Before Celestia and Luna, Equestria was a barren landscape. When two celestial beings descend from upon high, they bring with them two fillies that will bring Equestria to glory.
Before Celestia and Luna, there was nothing. No harmony. No ponies. Equestria was a barren world of nothing, filled with nothing. The sun and moon did not rise or set. It wasn't until two beings unlike anything the land had ever seen came down from on high that Equestria had a chance to be led to glory by the two little fillies brought to rule it.
In the beginning, Equestria was a land without sun and moon, day and night. We had no harmony. We had no ponies! Ponies did not exist on Equestrian soil. They existed far, far away. They were ethereal beings beyond our imaginations. That is, until two of them came down from on high, bringing with them the first children of Equestria...
--
“Mother, please,” a little white filly whimpered, “my wings are tired. Why can’t we go home?”
“Your home will be here, little one,” a white mare said softly, helping her little one up higher as they soared through the dayless, nightless land that they had come to. There was nothing. All the filly saw below her was brown expanses of nothing. Why couldn’t they fly back home? Home was familiar and safe, and it wasn’t so... empty.
“Why do we have to stay?” the filly groaned as she flapped harder to stay aloft between the white mare and a midnight blue stallion.
“Because, little Tia,” the stallion murmured gently, “our home is no longer the place for you. Your place will be here.” On the stallion’s back was an even younger filly, a little purple one with wings that couldn’t even carry her weight yet.
“I wish my place was home,” Celestia, or Tia for short, grumbled. It was not long before the mare and stallion guided their tiring white filly down towards the ground. She landed on unsteady hooves for a moment before throwing her pink mane back and standing tall.
“Do not act so strong, little filly,” the white mare chuckled, nuzzling her daughter gently. “Why don’t you rest?”
“Where?” Celestia whined. All she could see for miles was flat nothing. Brown, flat nothing. “Mother, there is nowhere to sleep here!”
“Sleep tonight on the ground,” her mother soothed. “Tomorrow your father and I will help with the lack of shelter.” Grudgingly, the white filly folded her legs beneath her to lay down. Despite arguing there was nowhere to rest, Celestia was soon asleep on the ground. The midnight stallion gently rested his precious cargo beside her sister, and together he and his wife watched the children sleep.
“Did we make the right choice, Orion?” the white mare sighed, resting her head against the stallion’s neck in his billowing purple mane. “Bringing them away from the Cosmos that they’ve known for so long?”
“There is no home for our daughters in the Cosmos, Galaxia,” Orion said soothingly, turning his head to nuzzle his wife affectionately. “The Oracle said so herself. We had to bring them here.”
“To this land of nothing?” Galaxia whispered, looking up at the colorless sky above them. “I know that we can create, but can our daughters? What if we have brought them to a destiny where they are doomed to fail?”
“They will not fail,” Orion said strongly, though quietly so he did not wake the foals. “They are Celestia and Luna Cosmos, daughters of the King and Queen of the Cosmos. We are hear to assure that worlds beyond our own survive. We will provide them with the world, and they will provide the world with life.”
“They don’t even know their special talents yet,” Galaxia said softly. “And Celestia is nearly past the age where the mark appears. What happens if -- ”
“Her talent will be found here,” Orion said softly. “She and her sister both will discover their destinies in the land we provide them. Come now, dear,” he said, starting to walk away, “we have much to do before the children wake. They will need a land to rule.” Galaxia nodded slowly. With one glance back at her sleeping foals, she followed her husband into the nothingness. He was right; her children would need a land to rule. Their children would find their true selves here. She had to believe they had done right...
--
Celestia woke up to something tickling her nose. She blinked open her eyes in confusion, looking around slowly. When they had landed here, the land had been barren. Empty. Devoid of anything. Now little shoots of grass were poking up from the ground, just little babies, but grass the same. The land sloped and fell gently off to the north before spiking up sharply as very distant mountains. To the south, the land was flatter for the most part. It was much more alive than it had been when she’d gone to sleep. Not far from where she lay, a huge mountain peak rose up among the land, a single spear into the sky.
The sky was still gray and colorless. No sun, no clouds, no moon. Nothing. Why would all of this other stuff appear, but not the sun or moon?
Her filly sister slept on still beside her, exhausted from the long journey from the Cosmos. Luna was just a baby, younger than Celestia by many years. Celestia rose to her hooves and shook dirt off her coat, looking around for her parents. She did not have to look long. Galaxia and Orion descended from the sky soon after she woke. Her mother looked exhausted, her father not much better off. Creating an entire land out of nothing was exhausting. That was why they were King and Queen of the Cosmos, though.
“Mother, did you and Father make all this?” Celestia asked curiously. “Just like you made the Cosmos for the alicorns?”
“Yes, Tia,” Galaxia sighed as she laid down on the downy grass on the hillside. “We made this for you and Luna. For you to find your special talent, you have to understand this land. Once your father has recovered, he will take you through it all.”
“All of it?” Celestia repeated with wide eyes. “It’s so much!”
“It is much smaller than the Cosmos,” Orion chuckled as he laid down beside his wife. “You may explore a little bit if you wish. Try using your magic to grow things, but not too much. We want nature to grow the grass and trees, not magic.” Celestia nodded eagerly and bounded off on her own to explore the world. She did not go far. The world was still newborn and growing. There was not much for her to see. She bounced along through the new shoots of grass happily. She had not ever seen such new plant life. Life on the Cosmos was all very, very old. She turned around after long to go back to where her parents and baby sister slept, cuddling up to her father’s side. The family slept on silently, at peace in this new world they had discovered.
--
“Come on, baby sister, you can do it!” Celestia giggled, running through the small field with Luna desperately trying to keep pace at her side. “Flap your wings like this, you can do it!” The sisters ran faster and faster, the smaller trying to get off the ground and fly. “You can do it, you can do it!” Celestia said as Luna started to hover over the ground, beating her little wings furiously to try and get off the ground.
Not far from the fillies, Galaxia and Orion stood watching them with small smiles on their faces. They had spent almost two years now on this new land. They were hopeful that their daughters would find their true selves here, but at the same time they were concerned. The grass was not growing so well without someone to tend it, but both adult alicorns were not willing to tend the ground with magic. There was no weather, either, so water had to be fabricated to give the grass something to drink.
The past two years had kept the alicorn rulers busy. Orion had taken his eldest daughter to explore the farthest reaches of the land he and his wife had created. Celestia had also helped them to plant seeds that would, hopefully, grow into all sorts of trees and bushes and flowers. On the large mountain in the center of it all, Orion had begun the construction of a palace where his daughters would rule from.
“Father, Mother, look!” Celestia cried out. The two alicorns looked up to the sky and saw Luna beating her wings furiously, but keeping aloft alongside her sister.
“Oh, wonderful!” Galaxia said happily.
“That’s fantastic, Luna,” Orion added, smiling up at his daughter. Luna soon descended from the sky, exhausted but exhilarated.
“Did you see me?” the little filly asked. “I flew, just like you and Mother and Tia!” She rushed over to her parents, nuzzling at Galaxia’s legs before running over to Orion and flopping down on the ground there.
“Celestia,” Galaxia said softly as her older daughter flew loops above them, “I want you to come with me into the sky. It’s time we tried something new.”
“New?” Celestia repeated, but together with her mother she flew into the sky. Higher than she’d flown since arriving, and even higher still, until the air grew colder and it became harder to breathe. From so far up, Celestia could see almost all of the land her parents had created, especially the palace on the mountain that was to be hers and Luna’s.
“Why am I up here, Mother?” the young alicorn asked curiously. After Galaxia had surveyed the land, she began to swoop slowly towards the incomplete palace. Celestia followed in silence. They lighted together on the pavillion, the first thing her father had built for her and her sister.
“I believe I know what you are meant to do, Tia,” Galaxia said softly. “Soon, your father and I will leave you and your sister.” This came as a shock to Celestia, but her mother continued before she could interrupt. “We cannot leave you here unless we know that you can rule here well as princesses. So it is time to try and bring day to this land.”
“Day?” Celestia repeated softly. “But Mother, I don’t want you and Father to go. I don’t want to rule! I want you to live here forever with me and Luna, so we can be a family!”
“My sweet child,” Galaxia whispered, “I wish too that I could stay forever with you both. But your father and I are needed back in the Cosmos to keep balance among the celestial bodies. You and your sister are destined to stay here, on this land. You will learn how to rule together, and you will not be alone forever. Now, we need to begin, my darling. Concentrate your magic, like I taught you at home.” Celestia’s horn began to glow a light yellow as she concentrated hard. “Good, child, good. Now, reach out. Find that thing you told me about at home, that feeling of rightness, like this is what your magic is meant to do.”
The glow of Celestia’s horn grew brighter and brighter as the young alicorn gathered more magic. She could feel it, that special feeling that told her she was meant to do this. She dug in hard as she tried to find more of that magic. It felt... stuck. Like it didn’t want to come to her. She pulled and pulled, her little body starting to shake with exertion.
From below on the hill, Orion and Luna watched together as history was made. From beyond the eastern horizon, the sky turned from gray to pink, like Celestia’s mane, and from pink to orange.
“The sun!” Luna shrieked gleefully, bouncing around her father. “The sun is finally coming up, Father!” And that it was. The sky lightened from orange to yellow, and then from yellow to a majestic blue as the sun climbed its way into the sky. Orion was silent, but he was smiling. They had been right after all.
Back on the pavillion, Celestia gasped for air as the glow on her horn sputtered out and died. Galaxia knelt beside her exhausted daughter, smiling proudly. “Celestia,” she murmured softly, “open your eyes. Look and see what you have brought.” The white alicorn opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the bright light of the sun.
Wait.
The sun.
“I... I raised the sun?!” the little one spluttered as she struggled to her hooves. “I... I didn’t, I couldn’t have...” Then something caught her eye. She looked to her flank slowly before she squealed, jumping into the air for joy. There, on her previously bare white flank, was a glorious orange and yellow sun mark.
“I raised the sun!” she shouted in joy, spreading her wings proudly and puffing out her chest as she surveyed the work around her. The land had seen its first sunrise. The sky was blue, and shadows hung in the valleys that her parents had created. “That’s my talent, isn’t it, Mother?” she asked happily. “I will bring day to this land, won’t I?”
“You will, my sweet Tia,” Galaxia said softly. “You are also ready to help your father and I complete work on this land. We have to build canals from the ocean to bring water to the fields, and when the time comes, you will have to help your sister earn her mark.”
“Me? Help Luna get her mark?” Celestia repeated softly. “Are you sure?”
“You are old enough,” Galaxia assured her daughter. “You are, admittedly, the oldest filly to get her cutie mark, but that will work to our benefit. You know how to take care of your sister, and your father and I are confident to leave her in your hands. You will have a few more months to practice setting and raising the sun before we leave. After we are gone, it is up to you and Luna to discover how to populate the world and how to rule.”
“I understand, Mother,” the white alicorn said softly. For the first time, Princess Celestia looked out on her land glowing with natural sunlight.
“I think we’ll call this place Equestria,” the princess said.
So Celestia discovered her true talent by raising the sun and bringing the first sunrise to Equestria. She learned that, one day, her parents would no longer be there to guide her and Luna, her younger sister, and that ruling the land would fall to them as princesses. Celestia accepted this fate and named her new land Equestria. The plants now had sun to feed them light, and with the help of Orion water was brought to let them drink. The problem became that there was no break from the sunlight for the poor plants. They started to wilt and shrivel up without any break from the heat. With no ponies to tend the skies or the ground, the world threatened to tip out of balance. Thus, my little ponies, the next chapter to the story of our land began...
--
Weeks had passed since Celestia had first risen the sun over the land she’d named Equestria. Every day, she made sure to lower it again to give the land rest, but even that was not enough. There was no cool darkness, no moonlight, to give the plants they had carefully started to tend by hoof a break. It only seemed to get warmer every day, and worst of all, her time to learn with her parents was drawing ever shorter. Her mane and tail had acquired the floating sort of look that her parents’ had as she raised the sun each day, something her mother attributed to controlling a celestial body.
The family had moved into the palace on the mountainside once Orion had completed it. It was still very bare and empty, but Celestia’s father told her that over time, the stained glass windows in the throne room would begin to change.
“They’re magic,” Orion told her as he showed her for the first time, “and when something of merit happens in Equestria, that event will be forever immortalized in glass so you can show the ponies to follow of the great deeds their ancestors had done.” Already there was a large window behind the throne starting to take shape.
“That alicorn looks like me!” Celestia had gasped when she’d seen it. Half of the window was bright and warm, with an alicorn raising the sun. The other half was still blank. “Why isn’t it finished?”
“Because the other half hasn’t happened yet,” Orion had said. “Be patient, Tia, and it will appear.” So the young alicorn had nodded her head and continued her tour of the palace that would one day be hers.
Today would be her last day to raise the sun with her parents there to watch it. Celestia stood out on the balcony alone, looking up at the gray, colorless sky above her. What if she refused to raise it? Her parents couldn’t leave if the world didn’t have a sun, could they? She wouldn’t do that to her land, though. She dug her hooves in and strained to once more raise the sun, panting and gasping when it was done. She might be destined to raise it, but she was still just a young alicorn. It would be many years before she found the strength to raise the sun with ease. She turned around to return to the inside of the palace, where it was cooler. Celestia made her way to the throne room, where Luna was bouncing around her father’s legs and squealing whenever Orion tried to trap her.
“That was a lovely sunrise, as always, Celestia,” Galaxia murmured softly as she went to greet her daughter. “I’ll always remember it. I just wish I could stay to watch the moon rise one day, too...”
“You could,” Celestia mumbled, the two mares looking over at Luna. “You could help Luna raise the moon one day, Mother.”
“You know I can’t,” Galaxia sighed. “We already had this conversation, Celestia. Your father and I are needed elsewhere. If we do not return, who will hold the balance of the universe in place? No one. Then where would your sister learn to raise the moon?” Celestia sighed heavily and hung her head. She knew her mother was right. If she and her father didn’t return to maintain balance in the Cosmos, all of the universe would collapse. That didn’t mean she had to like that they were going away.
“Have you told Luna?” she sighed.
“Your father is telling her now,” Galaxia said softly. Celestia looked up and, sure enough, Luna had stopped bouncing around her father’s hooves. She was sitting down, looking like she was about to cry, while Orion said something softly to her. Then the little purple alicorn did start to cry, and she latched onto her father’s leg and refused to let go.
“You can’t leave me!” Luna wailed as Orion walked carefully towards Galaxia and Celestia. “You can’t leave me and Tia!”
“It’s for the best, my little one,” Orion said tenderly as he shook Luna off his hoof and in between Celestia’s hooves. “We will always watch over you from the heavens. Be good for your sister. Good bye, Celestia,” he added softly, pressing his muzzle to his eldest daughter’s. “Take care of Luna for us.”
“I will, Father,” Celestia promised. Tears came to her own eyes, but she refused to cry and refused to be weak. She had to be strong for Luna, who was still wailing into her leg. “We will take care of Equestria.”
“If... If all else fails, you can come home,” Galaxia murmured, touching her muzzle to both her daughters. “We wish you well.” With Luna sobbing and Celestia with tears in her eyes, the King and Queen of the Cosmos turned and walked onto the balcony before taking off into the sky. Celestia watched them until she could see their forms no longer.
She was... alone. She and Luna were all alone in this world. They were the sole rulers now, princesses in this new land. She would have to take care of her sister until Luna was bigger, and then she could teach her to raise the moon.
“Come now, little one,” Celestia murmured gently as she helped Luna to her feet. “Let’s go rest until I have to lower the sun. Tomorrow we will figure out what to do.” Together, the sisters walked through the palace to Celestia’s bedroom. They collapsed together on the little mattress she had, because they had not enough wood to make a bed yet. They fell asleep with Luna sheltered under her sister’s wing, the palace silent all around them.
--
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months as the sister rulers learned to cope without their parents. Celestia continued to raise her sun and set it every day like clockwork. In her free time, when she was not tending sprouting meadows or rivers, she spent her time with Luna. The young filly grew bigger each day, though so did her bigger sister. The two practiced magic together, writing down their spells in a single book that had been found in the castle a few days after their parents had left, along with a note that told them to use it wisely. One day, Luna made a mustache sprout on her sister’s face. The next, Celestia turned a new flower shoot into an orange, though only briefly. As her sister grew, Celestia knew it was growing closer and closer to her time to raise the moon. Luna whined about her cutie mark daily, admiring her sister’s blazing sun on her white flank.
“I’ll never know my destiny,” the little purple filly groaned.
“You will soon,” Celestia promised daily.
It was lonely in Equestria, with no other alicorns to keep them company. They didn’t know how to bring other ponies into the world, not yet, but Celestia had her ideas. She wrote in the back of the book while Luna slept, spells and plans she later crossed out and started over with. She wouldn’t let their land go unpopulated forever! First, though, the land had to have night.
Months turned into years, and still the two alicorn sisters practiced magic alone in their land. Celestia occasionally flew to look over the lands. Some places had begun to change naturally, without pony assistance. In the south, a great chasm had opened up, and the grasses had died and the earth had returned to hard red stone. Near their castle home, in a little meadowy place, a dark forest was starting to spring up and grow. She hoped this was a good sign. Luna grew bigger with each day, and her magic grew stronger. So did Celestia’s, but in other ways. The elder sister’s magic became more refined and gentle, yet stronger at the same time. She taught her sister all she knew, and then together they learned once Celestia could teach no more. Finally, the day came when Luna bested her in a magical duel.
“Why are you smiling so, sister?” the younger alicorn asked, confused. Luna was nearly the same age as Celestia had been when their mother had taken her to raise the sun for the first time. It was time for the moon to grace the land.
“Come to the balcony with me,” Celestia murmured. She took to the air, and her purple sister followed a moment later. Together they glided up to the balcony where Celestia raised and lowered her sun each day. Luna watched the familiar picture as the sun sank away below the western horizon and the sky returned to a dull grayish color. They were sure that they could see the stars, if only it got darker, but without a moon to block the sun, the world still had light.
“Now it’s your turn,” the bigger sister said, looking down at her sibling. “Raise the moon, Luna. Reach deep within you and find that thing that just feels right, and raise it up.”
“Me?!” Luna yelped, eyes wide. “I-I can’t raise the moon!”
“It’s hardly as big as the sun,” Celestia teased with a gentle smile. “You can do it, and I’ll be right here if you can’t.” Luna looked from her sister to the gray sky, swallowed, and took a brave step forwards. Her horn started to glow dark blue with magic, and she strained and strained, but nothing happened. Celestia watched with growing concern. Perhaps her mother had been wrong? What if this wasn’t Luna’s destiny?
Then she realized it was dark. The sky went from gray to purple to blue, and one by one she could see stars in the sky. Stars! She watched in wonder as the sky turned to midnight blue and the stars sparkled brightly. And there, by the east horizon, came a white disc that settled in the sky. The moon had come to the land at last.
“D-Did I do it?” Luna stammered, her legs shaking and her chest heaving.
“Do what?” Celestia asked as she stepped forwards. “Raise the moon, or get your mark finally?”
“Mark?” Luna snorted. “I don’t have... a... mark...” She turned her head slowly to look at her flank. There, where the fur had once been blank, a black splotch had appeared. In the center of it was a white crescent moon, gleaming in the darkness.
“I did it!” the young princess cried, leaping into her night air with joy. The air had become blessedly cool with the arrival of the moon. “I did it! I brought the night!”
“You did,” Celestia praised once her sister came down. “And now that there is night in our land, little sister, I think we’re ready to try harder magic.”
“Harder?” Luna asked. “What can be harder than raising a sun or moon?”
“Creating ponies from what the land has to offer.”
Finally, night graced Equestria for the first time. Princess Luna’s moon cooled the land greatly, and the grasses that had been shriveling despite the best care they could ask for started to thrive with the nightly breaks from the sun. The sisters soon developed a pattern for raising their celestial bodies. Celestia’s sun stayed out for a little over fifteen hours each day, and in the time it was not up Luna’s moon reigned supreme. Ah, you thought I’d forgotten where we left off? You have such little faith in me, little ones! Yes, Celestia wished to bring ponies to Equestria at last, but with extremely advanced magic. She didn’t want more alicorns either. Shall we see what she had in mind?
--
“Sister, I do believe you’ve started to go nutty in your head,” Luna said as she and her sister trotted back within the palace. It was dark for once, transforming the inside. They made their way to the throne room, where they spent much of their time discussing things for the land. As they walked in, Luna noticed something beyond the throne. “Look...”
Where Celestia’s image raising the sun had once been alone, it was now a completed window. Celestia’s image was still raising her sun, but next to it and flipped upside down was a darker image of Luna raising the moon. They formed a circle, a balance. Harmony.
“Father promised it would complete itself,” the elder sister murmured with a smile. “Now, back to what we were saying. I am not nutty, sister dear. I think it can be done.”
“Create alicorns?” Luna said. “It can’t be done, Celestia! Alicorns aren’t just pulled out of thin air, you know.”
“No, no alicorns,” Celestia said sharply, and in doing so startled her younger sister. “I am sorry, I did not mean to snap. I just...” She sighed and moved to look out the uncolored window nearest to her, at her first glimpse at this world’s stars and constellations. “Mother and Father sent us here to rule over everything, even if our title is ‘princess’ instead of ‘queen.’ If we create more alicorns, who's to say they don’t try and take our seat in this world and rule themselves? We can’t let our parents down that way.”
“So instead we’ll create... what?” Luna asked dubiously, going to stand beside her sister. “What is there but alicorns?” After all, in their home, there was only alicorns.
“I... I was thinking we would... break apart an alicorn,” Celestia began slowly. “Not literally, but we could create ponies out of what an alicorn is. I was figuring we could have three sorts of ponies,” she explained. “The first group would be ground-dwelling ponies. No wings, no magic. They will have the physical strength of an alicorn. We would make them from the soil they would be grounded to.”
“Ponies without magic... or wings...” Luna murmured softly. Well, she didn’t sound against the idea, so Celestia continued.
“Yes, without magic or wings. They would farm the land and produce food, hopefully. The second type would have wings, but no magic,” the white princess continued. “They would be able to fly and soar through the air and sleep on clouds, like we can. They would be our weather bringers. Their wingbeats would bring wind, and from wind and sun and moon we will soon have clouds and rain and other weather patterns.
“The final group would be the magic users. They wouldn’t have any wings, though. They’d help us to write books and develop magic in this world, Luna. They’d be like... scholars, but of course any pony could learn and be educated. What do you think?” Celestia asked hopefully. Luna might be the younger sibling, but with age her sister had matured greatly. She was wise for such a young pony. Then again, so was Celestia. Living alone did that to you.
“Farmers, weather ponies, and scholars,” Luna said softly, considering all of this in silence for a while. “It is not a bad idea sister. We should not put our hopes in it, though. First we need to see if your magic works.”
“We can start when you are rested,” Celestia said, realizing just how exhausted her sister looked. “Sleep well, Luna. I’ll be up a while yet.” Luna nodded and walked away slowly, her hoof-steps fading into the halls. True to her word, the elder princess was up well into the night. In fact, she was awake working on her spells until her sister rose to lower the moon so the sun could rise again. The first dawn was bestowed upon the world as the moon set and the sun rose, and together the alicorn princesses admired the colors in the sky.
“So,” Luna said as they walked through the meadows later on in the day. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly. “How do you think we will make these ponies of yours? I only knew that mother and father could bring creation. Can we do it as well?”
“I think we can,” Celestia said as she set down the three buckets she’d been carrying with her. “We’re their daughters, after all.” In the three buckets was something a little different. The first had water, enough to dampen dirt but not turn it to mud. The second had feathers, some purple from Luna and some white from Celestia. The third had nothing in it yet, for the third could not be made until the stars were out once more.
“What do we do now?” Luna asked, flipping through the spell book they had created to her sister’s notes with her magic. “‘Add a foal’s-weight in dirt to the pail with water. Once it’s thick, sculpt a foal.’ What?”
“Just what it said,” Celestia said confidently as she started to scrape dirt from the ground. When she’d gathered enough (Luna sitting back to watch the whole time) she set it in the pail with water and swirled it around a bit. When it was damp, she used her magic to very carefully sculpt a foal. She left out the horn for magic and the wings for flying, but everything else was there: mane, tail, muzzle, four hooves, even little stone eyes. “Set that book down, Luna, I need your help now.” Carefully, Celestia set the little clay foal on a flat patch of earth. The sisters touched their horns together on the little creation’s forehead. Light flashed and flared brightly around them, but neither princess moved. They closed their eyes and focused their magic on the foal statue before them. Light continued to flare around the connect their horns made, growing brighter and brighter until it reached a great climax...!
The sisters pulled their horns apart while blinking spots from their eyes and shaking their heads to clear them. Luna looked a bit pale, and Celestia a bit shaky, but they both turned to look down to where the statue had been. And they gasped.
It was gone!
“B-But my calculations were perfect!” Celestia cried, staring at where the foal statue had been. “There... There should have been...”
“Sister,” Luna said quietly, looking down between her sister’s forelegs and trying not to smile. “Look down, you great tall fool!” Celestia did what she was told and almost jumped out of her skin in shock.
A little giggle met her shock. Between her forelegs stood a wobbly-legged foal. It had no wings, and no horn, but four hooves, two eyes, two ears, a mane, and a tail. The foal was dark brown like the earth it had come from, with lighter hues of brown in its mane. The little one’s eyes were a vibrant green.
“Do you think it can talk yet?” Luna whispered, crouching to be eye to eye with the baby.
“Hi!” the little earth pony shouted, laughing loudly when Luna fell over in surprise.
“We made a toddler, sister, not a newborn!” Celestia said, adding her laughter to the little one’s. She crouched down to be eye to eye with the first earth pony Equestria had seen, smiling serenely. “Hello, little one,” she said slowly. “My name is Princess Celestia, and that one over on her back is Princess Luna. We are alicorns,” she explained. “You are... an earth pony. And your name is... um...”
“Shocker!” Luna called from where she was. She’d gotten her legs under her again and had shaken dust from her coat. The little foal seemed to like its name.
“Shocker!” it repeated, wobbling over to Luna with a smile. “Woona,” it said proudly, rearing back to place it’s forehooves on her leg. Luna smiled brightly when the earth pony said her name. She gently nudged it back to her sister, and they watched it totter around on its new legs fondly, like mothers watching their foal walk for the first time.
“Shocker it is,” Celestia chuckled softly. “It worked, Luna,” she added with a wide smile. “This means we can make the others, too. We’ll have to gather more food to feed them, too; hopefully they don’t need milk...” There were animals in Equestria, created by Galaxia and Orion, but they were all wild. Even the cows and other milk-giving animals.
“We’ll have to teach them, too,” Luna said. “If we make more of them, we can make a little kindergarten for them. They’ll have to learn how to read and write just like we did, and all about their new home.” Celestia nodded in agreement, looking down at Shocker. The little foal had fallen asleep, already exhausted.
“We can make the next one while it’s asleep,” the elder princess said.
“Wait!” Luna hissed, making her sister freeze. “Is Shocker a girl or a boy?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Celestia said, giving her sister a look. “Surely it will figure that out on its own.”
“But I don’t want to call Shocker and the others ‘it’s forever,” Luna whined as her sister walked off.
“Then check yourself!” Celestia said. She lifted the second pail with magic and took off into the sky to gather cloud fluff. Her sister joined her a moment later on a large white cloud that had come to the sky with the evaporation of groundwater.
“Boy,” the night princess said with a smirk for her sister. Celestia rolled her eyes, tenderly molding a cloud into another foal shape. The feathers went on its flanks for wings. The sisters repeated the process they’d used to make Shocker. It left them even weaker than before, but they’d been rewarded: a second foal tottered about in the cloud. It fell over in the fluff and sneezed loudly. At its sides were two little wings.
This foal was a light blue color, like the sky above. Its mane was white like the clouds, and its eyes were night blue. With the foal riding on Luna’s back, they glided back down to land. Shocker was still asleep under the shade of a young tree, undisturbed by the lights that had flashed above him.
“Breeze,” Celestia said suddenly as the second foal (later proclaimed a filly by Luna) went to lay down next to Shocker.
“Excuse me?” Luna asked.
“We’ll call it Breeze,” Celestia repeated softly. “One day, that little pegasus will be one of the first to bring a breeze to Equestria. It’s quiet, too, like a gentle breeze.” Together, the sisters carried their little toddler foals back to the castle on their backs. Within the castle walls, Luna watched the sleeping little ones while Celestia set up three new pallets on the ground, small enough for foals to sleep on.
When she returned to her sister, she had to laugh. Luna looked overwhelmed already by just two foals, who had woken while the sun princess had been gone. Shocker toddled among the purple alicorn’s legs, and Breeze fluttered about very close to the ground on new wings before landing with an ‘oof’ of air leaving her body.
“You’re a hopeless mother,” Celestia sighed. She laid down near the little ones after shooing her sister away, bringing them close to her flank and protecting them with a wing. “Why don’t you find some little grass shoots for them, Luna? They’ll be hungry, and we have to wait to make the last one until it’s night.” The younger alicorn nodded and hurried off to get food for the little ones. Celestia, meanwhile, spoke slowly to them. Already they were learning. They repeated her words back to her, stowing them away in their memories, and by the time Luna returned they were babbling like any toddler might.
That afternoon the sisters spent teaching their new students as well as resting. While Luna rose the moon for night, Celestia tucked Breeze and Shocker into bed. She hurried to join her sister with the third pail from that day. It was empty, for now.
“This one will be hardest,” Luna said softly, looking up at the stars.
“It will,” Celestia agreed. In turn, each sister dispensed magic into the pail. It swirled at the bottom like sparkling mist. Luna supplied starlight in her magic as well, adding an extra shimmer.
Together, the sisters carefully crafted the swirling mist into a foal with a single little horn. They performed the creation spell for a third time, collapsing when this one was done. It had been the most difficult to perform. Their results, however, were the same as the other two times. A little foal, a colt, blinked its eyes slowly at the princesses. His eyes were bright yellow, and his coat was yellow with lavender splotches on it.
“How about... Stardust?” Luna suggested. “Because that is where he came from.”
“Stardust, then,” Celestia agreed. The little colt was already tired, and the sisters carried him off to join Breeze and Shocker in the bedroom they all were going to share. The sisters laid down side by side once Stardust was settled in to sleep.
“We can make things,” Luna mumbled sleepily. “Ponies.”
“Only a few,” Celestia said softly. “We’ll make enough so when they grow, the bloodlines won’t be too closely connected. Soon, the land will be flourishing, sister.”
“We have to raise them first,” the moon princess snorted, closing her eyes.
“Baby steps,” the sun princess sighed, laying her head on her forelegs and watching the ponies sleep. “Baby steps, little ponies.”
I know, it’s quite fascinating, how ponies came to Equestria. I thought this was all just an old pony’s tale myself until the princesses told me it was true. Slow down your questions, little ones, I can only answer one at a time! They’ll all be answered soon enough, but I guess the next thing in the tale is how we came to be the great nation we are today. It wasn’t all rainbows and flowers the whole time, let me tell you that. For a while, though, there was happiness in the land. For a while, Equestria grew...
--
Celestia and Luna had never been prouder of their accomplishments. At first, it was only them in the castle. Then they introduced the new ponies: Shocker, Breeze, and Stardust. The little earth pony was the most trouble. Shocker was in and on everything all the time, leaving the sisters with little time to do much of anything beyond the chores they gave themselves. They had to teach the little ponies so much. Breeze had to be taught to fly. Stardust had to be taught basic magic. Shocker had to be taught about the earth. They had to be taught how to read and speak.
As the three foals grew, the princesses grew with them. They learned how to take care of ponies as princesses should care for subjects. The weeks turned into months, and months to years. Celestia and Luna found joy in watching the little ponies they had created grow. When the foals were about two, though, quiet Breeze asked the question both princesses had been waiting for.
“Why don’t we have other ponies?” the little pegasus asked one day in her lessons. “It’s just us.”
“Yeah!” Stardust agreed heartily. “We want more friends!” The sister princesses shared a look and a smile and promised their little ponies that it wouldn’t be that way for long. A few days later, three more foals appeared. Shocker, Breeze, and Stardust were thrilled at the new arrivals and spent time fawning over the little ones. Each week, more little ponies appeared. One of the rooms in the castle was converted into a classroom, another couple of bedrooms into places for the little ones to sleep in.
The princesses took turns with the foals each day. One day Luna would teach and care for them while Celestia was out building small scale buildings all over the world for the growing foals to live in once they were older. The foals grew rapidly, or so it seemed to the princesses, who never aged. They celebrated with the three original ponies they had created when they got their marks, and with all of the ponies after them. Before they knew it, they were standing on the bridge that led into their castle home with tears in their eyes, three young adult ponies in front of them.
Breeze had grown into a fine young pegasus. Her wings had grown strong and powerful, and she was one of the fastest flyers out of all the pegasi the princesses had in the castle. On her once bare light blue flank was now a set of weather markings: a raindrop and a snowflake surrounded by wind. She had a pack strapped to her back with directions to the cloud city Celestia had made years before. She would be the first mayor of the cloud city, home of pegasi to come. The princesses had trained her to control the weather, and when the new pegasi came to her city, she would then teach them, and so on and so forth.
Stardust was not traveling too far. Below the palace proper, a small city had begun to form. His magic was strong, though not near as strong as the alicorn princesses’ magic. He would take up residence in a small library that Luna had put together and begin to study and write his own texts on magic and the workings of the world. Celestia would send promising unicorns to him from now on, and once he had trained them up more in their special magic he would send them off to find where they belonged. On his spotted flank was a mark of a magical burst.
Shocker would be going a fair distance away from the place he had grown up in, but he was not concerned. He’d grown into a fine young stallion with a small bushel of trees on his flank. He would attempt to settle down wherever he could. In his pack he had seeds for flowers and trees and food, as well as plenty of food to keep him going until his trees could grow and produce more. He was happy to be going off on his own, and the princesses would track his progress to send other earth ponies to him once he was settled down somewhere so they could help him work.
They were only the first ponies the princesses had to see off. Each one of the little ponies they had created was eventually seen off to their destinies. The pegasi went to join Breeze in her city of Cloudsdale. They brought rain each spring, sunshine in the summer, and attempted to do their best with the snows in winter. It was somewhat hard, as the snow was not as easy to control as the other weather, but they did their best. Promising unicorns were sent off to Stardust to further their magic type. There were unicorns that specialized in all kinds of magic: sewing magic, food making magic, crafting magic, and so on and so forth. Shocker set up in some rolling hills to the east of the palace in Canterlot, and soon earth ponies flocked to him to start attempting to grow things and build towns.
The most notable of all the ponies the princesses had immortalized in Stardust’s history book that he was composing, starting with the creation of ponies. There was Cloudkicker, a pegasus that could clear the sky faster than any pony had seen before. Harmony, a female unicorn, became the first unicorn to successfully levitate herself. Squirrel Run, a feisty young stallion of an earth pony, had an uncanny ability with the animals in the town he settled down in.
The list went on, and continued to grow and grow. Thirty years after the first ponies were introduced into the world, the princesses ceased creating them, because the miracle of creation had taken place: Breeze and a pegasus named Sunny Day had a foal on their own, without magical help. That foal was only the first. Over the years, more and more little ponies were born, and cities sprouted up like weeds in a garden. Shocker’s down of Fillydelphia soon grew into more than that. Other ponies settled other places as well. On the west coast of the world the city of Tall Tale was established. Cloudsdale remained the only pegasus city, but some pegasi left their cloudy home to work on the ground with earth and unicorn ponies alike.
The sisters couldn’t have been happier with their success. All happiness comes to an end, though, and the princesses were filled with sorrow as the ponies they had raised faded while they ruled on. Breeze died peacefully in her sleep with Sunny Day at her side, their only daughter at her bedside. Shocker, sadly, perished when a tree he had planted in Fillydelphia when it was founded fell over in a storm, crushing him. Stardust lived the longest, but even the first unicorn succumbed to death. The princesses sadly accepted that their ponies would be born, grow, live, and die in their own time and that they would have to learn to cope with the pain. They saw those that had complaints and dealt with them accordingly in the court. A kindly unicorn with magic specializing in metals even came on day without a complaint, but instead to present the princesses with horseshoes and armor he had crafted himself. Celestia’s armor was yellow like the center of the sun on her flank, as well as her horseshoes, and the armor was inlaid with a purple gem. Luna’s horseshoes were a light lavender color, and her armor matched her mark. The princesses cherished the gifts.
Things settled into a quiet lull as time passed. A century went by, then two, and Equestria continued to flourish. There were little problems and little concerns. Nothing lasts, though.
“Your Majesty,” Celestia’s page gasped as he rushed into the throne room and bowed. The princesses turned to look down at him from their thrones, and Celestia rose to greet the young unicorn.
“What is it, Dusk?” she asked gently as the unicorn rose up. “What’s wrong?”
“Your Majesty, it’s Crystal Heart. She’s returned from the mountains to the north, and, and...”
“And what, Dusk?” Luna demanded from behind her sister, coming forwards.
Crystal pony, yes, that’s what I said. Like from the Crystal Kingdom far, far to the north of our little town here. You see, back then there were no crystal ponies. They had never existed until this moment in time. They’re common now, but back then, there was no Empire. Hush now, let me tell the story...
--
“She’s a... a crystal pony!” the page pony gasped out to the princesses, who then wore twin expressions of bewilderment and shock. “I swear, Your Highnesses, she came to the palace with her coat sparkling like I had never seen, and she... You must see her!” The sisters exchanged a glance before Celestia nodded, slowly retreating to her throne. She had this expression when she dealt with people in court sometimes that Luna called her “princess face” behind her back.
Luna might have had the title “princess” in her name, but it was Celestia that ruled Equestria. She was firstborn, and Luna was only princess by right, really. It was Celestia that dealt with affairs, and Celestia that sat upon the throne. Luna took up a spot beside her sister’s throne, where she always stood during these sorts of things. She glanced up at her sister momentarily before looking ahead in her place below the throne.
The doors at the end of the hall opened slowly. Dusk came in and bowed before stepping back. A unicorn mare stepped in after him, smiling at the princesses. She was a light pink color with a bicolored purple mane and deep purple eyes. Before she had left Canterlot, Crystal Heart had looked like any other pony. Now she had returned, and what Dusk had said was true. Her coat shimmered and sparkled, and not just because she’d given it an extra fine washing before coming. It almost looked like, if one was to rap on her side with a hoof, she would be hard as... crystal. On her flank was a white cutie mark of a heart made of crystal, symbolic of her name. She stopped a few lengths from the throne.
She did not bow.
“Crystal Heart,” Celestia said, her tone not near as friendly as Luna was expecting it to be, “what has happened to you?”
“I discovered quite a bit of... interesting magic in the mountains of the north, Your Highness,” the pony before the princesses said softly. “The mountains harbor crystal, and near the peak of the world, I found a most fascinating piece of land. The north is all snow and wind and ice, except for this one place at the peak. It was sunny and warm and full of life...”
“This is all very good,” Celestia interrupted, “but what does it mean for you, for Equestria? Why have you returned in such a state? Why have you not shown the proper courtesy to your leader?”
“Your Highness, I tested the magic of the north on myself,” Crystal Heart said with a smile. “It transformed me to this. I am just as I was, except now I am crystal! I have found my true calling, Princess, and I have come to ask you to relinquish your hold on the north mountains.”
“Excuse me?!” Luna gasped, silenced by a look from her sister a moment later.
“Why would you ask such a thing?” Celestia demanded. “My sister and I rule Equestria. All its lands belong to us. We are the sole rulers here.”
“Ah, yes, but... I no longer wish to abide under you, Your Majesty,” Crystal Heart said simply. “I have discovered my true calling, and I intend to follow it. With all due respect, I believe that only a crystal pony can lead... a Crystal Kingdom,” she said. The princesses were silent, staring down at the pony before them.
“Leave us,” Celestia said. “We will give you your answer tomorrow morning, Crystal Heart. Dusk, see to it our crystal friend has chambers for the night.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” the page pony said, bowing. He led Crystal Heart from the throne room quickly, shutting the doors behind him. For a while afterwards, there was silence in the throne room. Luna watched her sister get up and go to the windows. They had changed and developed over time. One of the depicted the first three ponies of Equestria, others the many feats of those after them. They had become something her sister leaned heavily upon when making decisions. Usually, if it was not in the window, Celestia was loathe to do something.
“What are your thoughts, sister?” the white alicorn said softly. Luna went to stand by her sister’s side in front of the empty window.
“I believe you rely too heavily on Father’s magic to make your choices,” the moon princess said bluntly. “His windows only reveal things after they have happened, not before. You need to learn how to lead without them, Celestia.”
“I can lead without them!” Celestia snapped, whirling to face her sister. Luna did not flinch; she stood still in the face of her elder sister’s wrath. “I am the princess of Equestria, every pony looks up to me!”
“They do,” Luna agreed with a nod, walking away. “They look up to you, sister, not the moon princess that gives them night and stars. Tell me, Celestia, what are your thoughts about Crystal Heart?” Celestia seemed a bit stunned by her sister’s words, but she hung her head after a moment and heaved a great sigh.
“I do not know,” she admitted. “I do not want to give her the land she desires. We were meant to be the only rulers in this land, Luna, you know that... If I give her what she desires, will that make her what we are? A ruler, a leader, an alicorn? Do I risk that...?”
“I believe she won’t become so high as to be an alicorn,” Luna said quietly, walking up towards the throne. She seemed to regard the chair for a moment before she went to her spot beside it and turned towards her sister. “I believe you cannot know for certain what will happen if we give her this... Crystal Kingdom she desires so. She is not the same pony she was when she left us, Celestia, you must be able to see that.”
“Something in the north changed her,” Celestia agreed after a moment, walking towards her sister. “She saw something and it changed her a good deal. I'm not talking about the crystal coat, either. She was so quiet before she left, I never thought she’d stay so long in the north... I’ll do it,” she whispered.
“What?” Luna prompted. She wanted to hear it on her own.
“I’ll give Crystal Heart her mountains and this place she found in them. There will be conditions, though.”
“Of course,” Luna sighed softly. She gazed out a window to the city below, with its ponies going about their days as usual. “She cannot have an Empire without subjects,” she pointed out. “Many of our subjects might leave to be hers. What do you say to that?”
“I... I suppose I’ll let them,” Celestia said after a pause. “If I stop them, they’ll just want to go more. I want to be a good ruler to them, I want them to want to stay with me... with us, I mean.”
Luna only nodded and set off to go bring the moon and start the night.
--
The next morning, the princesses sat in the throne room and waited for Crystal Heart to be brought to them. She arrived much as she had the previous day, and once again did not bow to her rulers.
“Have you made your choice, Your Highness?” the crystal unicorn asked with a pleasant smile.
“I have,” Celestia said with a short nod. “Crystal Heart, I will grant you all of the northern mountains. The ponies that might travel up there will be under your protection, and you will be to blame if they are hurt while in your territory. However, you shall not bear the title ‘queen,’ as you might hope,” she added quickly when she noticed how Crystal Heart’s expression was changing. “You will bear the title ‘princess,’ as my sister and I do. You will continue to obey me and Luna, albeit with more freedoms than the average subject. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Crystal Heart said with a slow dip of her head. “I thank you kindly for your generosity. The Crystal Kingdom will always be a friend of Canterlot.” Don’t we all hope so, Luna thought from where she stood watching the proceedings at the throne’s side. Sometimes she wished she was sitting there on the throne, but she knew her place. It was below her sister.
“You may go,” Celestia said. “Our blessings go with you. Good luck, Crystal Heart.” The princesses watched the crystal pony rush off, knowing that was probably the last of her they’d ever see.
“You did right,” Luna murmured in the silence that followed.
“I can only hope so,” Celestia sighed wearily, stepping down from the throne. “I can only hope so...”
Crystal Heart was the original crystal princess, yes, like our Princess Cadence. When she was princess, there was no kingdom, only crystals in the mountains. And snow, lots of snow. It was up to Crystal Heart to build the kingdom we know as the Crystal Empire today, as well as gather followers to come and populate the city she would build. It was with them the trouble began.
--
Princess Luna spent the majority of her days alone. Celestia didn’t mind her company while she heard the troubles of their subjects in the throne room, but the younger alicorn could tell she was not needed, and thus was not about to bother her sister with her presence. She spent time elsewhere, and in a sense knew the land better than her sister, though the ponies in it did not love her any more for her knowledge.
Many days Luna flew far from Canterlot to get away from the hustle and bustle of life among its cobbled streets. She would spend her time among the forests the earth ponies had grown at the base of the mountain. Today, though, she was not in the forests. Luna walked along through Canterlot’s streets. Her subjects paid her the proper respect and bowed while she passed, though not so quickly as they did for her sister.
Celestia had not set a time limit for how long Crystal Heart had to gather her subjects, though at first the newly dubbed princess had left to return to the north to do who knew what. She returned a few weeks later, though, and at the end of two days went north with a small band of crystallized followers. The next week there were more, and more, and more. Ponies from all over Equestria came to see this crystal princess, and some pledged to her and left to go north. That had been months ago. It was now winter in Equestria, and Crystal Heart had not appeared in Canterlot since late autumn. Her followers, however, still spread her word. Their coats gleamed and shone when it was sunny out, marking them as different from the rest.
Luna knew where most of these ponies resided for their stays in Canterlot, and she was headed there now. The inn, aptly named the Glimmering Gem, was near the outskirts of Canterlot. She opened the door with a touch of magic, entering into the common room. Ponies, most crystal but some furred, murmured and chatted about a warm hearth. A few glanced her way and nodded respectfully, but for the most they did not turn to look at her. She rarely spoke to the ponies, just drank something warm and listened before leaving. She had the innkeeper-pony bring her a hot drink as she took her usual seat near a dark corner to watch and listen.
What she heard was most interesting.
“... Princess Crystal Heart was far too complacent, you dunderhead,” a gleaming midnight colored earth stallion was whispering near to where the princess sat. He must be in his cups, Luna mused to herself, to speak so openly near to me. He does look... familiar, though.
“What does that even mean, Midnight?” a light colored pegasus responded. “She got her kingdom, didn’t she? We’ve been, we’ve seen how marvelous it is! What more could she have taken?”
“Equestria,” the stallion, Midnight, whispered. “Think about it, Velvet. What does that princess in her castle do all day? She sits on her precious throne and listens, but does nothing to help her ponies. She stares at her windows for guidance. Her sister... Who knows what that one does,” he snorted, downing whatever was in his cup and banging it on the table for more. “Crystal Heart could make all of Equestria her kingdom. We’d just have to dispose of the fool on the throne.” The pegasus pony, Velvet, shifted nervously and glanced around like someone might overhear. Which, someone did, but the pastel colored mare didn’t seem to notice the figure in the shadows.
“Midnight, don’t speak so loudly of such things,” she whispered. “They say the princess has ears everywhere...”
“Baah, that’s just a lie to keep the ponies from acting up,” Midnight said. “They don’t even have guard ponies, Velvet, did you know that? I went to that bloody castle once, before the princess took me in. No guards, only pages and messengers. They think they’re invincible. I went and told Celestia my problems, but she just nodded and did nothing to help me. I lost everything because of her.”
Now Luna knew where she’d seen this pony. She even remembered his name, more than her sister could probably say. Midnight Blues had been an earth pony farmer near the base of the mountain. A mudslide had caused him to lose his entire crop for the year, and he had gone to Celestia to plead with her to send somepony to help dig out his fields, or at the very least give him food. He’d had a mare and a child to feed. Her sister had promised to do something, and then had forgotten. Luna focused back on the conversation to try and pick up more of what he was saying.
“... and Charm Speaker and her lot will throw in with us, too,” he was saying. “They’re not content with this either. She wants to see Crystal Heart ruling here, not in the north mountains.” Midnight drained the rest of his drink and clumsily stood up, knocking his seat over in the process. “C’mon, we’ll talk to them now.” He stumbled out with the pegasus Velvet at his side and out into the winter streets beyond.
That left Luna alone with her thoughts. They want to dethrone my sister, she thought to herself. If they did that, by rights, it would be mine unless they got rid of me too, but hardly anypony knows I even exist. I can’t just let them overthrow Celestia, though... She sighed and rose to her feet, leaving her bits on the table for the drink as she left. She walked home in silence, shrouded by a scarf. After hearing Midnight’s grumblings, she noticed how painfully vulnerable they really were. The palace gates were not even locked or guarded, but wide open to let anypony that needed to see the princess in. The front door, too, was unguarded. The hallways were unpatrolled. Have we really let it get this bad? she thought.
She let herself into the throne room, which was unguarded as well. Celestia sat on her throne, shuffling through papers held in front of her by her magic. She looked up when Luna came in, setting her work aside. “Where have you been, sister?” she asked curiously.
“Being your ears, Celestia,” Luna replied tersely, stopping before her sister. “I heard some interesting things in the streets of our fair city. Sister, how long have we ruled in this palace with ponies in Canterlot?”
“Why... I don’t know,” Celestia said, shrugging carelessly. “Perhaps a hundred years, or more, or less. Why do you ask?”
“A hundred years or more or less,” Luna repeated. “And for that long, we have not had a single guardspony to stand watch over our halls or our doorways or even the city.”
“Of course not.”
“Of cou -- Sister, are you mad?!” Luna shouted. The doors to the throne room slammed shut with a blue aura around them, the same that glowed about the night princess’ horn. “We may be alicorns, but we are not invincible! One moment of being careless and one of us could be dead, do you not realize this? You granted Crystal Heart her little kingdom, but did you know her ponies still walk our streets to gather more for their new princess?” she demanded. “Some of them even plan to dethrone you, probably by assassination.”
“They wouldn’t,” Celestia scoffed. “Luna, you’re spending too much time with the common ponies of Canterlot when you should be with me, here. We are in no danger in the palace, and we have no need for petty guards. I am my own guard. I am an alicorn, the finest being in Equestria!”
“You are a fool,” Luna growled. “If you will not hire guardsponies, I will. I cannot have the pony that brings the sun dying, after all.” That said, she turned and stalked to the doors, opening them up as she went.
“Fine, hire your guards,” Celestia huffed. “If you can find the bits to pay them with. Remember, Luna, I control the treasury in the palace. I doubt anypony will come to guard here for free.” Luna left her sister on her throne, the doors shutting softly behind her.
She would show Celestia she needed guards.
--
Two weeks passed, and there was no disturbances to be heard of anywhere in Canterlot or the other cities of Equestria. Celestia took every chance she had to point that fact out to her sister, who still sulked over the fact that their city was unprotected. After one hearing in the throne room that seemed to go on forever, she called an end to the day personal, much to her elder sister’s chagrin.
“You do not decide when the day is done, Luna!” Celestia snapped once everypony had filed out. “That is my task!”
“I was tired of hearing these petty things,” Luna sighed. “You let everypony who’s anypony into this throne room to listen, and how many problems to you solve, Celestia? Besides, I wanted you to meet some ponies I spoke to last week. Boys!” Celestia looked towards the doors as they opened up to admit a pair of stallions, shutting behind them. The taller of the two was a pegasus. His fur was white as snow, his eyes blue and bright. On his flank was the mark of a shield with a pair of lances crossed over it. The shorter was a gray unicorn with yellow eyes. On his flank was a shadow of a rearing pony clashing with another pony.
“Who are these stallions, Luna?” Celestia demanded. Luna walked calmly to stand between the stallions, facing her sister.
“The pegasus is Lancel,” she said, “and the unicorn is Gray Dawn. They are the beginnings of my royal guard, sister.”
“Guard?” Celestia gasped as she jumped to her hooves. “I thought you were done with this folly, sister. We do not need a guard.”
“You say you don’t,” Luna pointed out. “I, on the other hand, wanted a bit more protection than just how fast my spells can fly, Celestia. Lancel and Gray Dawn have been asked to be the captains of my guard. They could be the captains of your guard as well, sister, if you would hire one.”
“I do not need a guard... Alicorns do not need guards!” Celestia shouted. “Honestly, Luna...”
“That is where you are wrong, sister. I’m going to find more ponies like these two. There have to be more that are destined to protect others,” Luna said quietly. Lancel and Gray Dawn had not moved since entering, standing proudly beside the princess of the night.
“How are they destined to protect?” Celestia muttered.
“Lancel is strong,” Luna said, glancing at the pegasus. “He pulled wagons for his father, an earth pony. He could pull a chariot, like that fancy one you had made and yet has no pony to pull it. Gray Dawn’s special magic is defense,” she continued. “He demonstrated for me. I could not get arrows past the barriers he put up, or lances or spears. His shields are strong, sister.”
“I told you, Luna, I will have no guards!” the princess of the sun yelled, starting to walk back to her throne. “Honestly, the idea...” Her voice drifted off as something beyond the windows caught her eye. “Luna, what -- ”
The glass of one of the unfilled windows shattered inwards. An arrow flew through the falling glass, straight for Celestia. The princess was sure she was dead, her eyes shut as her heart stopped for an instant. She felt nothing, though. No arrow piercing her hide, no pain... nothing. Slowly, she dared open her eyes. Lancel was at the end of the throne room with Luna, his body between hers and the shattered window. Gray Dawn was halfway across the room, his horn glowing orange.
Around Celestia was a shimmering orange dome. The arrow was caught halfway in and out of it, hovering inches from the princess. Celestia was still catching her breath as the barrier disappeared and the arrow clattered to the floor. “What... What was...”
“Assassin,” Luna said as she approached, Lancel beside her. “Sister, I warned you, but you would not listen. Open your eyes to our ponies, Celestia. Not all of them are content with you.”
“But... But I...”
“You sit in this castle all day, Celestia,” Luna went on. “I am the pony that gets out among the ponies. You are making a mistake pretending to be above them because you possess wings and a horn and strength like an earth pony. Few of our subjects love you anymore. If it weren’t for Gray Dawn, you would not be alive now. He did his job and guarded his princess.”
“I suppose he did...” Celestia said quietly, looking from the ever silent unicorn to the arrow on the floor. “I have had a change of heart, sister. I will dub Lancel and Gray Dawn knights of the new royal guard, as soon as more ponies are found to serve beneath them. Lancel, Gray Dawn, will you enter into my service as well as my sister’s to protect Canterlot and all of Equestria?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the guardsponies said at once, standing to attention.
“I am grateful... Now, we need to find who sent this arrow to me,” Celestia murmured, going to examine it.
--
By the time spring arrived in Equestria, the princesses were seen in a different light. Celestia had begun to leave the castle to see more of her subjects and the kingdom, while Luna had hunted for more ponies to name defenders of the kingdom. Soon she had a whole score of ponies behind her, and that was when Celestia called a royal ceremony. She knighted Lancel and Gray Dawn with a shining sword the palace blacksmith had foraged, and presented them with armor. It was bronze, with a blue star in the center, as well as helmets and shoes. The new captains accepted it gracefully.
The assassin was never found, but as the guard grew and filled, until soon there were so many that Lancel came to the princesses and said no more could be accepted until further notice. They filled the streets of Canterlot to keep the peace. They stood on the battlements around the palace, as well as at the gates and the doors to the princesses’ chambers and the throne room. The city was safe.
Celestia continued her excursions out into Equestria. When she was gone for long periods of time, always accompanied by guards, Luna took care of Canterlot for her. Soon her sister was well loved by everypony again. Crystal Heart remained north, and her influence in the country faded away.
“With the implementation of the royal guard in Equestria, things once again returned to peace, little ones. As you know, there hasn’t been war in our land for many, many years, nor any sort of tragedy I can think of.” The sun was starting to set beyond the northern mountains, bathing the valley below in a gentle glow.
“But miss,” a little purple pony said, coming forward on unsteady hooves. They were all still children, I thought to myself. So young and precious... “Miss, what about Nightmare Moon?” Ah, of course. Leave it to this particular little pony to remember that legend.
“Little pony, that’s a myth,” I said softly, smiling kindly at the young unicorn. “A scary story to get little ponies into bed, and a myth for Nightmare Night.” It pained me to say so. So much had happened in Equestria since its founding. So much... I had told the children the story, but they knew so little of what had happened. I had not mentioned the wars between the pony kinds in the early days, or the days of chaos when there had not been a pony princess but rather a tyrant who only sought his own amusement.
After all, children did not need to know so much sadness, not so young. I always prayed that they would never know the heartache I felt after watching my beloved country go through so much for so long to try and get its feet below it. I had struggled so much...
“That’s the end of my story for today, children,” I said, smiling as I rose to my hooves. The foals below me all whined, but I sent them off anyways. They would be back another day to hear another of my stories. I had a job to do. I walked through the quiet halls of my home, dipping my head to the guards as I passed.
“Good evening,” one of the older of my guards said, dipping his head to me.
“Good evening, Shadowed Dusk,” I murmured quietly. “Have you been well?”
“Well enough,” the old unicorn grunted. “I’m going to retire soon, I think. These old bones aren’t so good at movin’ quick anymore, you know.” I had to smile at that, nodding my head to him.
“Well, I’ve heard age does that to a pony,” I said softly. Hadn’t old Gray Dawn told me the same once? The first of my guard... I missed him so. My sister had been right bringing him and Lancel to the castle. Without them, I would not have my guard I had today. “I’m off to finish my duties for the day, Dusk. Have a nice night.” I left him and continued on, climbing to the highest tower in my home and out to the balcony at the top.
The sky was still darkening, but it was missing a key element. My horn glowed a soft yellow as I concentrated, digging deep within me like I had that first time I’d done this, finding that special thing and pulling. Slowly, the moon bathed Equestria with her gentle light. I looked up once I had risen it, tears in my eyes. The image of a mare was etched in the surface. Legend said that there was a mare trapped in the moon, and that one day she would use the stars to aid in her escape.
“The night shall last FOREVER!”
My tears rolled down my face as I gazed up at the glorious moon. Yes, Equestria had suffered, but it always prevailed, no matter what. I had gone through so much with Luna. How had I not realized the darkness in her heart? Night princess she might have been, but she had been such a happy foal. When had that changed? I knew, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. It was all my fault.
How many days had passed since I had used our parents’ gift to us against her? Six elements hidden deep under the castle built by our father... Luna and I had first harnessed them to take down Discord, the spirit of chaos, after risking life and limb to break back into our own castle. I had taken them up against my own beloved sister when rage had consumed her completely.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the moon, as I had done every night since I had sent her away. “I will find a way to fix this, sister. Equestria will know peace, and you with it.” The purple filly that came to hear my stories already had promise. Perhaps... If only she had some friends...
The days would continue on. I would continue on, for my sister’s sake. One day, I would apologize to her for what I had done to her. We would be together again, just like we had been at the beginning of it all.
In the beginning, when Equestria was a land with no sun or moon, day or night, Luna and I were together.
