Chapter 1
Celestia should have been relieved, in retrospect.
It had been difficult. The most difficult, agonising battle she had ever fought, in fact. But it’d been necessary, oh so very necessary.
Nightmare Moon lay on the floor of the castle. Her silver armour was strewn around her, charred and blackened. Celestia stared at the body in silence.
It was odd. Somewhere in Celestia’s mind, it registered that she had just defeated her insane sister.
No – more than defeated. Nightmare Moon would never kill, harm or threaten any living being ever again. The danger to Equestria, and the rest of the world, had been neutralised.
Celestia kicked the Nightmare’s corpse over onto its back, revealing the seared hole that had been blown through her chest. The beautiful peytral protecting it had been fused to her flesh by the sheer heat of the magical blast, and the ebon fur was still smoking slightly.
Celestia should have felt relieved, but right there, standing tall and victorious above one of the greatest monsters the world had ever known, she felt only emptiness. Looking inside herself, Celestia could see her emotions surging, but it was like a dam blocking a river; she was cut off entirely.
Still stuck in a mental purgatory, the Sun Goddess idly looked around at the battleground. The stone floor had been cracked and scorched by the combatants attacks, and the ceiling creaked ominously. The Everfree City was now mostly evacuated, save for the monsters that were prowling the streets for the stragglers.
It was rather anticlimactic, honestly; she had been certain that the Elements of Harmony would have done... something, at least. Instead, they simply shone with a bright light and then turned into stone.
She glared down at the five perfectly spherical orbs of stone at her feet. The sixth one had vanished with the spark, apparently. Useless. Though, they had still served a purpose, in their own useless way.
Her sister had been so dumbfounded that Celestia had simply used it to her advantage and struck her through the heart with a raw blast of magic. A burst of light and noise, followed by silence.
The silence was broken by the far-off sounds of shouting; soldiers, by the sound of it, looking for her. Celestia looked back at the ruined doorway, both of the ancient and antique doors ajar, and saw the golden glint of their armour through the gap.
She took a step back from the body, and felt - and heard - something squelch underhoof. She lifted her golden greaved foreleg to look, and saw liquid blackness oozing off the underside, slowly.
The shadows clinging to Nightmare Moon’s body leaked and dribbled onto the floor around her corpse. Already, patches of blue fur were appearing in the Nightmare’s silky black coat.
A look of disgust crossing her face, Celestia grabbed her nemesis roughly with her magic, carrying it alongside her as she started to move towards the exit. She nearly dropped it as she stumbled, temporarily forgetting her own rather severe injuries. Undaunted, she cast a hasty healing cantrip on the worst of her wounds, and marched up to the door.
The guards, of course, chose that exact moment to barge through them, yelling a battle cry with levelled spears... and froze at almost exactly the same moment, much to Celestia’s amusement. She very nearly let herself smirk at their slack-jawed stares, no doubt stunned into silence by the sight of their bleeding princess hefting the carcass of her fallen opponent behind her.
“Captain.” Celestia acknowledged him with a brisk nod of her head, before stepping past him and out onto the path leading up to the broken palace. Her simple acknowledgement immediately jolted the guards into action, and they saluted her stoically.
“Your Highness,” the captain spoke. Celestia didn’t remember his name, and didn’t care enough to ask. “Did you really kill Nightmare Moon?” He spat out the name with audible disgust.
“Yes, I did.” Celestia didn’t stop walking as she talked, and the captain had to trot faster to keep up.
The guards fell silent behind her. For a long moment, no-one spoke.
There was a whisper. “Good riddance.” Celestia halted abruptly, and turned to see the guards glaring at the body floating in her golden grasp with visible hatred.
“You don’t know what it feels like, Celestia!” She had screamed. “You’ve never been hated just for being who you are!”
So, it hadn’t been as much of an overreaction as she had thought, apparently.
Celestia stared at the guards, who were visibly uncomfortable at the scrutiny. She pondered how she should react: Disgust? Sympathy? Confusion?
Celestia remembered that she didn’t care, and returned to walking. There was a lull as the guards exchanged glances, before stepping into formation behind their princess. In only a minute or so, the whispers started back up again.
“...saw her fighting once,” Celestia’s ears swivelled to catch the hushed conversation. “It was terrifying. Like something out of a nightmare.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad.” Another pony whispered.
“She didn’t just fight. It was downright slaughter. She just...” He trailed off at the end. A moment later, he spoke again. “Generations will sing of Her Majesty’s victory today. I just know it.”
Celestia wasn’t sure what to make of it, really. The whole situation seemed dreamlike, as if she were floating high above on a cloud of semi-consciousness. She was under no illusions, however.
She was going to crash back down. Eventually. The only question was when.
“We’re here.” The small party stopped at the city gates, mangled and warped beyond recognition. Through the gap, Celestia could just about spot a single mountain in the distance. “Captain, follow me to Canterlot. The rest of you, fly to Fillydelphia and maintain order.” She commanded, before unfurling her huge wings and shaking them.
An errant thought sprang to her mind, and she stopped, frowning. “My little ponies...” Their attention snapped to her immediately. “What do you think of me? Honestly?”
The three ponies paused. They chatted to each other quickly, before walking up to their Princess with a reverent stare.
“You saved us all, Princess Celestia. You saved the world from the Night Demon, and here you stand before us, asking for our humble opinion?” The three ponies bowed so low that their noses touched the ground.
“We are not worthy!” They yelled with conviction. “All hail the Sun Goddess!”
Celestia smiled on the outside, but the praise left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“Your Majesty.” Celestia snapped out of her musings, flicking her ear at the captain in acknowledgment. “What about the City?”
It should have been a tough decision. The Everfree contained thousands of years worth of history. It was a city of learning, and memories. Celestia would, in any other mindset, rather die than let it be destroyed.
“Burn it.” She commanded. “Raze it all to the ground. That is an order.”
The guards took one look at the look on their Princess’s face, and immediately set to work. Celestia flapped her great wings once, taking to the brightening skies towards Mt. Canterlot. Her loyal Guard captain followed her in silence.
Sometimes, Celestia thought, the past is better off forgotten.
Celestia landed in Canterlot Hold as the sun took its rightful place once more. Nightmare Moon’s “eternal night” had been all but extinguished by the light of the dawn, much to the relief of the ponies of Equestria.
Despite the return of the reassuring daylight, Celestia’s subjects were far from happy. Their livelihoods had been taken from them, and then forced into an ancient mountain stronghold until the government could reorder itself after one of their immortal leaders had thrown the entire country into chaos.
Celestia had something far more important to worry about, however; namely, the dead alicorn slung over her back, bleeding black tar onto Celestia’s tarnished white coat. She knew she must have looked the perfect picture of the legendary war goddess, complete with battle scars and golden armour that was as beautiful as it was fearsome.
And when the crowds of downtrodden ponies saw Princess Celestia alive and well, carrying her defeated nemesis like a trophy, they were awed into silence.
To Celestia, the sight of an entire city prostrating itself before her brought with it a distinct sense of deja vu. Memories of a time when she and her sister had saved civilisation from the King of Chaos himself seeped through Celestia’s mental barrier.
It was only fitting, Celestia mused, that she should remember that time. Both then and now had been days of change, for better or for worse.
It was, indeed, the dawn of a new era.
The crowd moved like liquid around their goddess, shifting and moving as she marched through up to the mountain. Celestia heard a series of disgusting sounds behind her as the enraptured ponies stepped in Nightmare Moon’s tar-like darkness, but it didn’t dissuade them from bowing so low as to be practically inhaling it.
Celestia stepped up to the head of the crowd, then turned. The eyes of Equestria stared back, still deathly quiet. Then, as one, they kneeled.
Celestia nodded once, before beating her great wings and flying, up and up towards the summit. She looked back towards the fortress city, and saw that the ponies were still bowed in fealty.
No, not just any ponies. Her ponies.
And only hers.
Celestia landed at the peak, stumbling slightly as the combination of fatigue and her injuries took its toll.
Her fair features twisted into an angry grimace, one that she carefully tutored back into a neutral frown. She was perfectly aware that no-one would dare follow her up to such a place, but habit was, is, and always will be difficult to break.
The summit was relatively flat, save for the shattered remains of what had once been a grandiose palace at the centre. A reminder of a far-off past, tainted by dissonance and betrayal between allies.
In short, it was perfect.
Celestia stepped through the crumbling corridors, gracefully navigating the rough, uneven floor. The roof had long since collapsed, opening the temple to the dawning sky. Eventually, Celestia arrived at the entrance to the throne room, blocked off by a fallen piece of the roof.
The Princess of Equestria snorted, then struck the obstructing stone with a burst of telekinesis. It shattered into gravel from the force behind the deceptively subtle strike, and she marched deeper into the ancient castle.
On the pedestal at the centre of the throne room, a weathered chair, inlaid with priceless platinum and studded with precious gems, sat atop a raised pedestal. Around the circular room, creepers climbed the old, cold walls. It was rather beautiful, Celestia thought, in a haunting way.
She grabbed the throne in her magic, finding carnal pleasure in watching the stone crack under the sheer pressure she was effortlessly applying to it, then hurled the priceless artefact against the far wall. Celestia swiftly settled her pounding heart, and carried the blue body on her back up the steps.
She slipped Nightmare Moon off her and dropped her onto the pedestal in a heap. Celestia didn’t look at the body once while doing so.
But as she stood at the entrance, Celestia made the mistake of glancing back.
On the pedestal, a beautiful alicorn lay, powder blue mane draped along her tender, graceful features. Her cutie mark, a silver moon against a dark sky, shone ever so slightly in the beam of fresh sunlight that crawled its way along her body.
The sight would have been perfect, Celestia thought, her jaw hanging loosely.
It would have been perfect, if her eyes were still closed.
Those eyes, once so innocent, now stared straight at Celestia.
Celestia felt bile rise in her throat. Panting desperately, she fought to maintain her composure. No, she told herself, that is your enemy.
But why?
Before she knew it, Celestia was stumbling up the steps of the pedestal, tears threatening to escape from her eyes. She clenched them shut with bitter conviction.
No, she pleaded. Don’t cry. She betrayed you. She betrayed Equestria.
But her legs carried her on unheeded, and the waves of guilt were now tearing away at the walls of her mind with mindless abandon.
In no time at all, she was standing over her sister. Little Lulu, the one who had been her confidante, her muse, her rock, her eternal companion.
She was all those things, but for Equestria, she was her enemy.
Celestia couldn’t look away. She was begging her legs to move, begging her eyes to close, but all for naught. And somewhere in Celestia’s mind, it registered that she didn’t want them to.
In the oppressing silence, Celestia’s registered something. A sound. Still staring at the corpse, she scanned the room with her ears.
For only a second, Celestia was confused. Then it clicked, with grim clarity.
The body was moving. Minutely enough to be undetectable, but there was no mistaking the sound.
Luna was crying.
Celestia’s throat felt like she swallowed ash, but she managed to rasp out two syllables. “Luna...?” It--no, she--didn’t respond. If anything, she only sobbed harder.
This is impossible, Celestia thought, leaning her long neck down. I can see the exit wound.
And yet, she was clearly breathing. Right before Celestia’s eyes, her sister’s body shuddered and quaked.
But when Celestia touched her, she froze.
What–
Luna’s head shot up. She stared Celestia right in the eyes, screaming.
So much screaming.
She wouldn’t stop screaming.
Her perfect teal eyes echoed with hatred. Betrayal.
When Celestia recovered, she was sprawled on the stone floor. Without missing a beat, she leapt up and ran for the doorway, glancing backwards as she did so.
Luna’s body lay there, staring at her. She wasn’t moving. In fact, there was no evidence she had moved at all.
But Celestia didn’t stop running. She broke out into the open air, then leapt off the summit, gliding down to Canterlot Hold with only a few beats of her wings.
Her heart only stopped racing when she stood proudly before a cheering city, hailing her as the one and only leader of Equestria, and even then, her mind was wholly fixated on the skeleton she left in the makeshift tomb.
Empress Celestia schooled her face into the very essence of stoicism, but on the inside, the impossible question in Luna’s eyes tore at her.
Why?