Celestia and Luna weren't always royalty, or alicorns. This is the story of how Starswirl the Bearded's spell caused all of the villains, alicorns, and everypony else to fulfill their destinies.
Celestia and Luna were orphaned as fillies, and lived their lives in poverty and innocence. Then, once Starswirl the Bearded enacted his spell, havoc wreaked in pre-harmonic Equestria, and the two sisters have to save it, beginning a new age. But even after Equestria is saved and harmony begun, there is still much left to happen. Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony. This is solely for entertainment purposes.
The rain poured heavily outside the orphanage, thunder booming and lightning flashing. The building stood ominously against the dark night sky, shadowing the street from the moon. On its steps lay a large basket, with a bundle of blankets inside. Stepping cautiously towards it, Emerald Lily, the orphanage's owner, peered inside. The orphanage obscured her view of the basket's contents from the moonlight, forcing her to grab the handle with her teeth and bring it farther out into the street. As she did so, the moon rose just high enough to illuminate the street with a pale, silvery light, shining down into the basket. Inside it lay two sleeping foals. One was a pegasus, with a dark blue coat and blue eyes, and a purple-ish blue mane covering half her face. The other a unicorn, at least a year older, with a white coat, pink eyes, and a soft pink, blue, and green mane almost as thick as her sister's. At least, Emerald Lily assumed they were sisters, even though they looked nothing alike. She picked up the two, and looked in the basket once more for anything someone might have left. All that was in there was a note, saying the foals' birthdays, ages, and names.
"Well Celestia and Luna," Emerald Lily said, bringing them and the note into the orphanage, "welcome to your new home."
-------------------------------
The two sisters grew alongside the rest of the orphans, making friends and learning new things each day. The orphanage was a small facility, just for fillies, with only an average of six ponies in each age group. The age groups, which were schooled separately, weren't very strict about age range, allowing Celestia and Luna to be together. They had three other classmates: Clover, Silver Onyx, and Amethyst. The five were best friends, always in the same classes together and forming clubs, bands, and groups together. They didn't have any specific aspirations yet, but that changed one cloudy day in October.
"Up up up! It's a new day!" announced Emerald Lily, as she turned the lights on in the fillies' room. The five of them all groaned simultaneously, and turned over in their beds. Trying a new tactic, Emerald Lily went up to each of them and yanked their blankets off them, then promptly left the room to wake the other fillies. Celestia was the first to get up, being the most obedient of the five, and Amethyst followed soon after. They walked into the bathroom and started to brush their teeth. They were both exhausted after staying up all last night telling stories and exchanging jokes, and didn't feel like talking that morning as a result. Their sleepy silence was broken as Luna and Clover entered the room, chatting about the field trip they were planning on going on today.
"Who is Starspy the Bored anyways?" Clover asked. "He sounds weird. Unless he's a spy, which would be awesome!"
"But what is he bored about?" Luna questioned.
"Maybe his spying trips aren't interesting enough."
Celestia groaned at her friend's and sister's naïveté. She pulled out a flyer from the cabinet below the sink, showing it to them and pointing to the title. It read, "Exhibit Opening: Starswirl the Bearded" and showed a picture of a unicorn wearing a matching cloak and pointy hat, both with the design of stars upon them.
"As it is clearly stated here, his name is Starswirl the Bearded, not some thing you made up," she scolded. "Also, he's not a spy."
"Then what is he?" Clover asked, incredulously.
"Only the most learned master of magic in all the land!" Celestia shouted with an air of condescension. Luna and Clover looked at each other and burst out laughing, and Celestia realized that they had simply been fooling her. With a huff of indignation, she turned from them back to the small mirror above the sink. Starswirl was a pony she looked up to, honored, and, admittedly, obsessed over. But how could she not?! He had created over 30 spells in his life and even figured out complicated things like time travel! Celestia longed to work as an apprentice of him someday, and maybe even be his successor. With the two fillies still laughing over their lame joke, she looked to Amethyst for some sympathy. Amethyst shared a knowing look with her, but gave her a small smirk as well, which made Celestia start giggling despite herself. She grabbed her sister and gave her a noogie, only relenting after Luna started pleading for mercy. They both smiled at each other, and Celestia went to go wake up Silver Onyx.
"Hey, Tia, want to do the thing that she did to us yesterday?" Luna whispered. Clover and Amethyst looked at them with huge grins on their faces, blatantly excited to pay Onyx back for such a rude wake-up. Celestia quietly nodded her approval, and the four of them snuck back into the bedroom. Clover levitated the bucket in the corner of the room and brought it into the bathroom with Luna, then came back with it filled to the brink with cold water. Celestia helped with the levitation, and the two unicorns went to the upper bunk of the bunk bed, keeping the bucket floating just a few noses away from the railing. Luna then shook Onyx awake, with Amethyst watching from a distance. Celestia had to put a hoof over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
"Wha...what...what...what is it?" Onyx said wearily. Luna put on her most scared-looking face.
"There's a spider in the bathroom again!" she complained so overdramatically that Celestia was surprised Onyx didn't realize their ploy right away. Luckily for them, she was still half-asleep, making Celestia all the more excited as Onyx got up, groaning, "I'll get it.", and she and Amethyst pored the large bucket of ice-cold water over her head. Gasping in surprise and horror, Onyx scuttled out of the way of the rest of the water. The look of shock on her face made all the girls let loose all that laughter they'd been holding in. Onyx glared at them, but Celestia detected a hint of a smile on her face nonetheless.
"What was that for?!"
"That's for splashing us yesterday!" Amethyst retorted. Onyx rolled her eyes, and went into the bathroom to dry off.
Once they had all gotten ready, the five friends went downstairs to the kitchen. There was only one table open out of the three, and they sat there. As they were starting a conversation about whether the books "Mane Potter" or "The Hungry Ponies" were better, the orphanage owner's daughters, Sunshine Glitter and May Flower, walked up and sat next to Celestia and Onyx. Celestia groaned and scooted closer towards Amethyst, trying to put as much space between her and the two as possible.
"So I heard that we're going to a Starswirl the Bearded exhibit," Sunshine announced. "You must be pretty excited, Tia."
"Yeah, isn't he, like, your obsession?" May taunted. Celestia glared at them and turned away, trying to start up a conversation with Amethyst.
"Well I think Mane Potter has a better representation of unicorns - "
"Maybe you'll get your cutie marks from something at the exhibit...oh, no, wait, I forgot, you'll never get your cutie marks because you're orphans!!" May Flower teased. Luna looked at them in disgust.
"Oh, please, that has nothing to do with it!"
"It has everything to do with it!" Sunshine retorted. "It means you're poor, and therefore can't afford cutie mark preparation lessons. You don't know who your parents are, and therefore have no family business to live up to. And you never get many chances to succeed or be anything more than a low-life citizen!"
That was all Celestia could take. She levitated her friends with her horn and walked over to another table where only a few other fillies sat. She hated those two self-absorbed, spoiled brats. They were the only two fillies living at the orphanage who actually had cutie marks: Sunshine's was a basket with a bundle of blankets in it, and May's was the orphanage's emblem. They continuously harassed and teased all the other fillies about it, knowing that they'd never get theirs. Celestia did realize that that was pretty much true. She had tried to accept it, and work through it, but the sisters' endless taunts made the task quite difficult.
"Alright girls, it's time to go!!" Emerald Lily declared. Relieved, Celestia let her friends go and trotted out the door. As a group, all the fillies got into the bus and prepared for the long ride. They chatted among themselves, played hoof games, and sang travel songs loudly. As always, there were some ponies in the back chanting the ever hated "99 Buckets of Oats on the Wall". Celestia got Amethyst to quiz her on Starswirl trivia, while their other three friends tried to top the chant with singing show tunes from Hinny of the Hills. The ride finally ended just as Celestia answered the question about Starswirl's theory on "alicorns". The ponies got off the bus, thanking the driver on the way out, and saw the grandest layout of knowledge they had ever seen. The outdoor exhibit was filled with tents for different spells, theories, and inventions he'd made, with each decorated with the same star pattern as his cape. Original artifacts including his notebooks, hats, and many extra trinkets he used in everyday life were placed expertly throughout the middle. The biggest tent of all had a huge sign outside it, announcing Starswirl's new spell that he was working on. Even the grass below was painted dark blue with glitter strewn about it. Celestia gawked at the size and grandeur of it all, running ahead to get the first look. Once her friends had caught up to her, she pulled them into a group huddle.
"Okay, I want to see every single thing this fair has to offer, and we only have two hours," she said. "We'll go in a circle through almost all the tents, then spiral in to see the artifacts in the middle. Then we save the biggest tent for last so that we can leave with new and improved knowledge!"
"We?" Luna said. Celestia ignored her.
"Our time begins...now!" They raced off towards the nearest tent and continued to every other tent in turn. Celestia gaped and tried to commit to memory everything she saw, while her friends stood back a little and just browsed. Every once in a while, she'd call them over to see something she considered fascinating, which they usually just looked at passively. Somewhere along the line, they lost Clover, but they all just assumed she was either looking at something that caught her attention, or was hanging out with other friends, since she knew most everyone at the orphanage. Finally, they reached the largest tent, with ten minutes to spare.
"It's so beautiful!" Celestia said in awe. She looked around at the artifacts along the side first, trying to see if she could figure out this new spell herself, using them as a guideline, before reading it. After trying for five minutes, she finally gave up and read the spell as it was. Of course, she would have worked on it longer, but they were running short on time. She walked up to the poster right in the center and read it out loud.
"From one to another, another to one...destiny fulfilled." The spell was obviously not complete, but she could figure out its purpose without much hardship.
"Hey, you guys, come look at this." Celestia read the spell to them. "It's for fulfilling a destiny."
"Well that's kind of obvious," Luna said.
"No, I think it also is meant for something else," Celestia said. "Something related to harmony." The four stood there for a beat, gaping at this new spell. They were rudely interrupted as Emerald Lily called them all back to the bus.
"Well, this hasn't been quite as life-changing as I expected, though I didn't expect much, " Luna said as they sat down on the bus. She turned to Clover, who had met up with them again. "Where did you go, anyways? Find something interesting?"
Celestia looked over at Clover, eager to hear her answer, but saw something she didn't expect. She saw the face of a pony who's life had been changed.
"Lu-lu! Your sister's a liar!" Clover complained, walking over towards Luna along with Celestia and Amethyst. Luna raised her eyebrows, already suspecting what this was all about. Clover had been pestering Celestia for the past week for books and knowledge relating to Starswirl the Bearded, and Luna could tell that she was getting sick of it. Luna was a little sick of it herself, since now there were two ponies giving her unwanted knowledge about the famous unicorn instead of one, but it was a little easier for her to put up with since she was already used to it.
"She said that she didn't have 'The Unabridged Book of Starswirl Spells', but she did!" Clover explained. "It was under your bunk bed." Luna wasn't all that surprised to hear that. That book was Celestia's favorite, and she thought she had seen her walking around last night.
"Well, you have it now, so you can stop calling me a liar!" Celestia retorted.
"Excuse me if I was baffled that you actually lied to your best friend!"
"Girls!" Luna shouted. "Is this really worth--" She was cut short by Celestia and Clover's shrieks of delight. She looked at what they had reacted to, and saw a poster with the oh-so-common magical pony on the front. Her two friends ran over to the poster and started squealing some more. Luna sighed and walked over with Amethyst, preparing herself for yet another round of fangirling. As she approached the poster, she started reading it, and Celestia and Clover's obsessiveness finally made sense. It read "Starswirl the Bearded's School for Gifted Unicorns: Sign Up Now!" and had enrollment papers clipped to the bottom. Luna's friend and sister each in turn grabbed their own paper, and started filling out as much of it as they could.
"Says here that it's free, but we need a parent/guardian to fill out a lot of it," Clover said.
"That'd be Emerald Lily I guess," said Celestia. They both ran off to get her to sign, and Luna exchanged glances with Amethyst. They both had a feeling that this would lead to a long cycle of everything Starswirl related that would refuse to stop. The truth was, Luna did actually think Starswirl was impressive, and she did look up to him a little, but, like many ponies, he lived in the Upper North. Vanhoover, where they all lived, was one of the few cities in Ponyland without segregation between different pony races. Everywhere else, with the exception of the Crystal Empire, was full of separation and hatred among the tribes. The North was the worst, and since that was where Starswirl lived, he had similar feelings. Luna would love to learn more about him, if his studies weren't so focused on unicorns, and unicorns alone. Amethyst shared this feeling, being an earth pony, but Silver Onyx didn't really care either way, since she was always the one slacking off in class.
"Entrance exam?" Celestia said, returning with Clover to their table. "What's that?"
"Basically we have to pass a test to get in, since he only wants 'gifted' unicorns to join," Clover said, with a little sarcasm.
"Well that should be easy," Celestia retorted. "I'm pretty good at magic already."
"Don't get too cocky about it. It's supposed to be hard, and we are still fillies after all."
"Who asked you?! I could pass it with my hooves tied together! I bet you won't even understand a single question on that test!" Luna could feel a fight coming on.
"Okaaay," Luna said, pulling her sister away from Clover, "I think we should all get some rest. Big day tomorrow!"
"It's lunchtime," Amethyst corrected. Luna glared at her.
"Then an afternoon nap it is. Goodnight!" Luna dashed away, pulling Celestia along with her. Once they finally got back to their room, Luna plopped her on the floor roughly.
"What was that all about!" she scolded.
"Clover was being annoying, and stuck up! She thinks she's so good at magic, but I'm ten times the unicorn she is!" Celestia yelled. Realizing what she just said, she shrunk back. Luna looked at her worryingly and went to sit beside her.
"She was just trying to help you," Luna said calmly. "You realize that, right?"
"It's just..." Celestia said, "she's never been into many of the same things as me before, and now that she's studying magic so vigorously, her skill at it is much better. Even better than mine." She lowered her head in shame, but Luna lifted it back up with her hoof. She gave her sister a warm smile, and pulled her off the ground.
"Tia, you can't let your jealousy overcome you like that," Luna reminded her. "Envy is a dangerous thing, and it can tear you up along with your friendship. Your magic is amazing and powerful, and even if Clover is a little stronger at it, that doesn't mean you can't get better." She started walking towards the door, and Celestia followed her. When they reached the cafeteria, Celestia paused. Luna could see the fear she had confronting her fault.
"Why don't you go apologize?" Luna offered, trying to build up her sister's courage. It seemed to work, as she walked on back to their table. Luna followed her, and happily heard words of regret being exchanged.
"Sorry I lashed out at you like that, " Celestia said, "it was rude."
"Hey that's okay," Clover reassured her. "In fact, I was just thinking that maybe we could train for the exam together! Work out a schedule and everything!" As glad as Luna was that they had made up, that last comment, and Celestia's eager nod, gave her a bad feeling.
*-----~-----*
The next month was made up of the same routine. Celestia and Clover would get up at dawn and do magical exercises loud enough to wake their roommates. They would then eat a huge breakfast in the cafeteria, and immediately go back upstairs to triple-check their homework. In class, they would listen and take notes intently, and review them at every passing period. Instead of chatting with their friends during lunch, they would get a start on their homework, and practice different spells. After school, they'd quickly finish their homework, practice some more, and eat a healthy dinner. At dusk, they'd check their homework, and go to sleep, instead of staying up with Luna, Onyx, and Amethyst. Then the day would start over at dawn. Being the one who stayed up the longest, hardly ever sleepy at night, Luna kept dozing off in class from having only a few hours' rest. The ordeal made her grow exponentially grumpier, and she's was almost at her wit's end when, finally, the exam day arrived.
"Good luck Tia!" Luna said to her as she and Clover were preparing to leave. A small group of fillies had already gathered by the main doors of the orphanage, and Emerald Lily was rounding up the rest. As she approached their little group, Luna, Onyx, and Amethyst quickly hugged their friends and let them go. They all watched as the group of unicorn fillies and Emerald Lily went out the door and to the bus that was going to take them to the Upper North. Once the group was out of sight, most of the fillies went back to eating breakfast. The three friends were about to join them, when they realized there weren't any tables open.
"Well, that's odd," Onyx said. "What happened to the other two tables?" All the remaining fillies were crowded around a single table in the middle of the room, with a few standing for lack of chairs. The three girls were surprised, but decided just to eat in their room instead.
"It's weird to think that two of our friends could be going off to a high-class private school soon," Amethyst reflected. Onyx and Luna nodded in agreement.
"Hopefully they'll visit often," Luna said. "It'd be weird to live so long without my sister and one of my best friends."
"Of course, they still might not get in."
"Onyx, what a thing to say!" Amethyst scolded. "Celestia and Clover are both very talented unicorns, and they have more passion than anyone else I know."
"Plus, all those sleepless nights would be for nothing if that happened," Luna added, making Onyx giggle a little. They began to eat their daisy sandwiches and grape juice in silence, though Luna did notice that her food wasn't as good as it usually was. Probably the chef just switched to a different brand.
The rest of the day passed slowly, and without much happening. The friends' classes were much quieter, and it was strange not being bombarded with magic facts every three seconds, even if it had annoyed them so much earlier. They didn't have much to talk about during lunch and dinner, and instead ate in silence. Just as dinner was about to be over, they heard the front doors to the orphanage open. Luna was filled with excitement as she rushed towards the doors, followed closely by Amethyst and Onyx. They watched as Emerald Lily lead the stream of fillies in, and once Celestia stepped over the threshold, the three toppled her over with their hugs.
"Wow, didn't expect you girls would miss me so much after only a day apart," Celestia said. Luna looked at her curiously. Her sister was smiling, but Luna could tell that it was forced. Then Luna realized that something was missing. She looked around the hall, but there was no sign of Clover. She got up and ran out into the street, searching for her friend.
"Clover!?" Luna called. "Tia, where's Clover?" Amethyst and Silver Onyx looked at her with worry on their faces, and Celestia sighed.
"She got in."
The three fillies stood there, just staring at her for a minute, then burst into cheers. Luna felt so proud of her friend, and could hardly believe she had gotten in to such a prestigious school. She grabbed Celestia by the hooves an danced around with her. It wasn't until they had spun around five times did she realize that her sister wasn't into it. She stopped spinning and looked her straight in the eye.
"Alright, spill. I want the whole story, and don't leave anything out!" Celestia sighed once more, then sat them all down to listen.
"Well, we had a pretty normal bus ride, with the two of us practicing our magic and quizzing each other. The ride itself was really long, since the Upper North is so far away. Once we had finally arrived at the school, it was quite a sight, practically a castle! There were huge towers and beautiful designs on the polished stone. The floors were marble, and the exam room itself even had decorations and posters meant to de-stressify us. When we took a lunch break, the food was delicious, coming straight from the finest farmers around. Then the exams began. We got to choose when we went, so long as there was a constant flow of us, so Clover and I decided to go last, since we considered it good luck, and for dramatic affect. I was before her, and when I was called in, I realized why so many ponies had been leaving with downhearted looks: the test was to transform a simple rock into a huge cactus! I tried all I could to do it, and cast every spell I knew, even the ones that made no sense! But it was no use. I gave up after a few minutes, and walked out of the room, after they had told me that I failed, of course.
"As I left the room, I saw a window in it that looked out onto the courtyard. Hoping to see Clover's audition, I raced outside and
peeked in at the window just as she went in. At first, she seemed just as baffled as me. She tried many spells, mostly just doing the transfiguration ones over and over again. Then, she finally gave up and sat down in dismay. I think I heard her say something like, 'I'm sorry I wasted your time', when suddenly, a huge rainbow blast lit up the sky! It made a booming sound, and shown with all the colors anypony could ever imagine! Somehow, that rainbow set off something in Clover, and she went all freaky-like! Her eyes glowed, she levitated off the ground, and her horn surged with power. She turned the rock into such a huge cactus that it crashed through the ceiling, and turned all the judges into cactuses too! She seemed about to explode or something, when Starswirl himself arrived!
"He was just like his pictures, only better! He was powerful, well-bearded, and had a spectacular presence. He calmed all the raucous and brought Clover back to the ground. I don't know exactly what they said, but he said something about wanting her to train as his personal student, and she agreed, of course." Celestia paused to take a breath. "Now here's the crazy part! After she had recovered from her freak-out, and been offered the position, she got her cutie mark! It was a pink six-pointed star in front of a white star, and five other, smaller stars surrounding it. I'm not sure exactly what it meant, but probably something related to magic. Either way, she's an important and powerful pony now, the only one of us to pass the exam, living in Starswirl's castle, and I'm a loser, who has learned that she isn't cut out for huge magical feats." Celestia lowered her head and walked back into the cafeteria. Luna, Amethyst, and Silver Onyx quickly ran after her, hoping to lift her spirits.
"Tia, sister, you are the opposite of a loser!" Luna protested.
"You did your best, and that's really what matters," Silver Onyx added. "Besides, that school is way too strict about how powerful fillies have to be to join!"
"Also, you and Clover are equally powerful based on training," Amethyst said. "That god-like strength she displayed wasn't something she worked for, she was just born with it, no offense to her." Celestia smiled a little at this. She got up and joined them in going back to their room. Once they got there, the bunk beds were gone, and had been replaced by mattresses and blankets, for some reason. The four of them were so exhausted, they barely even noticed, and collapsed on their new beds. Luna lay down on the soft fabric, tucked herself in, and, for the first time in many years, was tired enough to get a good night's sleep.
*-----~-----*
The next day was bright and sunny, and Luna awoke to the chirping of birds. She smiled as she rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She was soon joined by Amethyst, Celestia, and Silver Onyx as they chatted about the hotness and the dryness of the day. The topic switched to Clover's new life as they were walking down the stairs, and Luna looked over to Celestia in hesitation, but her sister seemed fine with it.
"Well it must be nice to be in such a high ranking, probably able to mingle with the Unicorn elite!" Amethyst exclaimed.
"I just think it's cool that she'll probably have tons of servants to do everything for her," Onyx said.
"Not everything," Celestia reminded her, "that position calls for a ton of hard training and study. It could take a while for her to write to us."
"She'll find time though," Luna said. "She is our best--" She was cut short when they reached the cafeteria. Instead of its usual warm, good-smelling self, it was filled with construction ponies; moving things out and taking things down. The air smelled of asphalt, as the walls were being torn down, and the cold air outside gave the fillies chills as it rushed in. The pretty red color of the walls was turned a sad brown from the dirt, and the one table left standing was being carried out by two earth ponies. The girls all looked at the changed cafeteria in horror, scared to think what this might mean. Taking a second look at the sight, they saw Emerald Lily and her daughters standing in the middle of all the chaos, looks of grief and loss on their faces. A crowd of the other orphan fillies had formed around them, begging for answers. The four friends joined the throng, hoping for the same.
"Emmy, why are these scary ponies here?" asked one of the younger fillies.
"Yeah, why is everything being taken away?" a girl named Mazy said.
"Why is it so loud?"
"Where's the chef?"
"Why are they tearing down the walls?!"
"Girls!" Emerald Lily shouted. Once everypony had settled down, she began to explain.
"The ponies here are taking down the orphanage to put up new office buildings. Vanhoover doesn't have enough funding to keep this orphanage running, we're shutting down."
"Wait, does that mean...?" Luna said, fearfully.
"Yes. You have already been assigned new orphanages to live in. A stallion is here to bring you to them."
Celestia looked up at the dark building. Even in the bright and warm sun, the shadow of the orphanage gave a dark feeling to the air around it, sending shivers up her spine. It was a light gray with reddish front doors and roof. A stained and graffiti-ridden wall stood in front of it, with the gate spiked at the top and making the place feel like a prison. The windows were tall and gaunt, with bars on them, and a huge emblem was carved into the center of the building. It was a cross with a circle through it, and words along the outside reading, "Black Tulip's Orphanage for Young Fillies and Colts". Celestia looked back at her friends with a fear on her face. She desperately hoped that this wasn't her new home, but since the last stop deposited about a third of the fillies, their chances were slim.
"Alright, will Angel Soft, Celestia, Luna, Mazy, Nesting Fowl, Silver Onyx, Silk Worm, Tori, and Zany Star please step forward," the tall stallion driving their carriage ordered. The nine of them did so, gulping en masse at the idea of living at such a place. Celestia looked back at Amethyst, standing among the eleven other fillies looking lost. She wanted to run back to her, take her and her other friends, and dash back to their old home, their real home. She wanted to teleport all the way to the Upper North and beg Starswirl to take them in, even as maids. She wanted to escape to the hills, the mountains, the unexplored parts of Ponyland, just anywhere but here!
"You nine will be staying here," the stallion confirmed. "Black Tulip should be out here soon to bring you all in." With that, he briskly trotted off, bringing the carriage with him, and Celestia's one chance of salvation. She watched it drive off into the distance, catching one last glimpse of Amethyst before it rode out of sight. And that was it. The fillies stood there looking around, not sure what to do, when they heard the gate creak open. A dark purple pegasus mare with her black mane done up in a bun stepped out. She had piercing white eyes and a cutie mark that matched the emblem on the building, except in deep red. She surveyed them all with scrutiny, going down the line one filly at a time. Once she'd reached Zany Star, she addressed them all.
"I am Black Tulip, your new guardian and the owner of this orphanage," the mare said. "Come with me and I will show you how I run things around here." She turned and started walking at a brisk pace through the gate and into the building. After a moment of hesitation, the fillies all followed her, having to trot to keep up. Once inside the orphanage, they saw a large entrance hall with three sets of double doors on each side of the room. Black Tulip lead them through the one directly in front of them, revealing another, larger room filled with bunk beds on either side. Most of the beds were full, containing both fillies and colts, all sleeping.
"You may choose whichever beds you wish," Black Tulip said. "Wake up time is 5:00." With that, she promptly left and slammed the door behind her, making the room go dark. The second her footsteps had faded out of the room, all the fillies and colts around them "woke up" and stared at them, talking amongst themselves. The new fillies looked around self-consciously, then slowly made their way to the empty beds. Celestia and Luna were able to find one to share, giving them a little reassurance, knowing that the other would be there for her. Although the muttering of the other ponies made it tough, the two were able to eventually drift off to sleep.
Celestia led a dreamless sleep, waking to the sound of a bull horn. She jolted up in her bed, being startled by such a rude awakening. She saw all the other fillies and colts standing on either side of their bunk beds, facing forward. She and Luna followed suit, wondering what this new protocol was all about. Black Tulip, who had blasted the horn, was standing by the double doors with a sheet of parchment in her hoof. She proceeded to read it aloud, informing Celestia that this was role call.
"Air Flight!"
"Here!"
"Angel Soft!"
"Here!"
Celestia's name was the ninth, and Luna's the twenty-first. Black Tulip ended at number forty-two, which was Zany Star, and started pacing up and down the room.
"For all you new fillies, I will tell you our daily routine and what I expect from you, but from then on you're on your own," Black Tulip said. "Every day you will wake at 5:00, clean the bedroom, and have breakfast if you do a good job. Next, you will have four hours in the classroom, where you may learn or do whatever, so long as you don't bother me. You'll then have lunch, and start cleaning the rest of the rooms, based on your assigned jobs, which are posted on the cafeteria wall. After that, dinner, if you're good, and lights out at 9:00. I expect you to be quiet, obedient, hard-working, and behaved. That is all." She promptly left the room and slammed the door. After a beat, all the ponies who were used to this immediately began cleaning the room in various ways. Some made their beds, some got out brooms, some started dusting. Celestia and the rest of the new fillies stood there in silence for a second, surprised at this new way of living. They were used to a caring, helpful, and learning environment, and weren't sure if they could cope. Celestia was the first to begin working, setting the rest in action as well. She had thought she might as well get used to this new life, since she'd have to deal with it for Starswirl knows how long, and she wasn't bad at cleaning anyways. Besides, work builds character?
After a breakfast of what Celestia was pretty sure was mud, everypony was stuck in a lame excuse for a classroom for four hours. It was basically a chalkboard and desk-chairs, nothing else. Most of the ponies chatted, and even though Celestia tried to get some studying in, she was interrupted by a colt. He had a dark brown coat and flaming red mane and tail. A darker red painted his hoofs, and he was generally pretty tough-looking, an earth pony. The only soft part about him were his eyes, which were a pretty sky blue and very big. Celestia got lost in his eyes, and didn't hear what he said.
"What? Sorry," she said.
"I was asking what your name is," the colt said.
"Celestia," she told him. "Though my friends often call me Tia." He smiled at that.
"Tia, cool. I'm Boulder Pulse, but you can call me Boulder." Celestia nodded her head.
"Nice to meet you," she said. "So, this orphanage is kinda brutal."
"Yeah, but you get used to it. Hey, whatcha reading?"
"Oh, this is a book on Starswirl the Bearded's 'alicorns theory'," Celestia squealed, fangirling a little. "He explores the idea of one pony with the powers and physical features of a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony all in one!"
"Damn, sounds crowded." Boulder sat next to Celestia to look at the book with her. She told him all about the "alicorns theory", and some other theories Starswirl had when she was done with that. He listened intently, adding in his own little comments or insights once in a while. He never criticized her, never called her a geek or anything like that. Even one time, when she got super nerdy over the amniomorphic spell, he didn't even snicker.
"Pretty and smart?! Haven't met a pony like you before," he concluded. Celestia blushed at the compliment. She was about to tell him about how Clover was working with Starswirl, when Black Tulip came in to bring them to lunch. During a lunch of breakfast leftovers, Celestia talked with Boulder some more, while her sister and Onyx whispered and giggled behind their backs. Once or twice, the two fillies would steal a glance at the pair, and Celestia would glare at them, making them squeal and go back into hiding. After ten minutes of this, it was time to get to work cleaning the rest of the building, and everypony went to the posted list to see what their jobs would be. Celestia was assigned to dusting, Luna and Silver Onyx were to mop, and Boulder had to prepare dinner. Waving goodbye to Boulder, Celestia began her task, starting in the kitchen. Luna and Onyx crept over to her while mopping, giggling the whole way.
"Sooooo," Onyx said suggestively, "you and Boulder?"
"I ship it, I totally ship it!!" Luna squealed. "How's Celester? Or how about Boulstia?"
"Girls, we're not some characters from one of your fiction books," Celestia moaned. "You can't ship ponies in real life!"
"Sure you can," Luna said.
"But seriously, do you like him? It sure looks like you do," Onyx said, trying to keep on topic.
"I..." Celestia's friends leaned in to listen. "I think I do." The two ponies stared at her for a second, then freaked out. Luna did a little dance in place, and Onyx started rambling off about how adorable this was. Celestia sighed, and got back to work, and after a minute, they did as well. As she worked, she thought back to what she said. Did she really have a crush on this guy? She had just met him, and they didn't even really have that much in common. Of course, it wasn't like she was going to marry him or something, but this was really the first colt she'd had any real contact with. Were her affections misplaced? She reflected to the possibility of dating him, and realized that in this orphanage, there was little chance of that. Any of the things that normal couples would do were limited by this prison, especially privacy. Maybe her and Boulder just weren't really meant to be, if the orphanage is where they met, and would probably stay for years to come. Also, they were still just a filly and a colt, and those relationships don't last very long anyways. Celestia decided not to take their relationship anywhere it didn't go naturally, and to just try to survive this place.
While pondering this, Celestia had finished her chores. She got back together with Luna and Silver Onyx to eat dinner, which they had earned, together. It was better than their previous meals, especially when Celestia remembered that Boulder helped make it. The second this thought popped up though, she pushed it back down, trying to remind herself not to go to far with this. Luna and Onyx made that hard, though, bringing up the colt constantly, and loudly. Luckily, he was eating with his friends far enough away not to hear, but that didn't make Celestia feel safe enough without shushing her friends every minute.
Finally, dinner ended, and everypony started walking back to the bedroom. Just as Luna and Onyx were about to leave her, Boulder walked up to Celestia for one last word.
"Goodnight," he said. He then kissed her on the cheek and trotted away. Celestia stood there in shock. The kiss had been brief, hard to register, and left even her friends speechless. She tried to gather what this logically meant, but all she felt was a surge of joy and pride overwhelming her, making a broad smile light up her face. She could hardly believe that a colt could like her so fast, and the knowledge of its reality made her feel beautiful, smart, and appreciated. In that moment, she shone like the sun, feeling lovely and so well beloved. Her friends behind her could plainly see her happiness, and were about to rejoice with her, when Black Tulip suddenly shut off the lights, and they were forced to get quiet and find their way towards their beds. As Celestia lay down to sleep, she felt a glow inside her, filling her with a warm feeling of satisfaction. If this orphanage had anything to offer, at least it was Boulder. He made the whole situation seem so much less threatening. She was sure her dreams would be sweet that night.
"Tia?" Celestia awoke with a groan to her sister's voice. She didn't know how long she had slept, but it had felt short, and only made her feel groggy in this late-night wake-up.
"What?" she grumbled. She lazily looked down at Luna over the railing, who looked as wide-awake as ever.
"I can't sleep, at all," Luna complained. "I mean, you know how I am with the night. It's too beautiful to fall asleep in, and in all ways I'm practically nocturnal. Well, here, it's worse. Those huge windows are making the gorgeous night all the more harder to fall asleep in, and without being able to talk very loud, and have those late-night discussions like we usually do, I can't get tired out enough. Also, we're going to have to wake up at 5:00 again tomorrow, and each day after that, and that is going to rob me out of so much rest that I'll probably faint during chores! I could get punished, or shortened a meal because of that, and I still won't be able to sleep early enough. Especially since the sun during the day is so bright, I'm surprised we even do sleep at night. If you think about it, why would you rest when the celestial object that's easy on your eyes is in the sky, but keep those same eyes open when a blinding light is in the sky, that forces you to shut your eyes when you look at it? I just don't get it. Either way, I can't sleep, and I'm really worried what that'll lead to, so can you help me? I don't care how, just please, I need you now."
Celestia sighed after Luna had finished her tediously long rant, and frowned. Was she really woken up for this? She couldn't believe her sister had the nerve to ruin her beauty sleep with the same problem she had every night. She glared down at Luna and began her own rant.
"Luna, it's really not that hard to fall asleep, especially after a whole day full of chores. You seriously can't just disturb other ponies with your tedious problems with your nighttime obsession. If you love the night so much, then, just draw it or something during our free four hours, and look at that to fall asleep, since your drawings are usually boring enough to do that. Just don't wake me up in the middle of the night trying to make it seem like you have a problem, which can actually be solved really easily. So just shut up and go to sleep."
"But - " Luna protested.
"Sleep!" Celestia hissed, and immediately turned away and lied back down. Exhaustion quickly overcame her, and she fell back into her beautiful slumber. She had an odd dream that night, one where the exchange between her and her sister was reenacted, but in a completely different setting. She was mad at her sister for going against her wishes, and didn't want to have to listen to her sister's problems, when much more pressing matters were upon them. In her dream, this all made sense, but as soon as she woke up, she had forgotten it all.
The bullhorn sounded once again, and role call repeated itself. Celestia made her bed and started dusting the room. During her work, she realized that Luna was avoiding her. At first, she started to feel a little guilty about what she said last night, but she shrugged it off and went to converse with Boulder instead. She talked with him throughout the rest of cleaning, their earned breakfast, and "study" period. When lunch came, she ate with his friends instead of hers, but kept sneaking glances over to them nonetheless. They were whispering to each other, and casting angry glares in her direction every so often, making her suspect Luna was telling Onyx about the last night. She sighed and got up to look at the chores listed, being done with yesterday's leftover leftovers. She was supposed to mop, Onyx was to sweep, and both Luna and Boulder were on kitchen duty. Celestia got to work straightaway, and continued on in silence, until she heard a banging noise coming from the kitchen. At first, she ignored it, focusing on her chores so as to earn dinner, but after two more bangs, she ran to investigate.
The kitchen was like a small hut on one wall of the cafeteria. The inside was simple, with a long counter in the back piled with food scraps, and pots and pans scattered here and there. There was a fireplace on one side, and a cooler on the other. Celestia didn't fully enter the hut, but instead peeked in from the doorway. In the middle of the room, Boulder stood, looking fiery and angry. His soft blue eyes that she had fallen in love with were hardened with a scowl, making him look menacing. He grabbed a pot from the counter with his teeth and flung it towards the wall. It hit a filly there, huddled up on the ground and full of scratches and bruises. Luna. Celestia gasped in horror as Boulder kept flinging things at her.
"Luna!" Celestia screamed, running in to shield her. Boulder immediately stopped and stared at Celestia in shock. Celestia curled up next to her sister, and glared at Boulder, seething.
"What are you doing?!" she shouted.
"She was messing up everything, and she clearly has no knowledge of how to work in a kitchen," Boulder said, almost nonchalantly, which just made Celestia angrier.
"Well, clearly you don't either!" she shrieked. "You do not, and better not ever again, hurt my sister in any way!"
"Whoa, that's your sister? You don't look anything alike."
"Yes, she's my sister. And if you ever lay a hand on her again, you will have to answer to me!!!" Celestia reared up on her back legs, towering above Boulder, and lit her horn up with a fiery red glow, all while gnashing her teeth in fury. Boulder quickly ran out of the kitchen in fear, and Celestia finally calmed down. Luna looked up at her in awe.
"Tia," she whispered weakly.
"Yes, Lu-lu?" Luna laid her head on her sister's leg.
"Thank you."
The two stayed there for the rest of the day, just holding each other, until Black Tulip came back. She scolded everypony for not finishing the chores, which was mostly Celestia's fault, and sent them all to bed without dinner. That night, before getting into bed herself, Celestia made sure Luna had fallen asleep after singing her a lullaby. She then climbed up the ladder and had a quiet sleep.
The full moon was bright that night as Luna walked through the quiet streets of Vanhoover. She looked up at the scattered arrangement of stars in the sky, imagining them in the shapes of famous scenes. A cool breeze blew past her, filling her with a feeling of relief and relaxation. The darkness barely obscured her view, allowing her to enjoy the beauty of the night to its fullest. She walked to the local soup kitchen, but found it to be closed when she reached it. Luna then proceeded towards the toy store, which was thankfully still open. Inside, she grabbed four stuffed animals, three action figures, and six dolls. Paying the tired owner, she carefully placed the toys into her saddle bag and left. One or two ponies walked along the street as Luna made her way to the orphanage, each of them in the same sort of hurry most ponies were in at night, trying to get back to the safety of indoors. The night never scared Luna. She felt more alive than ever basking in the starlight and gazing at the glorious moon. She couldn't understand the other ponies' fear, but often shrugged it off, as it rarely had an affect on her.
She entered the dimly lit orphanage after knocking and Chrysalis opening the door. Luna smiled at her and gestured towards her saddle bag. Chrysalis grinned hugely.
"My little ponies!" Chrysalis called out. "Luna's here again!" At that, a rush of excited fillies and colts ran and gathered around them, chatting among themselves about what toys they might have gotten. Luna took off her bag and lifted out one toy at a time, presenting each to its new owner. Everypony was overjoyed at their new plaything, and ran back to their bedroom right after saying a chorus of "thank you"s. Chrysalis sighed and turned back towards Luna. She was a tall unicorn mare, and one of the few ponies Luna knew with a real cutie mark. It was a parasprite, an odd cutie mark for anypony, but one nonetheless. At least the colors of the parasprite complemented her long, straight blue mane and grayish-black coat, making it fit in a little more, even though parasprites were the opposite of what Chrysalis was like. Chrysalis was probably the sweetest pony Luna knew, and she was glad she looked after orphans.
"So, find anymore of them in the streets?" Luna asked her.
"Not yet," Chrysalis sighed. "Most days when I go out to look for them, they're hard to distinguish, and at night I have to stay here by policy. I got a little more nighttime to explore ever since I hired a mare to work some night shifts, but she always comes late, giving me less time to search."
"Are you sure you don't want me to search for you at night?"
"No, you already give so much, I can't ask you to do more," Chrysalis said. Luna nodded her head and walked towards the exit.
"Be careful out there." Luna turned back to look at Chrysalis, who had a worried look on her face. "Things here up north have really been falling apart since the founding of Equestria." Luna smiled at her concern and walked out the door. She trotted through the streets, trying to find somewhere to sleep for a bit. The dim streetlights lit the pavement through the trees lining the sidewalk, making delicate patterns on the ground. Luna was distracted by these shapes, which never failed to inspire and amaze her, when she bumped into a hooded pony.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Luna apologized. "I didn't see you there." The pony rubbed their head, and in doing so, removed their hood. She was a unicorn mare, with a cream coat. She had a green, straight mane and green eyes, and her cutie mark was a purple six-pointed star over-lapping a white six-pointed star which were both surrounded by five other white six-pointed stars. After taking a second to process, Luna realized who this was.
"Clover?!"
"Luna!" Clover shouted. The ponies embraced happily. Luna smiled at Clover as they separated, and immediately had tons of questions for her.
"I haven't seen you in forever! I've missed you," Luna said.
"I've missed you too!" Clover agreed. "And all our friends! How are they, by the way?"
"Well, Celestia's working for the queen, which is pretty cool," Luna began. "I don't know about Amethyst, since I haven't seen her since the orphanage shut down."
"Yeah, I heard about that, that's too bad," Clover said. "What about Onyx?" Luna hesitated for a second.
"Actually, Onyx died three years ago," Luna explained. Clover's smile faded, and she bowed her head down. Luna gave her another hug, hoping to help, and Clover lightened a little at that. She pulled away, and Luna could see tears forming in her eyes, making her instantly feel awful.
"I'm so sorry, I should have told you earlier. It's just that the postal service here is terrible, and there wasn't a funeral or anything, and I've been so busy with work," Luna said.
"Lu-lu, it's fine," Clover assured her. "Truthfully, I should be apologizing. I left you guys to learn at a fancy-pants school, but didn't ever write or try to contact you. I was so wrapped up in and busy with my studies that there wasn't any time, but I should have made time, I should have been there for all of you when the orphanage shut down and Onyx died and - "
"Clover!" Luna cut her off. "You don't need to apologize." Clover smiled at that. "Besides, we're here now and are seeing each other after all these years. Let's make the most of it."
"Yeah, good idea," Clover said, and they started walking down the road together. Luna brought Clover to her favorite 24 hour café, and they both sat down at an outdoor table after ordering some food and drinks.
"So, what's this I keep hearing about you being one of the Mane Founders of Equestria?" Luna prompted Clover. She smiled bashfully and nodded.
"Yeah, it happened during the brief time I was working for Princess Platinum. It was a very strange ordeal. I did make some new friends during it though." Clover smiled at that, and Luna could see the love in her eyes. For reasons she couldn't quite fathom, she started to feel jealous of these new friends, wondering if they meant as much or more to Clover than Luna did. Luna didn't understand it, but she inwardly hoped that these "friends" were nothing more than that. Realizing what she was thinking, she pushed her feelings back down, trying to conceal them, and not to feel them.
"And you?" Clover asked, jolting Luna out of her thoughts. "What do you do these days?"
"Not much," Luna admitted, "just a daily routine of working at a cupcake shop for pay, then volunteer at the soup kitchen when it's open, then getting something to bring to the orphans at the Orphanage of Love and Care. Sometimes I search the streets for homeless children, even though my friend Chrysalis says I don't have to. But that's it. I don't make the kind of impact on ponies' lives like you do."
"Are you kidding me?" Clover sputtered. "You're doing more good for Equestria than I ever could!" Luna blushed and shook her head, which only led to Clover nodding her head more insistently, making Luna smile. Their food then arrived: a daisy sandwich and applejack for Clover, and tomato soup and fruit punch for Luna. They ate in silence for a little while, until Clover caught a glimpse of Luna's flank when the latter bent down to get her dropped spoon.
"You got your cutie mark?!" Clover gasped. "What is it?"
"Oh, no, this is a tattoo," Luna explained. "Everypony without a cutie mark gets them these days, since ponies are more likely to hire you if you have a cutie mark, even if they don't know what it is."
"It looks like a black blob."
"Yeah, this was the cheapest one."
"It's so stupid that only some ponies end up getting their cutie marks," Clover grumbled.
"A lot of things are stupid and messed up these days," Luna said. "You know, my sister's always talking about how we need to find a way to harmonize Equestria."
"So does Starswirl!" Clover said. "He finally came back to his 'Destiny Spell', and is almost done with it. He's probably going to cast it pretty soon."
"What would that be, his 150th spell?"
"214th," Clover said. "The thing is, though, that I'm pretty sure I know how to finish it, and even cast it, but he's not letting me work on it. I can tell this spell could blow up in his face if he does it wrong, and I obviously don't want that to happen. You see, there's something about it that has to do with true friendship, which I understand much better than him, who's only become sort-of-friends with some creature named Scorpan. This whole thing is not going to go over well, I can tell, but he won't let me do anything about it! It's very frustrating." She bit into her sandwich roughly, and Luna put a hoof to hers to calm her. Clover set the sandwich down, looking up to Luna in weakness.
"Sorry, I just don't want anypony to get hurt."
"I understand," Luna said. "Hey, want to visit the orphanage with me? It might make you feel better, and I think you and Chrysalis will get along pretty well."
"Sure, I'll take this to go." Clover levitated her food and they left the café, having already paid. They trekked along the empty road in silence, simply listening to the sounds of the night. Crickets chirped in a soft chorus, with bull frogs belting out notes every so often. A few lights in the shops and houses lining the street flickered on and off, some ponies finally getting to bed after a long night. Luna was used to this atmosphere, being practically nocturnal. Her job started at 4:00 in the afternoon, giving her the entire morning and noon to sleep. She loved these peaceful walks out in the dark, with nopony to bother her. The absence of ponies still did confuse her, though, not understanding how they could stand to sleep through such beautiful nights. She suspected that if the night had a mind of its own, it would feel very lonely, always being so unappreciated. Still, these were minor problems in the grand scheme of things, just thoughts to dwell on, and Luna shook them away as she and Clover entered the stone building.
"Luna, you're back," Chrysalis whispered, approaching them, then noticing Clover. "Oh, hi! Who are you?"
"Chrissi, this is Clover, my old friend from my fillihood," Luna said. "Clover, this is Chrysalis." The two ponies shook hoofs and smiled at each other.
"Clover...the Clever? One of the Mane Founders?" Chrysalis asked.
"Yes," Clover said. "And you run this whole orphanage?" Chrysalis nodded, and Clover looked at her in amazement. The three started talking about Starswirl and other events in Equestria, re-stating facts Clover and Luna had already discussed so as to inform Chrysalis. She gave some tips to Clover on how to convince Starswirl that she should cast the spell, and they debated ways to harmonize Equestrian society. Their conversation was cut short as a pink pegasus mare with a short, sky blue mane, blue eyes, and double-heart cutie mark entered the building.
"Sorry I'm late," she gasped. "I had to work overtime at my other job."
"It's fine. Can you take over for the rest of the night?" Chrysalis said.
"Of course."
"Sweet, now we can continue this talk outside," Chrysalis said. "Oh, girls, this is Rose Quartz. Rosy, this is Luna and Clover the Clever." After a round of greetings, the trio left the orphanage and entered the night's endless blanket. Luna could see a hint of light from the sun over the east horizon, knowing that the most powerful unicorns were working together to lift it, and lower the moon as well. She suspected it must be a tough job, moving a celestial body.
"Hey, do you guys mind if I pick up a pastry or something to go real quick? I haven't eaten in hours," Chrysalis asked as they were passing by the café again. The other mares nodded, and she went in while they waited outside.
"Luna?" Clover started. "After the whole incident at Starswirl's School, was Celestia okay? I know she wanted to get in as much as me, if not more, and that before she had been a little jealous of my magic skills, and I really don't want to have made her sad."
"Oh, no she was fine!" Luna said instantly. Thinking about it a bit more, she restated it. "Of course, she was a little jealous and confused, but she got over it quickly, and she was really proud of you. Mostly, you getting in just helped to motivate her more."
"That's good," Clover said, smiling. "I mean, I was a little confused as well. Celestia was just as good as me, yet they only accepted me in because I went all freakish on the place. Is that all they were looking for with the exam? A burst of magical energy?"
Luna thought on this a while, and she could see Clover doing the same. It was odd that out of plenty of talented ponies, they only chose ones who had un-harnessed god-like power. Maybe they were specifically looking for that. It was possible, though another possibility was that he hadn't originally planned on accepting orphans, since they were considered low-class citizens. Luna would have voiced these ideas, but she knew that Clover really idolized Starswirl, or at least looked up to him, and that thinking of him in that way could break her vision of him.
"Hey, Luna? You know how ponies say that the power of friendship blew away the Windigos that night in the caves?" Clover asked. Luna nodded, and she continued. "Well, something weird happened that night. As Smart Cookie, Pansy, and I were about to freeze, we did tell each other that we didn't hate each other, like the stories say. But then, once we had been completely frozen, except for the tip of my horn, a burst of magic surged through me, powered by what felt like love and tolerance. It had a warm, yet almost burning sensation to it, and it melted the ice around us. I have no idea how it happened or what triggered it. It was different than the one that happened during my entrance exam, since that one was fueled by the shock of the Sonic Rainboom. This one came from nowhere, and it was fast, and unexpected, and...powerful. I didn't quite understand it, and I could tell it had good intentions, but it felt so out of my control, like if it had been fueled by hate it could do damage to ponies. I know Celestia would say just to be thankful for the raw power I have, but sometimes I feel like a time bomb just waiting to explode and destroy everything in my path. I don't want to hurt anypony! I...I'm scared."
"Oh, Clover." Luna hugged her friend tightly, trying to comfort her. "I know you would never hurt anypony intentionally, and if this happens without your control, it at least seems to be fueled by your emotions. I'm sure as long as you strive for good, your magic will do the same."
"I guess that is true."
"Look," Luna pulled away from her, "if you ever feel like hate or any kind of bad emotion is building up inside of you. If you're ever worried that you might be destructive or hurt other ponies, you can always come to me. I promise I will help you work through your struggles and will not ever judge you for anything you feel or do." Clover smiled.
"Thank you, Lu-lu. You're the best." They stared at each other for a while, then started to move towards the other. Their eyes shut slowly as they got closer and their lips touched. Luna felt a tingling in her stomach as she kissed Clover, the love she had for her growing every second. They pulled away slowly after what felt like hours of happiness and smiled at each other. Their moment was cut short by Chrysalis coming out of the café. The trio kept walking along the road in a peaceful silence, and Luna thought back to Clover. She hadn't really realized before that she had felt that way about her, and was gleefully surprised that Clover felt the same way. She guessed it must have been in that moment when she swore to help her, be there for her, and not to judge her that she realized she was saying those out of romantic love. Luna grinned into the dawn, feeling a calm wash over her like she had never felt before. She felt like skipping, prancing, galloping along the road; not going anywhere in specific, just moving gaily about. These new feelings almost overwhelmed her when their walk was stopped by a spark of fire in the air, through which a scroll appeared. It landed in Clover's hoof, and she read over it, her eyes widening the farther she read. When she finished, she started running in the direction of the train station, with Luna and Chrysalis following behind, struggling to keep up.
"What's wrong?!" Luna shouted.
"Starswirl's about to enact his spell!" Clover yelled back. "We have to stop him before it's too late!"
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief as she flopped on her bed. Finally, she had a break from the constant demands of Princess Cadance. That spoiled Crystal princess would be the death of her, she was certain. If she had to make an entire meal over again because it "wasn't sweet enough", she just might poison the bitch. She would have quit long ago was it not the only job she was good at.
She looked up at the poster above her bed and grimaced. The great and powerful wizard looked down at her in his life-like painting, with a gaze full of condescending disappointment. All it did was remind her of that dream she once believed she'd achieve, the chance to work with Starswirl. She knew now that the only way she'd see him would be by serving him food. Even with this absence of a real life, she nevertheless daily practiced her magic, hoping something would come of it eventually.
The bell rang, calling her back. Celestia groaned and stood back up. Re-doing her messy bun, she made her way briskly out the door and down the long hallway. Once she reached the deserted kitchen, she checked the scroll sent to her inbox through Dragon-Mail. It told her to come to the main foyer in ten minutes for an important job. She smirked at the idea that this job would be "important", but was also glad that'd she wouldn't have to rush down there. Relishing in the extra time, she grabbed herself a small snack of oat crackers. She was just about to walk out of the kitchen, when suddenly her last cracker morphed, and turned into an eight-foot tall creature with the head of a pony, a deer antler, a goat horn, a fang, a goat beard, a lion paw and an eagle claw, a lizard leg and a goat leg, a bat wing and a pegasus wing, a snake-like body, and a dragon tail. He gave Celestia a slight smirk.
"So, Tia, where are you off to?" he asked with over-emphasized inquisitiveness.
"Discord, please don't interfere with my job again," Celestia whined.
"Your job?! I thought we planned to have a picnic today!" Discord gasped in mock horror.
"I never have time for a picnic."
"Exactly why we should have one now!" Discord huffed. He leaned in closer to Celestia and said, "is it Little Miss Crystal again?" Celestia nodded, and Discord sighed knowingly.
"If I had real draconequus powers, I would dump zinnias on her, spin her around so that she's really dizzy, pour noodles on her, force her to dress in a nerdy robe cosplay, switch her mane with an ugly one, make her massage my knees, and almost drown her in water. Since I can only teleport and shape shift, though, I'll just sing about it to her." Celestia smiled at Discord's attempt to be helpful. He was great to have around, even if he was often quite annoying. Without him, she'd have literally no fun, no friends, and no real reason to live.
Realizing how much time had passed, Celestia quickly rushed out the door, with Discord trailing behind her. They slowed down before turning the corner into the foyer, and Celestia gestured to Discord to leave. With a snap of his fingers, he turned into a clip in Celestia's mane. Too tired to protest, she turned into the grand, bedazzled room and briskly made her way towards Princess Cadance and her father, King Sombra.
"Good, thou art here," Sombra said. He pulled out a scroll from the pocket of his red coat. Opening it, he told Celestia, "we hath received this letter from Starswirl the Bearded today that dost worry us greatly. He says that he is putting to the test a new spell, one that he has not yet finished, but is trying to figure out. We have heard it is meant to be world-changing, and are worried that if cast without being fully finished, the results may be devastating. Cadance has told me that thou knowest everything there is to know about Starswirl, and that thou art very skilled with magic. Thou must go to his castle in Lower Crystal Empire and try to convince him not to enact the spell."
Celestia couldn't believe her ears. The Crystal King was asking her to convince her idol to not cast what could possibly be the most powerful spell ever cast? The idea was both baffling and terrifying, and she wasn't sure if this wasn't just a dream, even though she'd never actually had a dream before. She gave King Sombra a questioning look, just to see if he was serious. He confirmed it with a nod. Still amazed and wondering how desperate the king was, she said that she accepted, and he started guiding her though what she needed to do.
"His castle is located at the very edge of the Crystal Empire's southern border. It is hard to miss. When thou arrive there, show the guard this letter, and ask to be taken to Starswirl's western wing. The wizard will be very busy, but thou must nonetheless make him put down his work and listen. If thou succeedest, you shalt be rewarded greatly." Celestia took the letter from King Sombra with his royal seal on it to prove its validity. With worry still keeping with her, she asked, "what if I am unable to convince him?"
"Thou wilt not," King Sombra told her, "but if I feel thou art taking longer than expected, I shall come to assist." A little more confident, Celestia turned and walked out the huge double doors into the yard. Once out of the castle bounds, Discord transformed back to his usual self and gave her a hoof bump, spinning around happily in the sky.
"Now look at that! Your life is about to change for the better!" he congratulated her. "Oo, and soon you might even become Queen, and then you could make a law accepting draconequuses as citizens, so I can make more friends, and everypony will be happy!" Celestia smiled at his optimism, but still felt unsure about herself. Seeing this, Discord came down to the ground and walked beside her with concern on his face.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "I'd think you'd be excited to finally meet your lifelong idol."
"I know, and I am," Celestia assured him, "but I'm also terrified. If I fail, the entirety of Equestria is in danger, and it would all be my fault. I just don't think I could live with that."
"Which is why you're perfect for the job!" Discord said. "You care about Equestria so much, even when it's beaten you down time after time, and that caring is what can make you a heroine, a savior, and maybe even a queen." That made Celestia feel a little better, and she hugged Discord in thanks. They kept walking, approaching the fields of South Crystal Empire, only a mile from Starswirl's castle. After a while, they reached the gates, but were stopped by a guard.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" she said. A little intimidated, Celestia just gave her the letter, which luckily the guard understood. She brought them into the castle, up a winding staircase, and down a narrow hall to a large door, leaving them there with what seemed like a look of fear on her face. Before anyone could open the door, the two heard hoofsteps running towards them. They turned, and Celestia saw her sister, another pony, and what she was pretty sure was Clover. The trio halted in front of them, and Celestia immediately hugged her sister, having not seen her for three years.
"Lu-lu, I'm so glad to see you!" Celestia exclaimed, elated. "Why are you here? Is that Clover? And who's that?" Luna put a hoof to Celestia's mouth to stop her from questioning forever.
"Yes, this is Clover," Luna confirmed. Celestia embraced her old friend, then let her sister continue. "This is Chrysalis, who I met last year. We're here to try to convince Starswirl not to cast some huge, world-changing spell. You probably know of it, it's called the 'Harmony Spell', or something."
"We're actually here for the same reason. And this is Discord, by the way."
"Charmed," Discord said, "but don't you think we'd best skip this lovely reunion and deal with what we came here for?" The three unicorns and one pegasus nodded, and proceeded to open the door, which wouldn't budge.
"Oh, buck, it's locked," Clover cursed. "Starswirl, it's me! Let us in! You can't go through with this!" She was met with silence. She banged on the door, but still got no reply. The others joined in on trying to open it to talk to the wizard, but they couldn't even teleport in.
"Clover, darling!" the ponies and draconequus turned to see five mares running towards them. Celestia recognized them as the other founders of Equestria. Not stopping for introductions, the ponies tried different tactics of getting in. Princess Platinum, the pony who had spoken, was trying to offer Starswirl a deal for him to stop and listen. Private Pansy tried to persuade him as kindly as possible, often backing off if she thought she was too forceful. Chancellor Puddinghead was trying to convince him that casting the spell would be no fun at all. Commander Hurricane kept bringing up how King Sombra had forbidden Starswirl to cast the spell. Smart Cookie was just telling him plainly why they wanted him to stop, being completely honest. After what felt like an eternity of this, the wizard finally replied.
"NO!!!!!" he shouted. Everypony quickly shut up. "I have worked on this spell for over ten years, and I am the only pony who could possibly know when and how it should be cast!"
"But Starswirl, you don't understand! Friendship -- " Clover started.
"Do not undermine me, Clover!" Starswirl ordered. She shrunk back, and Luna comforted her. Celestia, who'd just about had it with her "idol", was about to yell back at him, when King Sombra galloped up to them.
"You were taking so long, has he cast it yet?"
"Your highness!" Smart Cookie exclaimed, bowing. A few of the other ponies followed suit. Ignoring them, Sombra banged loudly on the door, ordering Starswirl to stop or be incarcerated, but there was no further response. All the unicorns worked together to try to open it magically, but it seemed the wizard's powers were much stronger than they had thought. They had just about given up hope, when a huge, gargoyle-like creature with a brown mane, tasseled tail, and bat wings ran up towards them, shouting, "Starswirl, Tirek's coming here! He's trying to take something from you!" He finally opened the door, with a shocked, yet caring look on his face.
"Scorpan?" he asked. "Wait, why?"
"Something about using an unharnessed power to take over Equestria." Suddenly, an even larger creature, who Celestia assumed was Tirek, came crashing through the castle hallway. Acting impulsively, Starswirl whipped out his notebook and read from it loudly, stopping Tirek in his tracks.
"From one to another, another to one! One's destiny singled out alone fulfilled!" A moment of silence followed, with everypony just standing there, waiting for something.
Suddenly, all six of the founders started glowing, with Clover the brightest of them all. Blasts of energy came from each of them, going towards each other. Then, the energy switched directions, and shot towards all the other six creatures, excluding Starswirl and Scorpan. Celestia could tell something had gone horribly wrong just as she got hit by the strongest surge of magic she had ever felt, lifting her off the ground. It engulfed her, flooding her vision with a sun-like gold and filling her with enormous amounts of power. Just as she was feeling like she wouldn't be able to take it anymore, it released her, slowly lowering her back down. Winded, she shook her head, trying to get a clear vision. Luna was standing before her, but she looked different. She had a long horn on her head, was much taller, and her mane was darker blue, flowing behind her even without a breeze, resembling the night sky. On her flank, on top of the tattoo she had there, was a cutie mark, showing the crescent moon.
"Luna? What happened to you?" Celestia said, still exhausted.
"Probably the same thing that happened to you." Celestia gave her a confused look, but when she glanced over herself, she understood. She had huge wings, a similarly flowing mane and tail, and a sun-shaped cutie mark. When she stood, she found herself higher off the ground than usual, and felt stronger muscles in her legs. Too baffled to speak, she looked around at everypony else. Discord, Tirek, and Sombra seemed generally the same, though the king's horn appeared to have a red tip, and be curved. Chrysalis, on the other hand, was dramatically changed. Her mane, slightly more bluish in color, was riddled with holes, and her legs and horn had these holes as well. She was as tall as Celestia had become, and she had grown a pair of bug wings and a flower-like thing atop her head. Her green eyes were glowing, and her cutie mark was gone, with greenish-blue armor covering her torso.
"What did you do to me?!" she shouted in despair. She turned to Starswirl, demanding an answer, but before she could get one, Tirek grabbed the wizard. The huge titan-like demon opened his mouth wide, and slowly but surely, a beam of multi-colored light shot forth from Starswirl's horn, flowing into Tirek's mouth, making him grow. All the other ponies just stood there, shell-shocked, as the beam died out, and Tirek threw an exhausted Starswirl back onto the floor. The monster stormed out of the castle, bursting through the wall. As Scorpan and many of the other creatures in the room rushed over to see if the wizard was okay, Celestia and Luna both glanced over towards the founders, all of which were lying still on the floor.
"CLOVER!!!" Luna raced over towards her friend's body, with Celestia close behind. Luna was shaking Clover, trying to wake her up, but Celestia knew that Clover wasn't sleeping. Carefully, she placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder. She whipped her head around, her eyes full of tears. Without a word, Celestia hugged her sister close, feeling Luna hold on to her like she was her life source. They just sat there for a minute, undisturbed by the other creatures, who were still figuring out what had happened. Slowly, Luna pulled away. Breathing heavily, she stood, facing the weakened Starswirl. As she lifted her head, Celestia could see her face burning with anger.
"You..." Luna breathed. "You did this."
"It was supposed to create harmony," he protested unsteadily. Luna didn't seem to have even heard him. Her new mane whipped around fiercely behind her, and her teeth bared in grief-filled rage. Celestia could see she was blinded by this, and touched her shoulder, trying to calm her. It did nothing, and Luna shrugged her off, advancing on Starswirl.
"After being told by not only your personal student, but also the king, the other five founders, and four other ponies that your spell could have devastating results, you still cast it?!" she ranted. "What is wrong with you? Was it your pride? Your precious pride that led you to unnecessarily lash out at Clover, not listen to anyone's advice, and not admit my powerful sister to your school because she was an orphan?!?!" Celestia shrunk back, remembering that scaring event long ago, but trying not to be a part of that. Luna still didn't back down. Her eyes started glowing, and her mane became lighter and larger. Her coat darkened to almost a black, and her eyes turned a dragon green. Fueled with hate and sadness, her horn lit up a dark purple, and a powerful spell shot from its tip right at Starswirl. Everypony else was too shocked and scared to stop her, even Celestia. She watched as her life-long idol was hit with a deathly ray of energy. He squirmed in pain for what seemed like forever, then went limp. Luna collapsed to the ground, and Celestia ran to her. Her sister's features slowly changed back to how they were before her anger, but she was completely knocked out. Scorpan ran to Starswirl's body, checking his pulse and confirming his death. The five sat there in solemn silence for a while. Nopony knew quite what to say after such an unexpected turn of events, and they were all exhausted simply from watching. Slowly, Celestia stood on her new legs, and walked up to Scorpan, trying to be as respectful as possible.
"I seriously apologize for any insensitivity, " she started, "but were you saying earlier that Tirek was trying to take over Equestria?" Scorpan looked up at her with anger written all over his face. She immediately felt guilty.
"Please," she said, " I'm so sorry that my sister killed your friend, and I promise that I'll try to make it up to you if possible. But if the entirety of Equestria is in danger, that's probably top priority." Celestia realized how awful that sounded, but luckily Scorpan sighed and stood.
"Yes. My brother learned that our kind used to have a power that was taken from us long ago, the power to take magic from any creature, draining there strength as well. When I told him about Starswirl's harmony-creating spell, he must have recognized that it could restore these long-lost powers to him, and he wants to use them to take over Equestria, as you said."
"Any idea about what we could do to stop him?" Celestia asked.
"The best thing I can suggest is to send him to Tartarus before he gains too much strength," Scorpan told her, "but that would take a ton of magic, more than a normal unicorn could pull off."
"Well, we're both alicorns now, maybe that'll work," Celestia said, levitating her passed out sister onto her back. "We'll be back soon." With that, she rushed out of the castle and followed the trail Tirek had made.
~~~~~~~~
After about a half hour of running, Celestia could feel Luna stirring. She stopped and lifted her off her back. The dark blue alicorn shook her head and slowly opened her eyes. She frowned, looking around the woods they had stopped in.
"Where are we?" she groaned.
"Near Neighagra Falls," Celestia said. "We have to find Tirek and cast him into Tartarus." Luna stared at her in astonishment, clearly rattled by this new news. Celestia helped her up and told her she'd explain on the way. Her sister nodded, and started raising into the air, flapping her wings. New to this ability, Celestia attempted to mimic her moves, failing quite badly. Sighing in mock exasperation, Luna came down to assist her. Carefully, Celestia beat her wings up and down, feeling the wind catching in her feathers. She slowly lifted off the ground, needing less effort the higher she got. Luna soared ahead of her, gesturing for her to follow. Gradually, she directed the angle of her wings to glide her in that direction. She pushed a little too hard, and she was propelled through the air passed Luna, and sent careening into a tree. Laughing, her sister got her up again.
"Maybe go a little slower for a start," she suggested. Celestia stuck her tongue out at her, and they both giggled. She felt like they were fillies again, just joking together without the fate of Equestria in the balance. She longed for those simpler times, back when all that mattered in the world was the five of them and the games they would play. Nevertheless, the real world couldn't be forgotten for long, as the two heard a booming roar in the direction of a nearby mountain. They shared a worried glance, and immediately sped off towards the sound. Celestia was starting to get a hang of her wings, but once they found Tirek at the foot of the mountain, she realized she had no idea how to land. As Luna gracefully rested upon the grassy ground, she instead tumbled head over heels, coming to a halt after creating a long skid mark. She quickly got back up on her hooves, trying to look threatening as she yelled up at the huge creature.
"Hey, you!" He turned, glaring, but smiled menacingly upon seeing them.
"Well, if it isn't two of those little ponies," he growled. "Come to give me your magic?"
"No! We, uh," Luna stumbled over her words. She looked to her sister for help, and Celestia just started casting the spell. Luna followed suit, and their horns glowed brightly a dark blue and light purple, with layers upon layers of magic growing from them each second. Luna was struggling to use her horn a little, but Celestia made up for what she was lagging behind on. Two blasts of light shot from them, meeting, and rocketing towards Tirek, who stood ready to receive the power. Instead of going into his awaiting mouth, though, the light engulfed him, shrinking him to a weaker form of himself. A door-sized portal opened up behind him, showing a dark cavern with rocks lining it, and a three-headed dog seemingly guarding. Tirek was sent into the portal, and it closed behind him. Suddenly, the magic taken from Tirek started to spread throughout the land, and Celestia could see it reaching all the way to the edges of Equestria. The light slowly faded away, giving the sisters a chance to regroup.
"Wow, didn't know I could perform that kind of magic," Luna said in awe.
"I think that when we became alicorns, our magic enhanced as well as giving us newer powers. Which also might have made it easier for us to adapt to them."
"Amazing," she said. "We should probably go back now, let the king and Starswirl and all of them know that we beat him." Celestia nodded, starting to walk along with her, then halted in her tracks.
"Wait, Starswirl?! He's dead. You killed him," she said.
"I didn't kill him," Luna corrected.
"Unless you have a twin I never met, yes, you did. Everyone saw it, and Scorpan's furious." Luna looked at her in confusion, then widened her eyes, realizing her sister was telling the truth. She sat down, a look of horror on her face.
"How could I have killed somepony?" she asked desperately, searching for an answer herself. "Was I really that angry over Clover's death? Why don't I remember? Am I going insane?!" Celestia put a hoof around her, hoping to comfort her, though it seemed to not help at all. She thought back to what happened, replaying the memory in her mind.
"Well, there was something odd about you," she started. Luna looked up at her hopefully. "When you were casting the spell that...killed him, you looked different. Your coat turned black, your eyes dragon-like, your mane purple, even your tattoo changed colors. It seemed like your voice was deeper too, and you were practically blinded with anger. Maybe it wasn't completely and solely you who did it." Luna looked skeptical, yet a little more at ease with this.
"I'm going to find out what this was as soon as I can, so it will never happen again. Right now, though, we should probably go back," Luna decided, standing again. Smiling with relief, Celestia joined her as they soared up into the sky towards the Crystal Empire.
~~~~~~
Sombra threw another book at the library wall in frustration. Reaching for a textbook to his left, he skimmed over the first three pages, but just discarded it along with the other rejects. The king trotted over to a nearby bookshelf and levitated out all the books from it and brought them back to his table. The next book he found was mostly about magic, but it didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. He had realized soon after the fiasco at Starswirl's place that spell hadn't only changed his horn, but given him more power than he could ever imagine. Fearing he might hurt somepony if he didn't reign in his new strengths, he immediately studied and perused every book on the highest level magic. Only problem was that with so few unicorns in the Crystal Empire, there was almost nothing on that kind of magic in the castle library.
"Ugh! One writing on powerful magic, that's all I ask!" Sombra shouted in annoyance. A green glow caught his eye from the middle of his stack of books, interesting him greatly. He walked over to it and pulled in out with his teeth. It was a leather-bound book, with a clasp holding it together. Slowly, he undid the clasp and opened the book. In it was piles upon piles of spells, ones he had never before heard of. Excited, he leafed through the pages, carefully reading each spell and analyzing its use. As he got farther into it, he realized that most of the spells in there seemed to be fueled be bitter feelings and alarmingly hateful intentions. For some reason, though, they intrigued him, and some part of him could understand these feelings. He read further, getting more and more immersed in the spells, mumbling them to himself. The emotions started consuming him. He felt resent towards the crystal ponies, how they would always defy his laws when they didn't benefit them directly. He was a great leader, with reasonable ideas and understandable decisions. His subjects had too much power, being as dumb as they were. They would never acknowledge anypony else's problems, consider the future, or even think up any creative thoughts. They endlessly irritated him. Their spoiled little selves didn't merit all that they got. Wealth when they deserved poverty, breaks when they should have work, freedom when they needed oppression, for their own good. Sombra grinned. He would show them how the other half lives, give them a reality check and teach them to work hard for what they want. Besides, he needed more ponies in the caves mining crystals, and those rich, crystalline devils would be perfect for the job. Soon they'd know what real suffering is, and they'd beg him to let them go, but he wouldn't do it. He would let them shrivel away in those mines, knowing that they'd finally get what's been coming to them all this time. Chuckling to himself, the corrupted king stood and started walking towards the door of the library. He exited briskly, passing the gardens and heading towards his tall castle.
"Daddy!" Cadence squealed, running out of the crystal building with a huge smile on her face. In that moment, Sombra realized what was happening. He tried to fight back the dark magic that had consumed him, but it was too late. Fearing for the safety of his beloved daughter, he pulled together enough strength to cast one last good spell. A light red glow came from his horn, swirling around the princess. Ice started to rise up around her, encasing her in its preserving freeze. Not sure of how long it would be until Equestria would be safe from what he would become, or any other dangers, he only allowed the ice to melt once this time came. He was able to catch one last glance of Cadence's smiling face before he was consumed by evil.
~~~~~~~~~
"But seriously, what the heck does a cutie mark of a triangular hat mean?!" Hatter Mouse said. Luna sighed in irritation, but remembering her position of importance, she acknowledged the idiot stallion.
"Well, what were you doing when you got it?" she asked for the 70th time that day. Hatter reflected for a minute, literally, and finally came up with an answer.
"I was trying to make hats in my father's hat shop, so as to keep business going while he's sick, but I could never quite get any of them right. Then, when I finally finished one, I realized I had made a mistake, and accidently sewn in a stopwatch. For some reason, though, it looked pretty cool, and the next costumer that came by bought it. That's when it appeared." Luna stared at him in amazement, wondering how he couldn't have figured it out himself.
"From what I can tell, it's an occupational/character cutie mark. It's a hat because you are great at making hats, and its triangular shape most likely represents a dunce cap," she told him carefully, not wanting to offend, even if he was so annoying. He stared at her blankly, and she snapped.
"You're dumb, and your dumbness helps your work!" she blurted out. Celestia, who was sitting next to her discussing another pony’s cutie mark, looked at her in shock. Feeling guilty, Luna was about to apologize, but the stallion seemed unfazed by her rude description of his character, and simply trotted off happily, glad to no longer be a blank flank. Luna was about to address the next pony in line, when the bell rang, signaling their break. Relieved, the two alicorns left their chairs and headed for the café nearby. Before they reached it, Celestia pulled Luna aside.
“What was that all about!?” she exclaimed. Luna groaned at her sister’s goody-two-shoes character.
“I know I was a little rude…”
“A little?”
“…but he was so much of an idiot that he didn’t even realize I had insulted him.”
“That’s not the point!” Celestia scolded. “You need to control your emotions if you’re going to be in a position of power.”
“Hey, I never wanted this job,” Luna retorted. “I thought being ‘Cutie-mark Ambassador’ meant we would be traveling Equestria, which most ambassadors do.”
“Do you see me complaining? Besides, what else do you think they’d have us do after causing the Cutie Mark Revolution?”
“I don’t know, but why do all these newly non-blank-flanked ponies have to all be either jerks or idiotic bastards? Is anypony interesting these days?” Luna complained.
“Maybe if you hadn’t killed Starswirl, we’d have better jobs!” Celestia blurted out. Luna stared at her, hurt. She knew what she did was awful, but it wasn’t on purpose. Did she have to be reminded about that every time she made the smallest mistake? She glared at her sister, and walked past her to the café. She mumbled her order to the exhausted barista and sat down at her usual table. Celestia rushed in and sat by her, going on about how sorry she was, and that she didn’t really blame her. Luna barely listened, automatically forgiving her yet again. Celestia looked satisfied at that. As she went up to order her food, Luna ran a hoof through her long mane. She wasn’t sure if Celestia realized it, but they went through this charade twice a week, and it barely changed each time. Fight, blame, apologize, forgive, repeat. It felt like Celestia was stabbing her heart, deeper each time and the injury ignored. She’d grown generally numb to it.
“So, speaking of cutie marks,” Celestia said, returning with their food, “have you figured out what ours mean yet?” Luna shook her head, and glanced towards her mark, surprisingly matching the tattoo underneath it. Even without the knowledge of its meaning, she liked how it looked, mirroring the night she loved. A timer they brought with them rang abruptly, signaling the end of their lunch break. The two sisters walked back in silence, but once they reached their building, a group of crystal ponies stopped them, their coats looking oddly dull.
“If you want your cutie marks decoded, you have to wait in line,” Celestia told them automatically.
“No, we’re no here for that,” a blue mare with a droopy purple mane breathed.
“We just barely could escape,” a green stallion with a white mane said. “We thought you two would be best to help us, since you were able to defeat Tirek.” The sisters exchanged looks of worry, wondering what could be so powerful that they’d be the first pick to defeat it.
“Tell us everything,” Luna allowed, putting their closed sign up.
“About little while ago, Sombra had been in his library, but came back drastically different,” the purple mare began. “His eyes had green smoke coming from them, his mane flowing magically behind him, and his teeth turned to fangs. Then he started taking away our rights, like Parliament and free speech, and gave us curfew, forced us to work in the dangerous mines, and other restrictions to follow. It didn’t even stop there! He became more and more cruel, and by the end of the month, we were practically slaves.”
“Wait,” Luna stopped her. “How did we not hear about this earlier?”
“He cut off all contact with the rest of Equestria, and he built a crystalline wall around the empire.” Luna nodded and gestured for her to continue, trying to conceal her shock and fear.
“So after this going on for about two months, Silver Tiara here,” she gestured to a pink mare with a purple mane next to her, “got help from one of the kinder guards to find a hole in the wall, which the five of us were able to get through. We immediately ran here, and we must ask you to defeat Sombra, before anypony else gets hurt!”
The sisters exchanged looks, both seeing the other was just as scared as her. They silently decided to help, realizing that their new powers were going to make things like this a more regular occurrence. The two gave the crystal ponies money for food and a hotel, then flew off towards the empire. They were abruptly stopped in midair as Discord appeared in front of them. Luna and Celestia groaned in unison, preparing themselves for his random introduction.
"Well look who's finally out enjoying the open air!" he exclaimed. "Though I don't see much that's really worth enjoying. It's all so boring. Oo, maybe a few changes would do this place some good!" He snapped his fingers, causing the letters on a nearby sign to start doing the Swan Pony ballet.
"Like that? It's new!" Celestia sighed in annoyance and changed the sign back to normal.
"Discord, we're trying to do something serious now, and we really can do without your trickeries," Celestia scolded.
"Aw, but what's the fun in serious?" Discord asked rhetorically.
"Well, playtime is over," Celestia said. "Please don't bother us." The two flew off, and Luna could hear Discord shouting, "Well, poo poo to you!" before disappearing again. Ignoring him, she just let herself revel in this time of freedom. Luna loved the feeling of soaring through the clear sky, which she didn’t get many chances to do those days, being confined in that dusty building. The wind ruffled her feathers, cooling her off from the heat of that summer day. She sighed in relief, enjoying the moment to its full extent. It was soon over, though, as the Crystal Empire could be seen standing grimly in the distance. Instead of the shining and bright place it usually was, it was now black and gray, with none of the usual beams of light coming from the castle. As they got closer, Luna noticed that the Crystal Heart, usually floating below that castle, was gone, the spot where it should have been looking almost scorched. They landed outside the tall and gloomy wall. With her magic, Celestia blasted a part of it away. They confidently trotted inside, even though all they wanted was to run back home and go to sleep, pretending that none of this was true, but they had a duty to fulfill. They passed similar houses to what had always been there, except all a sad grey. Once they reached the center, they saw ponies marching to the mines, chained together. On the balcony overlooking the empire, Sombra stood, just as the others had described, smiling maniacally.
Celestia and Luna flew up towards him, their horns aglow, ready to send him to Tartarus. He looked up at them, shocked. But quickly regained his composure, and started sending deadly beams of magic at them, all glowing an eerie green. The sisters fought back, and everypony below looked up at them in awe, for the first time seeing someone defy their king. Their battle was long, seeming to be at an impasse. Out of breath, Celestia took a quick break out of the way of the line of fire. Something then caught her eye. In the gardens below, she saw what looked like a glimmer of color. Making sure that Luna could hold her own against Sombra, she flew down to see what it was. Slightly hidden behind a bush was what looked like an ice sculpture. She levitated it out with her magic, and gasped when she saw Princess Cadence concealed inside. The filly seemed fine and happy, with a smile on her face, but Celestia had no idea how she had gotten there.
Meanwhile, the battle between Luna and Sombra started to look like it would end soon, with Luna overpowering the corrupted king. She smiled, feeling successful as she cast the final spell meant to send him to Tartarus. Something went wrong. Right before the spell hit him, he covered the entire Crystal Empire in a green glow. The ponies below looked around in fear as they along with Sombra turned to smoke, as the entire empire disappeared below the ice surrounding them. Luna looked down in shock, one of the largest cities completely vanished off the map. She slowly floated down beside her sister, who stood next to a sort of ice sculpture. The two mares just stayed there for a while, too baffled to say or do anything.
“Luna!” Luna turned to see Chrysalis, still in her new form, racing towards her. She met her halfway, with Celestia following close behind.
“Chrysie, what’s wrong?” Luna asked, fearful of yet another problem coming up.
“I need to ask you a favor,” she started. “Could you banish me to the badlands?” Luna looked at her, taken aback. Her friend quickly explained.
“It’s been unbearable living in Vanhoover lately. The ponies there are worse than I ever imagined. They all fear me solely based on my looks, even those who knew me before the spell! I can't stand to live in a place where I'm not accepted, and the only place I can think of that will fit me is the badlands. I know that ponies aren't allowed to go there, but one can be banished, and that's what I ask you to do. You have the power." Luna understood her reasoning, but hesitated, not wanting to lose another friend.
"Well, I need a reason to banish you, otherwise it won't hold up in court," she stuttered.
"I recently figured out that the only way for me to eat is to suck the love out of ponies, does that work?" Chrysalis suggested, surprising Luna.
"But can't you just take a little from them at a time?" Luna said.
"I'll still be seen as a threat with that power," Chrysalis answered.
"But...can't you stay with us or..."
"Lu-lu," Chrysalis stopped her, "please. I need this." She held eye contact until Luna sighed in resignation. The dark blue alicorn took forms that Chrysalis handed to her, having Celestia sign, then signing them herself. It pained her to do this to her friend, even if she was literally asking for it. When done, Chrysalis took some of the papers for showing to the ponies guarding the badlands, and pulled Luna aside to talk to her.
"I really hope this isn't too much to ask," she began, "but do you think you could let me know when Equestria is in a place where I'm more likely to be accepted? I do really prefer it to the dreary place I'm going now. We both seem to be immortal, from signs I've seen, and I don't want to have to go that long without you or any real love. The feeling, not the food." Luna smiled, happy to hear that her friend wouldn't be gone forever, and nodded eagerly. The two embraced for a long minute, but Chrysalis eventually had to let go, and head off south. Luna felt herself tearing up a little seeing her go, and Celestia held her close for comfort. Luna smiled up at her, glad that they two were together once more.
The trio, including the frozen pony that apparently was Cadence, flew back towards the little town where they lived, near the mountain where they had defeated Tirek. When they arrived, they didn't see cute little houses and a few larger buildings. They didn't see beautiful, large fields and farms. They didn't see many of the ponies living there, any of the roads, or even the town sign. They weren't really quite sure what they saw. It looked like a checkerboard ground, floating houses, dancing buffalo, and the sky covered with cotton candy clouds pouring chocolate rain. The sisters looked at each other in confused amazement. Suddenly, a familiar voice made them understand exactly what was going on.
"Oh you two are back!" Discord exclaimed. "Ready to have fun?"
