Disease of the Soul

by Dilos1

First published 21st of September, 2015

When Princess Celestia recieves a plea for help from her former student, she vows to do everything in her power to save her.

For the longest time Princess Celestia has yearned for the chance to reconcile with her former student, Sunset Shimmer. So when she receives a desperate plea for help in the the form of a hastily written message through an enchanted book, Celestia vows to do everything in her power to save her.

---

Authors note: Gore tag has been added for mild gore.

Chapter One

The bright luminous glow of the full moon shone down on many grand structures and towers of the city of Canterlot, bathing the almost surreal collection of towering spires and grand halls of one the greatest cities in Equestria. The streets were eerily quiet, as most of the city's inhabitants had seen fit to head home from their duties to rest, and resume their lives the following morning, while those with jobs that took place during the nighttime hours prepared to assume their shifts under the watchful eyes of Luna's cosmic pearl.

Those ponies without duties or the present need to go to bed right away simply strolled around for a night out on the town, either alone or in the company of a friend on a park bench.

But in the tallest spire in the grand mountain city, a tall alabaster figure, with sparkling magenta eyes and a mane and tail that flowed like the auroras that could be seen far to the north, stood solitary on a wide marble balcony as she surveyed her and her sister's kingdom in all its glory. But none of its splendor held very much appeal to her at the moment; not the glistening rooftops of massive and ornate structures, nor the way how the moon gave the city itself an otherworldly feel. As Princess Celestia gazed upward at the slowly ascending moon, the alicorn could not help but feel a sense of melancholy turn her normal neutral expression into one of sadness and disappointment.

"What did I do wrong?"

Celestia spoke to nopony in particular, yet she paused anyway after she voiced the unheard question as though the answer to her query would manifest itself before her in response. She had no such luck however, as the cool night air of the passing months of Fall remained utterly silent, offering Celestia no answer.

Letting her gaze drop downward to the city and her palace below Celestia looked at but did not really see nor hear the elegant architecture or the faint clanging of the night guard's armor as they readied themselves for a scheduled patrol of the castle grounds.

"What did I do to make you turn away from me?"

Again there was no reply to her question, and Celestia found herself feeling foolish for expecting one. For a few long moments afterward the alicorn simply stood there, perched on her balcony like a great swan; regal and majestic, but broken and tired inside.

"Twice now I have failed," she finally said when the silence became oppressive and threatened to crush her under its weight. "First with my sister, and now with you, my student." As the words left her mouth Celestia clenched her eyes as she recalled her first encounter with the red maned unicorn filly that had once so long ago been so eager to learn from the Princess. It did not matter to Celestia that she could not cause the dragon egg to hatch. Truth be told, nopony before Twilight had ever been able to perform the magic necessary to do so.

What mattered to Celestia then was the filly's tenacity when she was presented with a task that even the most accomplished mage would have deemed a nigh impossible task. It was her unwillingness to give up or accept failure after spending minutes on end trying to coax the life hidden behind its shell to emerge that had initially caught the Princess' interest. And it was that interest that Celestia displayed to the filly that helped her make the choice to take Sunset Shimmer under her wing as her student.

If only things had turned out differently.

If only Celestia had not been foolish enough to make the same mistakes she had made with-

"Sister?"

Startled out of her thoughts of remorse, Celestia lifted her head and turned to look at who had spoken to her.

"Art thou well?" Princess Luna asked, her face impassive as she spoke. Her eyes however, bright blue orbs so full of life and emotion that Celestia could practically feel the concern ebbing off in waves from the midnight blue alicorn, betrayed her thoughts in regards to the state her elder sister was in.

"Yes Luna," Celestia answered in a soft tone. "I will be fine."

Luna blinked and ruffled her wings slightly in response. She then strolled up to stand next to Celestia, her metal-clad hooves clicking on the hard marble floor of the balcony and her mane of swirling starlight billowing as she approached. The two stood in silence for only a few minutes, but to Celestia it felt to her more like a small eternity had passed them by. Eventually the taller pony saw fit to break the silence.

"Your night looks especially beautiful Luna," she said as she turned her attention back to the moon, grateful that the shadowy imprint of a mare's head was no longer there to remind her of one her greatest failures. But even though it was no longer able to taunt her as it had for over a thousand years as it once had, Celestia's heart was still weighted down by the course of action she had to take in order to keep Equestria safe. "I never could hold a candle to how well you could orchestrate the stars," she added.

Luna glanced up at her moon, then back to her sister. "Perhaps," she said. "But we are certain thou did well enough in our absence."

Luna's answer, however she might have intended it to be, did little to ease Celestia of her anxiety. Redirecting her attention the great white disk that occupied the night sky Luna sighed through her nostrils as she continued to stand in silence by her sister. Another span of minutes passed before the Princess of the Night said, "The appointed time is nearing, is it not?"

Celestia stiffened, somewhat irked that her sister had guessed the reason for her sadness so easily. It took a long time for her to respond, and when she finally did it came in the form of a nod; a slow movement that conveyed a sense of heartache and dread.

"If she chooses to return, would it not be prudent for thou to be present?" Luna asked.

This time Celestia's reply came more quickly than the others."I have already seen fit to station a guard outside the chamber where the mirror is being kept, and I put spells in place that will alert me of any magic being used in there. If she does choose to come, then I will know."

"That is not the reason we ask thee, sister."

Celestia's breath caught in her throat. Tearing her gaze away from the moon she found herself looking into the eyes of her younger sister. And no longer was she keeping her emotions contained behind a mask of impassiveness. On Luna's visage was a look of such concern and sadness that Celestia was tempted to take a step back. She remained rooted the spot though as Luna continued speaking.

"We are not ignorant to thy troubles Celestia. We have seen how thy dreams consume thee about this Sunset Shimmer." Luna paused in her speech to draw in a breath. "Thou art fearful that thy former apprentice has slid further down the path of darkness since her departure."

For a long while neither one them spoke. Celestia for her part was trying to remain as stoic as possible in front of her sister, but found it to be extremely difficult to do so, as Luna had hit very close to home with her statement. And Celestia knew, no matter how hard it might be for her to admit both to Luna and herself, that she was right. Eventually she could not maintain her straight face any longer. Celestia exhaled, releasing a breath that she did not know she had been holding, and her eyes became downcast.

"Yes," she finally said with a slight hitch in her voice. Taking a breath herself she then began stutter out, "I had seen the signs Luna. I saw what she was turning her into. What I was turning her into. And yet even then I did not think to intervene more than I already had. And now, because of that, there is so much bitterness and resentment between us." Celestia paused to look back at Luna. "I never seem to learn, do I?" she said before turning to walk inside. She did not need to explain the meaning of her question for Luna to decipher what she was implying.

Following her elder sibling Luna said, "Dear sister, surely thou must know that we have forgiven thee, just as thou has forgiven us for a crime that was far greater?"

With a heavy sigh Celestia went to stand by the hearth that took up a large portion of her bedchambers. The wood inside the hearth showed no signs of burning, in spite of the flames that roared endlessly in their purpose of reducing the enchanted wood to cinders.

"I know Luna," Celestia said quietly as she gazed solemnly at the crackling flames. "And I cannot begin to tell you just how much that means to me to hear those words, after a thousand years of regret." Celestia hesitated as a very small smile crossed her face, unseen by her sister. But as quickly as it arrived, it disappeared. "However that does not mean that I have yet forgiven myself."

Behind Celestia Luna was silent. The taller alicorn turned her head to look at her sister. Luna's expression was almost unreadable, but once again it was her eyes that betrayed her emotions. In them Celestia saw a grave mixture of sadness and guilt.

"Sister," Luna said, breaking the silence, "surely thou dost not blame thyself for our actions?" When no answer was forthcoming she stated, "Celestia, twas our own jealousy and bitterness that allowed the Nightmare to take us so long ago."

At that Celestia turned to face her sister fully. "And it was my negligence that engendered such feelings in the first place," she said, grief evident in her voice as she struggled to look Luna in the eye. "Don't you see Luna? I failed to recognize my own ignorance. I failed to see how I was pushing you further and further away. And when I finally saw fit to do something about it, I was too late." Unable to keep her head up anymore from the weight of her guilt Celestia let her gaze drop the floor. Her wings drooped as she said so softly that Luna almost did not hear her, "I had failed as a sister. I had failed you."

As she finished her last sentence Celestia felt a single tear roll down her cheek. She took a shaky breath and turned back to look at the fire once more. "And now," she said, lowering her tone to that of a whisper, "I have only built upon my failure by making the exact same mistakes with Sunset."

"Sister?" Luna ventured after a pause in the conversation.

At first Celestia did not answer, unsure what else there was to be said. Finally speaking she said, "I will be fine Luna. . . .I just wish to be alone right now. To gather myself."

For what seemed like another eternity Celestia heard nothing but the crackling flames of the hearth. Eventually it was interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps retreating slowly as it echoed around the chamber, followed by the gentle flapping of feathery wings before fading away into the quiet of the night.

---

It was still a number of hours until the sun was scheduled to rise and Celestia would have to set it on its path across the morning sky before eventually having it disappear over the opposite horizon to make way for Luna to raise the moon again. It was a ritual between the sisters that the two had upheld and adhered to for generations. Yet Celestia could still remember in perfect detail the day that ritual had been broken. She would never forget that day when she had been forced to use the Elements of Harmony against her own family. When Celestia had recovered as much as she could from the weight of her actions she had tried to rationalize what she had to do to save Equestria from an eternal night.

What else could she have done? Luna had already refused to lower the moon, ignoring Celestia's pleas. She had already given herself fully to the Nightmare's foul taint, transforming herself into what future generations would call a wicked being of darkness. Celestia had no choice but to act against her sister. What could she have done?

"Something," Celestia said quietly as the flames continued to dance before her. "I could have done something."

It was, in Celestia's mind, not something that she had done that affected her so deeply, but rather what she had not done. It was something that kept her awake for nights on end; a question and answer that haunted her every day for the last thousand years, one that mocked her for her shortcomings with her sister. And now, a thousand years later, that same question mocked her for her failure with Sunset. Celestia took a deep breath, wanting to be rid of her thoughts. She had already come to terms with her regret years earlier, and Luna's return and redemption had helped ease her mind a great deal.

So why was she now once again feeling herself sinking into that same miasma of depression that had been afflicting her for ten centuries? It did not take much contemplation on her part to come to the appropriate answer. Letting a tired sigh escape her lips, Celestia turned away from the hearth and slowly walked over to a wall occupied entirely by multiple bookshelves of ornate design. Not a single shelf was empty, as dozens of tomes and books that Celestia had collected throughout her life filled every spare crevice that could be found. Sometimes she wondered how the bookshelves did not collapse under their weight.

Books from almost every conceivable subject adorned the shelves, from the memoirs of friends and aqquaintances long past to more modern additions of today's generation, such as "Rock Farming for Dimwits". But Celestia had not come for any of those. She already knew where the book she desired was located. Her long spiral horn became shrouded in faint golden aura, as a large brown book was slid out of its usual place at the top shelf. Held in the grip of her magic, the book floated down towards Celestia. Turning it in her grasp, the alabaster alicorn could not help but feel a sense of nostalgia, and sadness when she saw the stylized sun emblem woven into the front cover.

It was not unlike Celestia's own mark. In fact it was an almost perfect replica of the symbol that adorned her flank, announcing to all her duty of raising the sun in the morning. Celestia knew that, somewhere out there, there was another book that bore the similar mark of her former student.

For a long while Celestia stood there, studying the book as it floated in her grip, unsure if she should really be doing this, or even if she wanted to. All it could do now was bring her more pain and heartache. She knew that she should just put it back in its place and go to bed to get as much rest as possible before raising the sun in a few hours. And yet, in spite of her reasoning, the book remained where she held it.

Sighing in defeat, Celestia walked back over to lay down in front of the hearth with her legs underneath her, the book following obediently before coming down to rest in front of her. Celestia was about to flip open the cover, but she hesitated, unsure if she should be opening old wounds. So for a few long moments she stared at the unopened book, and the only sound that could be heard was that of fire.

Celestia briefly considered just putting it back on the shelf and forgetting about it, but something kept her rooted to the spot, and she was unable to do anything but gaze forlornly at it. Eventually she decided not to waste the effort of getting it the first place. Taking a deep breath to calm her now racing heart, and used her magic to open it to the first page.

The paper within was slightly yellowed with age, but aside from that it was near perfect condition. And on it was written a single paragraph comprised of neat and flowing letters.

Dear Princess Celestia,

If you are reading this then that means the literate transference spell that you taught me is doing its job. So that means whatever is written in one book will appear in the pages of the other.
On that note allow me to tell you how honored I am to have you as my teacher, Princess, and I will strive to do my absolute best to make you proud of me. You are, after all, not only my Princess but my hero as well

Signed, Sunset Shimmer.

Celestia's heart became as heavy as lead when she finished reading Sunset's short but heartfelt letter. The fact that Sunset had chosen this as the first thing to write to her in the book had touched the alicorn deeply back then, and for a fleeting moment she imagined that she had stepped back in time. Her fantasy of course was shattered when she saw the date it had been written, placing it well over ten years ago. Still wondering whether or not she should be doing this, Celestia turned the page, and started to read.

For what seemed like hours Celestia sat there as she read the passages of her former student. And as she studied the notes her face became more solemn and grave, and deep inside her chest her heart began to ache as though it were being squeezed by a vice. How had it come to this? Why was she so futilely seeking a semblance of comfort from words written so long ago, even when she knew they would bring none? Celestia did not know. Maybe she thought that if she read Sunset's notes from when she was happy just to be with the Princess, then perhaps Celestia would be able to forget for a moment what the young unicorn had become. Or maybe she wanted to forget her both of their mistakes, for a little while at least.

Whatever the reason may be, delving into the past was having an adverse effect on Celestia none-the-less. Steeling herself, Celestia skipped ahead a few pages to somewhere halfway through the book, and gazed sadly at the very last words Sunset had wrote to her before she left.

Princess Celestia,

For over ten years now I have been your student, and I have learned much in that time thanks to your tutelage. But despite my desire to learn more you kept things hidden from me, saying that I was not yet ready.
And like the little filly I was back then I believed you. So I waited and waited for the day when you would finally tell me that I was ready. But that day never came, and I began to suspect that you had a different motive for keeping me in the dark.
At first I cast these suspicions aside, until I began to notice that other ponies were allowed into sections of the Royal Archives that I myself was forbidden to enter. Ponies that were both younger and less experienced than I. I could not help but wonder at this.
Why was it that you would allow unicorns barely able to lift a pebble into the most secluded sections of the archives while your "most trusted student" was barred from entering? After some thought the answer became clear: I was not good enough for you anymore.
Nopony else seemed to notice it before, but not me. I noticed when there were times that you were withdrawn and unapproachable. Sometimes you would excuse yourself from your own teaching sessions to go do maker knows what, leaving me alone to wonder, "why?"
Was it something that I had said? Was it something that I did or didn't do?
But no matter what I did to convince myself that it just my own imagination, I knew that it had something to do with me. I knew because every time you would look my way, you would smile and put on a nice face. But your eyes gave everything away.

Celestia had already read this letter multiple times in the past, so she already knew what was coming. But she still found herself foolishly hoping that she would find something different than what was written down. She read on.

Almost very time we met you had this look in your eyes, like you were suffering from regret. Then I thought about why I was not allowed into the archives, why you would suddenly cut our sessions short, and I came to one conclusion: that I had somehow disappointed you.

Even though Celestia knew what was coming, knew that what was written could not be changed, it still made her heart lurch when she read that last sentence. But there was still more to be read however.

I do not know why, nor do I care any longer. All I want right now is to become greater than I am now, so I can prove to you just how far I have come. And I plan to go even farther.
I remember the mirror that you showed me, and your brief explanation about its nature . You told me then that I was not yet yet advanced enough in my studies to learn more about it, that I was not yet ready. But now I know that if I remain under your tutelage then I will never reach my full potential. I know of the world that lies beyond the mirror, and I know that it is there that I will have what I always deserved but never got from you.
I leave you now with these words Celestia. The next time you see me you will finally see my worth.
Goodbye.

There it was. The final letter that Sunset Shimmer had ever written to Celestia, declaring to the Princess her hatred and contempt, and the alicorn could do nothing more than sit there and gaze sadly at the final passage of the message, and it eventually came to the point where she could no longer contain herself. Clenching her eyes, Celestia bowed her head and began to weep openly, not caring if her tears fell on the pages or if anypony saw.

"Oh Sunset," she whimpered softly, as though she were injured. "My disappointment was never with you. . . It was with myself."

For a long time Celestia wept, mourning the loss of one who she had considered not just a student but a close friend. She did not know for how long she cried, only that when the whimpering ceased and her eyes produced no more tears, leaving them dry and puffy, her time piece located above the hearth indicated it was coming close to the point where she would have to pick herself up off of the floor, raise the sun for another day, and once more put on a facade so that nopony would see the pain hidden behind her serene outward appearance. There was no reason for them to believe otherwise; she already had a thousand years worth of experience to perfect her disguise.

Celestia slowly inhaled in an attempt to sooth her nerves for the day ahead, and let it out with as much anxiety as it would take. She performed this ritual a few times before she felt she was ready to stand. As she did so her joints seemed to grind into each other, protesting her sudden movement. Ignoring the discomfort Celestia proceeded to reignite her horn to pick up the book. The book rose into the air, and Celestia was just about close it when some of the pages slid inward from the motion. To prevent them from becoming bent she raised a hoof to straighten them out. But as she did so, something caught her eye.

There, to her confusion, was what appeared to be more words written a little farther into the book, partially hidden by the edges of the paper.

Celestia felt her heart catch in her throat.

Had Sunset Shimmer decide to write more after her previous letter? If so what did she write? Deciding that simply standing there looking dumbstruck would not help in any way Celestia hurriedly flipped through the book to the appropriate page, though she almost dreaded what she might find. Had Sunset fallen so far that she would continue to torment her former mentor with more spite-filled words? Or had she decide to change her mind concerning the whole matter, and ask Celestia for forgiveness and understanding, perhaps even requesting a second chance with the Princess?

Celestia sincerely hoped it was the latter, as she would have taken Sunset back in a heartbeat. She would then beg her former student's forgiveness in turn for being absent when the unicorn needed her most.

She found neither.

What Celestia found instead was a single short paragraph. And instead of the neat and concise line work that was typical for Sunset, the words appeared to have more or less been hastily scrawled onto the parchment by an unsteady writing utensil. And when she read it, Celestia was filled with dread.

Please help me Celestia.
Everyone else is either dead or dying, and I don't know how much time I have left. Look for me in the building with the shooting star on it.
Please help me.
Sunset Shimmer.

Author's Notes:

Hello there. I don't know if any of you noticed, but when I first published this chapter it was, shall I say, unrefined. So I saw fit to go back and clean it up a little to make your reading experience more enjoyable.
On that note, let me know in the comments if you see any mistakes; spelling errors, typos, missing words. . . you know the drill.

Chapter Two

"What dost thou think it means sister?" Luna asked as she finished reading the most recent addition to Celestia's book.

"It means," Celestia answered almost immediately with a hint of steel in her normally gentle voice, "that Sunset Shimmer is in some sort of danger, and I mean to find a way to help her."

Luna nodded solemnly. Earlier that morning, some time after she had left Celestia to her own devices, something the Lunar Princess was opposed to doing considering the state Celestia was in at the time, Luna had been doing nothing but worry over the well-being of her sister, and not unjustly so. No matter how she may have tried to hide it, Celestia had been a wreck when Luna had departed to watch over the field of dreams. She had become even more concerned when she did not detect the familiar presence of her elder sibling's dreams, indicating that she had not yet gone to sleep. Luna wanted nothing more than to stay by Celestia's side to comfort her, but felt that she would appreciate being left alone for the time being. And Luna was willing to put up with her sister behavior, for now at least.

But when the sun did not rise at its appointed time that morning, Luna knew that was where she had to draw the line for such foalish behavior. So when she had barged in uninvited into Celestia's bedchamber she was ready to slap her sibling silly and use the Royal Canterlot Voice as much as was needed to force the Solar Princess to get over her issues of self worth and do her job. The only thing that had stayed her hoof was that when Luna found her, Celestia had been nervously pacing back and forth with a book with a sun emblem floating in front of her. Luna could only recall a few instances when Celestia had been this hysterical, and each time it was over a matter of extreme importance to her. This time proved to be no exception, for when Luna was finally able to get her sister to calm down enough to talk to her, Celestia presented her the book, indicating which passage to read.

Now the two sat in almost complete silence as Luna finished reading Sunset's latest message.

Please help me Celestia.
Everyone else is either dead or dying, and I don't know how much time I have left. Look for me in the building with the shooting star on it.
Please help me.
Sunset Shimmer.

"That much is obvious," said Luna, finally answering Celestia as she set the book down on a nearby desk. "But it does little to answer the true question at hoof."

Celestia blinked at that, not aware of what Luna was implying. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"What we mean to say," Luna replied with a hint of exasperation in her voice, "is that the nature of the danger that Sunset Shimmer is in is as of yet unclear. That is, if there is any danger to speak of. " Luna paused, noticing the look of frustration on Celestia's face. She sighed, appearing to try and choose her next words with care. "Celestia, " she began, "we remember much of what thou hast told us of Sunset Shimmer. Of how in her final days in Equestria, she had become a very spiteful and frustrated sort of mare."

Celestia narrowed her magenta eyes at her sister, wondering to what she was implying. Sunset may have indeed become a source of much guilt For Celestia, but she would not tolerate her being spoken against. "I am afraid that I still do not understand Luna," she said, her tone even and betraying little emotion. "Can you please elaborate?"

"Forgive us for saying so dear sister," Luna said, raising a hoof in a bid to calm Celestia before things escalated, "but we have taken the liberty of reading Sunset's previous notes. Namely, the very last entry she wrote to thee before her departure." Once again grasping the book in her magic, Luna levitated it over and flipped to the page containing said entry. Pointing it out with a hoof she said, "We of course know of the reason why Sunset was forbidden from entering those sections of the archives. But it is here that Sunset clearly states her desire to gain more power to surpass thee."

"Are you saying that Sunset wants to show me who is the better mare?"

"We are saying," Luna said, starting to become frustrated herself with Celestia's obliviousness, "that Sunset Shimmer may be intending to set a trap for thee."

Celestia was rendered silent by the statement. On the outside her countenance was stoic, betraying none of her feelings. But inside there was great turmoil. Every part of her being wanted nothing more than to reject her sister's claim that Sunset would do such a thing, and berate the younger alicorn for even thinking of the possibility. And yet, another part of Celestia could not help but see the painful logic behind it. But would Sunset Shimmer really go so far to enact revenge on Celestia for perceived wrongs? Would she deliberately write that message in a bid to lure Celestia for some kind of final confrontation?

Celestia deliberated for what seemed to be minutes while Luna waited for reply from her sibling.

Finally, Celestia came a conclusion.

"Your argument is not without merit Luna," she said, prompting a nod of agreement from Luna.

But then Celestia added, "but until the time comes when it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt about whether or not Sunset does indeed have an ulterior motive behind this vague plea for help, I shall continue to hold out the hope that it is just what it appears to be: a plea for help."

After Celestia finished her statement, silence settled between them like a heavy fog as they held each other's gaze.

Then, unexpectedly, Luna's expression of impassiveness slowly transformed into that of pride. "We would expect nothing less from thee Celestia."

Celestia's eyes widened slightly, caught off guard by Luna's reply not expecting it in the least.

Noticing the incredulous look on her elder sister's face, Luna flashed her a grin and said. "Dost thou really believe that we would keep thee from tending to such a matter as this simply because of our own reservations? Nay! We applaud thee for thy stance on this dilemma, and wish thee the best of luck."

Almost unwillingly Celestia found herself smiling along with her sister, happy to have her support.

"Of course, " Luna added as her face became more somber, "we do expect thee to be cautious never-the-less."

Celestia nodded her agreement. "Of course Luna," she said. "Well then, that still leaves the issue of what exactly we we will do when the portal opens. Remind me, how much time do we have until then?"

Luna put a hoof to her chin and pondered the question for a brief moment. "By our reasoning, there is roughly two days between now and when the other world can be accessed. We can retrieve thy former student then. We have plenty of time to prepare."

"Too much time I am afraid, " said Celestia morosely. Taking the book from Luna she once again read the hastily written message. "Whenever Sunset wrote this, she neglected to specify at what time she had done so. This presents a problem that could prove to be troublesome. For all we know it could have been days, maybe even weeks since then. And as much as I want to rush to her aid the very minute the gateway opens, I fear that. . . when I arrive. . ." Celestia faltered, unable to finish that dreaded thought out loud.

"Thou fears thou wouldst be too late." It was not a question.

Celestia closed her eyes and nodded weakly, the only response she was able to give to her sister. A long minute passed as Celestia simply stood there, mired in the anxiety of what she might discover upon finding Sunset. There was a chance Celestia would find her alive and well, or at least as well as Sunset could be given the apparent nature of the message. But what if that was not the case? What if Celestia arrived too late to save her student? What if all she found that was left was a pile of bones?

Or, even worse, a fresh corpse?

Celestia simply did not know what she expected to find, and she would not know until she went through the mirror. She had almost no control over the situation she found herself in, and it was tearing her apart on the inside just thinking about it.

Unexpectedly Celestia felt the weight of a hoof resting on her right shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see that Luna was looking up at her with a mix of sadness and sympathy before she finally embraced the taller pony. And all at once Celestia began to feel to the tension in her chest start to fade and the worry be banished from her thoughts. It did not disappear completely, but enough of it went away that Celestia was finally able to take a moment to gather her thoughts and focus on the task at hoof.

"Thank you Luna," she said quietly, and Luna took that as her cue to let go from the embrace. Taking a breath to clear away some more of the anxiety and organize her feelings, Celestia then said, "Now then, as I was about to say, there is still the matter of what course of action I should take when the gateway opens. From what the message implies, Sunset is unable to reach the portal due whatever danger she is in. Thankfully she had enough forethought to mention where to look for her. That helps to narrow things down tremendously, but from the sound of it, it would seem that it is likely going to require more than a few hours to find her and bring her back."

"Meaning that our quest is likely to be long in completion," Luna stated.

Celestia nodded in agreement. "I am afraid that may indeed be the case. This means that I am going to have to bring other ponies along to assist me, as much as I would prefer not to. Earth ponies to be exact. They would be able to carry any additional supplies in the event that we are there for the duration that the portal is open."

Luna tilted her head quizzically at her sister. "Why only earth ponies?" she asked. "Would it not be wiser to have unicorn spell-casters and pegasi as well to aid us?"

"Normally, yes," Celestia answered, "but not where I am going. While magic does exist in the world Sunset now resides in, it is infinitesimal compared to the amounts that exist in Equestria. And any unicorns that venture there would be unable to access it anyway."

"How so?" Luna asked.

Celestia blinked, almost disbelieving that her younger sister, who was supposed to have a somewhat fresher memory than her, could have forgotten so much about the mirror. "Do you not recall Luna?" she asked, feeling her frustration rise again and begin to get the better of her. "When a pony steps through the mirror they lose all of their magical ability, on account of the fact that they change into a different form on the other side." At this Luna's eyebrows rose slightly as she at last recalled what she and Celestia had learned of the mirror. "That's right," Celestia added when she saw her sister's expression. "On the other side unicorns would be unable to access the magic that many of us take for granted, and would not be able to cast spells of any kind. This will apply to ponies of all kinds, so pegasi would be grounded, and earth ponies would lose much of their strength. Even I myself would be rendered all but powerless in this alternate world.
In this case I believe that earth ponies would be the best choice for the task at hoof, as they would be able to adapt to the change more readily than a unicorn or a pegasus."

For a moment Luna considered Celestia's reasoning. As much as she might have wanted to argue otherwise she knew her sister made a valid point.

"Very well then," she agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "But whom will we bring? That is to say, which kinds of ponies occupationally speaking, must be included as well? Royal guard's of course are a given."

"Of course," Celestia replied. "But as much as I would like to bring an army behind me to find her, I believe it would be wiser to limit the number of ponies to just a few stallions and mares."

Then something seemed to have occurred to her in that moment. "But tell us sister. Whom dost thou plan on having fulfill our roles as Princesses during our absence?"

Celestia blinked when Luna asked the question. "Our absence?"

"Of course. Surely thou does not intend to simply leave us behind whilst thou goes on this venture, correct?"

It was then that Celestia realized that in the entire time she had been talking to Luna, her younger sister had genuinely been referring to the both of them, rather than simply refusing to modify her speech to modern Equestrian dialect.

Noticing Celestia's silence on the matter Luna's eyes widened slightly when it dawned on her that Celestia did not intend to bring her along. "Oh. . . we see." she said as she looked down at the floor with an odd expression crossed her face. It was one that Celestia was all too familiar with. Before she could say anything she was cut off when Luna looked up at her and said, "Thou art adamant to follow through with this? To go and rescue thy student?"

Already suspecting what Luna was leading up to Celestia hesitantly replied, "I am."

"Then what of us sister?" questioned Luna. "What are we to do while thou goes on this crusade? Are we to be left behind?"

For a moment Celestia was taken aback by these words. It became obvious that Luna was expecting to accompany her, until Celestia all but said otherwise. And now it seemed that she was feeling neglected because of it.

"Oh Luna," Celestia said as she went up to the smaller alicorn. "You know that there is nothing that I would like more than for you to stand by my side. But you also know what would become of Equestria if both of us were absent for so long. And I am afraid that there is simply not enough time to implement a spell that would raise both the sun and moon for us, not in only two days."

Luna's frustration seemed to lessen as Celestia spoke, and her expression softened to one of understanding.

"Also," Celestia added after a brief pause, "You know as well as I that this is something have to do. Not only for Sunset's sake but for my own as well."

This earned Celestia a confused from Luna, who then asked, "What dost thou mean for thy own sake?"

Celestia considered her next words, wondering how best to voice her thoughts, until finally she said vaguely, "Three years." Celestia took a breath before continuing. "For nearly three years now I have been living with the knowledge that Sunset blames me for many of the perceived wrongs against her. And unfortunately I cannot say that I am completely without blame. We were both at fault. My hope is that I can somehow make amends with her if. . . when, I find her. And my mind is made up Luna. You will not dissuade me from my decision."

Luna's mouth set in a grim line when Celestia finished her statement, and she regarded her elder sister with an odd expression that Celestia could not quite place. Before she could question it Luna replied, "Very well sister. We will do as thou wishes of us."

Celestia stepped over to her sister before embracing her in a hug similar to the one she had just received, pouring as much love and affection into it as she could. Luna reciprocated the action, and the two simply stood in silence.

"Thank you Luna," Celestia said quietly. Eventually the time came for them to separate.

"Very well then," Luna said suddenly. "We have two days to prepare thee for thy venture. Let us not waste them."

---

Two days.

Two long days that seemed to stretch on indefinitely, giving Celestia more than enough time for her anxiety and fear to grow tenfold at the prospect of finally meeting Sunset Shimmer again after almost three years of separation from her former student. Enough time to think of all the things that could go wrong. Briefly Celestia wondered just how much the world beyond the mirror might have changed since her last visit so long ago, and how it would affect their mission.

She also wondered if they were still around after all this time. For all she knew they were the cause of Sunset's distress. But those three had been banished there since before Luna's fall into Nightmare Moon, so it was also not beyond the realm of possibility that they had passed away and would not be a factor for her to consider. Celestia found herself sincerely hoping so. But if she and the ponies that were coming with her did encounter them, then hopefully they would be able to counter any sort of trickery those three might have planned.

And then there was the issue of which of her guards would accompanying her, and how many. Luna was insistent that at least ten ponies go with her, while Celestia wanted a smaller number so as to keep a lower profile and prevent more ponies from potentially being injured. After some debate on the matter they compromised by agreeing on six. However Luna was adamant on having each and every single one of them be highly trained veteran guards. And she left Celestia no compromise on it either, which the Solar Princess was not sure if she should flattered or frustrated about.

Of course, for Celestia, preparing was the easy part. The hard part was waiting for those two days to pass. And despite what some ponies might think, the fact that she raises the sun in the morning means absolutely nothing pertaining to things influenced by certain celestial events. Even if she had felt compelled to make the sun set early, it would do nothing to make the portal open before the predetermined time. So for two agonizingly long days that seemed to drag on for far too long, Celestia waited, having nothing better to do than twiddle her hooves nervously. She did not even hold Day Court, as she had temporarily put a hold on it until she returned, with Sunset in tow.

Celestia doubted that she would have been very pleasant to the nobles anyway.

---

Finally, the two days were up. Celestia now waited with as much patience as she could muster for her sister to raise the moon, marking when it was time to go through the mirror. Standing before the tall construct in a secluded room in the palace, Celestia now gazed at the otherwise ordinary looking mirror as though she were sizing up an opponent. Luna stood beside her, looking at it with much the same expression. Behind them, waiting obediently, were the six guards that Luna had pressed into service. Despite the term, Celestia knew they were all volunteers that had been briefed by her personally about the nature of their mission, and what would happen to them. She had a feeling that some of them were rather skeptical of the notion of another world existing as a sort of parallel to Equestria, but she knew they were likely going to change their opinions rather soon. Aside from that each of the ponies, four stallions and two mares to be exact, bore heavy looking saddle bags filled to capacity with supplies, and all of them wore regal golden armor.

To distract herself from the time Celestia made a mental note to commission for the armory's to make some modifications to their current attire. The traditional armor may have served them well in the pat, but even a blind pony would agree that it was rather outdated.

Interrupting her own thoughts Celestia let her gaze drift to a nearby window to see the sun setting in the distance, per her instruction. Her musings had probably taken up a good ten minutes or so, but the portal seemed no closer to opening than it was then. She sighed heavily through her nostrils, before she felt Luna's feathery wing drape across her withers, reassuring her.

While the sun continued to descend Celestia heard the sound of the captain clear his throat, followed by, "Excuse me, your highness?"

Celestia turned to look at the pony that had spoken; a deep blue stallion with red plumage on his helm, indicating his rank.

"Yes Stalwart?" she said, giving him permission to continue. To his credit, the stallion only seemed slightly trepidatious when she looked at him.

"Your highness," Stalwart began, "we recall what you have told us about this. . . other world, and what to expect when go there. But me and the others are still wondering what exactly is going to happen to us on the other side."

Celestia glanced at the other ponies, and they all seemed to share the same expression of nervousness, despite their attempts to put on a brave face.

"As I have already informed you," Celestia replied to the captain, though not harshly, "each of us will undergo a change into something that none of you are familiar with. You will not be ponies in the other world. . . . But if your question is what I expect to find in our search, then I honestly cannot say."

Captain Stalwart seemed to want to press her further, but after receiving a strange look from Luna he decided against it and rejoined his comrades. That settled, Celestia returned her gaze to the setting sun, and was almost relieved that it was now beginning to disappear over the horizon. When the last traces of sunlight had faded away to night she became aware of Luna's horn glowing a soft blue for a moment as the moon began to rise on the opposite horizon, until it was high over the city of Canterlot.

Finally, it was time, and Celestia glanced at the tall mirror, noticing how its reflective surface seemed to almost shimmer and ripple slightly as ancient magic took root. Yes, the time had come at last, and yet Celestia found it extremely difficult to take that first step towards the mirror, as a thousand different thoughts raced through her head, and Celestia found herself wondering if she was really ready for this.

The others seemed to have picked up on her hesitation, as Stalwart once again cleared his throat to speak. "Your majesty? Maybe it would be best for us to go first. To make sure that there is nothing amiss on the other side."

Celestia knew the real reason for his suggestion but decided not to comment on it. Either way, Stalwart was acting with the best interest of his Princess in mind. She couldn't fault him for that, as Celestia dipped her head in silent agreement.

Stalwart motioned with his hoof for two of the other guards to follow him as he stepped towards the mirror. They obeyed with a quick salute before joining him. Standing in front of the mirror, Stalwart hesitantly raised his left foreleg and cautiously moved to touch it. And when his hoof made contact with the it simply phased through the surface o the mirror, and the area around his appendage rippled as though he were standing in water. Surprised by the reaction, Stalwart withdrew his hoof.

"Oh get on with it!" Luna exclaimed suddenly and very loudly, startling everypony in the room. It seemed that she was growing impatient with how slowly things were proceeding.

After recovering from the shock incited by the Lunar Princess' outburst, Stalwart again thrust his hoof into the mirror. This time he continued onward until he had completely disappeared behind the shimmering surface. The other two guards glanced at each other before one of them shrugged and stepped in after his captain, quickly followed by his companion.

After seeing the three ponies enter the mirror, Celestia finally felt she was ready to take the plunge herself. Slowly and deliberately she trotted towards it, before coming to a stop in front of her reflection, seeing it stare back at her with an unmistakable look of worry and fear. Off to the side Celestia saw the image of her sister step out from behind her.

"Sister," both she and the reflection said. "What if thou dost not return with Sunset? What if thou dost not return at all? How are we to be expected to lead if thy absence becomes permanent?"

Celestia looked more closely at the amalgam of her sister, noticing the look of genuine worry and concern on her features. Celestia only had to ponder the question for a second before she replied, "In that event, I have every confidence that you would lead our ponies well Luna."

Celestia said no more, as she finally found enough courage to take that last hoofstep between her herself and the mirror separating her from Sunset Shimmer, Before her everything became white.

Author's Notes:

Next chapter's up! And don't worry, there will plenty of things from the dark and twisted fantasies of my mind to make up for the lack of such in this chapter coming soon!

Also, just a quick question, but do you all think Celestia is going to find in the human world?
I already have a rough draft in my head, I just want more comments wanted to hear your thoughts on it.

As always let me know in the comments if you see any errors. I would be really grateful.

Chapter Three

The most that Celestia could recall regarding the brief trip through the mirror was something akin to a swirling tunnel of prismatic light and color that almost blinded her, which was quickly followed by the feeling of being bodily thrown onto the hard and unforgiving ground. Celestia groaned a little from the discomfort before she cracked her eyes open. The first thing that she noticed was that she was lying on her back, her position forcing her to look up at the sky. The second thing she noticed upon arriving in the alternate world was how gray the sky was.

And it was not the sort of gray that heralded the arrival of a coming thunderstorm. Celestia realized, as she watched a single tiny fleck of papery substance lazily drift down from the sullied heavens along with thousands of its brethren, that it was the kind of gray that was left in the wake of a storm.

"Princess?" came the familiar voice of captain Stalwart, interrupting Celestia's thoughts on the matter. "Is that you?"

Celestia rolled her head, which felt oddly misshapen, to the side to view the captain. And she was almost startled when she saw that he was no longer a pony. As Celestia had informed the captain before entering the portal he had indeed changed form. His front hooves had been replaced by things that looked to Celestia like five legged spiders, while his rear ones had morphed into odd feet that now bore some kind of leather sandals. His muzzle became much shorter, and his ears had moved down to the sides of his head.

Captain Stalwart had become a human. And he did not seem to be too happy about it, as he scrambled on all fours in an effort to reach the Princess. His armor, which had somehow shaped itself to accommodate his new body, made quite a racket as he approached, and Celestia found the scene almost comical.

"Yes captain," Celestia answered him as she attempted to roll onto her stomach. "It is I." Propping herself up with her forelimbs Celestia found that too had transformed as much as the captain, with a few slight differences. While the captain's now hairless skin had retained its blue tone, Celestia's had shifted to a pale lavender. And instead of armor she was dressed in a flowing white gown that extended past her knees. Her regalia remained much the same however, with her gold chest piece draped over her shoulders and her crown sitting in place of her-

"Princess!" Stalwart exclaimed suddenly. "Your horn!"

Suppressing the urge check with her new hands that her tall spiral horn was indeed missing, Celestia quickly said, "It is alright captain. This was supposed to happen. I have not been harmed." Celestia once again checked herself over. "Although, I will not lie by saying that I do not find this to be equally off putting."

Celestia situated herself into a kneeling position and allowed herself a brief moment to take in their surroundings. She found that almost everything in sight, from the row of unfamiliar housings that could be seen in the distance to what had probably once had been a large grass lawn, was covered in a thick layer of dust and ash. Looking behind her Celestia saw a statue of a pony reared on its hind legs standing on top of a large stone base, and she guessed that was where she had entered this realm from Equestria. A short walk away from the statue a large wide building could be seen. She also noticed something else.

"Captain? where are the two guards that came with you?" she asked with a slight hint of concern in her voice.

"Don't worry your highness," Stalwart answered. "I sent them to scout the surrounding area. They should be back soon."

Celestia nodded her approval, although she found the thought of two humans crawling around on their hands and knees to be a little amusing. As she thought about it Celestia started to recall memories from centuries past, and she began the unsteady process of standing on her feet. It took a few tries until she was able to do so, but in just a few moments Celestia was standing on her hind limbs, although she had to steady herself by leaning against the side of the statues base. Stalwart looked up at her with a mixture of awe and confusion at seeing his monarchs unfamiliar posture.

"Princess?" he questioned.

Anticipating what Stalwart was going to ask next Celestia said, "It is alright captain. This is normal." Celestia considered what she had just said and added, "Well, as normal as this situation allows it to be I suppose."

Appearing to take her word for it Stalwart tried to follow his Princess' example by copying her movements. He was met with a resounding failure however, for the moment it seemed that he had his balance he fell over, with his face meeting the ground with a cringe inducing impact. Celestia resisted the urge to laugh at his plight before shuffling over to him. Offering him a hoo- . . . hand to assist him in salvaging his pride before anypony else saw, Celestia said, "It is alright captain. I did not get it the first time either."

Captain Stalwart, face flushing from having Celestia see him like this, took her hand with his own as she helped him to stand properly. One thing she noticed immediately was how much taller she was than him, and she absentmindedly pondered how her natural height as an alicorn carried over into the human world.

One the captain was more or less steady on his feet, Celestia was about to go over what course of action they would take, but she was interrupted by the sound of a body falling to the ground accompanied by the clank of armor. Celestia looked and saw a somewhat slender looking figure squirming on the ground in confusion. Celestia recognized it as one of the mares joining the mission, Crimson Arrow.

"Ack! What's going on here!" the red haired mar- . . . woman exclaimed. Before Celestia could do anything to answer or provide assistance she was interrupted yet again when another figure came out of the portal before landing right on top of Crimson. This one was Aegis Lash, adding to the pile of confusion. He was then followed by the last member of the team, Hammer Hoof.

Crimson groaned under the unexpected weight of the two former ponies. "Get off of me!" she exclaimed.

"I'm trying to but I don't know which part's mine!" Aegis answered.

"I don't care what you two do, just get off my back!"

This time Celestia could not help but chuckle a little at the uncommon scene. Hearing her quiet laughter the three looked up her before their faces morphed into expressions of surprise and embarrassment. "Princess!" they all exclaimed simultaneously before scrambling to mimic her posture. Much like the captain their efforts were rewarded by falling straight to the ground, dirtying their once pristine armor in even more dust. Captain Stalwart groaned as he leaned on the Princess' shoulder for support.

"It is alright captain. Just give them a little time to get used to it," Celestia said to him.

A few minutes later, after Celestia had helped in instructing the former ponies on how to stand properly, the five were now standing in a circle in front of the statue. Although they were undoubtedly unsteady on their feet, Celestia felt it would not be too long until they became used to their new bodies.

"So," Aegis said, speaking up. "What do we do now Princess?" He swayed slightly as he asked the question but otherwise kept his balance. Celestia glanced around at their surroundings, contemplating on what their next course of action would be. Her gaze settled on the wide two story building. Like everything else around it the structure was covered in a layer of dust and ash. She noticed that above its doors an emblem of a pony rearing on its hind legs could be seen.

"We look for Sunset of course." she answered.

Turning to the others she said, "Captain Stalwart, Crimson, and Aegis. You three will accompany me while Hammer Hoof stays here and waits for the other two guards to return." They all saluted at her orders. Turning towards the building Celestia motioned for the indicated guards to follow. With wobbly and ungraceful steps the two men and one woman fell in line behind her. As they approached the building Celestia noticed a large block of quarried stone sitting off to the side of the path with the words Canterlot High School chiseled into its front.

"Canterlot?" Crimson muttered. "Weren't we just there?"

"It is an odd parallel," Celestia answered. Beyond that she said no more as the group of four approached. The glass doors were very dirty and smudged, and their surface was smeared with copious amounts of dust, but Celestia could still see her reflection in it. What she saw hardly surprised the Princess, but it set her somewhat ill at ease to find her horn and wings missing, leaving her back and forehead bare. She also noticed that her mane no longer flowed behind her, but instead cascaded between her shoulders like a waterfall.

"Excuse me, but Princess?" Stalwart asked, dragging her out of her thoughts. "I know it is not my place to question your judgement, but should we not be looking for that place with the shooting star like you said?"

Celestia regarded the captain before replying. "Indeed captain. But you forget that we are strangers here, and it would not do to simply wander around blindly in a place that is unfamiliar to us. Chances are we would become hopelessly lost. What we need to do first is find our sense of direction, and make our way from there."

"So, we're looking for a map?" Crimson asked.

"Precisely," Celestia answered before pushing the doors open. Or at least trying to. It seemed that no matter how much force she put into it the doors refused to swing inward.

"Hmmm. . ."

Changing her tactics Celestia tried pulling on them instead. She was rewarded by the doors opening wide to allow them entry as the metal hinges squealed against each other from lack of maintenance. The group stepped inside, their sandal clad feet slapping against the the hard marble floor of the large round room with multiple archways leading to to other areas of the building. A tarp that looked like it had once belonged suspended above them now lay crumpled on the floor in a dusty heap. It was also dark, the only light coming from the pale setting just outside.

And it was deathly quiet aside from the faint breaths of its newest guests, which seemed far too loud in their ears.

"Okay, where do we start?" Aegis questioned as he glanced down the hallways, and captain Stalwart answered after a brief moment of consideration.

"Split off into pairs of two. I'll go with the Princess. Meet back here in no more than half an hour, and," he said while giving his fellow guards the stink eye, "don't. Touch. Anything."

Crimson and Aegis saluted, an action Celestia mused they likely could have replicated no matter what forms they took, before they chose a direction and stumbled off down one of the dim hallways. Captain Stalwart sighed heavily as he watched them depart.

"It will be alright captain," Celestia said as she walked ahead of him. Picking a hallway at random she strode over towards it, her own steps like graceful strides in comparison to the captains own as he followed close behind.

---

Outside the building Hammer Hoof sat on the dusty ground next to the statue as she inspected her new appendages. The moment the Princess, captain and fellow guards had disappeared into the building the former pony had dropped to the ground with a thud as her unfamiliarity with her new body finally caught up with her. She was looking forward to the point when they would be able to go back home to Equestria and her normal pony body and try to forget about the circumstances she now found herself in.

Hammer was happy to serve the Princess until her dying day, or at least until she retired, and would give her life if the situation called for it. But right now the former pony found herself regretting ever volunteering for this mission. Truthfully Hammer was not sure why Celestia would want to stick her neck out so far just to find her former student. Hammer remembered the unicorn mare from when she had still been a recruit stationed to guard the royal archives from intruders. She had also been given explicit orders, from the Princess herself no less, to not allow anypony, even Sunset, entry under any circumstances until she was told it was safe.

For weeks afterward Hammer wondered what the Princess had meant when she said that, and was going to ask about it until one day, while Hammer was standing in front of the doors to the archives, the sound of something very big and very determined slamming into them echoed from the other side, which was followed by the persistent din of what seemed like a hundred sets of claws raking against the thankfully enchanted wood in a desperate bid to get out.

To this day she still had no clue just what she had heard, and she was not brave enough to ask the Princess either. Not because she feared being reprimanded, but because she might get an answer. From that point onward Hammer was more than happy to keep anypony without the express permission of the Princess from entering, no matter how much lip she got from Sunset because of it. She was even happier when she was reassigned the very next day.

She was still perplexed as to why she had been forbidden from disclosing the events of that night to anypony, but that was all in the past now, and Hammer was content to let it be swept away by the present.

To pass the time Hammer took to observing the pony statue sitting on the portal to Equestria, feeling that it more closely resembled the the Saddle Arabians than it did to Equestrian ponies.

It was then that Hammer became aware of a very faint shuffling sound coming from down the ash covered road. Senses going on alert she quickly took cover behind the statues base, and there she stayed as the sound drew closer. It was also accompanied by the unmistakable sound of. . . crying?

Hammer strained her unfamiliar ears to listen, frustrated that she had to move her whole head to do so, and instantly knew that it was indeed the sound of somepony crying softly. A girl most likely, if Hammer was any judge.

"Aria?" a voice called out weakly, and Hammer stiffened at how small and broken it sounded. "Adagio?"

The shuffling continued as its owner seemed to pass by the statue, and Hammer leaned over just enough to see who or what it was. And what she saw filled the guard with no small amount of pity and sadness at the sight.

It was a human, a girl, with light blue skin and mane of dark indigo hair with lighter streaks running down it. She held herself, seemingly for warmth, as she dragged her feet on the ground, leaving a twin trail in the dust. And she was so thin and frail looking that it seemed like the slightest breeze would knock her over. She glanced all around nervously in search of something or somepony.

Hammer could not see what, but the girl was clutching something around her neck.

"Adagio. Aria?" she called again, obviously waiting for something, anything, to answer her. Nothing did.

"Where are you? Please, tell me. . . I'm scared," she whimpered as a fresh wave of tears leaked from her eyes.

Hammer felt her heart begin to break as she watched the blue girl shuffle away, her pleas muffled by the all consuming silence. More than anything else at the moment, even more than going back to Equestria, she wanted to go up to the girl and help her in any way she could, but cruel, heartless logic in addition to years of following orders kept her in place. Hammer still knew next to nothing about this place, and for all she knew this girl might have been dangerous. And she was already under explicit orders from both the captain and the Princess to not interact with this worlds residents unless it became absolutely necessary.

So Hammer remained where she was, watching as the blue girl disappeared from sight as she continued to voice her pleas.

"Please. . . please don't leave me alone. . ."

---

Aegis and Crimson's sandals made a dual sound of slapping against the bottoms of their feet along with an annoying squeak almost every time time they took an unsteady step on the polished floor. The two were walking down a long and empty hallway with a row of metal storage compartments on either side. They were steadily better at walking as time went on, though they still felt the need to keep their outstretched hand on the wall to keep from stumbling.

"So. . ." Aegis spoke up, his voice echoing slightly in the silent din of the hall. "What do you think so far Crimson?"

Crimson didn't stop to look at him as she peeked around a corner before continuing on. "What do I think about what?" she asked, sounding as though she were disinterested.

"About this place I mean," Aegis began to explain as he glanced through the small window of a door. He tried to open it but found that it was locked from the inside. "What do you think happened here that's got that's got the Princess to come looking for somepony? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping somepony in need, but this place just gives me the creeps like you wouldn't believe. It almost feels like a ghost town if you ask me."

"Nopony did ask you Aegis. Now be quiet and keep looking around."

Aegis rolled his eyes at his companion's gruff attitude, but kept his tongue in check as he continued to scan the walls for a map of any kind. It was then that he spotted a door that was slightly different from the others. Instead of a window it had a white label with the words Sound Room printed on it in bold lettering.

"Hey Crimson, check this one out," he said as he hobbled across the hall over to it.

"I'm not sure how sound is going to help us Aegis," Crimson muttered sarcastically to him, to which Aegis gave her a fed up look.

"Oh come on Crimson, aren't you a little curious about this place? Who knows, there might be something inside."

Aegis reached for the doorknob, and to his delight he found that it was unlocked, although he had some difficulty in getting the door itself to open, and it resisted his attempts to pull on it.

"Come on Aegis, just leave it alone. There's probably nothing in there anyway," said Crimson, but Aegis was not willing to give up just yet.

"Almost. . . got it. . ." he muttered before giving the door one last heave, and it swung open suddenly. However the moment he got it open both he and Crimson were assaulted by an invisible wall of stench that forced them to cover their mouths and nostrils with their forearms as they fought the sudden urge to vomit.

"Sweet Celestia!" Crimson exclaimed as she turned away. Aegis fought through the tears forming in his eyes to look inside the darkened room and see what was causing the smell. And what he saw in there did make him vomit. It was a body, slumped in a chair with little wheels on the legs. It was so decayed and rotten that it was impossible to tell what gender it even was, as its flesh had dissolved to the point where it lay in a pile of putrid mush beneath where it sat.

When Aegis recovered enough he looked to see Crimson standing a short distance away, doubled over with her arm over her stomach. Quickly Aegis shut the door and headed over to her and promptly said, sounding slightly out of breath, "Come on. We need to tell the Princess about this."

Crimson only nodded in response before the two hurried back the way they came.

---

For the umpteenth time since she first entered the human world Celestia wondered why the place seemed to be so devoid of any sort of life. It was a question that unsettled more than it probably should have, and it allowed her and the guards to move more freely without the risk of detection, but still the Princess could not shake the feeling from her gut that something was very wrong here. Celestia had already made it clear to not converse with the natives, but she felt it was extremely odd that she had yet to see so much as a mouse.

Why?

Celestia glanced around at the vacant hall they were now in, looking at the picture frames that adorned the walls. Each one depicted multiple humans conversing and competing and just generally having a good time just being with one another. So where were they? Sunset's message had made it abundantly clear that something terrible had happened that was causing everyone around her to perish, but what?

"Princess?" captain Stalwart ventured, interrupting her thoughts on the matter. "May I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Celestia answered as she glanced at a poster board with a multitude of papers lying on the floor beneath it. None of them appeared to offer any hints where the building with a shooting star was, so she kept moving. Truthfully she was glad that the captain had decided to speak up, as it distracted from the direction her thoughts were taking.

"I was just wondering, how do you know as much as you do about this place? Have you been here before?"

For a moment Celestia thought on how to answer that question before replying.

"Actually , yes. Yes I have," she said as she glanced down an intersection in the hall way. "It was well over a thousand years ago, long before the rise of Nightmare Moon, long before even my sister and I became the stewards of the sun and moon. It was then that she and I, along with a unicorn mage we know today as Star Swirl the Bearded, discovered an ancient artifact left over from ages long past. Who had made it, and for what purpose, we did not know, but it was during our examination of it that we discovered its application as a doorway to another world. Out of my own curiosity I stepped through, and for a little while I interacted with the residents of this world."

"How did it go?"

Celestia sighed as old memories resurfaced from when she was still relatively young for an alicorn before answering.

"My presence was met with. . . mixed results. I only told a very few of this world of what I truly was, and where I came from, as I was not sure how I would be received. But despite my caution, word still managed to spread about my arrival. Some of the humans believed that I was an angel sent from the heavens to guide them to the path of righteousness." Celestia's face turned grim. "Others, however. . . they adamantly believed that I was a demon summoned from the depths to lead them astray. . . . I tried my very best to discount both of these beliefs, but it did little to ease tensions. . . . Soon after a short but bloody conflict arose, all because I was too curious to err on the side of caution when I stepped through."

"What did you do then?" Stalwart asked, concern evident in his tone.

". . . There was nothing left to do. It became obvious that my presence would cause nothing but grief and turmoil, and he-" Celestia cut herself before she spoke any further. ". . . I left. When the opportunity presented itself I left the humans to sort themselves out. I have never come back since."

Celestia's eyes became downcast as a sad frown found its way to her lips. Noticing this Stalwart asked, "Princess, are you alright?"

Celestia sighed deeply through her nostrils. "Yes captain," she said. "I only wish things had turned out differently then."

For a time the two remained silent as they walked down the, before Stalwart asked another question.

"Was the mirror ever used again? If not by you then by somepony else?"

"No," Celestia replied. "The mirror was never used for travel ever again, and it remained out of use for many years up until the welfare of Equestria was threatened by three individuals known in legend as the Sirens. If left unchecked they would have plunged Equestria into a state of turmoil not seen since Discord's reign. Thankfully Star Swirl had devised a plan to lure the Sirens to the portal while it was active, and managed to force them through just before it closed. Here, they would be powerless to do more than instigate a few arguements to feed their greatly diminished magic."

When the Princess finished her tale a thought wormed its way into Stalwart's mind that he knew would not leave him be until it was addressed.

"So, there is a chance that these Sirens might still be around? That we might run into them?" he asked as glanced back the way they came.

"I hope not captain." Celestia sad somberly. "I really do."

Just then Celestia spotted something rather strange. There ahead of them, a dark smudge could be seen on the floor, leading around a sharp corner.

"Captain?" she said, stooping down to inspect it. "What do make of this?"

Copying her movement Stalwart examined the smudge with a critical eye. "I may not know as much about these humans as you Princess," he began. "And this here looks like it's been here for a while, but I know blood when I see it." Looking at the dark trail he added, "And it looks like somepony was bleeding pretty badly."

Celestia only stared at the mark on the floor with a furrowed brow. Then, to the captains surprise, she stood suddenly and began to follow it.

"Princess?"

Celestia did not answer, but kept on walking in an almost trance like state before rounding the corner, leaving Stalwart's sight. The captain immediately became alarmed at this, and he tried to stand up to follow her. However his foot slipped out from under him and he landed with a painful thud onto the hard floor.

"Ack! Princess! Wait!"

Celestia still did not reply, as the blood trail continued onward until it ended abruptly at a pair of doors at the end of a hallway. She brought her gaze up and inspected them, trying to see through the small windows. Unfortunately they had been covered by a dark material, blocking her view. And there was an odd smell emanating from it as well. It was faint, but the Princess recognized it almost immedately.

It was the smell of death and decay.

Celestia hesitantly reached out with both arms to grasp the handles and push them open, and was only half aware of the captains voice calling out to her.

With a grating squeal the doors parted, and Celestia found found herself confronted with something more fitting for a foals nightmare.

Bodies.

Dozens of bodies.

Some were stacked on top of each other to make room for more to join them. And each and every single one of them had been covered by a white tarp that had become soiled by dark stains where the heads were located. Some of them had their bare feet sticking out or their arms hanging over each other, revealing blackened veins that spider-webbed across their pale sagging flesh like a mosaic.

Above them, written on the wall in suspicious red lettering was a single sentence that made Celestia's blood run cold.

No heaven, only hell.

Author's Notes:

Now I bet some of you are wondering why I decided to come back and make this chapter longer. The truth is that I always intended to have this chapter be this long, but I let my laziness get to me, and I cut it in half. Then I decided that I probably should not have done that, so I came and completed it for real this time. I apologize for any inconvenience that I may have caused as result, and for likely confusing you by making you think there was an actual update.

As always, alert me to any errors within the story in the comments.

Chapter Four

Celestia was lost.

She had become trapped in the rapid and terrifying thoughts of her own mind as she she slowly shuffled into the large room, surrounded on all sides by mountains of the deceased. She tried to stop herself. Her mind was screaming for her to turn around and leave right now. But it seemed that no matter how much she struggled, Celestia was unable to look away from the display.

She glanced around at the bodies in wide eyed horror, and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand to stifle the foul odor of rotting flesh. It was so rancid and awful that Celestia felt the urge to vomit. She was able to keep her stomach contents where they belonged, but only barely. Her thoughts were too busy with visions of Sunset Shimmer's body hidden underneath one of the white tarps, her beautiful face marred by rot and decay.

No heaven, only hell.

Celestia could not stand it anymore. She needed to get out of here.

Forcing herself to turn around, Celestia was finally able to look away from scene of death and ran as fast as she could out of the room, stumbling a little along the way as she hurried out the door. Once she was outside ran to the opposite side of the hallway, where she leaned against the wall as she gasped for breath that she no longer had, struggling for all she was worth to keep herself from falling into despair. But she was failing badly, as the thought of Sunset's corpse remained a fixture in her mind.

As Princess Celestia sank to the ground, she thought she could hear a voice calling her name. A few seconds later she became aware that the voice belonged to captain Stalwart when he placed a hand on her trembling shoulder. Stalwart spoke again, and it seemed that he was asking her something, but Celestia was not sure what the question was. Still, she managed to answer him in a shaky voice that was most certainly not typical of the Princess.

"I. . . I sent her here," she whispered in a haunted tone, as she put a hand to her forehead. Stalwart asked her another question, and this time Celestia was able to make out his words.

"Princess, what are you talking about?" he asked, looking slightly confused. Celestia looked up at him and straight into his eyes, and Stalwart felt compelled to take a step back from her. He saw that her brilliant magenta eyes, bright orbs that conveyed a sense of serenity and motherly grace, were now filled with absolute terror and despair. He barely noticed when Celestia spoke again.

"I made her come here. . . . I made her come here to die," she said quietly, not bothering to hide the emotion in her voice, and Stalwart's expression became more worried as he watched his Princess fall into an almost torpid state. Before he could do anything to address it however he became aware of the sound of shambled running coming from down the hall. Before long both Aegis Lash and Crimson Arrow came into sight, and the captain noticed the weary and sickened looks on their faces.

"Princess!" they both exclaimed when they saw her, and they rushed towards her, no doubt thinking something had befallen her. "Princess! What happened ?! Are you alright?!" Crimson asked urgently when they reached her, and the guard stooped down next to Celestia to hopefully address whatever was ailing her. Celestia offered no verbal reply, but instead pointed a shaky finger at the room she had just exited. Following where she was pointing, the three guards turned their heads to see what had frightened her so much. When they saw, their faces instantly paled and their eyes went wide at the mountains of bodies.

"What in Tartarus. . . ?" Aegis muttered, looking like he was about to be sick again as the smell began to leak out of the doors, suffocating them. Aegis and Crimson turned away, unable to bear the sight any longer. Feeling that he was going to pass out if he was exposed to the stench for much longer, Stalwart decided that he'd had enough, and the scene was obviously having an adverse effect on Celestia. Fighting through the smell of decay Stalwart got up and went to close the doors, and there was a sense of relief as they were slammed shut.

But the damage had already been done it seemed.

Celestia had slid down to the floor with her face buried in her hands, breathing heavily as visions of Sunset Shimmer's lifeless body hidden by a white tarp among the other corpses filled her mind. She did not know how long she sat there on the brink of a complete mental breakdown, struggling to keep herself from crying.

"Princess?"

Celestia did not answer the captain immediately, though his concerned voice did manage to snap her out of her thoughts. Realizing how she was acting in front of her subjects, shivering and on the edge of collapse, Celestia took a few deep breaths to calm herself and regain some semblance of a sound mind and picked herself up off of the floor.

"Princess? Are you well?" Stalwart asked again. This time Celestia did answer, but only after making sure that she would not show anymore of her grief, hiding it behind a blank face.

"Yes captain. I will be fine." But even as she said those words Celestia felt that nopony present really believed her. She did not even believe her. Stalwart glanced at Aegis and Crimson, appearing as unconvinced by her attempt to placate them as she felt. But instead of pressing the issue, they seemed to decide against it as Stalwart replied.

"Alright then. . . . What are your orders now?"

Pushing the image of the macabre scene out of her head for the time being, Celestia pondered the question for a moment. Then, turning to Aegis and Crimson, she wondered why they seemed to be in such a rush earlier. "Did you two find anything?" She asked. The two glanced uncertainly at each other, appearing unsure in how to answer her, before they both shook their heads and Aegis said, "No, your majesty."

Celestia of course knew right away that they were not telling her the truth, that they were intentionally hiding something from her. In the last thousand years she had become quite the expert on reading faces, be they pony or otherwise. She wanted to press them for information, but chose not to. She felt that whatever they had seen was not something that they wanted to bring up.

"Very well then," she said softly. Sighing, she then said, "If that is the case, then it is obvious that this place is not going to help us, and we must move on to other areas."

The three guards all nodded in agreement and offered a quick salute. Retracing their steps they soon found their way back to the entrance of the educational building. Celestia, eager to be gone from this place, pushed open the doors and stepped outside into the gaunt landscape. Almost immediately everpony wrapped their arms around themselves when they noticed that it had grown considerably colder since they first entered the human world. Walking back to the statue they found Hammer Hoof sitting at its base, shivering quite a bit. She tilted her head up, and Celestia could very plainly see the annoyance on her features.

"What took you all so damn long?" she demanded in a stuttering voice. "I've been freezing my tail off out here for over an hour!"

Stalwart glared at the guard, and was about to verbally reprimand her for speaking in such a manner in from the Princess. Celestia stopped him, cutting him off with a wave of her hand.

"It is alright captain." Turning to speak to Hammer she said, "I apologize Hammer Hoof. We were delayed by. . . certain events, and they kept us from coming back in a timely manner." Hammer didn't bother arguing with the Princess on what held them up, which was something that Celestia appreciated more than the guard could probably guess. She was not looking forward to recounting the details of what she went through.

"Now then," Celestia spoke up. "Do you have anything to report? Did anything happen while we were inside?"

Hammer nodded, although the action was almost unnoticeable considering how much she was shivering. "Yeah," she replied while rubbing her hands together for warmth. "A little while ago this blue girl came and walked by. I didn't make contact, but I could tell that she has definitely seen better days. She looked about ready to fall over." Hammer paused briefly to breathe warm air onto her shaking appendages before continuing."She kept saying the names of two other humans, Aria and Adagio."

The moment Hammer Hoof mentioned those names Celestia felt herself stiffen from surprise and shock. Her eyes went wide, and to anypony looking at her it would have looked like she had just seen a ghost. Hammer noticed her expression and asked, "Princess? Is something wrong?"

Fixing the guard with a stern expression, Celestia looked straight in her eye. "Are you sure Hammer?" she questioned in a strange tone of voice that none of the former ponies could place. "Are you certain that those are the exact names that this girl used?"

Unsure what the Princess was suddenly so upset about, Hammer answered almost hesitantly, "Yeah. I'm sure."

Then to her surprise Celestia's expression turned to one of anger and worry as she considered the implications of what Hammer had just told her.

So those three were still alive after all this time. Celestia was not sure if this new information would mean anything later on, but it still gave her cause for concern. She doubted that they were behind whatever happened here, as Celestia knew from experience that this was not how they operated. Wherever those three were involved, there was almost always something lying around that at least hinted at their presence. Monuments, statues, banners. But there was nothing that Celestia could see that would imply that the Sirens were responsible for whatever calamity happened here. Cruel they may be, but they were at least smart enough not to kill off their food source.

Hammer Hoof interrupted Celestia's thoughts on the matter when she then said, "And Princess? I think that there is something else you should know."

Celestia could not help but detect a hint of worry and concern in the guards voice when she said that, and she motioned for her to continue.

"You know those two guards that you told me to wait for? Gallant and Ironheart?"

Celestia nodded, already certain that she would not like what Hammer was going to say next.

"Well, the thing is. . . they never showed up."

---

No matter how much they searched or how loudly they called out, the missing guards were never found before the sky began to darken, casting the already dim landscape in a pitch black void that seemed to consume everything around them. It was as though immediately after Stalwart had sent them to scout the area the two had just simply vanished without a trace. This set everypony on edge, but none more so than captain Stalwart, who felt that he was responsible for their unexplained disappearance. Celestia and his fellow guards had tried to convince him otherwise, but the veteran guard was having none of it. No matter what they said they could not sway him.

He was also especially adamant when he argued that Celestia should stay inside the school building with both Hammer and Crimson watching over her, even going so far as to make it a "respectful" order, while he and Aegis continued in their search. He had even suggested that Celestia actually go back to Equestria until it was deemed safe for her to return, preferably with more soldiers. But Celestia herself was adamant about staying despite the danger. They did not truly know what had happened to the Gallant and Ironheart. For all they knew they had simply become lost, and it was only a matter of time until they were found again. She also felt that bringing more ponies would only be them at risk as well if there truly were dangers that did not yet know about.

Eventually Stalwart gave up in trying to persuade her to see his way of things, although he at least agreed with her in that bringing additional guards would only add to the confusion, as they simply did not have the time to wait for them to get used to their bodies and surroundings.

And so, almost an hour after Hammer had delivered the news of the guards disappearance, Celestia stood inside the school, staring out at the dim and dust covered landscape as she waited for Stalwart and Aegis to return. The bleak world world outside the dirty glass doors was growing darker and colder as every second the sun, which was no more than a bright patch of clouds in the sky when they arrived, continued to descend, and Celestia began to feel as though it was taking all the hope she had that Gallant and Ironheart would be found with it.

Not only that, but also the fact that they had yet to find anything that would help them find Sunset Shimmer made Celestia's heart feel like it was sinking into a pit. Right now she wanted nothing more than to dash outside and begin shouting at the top of her lungs for her former student. But she knew that doing so would be a fruitless endeavor, and would only result in her freezing to death; it was becoming far too cold for much of anything to out right now.

As she thought about this, Celestia was staring to become worried for Stalwart and Aegis. It was now over an hour since they left, and neither one of the former ponies had yet to return from their search. As she anxiously waited, staring out into the gloom, Celestia found herself feeling guilty for letting them come with her. If they had not volunteered then two guards would not have gone missing, and Stalwart and Aegis would not still be out there looking for them.

Celestia hugged herself for warmth, as the temperature in the foyer had dropped considerably in the last hour, and she could clearly see her breath with every puff of warm air. Hammer and Crimson had suggested that they move to another, hopefully warmer area of the school, but Celestia insisted that they wait just a little longer for the others come back first. And so they waited, with Celestia waiting at the entrance while the two guards were huddled together with the fallen tapestry wrapped around them to ward off the chill in the air.

Just then Celestia caught sight of something moving in the distance. She leaned her head forward and squinted to see what it was, and felt an almost immeasurable sense of relief when she saw that captain Stalwart and Aegis Lash were returning. Her relief was promptly cut short when she saw that they were alone.

Quickly she alerted Hammer and Crimson to what was going on and pulled the door open to allow the two entry. The second they were inside Celestia shoved the door closed, cutting off the stream of frigid air, and turned to address the two.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to limit how loud her voice sounded as it echoed around the foyer. "Did you find them?"

But to her confusion, neither one of the guards answered her. Aegis went to stand some distance away with his hands on his knees while Stalwart leaned against the far wall with one arm. Concerned, Celestia came beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, aware that long ago he was doing the same with her. She then began to speak in a quiet tone.

"Captain? What did you find?"

For a long time Stalwart was silent, and the Princess wondered if he was ever going to answer her. She did not want to press him for information, but Celestia knew that she would have to if he continued this kind of behavior. Then slowly the captain looked up at her, and Celestia was momentarily caught off guard. There was a look in his eyes, haunted and fearful, that Celestia had never seen from the veteran guard in his entire career of service to her.

"Captain," she said quietly. She did not want to probe him, but she needed an answer of some kind. "What did you see?"

Stalwart hesitated, then took a deep breath before he finally spoke to her.

"We. . . we found one. . . . Ironheart."

Celestia dreaded what he was going to say next, but chose to forge ahead. "And. . . ? What happened to him?"

The captain swallowed audibly before continuing. "He. . . Ironheart was. . . . We found him dead, with his back leaned up against a tree." Stalwart turned to Celestia fully. "We don't know how or why, but something had. . . just gutted him. His armor was torn off at the straps, and he was just. . . hollowed out. There was nothing left inside of him."

Celestia felt her gorge begin to rise as the captain spoke, and she understood now what had caused him such stress. Off to the side she noticed that Aegis was trying very hard to keep his stomach contents where they belonged. He was doubled over with his hand over his mouth while Crimson stood next to him with her hand on his back. Hammer Hoof looked just as nauseous, though she was doing her level best not to show it.

"Princess," the captain said, bringing her attention back to him. "I don't know what happened in this place, but I would be a terrible liar if I said that I was not at least a little concerned for your safety. Now, you know that I will follow whatever order you give, but I feel that I must strongly advise that you reconsider the situation. I do not think that we are safe here."

Celestia was silent as she went over what the captain said, recognizing the wisdom in his words. They filled her with a healthy amount of fear and anxiety at what might be out there that could pose a threat to a royal guard. She tried to rationalize but found it difficult to do so as thoughts of Sunset Shimmer's possible fate plagued her thoughts.

"Captain," she said, pushing that thought out of her mind for the time being. "Could you tell what had killed him? Was there any clue in his injuries that could give an identity."

Stalwart shook his head. "No your Highness," he replied. "We could not even begin to guess what it was. I can think of more than a few critters back in Equestria that could do this to him, but that's just it. They're back in Equestria."

Celestia though for a moment. Then, straightening her posture she said, "Your opinion is noted captain, and I myself will argue that it is not without merit. But is my own opinion that Ironheart was attacked by native animals of this world. As much as I dislike saying this, I feel it must be noted that Ironheart was still inexperienced about this world and what condition it is in. Given this information, one might conclude that that it was indeed animals that killed him."

Stalwart's face seemed to fall slightly at Celestia's statement, and his brow furrowed in obvious frustration. Celestia could not blame him either. She knew that his mission, first and foremost, was the continued safety of his Princess, and Celestia knew that she was doing nothing to make this task any easier for him to carry out. But Celestia was determined to forge ahead in her quest to find Sunset, no matter what stood in her way.

"Come," she then said, hoping to distract them all from the events of this evening. "Let us find somewhere to sleep until morning. It is much too cold out here.

Stalwart hesitated briefly. He gazed at her for a moment before he nodded once without saying anything. Satisfied, Celestia turned and made her way into the interior of the school, with her four remaining guards trailing behind her.

Author's Notes:

Those two guards that went missing? They were wearing red shirts under their armor.

Now, how much do you want to bet that it was not animals that took them out?

Chapter Five

"Sunset?

Celestia's call went unanswered in the gloom, and her voice seemed to have been swallowed by the all consuming silence and darkness. It was everywhere around her, and it seemed that no matter where she looked all that the Princess could see was a pitch black emptiness that threatened to consume her as well. Feeling that she needed to do something other than just simply stand around waiting for something to happen, Celestia began a slow trot forward, her gold clad hooves clicking on the ground; the only sound she could hear aside from her breathing and the faint beating of her heart. All three sounded much too loud in her ears, and Celestia was wracked by the uncomfortable feeling that she was unwelcome here.

"Sunset Shimmer?" she called out again, and once more the voice of her student did not answer her.

But Celestia did hear something else. It started off as a quiet yet rapid thudding, noticeably different from that of her heart. Celestia glanced in all directions in an effort to locate the source of the unnatural commotion, wherever it might be. She could see nothing however, only the same ever present gloom, and Celestia let her wings droop to the floor as a seed of fear slowly grew within her. And every second the thudding became louder and more frequent, until it seemed that it all but matched the pace of her now racing heart.

"Sunset! Where are you?!" Celestia shouted, hoping beyond hope that she would hear something, anything, from the unicorn.

To her surprise somepony did answer her this time, though she could not identify who it was, nor what was said. Celestia's ears became erect as she strained to detect where it was coming from.

"Sunset? Sunset is that you?" Celestia questioned, looking around her for any sign of Sunset. To her continued frustration and worry she still could not see beyond more than a few inches in front of her white muzzle, and the voice seemed to grow more frantic as it persisted to gain her attention. This time Celestia could just barely make out a few words.

"Help me."

"Sunset, is that you? I cannot find you! Please, tell me where you are!" Celestia shouted desperately, hoping that Sunset could hear her.

"Help me."

Celestia's already racing heart was now beating faster than ever when she heard the voice of her student. And just as she was about to call out again she became aware of a strange feeling underneath her hooves. Slowly and hesitantly the Princess glanced downwards, almost afraid of what she would find, and she felt her heart come to a crashing stop when she saw what was just beneath her.

Sunset Shimmer was looking up at her with wide eyes filled to the brim sheer terror as she continued to yell in a muffled voice.

"Help me!" Celestia heard her shout, her voice ringing clear in the dark, allowing Celestia to easily pick up on the fear in her tone. As Sunset was looking up at her and shouting that same phrase over and over again as she pounded on the ground under Celestia's hooves. It was almost like the two ponies were separated by no more than a pane of glass. Celestia immediately dropped to her knees at the sight of Sunset.

"Sunset!" Celestia gasped, recognizing the urgency in her students turquoise eyes. Noticing how she seemed to be trying to break the glass between them, Celestia quickly said, hoping that she could be heard, "Don't worry Sunset! I will get you out of there!"

With the alicorn reared up on her hind legs before slamming her front hooves down on the surface keeping them apart with as much force as she could muster. But instead breaking the glass as she hoped, Celestia's hooves did little more than bounce off of the surface, leaving the Princess with a sense of hopelessness that it did not work. She tried again, and once more received no positive result. Now desperate, Celestia began to beat on the glass repeatedly, hoping that her efforts would eventually pay off. All the while Sunset continued to do the same from the other side.

Then suddenly Sunset stopped, her ears flicking in response to something behind her. Sunset looked back, and Celestia felt an indescribable amount of fear and worry build up inside her when she saw Sunset's ears lay flat against her red and yellow mane. The unicorn then turned back to Celestia and began pounding on the glass with more urgency. Celestia immediately took notice of her renewed vigor, and she too began to frantically beat upon the glass to free her student and save her from whatever horror was coming.

"Don't worry Sunset!" Celestia said, hoping that she could be heard. "I will get you out!" But no sooner had she said that did she see something coming up from behind Sunset, but was unable to make out what it was exactly. Celestia squinted her eyes, and recoiled in horror and disgust.

The thing was a mountain of corpses, each one covered only partially by stained tarps, that seemed to be slowly spilling upward to Sunset, with the many of their limp diseased bodies falling off in waves. The mound grew larger and larger. Sunset's eyes were wide with fear and terror. Celestia saw that she was now crying, and began throwing herself down on the barrier with every ounce of strength she had.

Her efforts were in vain however, as the barrier keeping her from saving the unicorn refused to give, holding up against her onslaught. Celestia could only watch helplessly and look into Sunset's terror filled eyes as hopelessness consumed her.

"No. . ." Celestia said quietly as the mountain of bodies finally reached Sunset, their diseased limbs reaching out and grasping for her legs and horn and mane. And then, in an instant, Sunset was swallowed up by the mound completely, and disappeared from Celestia's sight.

---

"NO!" Celestia screamed loudly as she sat upright, waking everypony else who happened to be sleeping and startling Crimson, who was currently on watch.

Celestia could not take it anymore. Her insides felt as though they were in turmoil as thoughts of Sunset Shimmer still bounced around her skull. Spotting a trash can a short distance away, she hurried over to it before she emptied her stomach of the meager meal she had shared with her guards, the stress of the situation finally getting to her. She absentmindedly registered the feeling of somepony putting a hand on her back as she continued to vomit. After a few moments she stopped, though she still remained at the trash can, not even noticing the scent of bile as it wafted up to her nose. She stayed like for minutes, her trembling hands resting on the rim as she tried futiley to forget the nightmare she had just endured. She could still picture it clearly in her mind, the disturbing image of Sunset's face before she-

Celestia quickly shook her head of the thought, with little success however as she breathed heavily from both her nightmare and from throwing up.

After a little while longer Celestia that she finally had the strength stand up, and she took deep breaths through her nose, ignoring the slight sting in her throat. Off to the side she saw Aegis wordlessly offering her his container of water. She graciously accepted it, thanking him before taking a drink, mking sure to be conservative as the liquid soothed her throat. When she felt that she'd had enough she gave it back to him.

"Thank you," she said, her voice slightly hoarse as she spoke. Aegis simply nodded in acknowledgement. The Princess glanced at the rest of the former ponies, notincing how they were looking at her with a mix shock and concern. Celestia imagined that they had never seen such a thing before in their lives, and she felt that she was doing a rather poor job of hiding her distress at the situation they were in. A few moments of silence passed, after which Stalwart approached her and asked, "Princess Celestia? Are you w-" He stopped suddenly before continuing. "Are you going to be alright?"

Celestia would have thought the answer to that question would have been obvious, but she supposed that the captain was merely asking out of habit and for the sake of being polite. The last few hours had taken its toll on all of them. Not trusting her own voice at the moment, Celestia simply nodded in response, knowing that the conviction behind the answer was false. The captain, despite not appearing to be not very reassured by her answer, let his concerned expression soften, if only a little.

Celestia then glanced out of a window set in the library they were all staying in, noticing how the sky seemed to gradually begin to brighten slightly, as the clouds had gone from a pure black shroud to a somewhat lighter grey. It was difficult to tell exactly how long they had taken residence in the school library, but she guessed it might have been a few hours until noon. The sun was steadily rising behind the curtain, which was a strange thing for Celestia to witness. She personally found it rather disconcerting that she was not the one guiding it on its course, but she was at least grateful that she did not have to go back to sleep and face her nightmares again. Finding her voice again, Celestia stood up and turned to speak to her guards.

"We should be going," she said. "We only have two more days to find Sunset. Let us not waste them."

She received a few nods in response, though Celestia could not help but feel that they were all hesitant to leave the building, especially after the events of the previous day. Celestia herself would stayed here if she could, but with the limited amount of time they had until the portal to Equestria closed, they had no choice but to push onward and hope that nothing else happened before they found Sunset, lest they become trapped here for thirty moons. That was something none of them wanted to happen, considering what became of Ironheart and Possibly Gallant.

Still, it would not do to stumble around blindly and hope they came across something important when it was possible they may not be safe. Before they left Stalwart made it clear to everypony to not wander off, and if they were unfortunate enough to become separated they were to find their way back to the portal and wait for the others, lest they all endure a fate as gruesome fate.

---

As they stepped into the outside world and away from the perceived safety of the school, Celestia noticed how it still was, and hugged herself for warmth. The temperature was not quite as low as it was the previous night, but the Princess was still hesitant to step out into the chilled air. She felt goosebumps on her bare lavender skin; such a strange feeling would have never happened if she were still an alicorn.

As they walked cautiously away from the doors, Stalwart made sure that he stayed in front of Celestia the entire time. Hammer and Aegis flanked her either side while Crimson walked behind. Personally Celestia felt the arrangement was a little unnecessary, but she was thankful to have them there to protect her from whatever else may lurk in this place. Just thinking about Stalwart's description Ironheart's fatal injuries made her nervous, and she held herself more tightly.

As they strolled past the pony statue, Celestia could make out the faint impressions of the trail left behind by the siren that Hammer had seen walk by. She felt a sense of disapproval and a little bit of loathing as she gazed at the tracks, feeling like their already complicated situation they were in was only made even more difficult by their presence.

Celestia thought about Hammer's description, wondering if she could accurately guess which one of them it was from her memories of her encounters with them, and despite her loathing towards them, she could help but feel a small amount of regret that the sirens could not have turned from their ways. It was not like she had not tried to convince them either. She could still recall with some amount of clarity how they had reacted to her suggestions, repeatedly rejecting them. But each time Celestia that one of the in particular had only been acting like her companions so she would be accepted by them. In fact, Celestia almost regretted agreeing to Star Swirl's plan to banish them, if only for the sake of who she assumed the youngest of their group.

"Sonata. . ." Celestia whispered quietly, finally remembering the name the girl.

"What's that Princess?" Crimson asked from behind. Celestia was mildly startled y the question. She was not aware that she had spoken out loud.

"Of course," she answered quickly. "I was merely thinking."

Nopony bothered to question what she happened to be thinking about, most likely out of respect for her privacy, and Celestia had no intention to elaborate any further. Glancing one last time at the trail left by the siren, Celestia pushed the matter out of her thoughts to refocus on finding Sunset. The group walked as quickly as they dared, doing their best to make as little noise as possible. Celestia was no longer concerned with the prospect of running into any humans, if there were any left that is, but there was no telling what else might be waiting for them.

---

After almost an hour of walking through ash and dust their clothing and armor was stained so much they almost disappeared against the backdrop of abandoned buildings. Celestia found herself repeatedly having to wipe away the filth that that accumulated in her eyes as a result.

She sincerely wished that was the worst of it.

As they continued on their way a faint scent reached Celestia's nose. It was subtle enough that it almost went unnoticed. But through her long life however, Celestia had become all too familiar with the stench of decayed flesh, causing her nose to wrinkle in disgust. She noticed similar reactions from her guards, as they put their forearms to their faces in an attempt to ward off the smell. But with every step they took, and every block they passed the sent continued to become more apparent. No bodies could be seen, but Celestia imagined that there must be dozens, if not hundreds of dead littered about. They just simply have not found them yet, nor did she wish to do so.

It was in this invisible cloud of rot that Stalwart suddenly came to a stop in front of them, halting their march forward with a raised hand. Celestia knew better than to ask out loud what was wrong for fear of giving away their position to whatever had given him pause. Instead she chose to simply look around and listen for anything that seemed out of place in their desolate surroundings. She noted that they had long since moved away from the neighborhood consisting of singular housings to structures that she recognized as apartments. Placed here and were strange metal carriages of various colors, dulled by the blanket of ash and the passage of time.

The entire place felt dead and devoid of life, just like the school.

Celestia was straining every one of her senses to determine what had made Stalwart come to a stop, but could not detect anything. Everything was silent and still and grey. She was about to risk breaking the silence and to suggest that they continue onward, when her ears picked up a faint sound that immediately made her decide against it. It seemed the others had heard it as well, as all at once everypony became very tense as the unknown disturbance seemed to draw near. It sounded to Celestia like something was breathing and panting heavily.

Motioning with his hand to follow his lead, Stalwart quickly made his way to hide behind one of the metal carriages. Soon all five of the were huddled together behind it, and the panting became louder and louder as whatever its owner was seemed to pass the by. Celestia waited until Stalwart felt it was safe enough to risk a peek at what it was, cautiously peering over the top carriage. Celestia copied his action, and quickly found herself disgusted and frightened by the sight before her.

The thing that had passed them by was some sort of animal. It looked like a dog, but it seemed to suffering from a case of mange bordering on the horrific. What was left of its fur was little more than a few sparse patches of stringy hair, hanging loosely over it wrinkled skin. Its entire body was covered in massive sores and scabs all the way down to its bloody paws. Its ears, little more than bits of flesh at this point, almost seemed to be twitching as the dog rooted through the layer of dust with the tip of its nose, presumably in search of food. It was obvious to Celestia that the thing had not eaten in some time, as evidenced by its almost skeletal appearance.

Celestia silently wondered what could have possibly happened here that would cause the animal to be reduced to such a state. Her thoughts were interrupted by a cringe inducing hacking sound, and she looked to see that the dog was hunched over with its mouth open, exposing what remained of its teeth. She noticed that as it continued to heave, huge veins were bulging all across its skin, looking like they were about to explode.

Seconds later, that was exactly what happened. The skins around the veins suddenly split apart, and dark blood began to weep out of the wounds. In addition, a sticky black black film started to gush out of the dogs mouth, painting the ground beneath a dark brown. Celestia had to fight the urge to vomit, and found herself unable to look away as the dog fell onto its side as its wounds continued to gush the unnatural fluid while the poor creature wheezed and coughed for what seemed far too long.

With a grim expression, Stalwart unexpectedly stood up while removing a knife from the belt around his waist. Knowing what he was doing, Celestia silently watched as the captain walked over to the slowly dying animal and knelt down beside it. The animals wheezing changed in tone as it seemed to notice him, becoming more frantic and high pitched. Being careful not to let any of the liquid get on him, Stalwart put an end to the dogs misery with a swift thrust to the base of its skull.

Celestia released a breath she did not know she had been holding when the deed was done, and she saw the other members of their group bow their heads slightly.

After cleaning the blood off of his knife with a cloth, Stalwart tossed the soiled rag aside and sheathed his dagger before walking back over to them.

"Come on," he said gruffly as he passed the by. "Let's not stick around here."

Not a word was spoken among them as they obeyed, wanting to put the matter behind them as quickly as possible, Celestia included. She did not feel any particular sense of remorse for the dog, and she did not begrudge Stalwart's actions. In a similar situation, she likely would have done the same thing if it meant sparing another pain. But for Celestia, the dog was not just an animal that needed to be put out of its misery. It was something that introduced a subject that she had been consciously been trying to avoid thinking about ever since she first found the mountain of bodies in the school.

What if her former student yet lived, but was in a similar state as the dog? That was the question Celestia was forced to ask herself. What if Sunset Shimmer was better off dead? If that was the case, would Celestia find it within herself too do what needed to be done?

At the moment, she honestly did not know if she could.

---

The hours passed in a tense silence that nopony seemed willing to interrupt, most of them hardly daring to speak more than a few words at a time as they continued to walk. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft crunch of of brittle ash under their feet and the occasional breath of dry air, which almost seemed to whisper quietly in their ears.

Celestia barely noticed that the building were getting progressively larger and larger, growing from quaint little shops and housings to towering monoliths that would shame most structures in Equestria in terms of sheer size. But in her own humble opinion, Celestia felt lacked what Equestria had in spades, that being design and artistry. To her it was almost like they were built to conform to each other, and their dull drab colors did little to improve on it. In a way they matched their current setting all too well, appearing to her like colossal grave markers. The constant scent of death lingered here as well.

Along the way she noticed a newspaper box with its contents still preserved behind the glass lid. Wiping the grime off and briefly skimming over what could be read revealed a little of what might have transpired here, but most of it made little sense to Celestia. From what she could gather, some sort of quarantine had been enacted around multiple cities in this world to stop something from spreading. What exactly that something was had not been explained, or at least those details were hidden in the rest of the pages. As interested as she was to discover the exact cause of such desolation, Celestia deemed it to be unnecessary information.

All the while Celestia made sure to keep an eye for the building described Sunset Shimmer, looking out for anything that even remotely resembled a shooting star, or at the very least some sort of map to lead her there. The sooner they found that, the sooner they could find Sunset, and the sooner they would all begone from this hellish place.

Celestia hoped very much that Sunset was okay amid all of this, but still the prospect of her former student being beyond saving remained a fixture in her thoughts, like a malicious cancer eating away at what little hope she had, making her all the more anxious. She tried very hard to put the matter out of her mind to focus just simply finding Sunset, but without very much success.

She tried to distract herself by looking into the windows of the buildings as they passed them by, noting how many of them been broken, leaving dull shards in their frames. It was mildly disconcerting how they seemed to stare out at them like vacant eyes; dark and without any depth.

Just then a sharp sound reached their ears, causing a few of them to jump slightly in surprise. hey came to a stop, turned their attention to where the disturbance seemed to originate. Their eyes landed on a large wide structure with the words "Starlight Mall' placed above the glass doors that seemed to span almost the entire width of the place. The place as a whole looked no different than its surroundings, but there was something about it that deeply unsettled Celestia. She could not explain why, but to her there seemed to be a coldness about the place that chilled the blood in her veins.

"What was that?" Stalwart questioned out loud.

"I don't know, but whatever it was I don't want to have anything to do with it," Aegis stated, and everypony present seemed to be in agreement. Her eyes fixated on where she thought the motion came from, Celestia took a cautious step forward. Everything had gone quiet however, making her wonder if there was anything at all to be concerned about.

"It might be Sunset," Hammer suggested. "She could be hiding."

"Perhaps," Celestia replied, although truthfully she was not quite so sure. As far as she knew, Sunset would have no reason to hide from them. If anything she would be expecting them. But as much as she wanted to disagree with Hammer's suggestion, she herself could not shake the possibility from her thoughts, and she began to approach the structure. The others kept pace beside her, eyeing their surroundings for anything that seemed suspicious. Eventually the group came to a stop a dozen yards away fro the doors, and there they stayed, hesitant to keep going.

"I don't see anything," Aegis Lash stated, breaking the silence. "It was probably nothing anyway, so I say we move on."

"That's up to the Princess, Aegis," Stalwart pointed out. "We don't do anything unless she says so." Stalwart then turned towards Celestia and asked, "What are your orders Celestia?"

Celestia hesitated in answering, disliking being put on the spot to determine their next course of action. She glanced around at the surrounding area, made up of featureless grey buildings coated in dust, then once more back to the structure before them. The name of the place, "Starlight Mall", could have meant that Sunset was somewhere in here, although Celestia seriously doubted the possibility, and if she were honest she would rather move on. But at the moment it was their only real lead to finding her student, and that was enough for the Princess to make her decision.

"Let us go in," she said. "We may at the very least find something of importance, and we are not going to find our destination by simply walking down the street and hoping we'll stumble on what we're looking. We'll check the immediate area, and if we do not find anything, we will just be on our way."

Everypony seemed to be a little uncertain with her proposal, and truthfully Celestia felt much the same. Just looking inside the structure into what seemed like a pitch black nothingness made her skin crawl, and she found herself fearing whatever unknown thing he might find in there. She did not let her anxiety show however, so she would not demoralize the others more than they already were.

Eventually Stalwart spoke up and said, "Well, if we're just going in and out, then I don't see much of a problem, just as long as nopony wanders off."

Celestia's mouth tightened in a thin grimace as she recalled what happened at the school. There was little doubt in her mind that the captain said this more for her sake than the others. She doubted that he would do anything to outright subvert her authority, but she could tell that the stress of the situation was not just affecting her. She knew that if anything felt wrong to him, then he would everything in his power to make sure she stayed safe even if he had to carry her over his shoulder. Celestia hoped that such a thing would be unneeded.

"Then let us proceed," she said, allowing Stalwart to lead the way ahead of her.

Careful to avoid cutting themselves on the bits of glass left in the frame of the window, they went one by one until they were all inside. Celestia took a brief moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and found that the interior was far more vast and spacious than she had expected. The place was almost cavernous in nature, with many small stores built into its walls, and pair of odd metal staircases led up to a second floor where even more like them could be seen could be seen. Celestia guessed it was some sort of huge shopping center, not unlike the occasional market festivals held in Canterlot once a month.

Here however, the shops were as bare as bone, and bits of scattered garbage laid about on the dirty and grimy tiled floor. Placed here and there were odd stains that Celestia. Where those came from, she would rather not have tried to guess, although she had her suspicions. She also saw that every few yards or so along the walls a human equivalent of a ponnequin was placed standing up in a neat row, reminding her of some sort of macabre version of soldiers standing at attention. She guessed there must have been dozens of them.

And then she noticed that one them was not standing like the others. The odd ponnequin was lying down with its featurless white face staring upward into the ceiling, looking for all the world like some sort of odd corpse. Celestia guessed that must have been what had made the sound, and she was able to calm down slightly from the revelation.

By unspoken agreement the group as a whole began to move steadily forward, careful to avoid touching anything. Everypony remained utterly silent. Celestia was certain as to why, but there was an uneasy feeling in the air, one that made coming in here seem like an even worse idea than it sounded. In fact, she was about to suggest that they move on to search in a different location when the voice of Crimson caught her attention.

"Hey guys, I think I found something."

Turning her attention to the guard in question, Celestia saw that Crimson was standing in front of some sort sign hanging on the wall next to a reception desk. Curious about what she discovered, they all went over to her and gathered around her to see what it could be. At first Celestia did not recognize the collection of lines and names placed at seemingly random locations, but then she realized that she was in fact looking at a map of what appeared to be the city as seen from above. Without any hesitation she immediately began scanning for anything that might hint at Sunset's whereabouts, looking for names in particular. Eventually she found something that filled her heart with elation and hope.

"Here!" she exclaimed suddenly, tapping a point on the map with her finger. "I believe this place is our best bet."

The others looked to see that she was pointing at location that was almost exactly due west of the mall, marked by he name "Meteor Motel". There was even a little star next to it. Aside from the mall it appeared to be the only place in the entire city whose name bared any resemblance to the location described Sunset.

"Well that's certainly helpful," Stalwart observed as he studied the map. "I suppose all that's left is actually getting there." With that he began to walk back to the entrance of the mall as he ordered, "Alright then. Let's get moving." The guards obeyed and followed him a short distance. Celestia however looked on in mild confusion at the captain's choice of direction.

"Where are you going?" she questioned. They turned around back to their Princess, appearing surprised and concerned that she did not join them.

"I thought we were going to get your student," Stalwart responded in confused tone. This in turned confused Celestia slightly, as she began to wonder if the captain, or any of them for that matter, had missed what she had plainly seen. Once again pointing at the map, she began to explain.

"We are, but that is not the shortest route we could take." She beckoned them to come back over and see what she meant. When they were all gathered around the map again she traced with her finger the direction she wanted to go. "See here?" she said. "The building we are in is quite possibly the quickest way to get to our destination. We can use this place as a shortcut ,"she explained while tapping the spot where the mall was located, "to take us almost directly to where I believe Sunset is. The way you were going would have taken us on a much longer roundabout route, and would take up far too much time."

Stalwart examined the map a second time before looking into the abnormally dark interior of the mall. "I'm not so sure about that Princess. While it's true the other way could take longer, I think that if we hurry we can-"

"No!"

The sudden outburst caught everypony so completely off guard that they nearly jumped, and they were now looking at their Princess with expressions of concern and worry. There was little doubt that they were not expecting her answer their captain in such a way, but they seemed too afraid to say otherwise. The only one among them that was apparently brave enough to speak was Stalwart.

"Princess," he said calmly as he came up beside her, "I understand that you want to hurry, but do you really think this is the best path to take?" he questioned as he gestured to the interior of the mall behind her. "If you insist on going in there, then I can't protect you properly if something happens."

Celestia regarded the captain sternly, fixing him with a harsh glare that caused him to visibly cringe.

"I understand your concern captain," she said, perhaps a little harsher than she had intended, but at the moment she felt she had much larger issues to be concerned about. "However, I cannot simply stand by and tarry any longer. Every moment we waste taking detours is another moment that brings us closer to being trapped here. And all the while Sunset is out there somewhere waiting for me to find her, while you lot struggle to simply walk. So please, forgive me if you feel that I am allowing my emotions to influence my decisions."

With that, Celestia turned her back on them and began to stride away while they hurried to catch up. The captain stayed back a little, likely more than a little upset by her words. All of them were. Never before had any of them seen her, the Princess of all ponies, talk down to any of her subjects in that way. Nopony chose to say anything to address it however as they proceeded onward into the increasingly dark interior of the mall.

The lighting was so dim that Celestia could barely see her own hand in front her face, and she had to walk with her arms outstretched to make sure she did not bump into anything. Every once in a while she would occasionally stumble across a ponnequin, with each occurrence startling her a little. There were clearly many more of these things than she initially thought, and she found herself wondering why they were here. Somepony had clearly set them up, but how long ago and for what purpose, she did not even begin to guess.

The only real positive that she could see about the place was that the smell of death was less evident in here, which was a welcome relief. However, that was replaced by a pungent and acrid aroma of mold. The entire place felt warm and damp, directly contrasting with the world outside.

Celestia could not have cared less about that at the moment as she continued her march forward, knowing that she would eventually find her way out of the mall. She just had to keep going, and all would be well. Getting to Sunset was the only thing that mattered. But as she walked, she also could not help but feel a little guilty for the way she had spoken to Stalwart. She did not mean to be as harsh as she had been to him, but given the circumstances she was not about to back down. Still, it would at least assuage some of the guilt she had if she could at least apologize to him for her behavior.

Coming to a stop, Celestia turned around to do exactly that. But as she opened her mouth to speak, she saw that Stalwart was not there. Neither was Aegis or Crimson, or even Hammer Hoof.

Almost immediately she began to panic, and she called out loudly, "Captain?! Hammer?! Where did you go?!" To her building alarm however, she received no reply other than dead silence.

She was alone. Completely and utterly alone.

Again and again she called the names of her guards, each time with more urgency. But still she received no response aside from the frantic beating of her own heart. Celestia began to run, hoping desperately that she would come across them. But no matter where she went she could not see them. She could not even see where in Tartarus she was. She continued to run, until a sound from behind brought her to a screeching halt.

Reacting on instinct, Celestia whirled around, attempting to strike whatever was sneaking behind her. Her fist met nothing but a hard wall however, causing her to yelp in pain and surprise from the impact. Cradling her bruised hand, Celestia's eyes darted back and forth in a futile attempt to pierce the darkness.

"H-hello?" she said quietly.

Just like before, everything remained as quiet as death. Her racing, Celestia slowly backed away in a random direction that she hoped was the right one, wanting to be gone as soon possible. Stalwart's proposal of an alternate route suddenly seemed far more appealing to her, and she would be more than glad to follow his suggestion if she ever found her way out of this hell.

As she did this however, her feet suddenly found themselves tangled in something that felt like a length of string. Unable to cope, she lost her balance and fell down onto her back. Groaning slightly from the impact, Celestia felt with her hands to determine what had caused her fall, finding that it was indeed some sort of twin, although the material it was made from was odd, feeling more like plastic than actual string.

She could not dwell on the matter for long however, as she suddenly became aware of the sound of footsteps coming toward her very rapidly. Before she could do so much as turn around, Celestia felt something hit her hard on the top of her head, sending her crown flying off into the darkness, and her vision faded into complete blackness.

Author's Notes:

Well, this took an ungodly amount of time to update.
I feel I must apologize for how late this is, and hope that you are at least satisfied with this chapter.

So now we have some clues as to what happened in the human world, but still no sign of what took out those guards. Rest assured however that you will find out soon enough.

Before I take off, I just want you all to know that I will be unavailabe to reply to any comments for a few days after this Monday, but I still encourage you to voice your thoughts on this story and tell me what you think. I will attempt to give good responses up until then.

As always, thank you for reading, alert me to any errors you spot, and have a good day.

Chapter Six

"Where is she?!" Captain Stalwart shouted, having long since abandoned any semblance of stealth and tact as he came out of yet another empty room after breaking down the door. He knew it was unlikely that Princess Celestia would try to lock herself away, but at this point he was willing to try anything to find her. But still, just the dozens of other rooms and corridors that they had already searched, Celestia was nowhere to be found, and all four of the Royal Guards were on the verge of complete panic at her sudden disappearance.

For nearly the past hour they had scoured the entirety of the mall for any sign of her, hoping to stumble upon her in the darkness. Stalwart was beginning to fear that the fate that had befallen Ironheart and Gallant had also happened to Celestia as well. The mere thought of her, torn apart and gutted like an animal was enough to make him feel sick. The only thing that kept him going through it was the fact that they had not yet discovered her corpse. Stalwart knew that until such time as they found their Princess, alive or dead, neither he nor his comrades would stop. They were each relentless in their endeavor.

To make matters worse, they could barley see past their own noses. For some reason, the light producing gemstones they had packed were not working. They did not have the time or even the materials necessary to make a torch either, leaving with no other option than grope blindly with their hands in the darkness and hope the Princess could hear them from wherever she was.

"Princess?!" Crimson Arrow called out, her voice echoing throughout the halls of the cavernous structure. No reply came, serving only to fill them with even more dread at the possibilities of what became of her. "Princess Celestia!" Crimson called again, unmistakable worry in her voice. Stalwart was doing his best not to let that same worry show in his actions, but so far he was failing in that regard as he frantically checked every room they found.

Suddenly a shout from Hammer Hoof and the clang of armor drew attention, and they quickly converged on her position, following their ears to the source of the din. Once there they found her on her knees, brushing herself off.

"What happened?" Aegis questioned her.

"Nothing, just tripped on something," Hammer replied in an aggravated tone. Having finished getting rid of most of the filth from her armor, she began to stand up. "Don't worry about it. Let's just-" Hammer suddenly froze, her eyes locking onto something in the gloom.

"What?" Stalwart said, growing more concerned than he already was as he tried to follow her line of sight, but was unable to pinpoint what she was looking at. "What is it?"

Hammer did not reply. Instead out a trembling hand, and faint metallic clink could be heard as she picked something up off the ground. "Oh no," she breathed out as she brought it into view. The moment Stalwart saw what was in her hand he felt the blood in his veins turn to ice, and he suddenly felt weak in the knees as he stared at Celestia's golden crown, caked in dried blood.

---

When Celestia finally came to, she was almost upset to be awake when she found that she had somehow gained a massive headache in addition to a rather sore spot on the top of her skull. Wincing at the pain, her violet eyes fluttered open, and she took in her surroundings, blinking in confusion. She was surrounded by dark shadows made by thin strands of sickly yellow light streaming from some unknown source.

After what felt like a few minutes sitting alone and confused in the dark, Celestia's eyes were finally able to adjust to the lighting, and she found that she was in some sort of small room devoid of any kind of furniture. This only further confused her, as she was sure that she had left her bedroom this barren. She knew that she at least had a little reading desk located near the fireplace. But to her confusion it seemed that even her fireplace had mysteriously vanished while she was out. Even her rug was gone, replaced with bare cement.

'Where am I?' she wondered, only to wince again as a spike of pain shot through her skull, like a needle was being driven into her head. She knew the feeling, and quite frankly she was just as surprised as her doctors that there had been no lasting effects, or at least none that she knew of.

In an attempt to ward off the discomfort, Celestia brought up a hoof to massage her aching temple. At least she tried to anyway. When she moved her arm, Celestia found it was curiously stopped short, like something was holding her limb in place. Pushing aside her fuzzy thoughts to assess the situation, Celestia turned her head, fighting through waves of intense discomfort as she did so to see what was holding her, and she began to wonder if maybe she and Luna had a bit too much fun raiding the private cellar even though she could not recall doing anything of the sort recently.

When she finally looked at her confined hoof however, her eyes shot open to see that it had been replaced by a pale lavender hand with long slender fingers. She also did not fail to notice that it had been bound around the wrist by a length of thin white rope. Her other hand was similarly bound, connected to each other around a rusty metal pipe behind her.

It was then that Celestia remembered.

She was not in Equestria. She was in the human world, far away from her private chambers, looking for Sunset Shimmer. She had lost her guards, the same ones that had volunteered themselves to help her, and then she had been ambushed by. . . something. The identity of her attacker was not clear, but nevertheless Celestia knew that right now she was in great danger. Ignoring the pain lancing through her skull Celestia tugged and pulled against her restraints with every ounce of strength she could summon forth. The rope remained strong however in spite of her effort.

After minutes of trying to free herself, Celestia finally sagged down in exhaustion, regaining her energy as she looked around at her surroundings, hoping that there was something within reach that she could use. As far as she could tell, Celestia was in a concrete with what looked like a water to her left, with pipes running up and down the walls. The only apparent exit was a closed door with yellow, flickering light peeking underneath. Curiously, the entire floor, including the part she was sitting on was covered in a huge dark stain, like somepony had spilled something vile. Celestia's bile rose as she unwillingly thought of the possibilities of what it was. To her dismay, there did not appear to be anything she could use, and she began to hyperventilate as the notion that she would be trapped here until whoever or whatever was keeping her here came back.

She started to think of Captain Stalwart, and of Aegis and Hammer and Crimson, of how they must be at this very moment looking for her. Or maybe they had also been captured, tied up just like she was. She also thought of Luna, who was most likely waiting just beyond the mirror for her elder sister to return. What would she think if she never came back? Celestia had complete confidence that Luna would be able to carry on without her, but the mere thought of making her believe that she had possibly been abandoned, never knowing of what became of her sister, was enough to bring tears to Celestia's eyes.

She also thought of Sunset Shimmer, the young mare that she had unintentionally driven away, still waiting for her teacher to come and take her away from this place of death. If Celestia failed now, who else would be left that would be willing to cross through the portal and brave this nightmare? Luna and Twilight would be the most likely candidates, but her sister would not be able to come until she had set up a spell to move the sun and moon or find a group of unicorns strong enough to do it, and by then the portal would have already closed, barring access for another thirty moons. And Twilight did not even know of Celestia's plight to begin with, nor did the Solar Princess wish for her to confront the horrors of this place just to rescue one pony who was foolish enough to let these circumstances come about in the first place.

Taking all of these things into account, Celestia came to realize that unless she freed herself, then all hope, for both her and Sunset, would be gone. She could stand for it. She would not stand for it. She would not doom herself, Sunset, to perish here. She would not let Luna, Twilight or anypony else she loved go through the heartbreak of knowing that she was not coming back. Once more, Celestia struggled against her bonds, determined to break them. The rope cut into her wrists as she twisted and fought, drawing blood. Eventually she stopped, deciding that she needed a different tactic. But there was nothing in here that she could use, and she cursed in frustration.

She immediately quieted down when a sound reached her ears, interrupting her train of thought. Celestia looked to see that a shadow had interrupted the light under the door, accompanied by the din of faint shuffling footsteps.

On the verge of absolute panic, Celestia frantically tried to decide what to do. She did not put much faith in the possibility of convincing whoever her captor was to let her go free. What if he, she or it had been the same one that had killed Ironhearty and possibly Gallant? Celestia might have been willing to take that risk in any other situation, but right now she felt her best option would be to pretend to still be unconscious.

Letting her head sag down, Celestia kept her eyes closed as she waited and listened, and within moments the creak of the doors hinges reached her ears, accompanied by the sound of. . . humming? There were no lyrics to it, but for some odd reason Celestia could not help but feel that she had heard it somewhere before, though she could not recall where or when. It struck a chord in her memory, but it was annoyingly out of reach at the moment. The song was interrupted by what sounded like wood scraping on the concrete floor, along with metallic clinking. The singing resumed, and a seed of worry that had been steadily growing in Celestia bloomed in fear of what was happening. Unable to stand not knowing any longer, Celestia slowly lifted her head a tiny bit, opening her eyes slightly to catch a glimpse of her captor.

It was a human girl, though that was about as much as the Princess was able to discern since her back was turned to her as she fiddled with something on a small fold up table. And then she saw that in her hand was a long, smooth knife. Polished almost to perfection, the blade glistened brightly in the flickering yellow light, and looked sharp enough to carve flesh from bone with no trouble. More knives of various sizes and shapes were on the table.

Celestia felt the blood drain from her face as she realized what was happening, or what was going to happen. Her heart started to beat frantically in her chest, and it was all she could do to keep herself from panicking.

As she looked at the knives, Celestia realized that there might still be a way for her to escape. She just needed to somehow get a hold of one of those blades to cut the rope holding her wrists together. That required the girl either leave getting close enough for Celestia to hopefully subdue using only her legs. She did not put too much faith in either of those possibilities, but still Celestia knew it was her only hope.

The girl continued to sort through the knives until she gasped, startling Celestia a little bit as she said quietly to herself, "Shoot! Forgot the bucket." The girl turned her head to look at Celestia, and the Princess quickly let her head drop back down, hoping her ruse would work as the girl added, "Hmm, I might need two for you. You're a big one after all."

Celestia did not like the sound of that all, but at the moment all she could really think about was the girls voice. Like the unnamed song she was humming just a moment ago, there was something so familiar about it. She put it out of her mind for the time being as the sound of the girls footsteps began to recede in the distance, and the girl said in a joking tone, "Don't go anywhere!" before shutting the door behind her, leaving Celestia in dim solitude once more.

Once again, all was quiet. Feeling it was safe for the time being, Celestia almost could not even believe her luck as she looked at the tray of knives and other cutting tools. Oddly enough she even saw what looked like an ice cream scooper as well. Pulling against her restraints, making them go as far as they would allow her to, Celestia reached as far as she could with her foot to try and loop it around the table. It felt like her wrists were about to break as Celestia as the rope dug into her skin, but she refused to let a little discomfort get the best of her. Her pain was finally rewarded when her foot gained purchase on the table.

Careful to keep an ear out for the girls eventual return, Celestia proceeded to pull the table towards her. She winced and froze when it produced a harsh wooden screech on the concrete floor. Celestia waited for a very brief moment to see if she had been found out, and breathed a sigh of relief when she did not hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

Finally the table was close enough for Celestia to reach up with her leg, and before long she was able to make one of the knives slide off, where it fell to the floor with a sharp clang that Celestia quickly silenced by stamping her foot on it, allowing her to slide it over to her bound hands. Freedom was now only a matter of cutting through the rope without injuring herself. Knowing that her captor could return at any moment, Celestia set to work. As she was carefully cutting them, made all the more difficult since they were behind her, Celestia was startled when a distant noise reached her ears, causing her to drop the knife. Frantically Celestia pulled on the now weakened rope as hard as she could, her adrenaline fueled fear adding to her effort until finally, with a snap, her arms were free. Sparing only a second to rub her sore wrists, Celestia quickly snatched up the blade and darted over to the door. As she reached for the door knob she detected the sound of footsteps approaching. Pulling her hand back, Celestia moved to the side of the door.

Her fingers clenched around the knifes handle, and she could feel her heart racing rapidly as the footsteps drew closer and closer, until finally the door opened and the girl stepped inside. Hidden just behind the open door, Celestia heard the girl say, "Okay! I'm back! Here to-" Her sentence was cut short when she finally saw that Celestia was no longer tied to the water heater, and the two orange plastic buckets she was carrying fell from her grip.

Seeing an opportunity, Celestia slowly inched out of hiding, blade raised as she prepared to plunge into the girls back. She would have preferred not to have resort to this, but she knew that she simply could not take the risk.

Unfortunately Celestia failed to notice the shadow she was casting from the light outside. The girl however immediately took notice of it, and she whirled around to face Celestia, allowing the Princess to see her face for the first time. When their eyes made contact, Celestia frozen to the spot as she looked into the girls large blue eyes, filled with surprise and an almost manic hunger. It was then that Celestia realized why this individual seemed so familiar to her, when she knew for a fact that she had never met this person before.

"Pinkie?"

Celestia had much difficulty associating that name with the girl before. She looked very much like a skeleton with faded pink skin stretched over her bones. Her hair had grown into wiry mess, filthy and unkempt for what must have weeks or even months. Her eyes however still possessed the same intensity that Celestia had seen in the mare of the same name. There was no joy in them however. They had become a twisted parody of what they were before, filled with hunger and blood lust, and that frightened Celestia in a way that she had never felt before.

When she spoke her name Pinkie suddenly stiffened and her breath caught in her throat, as though the word itself had been a physical blow to her. The change in her demeanor did not last however, and the girls face morphed into an expression of rage and anger as she lunged at Celestia. The Princess was caught off guard by the sudden attack, and she found herself knocked onto her back while Pinkie repeatedly struck with balled fists, which Celestia tried to block. Shoving Pinkie off of her, causing her to fall on her back, Celestia tried to get away. Before she could go more than a few feet she felt bony fingers wrap around her ankles, causing her to fall back down again and the knife to be knocked from her hand.

Celestia felt herself being tugged and pulled backwards across the concrete floor, and she kicked and thrashed wildly in a desperate attempt to free herself from Pinkies vice like grip. Her foot connected with what she guessed was the girls face, and she felt the pressure on her ankles disappear. Celestia dared not look back as she stood up, retrieved her weapon, and ran as fast as she could down the hall.

---

The whole time Celestia was trying to navigate her way out of strange building she found herself inside of, constantly on the look out for any sort of exit, all she could really think about at the moment was Pinkie,or at least some twisted version of her, and the more she thought about it, the more it terrified her that the human equivalent of one the happiest mares she knew was trying to kill her. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible, but at the moment she was lost in a maze of high shelves with numerous cardboard boxes stacked on them. She had almost no sense of direction in this place with a deranged human girl on her tail.

Celestia's heart felt like it was actively trying to break its way out of her chest as she sprinted, glancing behind her every so often to make sure that Pinkie was not immediately behind her, almost expecting to see the pink face of her pursuer at any moment. As she turned a corner Celestia saw a shaft of light, indicating either a door or a window. She dashed for, and when she reached it she found it was a dirty window. When she looked at what was outside however, she felt her hopes sink when she saw that it was high above the pavement below, possibly three whole floors, with nothing to break her descent should she choose to use it, and she doubted being able to walk away from a fall like that in the body she was in.

Just then Celestia heard the sound of bare footsteps rapidly approaching her position. Moving as quickly as she could while making as little noise as possible, Celestia hurried away to find an alternate means of escape that did not involve breaking every bone in her body. However the sound continued to draw closer and closer no matter how swiftly she moved. Unsure what else to do, Celestia laid down on the floor and rolled underneath one of the shelves, making sure nothing was sticking out as she waited with her heart lodged in her throat, beating so loud in her ears she thought it would give her away.

Seconds passed in this manner, when Celestia finally caught sight of the bare feet of Pinkie pass by, mere inches away from where she was hiding. In spite of her terror, Celestia could not help but notice that the skin around her ankles was covered in various scars indicated she had been confined by rope, possibly shackles in the past, and she felt a small amount of pity as she imagined all of the things she had endured.

Eventually the girls feet passed out of her sight, yet Celestia still waited a little bit bit before she dared to move out of her hiding spot. Careful to make as little noise as possible, Celestia slid out from underneath the shelves, keeping a vigilant eye pointed in the direction Pinkie went in case she decided to come back. Realizing that her hand was cramping from how tightly she was holding the knife, Celestia loosened her grip slightly and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself before resuming her search for an exit.

It did not long however for Celestia to realize that she was hopelessly lost in this labyrinth of shelves and boxes. No matter where she went or which direction she picked she would find that she had somehow found a dead end or gone in a complete circle. Every time this happened she always expected to find Pinkie standing there waiting for her. This thankfully had not happened yet, but Many times Celestia swore she could someone rummaging around near by. After entire minutes without making any headway, Celestia forced herself to stop before she started to panic and any sense of rational thought abandoned her completely, and she was able to calm down enough for her to try to think of an alternate strategy. It was then that she realized that this place was organized, perhaps purposefully by Pinkie herself, like a maze. To solve it she needed to get a birds eye view of it.

A course of action decided upon, Celestia began to scale the side of the shelves while holding the knife between her teeth. Within moments Celestia found herself at the top, where she stood precariously between two twelve twenty foot drops on either side as she quickly scanned for an exit. Within moments, the Princess caught sight of a sign hanging from the ceiling that said in green lettering "EXIT", and to her immense relief the the path to it did appear to be too complicated. Just as she was about to climb down a disturbance reached her ears, and she turned around to see what it was. Alarm immediately shot through her when she saw that Pinkie had also gotten the idea to climb on the shelves, and was now leaping over the gaps between them to get to her.

Panicking, Celestia threw her weapon at Pinkie in an attempt to slow. It was only after it missed her target cmpletely did Celestia realize that she had just deprived herself of her only weapon. If Luna were here, she would have been giving Celestia quite the earful for making such a mistake. Quickly memorizing the path she needed to take, Celestia clambered down as quickly as she could, almost losing her grip along the way. As soon as she was on solid ground again she broke into a full on sprint, her heart racing in anticipation of being caught, until at last she rounded the final corner. But instead of an exit, all she found was a dead end. However. A quick glance above confirmed this, as Celestia could not see the exit sign anywhere, and she realized that she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. However Celestia noticed that along the wall to her left was a double door that was blocked off by a collection of cardboard boxes. Knowing that she had no other option except to turn back, Celestia began to remove them, either by shoving or throwing them to the side. Just when she had removed enough of them to allow her entry, the sound of bare feet slapping on the concrete floor drew her attention, and she saw Pinkie skid around the corner, holding a rusty axe in her hands. Celestia noticed that her eyes were wild and frenzied when their gazes locked, like those of a rabid animal.

Their eyes remained locked on each other for barely a moment before Celestia forced her way through the door just as Pinkie bolted towards her, axe raised as she uttered a hellish, high pitched scream that turned the Princess' blood to ice. Celestia was just barely able to squeeze through before the blade nearly decapitated her. From there she frantically pushed the locks at the top of the door in the slots just as a loud bang echoed from the other side, accompanied by enraged incoherent screaming.

Hoping the door would hold long enough for her to find another escape, Celestia turned away from the door, only to be greeted by a gruesome sight as an invisible wall of death assaulted her nose so hard that it was like she had been struck in the face by a hammer. Unable to cover her nose quickly enough, Celestia looked around with wide eyes at the cafeteria filled with corpses. There were easily more than a few dozen, probably a hundred, each one arranged to sit upright at the tables, positioned in such ways that it looked like they were having a casual conversation with each other. Were it not for their appearance, Celestia would have thought that they were still alive. The fact that dead rotting bodies, some with a little bit of flesh left on their skeletons, had been arranged in such a way created an extremely uneasy feeling in Celestia that she had never experienced before, like the people here never really died, instead leaving their remains to carry on for them.

Finding it incredibly difficult to resist the immense urge to vomit, Celestia forced herself to walk forward through the suffocating miasma of death, trying not to notice how each rotting figure seemed to be smiling at her as she passed by, like they were beckoning for her to join them in their festivities.

Before she had gone more than a few feet, the clamor of doors slamming open made her turn to see that Pinkie had finally broken through, her right arm covered in fresh blood and broken glass. The girl was now glaring at Celestia with such hatred and fury that the Princess felt she would have perished on the spot. There was nothing left for her to do Celestia realized as she backed away while Pinkie stalked towards her. There was no way she would survive this encounter. With nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide, Celestia was trapped with nothing left to do but try to put as much distance between her and Pinkie before the axe buried itself in her neck.

As she backed away, Celestia she accidentally bumped into one of the sitting corpses, causing it to fall over onto the floor. That seemed to cause Pinkie to completely lose it as she screamed at the top of her lungs, "No! Stop that! Don't you dare hurt them!"

Fearing the girls' wrath, Celestia quickly skirted around the body and continued to back away, until she felt her hands brush against the opposite wall, expecting to feel axe blade any moment now. She was caught off guard by what she saw instead.

Instead of finishing her off, Pinkie was trying to make the corpse that Celestia had knocked over sit up again. Her blue eyes were wide with concern, and she seemed to be on the the verge of panic as she muttered to herself over and over, "It's okay, I can fix. Please don't sad, I can fix it."

The corpse was of course in no state to cooperate, and every time Pinkie released her hold of it it would start to topple over again. Celestia could only look on with morbid curiosity as Pinkie futilely attempted to prop the body into a sitting position, not even noticing the filth accumulating on her hands. In her efforts to help her "friend", Pinkie unintentionally knocked over another corpse with her elbow, causing it to fall over as well. Unable to catch it in time, it landed on the floor with a sickening wet crunch, and Pinkie was beginning to hyperventilate as she scrambled to correct her error.

As she watched, an idea popped into Celestia's head. Pinkie seemed to be ignoring the Princess entirely as she quietly shuffled over to one of the tables. Grabbing onto the edge, while trying to ignore the fact that she had to push past the sitting corpses to do so, Celestia lofted the table, flipping it over and sending multiple bodies to the floor. The commotion did not go unnoticed by Pinkie, and she shrieked as she rushed over. She was so focused on trying to fix the mess that she did not even notice Celestia until she had flipped another table.

At this point Pinkie was shaking and shivering so much she was rendered almost immobile, and Celestia stopped to see that she was now crying loudly as tears streamed out of her bloodshot eyes. Grabbing onto one of the corpses by the shoulders, Pinkie seemed to be trying to smile as she looked into its decayed face.

"S-see?" she cried. "I-it's okay!I can still fix it! I can-"

Pinkie stopped when the corpses head suddenly tilted backward, and and audible snap could be heard as the flesh holding it in place gave way, and the head fell to the ground with a hollow thud. Pinkie was frozen to the spot as she looked blankly at the stump of the neck. Eventually the body itself slid out of her grip, falling backward onto the head it once possessed. A tense silence ensued, in which Celestia found herself caught between her desire to run and her own curiosity. At last Pinkie moved, looking around slowly at her surroundings as though noticing it for the first time. Her eyes were no longer filled with malice or hunger. Instead Celestia saw in them pure terror.

"I. . . I just. . . " she said, her voice sounding hollow and empty. "I just didn't want you to be sad anymore."

Deciding that she had stuck around long enough, Celestia slowly inched away towards the door, keeping a careful eye on Pinkie. The girl made no move to pursue her. She did not even seem to notice as Celestia exited the room and closed the door, once again resuming her search for the exit. She frequently checked behind her to make sure she was not being followed, all the while wondering what had happened to make that poor girl act the way she did. What had broken her so much that it would drive her to kill others.

Celestia could only guess, but deep down she was not sure she really wanted to know.

Suddenly a loud sound, unlike anything Celestia had ever heard before, tore through the air, shattering the silence completely, causing her to jump in alarm. To her it was almost like a cannon had gone off somewhere. For minutes Celestia completely still, waiting for something else to happen. After the crack nothing else happened however, and Celestia moved on, all the while wondering what in the world it had been. As she walked she finally came across what she had been looking for. The door was here, with the exit sign hanging above. With some effort Celestia was able to force the door open, overcoming the rusted hinges, ad stepped out into the open.

She was outside. Celestia almost felt like crying at the fact that she had finally managed to escape, and she took in a deep, shuddering breath as she gripped the dust covered rails of the fire escape balcony. It did not matter that the scenery was still as bleak as it was when she first arrived. All that mattered to her i this moment was that she was finally free.

It was long however before she was eventually reminded of the reason she had even come here , and it came crashing down upon her like a weighted stone on her heart and mind.

"Sunset."

Celestia still had not found her.

Celestia did not even know where she even was in relation to the portal.

A wave of hopelessness began to descend on Celestia at this realization, along with thoughts of Sunset being somewhere out there, scared and alone and still waiting for her.

A little while ago Celestia had a direction, but back then she still had her guards with her. Now she did not have the luxary of relying on them anymore, thanks to her own actions. Not to mention she also had no idea how much time had passed while she had been held captive. For all she knew the portal could have already closed, trapping her here for another thirty moons. All of this combined was enough to make Celestia fall to her knees, her earlier feeling of relief vanishing completely to be replaced by despair.

Resting her forehead on the rail, Celestia began to weep as tears streamed out of her eyes before falling through the grates to the ash covered ground three stories below. She then looked upward, staring at the grey sky with bloodshot eyes.

"Please," she whispered quietly in a pleading voice. "I. . . I can't do this anymore. . . I want to, but I. . . I just can't."

Letting her gaze drift down again, Celestia inhaled deeply as she glared forlornly at the buildings in the distance. She saw that a number of them appeared to have been torched, while others had just collapsed completely, leaving little more than great piles of rubble where they had once stood.

As she looked out onto the bleak city, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Squinting to get a better look, Celestia tried to make out what it was. There was something on the side of one of the buildings in the distance, although it was initially hard to make out through her bleary eyes. Wiping at them with her sleeve, Celestia looked again, and saw that what she was looking at was a six pointed star, designed to look as though it were flying with white streaks trailing behind.

With a jolt, Celestia realized exactly what she was looking, and felt a small bit of hope return to her as she stood up, not caring about the dust that had accumulated on her body when he was sitting down. She quickly memorized the general layout of the city as best as she could from her vantage point, and then began to climb her way down the ladder attached to the balcony as quickly as she possible. In her haste she almost fell down a number of times, until finally her foot touched the pavement.

Choosing her direction, Celestia sped off, the prospect of finding Sunset spurring her onward.

Author's Notes:

Three months.

Over three stinking months of trying to find the time to finally write this.

My God.

I gotta be honest. This was a hard chapter for me to write. Not hard as in I don't know what to write, I mean hard as in I genuinely like and enjoy Pinkie Pie as a character, so it was rather difficult for me to write her like this. For me it was somewhat akin to taking someone you admire, and then twisting and warping so much that you can't even recognize them anymore.
That aside, in the next chapter Celestia finally finds Sunset. Place your bets on how well you think that's going to go down.

Anyway, leave a comment below on what you think, and alert me to any errors I might have missed.

Chapter Seven

"Sunset?!" Celestia called out, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice, even if it was only a tiny bit, hoping that she could be heard by Sunset Shimmer as she rapidly approached the partially destroyed motel, dodging past metal carriages and other debris as she ran. Her feet and the bottom of her once pristine white gown were caked in layers of filth and dust, and her skin felt painfully dry and cracked, but the Princess did not care one bit about that. All that she cared about right now was how close she was to finally finding Sunset.

Celestia received no reply to her call as she approached, but she remained undaunted. Finally reaching the two swinging doors that was the entrance, Celestia slammed into them with her left shoulder with as much force as she could muster. However they resisted her attempt at forced entry, and Celestia let out a growl of frustration as she massaged her now sore arm. Putting aside her discomfort, Celestia quickly searched around for anything she could use to help, until she found a piece of concrete as big as her head. Hefting onto her good shoulder, Celestia proceeded to throw it at the door with every ounce of strength she possessed. Unable to stand against the onslaught, the door shattered as bits of glass pattered to the ground, allowing her to enter.

Trying not to cut herself on the pieces left in the frame as she stepped inside, Celestia called out for Sunset once more. She still received no response, but Celestia was unwilling to let it deter her as she made a dash for the nearest staircase. From there she began a vigorous search for her student among the dozens of rooms, going through of them one by one. Most of them had been left unlocked or even wide open by their previous occupants. The ones that were locked she broke into by using a discarded fire extinguisher on the door knob.

After searching through close to around two dozen rooms her hunt had still come up empty. That was not to say that the rooms themselves had been completely empty however. Sometimes Celestia would come across the remains of either people or animals, splayed out on the floor with burst veins or the flesh melted right off of their bones, making them almost unrecognizable as what had once been living beings. Every time Celestia came across them, she would move on. Even though she tried to, she could not help but wonder what kind of people they had once been, what kind of lives they had led before perishing to whatever fate had befallen them. It seemed that whatever aliment or tragedy had occurred here was indiscrimanant towards its victims. Neither human nor animal was spared from its influence.

Celestia had to force herself to put it out of her mind as her search extended to the second, then third floor, all while repeatedly telling Sunset's name. As she was climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, something etched onto the wall caught her attention, standing out among the copious amounts of graffiti, and she stopped to inspect it. It was faded and at first hard for her to make out very clearly, but with a jolt Celestia realized that she was looking at none other than Sunset's cutie mark carved into the wall, as if by a blade. Excitement and apprehension surged through Celestia's veins as she raced the rest of the way up the staircase. One she was at the top she looked around frantically for another mark. She soon found it, with a little arrow next to it pointing to the right. Following it, Celestia soon found what she was looking. There, carved onto one of the many doors in the hall , was Sunsets mark.

Celestia almost could not believe it as she raced towards it. After all this time, after the horror that she been forced to witness, she had finally found Sunset, and the only thing standing in the way of their reunion was this door.

"Sunset!" Celestia yelled as she tried to push it open, only to find it locked. "Sunset! I'm here!"

Resorting to using the fire extinguisher, Celestia smashed the bottom of it on the door knob, ignoring the numbing sensation it sent through her hands with each impact. At last the door knob gave way, and the last barrier keeping her and Sunset apart was pushed aside as Celestia hurried inside, finding herself in a short hallway with a trio of picture frames on one side. The hall led into a small living room containing a somewhat worn looking couch and a strange box like object sitting on a wooden stand with metal wires sticking out of the top.

"Sunset?" Celestia called out again as she searched through the small apartment. She was starting to become more than a little worried when she even now she had yet to receive a response from Sunset even after making such a racket. Sunset was nowhere to be found in the small living room or the kitchen area, prompting Celestia to search through other areas of the apartment. She found nothing of note in the bathroom or what seemed to be an office of some sort. But when she opened the bedroom door and looked inside, she felt a lump form in her throat at what she saw.

There, laying down on her side in a large four poster bed, was Sunset Shimmer. Blankets were pulled up over her, concealing most her form so that only the red and gold hair on the top of her head that Celestia would have recognized anywhere was visible.

"Sunset!" Celestia exclaimed loudly, a joyful smile on her face as she hurried over. To the Princess, Sunset appeared to be sleeping soundly, which she guessed was the reason why she had not answered. Whatever the case had been, Celestia was practically ecstatic as she placed a hand Sunset's shoulder, giving it a shake. "Sunset!" she said, tears of happiness streaming out of her eyes. "Sunset, wake up! I've come!"

Sunset said nothing but continued to sleep. She did not d so much as stir even a little as Celestia persistently continued to shake her.

After a few moments Celestia stopped, and her smile fell.

"Sunset?"

Celestia's voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke her students name, only to once again be met with nothing but a deafening silence, and before long a horrible suspicion began to worm its way into her thoughts. It was one that she hoped desperately with every part of her being was not true.

Her hand trembled and shook as Celestia slowly reached forward for the edge of the blanket, then hesitated. She was afraid, no, terrified, of what she might find underneath the cover. But she forced herself to press onward. She had to know. If nothing else she had to know.

Gently as she could, Celestia pulled the blanket down a little bit, but even that was more than enough, and Celestia her heart stop in her chest and her eyes go wide at what she saw.

Large crimson blotches, staining the mattress with streams of crusted dry blood that had wept freely out of burst veins and split skin.

Celestia felt her throat tighten, and she suddenly found it hard to breathe. She was unable to look away. She could not tear her gaze away from Sunset Shimmer. She could only stare blankly at the body of her student, cold and lifeless. No matter how much she wanted to refute it, to believe that was she was seeing was not true, Celestia could not deny that the one thing he had dreaded finding ever since she received Sunset's message had happened.

Sunset Shimmer was dead.

Pulling her hand back, Celestia slowly backed away. Her gaze remained focused on Sunset's form, finding it impossible to look away. She uttered a choked gasp as her lungs finally decided to obey her. Even then Celestia felt like she was not getting enough air. She was short of breath, and the room started to spin around her. No longer able to stand, Celestia fell to her knees, barely noticing the impact.

"No. . ."

Hot tears began to well up in her eyes

"No. . .

Clutching her head between her hands, Celestia opened her mouth in a soundless scream of anguish as she laid down on her side in a fetal position and allowed the tears to flow freely from her eyes.

It was unfair. It was all just so unfair, like the punchline to a truly sick joke that one would have to have a truly sick mind to find any humor in.

Time lost meaning to her as she gave in to her despair, and cried.

---

She did not know for how long she had been there, laid out on the floor like a foal, and she did not bother to keep track of the minutes as they went by. There was only her and Sunset, still lying motionless on the bed, looking as though she were only sleeping. And yet no matter how much Celestia wished that were the case, the dark stains on the bed served as a harsh and piercing reminder of the truth.

Thanks to them, Celestia was forced to accept the reality that she had failed Sunset Shimmer. She had failed her former not once, but twice, and she found herself wishing that whatever forces were at play in the universe would see fit to punish her. All too often it was others that reaped the rewards of her mistakes, most of them being close to her heart. It had happened when Celestia was forced to live the knowledge that her negligence had been what led to the banishment of her sister, and now she would live the knowledge that Sunset had payed for her errors with her life.

Celestia did not know how long she had been there, only that it was long enough for her cries of anguish to fade into choked sobs, until even that faded into silence, when her eyes were dry and her throat was sore, leaving her with nothing to do but just lie there. After a little while Celestia's dulled senses felt a chill begin to creep up her spine, signifying the approach of dusk. Her white gown, long since reduced from a regal dress to something that was only marginally better than a dish rag from the amounts of dust and ash that had collected on it, did a poor job of staying the cold.

Celestia could not have cared less. Her only reaction was to curl tighter around herself, more so to shield herself from the body of Sunset than from the cold. How could it matter? How could her own comfort matter when Sunset was dead, had been dead for who knows how long?

The temperature would not be ignored however, as it grew ever colder, until Celestia was finally forced from her fetal position to sit upright, hugging herself for warmth as she gazed at Sunset with bloodshot eyes.

There was nothing left for her here anymore. There was nothing left anywhere. She knew this for a fact now. Celestia knew that right now she should be trying to find her way back to the portal before it closed on her, if it had not already done so. Since she had been held prisoner, she was at a loss as to how much time she had left. For all she knew it could a few hours or a few minutes before she was trapped. Yet even with this knowledge, Celestia was unable to bring herself to leave Sunset like this. Her mind wandered, flitting between what she knew she should do and her own unwillingness to leave. Her gaze wandered as well, not really focusing on anything in the small apartment bedroom as she looked at what she assumed were different aspects of the life Sunset used to live.

Just then, she caught sight of something resting on a small wooden dresser on the other side of Sunset's deathbed. It took her only an instant to recognize it as the book that belonged to Sunset, the same book that her student had used to alert Celestia to her plight. Within moments Celestia found herself standing before it as she gently caressed the sun emblem that was a near perfect copy of Sunset's cutie mark. As far as she new, this was all that remained of her student.

"I'm sorry."

The words Celestia spoke were quiet and frail as they left her lips, hardly more than a whisper that could only faintly be heard in the all consuming silence.

"I''m sorry. . . please. . . forgive your fool of a Princess."

Choked sobs escaped her as she spoke, though no tears left her eyes.

She opened the book.

It might as well have been an exact carbon copy of the one Celestia had in her private library. Everything, from questions to reports to the odd bit of rambling and even the occasional doodle, it was all there. Everything that Sunset Sunset had written to Celestia was here, including the letter Sunset had written before she left, declaring her desire for greater power. Celestia felt her heart tighten in her chest as she read it again, reminding her once more of the failure, her failure, that led to Sunset coming here in the first place.

Celestia turned the pages, already knowing what she would find. A plea for help that Celestia had failed to answer in time.

However, upon turning the page, Celestia felt her breath catch and her heart skip a beat entirely when she saw that it had changed. The original message had been furiously scribbled over, making most of the text unintelligible to read. Celestia's eyes were wide with surprise as her gaze drifted over to the next page, where a new passage that she had yet to see had been written. She felt lightheaded, as though she were to faint. She knew for a fact that when she left Equestria that this had not been there. This of course only meant that Sunset had been alive when Celestia was searching for her, at least for a little while. This new information filled the Princess with a mixture of feelings; shock at the discovery, anguish at knowing she had been so close yet still failed, and profound happiness that Sunset had written her one last letter before her passing.

Almost frantically Celestia began to read, drinking in each word.

Dear Princess Celestia,
If you are reading this, then you have in all likelihood also read my previous entry. If so, then I beg you to disregard it as by the time you have read this passage, it is likely that I will have long since passed the point of being saved.
I am dying Princess Celestia. I have been for a long time, yet only now do I seem to be dying in both senses of the phrase. I don't know how it happened. Nobody here seems to know either. The only thing that anybody seems to know is that there is a sickness here, and by the time we learned of it people were already burning bodies.
I have the windows closed and I can still smell them. I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Nobody has any clue where it came from or how it started. All I can really say with any confidence is that the sickness does not discriminate between its victims.Eventually they all succumb to it, just as I know I will, and now all I have left is the words I have desperately wanted to say to you but never had the courage to until now.

I'm sorry.

As soon as she read that part Celestia felt a lump form in her throat. Forcing it back down she forged onward as she continued to read.

Sorry for everything. All of the things that I did, everything that I said to you so long ago. I can't even begin to tell you how ashamed I am of myself for the way I acted towards you, when I should have known from the beginning that you only had my best interests at heart. I was just too foolish and greedy to see it. You were always looking out for me ever since the day you took me in and cared for me like I were your own daughter, and I threw it all back in your face.
Nothing I can do will ever excuse my behavior then. All I can think about is-

There was a break in the sentence, marked by tiny blotches of dried blood. The sentence picked up again farther down the page.

All I can think about is how much I must have hurt you in my arrogance, and my heart feels heavy at knowing that I can't even have the opportunity to apologize to you properly for it as I hoped would happen if you came looking for me.

More stains, larger than the others, were scattered about the next page, making some of the lettering difficult to read.

However, I know that can never happen no. I can feel myself literally falling apart from the inside as I write this. My skin feels funny, like it's not even a part of me anymore.
I now I only have at best a few hours before I can't hold n anymore, so I think I'll just go to sleep, and at least try to find some peace before I die. Before I do though, I ask of you two things Princess.
Don't come after me. I write this in the hopes that you have yet to read my previous entry, so that you know no to come here. It is a dead world now.
My second request is that you find it within yourself to forgive me, since I cannot seem to forgive myself.

Sunset Shimmer

That was the end. Every page afterward was empty. Gently, Celestia closed the book, running a hand over its cover. Her eyes were shut tightly as she struggled to keep herself from crying again. Her mind was blank, unable to form a coherent thought as she found herself once more at the bed where Sunset rested. Letting her instincts take hold of her actions, Celesta felt her hand reach down to softly rest on her students shoulder.

"Oh Sunset," she said quietly, her voice cracking with emotion and her once dry eyes welling up with fresh tears. "You asked for forgiveness, when you should have known I had given to you a long time ago. If anything it is I who should be begging your forgiveness."

As Celestia stood there, reflecting on everything that had happened, her ears picked up the sound of soft footsteps coming up from behind her, along with the clank of armor. Slowly she turned her head to look at her guards, as they watched from a distance with mixed expressions of concern and relief. Celestia said nothing to them, instead letting her gaze drift back to Sunset. She could not bear to face him, or any of her subjects right now after the way she had treated them.

She felt a hand rest on her shoulder, dry and cracked from exposure to the dust.

"Princess," Stalwart said to her in a gentle tone, his normally gruff voice replaced containing a hint of sympathy that Celestia had never heard from him before now. "It'. . . it's time to go." Turning her head towards him, Celestia's eyes met his.

Feeling like she was in a daze, Celestia let her head dip in a slow nod of acceptance, and Stalwart began to lead her away from Sunset. When she turned around, Celestia found Hammer Hoof standing in front of her. She saw that she was holding something in her hands. At first the object was foreign to her, despite the fact that she had spent of her rule wearing it, until she finally recognized it as her crown, slightly dirty but still in relatively pristine condition.

Without saying a word, Hammer offered the crown to Celestia. Reaching with her right hand, Celestia graciously received it, thanking Hammer with a curt nod and a small smile. She did not don it however. Instead she held in front of her with both hands, absentmindedly gazing with mild interest at the piece of refined gold, finding herself reluctant to put it on her head. For some reason that she could not properly describe even if she was asked, it simply did not feel right, like it did not really belong to her anymore.

Turning around, Celestia walked back over to Sunset. There, she placed the crown beside where her student rested eternally. Celestia then proceeded to kiss her fingers before placing her hand on Sunset's head.

"Goodbye Sunset. . . . Sleep well," Celestia whispered as she bade her student a final farewell.

Her task complete was complete. It was over now. There was nothing left for her to do except go back home, yet Celestia did not feel much better for it.

With Stalwart leading the way, Celestia hoped that the grief would eventually pass and the pain in her heart would fade away.

---

It was mostly silent during the walk back to the portal. Every so often her guards would inquire to ask her something, usually a question pertaining to her well being. Celestia seldom replied however, and when she did it was with with very few words. Eventually her guards got the message and stopped asking altogether, choosing to remain quiet as they followed Stalwart.

Their journey back went much smoother and more quickly than before since they knew their destination. Celestia, and Stalwart surprisingly enough, did not particularly feel the need to hurry. Celestia had learned from him that when she had went missing, it was only for about two hours or so before they found her, drawn by the sound of her grief. This gave them the whole following day to find their way back to Equestria.

Plenty of time for Celestia to reflect on everything that had happened between her and Sunset, as well as wonder what she was going to do when she returned. She knew it was basically impossible at this point to pretend nothing had happened. She could no longer put on a fake smile and hope nopony saw through her facade. To do such a thing would be an insult to Sunset she felt. No, this experience would stay with her unto the day she ceased to raise the sun. The memory of how she had failed Sunset in her time of greatest need, of how she had lost lives in the process, would remain, tormenting her endlessly for her shortcomings. It had happened with Nightmare Moon.

This time would not be any different.

After a little while longer of walking, the only sound to accompany them being the soft crunch of soot and ash under their feet, Celestia began to notice that they were approaching their destination. The portal was very near now, confirmed by the fact that she could now see the school in the distance. Off to the side, Celestia could not help but take notice of the trail of footprints left on the road, and she began to wonder what had become of the siren that Hammer claimed to have seen the previous day. If what the guard had said about her condition was true, then it was unlikely that she would last much longer here, if she had not already perished, cold, alone and afraid in this world of death.

Much like Sunset probably had been.

Before long the group found themselves standing before the portal. The large white statue of the horse loomed above them, casting a faint shadow over Celestia, and she felt like she were receiving some sort of judgement. Everypony stood by as they waited expectantly on the Princess, and Celestia began to approach the portal, looking into its mirrored surface. Only now could she see the effect that this place had on her.

She was a mess. A broken mess of a Princess with bloodshot eyes that seemed to almost sink back into her skull. Her hair, a once pristine mane of multicolored brilliance was now dirty and soiled, a ghost of its former splendor. All in all, Celestia could not help but decide that her appearance perfectly resembled how she felt.

Broken. Empty and hollow.

"Princess?" she heard Stalwart say behind her. "Aren't you going to go in?"

Celestia considered the question, unsure how she wanted to respond. Of course she wanted to leave this place behind, of that there was no debate. She wanted to go home and try to find some sort of comfort that would help her move on. But no matter what she could not make herself take that final step. She could not leave yet, not while knowing that she had not taken anything from this place while it had taken everything from her.

"Your highness?"

Celestia almost did not hear the concerned voice of Aegis Lash as she continued to stare at her reflection in the portal while her guards waited anxiously for her to do something, anything. She then surprised them all by walking right past the statue, then altered her course so that she was now walking down the road, an expression of grim determination on her face.

"Princess!" Stalwart exclaimed as he and the others hurried to catch up to her. "Where are you going?!We need to go back to Equestria!"

"And we will captain," Celestia replied over her shoulder, her gaze firmly locked forward. "But there is something that still needs my presence here."

"What could that possibly be?!" There's nothing left here!"

"I came here to save a life," Celestia answered as she followed the trail of footprints "And that is exactly what I intend to do."

---

She found them at home. At least, that was what Sonata liked to call the two story house where she and her sisters dwelt. Aria and Adagio never really liked to become too attached to wherever the trio decided to stay before they eventually moved on to a different area, feeding on the negativity of the people along the way. For Sonata however, this was not always the case. Even though she knew that each place they stayed was only a temporary arrangement, she could never bring herself to call them anything other than home. To her, each one had always been a safe haven for her and her sisters.

However, this idyllic vision of hers was instantly shattered into a thousand tiny pieces the moment she had found the bodies of her sisters in the living room. Adagio was sitting upright with her head supported by the back of the couch she was on, while Aria was laid down with her head resting in her dead sisters lap. Their eyes were closed shut, making it look like they were only sleeping. Sonata sometimes found them like this, especially after one of the many squabbles they would have with each other, as all siblings occasionally had. Despite the tension that would oftentimes flare up between the trio, in the end they were always able to look past them and just be content to be in each others company.

However, Sonata could plainly see that this was not the case here, indicted by their pale skin, and their pendants which had become a dull grey as opposed to the bright crimson they usually were.

When Sonata first found them like this, she refused to believe it. She refused to accept that the only two beings that she cared about, and cared for her in turn, were gone. She refused to trust the words of the hastily written letter they had left for her on the small coffee table.

Sonata had screamed. She had screamed and raged and shouted at them for what must have been hours, until her sore throat prevented her from raising her voice above a whisper, and she was reduced to begging them in a hoarse tone to wake up and comfort her, so that she would not be left alone in this hellish place. It mattered little however, so very little. In spite of her grief and fear they showed no signs of life. Their eyes never opened, and the pendants around their neck remained dark as the grave, and Sonata was forced to accept that they were gone, likely taken by the same starvation that Sonata felt herself as it ate away at her, depriving her of what little vitality she had left.

Curled up on the carpeted floor of their living room, Sonata sobbed loudly, unable to stop the flow of hot tears as they soaked into the floor beneath her head.

She was lost. She was lost and alone without them here. How would she ever be able to find happiness again if they were not here for her? She did not know, and Sonata suspected she might never know. She would not get the chance to after she succumbed to the starvation just as they had, forgotten and left to rot. It was really only a matter of time. The only thing she could do was hasten the process.

Forcing herself to stand up, Sonata's face felt damp as she stumbled towards the kitchen area. She soon returned with a large cutting knife gripped tightly in her right hand. Standing before the bodies of what were once her sisters, Sonata was trembling as she brought up her left arm, peeling back the sleeve to expose the soft skin of her wrist. She placed the blade against the blue flesh.

It would have been so easy for her to just end it right now. All it would take was a quick yank, a moment of pain, and it would all be over. She would start to feel cold as the blood drained from the wound. She would lay herself down next to her sisters, where she would then proceed to close her eyes, fall asleep, and never wake up again.

Just one quick pull.

Shaking like a leaf, Sonata slowly raised the blade, preparing herself to bring it down her wrist. She took a deep breath. . .

And then felt a hand gently rest on her arm, in the exact spot where the knife would have fallen. Sonata was confused by it at first, and tried to pull away. The hand did not let go however, and Sonata looked up at its owner. When she saw the tall woman with light lavender skin and rainbow hair, she felt a strange sense of familiarity, but was unsure why. Maybe it was the alabaster white gown, or maybe it was the golden torc that draped around her shoulders, or perhaps the long curtain of hair that draped downward like an aurora. Whatever it was, Sonata knew that she had met this woman before, but was unable to recall where or when.

Then magenta eyes met violet ones, and with a small gasp Sonata at last realized who this strange woman was. But there was something different about her, something that had not been there during their last encounter so very long ago, when they had been enemies. In Celestia's eyes, there was no wariness, nor contempt. Not even anger. There was just sadness. The same sorrow and grief that Sonata felt for her sisters was reflected back at her in Celestia's eyes.

Sonata did not know why she was here. And for some reason, she could not bring herself to care about or question it. She was no longer able to stand anymore as she fell to her knees. The knife slipped from her grasp and landed with a soft thunk on the carpet. Celestia followed her movement as she enveloped Sonata in her arms, doing nothing to stop the siren from burying her face into her neck as she cried. Celestia held the girl close as she felt tears stream from her own eyes.

No words were said from either of them as they sat there, holding and comforting each other while they mourned for those they had lost.

---

Celestia's guards waited anxiously outside of the house for Celestia to return. Stalwart had put up quite the fuss when Celestia said she needed to go in alone, not at all wanting a repeat of the last time they had become separated. With a little convincing Celestia was able to make the captain agree to give a little over ten minutes to do what she needed. After that, he would come in and get her.

Nine and a half minutes passed before the Princess finally emerged from the dwelling. Her guards were surprised to find that she was not alone, as she was accompanied by a blue skinned girl that she held close in a rather protective manner. Celestia could tell from the look on Stalwarts face that he wanted to say something in opposition to what she was doing, but one glance at the girl was enough for him to remain silent. None of the other guards protested either as Celestia led Sonata back towards the school.

It was less than an hour before they reached their destination, and Sonata glanced curiously up at the Princess as they stood in front of the portal. Noticing it, Celestia responded with a thin smile and a small nod of her head. Sonata's reddened eyes widened when she realized what was happening, and she cast a longing glance in the direction her home was located. Her former home.

Tearing her gaze away, Sonata looked forward at her reflection in the portal, which had started to shimmer and ripple much like water the closer she came to it. Sonata was hesitant to take the final step, but Celestia continued to lead her onward. The siren understood why. One look at Celestia was enough for her to understand.

There was nothing here for them anymore. It was time to move on, hopefully towards a fate where pain they felt in their hearts was diminished and not as noticeable. It would take a long time, and even then it would never truly be gone. But in the end, it was far better than the fate Sonata would have brought on herself.

Taking the last step forward, Celestia and Sonata entered the portal together, and the others soon followed close behind.

And just like that, they were gone, as though they had never existed. The only trace that they were ever there were their footprints in the ash. In time however, even that would fade away.

As all things eventually do, it would heal.

Author's Notes:

And that's all she wrote.

https://youtu.be/eD0XEH3qVCk?t=97

Well everybody, this has been a wild ride for me, and a good one as well. I hope it was good for you too, but now it is time for me to hit that complete button, and say farewell to Celestia, Stalwart, Sonata and all the other characters that starred in this story. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed taking the time to read my work and give it a chance.
This has been Dilos1.
Thank you.