Daughter of the moon

by Helia_Writes

Celestial Plans and The Wonderbolts (rewritten)

Celestia sat upon her throne, listening to the whining of her subjects that demanded petty stuff from her. She wasn't really listening, however, as her mind was more focused on her plans.

They weren't going so well. Her 'talk' that was supposed to happen with Cadance and Twilight didn't happen because Twilight was currently in the hospital. She somehow managed to be the first Alicorn in history to have a natural aneurysm, something that was thought impossible. Perhaps she shouldn't call it natural, as every single blood vessel in Twilight's brain was affected simultaneously.

Eventually everypony left the throne room and she was left alone with her thoughts, at least she thought she was. It seems being wrong is becoming quite common for her.

"Aunt Celestia. I need to talk with you" said a familiar voice in the shadows.

"Twilight? I thought you were still unconscious in the hospital?"

"That's not important right now. You need to stop planning to make Pulsar immortal" Twilight sternly commanded.

Celestia was shocked. Twilight didn't want her sister to be immortal? Why?

"What?! Why wouldn't you want to have her immortal?! She is your sister!"

"I know, but I have my reasons. Oh, I also heard that some ponies found some kind of burning crown in one of the vaults. You might want to do something about that" Twilight smirked then vanished in a flash of white magic.

Celestia sat dumbfounded over the whole conversation. Her plan to make Pulsar into an alicorn was almost complete and now she can't even use it?

She couldn't understand why Twilight wouldn't want her sister to be immortal? Why would she want to go through the pain of losing a loved one like that?

You are a massive fool, you are asking the wrong questions! Like how is she suddenly ok after what happened? Even alicorns don't heal that fast. And also, her usual teleport flash is the same hue as her magic, so why was it white this time?

Celestia barely had a chance to think on these questions when the doors to the throne room opened and Pulsar came walking in.

"Ah good, thank you for coming Pulsar" Celestia greeted

"Why did you call me here, Celestia? I was trying to catch up with modern customs" Pulsar said, rolling her eyes

"Back when you and Luna were banished, I decided to do some things and pull some strings to honour you both. I want to show you what I made for you" Celestia nodded to the guard at the door, who opened it letting in a few pegasi.

"Thank you for letting us come here, your highness" Spitfire said, bowing along with her fellow wonderbolts.

"And thank you, Spitfire, for coming on such short notice. I wanted to introduce you to somepony that I believe you would want to meet. Spitfire, Soarin, Thunderlane and Fleetfoot, may I introduce you to my niece, Selena Pulsar"

Pulsar, confused and slightly annoyed, gave them a small wave.

"Selena Pulsar? As in, the Pegasus that the Wonderbolts were formed because of? The original member? It's an honour!" Spitfire respectfully bowed slightly to Pulsar.

Pulsar stared at the ponies bowing to her, with a look of shock.

"The Wonder what's? Are you military ponies?" Pulsar asked

"We are an elite flying squadron, performing air shows all around Equestria . We are also a military branch, but very rarely are we sent on missions"

Pulsar stood dumbfounded at all the new information. She turned to Celestia, still in minor shock.

"You.... You made a whole military branch for me? A whole flying team?"

"Of course. I cared about you, Niece, despite my actions. It broke my heart to lose you and Luna"

"I-is it true... That you have a nightmare side like mom?" Pulsar asked

Celestia sighed.

"Yes. Yes it is. Now, I have a mission for you. You are to join the Wonderbolts to head to Ponyville, where you will gather supplies and head towards Hollow Shades. There you can inform the Batponies of my sisters return and hopefully convince them to not get involved with her return"

"Wait wait wait. Hold on. Why? Are you trying to get me to leave fully? This seems suspicious" Pulsar cautiously said.

Celestia smiled kindly.

"No tricks, I promise. I just don't want anypony, be it pony or bat pony, hurt or worse. I fear if they join the fight, I would be forced to send the royal guard to fight them. They could get in the way of being able to free Luna''

Pulsar seemed to focus on Celestia while she was speaking, as if analysing any signs of deceit.

"...fine, I will go"

Celestia nodded at Spitfire, who saluted and led Pulsar out. While they walked out, they both seemed to quietly converse with each other.

After they left, Celestia sighed. She had to reveal the main reasons why she was sending Pulsar to Hollow Shades, but she didn't reveal every reason. She couldn't, unless she wanted her niece to trust her less than she already did. Celestia smiled again, knowing her plan to have Pulsar make some friends was working. After all, what better place than Ponyville and Hollow Shades? One having the kindest, friendliest ponies, the other having other ponies of the night that have experience with being shunned just because they have an affinity for the night.

She stood up off her throne, and stretched her limbs and wings. She had an infirmary to visit, for two reasons. To make sure her niece was alright, and to figure out if the Twilight that visited her was actually Twilight. She didn't notice the three sets of familiar identical magenta eyes hidden in the shadows, watching her every move.

---

Pulsar glided slowly down to the path leading to Ponyville, the Wonderbolts not far behind her. Looking around, she thought the place looked a little familiar.

"So we got to visit a few stores for some supplies, and apparently a farm for some long lasting food" Spitfire said.

"Alright, we better go to the farm last then, since I believe I saw it on the fly down and it was on the other side of town. We might get more done if we split up into twos, each pair taking one shop" Pulsar suggested.

"Ohh my gosh! It's the Wonderbolts!" Squealed a mare behind them.

Pulsar and the Wonderbolts turned to see Rainbow Dash, staring at them in wonder perching on a cloud.

"Ah, you must be Rainbow Dash. Nice to finally meet you" Spitfire greeted.

"You know my name?!"

"Of course, how could we not know about the pony who performed a sonic rainboom to get her cutie mark? You are future Wonderbolt material"

Pulsar coughed to get the attention back on herself, trying to signal to them that they have a mission.

"I recognize you from somewhere" Rainbow flew around Pulsar getting a good look at her.

"You are looking at Princess Pulsar, also known as General Pulsar. She fought in a major war over a thousand years ago and is Princess Lu-"

"Luna's first daughter! I knew I recognized you! That means you must recognize this land!" Rainbow exclaimed

Pulsar nodded slightly, carefully looking around. Suddenly it hit her. This was the battlefield of the battle of shadows. Her vision suddenly blurred and any conversations around her drowned out. Flashes of corpses on the floor filled her vision, screams of injured soldiers and the roars of battle. She saw ponies cutting down other ponies. She saw a foal, no older than twelve, mutilated at her hoofs with her own blade bloodied.

"HEY! SNAP OUT OF IT SOLDIER"

The yell snapped her out of her flashbacks. She was hyperventilating, and sweating hard. Many ponies were looking at her, concerned and confused.

"Are you OK?" Rainbow asked

"Sorry... I just had some more flashbacks of the battle. Just give me a second, I can calm down"

She stared at the ground, slowly calming down. The images of that foal, the green eyes bearing deep into her soul. She heard murmurs about a princess. She yelped as she was swept up in giant wings, and turned to see her sister, Twilight, hugging her and calming her.

"Shhh it's ok. I promise it's ok" Twilight cooed

"S-sis? I thought you were in the hospital?" Pulsar asked

"I know, and I am. Don't worry about that right now. I want you to trust me. It will all get better"

Pulsar slowly calmed down fully, and eventually Twilight let her out of the hug.

"Thanks sis.."

"Anytime. Now listen carefully" She felt Twilight's hoof under her chin, pushing her head up to look in Twilight's eyes. "The General out of time will meet her fate, right outside the devil's gate. Through Darkness she will realise, it is then that she will rise. Remember this well, sis. Till next we meet, in those fields of green"

Pulsar gasped as Twilight disappeared in a flash of magenta. Till next we meet, in those fields of green?! But... That's what she used to say to me before she disappeared before the war!

"Uh hey, you ok? You seem a bit shaken" Rainbow asked.

"R-right. Sorry. Spitfire, we should probably get the supplies for the mission. Also, how did you know about my mother? I thought no one knew about her anymore unless they were military"

"Ha! We live in a town closest to the old castle. Of course we know about it all, we are the biggest celebrators of nightmare night. It's hard not to know the story when the mayor and librarian tell the historically accurate version, not some silly tale about eating ponies and stuff"

---

"Princess Cadance? We have some news" The doctor said

"Oh, please tell me she is OK!" Cadance begged.

"She is recovering fine for now, however we are concerned. We have managed to figure out her aneurysm was caused by magic placed on her brain. It's a build up of dark magic, and it seems to be a few years old"

Cadance gasped.

"Tell us what you can do to remove it, doctor" Cadance started when Celestia talked.

"There are a few options. We can either redirect her magic to cleanse the dark magic, but that would only work if her magic is untainted by dark magic. Or we can perform an operation to remove it. The final option is to just leave it in and hope it was a one time use" the doctor explained.

"How risky is this surgery? We need to know to make our decision" Celestia asked

"It's pretty risky, since we are operating on a recovering brain, but it can still work"

"Then logically it is the best option. Go ahead with the surgery, and use the extra strong anaesthetic"

The doctor nodded and walked out of the waiting room. Celestia sat down next to Cadance, resting a wing around her withers.

"Cadance, Twilight is strong. She will survive, we are alicorns remember? She only risks losing memories" Celestia tried to comfort Cadance.

Cadance stared at the floor, her ears back against her head. She was scared, she just got with Twilight, they barely had a week and now she might lose her. Maybe if she thought about possible future dates she could calm down.

Maybe romantic stargazing in the gardens? Cadance smiled slightly, Twilight loved stargazing. Maybe a trip to a bookstore? Twilight could be so adorkably addicted to books. Maybe a nice candle lit dinner, to treat Twilight like the royalty she is?

So many date ideas, but she still needed to distract herself. It's way too early for a wedding, but maybe make some future wedding plans? Would Twilight enjoy a traditional wedding? Or maybe something more old fashioned? She was, after all, taught by somepony who only knew things from a thousand years in the past.

Oh and the honeymoon. She still has that nice hut near the lake where her adoptive parents spent their honeymoon. That's perfect.

"Cadance, I know that look in your eyes. What are you planning?" Celestia asked

"Oh um just date plans. For me and Twilight. Once she is, you know, feeling better" Cadance replied, blushing slightly.

"Hmm, yes and how strong is your bond with her? I do recall you mentioning that you can see how strong bonds are in Relationships, correct?"

"I haven't looked. I'm too scared too, auntie"

Cadance heard Celestia hum in thought. Maybe she should check, of course it was going to be strong. There shouldn't be any doubt how strong it could be.

"Check. I am curious about something"

Cadance gulped, then nodded. She closed her eyes and opened her bond sense. Everywhere around her, strings of different sizes overlapped and crossed over each other. Each one connects to ponies all around. The blue strings represent a father-child bond, the purple represent a mother-child bond. The yellow bonds represent a sibling bond. The smaller grey bonds represent other bonds like uncles and grandparents.

Then there are the rainbow bonds. Friendship. They had their own plane of existence to the others, just like love did. Speaking of love, the strings of pink and red fire connecting ponies represents love. The larger the flame, the stronger the connection.

This was it, for the first time since she got with Twilight, she will view their bond. She had instantly hidden it as soon as they got together, but not anymore. As soon as the bond appeared, she had to instantly come out of the sight. She grunted and rubbed her eyes with her hoofs.

She felt like she just stared at the sun. Slowly, it dawned on her. Somehow, their bond was so strong it basically was a sun! She saw Celestia smirk next to her.

"Something wrong, Cadance?" Celestia asked, a bit too innocently

"It's... It's the strongest bond I've ever seen. How?" Cadance asked in awe

"Maybe you are both soul mates, destined for each other. Maybe it is because you are the alicorn of love? I wouldn't know, it's your domain after all" Celestia answered with a smirk

"But... What does this mean for us? This is... Unbreakable"

"Perfect. For the record, niece, I am so so sorry I had to do this, but allow me to explain to you why first"

Cadance didn't like where this was going, but found herself nodding slowly anyway.

"With Nightmare Moon escaping soon, and the tension in Saddle Arabia and Zebrica that could lead to a war, we need something to cheer our ponies up and make them see we aren't scared. It needed more than a gala so I arranged for something more special" Celestia explained

"Auntie what did you arrange?" Cadance cautiously asked

"A wedding. For you and Twilight. A week before Nightmare Moon's return"

Cadance stared at Celestia, mostly in disbelief. She had arranged a marriage and everything for her and Twilight already?

"And if I say no?" Cadance asked

"You can't say no. It's a royal order"

Cadance inwardly cursed, and tried to think of possible loopholes.

"Twilight can override that order, because she is part of the Diarchs! You have equal power!"

"It has to be a mutual override by both Diarchs"

"What?! So one diarch can make a royal order, but it takes both Diarchs to stop it?! That's ridiculous!"

"Actually, no. The solar regent can, but for the Lunar regent to make a royal order it requires the Solar regents permission" Celestia clarified.

"That's unfair! That just gives" Cadance's eyes widened. "Gives the Solar regent more power than the Lunar regent. Auntie! This is probably the kind of law that made Luna do what she did!"

Celestia winced. It was obvious that Celestia knew she was right. A cough startled them.

"Excuse me, your highnesses" Fancy pants interrupted, "There is an emergency meeting with the council going on, and we need Princess Celestia to be there"

Celestia nodded.

"Very well, I am once again sorry for what I had to do, but it's for the best. I hope you will see that soon enough. Let me know how she is when the surgery is done" Celestia left the room with Fancy Pants.

Cadance sighed. She needed some time to think about everything. She hadn't even been on a proper date with Twilight,now they were engaged? It made her feel giddy yet saddened inside.

Sure, she was marrying the one she loved, but they didn't choose when they got to get married. She didn't get to experience the feeling of watching her love bring out a ring and ask that important question. She didn't get to shout yes and hug her love, crying happy tears.

She knew she was thinking negatively, not considering any positives to this like how she has just proved her and her marefriend's love was strong. Not marefriend, fiancé

She blushed slightly, a hint of a smile seeping onto her face. She was going to marry the one she knew was her soul mate. Like a Princess, and her knight in shining armor. Ew, let's not think about the guard that did my fiancé hours before we got together

Cadance closed her eyes and thought about her wonderful fiancé, she couldn't wait to see her again. Before she knew it, a few hours passed of her just thinking about Twilight.

"Um, Princess Cadance? Are you alright?"

"Huh? What? Oh, doctor, sorry I was lost in my thoughts. How is she?" Cadance asked

"The operation went well, she has recovered well, and is still currently under the effects of heavy anaesthetic" The doctor reported.

"Caddddyyyy, they poked my braaaiinnn and now I feel funny. I demand cuddles for reward!" Twilight slurred as she waddled in clumsily.

"Ah, thank you doctor, I can take her from here"

The doctor nodded and quickly left. Twilight had made her way over to her and had already nuzzled Cadance.

"Come on Twilight, let's go back to my room. You have been through a lot"

Twilight, obviously liking that idea, quickly kissed her. Cadance thanked her alicorn strength as she picked up Twilight, depositing the high alicorn on her back and carrying her to her room. She tried her best to act natural as she passed castle staff, guards and nobles, but Twilight decided that she was going to cuddle Cadance and do her best to kiss her on the cheek.

---

"What do you mean?! This is unheard of! I have been running this country for millenia, I will not allow this to happen!" Celestia protested

"Your Highness, you are still keeping your royalty and your regency, however we are just shifting most of your political power to the Lunar regency because of a lack of faith vote in the Solar regency" Fancy Pants calmly stated.

"Lack of faith?! I have been doing all my duties and even more! For the last thousand years I was doing the duties for both regencies!"

"Yes, and we thank you for that, but since Princess Twilight became Lunar regent you have spent most of your time doing nothing but plotting and planning like a stereotypical fictional villain twisting their curly moustache and stroking a white cat! It's unacceptable! You have cancelled meetings with us, left court unattended, and stopped paying attention in military briefings! So now, the only duty you need to worry about is raising and lowering the sun" Fancy pants turned and walked out.

Celestia sat, stunned and gawking. Not only have they just rendered the solar throne powerless, a mere mortal had just said such things about her. She was no villain! She was the hero, she was trying to save all their pathetic little lives from the Nightmare and they were punishing her for it?!

How dare they! They can't abandon the Sun! It's the giver of life, the warmth of a mother! It guides their path!

They should pay for their treachery! All shall burn in righteous fire! All shall become one in flames!

No, they are just scared. They will come around, they can make their own decisions. This is just a small vacation.

No! You are weak, Celestia! No one loves you! Your whole family hates you because of your actions! You are forcing your nieces to marry when they only just got together! You trapped your other niece in stone for a thousand years! You sent your own sister to the moon! You are incapable of love, you only see them as pawns!

Celestia's mood dropped, her head hung low and her ears back against her head. Her wings drooped down, tears dropping from her muzzle.

They.. They do hate me don't they... Am I really incapable of love? Is that why? I...

Give me control, and I can make everyone love you again. One big, happy family.

Images of Luna, Celestia, Twilight, Cadance and Pulsar sitting around a fire enjoying some tea and laughing and chatting filled her mind. It was perfect. No hate, no plots or schemes. Just family and love.

I can have that? All of it?

Yes, all you need to do, is put on the crown

Celestia opened her eyes, and on a pedestal before her, was a helm like crown of red fire. Almost a thousand years of her mind being chipped at by Daybreaker finally paid their due, and the wall broke. She picked up the crown and put it on, the flames filling her mind.

Her mane and tail burst into flame, her eyes became dark and draconic. Her teeth sharpened. Armor formed around her, while her cutie mark slightly changed.

"Enjoy your little fantasies Celestia, it's time to show this world why you never mess with the undefeated Sun, the eternal flame, the real Queen of fire. DAYBREAKER!"

The halls of canterlot Castle were filled with maniacal laughs.

Comments

[Bronyshot2020]

Oh no she's freee

[shadow wolf1573]

Like the villan she is

[midnight arrow]

great chapter

[DarkSnowGaming]

This is not how you get others to !ike you, Twilight already plans on getting rid of Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, it's Celestia that is ruining the plans.