The void
“There are ponies out there suffering because you’ve decide to not to intervene! Because you left!” Celestia shouted in the surrounding void. “Why won’t you help them?”
Silence was the response to her cry like so many times before. It last as she still hoped to be heard.
“I thought you wanted us to live in peace. That you hoped we would reach beyond our selfishness.” Her voice was dying down along with her hope. “You taught us how to live, how to create,” she whispered, her head hanging low. “How to be happy. All of us. Me, Luna, Sombra. So why won’t you help us, when one of us has made a mistake?” She lifted her head, staring into the void. “Why won’t you help us, father?”
“You shall not call me that,” the voice boomed from all directions. “You shall not try to guilt me into helping your kind. I gave you the power to do so. I gave you all the will to understand wrong from right.” The voice carried a frustrated tone as it washed over Celestia.
She was barely keeping herself up, her legs shaking as she felt being scolded. Her wings pressed to her sides. She took a step forward trying to gain some courage.
“But I can’t stop him...” Her voice turned into a silent cry.
“You can, you’re just afraid.” Celestia’s eyes shot open as she was seen through. “You’re afraid to use your own power without following his steps. The dark one isn’t afraid like you, yet you fancy yourself being the older sibling.” The last word came with a tone of disgust.
“Luna? She’s been with me the whole...” The words died in Celestia’s mouth as she realized. “Except for the dreams.”
“She’s been using her power to help you, yet you’ve been constantly running back to me for help.”
Celestia opened her mouth to respond, but she couldn’t find anything to say. She stood there, staring into the darkness surrounding her.
“Why won’t you accept us, father?” Her voice came flat as she finally managed to find a question.
“I’m as much a father to you, as a farmer is to an apple,” the reply came with a sigh of annoyance. “I had no intentions of creating you nor any other creature. That’s why I left.”
Celestia felt a light touch on her cheek, yet the darkness didn’t reveal anyone.
“What do you want for this world?” The voice was no longer surrounding her, it was merely in front of her.
“Harmony,” Celestia responded without a second of doubt.
“Harmony?” The tone changed to a distant one, as if the source was in thought. “I can give you that, in exchange for your and the dark one’s death.”
“Death?” Celestia’s throat went dry from pronouncing the word alone.
“That is the price. Even I can’t create from nothing.”
Celestia couldn’t bring herself to agree as not only her life was on the scale. She felt a wing stretching around her back. Luna was standing by her side now.
“We accept,” Luna said looking into Celestia’s eyes. “As long as it brings harmony,” she added looking back into the darkness in front of them.
“Very well, I shall summon you back when I’m ready,” the vice became more distant. “Now go.”
With those final words, light blinded the sisters and when they opened their eyes they were back in the castle.
“We should inform the ponies about our decision,” Luna broke the silence, pulling her wing back.
She stepped towards the door only to be stopped by Celestia’s voice.
“Why did you not tell me about the dreamwalking you’ve been doing?”
Luna glanced back at her sister, meeting the question with a cold look in her eyes.
“Cause you would not have approved of it,” she retorted, before sighing. “I’m the keeper of the night, it’s my duty to let ponies dream despite what awaits them when they wake up,” she replied, before opening the door. “You should say your farewells to your students.” The last words came hard for Luna to say as she left.
###
“―and eventually, a sun will rise again,” Celestia said with her eyes closed, trying her best to keep herself from crying.
She gathered herself enough to open her eyes, only to realize she was in the void once again. A brief moment later Luna appeared by her side, a quill still in her magic grip.
“We were not ready yet!” Luna objected, snapping the quill in half.
“No one is ready when death is in question,” the voice boomed from all directions, though, it lingered with a hint of gentleness.
Luna tensed throwing quill into the distance and it disappeared instantly. The anger in her turning into sadness as the words set in. Death. She felt Celestia’s wing wrapping around her.
“Just close your eyes and it’ll be done,” the voice came warm to their ears.
“I’ll see you in your dreams, sister,” Luna whispered as she pressed her cheek against Celestia’s neck, before collapsing.
Celestia opened her mouth wanting to respond, yet it was too late. She stared into the darkness, not even blinking. Her sister’s body heavy against her legs. The realization sinking into her stronger than before.
“Will you keep your promise?” she asked looking down at Luna.
“Have I ever lied to you?”
She felt a light touch on her cheek. It was warm and gentler, calming her. She closed her eyes.
###
An annoyingly bright light forced Celestia to shield her eyes despite having them closed. She froze for a brief moment, before an unnatural calmness flowed over her. Carefully opening her eyes she saw a pure white orb floating in front of her.
“Am I dead?” she asked the orb.
“No.” The voice came almost in whisper.
Celestia looked around, she was still in the void. Luna laying next to her, sleeping as she saw her sister’s chest rising and falling.
“Why are we still alive?” she asked, standing up. Her eyes following the orb as it floated above Luna. “What is that?”
“The harmony you wanted.” The voice carried a proud tone. “As for you, you’re not still alive. You’re alive again. I needed your death, not your life.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for bringing us back, we will be forever grateful.”
“You’re misunderstanding. Your death is gone.” The silence fell for a moment, letting the words sink in. “From now on, only I can bring the merciful death upon you.”
Celestia stared into the darkness, but before she could come up with a response, a movement caught her attention. Right next to the white orb there was another one. It was black so it was hard to notice, but it shifted and changed its shape. She reached to touch it and as soon as she did a grin appeared on her face. Her mind filling with ideas on how to change the existing order.
“Get your hooves away from that, it’s not yours.” The voice scolded her as the orb floated out of her reach.
“What is it?” Celestia watched the orb disappearing into the darkness as the calmness flew over her again.
“It’s chaos.”
“Chaos?” She froze. “Why would you create that?”
“You can’t have harmony without chaos. Pure harmony requires pure chaos. Pure chaos requires a paradox like a living dead.”
“I didn’t ask for that.” Celestia tried to shout, but the calmness kept her from raising her voice.
“You received what you asked for, but it’s not done yet. There needs to be one that’s not affected by it. One to control it.”
Celestia looked at the white orb, before lifting her head to face the void.
“I’ll be the one.”
“Don’t you want to discuss it with the dark one?” The voice questioned her resolve.
“She already has done enough. I’ll carry this burden.” Her voice carried determination.
There was no response, instead, she felt a chill and the calmness was gone.
“Now go.”
###
Luna awoke from her slumber realizing she was back in her bedroom with Celestia sleeping right besides her. She gently touched Celestia’s cheek, checking if she was real and accidentally waking her.
“Are we dead?” Luna asked, pressing herself against Celestia’s side.
Celestia sighed smiling, before explaining the situation to Luna.
“So what now?” Luna asked.
“We stop Sombra.”
###
“What have you done?” Celestia’s voice cut through the void. “Why would you bring such creature into a world of harmony? There’s no place for chaos!”
“Once again, you come to me. Why?” The voice hit Celestia.
“Because it’s your fault!” she shouted back. “You created that thing and now it’s terrorizing the world!”
“He’s just a side effect of creating pure harmony.” The voice came back calmer. “He gained sentience and left.”
“I didn’t ask for it!” Celestia screamed. “I just wanted everypony to be happy!”
“I didn’t want any of you either, yet I accepted your existence and gave you freedom.”
Celestia took a step back, weighing the words she heard.
“Why did you create us?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“I didn’t, you three just appeared as a side effect of my experiment,” the voice carried no emotion.
“That’s what we are to you? A side effect of an experiment? Nothing more?” The anger in her voice grew. “Even after you spent thousands of years teaching us everything we know and shaping the world around us?”
The silence was the only response. Celestia closed her eyes as she felt a light touch on her forehead. It was one that she wanted to feel again after so many years, but it was colder than she remembered.
“Yes, that’s all you are to me. I gave what you wanted, you can use it to suppress chaos. Now go.”
The light blinded Celestia. As she opened her eyes, she realized the world around her was a twisted reflection of what it was suppose to be. In front of her, in the air sat a creature responsible for it.
“You think you can stop me?” he asked mockingly.
“On my own.” Celestia glanced at her side. “No.”
###
“Let me die,” Luna begged as she fell down.
She pulled a dagger out of her chest and the wound closed immediately. She closed her eyes, ready to bring another hit to herself, but the dagger disappeared from her grip.
“You want my pity?” the voice boomed forcing Luna to jump onto her hooves.
“I want your mercy,” she cried out. “My hooves are stained with blood, my own, but I don’t know how long it’ll take before this blood is replaced by the blood of innocent.”
“I won’t take your life.”
Luna tensed as she felt a touch on her chest.
“Why?” Tears flowing down her cheeks. “Why won’t you help me?”
“It’s always bad before it gets better,” the response came as she felt a gentle touch on her cheek as well.
“Will it get better soon?” she asked in a whisper, trying to hold back her tears.
“It has to get bad first. Now go.”
Luna closed her eyes ready to be blinded by the light, yet before that happened she managed to hear a few more words.
“Be strong.”
###
“What’s happening to Luna? Why is she trying to destroy everything we worked so hard on to build?” Celestia shouted into the void.
“Here you are again, asking me questions,” the voice no longer carried any hint of supremacy, only annoyance. “The harmony I gave you is harmonising the relationship. You’re the perfect princess, so she has to be the evil villain to keep the harmony. You decided to split the harmony into two equal halves. Black and white, the easiest ones.”
“You didn’t warn me, I couldn’t have known that spitting it was dangerous. I just wanted to share the power with Luna,” Celestia raised her voice at the void.
“You knew, you always knew. Ever since I gave you the power to wield it, you had absolute knowledge about the harmony. Don’t try to put the blame on me, instead try to find a way to fix it. Now go.”
Celestia opened her mouth to respond, but she was no longer in the void. She was back in the castle. Two crowns laying in front of her. She looked out of the window. Night. So many days have passed since the last sunrise and there was no more time to waste. Lifting the crowns onto her head, Celestia stepped onto the balcony.
###
“Take me away...” Celestia cried as she fell down. “I know you can hear me.”
“I can, yet I won’t. It is not your time.” The voice sounded right in front of her. “You still hae things you need to do, ponies to teach.”
“I’ve done what I had to. I split the harmony into enough pieces to balance it. I told the ponies about it. I even created a lock that hides on element until the right wielders are there,” she said with a sigh between each sentence, as if trying to force the life out of herself.
“You give up?”
“Yes.”
“Luna will be sad when she’ll come back.”
“She won’t come back.” Celestia closed her eyes holding back the tears.
She will, in a thousand years or so, she will come back.”
Celestia felt a bony touch on her neck. It was gentle, yet cold.
“Now go.”
###
Celestia stood in the void, staring at the purple orb in front of her. Inside of it was a young unicorn, lost and confused, overtaken by her own power.
“How is this possible?” Celestia asked herself.
“The same way it’s possible for you to be here,” the voice responded with a hint of amusement. “Only she was able to do with raw power.”
Celestia kept watching the filly inside. Her mind racing to make a decision.
“I will make her my student,” she finally responded, a warm smile appearing on her face.
“Why?”
“Cause power needs guidance,” Celestia said looking into the void, before reaching her into the orb. “That’s what you taught us.”
###
“I came to speak to you,” Luna said staring into the darkness.
“I’m listening,” the voice responded after a brief silence.
“My sister, Celestia, is putting so much hope into her student,” Luna sighed looking away. “I’m afraid great disappointment might come from it.”
“Do you have any reasons to doubt her judgment? Or the student?” the voice asked from a much closer distance than usual.
“No, but the student, Twilight, she’s so young and inexperienced―”
“So were all of you.”
“And we all have fallen low.”
“Yet you managed to reach great heights.”
Luna fell silent thinking about her response.
“Do you ever miss the times before you left?” she asked finally.
“No,” the voice responded. “I miss the excitement of creating.”
###
“Back? So soon?” The voice sounded before Celestia could open her mouth.
“YEars have passed since I was here,” she replied looking around nervously. “I’m searching for my student.”
“She’s here, sleeping.”
A star appeared in the void and more followed, turning the darkness into a night sky.
“I thought you might appreciate a little change of scenery for your student,” the voice sounded right next to Celestia.
“Thank you.” Celestia smiled looking to her side, yet there was nothing there.
In the distance she was Twilight, curled up, floating in the air. Her eyes closed, sleeping.
“I need to go,” Celestia said as she stepped forward.
There was silence in response. Only a light touch brushing over her neck as she walked.
###
“How many centuries have passed?”
“Less than one since I visited,” Celestia answered.
“What brings you here this time?” The voice sounded right in front of her.
“Just thought I might keep you company,” she replied laying down.
She felt a cold heavy touch against her side. The content silence passed in the void as the stars appeared one by one.
“Luna was right, there little lights are pretty,” the voice whispered.
Celestia turned her head to see a ghost image of a creature she saw so long ago that she couldn’t even remember how it looked. She could feel the smile coming from the creature.
“Just a shapeless image after all these years,” it sighed.
“Time changes all of us.” Celestia carefully wrapped her wing around the creature.
Its form barrelly occupying any space, yet she could feel the shallow breath. It shifted against her, the light touch landing on her neck.
“Will you stay with me for awhile, child?”
“I will, father.”