When two young alicorn's family is ripped apart, the orphans must find their own way in world they never knew, and fight against all odds to become the most powerful ponies in Equestria.
In Equestria's distant past, two alicorns are born to loving parents, who happen to be the king and queen. The two fillies grow, watched over by their parents, and learn how to deal with the royal duties they would someday carry out. However, when their family is ripped apart, the fillies must find their own way in a world they have never known existed, and fulfill their ever more urgent destinies.
In the beginning, there were alicorns. Alicorns of every color and size, each in control of an aspect of nature: Fiery Fiora and Char made the flames, Calm Lora and Flack, the rivers, Thunder and Rani the weather, and so on. However, the most powerful alicorns, and undisputed rulers of this land were Queen Stella, and King Sol of the skies. Stella brought forth the moon and stars at night, carving the constellations in the dark sky she loved. Sol brought out the sun to begin the warm day. The alicorns lived throughout what is now known as Equestria, upholding peace and prosperity for the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns in their land. As alicorns are also virtually immortal, this selfsame peace lasted for eons.
In time, news was brought of a new filly in the land. The little alicorn was daughter of none other than Stella and Sol, and with her pure white coat, sunset-pink mane, and already sun-colored magic, it was decided she would be named Celestia, after the day she would someday rule. Some years later, the King and Queen were once again blessed with a filly, this one the color of the night sky, with a periwinkle mane. She was named Luna, after the glowing orb she would one day command.
The royal sisters grew, and in time learned to control their vast stores of alicorn magic to raise the day and night with their parents. They were the best of friends, and were the dears of all the alicorns, being the only foals at the time. They could often be seen running down to make sand castles, or having stunt flying contests. Everything was perfect. Unfortunately, this happy time was not to last.
The draconequoi, masters of chaos, were rising up against the alicorns, determined to destroy the peaceful era, once and for all. Stella and Sol knew they would have to lead the charge against these creatures, but worried for their daughters. With Celestia age 87 and Luna age 54 , they were no where near ready to face the powerful draconequoi. Instead, The king and queen erected a forest around the castle, to ensure their daughters would not be disturbed. They called it the Everfree Forest, as a place their daughters could be forever free. The king and queen also appointed a zebra named Zelia to care for the fillies as they grew, until they could return.
Many years passed. The fillies were worried about their parents, from hearing the bangs, shrieks, and war cries coming from beyond the forests boundaries. Sometimes, Celestia and Luna would fly as high as they could, to try and catch glimpses of where the terrifying sounds were coming from, but, enchanted as the trees were, they could never quite reach the top. This went on for month and years, until one night, everything was silent. Believing Celestia and Luna’s parents would soon return, Zelia left to find a new place to stay in the forest. Little did she know that Queen Stella, King Sol, and all the other alicorns, along with most of the draconequoi had been killed in the onslaught of the war, and the sun and moon were controlled by all the unicorns, straining, and using every last drop of power to move them across the sky. The fillies were on their own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why don't they come back, Tia?" Luna asked, for the thousandth time,"You don't think they stopped loving us, right?" Celestia sighed.
"Luna, I'm sure they love us just as much as we love them. They're still raising the sun and moon for us, aren't they? They'll come back soon. You'll see." Though Celestia was saying the words, she wasn't sure she believed them. Stella and Sol had been gone for so long, she wasn’t sure they even remembered who their daughters were anymore.
“I know, Cela!” Luna cried,”Why don’t we go to find them! We could make it a quest, just like in all the books.”
“Lulu,” Celestia began, trying to ignore her sisters pleading baby eyes,”we are not going on a quest. Outside is dangerous, Mom, Dad, and Zelia told us not to leave without an adult.”
“Well the whole reason we need to go is we find an adult,” Whined the little midnight blue filly,”In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t exactly have an adult here at the moment. Plus, I’ve been looking through the magic books in the library. I can do a ton of cool stuff now, watch!” Her eyes screwed up in concentration, Luna began to pick up objects in the room, like Celestia’s parchment, and whirl them around in hurricane.
“Luna, stop that!” Yelled Celestia,”I need that paper!” Luna’s eyes snapped open, and she slowed the hurricane, and replaced the miscellaneous books, quills, and junk she had used.
“Sorry Cela, I just wanted to show you I could do something to help on our quest.” sighed the blue filly, her disappointment reflected in her eyes.
“Oh, Luna, I’m not mad at you!” Said Cela, “I had no idea you could such advanced magic! We might have a chance on this quest after all!”
“YAY,” shouted Luna, as she bounced in a circle around her sister,”Oh yayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayay!!”
“BUT,” Said Celestia, using the royal voice her father used to use,”We have to find Zelia first.”
“Lulu, Zelia used to live out there. She knows the landscape, and she knows how to act around other ponies. We’ve only met other alicorns. We don’t know how to act around earth ponies, or unicorns or even pegasi. We need some help.”
“Fine!”said Luna, heaving a big fake sigh,” Just don’t blame me when she says we can’t have any fun.”
“Don’t worry Lulu, I won’t.” said Celestia with a smile. “Now go pack your things, we’re off on an adventure!”
“Yay!” Screamed Luna, and she raced up the stairs, coming down five minutes later, saddle bags stuffed to the brim. Celestia finished packing the last of the food in the kitchen, then followed her sister, who was bouncing up and downing by the door. Then, with a sigh, they flung open the door, and set off on their adventure.
“Cela, I’m tired!” Whined Luna, flopping onto her back and waving her feet in the air. Celestia held back a sigh, rolling her eyes.
“Luna, we’ve been walking for five minutes, I think you’re fine. Now, are you sure Zelia went this way when she left?” Luna nodded her consent, so the two young fillies travelled on. Since Luna was so rarely silent, Celestia usually enjoyed these times when there wasn’t an incessant blue filly yammering in her ear, but now, with worry about her parents, and wariness to her surroundings, she wished Luna would say something silly, like she always did. However, before her wish could be granted, a loud Crack rang through the woods. The two fillies stopped dead in their tracks, Cela cocking her head to listen, Luna hiding between her sisters legs.
“Luna, stop shuddering, I’m trying to listen!” Muttered Celestia in an undertone, trying to triangulate the sound. Luna obliged but continued to hide under her sister, covering her eyes with her hooves. Moments later, another loud Crack rang out. Celestia whipped her head towards the sound, trying to see if there was something in the trees. Cautiously taking a few steps forward, she then stopped to peer around once more.
Suddenly, the world went pitch dark. It was as though the sun had vanished! Luna screamed. Celestia threw Luna onto her back and with a shout of “Hang on!” she took off running, desperately trying to reach some form of light. Then, the ground vanished from under her hooves, and she and Luna tumbled into a pit of blackness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Unhhh” moaned Luna feebly, her eyelids fluttering open. She could see a dim light glowing in the distance, much like the silvery brightness of the moon. She looked around for Cela, but black as it was, she couldn’t find her. Like a moth toward a a flame, she dragged herself toward the light. It grew brighter and brighter. To Luna, it was like being enveloped in a star. When she reached the center of the star-like light, it turned out to be the most beautiful tree Luna had ever laid eyes on.
It had sweeping silver willow branches, glittering like frozen dew on a winter morning, flashing rainbows across the canyon, as the tree swayed in a non existent wind. In a hexagon around the branches, shone five bright gemstones; a ruby, a sapphire, a topaz, a rose quartz, and an amethyst. In the center of the tree was a strange six pointed star, no two arms the same length, almost like a compass rose. Luna had no idea what the tree was, but she was sure Celestia would.
“Cela! Cela! CELA!” Luna cried. A faint moan was her only reply. Against her instinct, she raced back into the blackness, that, for some reason didn’t seem as dark as before. Another light had flared up. By instinct Luna followed it. Somehow, she just knew it would lead to her sister. However, it was apparent that all Celestia could see was the dim light from tree Luna had followed before. The sisters barreled into each other, and rolled over one another, before coming to a rest with Celestia squashing poor little Luna. The filly wriggled out from under her sister, and proceeded to badger her, until she would follow Luna back the tree. When they reached it, Celestia almost fainted with shock.
“The Tree of Harmony!” she breathed. Her mouth was agape with awe. “I thought it was just a legend, but its real!”
“You mean this is The TREE OF HARMONY! You said that was just a fairy tale!” cried Luna, both indignant, and amazed, “If the tree is real, does that mean that the elements are real too?” Celestia sighed.
“I don’t know Lulu. But, I think you remember how to find out.”
“You mean touching the trunk like the ponies did in the story?” Luna Said, her excitement growing.
“Thats exactly what I mean! On three then?” Celestia asked. Luna nodded vigorously, positioning her left hooves over the trunk.
“Ready? 1, 2, 3!” Celestia cried, then pushed her hoof onto the shining bark. The second their hooves made contact, a great rumbling arose from the very roots of the tree. The star in the center began to split into two halves, opening like a door to reveal a magenta gem, in the same shape as the doors that enclosed it.
A rainbow hue shot up the tree, causing the other gems to glow. Then all at once, the gems each shot a brightly colored beam of light into the six pointed star in the center, as though a conductor. The Magenta gem combined the beams into one ray of light, shooting out between the fillies, and forming two alicorn silhouettes. The light abruptly died away, and the magenta gem was once again hidden away behind the doors, and the rainbow hue faded away, leaving two fully grown alicorns standing there, behind the fillies, one with a coat as dark as night, and a mane shimmering with stars, the other, a sun yellow coat, and a mane of flames.
The sisters turned around to face the alicorns, expecting to the faces of some ancient ancestors, to grant them wisdom, or something like that. Instead they were looking into the faces of the two ponies they wanted to see most.
“Mom, Dad” screamed Luna, throwing herself at them. Sol, enfolded her in his hooves and held her tight. Celestia got over her shock,and trotted over to her mother. Soon they were all crying, and hugging together, just like they used to. When they finally broke apart, Stella and Sol, were beginning to flicker strangely.
“Celestia, Luna, you must listen to us, for we do not have much time.” said Sol in his deep steady voice. “We may be here now, but we are simply visiting, and will not be able to return again. You are the rightful rulers of Equestria now. You must go claim your place at the throne.”
“We fear, that with tribal boundaries flaring up again, it will be no better than it was before the alicorns came to power,” Continued Stella,” It is imperative that you find your way back to Equestria, and take your place, as the last of the alicorns.”
“You mean they’re all gone?” said Luna, a sob embedded in her voice
“Yes, my darling, but never fear. Though we may not be able to speak with you again, we will always be with you, to help and guide you in times of fear. We love you my darlings, we always have. Now go, before the Unicorns of Equestria fail in their duty!”
“We love you Mom and Dad” The Fillies cried. Then with one last smile at their daughters, the king and queen of Equestria vanished, leaving the princesses to take the throne.
“NO!” Luna cried. She raced back to the tree, and pressed her hoof back where it had been. “Come on Cela, it has to be both of us!”
Though Celestia knew it was futile, she pressed her hoof back where it had been before, if only to humor her sister. However she was astonished to see the rainbow glow flare back up, this time coming to rest around the fillies hooves. To their amazement, where Celestia’s hoof was, a sun was being carved into the bark, and the space Luna’s tiny hoof occupied, now sported a beautiful crescent moon. Then, as quickly as it had come, that rainbow glow faded away once again.
“It must be a sign Lulu.” Said Celestia. “A sun and a moon, it must mean that we are to control out elements, like Mom and Dad said.”
“I guess.” Sighed Luna. Than, brightening up she added, ”Though the situation with The unicorns sounded serious. Lets go save Equestria!”
Though Stella and Sol might have told the young alicorns what the problem was, they didn’t bother to tell them the where. It took the sisters an hour just to find the rough, moss covered staircase that led out of the canyon. While Celestia could have flown out, Luna wasn’t strong enough yet, and Cela could only fly short distances carrying her. However, the two fillies now possessed an acute sense of direction. They somehow knew exactly where they were going, even if they didn’t know exactly what to do.
Though the trees still grew magically when the fillies tried to fly up to see the edge of the forest, the trees were becoming thinner, and sometimes, Celestia and Luna would swear they saw the outside world. After about two weeks of travel though, the fillies finally reached the end of the trees, and the entrance to the beautiful land of Equestria.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Cela, what’s all that white stuff covering everything?” Squeaked Luna, gingerly prodding a pile of said stuff with her hoof. The little filly had never seen anything like it! “It’s COLD!” she yelled, clutching her hoof back against her warm blue coat.
“Lulu, that “white stuff” is snow.” Said the older filly, trying to stifle her laughs.
“SNOW! I’ve always wanted to see snow!” At this, Luna could hold herself back no longer, and bounded out into the snow... only to sink into a snowbank. Cela burst out laughing, falling to her side and rolling on the ground with her chortles.
A muffled voice rang out from the snowbank,”I can hear you! Help me out, I’m stuck!” The pink-maned alicorn rolled back onto her feet, calming down her hysterical chuckles. Clutching her side, she limped over to the drift where her sister was buried. Before she reached it though, a muffled humming reached her ears. Before Celestia could triangulate it, a blue streak burst out of the snow bank and flew into the air, showering Celestia with snow.
“LUNA! That was on purpose!” Celestia shouted, her anger slowly turning into laughter. An evil glint in her eye, she lit up her horn, and grabbed all the snow in the clearing with her magic, and shot it up toward the speck that was her sister. Apparently Luna wasn’t looking below her, because the snow hit her full force. With a gleeful shout, Luna tucked in her wings and swooped down toward her sister, grabbing some snow with her magic.
Crunching the snow into a sheet, and focusing it below her, she yelled,”HEY Cela!” Celestia looked up, just to be bowled over by the snow. Soon the two sisters were engaged in their first snowball fight, using their wings and horns to their advantages. After a while, a snow covered Luna plopped down beside her sister. Celestia, was exhausted as well, and lay down beside her. The two of them huddled up together, and slept away their first night outside the woods.
Celestia woke the next morning as the sun started to creep over the horizon. However, it wasn’t the sun that woke her, it was the shouts emanating from a small town she hadn’t noticed before.
“Lulu, wake up, ” she said, prodding her sister,”there’s something I want to check out.” Luna groaned and rolled over. Celestia then proceeded to shake the her, until Luna looked up at her with bleary eyes. Motioning with her hoof, Celestia showed luna where the voices were coming from. The fillies hid behind a building as they looked at the scene before them. Hundreds of unicorns were straining with all their might to move the sun up into the sky. The ponies looked exhausted, and all of them had dark circles under their eyes. As the fillies watched, one of the unicorns collapsed, her horn flickering as she used up her magic. Luna jumped up and raced toward the unicorn, but Celestia caught her, and held her back.
“Luna, we must not be seen!” Cela whispered. Luna lessend her pull slightly, but still strained to get to the fallen unicorn’s side. More unicorns were collapsing, the strain of raising the sun too much for them. The unicorns were steadily losing their battle, and the sun was dropping lower and lower in the sky.
“NO!” Shout Celestia. Letting Luna go, she galloped out into the crowd, and lit up her horn. Using all her strength, she lifted the sun, straining, but prevailing. When the sun reached it’s peak, she extinguished her horn. She must have flapped her wings without realizing it, because was flying above the crowd, which was staring at her, open mouthed. Then, she realized none of the unicorns had even used their magic. She had lifted the sun all by herself. Suddenly, a strong wind started blowing sweeping up Celestia in a spinning tornado. By instinct she pulled in her wings, and shut her eyes. Her mane was whipping around, in her face, hitting her back, and she wished the wind would stop. As though obeying her command, the wind softened, and started to slowly lower the white filly toward the ground.
When she felt her hooves come to rest on solid ground, Celestia tentatively opened her eyes, only to shut them again as a bright light shone around her flank. After a few seconds, Cela saw the light dim through her eyelids, and opened her eyes once again. The first thing she noticed was her mane. It wasn’t draped down against her neck like normal, it was flowing like in a breeze! Looking behind her, she found that her tail was doing the same thing. Then, she noticed the sun beautiful sun on her flank. She wanted to cry out in joy that she FINALLY got her cutie mark, but with all the ponies around, she decided it wouldn’t be proper.
The ponies in the square were whispering to each other, some looking confused, some scared, some awed. Finally a green pegasus stallion with a short mane and a lettuce leaf as his cutie mark approached Celestia.
“Little filly, you are very strong. What is your name?” he asked, smiling at the baffled filly.
“Celestia.” She said softly. Spreading out her wings, she said louder,”My name is Celestia.”
Celestia looked around the crowded town square. Every single pony was outwardly gaping at her. She could her murmurs being passed throughout the crowd too, and she caught the words “Celestia?”, “The Princess!”, “The daughter of Stella and Sol?” These words unnerved her, and she started scanning the crowd for Luna, hoping the two of them could get the hay out of there! Then she heard a sound, rather like someone rolling down a mountain. That’s when a dark blue blur rolled into her legs, bowling her over. This time Luna was lucky, and landed on top of Celestia, rather than being squashed underneath the older filly.
“Luna! Get off, you’re squishing me!” Neighed Celestia in a muffled voice.
“Oh, hehe, oops! Sorry, Cela!” Said Luna. Stifling a laugh, she hopped off her sister. Celestia scrambled back up to her hooves. With a look of disgust, she looked at her white coat, now smudged with dirt. Her mane, oddly enough, was still flowing against her neck, and didn’t seem to have a trace of dirt on it at all. At least part of me is clean, She thought, so much for dignity. She glared down at Luna, while she looked sheepish back at her sister. Sorry, Luna mouthed. Celestia snorted, and looked back up at the crowd. The ponies were exchanging whispers, and sneaking glances at the two alicorns, while some of the foals were trying to stifle giggles at Luna’s undignified entrance. Soon, the green pegasus stepped forward once again, and this time directed his questions toward Luna.
“Hello little filly. I’m Leaf, what’s your name?”
“Hi, Leaf I’m Luna!” Squeaked Luna, so excited to talk to a pony that wasn’t Celestia or Zelia. “Iwasborninacastleinaforestinequestriain-mph ngh!” Celestia had shoved her hoof in front of the fillies mouth. She gave Luna her ‘you really need to be quiet NOW’ look, and when the filly nodded, Celestia removed her hoof and placed back underneath her.
“Sorry about that Leaf. This is my sister, Luna. She and I are alicorns from the Everfree Forest.” At this, Leaf’s eyes widened, and several ponies in the crowd gasped. Celestia was confused, but continued with her tale. “Several years ago, our parents left to fight in a war, and left us in the care of a zebra named Zelia. When the war was over, Zelia left us, believing our parents would return. However, she was wrong. Our parents did not return, and we found later that they perished in the onslaught of the war.”
Luna interrupted her sister, saying,”We came here to find other ponies, and maybe even a family to take us in.” She turned down her lip, and let her eyes widen, making them reflect the unshed tears in them, giving the crowd the ‘bambi eyes’ her sister so dreaded. It seemed Leaf had gotten over his shock, just to succumb to her cuteness, for he had once again stepped forward.
“Oh, don’t cry little filly, I’m sure there is nice family of ponies willing to take you both in. Now, can you tell us who your parents were?” Luna sniffed and looked up at the green pegasus, slowly nodding her head. Celestia snorted and rolled her eyes. Luna had always been VERY capable at using crocodile tears, as she knew from bitter experience.
At this point, as Celestia had predicted, Luna had started to let the tears slowly, leak down her face as she replied,”S-Stel-la a-and S-S-Sol.”
Leaf gasped, as did the other ponies in the square. He dropping down to his knees he proclaimed,” Your Majesties! I am your humble servant.” Soon, the other ponies followed his lead, drawing one leg close their side, and bending down, in the traditional posture of respect. The white alicorn was looked around, and sure enough all the ponies were bowing. It unnerved her once more, for though she was technically royalty, she didn’t like all of the ponies who were much, much older than she bowing down to her, like she was the one in charge. Walking up to Leaf, she rested a hoof on his shoulder.
“Rise, rise all of you,” She said gently,”there is no need for that.”
A voice rang out from somewhere within the masses,”But your Majesty! You are our queen!” Celestia reared her head up sharply. I guess I am the queen, since Mother died, She thought, But I’m not ready to rule a kingdom! Not yet! She let out a sigh, and dropped head down to her hooves. After a few moments, she lifted it back up, with a new light of determination in her eyes.
“Citizens of Equestria, I am not your queen.” She yelled definitely. Once more, gasps rang out across the crowd, and a general murmur began to ascend. Celestia gave it a few moments, then raised her hoof for silence. She was obeyed immediately. “I know what you must be thinking, that as next in line for the throne, I should be queen. But, that is not to be. My mother, Queen Stella was your queen, making me, and Luna, your princesses. I see no reason for that to change now. Luna and I are still young, at least by alicorn standards, and we are by no means ready to lead a kingdom, not yet, But if we are to rule someday, I think we should see more of this land, meet more ponies, and understand the ways of our kingdom, not stay locked in a castle our entire lives. Luna and I both know how that feels, and neither of us wish to experience it again. I hope this will be made possible for us, so that when it is time for us to rule, we can create a golden era for this land of Equestria.” Celestia stopped and took a breath, while the scene errupted into talking. She had never made a speech in her life, and was amazed at how easily the words had come to her. She was so amazed by her speech that she didn’t notice leaf trotting back up to her, flanked by two white pegasus stallions with blue manes.
“Fine speech my princess,” Neighed Leaf, his eyes twinkling,”I almost thought you had prepared it in advance.”
“Yeah Cela!” Whinnied Luna,”You should have gotten your cutie mark in boring speeches!” Celestia reached out a hoof and embraced her sister, rolling her eyes. She loved Luna to death but honestly! The things she blurted out sometimes!
“Anyway, Princesses,” Said Leaf, in much more formal tone,”We have decided to take you to Canterlot, out capital, and government central. We have already sent news of your return to our tribe leaders there, and they await your arrival there. Are you up to flying a long distance?”
“Ahh-uhh, Maybe tomorrow, Leaf” Yawned Luna,”I’m too tired right now.”
“Luna, it’s barely an hour after sunrise, how are you tired already?” sighed Celestia, and moved her wings so Luna could jump onto her back.
“Oh, about that...” Said Leaf, his eyes darting back and forth,”The unicorns do not have enough strength to raise the sun and moon anymore. You both saw what happened this morning. The unicorns simply will not be able to control the celestial bodies any longer.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Said Celestia matter-of-factly,”Our parents showed us how to raise the sun and moon before they...departed. I can raise the sun in the morning, and help Luna raise the moon and stars at night, at least until she gets stronger. We can raise them from anywhere, right?”
“Indeed you can, your highness.” Said a deep gravelly voice from behind them. A grey unicorn with a short, white mane was walking up to them, his horn unusually long and sharp. “Though you could not see them, unicorns all across Equestria were raising the sun this morning, as they have been for generations. It is a good thing you came along when you did, or else the sun would have dropped, and left us permanently in the twilight zone. Before you ask Highness-,” for Celestia had just opened her mouth to speak,”-my name is Striker. I am the appointed head gaurd for this town of Baltimare. The two pegasi with Leaf here are Thunder and Lightning, my best guards. We pledge our service to you, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. We promise to protect and serve you, until our final moments.” At this, the three ponies bowed down to the shocked young alicorn.
“Th-thank you Striker, Thunder, Lightning.” Said a bemused Celestia,”I accept your pledge, and appoint you the princesses personal guards. Leaf, if you will accept, I would like to appiont you royal adviser. You will be our pony to turn to, and our guide to the land of Equestria.”
“Of course I accept, My Lady. I would be honored!” At this Leaf sank to his knees in a bow.
“Now, we will need to find a chariot for Striker and Leaf. We have a long flight ahead of us.” Said Celestia, trying her best to sound like a leader.
A nearby earth pony beckoned the pegasi over, and dragged out a simple, wooden air chariot, meant to be pulled by two flying pegasi. While the earth pony helped Thunder and Lightning harness themselves, Celestia woke Luna, who had been napping on her back, and the two of them went around, making up some bags full of provisions for the journey. Striker and Leaf helped load them into the chariot, and the fillies restocked the saddlebags they had brought from their castle in the Everfree Forest. Luna ran ahead to part the crowd so the chariot had enough room to take off. The pegasi positioned the chariot at the start of the gap Luna was slowly, but surely creating, while Celestia helped Leaf and Striker into the chariot. When Luna came bounding back, the traveling party spread their wings.
“Where to, Princess Celestia?” asked Lightning
“Canterlot!” Exclaimed Celestia. With that, the princesses flapped their wings and took to the air, while the chariot rolled for a moment, then bounced up with the two pegasi easily pulling it. We’re off! thought Celestia, Off to start our new lives!
Luna let out a whoop, as she buzzed her tiny wings in loop-de-loop around the carriage. I’ve never been this high before! She thought in wonder. The ponies below her looked like tiny ants crawling around on the ground, though in reality, Luna knew many of them were far bigger than she. Luna looked behind her, at the occupants of the pegasus-drawn wagon. Stryker was looking relaxed and confident, as she predicted he normally did, while poor Leaf was even greener than before, and clutching tightly to the side. Stifling a laugh, Luna sped up to meet her sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The soon to be Princess Celestia was lost in thought as she flew toward Canterlot. So much had happened in the last few days, it was becoming hard to keep all the facts straight. So deep in her own mind was she, she almost didn’t notice her sister flying full speed toward her her until it was too late. Poor Luna wasn’t able to slow down fast enough, so she tried an in-place spin like her sister had been trying to teach her, but accidentally clipped Celestia’s wing in the process, sending the two alicorns pinwheeling like one-winged pigeons.
After flapping and flailing for a few moments, Celestia managed to right herself, only to find Luna already flying in dizzyingly tight circles about ten feet above her head.
“LUNA!” Shouted Celestia, “You almost knocked both of us out of the sky! You need to be more careful, or we won’t even make it to Canterlot, much less the lands beyond!” Luna had stopped circling, and was hovering next to Celestia. At these words though, her eyes lit up as bright as the sun.
“Lands beyond!” Neighed Luna,”You mean we're actually going?!” Celestia nodded her head, and Luna started zigzagging all around the sky shouting, ”YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” As usual, and rather unfortunately for the small traveling party, Luna wasn’t looking where she was going, and was starting to come dangerously close to the carriage, while Thunder and Lightning tried their best to dodge the speeding filly. Leaf was clinging onto the side of the carriage for dear life, somehow turning an even greener shade than normal, as the pegasi struggled to avoid an impending collision.
“LUNA!” Celestia screamed. She buzzed her wings like a hummingbird, shooting forward with enough force to push a nearby eagle into a passing cloud, out of which he popped his head, looking indignantly at the pink and white streak that was Celestia. The white alicorn cried,”Sorry!”, and flew on in her mission to rescue others from her little sister.
Luna was still flying around, though at a slightly more manageable speed, but still too fast for them both to survive an airborne collision, so Celestia flew slightly above her, fanning out the feathers on the lower half of her wings, but keeping the top half close together so she could hover in one place while implementing for half-formulated plan. When she was certain she would neither fall, nor be carried up higher than she already was, she started flapping her wings as hard as she possibly could, creating a strong downward breeze.
Thunder and Lightning were the first to react; obviously the breeze would have an effect on the carriage that Celestia hadn’t accounted for. Silently cursing herself, she looked down at the blue blur that was Luna. Luckily she was slowing down, the breeze forcing her to concentrate all her strength on just staying aloft. Seeing that her plan was working, she slowly slowed her wings, and let her feathers return to their normal positions. Celestia let herself glide slowly down to the carriage, where the occupants and pullers were looking harried but OK. Checking in quickly, she found that some of their supplies had blown out, but they were otherwise alright, except maybe Leaf, whose hooves were white after clinging to the wall so tightly. Celestia smiled at them, then gilded down to her sister, eyes hardening as she went.
“You see Luna, Ya’ see!? This is what happens when you lose control. It may be fun when we’re playing, but up in the air it’s very dangerous!”
When Cela paused for a breath, Luna immediately jumped in with a,”But I did-”
“Ba-ba-ba Luna, I don’t want to hear it.” Celestia said, her voice growing colder with each word. “You can’t react this way to everything that excites you! You could end up putting other ponies lives in danger!” Celestia’s gaze softened as she sighed,”Oh, Luna, I know you’re young, but it’s time for you to start growing up. We might become princesses soon an-”
“PRINCESSCES!!” Luna bounced up a couple feet in the air, like she was about to take off again, then slowly descended back to her sister. In a very formal tone, she said to Celestia,”Pardon me, please feel free to continue.” Celestia laughed and pulled her sister close, being careful to avoid her wings.
“Canterlot Ho!” Shouted Stryker. Celesia gasped and looked up, noticing for the first time a small blot on the side of the mountain ahead of them, steadily growing larger as the group approached.
“Luna, look!” Neighed Celestia,”It’s Canterlot! It’s Canterlot!” Celestia felt like a symphony should start playing. Her first true glimpse of Canterlot was all she’d ever dreamed without realizing it: Ponies playing together, her sun glinting off the sun encrusted castle. Luna gave a whoop, and sped up towards the distant city, until Celestia called her back. “We don’t want to frighten them by just barging in.” She said, trying to formulate an idea of they should arrive in Canterlot,”We’re new to this Equestria an-”
“Uh, Cela?” Smirked Luna,”We’ve lived here our whole lives, remember?” “Ugh, Luna I know we’ve lived in Equestria our whole lives, but we haven’t live in Equestria our whole lives.” Sighed Celestia.
“Ok, now I’m just confused.”
“Fine, Luna, what I mean is, we haven’t lived around these ponies before, in fact, most of them have probably never even seen an alicorn before. We need to be calm, and make friends instead of jumping in and becoming dictators.”
“Oh. Well, when you say it like that...” Luna agreed,”you might just be right. It is a good idea for us to come in slow.” Celestia smiled and hugged her sister close again, looking once more at the city that was Canterlot.
“Sorry to interrupt the tender moment highnesses,” Called Striker,” But we are beginning our descent into Canterlot.”
Both sisters gasped, their eyes lighting up with excitement. Striker could tell they were using all of their self-control just to keep pace with carriage, and not go shooting off.
Sometimes they would lose it, and shoot down like bullets for a few feet, then stop and wait for the others to catch up.
After what felt felt like hours, but was probably just a minute or two, the traveling party touched down on the cobbled streets of Canterlot. Celestia quickly brushed a few stray leaves out of her mane, and rubbed some dirt off of Luna’s cheek. She looked back at the rest of the group; a small cloud of dust showed that Leaf had taken off, most likely in search of the nearest bathroom, while Striker was helping Thunder and Lightning out of their harnesses. Satisfied that everyone was fine, Cela looked back up, only to see that they were surrounded by a group of open mouthed ponies of all kinds; earth, unicorn, and pegasus. Well we did it, thought Celestia, We finally arrived!
The grin on Luna’s face was quickly widening, until it looked like it would swallow up her entire face. Celestia gave it about three seconds until Luna started running around screaming. To try and avoid this, Celestia walked up to the nearest pony, who happened to be a light pink unicorn mare with a pitch black colt kicking a hoof in the dirt at her side. The mare looked at Celestia and smiled.
“Hello little ones. My name is Lucem, and this is my son Sombra.” The mare said. Sombra looked up at the sound of his name, but went right back to kicking his hoof. Celestia smiled at him, but he just looked away. “I take it the two of you are Celestia and Luna?”
The alicorn was startled, but she regained her composure and said,”Yes, we are. Myself, Luna and the rest of our party are looking for the... um..er..”
“The Grand Council!” Luna interjected, running out from behind her sister. Hearing a younger voice, Sombra looked up again, only to be bowled over by a midnight blue blur. Luna stood over him speaking so fast she couldn’t be understood by anypony, not even her sister! Celestia trotted over to them, apologizing to Lucem the whole way, and pulled Luna off of him. Sombra sat up, and instead of hiding behind Lucem like Celestia expected, he went over to Luna, and the two started talking. Smiling at them, Celestia turned back to Lucem, to see the same warm glow reflected there.
“Don’t bother apologizing,” she lilted,”I’m just glad to see Sombra talking to somepony, he’s always been so shy. Also, as for the Grand Council, it just so happens I work there, since my little Sombra is the protegee to Clover the Clever, representative and leader of the unicorn tribe.”
“But don’t all the ponies live together now?”Celestia asked, confused. “I saw unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi at the village where we were found.”
Lucem laughed. “Right you are, young one. However, each race still is technically part of a tribe, even of they are not just one big group, and therefore still answers to their representative, and tribe leader. The three tribe leaders, Clover the Clever of the unicorns, Smart Cookie of the earth ponies, and Pansy of the pegasi, and their protegees make up the high council. They’re the ones you and your sister are to meet.”
Celestia gulped. She wasn’t sure what she would say to the ponies in charge. I am the rightful ruler, step down? Don’t worry, she chided herself, it will all be fine. You’ll figure it out.
“Now, how about you gather up your sister, and the rest of your group, and I’ll take you to the Counsil.”
“Thank you very much Mrs. Lucem,” Intoned Striker. He was walking over to them, Thunder, Lightning and Leaf in tow. Looking over at the foals he said, “Luna, it’s time to go. Come along now.”
“AWWWW” Luna whined. Sombra said nothing, but Cela could tell by the way his shoulders slumped, he didn’t want Luna to go either.
“Don’t worry my little ponies, both of you will be coming with us.” Said Celestia. She couldn’t bear to see the the little colt sad. Following Lucem, the ponies trotted around the city. While the village guards seemed at ease, it was obvious Leaf had never been to a metropolis this large before. He seemed very nervous and and started every noise. When Celestia tapped him in the shoulder to ask if he was okay, she could have sworn he grew wings and became a pegasus for how high he jumped in the air. Lucem trotted at the front of the group, pointing out landmarks to Celestia and Leaf at her side. Behind them were Luna and Sombra, talking and laughing with each other, while Thunder and Lightning watched the from either side. Bringing up the rear was Striker, keeping a watchful eye, just in case.
As it turned out though, Striker’s watchful eye wasn’t necessary for this trip. As they walked through city, the young alicorns were astounded by the grandness of it all. True, they had grown up in a castle, but this was different. The whole city was bursting with life, and there were ponies there than Celestia and Luna had seen in their entire lives combined! There were so many things to look at, Luna got a neck cramp from spinning her head so much. Having ponies in a place makes it seem much friendlier, thought Luna, remembering the large, empty castle where she had spent her days. She also really liked Sombra. He was funny, and really nice once you got to know him. He came from a long lineage of very famous unicorns, and had a lot of magical power, which was why he had been chosen to be the successor of Clover the Clever, but he didn’t really care about that stuff. He just wanted to have fun with his friends, but since he was such an important pony, all the adults treated him like he was royalty, and the foals treated him like an outcast.
Luckily for him, he had just met the one pony who didn’t care about that, and was almost in a similar position, about to be crowned one of the joint rulers of Equestria and all. The two them had hit it off almost immediately, figuratively and literally, in Luna’s case. At first they had talked about general foal things, but then sombra asked;
“Luna, How old are you and Celestia?”
“Well, I’m 163, and Celestia’s 257. How ‘bout you?” Luna replied, unaware that she was 40 years older than the oldest pony ever recorded.
“I’m eig- wait a sec, did you just say you were one hundred and sixty-three years old?” Sombra turned to look at Luna in astonishment, while she gazed nonchalantly forward.
“Well, yeah. Did you just say you were eight? You seemed like you were at least in your hundreds!”
“Well normal ponies don’t live as long as alicorns do.” He said, with a touch of indignance. Then, his eyes lit with a curious glow. “Ya know, the legends say that alicorns are immortal, or just age suuuuuuuuuper slow, but I didn’t think that was true.”
Luna smiled,”Well I guess it is. What else don’cha believe?”
“Well, for starters, that the Alicorn War lasted a whole eon....”
Though Luna didn’t remember much of the war, she knew a lot of Alicorn history, and was confirming, and correcting what Sombra thought he knew. However, there was one legend that she had never heard of:
“The Crystal Empire? What’s that?” Luna asked, head cocked in confusion.
“You’ve never heard of the Crystal Empire myths?” Sombra neighed in astonishment,”They’re only like the coolest legends EVER! Up in the north, far beyond the Nightridge Mountains, there was once a beautiful city, where instead of flowers, jewels sprouted out of the ground. The earth ponies who lived there carved their homes out of the massive gems, and learned how to farm and contain the crystals that grew there. Over time, their simple coats became infused with crystal dust, and began to shine and sparkle like the gems they loved. Soo-”
“Uhhh, Sombra?” Interrupted Luna, “That’s nice and all, but I don’t see what’s so great about this place.”
Sombra sighed and shook his head.“Calm your hooves, Luna, I’m getting to that. Now, the crystal ponies were ruled by King Geode, and Queen Sapphire, who were elected at the beginning of the empire. They were well loved by all. However, one day, a subject found a new type of crystal, black as the darkest night. He-”
“Hang on, Som, I think I know this part!” Interjected Luna. Sombra sighed once more, but let her take the floor. “The stallion kept the crystals a secret. He was going through hard times, and really needed the extra bits. Soon, though, he came to realize these crystals, they’re called Sombrants I think, grew off of hate and fear instead of love and hope like the others. The stallion tried to contain them, but they continued to grow and multiply, feeding of the ponies darkest thoughts and fears.” She paused, trying to remember what else Cela had told her about the dark crystals. Eventually, she sighed,”Sorry, Sombra, that’s all I got.”
“No matter, I’ll take it from here. You were right about the name by the way. Anywho, the sombrants were starting to spread all over the empire. Soon, the dark aura projected by the sombrants attracted Umbra, leader of the draconequoi, and current master of chaos, who used the crystals to fuel his dark magic. The Crystal ponies only had limited magic, and they were powerless to stop him. Umbra took the king and queen prisoner, and captured the ponies to use them as slaves, forcing them to work day and night growing crystals. Still the sombrants crept over the kingdom, slowly encasing the once beautiful land.
After several years, the king managed to escape from prison. Using all of his gem making ability, he crafted a magical crystal that would take all of the crystal ponies love and hope and spread across the empire to destroy the Sombrants, and overpower Umbra. Before he could activate it though, Umbra caught wind of his plan, and quickly put a stop to it. However, hard as he tried to break the crystal, he couldn’t leave so much as a scratch on it. As such, Umbra kept the gem locked far away where nopony could find it. In doing this though, he sealed his own fate, for as the Sombrants enclosed the empire, they trapped him inside too.
Legend says the only thing that could free the Empire once again was the Crystal Heart, the gem crafted by Geode, but while it remains missing, so does the Crystal Empire.” Sombra’s voice faded dramatically, and Luna could see the exciment in his eyes just from talking this place. She knew should let him say something first, but she wasn’t very good at self control:
“Hang on a second, missing?” Luna asked confusedly,”I thought you said it was covered in Sombrants.”
“Well, nopony knows if the empire is still there or not.”
“Why not? It can’t be that hard to miss.”
“Luna, nopony is insane enough to climb the Nightridge Mountains, especially not in the dead of winter!”
“Ok, Ok, I get it. But maybe, sometime in summer, we could fly up there and see!” Sombra smiled at this, but almost immediately his face fell.
“You’re the alicorn, not me Luna. I can’t fly, remember?”
“There are plenty of pegasi here who could pull you in a wagon.”
“Not up the mountain, it’s the weather conditions won’t allow it.”
“Stop being such put-down!” Luna exclaimed, stomping her hoof. “We’ll get you up that mountain somehow! I don’t care if it takes a century, I won’t stop until we see if the legends are true!” She held her head up high, and lit up her horn for emphasis. Sombra looked at her.
“Fine. We both agree, someday, we will scale the mountains, and look for the Crystal Empire. We will find a way, no matter how long it takes.” He stuck his hoof out for luna to shake. With a nod she took it.
“No matter how long it takes.”
“Luna, Sombra!” Called Lucem,”Come up here please!” The two foals nodded at each other one more time, then scampered up to the front; Sombra rejoining his mother, and Luna her sister.
Celestia extended a wing and hugged Luna with it. “Did you have fun with Sombra?” She asked Luna.
Luna grinned,”Yeah! We talked about the legends, and the alicorns and, Oh! Did you know Sombra’s only eight years old? Crazy! Anyw-”
“Ok sweetie, I’m glad you had fun. Now you need to calm down a bit.”
“Why?”
Celestia gave a small chuckle. ‘Because, Luna. We’re here!”
