To Death and Back

by Bro Dash

First published

Celestia dies, and is brought back to life through an epic struggle.

Everypony all over Equestria wakes up to a black day, no sun. And the moon isn't even there. Panic quickly rises and a gathering at Canterlot is issued by Celestia's sister, Luna. The panic worsens when Luna claims that her sister is still physically alive, but has no soul. Many questions were asked, including if it were a prank that Celestia and her sister were pulling over the entire province of Equestria, but it is no joke.

Celestia wakes up, though, not in the real world. Where she is, is darker than night. After getting used to the darkness, she sees that which would only reside in death. But she was wrong. She is given two doors. One black, deep and feared, and the other white, comforting and beautiful.

She refuses both till she comes to a decision. And what a mistake she has chosen. The doors both fade to nothing and she is plunged into a world of evil and danger. Will she make it back to the living world, be trapped in between the two, or pass on to the afterlife, leaving Luna to manage the world herself?

Chapter 1

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Celestia looked around her. She could not see anything, nor her own hoof in front of her. She used magic to illuminate everything around her, but it only got darker. She thought of this.

"Light makes it darker. It's a required spell to change the eyes, not the light going to the eyes.", she thought.

She worked her magic, converting her eyes to those which would make darkness light, and the light, darkness. Immediately, she gasped at the cruel sight before her. It terrified her. There were malicious events everywhere, horrible things that should never be done. Then as she backed up, something stopped her. She backed up into something huge.

It neither spoke, nor made a sound. It only lifted it's cleaver above its head and brought it down. Celestia used her magic, but it didn't work, and her right wing was cut deeply, nearly cutting it off. She screamed out, rearing up, but no sound came.

She knew this world was not where she belonged.

Celestia began running, tears streaking down her cheeks in fear and pain. She had no idea of what to do, she would die easily here. Wherever here is. Celestia ran till something grabbed her leg, making her trip, she landed on her nearly cut off wing, letting out another silent scream. She could not hear what came to her, but it definitely wanted to kill her.

She looked up at the goblin, watching as it brought it's cleaver to her chest, tapping it, back up, then down hard.

Celestia closed her eyes.

She waited, waited for teh pain which meant her heart had been cut, but it never came, and then fear engulfed her, making her tears flow more freely than she could handle, filling her eyes with thick, watery veils as she opened them.

The cleaver had stopped far above her. It was brought down though. She followed the cleaver down to it's hilt and saw nothing. But the goblin strained against something. The goblin was thrown, and Celestia was astonished, then fear kicked in again.

What just happened?

Celestia began to cower, then began trying to get away from whatever had stopped the cleaver. She backed into a wall, and not feeling her wing, stumbled against it, rolling on the ground. She got up, looking around into the darkness. There was nothing. Nothing there.

Then two bright dots appeared, like wisps. They glowed blue. Somehow, they comforted Celestia, till the face beyond them grew into sight. The mouth opened, showing hundreds of rows of razor sharp needle teeth. Celestia began shaking and got up hurriedly, running even further.

Now, her cut wing hung limply to her side, bleeding freely. She didn't feel it at all then.

After a few minutes of running, her steps became uncoordinated and she stepped on her freely dangling wing, tearing it more than it was cut, screamed, falling over once mroe.

She sobbed, but heard no sound.

She was afraid, hurt, and could easily die, her magic not even working to help her.

Then a feint feeling pressed to her. It was comforting, shedding light on her. She looked up into the great beyond, and saw the light, the beautiful light which she knew would come only in death. She shook from her increased sobs, and it quickly became as black as death holds, deep and eternal. She felt the fear well up even more and her sobs grew harder, louder, she thought she could hear them.

The silence was deafening, no sound from anywhere. It hurt her ears as much as it did her wing. She didn't dare look at it now, probably torn in two by now. But her curiosity got her and she looked. Her wing was torn and cut, but not as bad as she thought. It could heal, and well too, if she found help soon. Or did it herself.

Celestia undid her fake gold necklace, then redid it to her side. She moved her wings to fold against her body and fastened the strong metal tightly, holding the half severed wing closed enough to heal.

She was losing a lot of blood though. After she fell last time, she could not get up. Nor could she even think clearly. Darkness which resembled sleep began creeping into her vision, making her weak and tired. She saw things gather around her, figures that more than likely wanted to kill her, but she didn't care. Once she slipped into unconsciousness, she wouldn't feel a thing...

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Luna looked at her sister, suspended in the white chamber. Her hooves and legs resembled a position which would relax event eh sight of a worried pony, but Luna couldn't be relaxed, calmed, by anything. She could not stop crying, her red eyes still burn from the tissues used. Blood even streaked her eyes from earlier bursts of tears, oh those painful tears.

"Tia...", she sniffed, "Please...please, please, please!!! PLEASE!!!!!!", she sobbed.

She beat on the window, crying out till her hooves started to crack from the pounding. When she finally ran out of energy, she slumped against the thick, cracked glass, sobbing loudly.

A guard moved next to her, brave enough to even try, and before he spoke a word, Luna grabbed him, hugging him tightly and sobbing into his shoulder. The guard shut his mouth, refraining from speaking. It was hard enough to even watch, but being pulled into the sensation, it darned well broke his heart and nearly made him cry. But the most he did was make a sad face.

Luna soon calmed down and was brought back to her room by the same guard. He set her gently down, her shakes leaving his body as he let go of her in the massive bed. Before he left completely, he turned.

"Princess, do you need anything? Anything at all?"

Luna hiccuped, " N-no...I'm f-f-fine."

The guard nodded to her and left, closing the door behind him. The sobs continued, but this time, they seemed louder than when she was at her sister's recovery chamber.

The guard looked to his partner.

"I've never seen her so...so..."

"Depressed, sad, torn up?", the other guard asked.

"Yeah. It almost brought me to tears when she held on to me."

"You're strong, Jack. I'd not have been able to hold back my own."

The guard nodded, then hung his head with a sigh.

"I guess it's back to guard duty. Hopefully they both get better..."