter, Fancy?” Celestia asked with a pleasantly piercing glance.

“No, your highness. I was just confused,” Fancy confessed as he brought a hoof to his chin, trying to hide his nerves with the gesture.

“About what?”

“Well, I wasn’t aware you had a bad wing.”

Celestia gasped. “Oh dear. And here I thought you’d completely unmasked us.”

“I was very judicial with the information I revealed to him,” Luna assured.

“I’m glad, though I guess I’ll go ahead and share it now that the cat’s out of the bag.” The princess fanned her perfect wing out with her magic and pushed some fur and feathers aside to reveal a frightful, black and purple gash where the limb met her body. “It’s a wound inflicted by pure chaos that paralyzed my wing a very long time ago. My alicorn magic keeps it suppressed, but whenever I go around in disguise, it flares back in full. On that note, have you shown Fancy Pants who you were, Lulu?”

Luna shook her head. “No, I have not. However, he has seen me without my regalia before.”

“Oh?” Celestia’s face curled with gossip-hungry delight. “I didn’t realize you two had become close enough for such secrets.”

“We are good friends,” Luna assured.

The grin retreated into her mask as she nodded in approval. “Yes you are, and that fact makes me so happy.” Celestia yawned once more and summoned a massive tome from the aether. She took one last drink from her tea and stood up from the table. “Now, if that was all you ‘urgently’ needed, I think I’m going to turn in for the night with some light reading.”

“That wasn’t the question I had for you, sister,” Luna interjected and reached out to her sister before she could get away. “If you would be so kind, that is.”

“Very well.” Celestia smiled gently and sat back down. “I can’t say no to you, dear sister. But please make this quick. You know I need all the sleep I can get.”

“Then let me slice the chase,” Luna said evenly, stretching the smile on her sister’s face a bit wider. “Fancy also showed me the amazing recording studio as well as the extensive Summers-Suede Collection.”

“Oh. You did? It’s quite something for just two ponies, isn’t it? Sauna Summers was such a packrat!”

“Indeed. It was a sight to behold. The sheer amount of volumes was rather striking after it was explained to me what they contained.”

“I always told her that she should’ve gotten rid of it, or at least cleaned it up a little.” Celestia tapped a hoof on the table as she thought to herself. “And if you’re bringing that up, you must’ve heard something on an old album?”

“Yes. There was a record from much later in Summers’ career which gave me pause.”

“A later one? And here I was prepared to answer more about her time at Groovecasters. Summers and I were good friends until the end, but I can’t imagine what you would’ve possibly found that couldn't wait until morning.”

“Actually, I brought it with me.” Luna lifted the record Vinyl had tried to smash by hoof. “It’s been badly damaged, but some of the sound is still salvageable.”

“Interesting.” Celestia’s tired eyes shot over to Fancy. “Did that novice archivist that is staying with you listen to it as well, Fancy?”

“I don’t believe so,” Fancy answered as carefully as he could. “Vinyl has been cataloging the collection in order.”

“That’s strange. Then how did you find this recording?” the princess pressed further.

“I found it on the floor, wedged under a shelf,” Luna answered for him. “It must’ve fallen out at some point and taken a beating over the years. I was barely able to restore any of it.”

“Really?” Celestia shook her head and tutted as her gaze bore into him. “You should really be more careful with your parents’ things.”

“You’re right as always, your highness.”

The patient sun lingered on him for a short eternity. That subtle smile and gentle gaze had broken even the hardest of negotiators with its limitless pressure. The quintessence of her silence sucked the air out of the room, demanding any slip of the tongue to fill the vacuum. And just because one knew the tactic didn’t grant immunity from it. Princess Celestia had the time to wait forever.

“Shall we listen and find out?” Luna offered to interrupt her sister’s wordless inquisition.

Celestia’s focus idled for a little longer, trying to glean anything from Fancy. After another fruitless moment, she drifted back to her sister. “Fine. If it means that much to you, then let’s give it a quick listen.” Celestia fired a quick spell at the door, covering it with a translucent sheet of magic to keep curious ears from hearing. “Go ahead.”

Celestia tilted her horn towards a nearby mahogany cabinet, or at least that’s what Fancy had thought it at first. Upon closer examination, he recognized the woven wool mesh over the front of an old speaker. Her magic’s golden aura nudged the top open, revealing a pristinely preserved record player that would’ve been top of the line half a century ago.

Luna stood up and placed the record down carefully on the turntable, adjusting the needle with her magic trying to find a place to start. “The outer rings were destroyed completely, but the recording becomes much clearer further in.”

Princess Celestia nodded in understanding and motioned for her to begin. Luna glanced at Fancy with silent purpose before dropping the needle. The real game was about to begin.

Everypony’s ears were immediately assaulted by scratches and distorted warbles of the needle trying to read a single thing from the disk. A chalkboard being ground up by a blender would be more pleasant to listen to. Every so often the briefest utterances could be heard, but it was completely incomprehensible. Eventually, one of the mares on the recording barely broke through the chaos.

“N—This—wrong. You—Sued—” Sunny urged in snippets.

Princess Celestia’s ears perked up to attention as her glance shifted to the record player. The mask held firm as she seemed to show slightly more interest in the messy record.

“but I al—want you in my li—” Summers briefly said between warped cries and static.

“But why?” Sunny asked. “I was—break—oint—group spl—because of me and I ran—. You shou—hate me!”

The record hit a rougher patch as the needle screamed in a cacophony of unbearable, broken nonsense from the damage Vinyl had done to the record. Despite its random wailing, Princess Celestia listened with rapt attention, her face giving away nothing but a calm serenity.

“My apologies,” Luna interjected. “What I want to ask you about should clear up in a few moments.”

Celestia nodded. “I’m curious to hear how much of this survived.”

The needle strained to find something recognizable to play amid the broken grooves, but at least it caught something and jerked back into the past with clarity.

“—point if I can’t make—I love the most in the world happy? I ain’t selfless, Sunny!” Summers yelled through her tears. She sniffled and coughed trying to maintain some semblance of control. “I didn’t start singing because I wanted to change—to have fun! When you asked me to tag along on that stupid audition—I just wanted to spend time with you. But then they liked me more than you and everything just—fast.”

“You—do you even hear yourself?” Sunny asked incredulously as the record’s worst damage finally passed, though the pitch of their voices still shifted with the wobble of the uneven disk. “We were at Groovecasters for maybe three years? Four? You’ve been with Suede for so much longer! You’ve built a life with him. You had a foal with him! How can you even be saying this?”

“Because it was Suede’s idea. He wants me to give us a chance. He knows I got enough love for you too. I love you, Sunny—”

“ET TACET!”

Before Luna could react, a bubble of white energy appeared around her and the record player at Celestia’s command. The sealed princess’ mouth moved, but not a sound escaped. Her nebulous mane lost its sparkle and fell flat as the last of the colors drained from the orb, leaving only a black silhouette of the alicorn inside. The oppressive silence around her nearly forced her to the ground, but she still fought it with every trudge towards the edge of the distortion.

Celestia shot up to her hooves in alarm and shouted, “VINCULA!” A barrier of spinning, golden light wrapped around the silent prison, but Luna still tried to push through. Her shout of “TEMPUS TARDUM!” slowed the light’s spin as well as Luna’s movement to an impossible crawl.

Fancy scrambled from his seat and began to rush towards Luna to help, only for Celestia to appear before him in a burst of furious golden light. In all his years, he’d never seen her highness burning with such open rage. The heat of the sun boiled off her making him instinctively shrink away from the princess’ overwhelming presence. “Your highness, what is the meaning of—”

The carpet below the princess’ hooves sizzled from the heat of her steps. “I will only ask this once: exactly when and where did you find this?”

“I-in the collection—” Oppressive rays of light flowed around and lifted him off the ground. The sun refused to be ignored.

“I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR GAMES! WHERE AND WHEN?”

Fancy winced from her searing light. “Why do you need to—”

“VERIM LOQUI!”

A rush of wind flowed into his mouth. As he tried to process what had just happened, his tongue began dancing with words that refused to be ignored. “I don’t know for sure!”

“You don’t know?” The princess gaped in disbelief before flaring back with a burning sneer, her magical grip tightening with contempt. “How could you not know? It’s your collection!”

“I wasn’t the one who found it! This is the first time I’ve listened to that record.” Fancy admitted weakly.

Celestia screamed in frustration as she threw him away. The room sailed by until he collided with the far wall near the fireplace and fell into a stack of spare cushions. “Very well. If you truly don’t know, I’ll just have to improvise,” she stated evenly.

“What—” Fancy cracked his back as he slowly pulled himself to his haunches. “What do you mean by improvising?”

The princess did not deign to explain herself further. Instead, she whisked her late night reading from its place on the table and thrust it open. The pages fluttered past until her eyes settled on the one she needed to begin her spellwork. An immense amount of power flowed from her horn into a conjured orb that began glowing larger and brighter by the second.

Whatever the princess’ cryptic plan was, Fancy knew he couldn’t let her go through with it. There had to be a way to stop her from casting whatever spell she was using, but he had no clue how he’d be able to counter the raw power of an angry alicorn. His horn was only capable of basic magic on a good day, and the interwoven bands of sigils swirling around the mystical sun forming above her looked anything but basic.

No, that was the wrong question. He couldn’t stop her magic with his, but how could he make her spell fail?

“Don’t-touch-that!” Vinyl said quickly. “It’s actively channeling magical energies.”

Fancy froze. His hoof was nary a few centimeters from one of the elbows of a claw-like mount containing one of Vinyl’s crystals. “I see. I imagine it would’ve been quite shocking,” he noted as he carefully stepped back from the apparatus.

Fancy gulped. If touching a channeling crystal was dangerous, he’d likely fry to a crisp if he threw himself in the middle of such a fearsome spell. His eyes frantically searched the room for something, anything that he could use to stop her highness from casting. The seat cushions were too soft. The table was too big to hurl without magic. There was no telling what might happen if one of the princess’ decorations turned out to be a magical artifact—The tea kettle!

Without a second thought, Fancy sprinted towards the table, snatched the pot from its doily, and chunked as hard as he could towards Celestia. Catching the projectile porcelain in her periphery, she fired a bolt of pure energy to intercept, blasting it to pieces. However, she hadn’t accounted for the brew still inside. The spilled tea continued sailing towards its target and splashing all over the book, covering her page with red tea and rose petals.

Celestia gasped in horror as her concentration shattered, collapsing the orb entirely. She frantically began brushing flowery debris from the page and tried to restart the spell.

“I’d live a lifetime as a weird, singing spa pony if it meant we could be together,” Summers swore tenderly on the old recording.

Celestia’s ears drooped at the sound of the record playing again. Her mouth opened as she turned towards her sister. “ET—”

“OMNES SOMNO!”

Luna's royal command eclipsed Celestia’s as she burst from her prison of light. A sudden wave of sleepiness washed over Fancy Pants as he struggled to stay standing. Through his closing eyes, he saw Celestia tottering back and forth on her legs as the light faded from her horn. Before he could witness her collapse, he fell into darkness.

---

The crisp pop of a burning fireplace stirred Fancy Pants from his slumber. Everything was muddled, sluggish, and wrong as he tried to rouse himself from a terrible night’s sleep. Even opening his eyes was proving to be a struggle.

“What in the world happened?” He rolled over on his back and looked up to investigate.

The world answered with fire. Everything was on fire. Pitch black smoke plumed skyward out of a hole in the ceiling and into the red skies above. Scorched wooden beams cracked under the pressure of the thatched roof it tenuously supported. One loud crack split it apart as it burst into pieces, causing an avalanche of fiery spears, splinters, and rocks. Not even sparing a second to scream, he continued rolling out of the way towards an opening in his periphery.

“Merciful heavens!” Fancy tried to gain his bearings in the chaos. He’d narrowly escaped a collapsing cottage. The rest of the rudimentary buildings fared any better, with sod, wood, and stone burning to ash and melting around him. Nothing looked familiar in the slightest. He reached into his chest pocket for his trusty hoofkerchief, but remembered he was still in his ambassador uniform.

“Of all the rotten luck,” Fancy cursed to himself as he dipped low to the ground to avoid the black smoke. He covered his muzzle with his hoof as best he could, but then noticed it was holding his trusty white cloth anyway.

“How—where did this come from?” The medals on his chest glistened red hot where his pocket would’ve been. They should’ve been burning a hole in his chest from the inferno around him, but couldn’t feel a thing. In fact with all the fire, the smoke, the ashes swirling around him, he should’ve been burnt to a crisp long before he’d woken up.

“I’m asleep?” Fancy carefully stood to his hooves, waiting for the noxious smoke to begin burning his lungs, only to smell nothing. He almost heaved a sigh of relief, but just because he wasn’t about to die didn’t mean this nightmare he found himself in was any less terrifying. Scanning the area for an escape, he spotted a well-trodden pathway up a slope leading out of the burning village. He galloped for safety, hoping to find out what was going on.

As Fancy reached the top, he was met with a hauntingly familiar sight he’d seen a thousand times during his morning jogs. He was on the peaks of Mt. Canterhorn, or at least he thought he was. The beauty of Equestria spread out before his eyes, but it was obscured behind the golden gleam of an enormous magical shield. Looking down the cliffside, he couldn’t spot a single spire from Canterlot Castle. In fact, he wasn’t sure where on the mountain he was. It seemed so much higher than in the waking world

His eyes followed the bend of the shield that ended as it reached the red sky. The clouds retreated away in a circle, pushed away by a powerful force. He kept tilting his head back until his eyes fell upon the heavenly orb above him slowly drawing closer than he’d ever seen. Wrathful flares blasted from on high, licking burning buildings and melting the mountaintops into slag. A cataclysm had arrived: the sun was setting upon Equestria itself.

May all mortal flesh be silent,

Fancy’s ear’s flicked as he heard a somber voice carried on the rushing wind.

Worry not for whom you dread;

Somepony was singing. Fancy scrambled to his hooves and raced towards the source.

Conjure not a single vision,

The singing grew louder as he rounded the mountain path. Before him stood the ornate remains of a grand temple built of carved stone. The last remaining spire cracked from the solar winds and collapsed, destroying stained glass windows and intricate edifices as it smashed into the ground and rolled off the mountainside.

Slumber peacefully instead,

The resonant voice of Princess Celestia echoed from the temple in a hauntingly beautiful dirge. After quickly reminding himself that it was just a dream, Fancy made a break for the double doors leading inside.

Song woven in spell, shall vanquish…

As he pushed open the massive doors, a resplendent hall as beautiful as Canterlot Castle greeted him. The walls adorned with burning solar tapestries surrounded rows of pews, though it was hard to see with the smoldering wood remains of a vaulted ceiling filling the sanctuary with smoke. He followed the red and gold carpets running down the aisle towards her highness’ singing.

And bring this terror to an end.

Finally, the smoke cleared enough to see the fallen grandeur of the temple he had found himself in. His pace slowed as he passed the final pew to arrive at a raised, central platform amid three enormous holes in the wall. Shards of melted glass were the only signs of the several stories of stained artwork that once stood there. Now, they framed the sun itself slowly descending upon the world.

On the platform lay Princess Celestia, curled around a stallion Fancy didn’t recognize. Her lifeless companion was dressed in flowing robes matching the princess’ sunrisen hair.

“Your highness!” Fancy shouted as he ran up the steps. “Your highness!”

The princess said nothing as she caressed the limp body in her forelegs.

“Princess Celestia!” he pleaded, trying to get her attention. “The sun!”

“You’re really here, Fancy Pants?” The princess giggled as she gently brushed the stallion’s mane aside and kissed it. “I see. Then, that wasn’t a nightmare.”

Fancy tilted his head. “Your highness?”

Celestia looked up towards the sky with a pained smile. “Well played, Lulu.”

“BE STILL!”

Luna’s booming command echoed throughout the Dreamscape. The fires froze, the sun stopped, the smoke cleared from the air, and the stallion’s body vanished in starlight. The moon rose in the sky, eclipsing the sun as night overtook the day. She floated down with a translucent tome in her hooves.

“‘Traveler’s Remembrance,’” Luna read aloud from the conjured image of her sister’s bedside reading. “‘Allows the user to travel back in time once to relive a brief moment and change it for the better.’”

“A powerful, comically useless spell I commissioned from Starswirl,” Celestia explained as she stood up. “It took the rest of his life to create it, but its range is only a week. It couldn’t travel back to save you, but its limitations would be more than enough to correct a mistake.”

Luna’s eyes flicked up from the book as it faded out of existence. “Or hide something from me. Something you knew that I would question.”

“How…” Princess Celestia’s eyes flickered between sadness and fury as she clenched her teeth. “How do you have that record? I destroyed it. I know I did.”

A vision of a distraught Celestia teleported next to them as she galloped into the studio formed around her. All three of them watched the memory play out as the panicked princess immediately ran to the console. Her expert eyes scanned with precision learned through years of working such equipment until she spotted the master disk recorder. Her magical aura ran over the studio’s system, shutting it all down as she lifted the master record into the air. With one spark of her horn, the vinyl flared into plasma, not even leaving a cloud of smoke as it vanished into nothingness.

“The recorder is enchanted. It automatically stores filled masters and reloads itself to continue a recording session,” Fancy explained. “The one you destroyed would’ve had nothing on it if you waited too long.”

“An enchantment?” A puff of air escaped Celestia’s nose, followed by a cackling laugh. “Oh, Summers. Always on the cutting edge after I showed you that synthesizer.”

Luna clopped her hoof against the stones to call for her sister’s attention. “Celestia, First Princess of Equestria and Scion of the Sun. Do you know why I have forced you into this realm?”

“I have no power here.” Celestia bit her lips. “Please, don’t do this.”

“Sauna Summers said she loved Sunny Skies,” Luna stated evenly. “Sunny Skies. Not you, Celestia. At least not the real you. Is this true?”

Celestia flinched from her sister’s cutting words. “Yes, Luna.”

“I see. And she never knew that Sunny Skies and Celestia are one in the same. Is this true as well?”

The elder princess nodded as she sucked in her lips.

Luna closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “Then we have only one question: For what purpose did you manipulate her heart?”

“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t—”

“SILENCE!” Luna slammed her hooves down in judgment as her royal voice echoed throughout the Dreamscape. “A pony dearly loved a false face while you stood by and watched! If that is not manipulation of the highest order, then the word is meaningless! Now…” The princess took a deep breath as her eyes glowed with righteous rage. “CONFESS! WHY DID YOU LIE TO SAUNA SUMMERS?”

Celestia looked away in shame. She hung her head low in submission. With a solemn nod, Luna’s horn lit with magic as a familiar spell shot into the other alicorn.

“It was a mistake,” Celestia admitted. “Sunny Skies always wanders the world as a forgettable nopony. When I realized Summers had developed feelings for her, I tried to put a stop to it.”

A vision of a middle-aged Summers trotted towards her with a loving smile. She lifted Celestia’s head as she burned with tender passion.

The solar princess tried, but she couldn’t look away as her soft smile gave way to grief. “But even after so many years. She had a wonderful husband, a beautiful son. I just couldn’t understand.”

“I wouldn’t trade my family for the world,” Summers said as she slowly walked towards Sunny. “But I’d throw my useless crown in the trash to be with you. I’d go back to my life as a singing spa pony in a heartbeat if it meant we could be together. I love you, Sunny. I always have. And I always will. I could never forget you even if I wanted to.”

Sunny, or rather Celestia, couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Don’t do this.”

“Then, please. Don’t run away this time,” Summers reached for Celestia’s hoof. She tenderly wrapped her fetlock around and pulled it close to her heart. “Do you love me too or not?”

“Summers…” Celestia croaked. Her eyes widened in fear. She didn’t know what to do. This was all happening too fast.

“If you don't then… then I promise that I’ll leave you alone, okay sunshine? I won’t ever try to find you again. Just, please. Tell me straight. Do you love me?”

“I… I—” Celestia bit her tongue and ripped herself away from the memory. “Luna! Stop this torture, please!”

“She was not Noble to you,” Luna said as she dispelled the vision. “You met her long before she ever became the Queen of Disco. How long did you deny her love for you? And how long did you deny your love for her?”

Celestia’s ears pinned back against her head. “You don’t need to know, Luna. Let me bear this burden in silence.”

“I allowed you to conceal this ancient sin that ushered in your so-called Age of Silence, but I shall not extend such a mercy so close to living memory!” The Princess of the Night stomped her hoof again. “SPEAK!”

Celestia closed her eyes and smiled. “As you wish, dear sister.” Her horn glowed with silver light as she embraced Luna’s magic. The world flashed with a mix of gold and silver light as she finally yielded. “Anything for you.”

Author's Note:

If you find a simple mistake in the GSP (Grammar, Spelling, or Punctuation), please let me know through a private message rather than leaving it in the comment section. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

Well. Shit.

[Iron Comet]

Nice ref there to Gloria Celestia. It would be a point that Celestia would wish to fix in her history

[FridayPie]

11623903
That story was a Chekhov's gun hanging above the entry gates

[ShutterflyYay]

INTENSE! Always love a battle of the gods.
Well written.

[Alchemik]

And now the cookie begins to crumble. Perfection is such a messy business, you know?

[Zaveryn]

Vinyl and Fancy's romance plotline? Cool cool cool

Sauna Summer's mysterious background and Sunny's mysterious whereabouts? YESSIRRRRR THATS WHAT IM HERE FORRRRR YIPEEEEEEEEEEE THIS IS AMAZING

Of course Sunny Skies is Sunny Skies. OF COURSE. and yet i was CLUELESS !!!! AND SAUNA LOVED SUNNY....OF COURSE SHE DID.....YOOOOOOOOOOO