Little does Celestia understand that the pain of war does not exceed the woe of aftermath.
Princess Celestia needs to rebuild Equestria after it was devastated by war. With Nightmare Moon banished, Celestia has begun to be haunted by mysterious hallucinations and dreams that have put a stop to her plans to rebuild. With Equestria in ruins, she needs to find the cause of these strange happenings and how to stop them or else a new revolution may begin.
The rolling thunder of a distant battle began to grow louder as Celestia paced back and forth in the main hall of Canterlot castle. In the light of the full moon, she waited. What seemed like an eternity was only ten minutes. With every passing second she became a little more frantic.
Suddenly a door swung open and a mare came walking in the room. Her gentle hoof steps echoed in the main hall. She was a lime green unicorn with a mane that was an even lighter green. Her dark blue cloak was covering most of her body.
Celestia looked down at the mare and asked, "How did it go? Will anypony be able to find him?"
"He is far from here," replied the unicorn, "in an icy cave to the north. There is no chance it can be found by those who don't already know where it is."
"Good."
Celestia turned and looked through the large windows. From her castle she could see all the city and the mountains beyond the city walls. She could even see some small towns. However, on this night, she only saw destruction. There was fireballs flying across the sky in every direction. The magic spells from unicorns lit up the night, but there was one area engulfed in darkness.
The light stopped at the rim of the valleys. From the castle it appeared to be an endless black abyss. This wasteland was where Celestia had to go. If she was able to make it there the war could end, but she would have to pay dearly for it.
"Princess," the unicorn said, "I don't know what you have planned, but I want you to know this; the pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath. When this war is over, Equestria could be rebuilt, but never the same."
"I have always understood that." Those were the only words that Celestia was able to say. After some time had passed, she said "Gather up the rest of the elements, we will leave at midnight."
The unicorn nodded, and walked back out the door she came in.
***
Two hours passed and Celestia was standing somewhere outside the walls of Canterlot with six other. The same green unicorn as before was there, standing next to a pink poney who was also a unicorn. There was three earthponies all different shades of yellow. The sixth poney was mageta and he was the only pegasus. They were all wearing a blue cloak.
None of them spoke until a bell rang signaling midnight.
"Let's go." said Celestia as she began to walk down a narrow path.
The others followed her down the path. They did not know where she was taking them or what they had to do, but they all knew she would not ask them to come together like this unless it was vitally important.
For what seemed like hours, they walked down the path. With the chaos that was going on all around them, they found themselves dodging stray fireballs every now and then and watched them explode and leave a crater in the ground. Other than that, the landscape around them looked surprisingly untouched by the battle and the war.
Suddenly, the seven of them were standing on the rim of a dark valley. It seemed to have no bottom and the sounds of war were amplified here. The six ponies all wondered what the darkness was hiding, but Celestia knew. In the shadows lurk the most evil ponies and creatures anyone can imagine. That included nightmare moon, the one who started this war.
They walked along the rim until they came upon a path that lead down into the darkness. The six ponies stopped there, however Celestia kept walking. As she disappeared into the shadows, the other six ran down the path to catch up with her.
In the valley, they almost could not see the ground they were walking on. They all feared what could be around the next corner, or if something was following them. Even with magic, they still could see very little. The darkness had engulfed everything, and the sound of the battle grew louder with every step they took. At the bottom of the valley, the darkness seemed to end. They saw the valley floor clearly, but the cliffs and the sky was all darkness. It was as if there was a low cloud over them.
A little bit down the valley they saw an ominous building. Its ancient walls stood out from the cliffs and gave the ponies all a bad feeling. However, Celestia began to walk towards it, and the other ponies followed, still unsure of what they had to do. None of them spoke since they left Canterlot.
When they reached the door Celestia stopped, turned and said, "Through this door is a pony that must be stopped for the sake of Equestria. We must stop at nothing to put an end to her power. Whether we fail or succeed, this war will end tonight."
Before she let any of the other ponies talk she opened the doors and walked in. They all followed. The inside of the building was empty; There was a broken chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a balcony above another set of doors. All the windows in the large room were broken. The seven of them all walked cautiously to the center of the room.
Without warning, there was a loud thundering noise and a ball of black fire was hovering above the balcony. The fire quickly extinguished and there stood Nightmare Moon. Standing in her presence sent shivers down all their spines and they could all feel her eyes piercing through them.
A few moments later she shouted, "You dare come to challenge me? I will see your end here!"
She casted a magic spell that sent lightning at them, but Celestia stopped it with a force field that surrounded the seven of them.
Celestia replied, "I will do whatever I must to save Equestria."
Now, the even more angered Nightmare Moon shot another bolt of lightning at them. However this time Celestia could not stop it. Celestia took the full power of the spell. She fell back, far from where the other ponies were.
Nightmare Moon then shouted, "You are too weak to stop me! Your power and glory ends now!"
"That is where you are wrong," Celestia whispered while getting up off of the ground.
The princess closed her eyes and began to glow with power. The six other ponies were glowing too, as they began to use their powers. Nightmare Moon took a cautious step back and only was able to watch in awe as Celestia became more powerful from the elements.
When Celestia opened her eyes, there was a great flash of white light and the world fell silent.
Midnight was drawing near and the full moon dominated the night sky. It's beauty has inspired countless dreamers for years. However, this moon is different. This moon held an eerie resemblance to a mare, starring down on the earth, and into the dreams of all the sleeping ponies.
It was a little less than a month since the war has ended, and the reconstruction of the cities and towns in Equestria had only just begun. The tired princess was finally able to sleep after hours of planning for the future. On this day alone she had to travel and meet with the mayors of two cities to discuss the plan to rebuild. Then, she had to return to her castle and review the plans for Canterlot. After a long day such as that, everypony should have a good night's rest. However, Princess Celestia had a night far from that.
As she dragged herself onto her bed, she was glad to finally be able to sleep. She tucked herself in and took a few seconds to find a comfortable spot on her bed. Then, she blew out the candle on the stand next to her bed and the only light was from the full moon. That was the first time she heard it.
Just as Celestia closed her eyes, she heard something. It was almost a silent mumbling whisper. She ignored it, and it went away. Only seconds later she heard it again, but this time it was longer and louder. She convinced herself it was only somepony talking outside her room; She ignored it again. The third time she heard it, she was able to make out what the noise was. Somepony was crying. However, this was an unnatural cry. It echoed in her head sending fear through her body.
It felt like there was somepony in the room, but she was the only pony who entered. She wanted to scream, but she could not find her voice. She wanted to run but she could not find her energy. She was paralyzed with fear.
This mysterious crying lasted three minutes. It faded away and the night was silent again. Celestia kept her eyes closed the entire time she heard this cry. When it did stop, she was afraid to open them. She feared that if she did, she would be looking into the eyes of a ghostly figure. It took her ten minutes to open her eyes, and the princess was relieved nothing was there.
Scanning her room, she saw nothing was out of place. The moonlight was bright enough to let her see everything in her room. She saw the paintings on the walls, books on shelves, the dressers, her closet doors, and the patterns on the rug. Despite how much could already be seen, she still used her magic to see better.
She got out of her bed, walked towards the door, and opened it. The two guards standing on either side of the door were surprised to see her awake this late. The guard on her left was a white stallion with a blue mane, the one to her right was a grey stallion with a darker grey mane, they were both wearing their uniforms, the two of them were both earth ponies.
"Is there something wrong princess? You look like you saw something you shouldn't have." said the guard to her left.
"Everything is fine," she said gracefully. "Has anypony walked down this hall tonight?"
"Only the maintenance ponies, but they were quiet."
"Have either of you heard somepony crying?"
"No. Everything has been normal tonight."
Celestia looked down at the floor and closed her eyes.
A few moments later the guard to her right said, "Princess, you should go back to bed. You must be tired."
"Okay," she said, "can you two make sure nopony walks down this hall tonight?"
"Yes, princess. Sleep well."
She walked back into her room and closed the door using magic. After what happened the last time she tried to sleep, she wanted to wait a few minutes before getting back in bed. Sitting in a chair by the window, she looked out to the sleeping city. The empty streets and the quiet homes were at rest. In the sky, she saw the sad eyes of the moon.
Suddenly, she heard another noise. It was not the cry she heard before. This noise sounded almost like a word. She nervously looked around her room, trying to find the source of the noise. As the noise became louder, she could hear the voice of a mare who had been crying.
"Why? Why? Why?"
The word echoed in her head, the same way the crying did.
Celestia began to feel weak. With her hoof to her chest, she began to breathe heavily. A few moments later she fell over. Lying on the ground, the world faded away, but the echoing word raged on.
Hearing her fall, the two guards outside quickly ran into the room. Seeing her on the ground, they looked at one another in disbelief.
"Princess, can you hear me?" said the guard with the grey mane.
There was no answer. The two of them picked her up and placed her on the bed.
"You go find a doctor, I'll stay here with the princess." said the guard with the blue mane.
"Okay." He said while running out of the room.
Not a minute later, the princess woke up. She looked around the room confused.
"Are you okay princess? What happened?" said the guard.
"I can't remember." she whispered.
Without moving her head, she looked at the window. She tried to use her magic to close the drapes, but she was too weak.
"Please, allow me." said the guard.
"Thank you." she replied.
As she said that, the guard with the grey mane walked in with a doctor and two nurses. The two nurses looked like they could have been sisters. They had the same purple colored mane, both a lighter purple. However, the doctor was an older yellow stallion who had a few wrinkles, with white hair that mached the apron he was wearing.
"Good evening princess, I am Doctor Steth. Can you tell me what happened?" said the doctor.
"I am sorry, but I cannot remember." She replied.
"That is okay. I am going to perform some tests to see what is wrong, if that is okay with you."
"Of course."
After an hour of the doctor and the nurses using strange tools to try to see what was wrong with Celestia, the doctor said, "I am sorry but I cannot find anything wrong. I think you are just tired. Please try to get some sleep tonight."
"Okay." she said.
The doctor smiled with the nurses, who then left the room. Celestia quickly fell asleep and the guards went back out into the hall.
The next morning, Celestia cancelled everything she had planned for the day.
Alone in the library, Celestia stood reading a book floating before her. As the pages magically turned by themselves, she looked at it in disappointment, threw it aside, and let another book float in front of her. This one was small, smaller than her hoof. With no title or author, she curiously opened it. The only sentence read, 'The secrets of dreams can only be revealed by the dreamer.' The rest of the pages were blank. Again disappointed, the book was thrown aside.
As another book floated in front of her, a door opened. In walked a green unicorn, a mare with one blue star as a cutie mark. She stood in the doorway for a few seconds staring at the princess. Then she turned her attention to the pile of books on the ground.
"Hello Adell!" said Celestia smiling.
"Good morning princess," Adell replied, "how long have you been here?"
"I am not sure, at least an hour."
"Are you looking for something?"
"Yes. Last night I was getting ready to sleep. When I was lying in my bed, I began to hear strange noises that no other pony could hear."
"That is strange. Is this the first time you heard this noise?"
"Yes. I am terrified that it will return again tonight."
"If this is the first time, then you should not be worried. Maybe there is something bothering you. Having to rebuild Equestria may be getting to your head."
As she finished saying that, a guard walked in.
"Princess, you are needed in the Main Hall," the guard said.
She followed the guard out of the library, leaving the books on the ground. As she entered the Main Hall, a large group of ponies began to shout at her. Unprepared for this, the princess jumped back. All of the ponies were shouting at her so she could not hear what they were mad about.
"Can everypony calm down so I can help you?" Celestia said. The crowd became quiet to hear the princess. "What is the problem?"
"All of the cities in Equestria are destroyed!" somepony shouted.
"Your rebuilding plan is not working!" shouted another.
A few more ponies began to shout, then all of them. The mob was now even more angry.
"I realize how much destruction was left behind by this war. However, it only just ended. All of the cities will be rebuilt. How long it will take is anypony's guess," said the princess.
There was a few more hours of Celestia talking with the ponies. Every once in a while they would all start yelling again. She had already cancelled all of her meetings that day, which proved to be a bad choice. At that moment, she decided to take Adell's advice and not let one incident bother her. Promising more involvement with rebuilding, the mob finally dispersed.
By then it was a bit past three in the afternoon. Celestia returned to the library with her head low. She looked around for the books she had left there, but they were nowhere to be found. Quickly looking around, she saw Adell reading at a table.
"Hey, Adell. Did you do something with the books that were here before?" Celestia said.
"No, I did not. Maybe one of the librarians saw the mess and put the books back. However, the only book they left was that small one, over there," she said pointing at a book on the ground.
It was the same small book as before. On the ground, it was open to a page with a different sentence than before. This time it read 'Nothing could help a dreamer, but the dream.' Confused by the meaning, she tried to find the other sentence. Flipping through the pages, they were all blank again. There was no trace of any words or pictures. She set it down and began to look for the other books. After a few hours passed, Celestia was only able to find a few of the books she had earlier. By now it was almost eight at night. The tired princess exited the library forgetting about everything that happened the night before.
Dragging herself to her room, she felt somepony was passing her on the stairs. It felt real to her, but looking back to an empty hall, all Celestia could do was sigh and walk on. It was still early, but she had to rest. Asking the guards to once again block the hall to those passing by, she could feel her energy draining fast. Finally in her room, she quickly fell asleep, to a nightmare.
On a summer day, Celestia sat alone at a long table in the forest. The table was set for twelve ponies, but served only one. Happily looking around as if the vacant seats were full, she poured tea in all of the cups at the table. The sun shone through the trees in a cloudless blue sky. Birds of all sorts were singing in the trees. There was never a more perfect day for a casual party in the forest.
Celestia stood up to propose a toast to the empty seats. However, the grass crunched when she stepped on it. The once soft, green grass was now yellow. Flying away the birds have stopped chirping. The rabbits and squirrels fled in fear. The leafs on the trees turned to brown and black. Finally, the sky turned red with the setting sun and rising moon.
While the moon was rising, she felt the mare looking down at her. The inescapable eyes followed the princess as she ran from the table. The moon stopped rising when it reached the center of the sky. With the sun gone, it dominated everything else she saw. She stopped to stare at its presence.
Hovering over Celestia, the moon began to crack like glass. It started small, but it was branching out, growing larger. Eventually the moon shattered in the sky, its pieces turning to daggers as they fell down at the princess. Once again she ran, or tried to. They were too fast for her.
Suddenly, all on them flew past her and dug into the ground in front of her. They formed the shape of the mare on the moon. Stopped, she looked at the figure. The hilts of the daggers began to smoke, and they caught fire. It moved to the grass, then the trees. She turned to run, but everything behind her was on fire too. All around, the blaze began to creep closer.
The suffocating smoke made her curl up on the ground, helpless.