Celestia expects Nightmare Moon back soon, but will the return really go as expected?
Celestia has spent long enough dreaming of her sister's return. Untold planning tossed aside in a simple gamble centering around Twilight Sparkle, it is not meant to be, for Nightmare Moon is nowhere to be found. Little did she know, Luna had changed far more than she could've ever expected on the moon, and the repercussions of her time spent there would forever taint not only their relationship, but it would also alter the entire course of not only Equestria's, but Equus's future.
This is a story about the desperation inside Celestia's heart for redemption and resolution with her sister, and where it eventually leads her. Where she will uncover untold histories, as well as be forced into having to make the hardest of choices to go to places neither of them would've dared dream of in the past.
Celestia closed her eyes in the shower. It was time. Finally time.
"Too long..."
Memories flashed before her in a vivid cascade that also served as a vicious cycle. She tried to focus on the ones regarding Twilight, the young mare she had so desperately pinned her hopes on. The elements wouldn't fail this time. Luna would be willing to make amends. It was going to be okay.
She clenched her hooves together tightly and tried to forget her anxieties. For too long she had been living without true stakes, and now that it came flooding back she felt like it would overwhelm her. The ponies around her lived lives that would never be comparable, and the longer time went on the less she felt she could truly connect with them. The same couldn't be said of her sister, even after everything that had happened. She could not afford to mess this up.
"Luna..." she sighed, "please just be okay, I don't know what I would do if I lost you again."
Loneliness had such a way of creeping up onto you over time. Sure, she'd had ponies like Twilight who she had loved with all her heart many times now, and they were all cherished memories and connections, but none of them were peers, none of them were family. She had also fought to maintain the value in her heart for all her little ponies. It would've been easy to become bitter and distanced, but she had reminded herself that every life had its own journey, some longer than others, but all of them had value and left legacies across Equestria and beyond that mattered. She didn't want her own legacy to continue how it had been so far. Even if her ponies had forgotten Luna.
Celestia turned off the shower, dried up and briskly left the room. Back into her main bed chambers, she went over to her desk to examine the various scribbles and notes regarding how she should handle Nightmare Moon's return. It was such a painstaking thing to agonize over perfection when perfection was demanded. The volume of time in which she had cycled and scrapped new plans had become vague at some point. After much deliberation, she decided genuine simplicity was her best hope. She trusted in the character of Twilight. That didn't stop her anxiety from creeping up on her.
She thought back to just before Luna had left her, they had been fighting for days over various topics, and many hurtful things were said. So many of them had haunted her for far too long. Differences could be over come, and her relation mattered far more now then such silly topics to squawk over.
Ponyville. Tomorrow it would all be decided there.
Sleep did not take her easily that night.
"Hey Twilight! Pinkie Pie's starting "pin the tail on the pony"! Wanna play?"
"No! All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!"
"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!"
"Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it! "Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night." I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..."
"C'mon, Twilight, it's time to watch the sunrise!"
"Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited— well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went, she gasped, "but I mean really, who can top that?"
"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"
"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."
"Ready?"
" ...Princess Celestia!"
"..." Celestia appeared. She looked normal, but there was clearly something slightly off about her expression and mannerism, and Twilight caught onto it immediately having known her for so long. Or at least she thought she did.
The celebration went exactly to plan, and Twilight was feeling super foalish.
"Ugh, I can't believe how much I stressed over such a silly tale, Celestia won't believe this.."
"Come on Twilight! Did you really want it being some disaster after all? Celestia's performance was brilliant like always."
"Well, I guess you're right Spike. I wonder if she already returned to Canterlot."
Before Spike could respond, a large burp ensued.
"A letter already! Oh gosh, what did I mess up Spike! This has all gone—"
"Relax Twilight, let's just read it first okay?"
"Alright..."
The scroll unfolded and Twilight started reading.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I require your presence back in Canterlot immediately, there is something I must speak with you about with haste. Please, come immediately.
As the sun rose into the sky, it cast an orange glow over the forest below, and a singular pony could be found. It was the middle of nowhere, no civilization to be seen or found in any direction for as far as the eye could see.
For a thousand year this pony had been trapped, and for centuries had been dreaming of this day.
A gentle breeze blew past the pony as she slowly wandered, experiencing everything the world had to offer again. Being stuck inside a mind that could summon realities which begged you to accept them as authentic had taken its toll over time. There had been a genuine fear that she would become so lost within the confines there that when it was time to escape and return, she wouldn't even be able to. The thought still ushered a drop of sweat down her back.
Luna was certain what she was experiencing now was the real deal. The nightmare had ended long ago, but the lucid dreaming ended now. Every sense tingled and it was overwhelming. Living, breathing, standing and existing was overwhelming. Her thoughts had long since calmed down, and most of the time she was content to think nothing at all. A complete blank slate of a mind was preferable. Not thinking meant a reverie from the prison.
Slowly, she started smiling and looked back to the sun rising.
It was everything she had dreamt of once and more.
No more drama, no more politics, no more torture, no more sister. Freedom.
Just then, she had the silliest thought. This place looked perfect, why not could it be her new home? Location didn't matter so much as it was back on Equus. She was back, but there was no need for anyone to know she was back.
For the first time since arriving a painful thought arose: what was sister going to do?
Nothing else would be better than remaining alone here, and that was a threat to her peace. Luna wouldn't hide like some tiny animal, but she wasn't going to go out of her way to reveal herself to the world either. There was also a distinct hope that Celestia had decided that their relationship was immeasurably broken and would not pursue her. She prayed for that.
For the second time in a millennia she lit her horn. This power had been sealed from her for so very long, it was like experiencing an entirely new sense for the first time again. A tree shattered, layers peeled off, and a plank was formed.
Celestia paced around her room, over and over again.
What the hell had happened? Clearly her sister had returned, the evidence of the moons appearance change being evident enough, but why had nothing happened yet? What had been the point of all that planning and mulling over when something like this could happen?
But that wasn't what bothered her the most. It was the fact that the uncertainty lingered, and while before Celestia had thought that resolution was at hand, it was now as far away as ever. Was it possible that Nightmare Moon wouldn't confront Celestia right away this time? Would that really happen? Had she doomed her kingdom because she banked on such a foalish plan? Was Nightmare Moon planning on evading the elements at all cost? It dawned on her that this could get incredibly ugly fast, in the worst kind of way and soon if her worst fears were confirmed.
The part that bothered her was how she had rushed to recall Twilight. What the hell was she thinking? She should've just kept her in Ponyville with the other elements just in case. Together.
There was another part of her that wanted to leave and search for her sister, damn the aristocracy and palace staffing. She wanted to go out and confront this. She wanted to know if her little sister was okay. She wanted to know if Luna would ever forgive her. It drove a stake into her heart, and she realized just how drained she was from years of fretting. Slumping. It was catching up to her fast.
Equestrian society relied on her to function. She could not leave for particularly long, especially when it wasn't planned. But this was her sister. For a long time now she had been the arbiter at the forefront of any and all policy, but in the past she had relied on strong candidates whose merit lifted their stations into government and under her wing. They had performed admirably then, when she needed those times to recover, why couldn't they now? All she had to do was find them, just even if it was just one.
That would take time, she needed to find Luna now.
It bothered her that the thought would even occur to her, but it did. She had someone who could do the looking for her in her place, who she trusted. But how could she?
It was already night by the time Twilight had arrived.
A servant knocking on the door could be heard, and a warm voice responded in kind.
"Come in, come in! It's a pleasure to see you again so soon again Twilight."
The servant left as she entered the room.
"Princess Celestia! It's so good to see you again!"
Twilight quickly hugged her at the entrance of her personal chambers.
Peeling off, she couldn't help but allow a look of concern on her face. "Ehehe... I know that I wasted too much time instead of preparing lookingintoasillyfoalsstorypleaseforgiveme!"
"Easy Twilight, you have done no wrong. You organized everything perfectly. I'm proud of you."
"Really...? Then why did you..."
Celestia beget her to follow her deeper into the room, lighting her horn to close the door behind them as they approached a lit fireplace.
"Sit with me Twilight."
They both sat neatly before the fireplace, on the royal carpet, opulent threads brought together from Equestria's finest. It unfolded like a river of velvet and neatly ended before the fireplace. The room had only a few other sources of lighting elsewhere beyond the glow of the hearth, including large windows which bathed the room in the moons light.
"I never wanted this kind of a dilemma to take place, and I'm feeling mightily defeated these days my dear Twilight."
Shadows highlighted her face, flickering and revealing flashes of emotion that lasted just as long as they were revealed, and Twilight had never seen her so serious and determined before. But that wasn't all - there was a pervading sense of defeat and sadness there as well.
"Princess... whatever it is you need... I'm sure that we can..."
A sigh came out of Celestia immediately.
"If only it were so easy my little pony..."
She was on edge now, and the silence afterwards was painful. But Celestia wasn't finished.
"I suppose I should be honest with you and start from the beginning, shouldn't I?"
Now they had locked eyes. Twilight would see this through for Celestia no matter what it was. She nodded, and Celestia began once again.
"You see, that "foals tale" you mentioned, is no tale at all," Twilight gasped, "it is my reality".
Over the next thirty minutes Celestia elucidated and expanded on her plight up until this point, including the elements of harmony. Most of it was a shock to Twilight to actually have this information confirmed, but she didn't have time to process it lest she miss more of the continuing tale. Multiple times freaking out that Nightmare Moon was possibly on the loose.
"...and it is after all this information that we arrive at the forefront of my quandary Twilight. You."
"What...?"
"The only thing that I haven't mentioned so far is the most recent revelation, and it is the reason I'm even considering what I'm about to propose to you at all."
She once again nodded her head, giving affirmation to continue. To hear her fears of the past few days confirmed so easily with the casual manner they were being told was somewhat harrowing, but she was starting to come to terms with it. Especially since she was with Celestia here still, in the most comforting of environments deep in the heart of Canterlot.
"I felt her presence, Twilight, she has cast some powerful magic since coming back to Equus, once at the very least, and while I cannot say I'm completely sure... I believe that the magic felt pure, untainted from the curse of Nightmare moon. It was shocking to say the least, but also exciting. I believe the chances of it being Nightmare moon at this point are extremely low. It's also the reason you're here today."
It was finally Twilight's turn to speak.
"What would you have me do, princess?"
Celestia frowned, but continued nonetheless.
"I want to send you on a journey... west. That is where I sensed Luna, and I need somepony that I trust to go out and find her. You are one of the most talented young ponies I've ever met, I'm sure that you can handle such a journey." Celestia paused for effect to make sure she had her attention. "But I will not force this on you, Twilight, I want you to know that. Like I said you're young, and this kind of burden is quite unfair I understand. It pains me to say, but, being here in Canterlot is how I've always managed the kingdom, and while temporary leave has been fine for planned trips, I cannot simply abandon my post to go looking for Luna for god knows how long. If you go you will be thoroughly prepared for anything that could be thrown at you. I promise that."
Twilight absorbed the proposal and mulled over it immediately. The fire had started to die out, and the final sparks and embers waned, casting longer shadows over the room. The crackling, which had grown into a comfort, had also died down significantly. There was a new ember born among this dying company, and it existed in the eyes of Twilight's newfound determination.
"Princess Celestia, I accept your request. I will find Luna."
"I just don't understand how you can defend this blatant disrespect against my night! The night is not given the reverence it deserves. The ponies of Equestria revel in the light and day, while they shun the night!"
Celestia's face indicated that she had other thoughts entirely. "Luna, you must understand that ponies have always feared the unknown, this has nothing to do with appreciation, but of comfort and familiarity. The day's security cannot be blamed for this!"
"And if our ponies could just push past such slight discomfort they could discover a new love, that of the beauty of the night, or the majestic sight of the stars!" Luna was seething now. They had already been at this a while now, and it was one of many increasing instances that took place over the past few weeks. While it had originally started in private, and continued to be right now, it had started bleeding into public affairs at the worst of times in the ugliest of ways. Any pony with a modicum of awareness in the Everfree had already keyed in on the internal turmoil.
"What's worse is the fact that the fears are unfounded! Yet you refuse to help me push our ponies into elevation and understanding!"
"Damn it Luna! We will not force agenda on our subjects in that manner! Can't you see that pushing them has only resulted in the recent disfavour?"
"You've been nothing but adversarial! Of course things aren't going to go over well when we aren't a united front!"
"Your jealously blinds you Luna! That's what this is really about, isn't it? Misplaced jealousy."
"You have no right to speak to me like that! How could you dare pretend to understand?"
"Infantile..!"
A drop of blood spilled down onto the floor, rolling down Luna's cheek, both ponies stunned for different reasons.
"How dare you..." Luna spat out more blood in the direction of Celestia. Celestia had a pale look on her face, and looked down at her hoof in disbelief, by the time she had looked back up Luna had already turned and faced away from her.
"Wait sister, I didn't mean to...!"
"We're done talking here, Celestia. I won't take this disrespect any longer."
Luna teleported away.
Two months later
Twilight Sparkle began her journey west.
Two months of planning, an intermission at Ponyville by request of Celestia, getting to know the ponies there better and multiple emotional farewells.
The gentle rustle of leaves, a melody of bird-song, and the crisp fresh air of the forest.
The plan, which had only been recently revised when Twilight had found out about a new spell that would help locating Luna, had come into fruition. Twilight had initially enjoyed the start of this journey, as it involved a lot of studying. Magic for detection, and detailed maps to figure out the best paths to take. It all came down to finding one specific spell: Krazor's magical density detector. Under normal circumstances, it was used and invented in the past to measure the level of magic applied with enchantments. With some tweaking by Celestia, they had figured out a variation of the spell with allowed a massive scale for locating.
Each step revealed a new sight of Equestria, and while Twilight had never been the type of pony to ever chase adventure, the past few months had prepared her mentally for this. So now she could enjoy it a little.
Celestia had enchanted four small magical pillars with a specific signature, and also made sure that Twilight knew and could cast the location spell by the time she left. Once the spell was confirmed, it made planning a whole lot easier. Twilight had calculated the most effective towns to visit - since travel through main roads would be fastest. These towns were located in such a way that Twilight could scan the most area possible without wasting time. If the initial casting failed it would be a massive and unfortunate delay to repossess and move on to the second route planned out for new towns to check a different area entirely, but such was the quest that she was on.
Twilight looked at her map again. Rydenbrook was the first town she was to visit and place a pillar safely therein. If she paced correctly, she'd be heading towards the second location within four days. That trip was when the real adversity would hit, being estimated to take around twenty. Twilight hoped she would not slow down too much at any point, but knew it was unrealistic for everything to go perfectly smoothly. Especially since she was new to travel on this scale.
That didn't change the fact that she would complete this mission. Seeing her mentor - Celestia, in such a heartbroken manner had imprinted on her heart the certainty on which this needed to done.
In the courtroom of Canterlot, Celestia heard from her subjects and offered her judgement.
Her presence of body and voice were about all that were really there.
In a turbulent sea of thoughts, she constantly switched between listening, speaking, and ruminating about the past few months. Was sending Twilight really the right idea? She was glad she had gotten her to soften up on Ponyville and the other elements before leaving, but she was still quite young for this kind of duty. The sense of determination she had sensed had cooled her doubts, but they kept on flaring. It didn't help that Twilight needed to find Luna and potentially confront her. She had told her that if she spotted Luna at any point she could just come straight back and tell Celestia the location, but she realized now she should've been more strict and ordered her not to interfere with Luna. Who knew what kind of mentality her sister had anymore, and the danger was that Luna recognized little after so much had changed over time, which was basically everything for Luna save the heavens at this point.
Luna had been raising the moon since being back, and the implications were not lost on Celestia. It made sense after all, Luna practically existed to do so, just like Celestia did with the sun, but it was a complete giveaway that she was back if she had ever been trying to hide her presence.
It has also finally settled in her mind that the reunion she had been dreaming of wasn't going to be pretty to start, to say the least. If Luna had really wanted to make amends from her side of things, she would've approached Celestia by now. Celestia started tapping her hoof on the throne.
Mistakes were made a millennium ago. She had certainly done and said things that were regrettable that echoed over even to now in memory. Blame was such a fickle thing, and to place it was to ruin everything. It didn't matter who had done or said what, Celestia felt sorry for what had happened and that was it. She have changed since then. She had to believe this.
One by one the petitions came and went. She tried to be involved mentally but it never was truly there. One poor old mare had practically begged for bits for a local foster home that she ran, and Celestia had granted it almost immediately.
"Family is important my little pony, and everyone in my kingdom deserves to be surrounded by it. The struggles of your home are well understood, and I will try to alleviate them as much as I can. I will personally fill in the details later to make sure you get the resources you need."
The old mare had teared up and made a scene, and Celestia smiled to herself that she could still help sometimes.
The cynical part of herself reminded me of how hollow it really was. Her relationship with Luna was in tatters and here she was preaching about family values to her ponies. It made her sick. She quickly realized that she wanted nothing more than to turn it in for the day. Using this poor foster home as a proxy, or any other heart wrenching story that walked into my halls and applying merciful judgment to those who asked for it, when she would never be able to help them all. Selective and preferential treatment. They were proxy for Luna to me in some vague way, and her decisions were a scream out into the void for another chance.
When dinner time finally arrived she could barely eat.
Twilight Sparkle's eyes were temporarily blinded by the sun as she approached Canterlot, and she had to block it with a hoof for a moment to see her path forward.
The gates swung open, and she entered the city and headed straight for the castle with practised steps. Every path taken done over before many a time in her past.
Her expression was somber, etched with lines of deep thought. It was though she was a solitary island amidst a sea of chaos around her, steadfast and unwavering.
An hour later, and she was finally there. Celestia suddenly rushed into view from across the hall from around a corner, followed by some not-so-disturbed guards.
"Twilight! You have no idea how happy I am to see you back! Quickly! Let's have tea in my room, shall we...?"
In the quiet of the afternoon, Celestia sat waiting in anticipation to hear from Twilight across the table, completely unaware of the storm brewing on the horizon. Twilight was just staring at her, how very peculiar.
"Well Twilight, don't keep me waiting! Was it a success, how was the trip? It took a little longer than we had predicted, but no problem at all."
Twilight took a deep breath that turned into a sigh. "Celestia, I don't even know where to begin."
"What are you talking about Twilight...."
A massive pit formed in Celestia's stomach. This was going far too strangely to how she thought this would be.
"What... in gods name did you do to Luna? How could you have done that? I can't even..."
"...!"
"Please... please explain everything... Celestia... I need to understand..."
Return to four months earlier
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm golden glow over the tranquil landscape.
In the heart of the wilderness, in an area heavily covered by pine, a tent was pitched. Outside of it, she sat next to a crackling makeshift fire, surrounded by assembled stones. Soon, the glow of the fire would be the only beacon of light in this desolate part of the world. But that was a good thing sometimes.
The excitement of the mission had already begun to wear off.
The anxiety on the start had been replaced quickly with a rigorous contentment. Twilight had focused on making sure she was taking the right paths, and camping at the best locations. She had been saving extra packed food for god knows what, and tonight she splurged. She did this because she knew tomorrow morning she'd finally arive at Rydenbrook and be able to grab more to pack.
Twilight had already passed a few dozen ponies on the trail now, and seen a few pegasi flown overhead. It was always refreshing to see other ponies your first time being this alone. It allowed her to continue forward with renewed confidence, civilization was beckoning me once again, and she wasn't about to stay where she needed to be longer than needed. Despite all of this, there was a pervading sense of loneliness that couldn't be shaken. Twilight had been around so many others until recently that it felt like withdrawal.
Memories of yesterday flashed in my mind:
She stood frozen, shivering all over. She had dropped my pack just twenty feet away, just to make a short trip to the stream and drink some water. It was a completely natural thing to do. Why had she been so unlucky already? Everything was in jeopardy, and she fell into a complete panic attack knowing that turning tail and returning to Celestia empty handed so soon after leaving would be the most embarrassing moment of my life.
An eagle had swooped down and stolen my large saddle bag.
Her eye twitched, completely paralyzed. She only had two hours at most before night. Not only did she need to start preparing a camp soon, but she would never have even the slightest chance of recovering of her things if she waited until tomorrow. Who knew what would become of it by then. She had to do something, something right now.
She had seen the eagle fly off to my left with all of my things, but it quickly broke my line of vision. That was the information she was working with.
Twilight had learned multiple spells while preparing for this trip, but she never expected to have to use them this quickly or in this manner. It wasn't even a situation she had directly planned for, she bit my lip that she could have been so foolish to drop her stuff and rush off for some water, when Twilight still had some that also could've been refilled here while closer to my saddlebags. She was about to do that after quenching my thirst, but this had happened by then.
Her breathing had run ragged by this point, thoughts repeating over and over. I screwed up, I screwed up, I screwed up.
Her breath hitched, and settled on one thing in particular. Krazor's spell. Twilight had gone over different aspects of the spell with Celestia over and over. Technically speaking, the pillars could be activated several times as long as the magic inside of them didn't run out. The amount of magic consumed from the pillar to cast the spell was dependent on the distance between them. They were currently all tucked away in my bag, so they would use an extremely minimal amount, that would never interfere with the larger casting to come. Suddenly, all her worries had seemed so unfounded she had to stop and laugh a little. It calmed her out of the locked up state. Almost.
She lit my horn, and carefully prepared the magical signature spell. Another few precious moments, and she cast out a ping spell. It was an invisible spell, but the results of which arrived reverberated back into my mind immediately. It was a long distance spell so using it this close meant the result was basically instantly. Because of how close her stuff was, Twilight was able to gauge the distance and direction towards her pack, and after a few hundred steps later she was standing over a tree with the tell-tale sign of a birds nest. The eagle was gone currently, probably off looking for some real food or something.
A beam fired off with precise accuracy, and the branch the nest lay on broke off. As it neared the ground, Twilight quickly grabbed it in her telekinesis, laying it gently across the ground. She quickly retrieved the stuff, and thought about the fact the eagle would have to rebuild. Heh. Serves the thing right.
It was at this point she realized how unfounded my worries were. Twilight set off back towards the main path again quickly, and the quick retrospection made me feel so utterly foolish. Why had she panicked so easily like that? Almost any situation could be solved with calm quick thinking.
But as she returned to the trail, it had the opposite effect on Twilight. She had passed this first trial and was starting to come to the conclusion that, no matter how bad a situation could be, that she could handle it if her critical thinking skills stayed sharp. I'd also deign to make less mistakes in the future. Her confidence had boosted.
She only walked another hour before setting up camp for the night.
As the days turned into weeks, and then over months rolled on by, Twilight's mind had been left to its own devices for far longer than normal. Finally meeting ponies in towns was a welcome and cherished thing, and she even spent an extra day in Hoovesberg, her third stop, because she needed that comfort more than she cared to admit. She was almost at her fourth stop, and the temperature was a lot colder then she was expecting.
Her trip had taken her quickly to a slightly west from Ponyville to Rydenbrook, and then far longer trip north west, mostly still west but with about a ten degree change toward north to her second stop. Then, it was almost completely north, and now she was heading east and slightly south to her final destination.
It was getting into the end of fall now, and nights would be getting real cold from here on out. It had even snowed to her surprise at her third stop, Lydel. Her inner nerd had really revived almost immediately seeing the town. The gothic architecture had been something she had seen many years ago in image for while reading. Stained glass windows, cobblestone galore, the whole shebang. There was even a gargoyle that was authentic! She remembered the sound she had made when she saw it and blushed, although no one else was around to see it. It had been with a heavy heart she had even moved on.
This little expedition hadn't been without its hickups either. On the way to Lydel, she had senses wolves nearby, and an entire night had been spent avoiding them, eventually ended up shivering and hiding within the rotten gap of a tree. She would never forget the nonstop intensity of the encounter. Initially, they had been chasing her, with very little light out to even see. She had teleported to break line of sight, but their superior sense of smell had kept them in the hunt. It had taken over an hour to arrive in that tree and finally have some semblance of safety. Wolves couldn't climb trees right...? Hehe.
Looking down, she looked at her little souvenir from Hoovesberg. A cute little necklace. that had been gifted to her from a passing cute filly. She had helped fix up the filly's little toy, and she hadn't been able to give the necklace back before the pony ran away.
She still had around four hours today of travelling time. It was a shame she had to conserve her magical energy so much. Emergencies, while rare, did happen. You had to be at your best for them, or you might not make it. Twilight had been very aware of this from the beginning, and Celestia had pounded it into her that safety was priority. They had even slightly altered the roads taken to avoid areas considered more dangerous by modern information.
Twilight was humming to herself again. She had considered reading while on the move countless times, but she only really did it during the specific spots on the trip that she knew were clear. She had found the road was improving, so she was actually closer to the final destination than she had expected to be by this point. Perhaps she had gotten faster over time? At first it had been exhausting, walking all day every day, but the brief stops at town had left her refreshed and completely reinvigorated. She was getting fitter, probably because her starting point had been so low. She was smiling at the thought of it.
Twilight sat in a private room in the town of Riftly. She had arrived at the end of day, making good time. Night had already fallen. She had planted the pillar just on the outskirts of town. She was currently studying a large map that she had brought with her that laid out the land in between the four towns he had visited, that they had suspected Luna to be in. She cross examined and compared to a local map - one which she was borrowing, that was supposedly more accurate and up to date. It drove her insane how they had used different scales of distance in such an awkward way. Would it kill the ponies of Equestria to standardize more?
Still though, this was where she would be attempting to interpret the information gathered by the large scale casting she would be using soon. She needed to get up and to the highest point in town to cast it. Reviewing the map a final time, she drew out how she thought the spells three by three square areas would work out to be approximately in reality, and placed it accordingly on the map. She had been drawing carefully, marking spots that could cause potential confusion on casting, there was certain mountains and uninhabitable locations as well that were far more unlikely. They would only be considered if the results ended up being too ambiguous.
She finally lay back, and realized this was truly it. While the trek back to far more familiar lands would be much faster and comfortable. She would give Celestia the blueprint to finding her sister without fail. It suddenly dawned on her that she had never considered what Celestia would do the information. Why had that never come up? Celestia had mentioned wanting to met her sister again, but all the details were missing in her mind. Did Celestia even have a plan?
Of course she did... this was Celestia she was talking about. She just wasn't privy to the exact details, that was all.
The more she thought about it the more outrageous it became though. Was Celestia just going to up and leave her post and come out here into the wilderness, leaving Equestria exposed and vulnerable for how long? A few more thoughts later and she discarded the topic. It didn't matter, she just had to do her part. Celestia would figure things out in a way that worked in the end. She always did.
After getting permission from the ponies running the Cathedral, which was a tough task at this time of Night, Twilight ascended to the top of the tower that peaked above all others. After arriving at the top, she gazed out at the slight angle she'd have to fire into the sky to avoid hitting the ceiling. She went over the spell in her head over and over. If she wasn't exactly precise with her casting, the magical decay of the spell could cause it to thin out and not make the distance to every pillar. The spell was extremely efficient when done correctly, it had to be. In order to cross great distances, the magic became extremely thinned out and packed into bunches that would cross the skies and travel thousands of kilometres in five minutes. She also had to get the directions of four bunches correct as well. There was a pretty solid margin for error, but a large angular failure would mean that the homing ability of the spell to detect a pillar and be received by it would be out of range.
After minutes of going over the details in her head over and over again, she lit her horn, ready to finally get this over with. Gathering a large portion of her magic, she weaved it into the specific dimensions that were required for the spell. It was an awkward balancing act, because the spell had such a high density on casting, but you had to know what you were doing in order for it to quickly separate and disperse properly so that the decay of being too dense wouldn't screw with the long term ability to make the trip back. The spell was practically invisible past the initial casting, but Twilight knew that it was one of the more brilliant spells she had ever had the pleasure of learning. Confidence born of experience practising with Celestia gave her the ability to focus all the way until the end.
At last, she spent a few precious final few seconds holding the spell back, and then fired it off into the sky like and for a moment filled the black canvas with an array of what looked like fireworks to the average pony. The color lasted only a moment however, the spell not being built to entertain.
Twilight could no longer feel any connection with the spell, and would only receive a magical impulse from the shock of the return when it arrived if it did at all. If nothing happened by fifteen minutes from now... she would have to try again. If she failed three times in a row it would truly make for a disaster, because the pillar she had placed in town, just like the others, was specially crafted to ensure the success of the spell. This also meant that it broke down easily, as each subsequent casting worsened the inner matrix of magic built into the pillar. This was by design as it improved odds of success for the spell, but it came at the cost of durability. If she failed that many times it was extremely unlikely to make it to a forth cast and function properly. Because of it being here in town, the chance of this pillar here in particular being affected and hit by the spell may as well have been one hundred percent.
She had estimated that for every hundred kilometres past around two hundred away from her, her chance of missing the acceptable range increased by about five percent. The total area covered by the spell was approximately forty thousand kilometres squared, and while the math was simple, it still blew Twilight's mind that she could search such a large area with magic.
Leaning on the railing, Twilight's eyes were half closed. She was on the verge of falling asleep, her fatigue from the long travel catching up to her. A sudden magical pulse slammed into her, and her semi conscious brain scrambled into interpretation mode. She had asked them to bring up a small mini table for her to work on, and she scrambled to the map that lay there.
The information gathered by the spell was almost absolute, as every living being had even some small amount of magic emanating from them. Alicorns, like Celestia and Luna, had a very dense and slow release of magic constantly, that was reflective of the even deeper pool that lay within. Twilight had practiced on Celestia, so she had a good idea how dense Luna's magic should have been detected as. She started scribbling the locations that were popping up into her mind that stood out as abnormal fluctuations of magic above the norm, and just as she had gotten a few down she processed a large spike in an area far south west from here, in the lower left square per say of the spell.
Just as she was biting her lip in consideration of how close it felt to being a positive for Luna, a far stronger and more powerful point of observation appeared in her mind. This was it! It had to be Luna! It just felt like the right amount!
Twilight rushed to mark the approximation, and has her hoof flew across the map she stopped for a moment. It... wasn't all that far from here at all. She slowly circled the area and wrote down the words "positive" besides the point. Twilight had crossed distances twice as much as that much in a day.
Tempting thoughts started wedging their way into her mind as she packed up everything for the night, and paid for lodging.
The Everfree castle stood like a silent sentinel against the backdrop of forestry. Darkened spires reaching towards the skies. Within ancient halls, Luna moved with a purpose, each step echoing faintly against the stone flooring. Her mind was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, each thought a storm of uncertainty and doubt. Despite that, there was one thing she had latched onto.
As Luna approached the castle's entrance to leave, a figure emerged from the shadows, ever radiant even in the black of night. She hated it. Celestia, her sister, approached and came in front of her while Luna stood still after hearing the approach.
"Luna," Celestia's voice had a sharp ring to it, "What are you doing?"
Luna paused, heart pounding in her chest. She had truly hoped to slip away completely unnoticed, and it was just like her sister somehow have the sense something was going on.
"I am leaving, Celestia," her voice quiet but surprisingly firm. "I have no wish to further obstruct your vision for Equestria, one which I will never be satisfied nor able to impose upon my own with enough to sufficiently satisfy me. Furthermore, I am tired of living in your shadow, being cast aside as some inferior being when we are equals, it disgusts me."
Celestia's eyes widened in shock, her expression one of disbelief. She had known about Luna's dissatisfaction, but the implications here were far worse than she had initially surmised. "Luna, you cannot be serious," she protested, her voice tinged with desperation. "You cannot simply abandon your responsibilities. Equestria needs both of us, now more than ever. You cannot leave like this." She gulped down a lump in her throat, and knew that damage control had her spewing without collecting herself enough. But...
Luna shook her head, her mane cascading around her like a cloak of shadows. "I have made up my mind, Celestia," she declared, her voice filled with determination. She may have been uncertain about many things, but she could not afford to show that right now. "I am tired of always playing second fiddle to you. I want to live my own life, on my own terms."
As the culmination of many such instances as of late, Celestia's mood had swung entirely - triggered by the same talking points. Celestia's patience snapped. Her eyes flashed with a mixture of hurt and anger, her regal demeanor faltering for just a moment. "Selfish! Always so selfish!" she spat, her voice laced with frustration. "You think only of yourself, Luna. You've always been like this - unable to see beyond your own desires. You have a duty to stay here."
Luna's eyes narrowed, a flicker of anger igniting within her. "Selfish?" she repeated, her voice rising. "You accuse me of selfishness, Celestia, when all you have ever done is bask in the adoration of our subjects? You have always been the favored one."
Luna recoiled at her own words slightly mentally, her heart sinking. While being upset with her sister for a while now, she still had some level of sincerity deep down that they both cared for each other. She had expected anger, perhaps even disappointment similar to previous arguments, but this time it felt worse. She took a moment to gather herself, and found conviction building as a flip of the coin landed in her mind. It landed oppositely to before. She was done being walked on in these conversations. Her glare returned, and directed the full force of it towards Celestia.
"Perhaps you're right sister, but also perhaps I haven't been selfish enough in the first place. Very well, Celestia," Luna conceded, her voice heavy. "I will stay, but on one condition. I want to be the one in charge, the one who makes the decisions. I want to rule Equestria on my own terms. I want a period to show you what I can accomplish."
Celestia's eyes widened in sheer shock as a response, her expression one of disbelief. "Luna, you cannot be serious," she protested, pride and concern waging an unfortunate battle once again in her heart. Her voice tinged with concern. "You know as well as I do that ruling Equestria requires balance, cooperation. We cannot rule alone, we must work together." It was like repeating a mantra that you had to cling onto if to hold onto anything at all... she had to believe it in this moment, even if her actions or words had ever been divergent from it.
"Either accept my terms, or I will leave and never return."
The sweat just continued to roll down Celestia's back at this point. She had locked up. Her next response meant everything. She had to... she had to... had to say the right thing to make things right and return things to normal. She cast her gaze over Luna's form searching for any sign of doubt or hesitation. The eyes reflected back had a fire lit in them.
A deafening silence. Two ponies at a crossroads.
"Just... just come inside and we can talk this over when we have clearer heads," she paused for a moment, panicking still, and quickly added without thinking, "I can guide you back... to where you need to be." She gave a smile that convinced no-one, not even herself, and it was crooked.
"Even now..." Celestia found the courage to look back at her visage. "Even now you treat me as some foalish younger sister."
Celestia's stomach all but collapsed. She could—
"You know what, I've changed my mind about leaving." Anger consumed her. She could feel an inner darkness writhing inside her, boiling, seeking to break free. It was unchained immediately. It spread, and soon poured forth into reality. Shadows enveloped her, and in a moment of clarity wondered briefly if this was really what she had wanted. Her mind went to sleep soon after. From Celestia's perspective, and dark vortex had blocked her vision of her sister, and a dark and solid ball of cryptic magic had surrounded Luna. The magic felt entirely different than what she was used to, it felt changed, cursed and tainted all the same.
Cracks formed in the ball, and it soon after shattered entirely. The final shadows dissipated, leaving behind only a darker mare behind altogether. This was a creature, not her sister. Predatory eyes held a cold gaze.
With a contemptuous laugh, Nightmare Moon spread her wings and took to the skies.
Celestia had only barely waken up to the danger a moment later before her life as she knew it was taken from her.
In the heart of the boreal forest, the morning sun had just begun its rise.
In the hush and tranquil undisturbed forest, a scant few snowflakes danced and fell from the heavens. Each flake twirled and eased its way all the way to the ground as though it had all the time in the world.
As they passed by Twilight, they whispered secrets of the wind. She was standing still, staring out into the distance.
There was a small and steady supply of smoke rising not too far off in the distance.
For months, Twilight had been travelling across the Equestrian countryside, visiting towns and villages along the way. It had been a flight of self-discovery, growth, and forging ephemeral connections that may possibly one day be revisited. It had been an adventure. She had met ponies from all walks of life, and now that it was all over she found herself finding it all useless for what lay ahead of her.
There was a cabin in her line of sight, and she had yet to cross the distance. It was a humble abode, yet the aura around the place was of mystique. It held all the keys to this recent escapade. Twilight hesitated, no other pony in sight.
After about five minutes of being unable to approach, Twilight was about to relent and move when it happened.
A midnight blue coat, shimmering with subtle radiance. It was a graceful form, sleek and athletic. Her mane and tail flowed like a river, no different than Celestia, only it had the most beautiful array of stars that was hard to look away from.
She had returned flying, magically carrying a bucket of water. She dropped it off on the side of the building. Twilight's breath caught in her throat.
She saw Luna begin to enter the miniature home, there were no tell tale signs of any hostility, or any concern at all for that matter. Without realizing it, she spoke out. "Umm... hello!"
Luna reacted about how you'd expect. She had turned quickly to figure out who the intruder was. There was a deafening silence that Twilight couldn't stand, so she continued.
"Princess Luna... is it...?"
"That name..."
"...!"
"So you really are...!"
"Please don't use that title again."
Now that Twilight had heard her speak properly this time, and could see the scowl in more detail, she had time to take in the conversely soothing voice. It was one that lacked authority or the air of regal nature, instead feeling closer to a shyness you'd find on a younger pony. Thoughts of Fluttershy abound.
"But it's such a beautiful name, Luna, that is."
Even from this distance Twilight could tell that Luna was not taking this entire confrontation well. It felt like a confrontation, that said everything. She had to get her to calm down somehow. Luna hadn't moved an inch since Twilight had announced her presence.
"Listen, I don't mean to cause you any trouble, would it be okay if I come over and talk... just for a bit?"
"And are you... alone?"
"Yes... yes I am."
Luna looked torn, and dealing with things that Twilight would never truly understand the depth of. Her eyes closed, and when she reopened them she returned with a question. "Why are you here? How did you find me?"
Immediately, Twilight knew this was going to have to be handled very carefully or the entire situation could go up in smoke. She put on a smile as natural as can be for the situation, and came up with something, anything that wasn't a lie but didn't make it seem antagonizing for this clearly troubled individual.
"I was told you were likely to be out here, there are ponies who want to help and reconnect with you."
"Are... are ponies all over looking for me...?"
Luna had tensed up quite clearly. It looked like she wanted to retreat back inside any second now. Yet she was forced to deal with this situation.
"No... no there aren't Luna. It's just me, honestly. Please, don't feel so alarmed, like I said I just wanted to talk a little bit and see how you're doing, surely that isn't too much?"
"Who... who was the one who told you I was out here"
It was Twilight's turn to bit her lip. She couldn't lie here, especially since if things progressed how they should she'd know soon enough anyway. But there was no way to know how Luna would react in an already alarmed state. They were sisters, and while they had a falling out, surely it couldn't have been that bad? Luna had been just as upset at the rest of equine kind at the time, her grudge being channelled through their relationship. Besides, Luna had seeming recovered on her own from being Nightmare Moon as far as she could tell, and that had to mean something right? Still... seeing Luna react with fear and caution had not been what she had been hoping for, but perhaps it had been unavoidable regardless of the how when approaching.
"It was... your sister Celes—"
Before Twilight could finish, Luna let out a yelp and collapsed to the ground, holding her hooves over her head while shaking and whispering something she couldn't hear. Twilight rushed over as soon as her shock faded.
"Please sister... stop...! The pain... please... I'll be good a little sister please... please..."
"What..." Twilight whispered under her breath, and thinking quickly rushed to open her back saddlebag with magic and went to wrap Luna in a mini blanket. Seeing the mare continue to meltdown, she then hugged her around it while she continued to shake and plead. Her mother had done similar a few times in her youth, and in the back of her mind those memories sifted through her while dealing with this situation.
"No more.. oh god... the burning..."
Luna had closed her eyes harshly at this point, brows furrowed deeply in clear discomfort. What in the world? This was beyond any and all expectations. Celestia's name alone seemed to incite pain into this poor mares soul. But surely that couldn't be right? Something was wrong here. Celestia had banished Luna, sure, but how could that have translated into such a miserable state when she had been so clearly fine before? What was missing?
After almost five minutes of shaking later Luna had started to calm down. Any nervousness Twilight had previous had dissipated. Twilight stroked gently against her side, and it wasn't lost on her now that things had started to normalize how awkward this all was.
"Let's get you inside..."
Luna didn't put up any resistance, and Twilight led her deeper inside the cabin. Now that she had a good enough chance to look at it, she got to see the work Luna had apparently been able to put in. There was even a bed. Not exactly a bed fit for royalty, but a makeshift bed no less. There was a barrel in the corner, most likely used to store water. Most importantly, there was a fireplace that had quite obviously been created through the moulding of rock through magic. It stood out against the rest of the knotted and patterned sheen of black spruce wood. A few tools lay on a table, likely for finishing up anything that magic would be too heavy hoofed for.
All in all it was a humble abode, crafted well over the course of months and lacking in polish. The rustic charm was real.
Luna sat down on the bed with her help and continued to be fairly unresponsive, her eyes hollow. She didn't look to be in pain or fear anymore, but it shook Twilight to her core seeing an expression that was like seeing ghosts. It felt like she didn't even see Twilight. What kind of past was flashing before her right now? Was she still battling against Nightmare moon?
Did it matter? Clearly this pony was suffering, so Twilight was going to do whatever she could to help. That started with her getting comfortable with Twilight and avoiding potential triggers. Luna had seemed completely fine before. If she played her cards right, she might even be able to learn a few things. Twilight had forgotten just how old this being was after the disastrous introduction, but it was obvious this was no less any precious a heart than any other regardless of age.
Twilight sat just outside the cabin entrance, observing the surrounding landscape coolly. Off in the distance, the hills could be seen with trees spaced tightly and with a covering of snow. Leaves had amassed on the lower clearing where Luna had constructed this little getaway, and there was even a small pond just a few kilometres out.
While breathtaking under normal circumstances, the magic of the surrounding area was lost on her at the moment.
Luna wasn't supposed to be out here living like a hermit. She was sister to princess Celestia for gods sake! Had Luna seriously been considering just hiding out here until the end of time? It made no sense to Twilight. A lot of things made no sense. The current mental faculty and state of Luna's mind at the forefront of it all.
Twilight opened her saddlebag and brought out the map she had been working on just half an hour ago. She had detailed the entire path from town so that there would be no confusion on finding this place again. As she continue to scan it, she noticed that while relatively close to town, the layout of the land itself made it jarringly awkward to swing out in this direction unless you had a penchant for adventure.
"I'm sorry for scaring you earlier like that."
Twilight had nearly jumped a mile when she heard that voice from behind her.
"I had thought that I had gotten over such things, please forgive my previous embarrassment."
The tone and demeanour shift was what given Twilight pause. Whatever was going on with Luna, she had clearly adjusted quickly. It had done a full one eighty degree turn from earlier, coming out confident and clear. She made to put away her map back into her saddlebag.
When she made to turn and face Luna again, the mare had a guarded look. Luna walked and sat down just across from her in the grass.
"I ask that you don't speak of that name again."
"I'll... try to keep that in mind."
"So you were sent here. Explain this to me..."
"Well you see... most ponies had forgotten about you... but not all of them. There are some who are eagerly awaiting your return. You are... her sister after all."
Luna had been fine up until that final line. With no regard for Twilight at all she tensed up, and bare her teeth in what looked like the beginning of a snarl. Her eyes became daggers focused on nothing. It only lasted a moment, but the image wouldn't leave Twilight's mind any time soon. Luna herself acted like it never even happened just a moment later. Did she even realize it had happened?
"I see... that makes some sense I suppose. But I have absolutely zero intention of dealing with your kind again, and as long as they stay out of my way I will do the same in kind."
Taking a moment to absorb her denial, Twilight decided she needed to switch her approach up.
"Okay..." she then leaned forward slightly to add, "but I want to turn over a new hoof if that's okay with you. I apologize for causing you any trouble so far. My name is Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you... Luna."
"... Nice to meet you as well. Seeing as you already know my name."
Things were more normal now, but Twilight couldn't help but cringe at how cold this entire situation was. She had to do something to earn Luna's trust at the very least.
"So you've... been living out here for a while now? Did you really build all this by yourself?"
"I did, but the start was slow as I got used to using my magic again. I figure I... started to pick it back up nicely when I raised my moon."
"I'm glad you were able to create such a wonderful living space in such a short amount of time. You know, I have time before I need to be return still. I could help you and stay for a bit if you were comfortable with that?"
This was something Luna had no answer for yet, and it was a gamble on Twilight's part. She stared down at her front legs in front of her in contemplation. Finally, she raised her head and gave an answer: "If you find yourself needing shelter with no alternatives... I will not send you away to suffer in the nakedness of the elements. But I ask that you leave tomorrow morning and leave me in peace."
While not really true, this misunderstanding was exactly the ticket needed.
"Thank you! I'll try to stay out of your hair while I'm here. Is there anything I could help you with or you need done?"
Twilight surveyed the mossy roof of the cottage under the lingering dying light of a sun dipping below the tree line not too far in the distance. Amidst the cobblestone and it's lush exterior, a cyan glow had begun to fade away as the final touches were graced on its finalized structure.
"Exactly like that! Anti-rain enchantments were popular until the more modern designs came out, but some more pompous folk still use it while preferring antiquated properties. It's amazing how a spell thought to be born out of frustration with pegasi prankish bullying became so universal."
"Let's see if it works."
"Well we have to wait until it..."
Luna's horn re-lit, and shot what looked like a cyan lightning which had been rejected by the ground back forth into the heavens. There was a slight flash that came with it in the sky that lit up the entire world around them, and after a few moments clouds had gathered and began to swell. Twilight knew that there was applications of magic she couldn't even conceptualize yet, but this felt like something else entirely.
Rain poured forth and both Twilight and Luna made for the overhang which also provided a view of the sides of the building at the entrance. As they expected, rain had not penetrated inside on inspection and pooled off the sides of the roof elegantly.
"I thank you. But I also feel as though I should've known such an enchantment existed, and yet it feels forlorn to me, like many things now..."
She was frowning, but before her frustration could become something Twilight cut in.
"Perhaps we should start a fire? I don't know about you but the nights have gotten cold as of late, I know you built that fireplace but I think we should get the temperature rising now so it's warm before it gets closer to the time we sleep."
"You're right, and I think there isn't much to do out here now that its started pouring. I'm not sure it'll clear anytime soon now that I've started it. Best we prepare for a cooler night."
They were both sitting on skeletal wooden chairs at the table, both of which had been recently assembled. They stared outside through the gap in entrance and rectangular hole in the wall that represented where glass should layer soon. The rain created a pitter-patter that reverberated off of the roof of the building softly, and it would've been a serene soiree if the comforts had been anything if bare bones.
"How have you been for food while you've been out here? I can't fathom there's been anything appetizing too close by."
"I... have gone without for so long, I... suppose I had a few raspberries I found on a flight near here."
Twilight opened her bags and immediately started looking for the food she had purchased in town, she pulled out a wrapped up daisy sandwich and immediately offered it to Luna.
"Try this! It's quite fresh still, and I have other food left over. You must be starving, even if you can last so long without anything. Please, it's the least I can do."
Held out in her hoof, it became entrapped in Luna's magic and quickly floated over to her own. Unwrapping it, she gave it a tentative sniff. The ecstasy of senses dormant for longer than the totality of most lives reigniting must have overwhelmed Luna, as her previous reservations about anything related to this strange new pony in her life vanished immediately as she started scarfing it down. Two minutes later and panting from not breathing enough during the inhalation of food, she appeared to remember Twilight existed, and quickly went to wipe her mouth and regain a more dignified posture.
Twilight couldn't not help but laugh at that.
"It's alright, I know they're delicious. I picked it up specifically after all."
Luna finally spoke up again, "Perhaps I have been missing out on some of the finer details of living sorely lacking in my absence. Ahem, that was quite delicious, thank you."
Twilight once again pulled opened up the bag, but this time a book floated into view. While she wanted to continue to learn more about the mare just across from her, she would have to force herself to do something else than put pressure on the mare. She decided reading was exactly that vice.
Luna left to go gather more firewood.
The fireplace crackled and popped occasionally, a warm glow through most of the quaint surroundings. It had been lit earlier, but had been allowed to die out until now. Both mares had their chairs facing the fire not too far away, vision absorbed in the blazing glory that was ever shifting and shuffled close, for the reprieve from the cold outside.
"Luna," Twilight began gently, her voice aimed to soothe had become a near whisper in the near silence, "I know your time spent on the moon was... beyond difficult, but I want you to know you can talk to me about it. I'll listen to anything you have to say."
She slowly looked over to Luna, who had bit her lip hard, and she could tell that this was something that tore up Luna inside to even reminisce about. Before Twilight could back track an answer came fourth.
"It was a time of darkness, despair, pain and sorrow," Luna murmured, still facing the flames, and her voice cracked halfway through. She shifted in her seat, and despite her being freer than she ever had, she looked no further removed from a spectral prison shackle invisibly holding her down. Eyes darkened. "I still can't believe I'm even back at all sometimes..."
She looked over to Twilight to match her gaze, "still I wonder why, why you care at all. It still puzzles me why you're here. I can tell you're a good pony at heart, which is why I have not sent you away, but that doesn't make it any less mystifying."
"Do you want the honest truth Luna?" she took a moment to think, "and because I'm a good pony I'm glad I'm here now that I've met you, but to answer your question, I came here with purpose to find you. Even after just meeting you I can tell you need help."
"Help?"
She narrowed her eyes, continuing: "I have no need of help, and I don't like where I think you're going with this. This has to do with my sister, doesn't it? She cast me into the abyss, and now she's sending her minions to find me so she can finish the job."
"No! Luna she loves you! How can you even say that! I—"
"Love?! Don't you dare throw that word at me! If Celestia loved me she would've worked with me! Allowed me to have the respect I deserve and gave me the position to prove myself! She chose our subjects over me! Hated me! Cursed me for having the gall to be jealous of what was righteously mine and ours! Would a pony who loves you submit you to... to..." she trailed off when memories too painful to be brought into light came to be.
She turned and faced the fire again, appearing to have said too much. After about a minute she resumed.
"Besides... my essence has changed. I shouldn't be near other ponies. It took a lot out of me to pull myself together enough to make it back to Equus in time. I can feel my power leaking and uncontrolled, who knows what will happen when I stop focusing on maintaining it like I have."
"I haven't felt like you've been out of control for even a moment, Luna. You're more capable than you know, and in better shape than you feel."
"Do you really think that is true, little pony?" She turned to face her again. "Do you really?"
A chill instantly ran down Twilight's spine. Darkened mist filled the air. Suddenly, she couldn't see Luna's face anymore, like a black hole had decided to up and steal the light coming from that angle. She couldn't shake the feeling of terror, as though there were spirits cursing her for every moment she stayed here. Blood rushed in her ears. Her vision enclosed into tunnel vision. Shadows surrounded her on all sides, closing in, hinting danger. They were ephemeral things, that when focused on She turned to look outside if to break the trance that threatened to take over her and made for the entrance at the same time, fear turned flight. She stopped as she saw the outside. The rain had stopped, and she saw wisps dance among the shrubbery and teal butterflies lazily wandering about. One of them landed on a flower, and she could swear she saw it wilt and die in real time only to fade back into the earth.
"See? Even you, who know me and had forewarning couldn't handle it."
Just like that, the world returned to normal. Twilight had to blink several times to reset and make sure things were back to normal. She was sweating, and it eerily felt like she had just woken up from a nightmare. Finally, she hesitantly turned back inside and sat back down. It took a while to collect herself, but when she was ready she didn't back down.
"I believe in you Luna, whatever... that was, I believe you can overcome it with time." Her hooves that were overlapped swapped, "You're going to have to face reality at some point Luna, but I understand how challenging this must all be after being away for so long." She yawned, "I won't pretend to understand even a modicum of your situation, especially since I only became aware of most of it only recently, but I want you to know that this isn't a world that will reject you, Luna."
Twilight returned to her seat by the fire, she only lasted about thirty minutes before she started to call it quits however, it had gotten very late.
"Goodnight, Luna."
Twilight made for the blankets and sleeping bag she had placed in the corner of the room to the unresponsiveness of Luna. Her exhaustion overcame her quickly, but before she passed out all she saw was the image of Luna rocking back and forth lightly before the fire that fought against the backdrop of midnight dimness. The side of her lip that was visible was straight, straight faced.
As the dead giveaway of snores came from the young mare, Luna's ear unfocused as she continued to stare down the dying flame.
For so long she had tried to avoid thinking about her life before now. Painful memories were best avoided. She hadn't expected someone else forcing her to remember to be so painful.
It was becoming clearer now that Celestia was going to force her way back into her life, and she hated it. She seethed. What value was there being a princess anyway? Being forced to take on the weight of a country onto your shoulders and buckle underneath? She had no connection with any of the ponies of modern Equestria anyway, if it was even called that still. She'd have to ask Twilight in the morning. She doubted Celestia would've changed it, though.
While painful, her time on the moon which had begun as a messy blur of a nightmare, one which she barely escaped from in the first place, had finally begone to consolidate and become clearer in her mind. She had grown frustrated with the times they completely overwhelmed her as though she was back on the moon, while other times could process it clearly and remain present. For whatever reason, Celestia had cast an unfinished divine banishment spell with the elements of harmony. She hated the elements of harmony now, and the distance remembrance of using them once was a gray counterfeit of one, as well as representing any of them. For so long it had crushed her that her sister had viciously chosen to leave the spell unfinished. The elements were absolute - they could not fail and provided nigh unlimited power in bursts. She doubted many things in her vague recollection, but that was not one of them, the feeling of that power and certainty of success.
She had asked the question to herself a million times, why did Celestia subject her to such torture? The spell casted fully would've kept her in a dormant state, sleeping away blissfully until it finished and safe. While she knew that her alter persona would've kept the reigns, that was infinitely preferable to what had actually happened, even if it ended with her taking control again. But no, the unfinished spell had sapped her strength down to the minimum and held her there and left her in a defenseless state, conscious for the torture to begin.
Not only did the unstable magic of the elements burn her cursed soul as it opposed her in nature, she was endlessly bombarded with radiation from the cosmos around her, including Celestia's sun. Under any other circumstances, this would've a negligible thing for Luna, but in her transformed state the damage was amplified greatly. Celestia also intensified the radiation coming from her sun at times, as though mocking her pain as insignificant and throwing oil on the flame. With no defense and her state of being having changed to the Nightmare, the light burned and boiled her flesh down to the bone countless times, but it was also a slow process. She was sure she would've mutated into some monstrosity and perished if it weren't for the protection of her divine nature. The Nightmare had fought an absurd amount of time to regenerate over and over, refusing to let it end. After several centuries, Luna's main personality re-awakened due to the pure strain the Nightmare had endured, and started fighting for control.
The funniest part was that they didn't fight for long at all, instead they had a shared goal, and the hatred between them had faded in the face of impending demise. Both of them had cursed Celestia for what she had done back and forth. When the Nightmare finally kicked the bucket and perished, Luna had been utterly heartbroken that her only companion had left her alone, even if it had been a blight on her being. Without the Nightmare to help her heal and survive, the experience became even worse. After so long being the nightmare and becoming free from it, the radiation mercifully hurt her a lot less. But she was so weakened by that point, it may as well have been to make it a fair battle again. Perhaps the pain was all mental from that point on? As an alicorn, Luna had an extremely resilient soul that would last an eternity. For the longest time she felt like as long as her spirit stayed strong, her soul would hold out. She had passed out at some unknown point in time, and she still thanks her stars for assisting her consciousness for bringing her back, so that when she was finally released she could teleport back onto the planet after she had healed the recent damage done while unconscious.
It was only when she got back on the planet that she had finally started coming to terms with her damaged soul.
The final glowing ashes remained as Luna remained seated there, in near pitch darkness, still showing no signs of movement.
Morning came with a lovely soft landing, the gentle lights cruising to the ground like leaves falling unconcerned with gravity. Two ponies faced one another, one leaving, and one remaining, both with altered senses of conviction post meeting.
"You know, there's a town not too far off from here just due north and slightly east. With your flight, visiting would be no problem. Even if you had to disguise yourself." Twilight sighed, "But whatever you do I hope you stay safe. I don't know if or when I'll be coming back, but I want you to think about the things I told you. Ponies have changed Luna, I truly believe that, and maybe I didn't stress it enough. Maybe one day you'll see that for yourself."
Melancholy crossed Luna's face, and she bowed her head, "It doesn't matter if ponies have changed, I have changed, and I don't think I'd do well to mix with them yet, if ever. Take care Twilight." She looked as though she wasn't sure if she should add something, "Tell my sister," she cringed, "that you couldn't find me, I think that would be best for the both of us."
Twilight had to hide her expression, but only partially succeeded. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep that promise, even if she never agreed to it.
"Well... goodbye Luna... I hope you stay well."
"Goodbye and same to you as well, Twilight"
A massive pit formed in Celestia's stomach. This was going far too strangely to how she thought this would be.
"What... in gods name did you do to Luna? How could you have done that? I can't even..."
"...!"
"Please.... please explain everything... Celestia... I need to understand..."
"Twilight, I need you to tell me everything that happened, you met Luna?! Was she okay? Why are you—"
"She was fairly normal, if not a bit cold. I did go to met her and I'll tell you why. I was surprised at how close she was to my final destination in Riftly. I figured that I could knock over two pegs at once, one an accurate layout from town to her, and two, see what kind of situation we were dealing with. I just didn't expect... expect her to be so fragile. There was something about her, like a trigger, that seemed to cause her entire personality to shift on a bit. I don't know the exact details about what you did to banish her, princess, but I really would like to know more."
A sigh. "I wish I knew as well Twilight. I really do. I apologize on me and my sisters behalf for having to put you through any of this. I'm glad she's okay," her features became soft and nostalgic, and it looked like some weight had been lifted off of her. "I've been certain about meeting my sister now since I knew she'd be coming back, I just never knew when. Thank you for providing me with this information. I have arranged for several nobility to look after the court in my absence. No pony will even have to know. Around a week from now is when I will be leaving, and I will have four days to travel to and from my sister and make amends. Is there anything else I need to know?"
"It pains me to say princess, but... I don't think you realize how difficult this is going to be. I don't know why, but her time on the moon seems to be a painful memory for her, and she seems to blame it all on you. In fact...," Twilight remembered how Luna had reacted to even hearing Celestia's name and cringed, "she seemed to have a warped sense for your relationship, even bringing you up with her was enough for her to react poorly."
"That's... a tough pill to swallow, Twilight." Her face was slightly wretched, "but I cannot let it get in the way of our meeting one way or the other. I have blamed myself for Luna's fate all my life, and this will be no different." She closed her eyes and dropped her head down, and looked on the verge of crying, "but I will not allow myself to wallow in self-pity while I could be fixing things with her, helping her get back on her hooves. I have to believe in that Twilight, if nothing else."
While Twilight was processing seeing a side of her mentor she had never seen before, Celestia raised her head back up to look at her. Twilight nodded slowly, "I... understand princess. I wish nothing more than for you two to make things right. I just wish I could be of more help..."
"You've done more than enough Twilight, and I thank you with all my heart. Simply hearing confirmation that she's okay made my entire year."
For a moment, Twilight remembered a comment from Luna about having trouble after her return, and it gave her a slight chill. Unsure whether to bring it up or not, Twilight's hesitancy lost her the opportunity.
"Well Twilight, I do believe you've earned a bit of a break don't you?" Her smile was delicate and soothing, just like old times. "I believe you'll find the library in Ponyville sorely missing its master and keeper. Go and be with your friends, I know you wanted to catch up and grow with them some more, even if you didn't admit it so much last time we spoke about it." She winked.
"Well, while I appreciate you coming in today, I must get back to my duties, please feel free to use any of the castle facilities if need be before you go, I hear the chef has cooked up the most wonderful lasagna that I haven't gotten to try yet, lucky you."
"Yes... thank you princess. I will be off now."
Luna could feel something slipping. It should've bothered her that the overgrowth of flora surrounding her home had started to encroach on her personal space, but she didn't mind having to trim them once in a while. The local area had started to stick out, with the local plants teaming with life, as though an oasis in the heart of the desert. The trees had grown to stick out among the rest of the forest that were near the cottage, climbing further than any tree normally made it to before having some unfortunate event cut it down back to earth.
The means of which was causing this was not lost on Luna, but much like her slowly faltering strength her spirit had also began to fade in resistance. It was such a silly thing after all, it was so ridiculous that every time the thought came back to her he started to laugh, bordering on maniacally. She had spent how long on the moon? Using every ounce of her will in the struggle to survive in the hope of one day seeing Equus again. But why had she wanted to come back anyway? There only lay painful memories here anyway. She hadn't minded the beautiful sights she supposed. Appreciating nature had become increasingly lost on the Luna of before her banishment, but now it felt like all the world would cradle her until the final moments.
She would need to go on a final flight, that was sure. See as much as possible.
On her way back to the cottage from her most recent walk in the local area, she couldn't help but stop and look at herself in the reflection of a small puddle. Her mane and tail had lost the starry ethereal nature that once was the hallmark and proof of her maturity as an alicorn. It had faded back into the lighter cyan of her youth, but the size of her body remained the same. Unable to look any longer, she continued on her trek.
While Luna hadn't feared death since her younger years, she had certainly fought hard to prevent it. She couldn't help but wonder how long she had left. Originally, her lifespan may as well have been for as long as she wanted. To take something so precious and perfect and condemn it to ruinous damnation such that an eternal light that was almost meant to shine glory upon the universe suddenly was snuffed out. Perhaps she had a century, a year, a month, she had no clue. She could only tell that something deep inside her was wrong, and her many efforts to repair it over the past few months had quite obviously been fruitless. A soul couldn't repair itself, no matter how special that soul originally was. In fact, any magic relating to the soul was extremely complicated and challenging. Luna doubted even with intense study would she have ever been able to do anything.
It was fine though, and she smiled on her final turn back to the cottage. This wasn't such a bad ending after all. Brief thoughts of Celestia finally being free and not having to worry about her ponies from the nightmare fluttered through her mind which had become a torrent, gone as soon as them came.
Celestia flew with purpose and power, making her way out west.
It was finally happening. Celestia didn't know what would happen once she got there, but the dreadful waiting game - which had been extended far longer than she had ever been expecting to wait, was finally almost over. It was one thing to wait knowing something wasn't available, and something else entirely different when it was but you still couldn't.
She thought about what Twilight had told her. It should've bothered her more, but she had known the encounter wasn't going to be an easy one from the beginning. If anything, this was one of the more tamer results.
Too much time had she been delving back into the past looking for answers and resolution to an impossible dilemma.
Gone were the thoughts of the past on Luna dealing with public affairs. That didn't matter. If her sister simply said she wanted nothing to do with it, Celestia wouldn't object in the slightest. What Celestia would do however, is offer a hoof to Luna. Offer to bring her back home, and enjoy any comforts and all things she never got to really experience in the past. There was a lot to catch up on, and she was sure Luna would grow to appreciate it all.
Images of Luna laughing and playing in the garden graced her mind, and she smiled despite herself. She saw Luna painting while asking one of their little ponies to muse and stay still. It was very humorous. Celestia would be there quietly enjoying the evening with a cup of tea, enjoying the view with a smirk and all would be peaceful in the world. A simple scene that filled the heart with all that was so dearly missing.
Celestia would fight to make that world a reality, no matter what.
Blossom Fever made her way over to the local farmers market in Riftly. As one of the more rare unicorns in town, Blossom had never felt differently to her fellow pony. Riftly had experienced several inflows of different populations over time, the most recent being pegasi. It had once been a critical junction in establishing western Equestria. A bright smile plastered over her face. Her little filly had finally entered school now, and it felt like everything was finally falling into place in her life. Her job was satisfying and not overwhelming, and the stallion she married and returned home to, Blake, was a continual blessing in her life.
The town around her was a buzzing beehive of activity despite the snowy weather. Her hooves sank into it with each step just a little. The ponies of this town had seen so much snow over years passed, that the current weather seemed to be a taunting prelude to disaster, because there was no way it was going to stay this shallow.
Approaching the vendor, her cheerful attitude seemed infectious, "Why hello there! Hope you've been doing well Blossom, I take it little Hazel has started school? What would you like?"
Her afternoon continued to be joyous as she had pleasant and innocuous conversations with the other town ponies which she had grown up with and knew quite well. Riftly hadn't always been the easiest of places to live, but the ponies here stuck together and supported one another to make up for it a little bit harder than other places. Picking up the assortment of groceries in a brown paper bag, she began her way back home. It was just past midday, and she had a decent trot back to her home that was closer to the outskirts of town than the heart.
It was at this time she heard a commotion around the corner. This kind of racket was pretty rare around here, so she couldn't help but stop and little for a bit. Something caught her ear, and she turned to rush towards the sounds.
"Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia!" Many ponies were speaking under their breath in awe and that they couldn't believe royalty would grace their quaint little town so far away from the capital. To Blossom's complete shock she found their excitement real, the princess looking slightly out of her element surrounded by a gathering of ponies which had formed after she had been spotted.
"It is lovely to meet you all, my little ponies. Remember, equestrians will always have the backs of one another." Her graceful smile was an instead crowd pleaser. Blossom, despite her shock, couldn't stop staring at the princess. She thought to get her husband, and even to steal her little filly from school, to see this close to once in a lifetime sight. It really was their goddess in the flesh! The rumors didn't do her justice either, and you could feel the magic in the air just from her presence alone. She stood slightly taller than the rest, so most could get a good look at her. Her mane floated through the air in such a breathtaking way, and there was something about the way the slow falling snowflakes seemed to glide into it and disappear that was so beautiful.
Before their answers for why she was here in the first place, she placated them simply: "Is it so wrong for wanting to visit every aspect of my kingdom? It is good to check on my little ponies along the way, is it not?"
Blossom couldn't help but feel like this was a good omen that was a direct continuation of the auspicious and content way her life had been going recently. Ponies in far out communities had often very few chances if any to see royalty, so this was something of a big deal. No doubt the mayor would try and throw a celebration if Celestia was to stay at all. Thanks were being applauded to the sun princess from all over in the ever-increasing in size crowd, her sun giving life a chance to resist against the colder elements of the north.
After promising the crowd that she would be back at some point in time some day, she attempted to break through the mass and leave. Blossom spent a final moment memorizing the sight before her, but she started dashing home. Perhaps she could get Blake in time to see her on the way out.
By the time they had returned, Celestia had mysteriously already vanished, her likeliness in name to gossip on would last several months and persist regardless. It was disappointing, and few ponies could explain where she had went in a hurry.
Celestia's stomach hurt as she took one final look at the map, she had grown used to the feeling as of late. She would be arriving any minute now at the supposed location Twilight had marked 'positive'. She had d ouble and triple checked several landmarks along the way, there was no way she would waste time and mess up. During her impromptu visit to Riftly she had seen many of the locals, but she did not truly see them at all. Going through the motions. Her thoughts had remained solely on her sister.
She just hoped Luna would allow her to speak at all.
Slowing her flight, she continued unabated to glide over tall spruces which had soaked in the snow like a coat. A solid layer of white representing fresh snow painted over older, the snow having not melted at any point.
It was the second day of her trip, and she had made good time. She would have all of today and potentially even most of tomorrow to meet with her sister.
Celestia ascended to pass over what she found to be a local hot spot, several spruces towering in the sky as if to challenge the pegasi of this world to see who could climb higher. By the time she had passed it, she came to realize that the time was now it would seem, and her breath caught in her throat when she began to see the tell-tale signs of equine life after her passing. Not only that, but her vantage point allowed her to see the building Luna had seemingly developed. She was glad to see her sister had not lost her resourcefulness. Her sister was nowhere to be seen, to her relief, which she hated realizing.
Gliding downwards into the clearing, she softly landed on snow just outside of the cottage. Her nose twitched. Something about the air here felt different, but she couldn't place a hoof on it. Surveying the place, it didn't seem lacking, but certainly a large step down from the kind of opulent life Celestia had grown accustomed to in Canterlot. Luna deserved that, too.
Just as she had come close to finishing her one hundred and eighty degree scan of the surroundings, the smallest of sounds caught her ear. Several blueberries had fallen out of a basket onto the forest floor. Luna stood coming out from a gap in the forestry on a path she had clearly used several times before, mouth agape.
It didn't take long for her shock to be replaced by anger, she bristled with fury but only stood still. This was not the encounter Celestia had been expecting.
Their collective stare down was conversely shown on their faces and body language. Celestia remained neutral and imploring with the faintest trace of sorrow. Luna was tense, close to backpedalling and seething.
"You..." wild eyes and a switch to a hostile stance.
None of this registered in Celestia's mind at all. The background, everything, faded away from her vision the moment she locked in the view of her sister. The only thing in the universe her being could currently outline against a backdrop of nothingness. She had prepared herself for so long, but that meant nothing in the moment. Happy tears poured down her face.
It wasn't only Celestia who had lost sight of the world around them. Grinding her teeth, Luna fired a blast at Celestia with wild abandon. Celestia reacted purely out of instinct, and shielded herself with her magic. Celestia hadn't realized she had even done it, continuing to stare elated at her little sister.
"She betrayed me.."
Luna had lost all sense of reason, after this it seemed. Blast after blast she launched at Celestia. Many bounced off the shield and utterly decimated the landscape around them. It was erratic, half of them missing as if to prove how tenuous the world really was after they landed. Trees being uprooted or blown apart into sawdust all the same. The ground had large craters in it from each impact.
It continued to snow around them as if the peaceful serenity of the world around them had never been disturbed, the swirls of snow being blown by the wind as each projectile whizzed past. Celestia had come out of her funk, and focused on maintaining her protection now. This was nothing like their past engagement. No creativity in offensive, and in a way this was relieving. In fact, this was no battle at all. Luna was letting it all out. The power of the attacks was nowhere close to what she remembered from the past. This allowed her to remain calm and in command.
Five minutes later and Luna stood panting, her horn smoking slightly as it came back to rest.
"Why... do you continue to taunt me so?"
Luna's eyes had cleared, but the glow of anger remained.
"I would never taunt you, dear sister."
"LIES! Even now you come here to sneer at my pathetic constitution, looking down on me. You put me in this state and now you've come to witness the fruit of your hard work after so long, isn't that right, Celestia?" She spat out the name. Her muzzle had twisted, and it slowly warped into one that was wretched.
"WELL I WON'T GO OUT LIGHTLY!"
She fired a steady beam at the shield rather than a blast, increasing the power over and over until she was clenching her eyes shut hard in exertion.
Celestia stood like a pillar, unmoving. Just a few feet in front of her was bathed in light from the collision of the beam with her shield. She could no longer see her sister, just a kaleidoscope of lights as they washed over and past her shield as mana lost its force and returned to the plethora of forms it held before dying out, washing over like a calm wave and a snapshot of a aurora borealis. She continually maintained with with stern resolve. Her eyes shone against it. Any other unicorn would've been reduced to ash by now, as well as anything behind her for around a mile she surmised.
But it was not to last forever, and, collapsed to the ground panting Luna fell. She clutched at her head in overexertion and dizziness, and incoming exhaustion.
Celestia stared her down lightly, a crestfallen thing.
"All I want is to help you," she slowly brought up her courage, "even if you hate me. I cannot pretend to ever understand what you went through on the moon, but I know that it will forever stain both of our existences. It it my hope that we are both one day able to move past it if even just enough to be able to appreciate each day a little more again, together hopefully."
She started approaching Luna slowly.
"You have no idea for how long I worried about you, thought about you, tormented myself over you. To see you like this breaks my heart even now, will you not let me help you? I can provide all the help you need, even if you don't want to see my face as much as it hurts me. I understand."
Luna finally had recovered some, and hesitantly looked back up towards Celestia, developing a slight look of fear. It caused Celestia to halt her advance, and she slowly sat down in front of her in the untainted snow.
"What are you even saying? Worried?"
Luna's face trembled in a mixture of pure emotion, she looked down, and then back up in a moment of clarity. It seemed she was trying to reconcile some tumultuous conflict inside herself.
"Why? Why did you banish us imperfectly?" A lone tear rolled down her face. There was a sincerity now. She looked back down and started shaking. "You cannot tell us it was a mistake... but... why...?"
"I... I believe that it was fear and cowardliness that led to this result, dear sister. I had originally planned on casting purification magic with the elements, but I hesitated at the most dreadful realization, that I had no idea the extent of which the purification would effect you in your transformed state. It stuck terror into my heart that I could accidentally kill my own sister. I hesitated. I still do not remember when I decided to change the hastily constructed plan. I switched to the banishment spell in a last ditch effort, and it seems to have gone just as wrong as any one of the horrible possibilities I imagined..."
"I don't believe you... do you even know what I..."
"I would beseech that you believe me, Luna, with all of my heart. I love you, no matter what you see."
Celestia finally noticed something off about her sister now that she had longer to take in and consume the situation and look at her. Multiple things actually.
"Luna... has something happened to you? I thought you'd be more recovered by now. Don't tell me—"
"What... not the beautiful sister you remember?"
Several long seconds grinded by. "But you're back, clearly—"
"I'm broken. I'll save you the details for some other time. My time on the moon took too much out of me Celestia. Your magic made me vulnerable and I was damaged. I still am damaged. It's over. So just leave me alone." The look on her face was delirious mild madness, and it shook Celestia.
"Leave me in peace."
"Let me take a look at you."
"Can I even trust you?"
Celestia stopped in her tracks immediately.
"Please Luna... I only want to help, I think something may seriously be wrong and what you said—"
"If you really want to help me then you'll leave me alone. Maybe then I'll start believing that this isn't all some act to make fun of me before the end. As weak as I am, I know that deep down I always wanted to believe you wouldn't do those things. But my experience screams at me otherwise, and it tells me now you're going to force the rest of my time as well."
"I..."
For the first time, Celestia was completely unable to answer. A war raged on in her mind. Every sense in her body screamed at her that something was wrong with Luna, and that she needed help. Yet she denied it utterly, wanting space and peace. She knew immediately that her older self would've forced Luna to the capital for assessment and treatment if needed no time wasted. Luna was clearly not in the right mind, talking about the end, but did that even matter? Doubts lingered from a millennium of pining. By some stroke of luck Luna hadn't completely hated her, and even seemed willing to give her some chance to make things work at all. She couldn't allow her relationship to sink even further, for there would be nothing left. Suddenly it felt clear. Luna could trust Celestia.
"I will leave you be if that is what you want Luna. I only ever want what's best for you, but I will not force you to do what you do not want to. We've been doing similar roads, and I will not go there again."
Luna looked slightly shocked, but gave a nod slowly like she still didn't believe it.
"I still think you should be seen by someone who can figure out what's going wrong... would you be opposed to me sending someone here instead to meet with you? I can arrange that. It will be slower, but if it works for you then it works for me."
"I will accept that... sister. I will accept your earnest attempt to remedy your image." She looked to the side, "but I would be lying if even now every fibre of my being fights to hold you accountable. Go before I change my mind."
"Then I will not torture you any longer." It tore up Celestia inside as the words left her, but she knew this was for the best.
Celestia lift off slowly, and then started on her way back above the trees and to the sky towards the east.
She started thinking of potential magically advanced clinicians to send and evaluate Luna. Only the best would suffice. It had frightened her how weak Luna had felt, and she felt frustrated at how little time or questions she could ask of her sister. But she had seen that look, so her hooves were tied. She couldn't waste this chance trying to force the issue. She only hoped Luna was fine until she got to see her again.
Several days later, Luna lay in her bed, mind a complete mess and sweating profusely. Her meeting with Celestia had sent her through the ringer. She knew that using her magic excessively would exacerbate her issues, but her current feeling shook her to the core and she was reeling. Voices had started whispering to her, but these were nothing like she had ever experience before, not even with the Nightmare.
She just... needed to continue resting. This would subside.
Luna looked to her table and saw her bucket that she knew had water in it. She went to lift it with magic, but before her eyes that was the last thing to happen. Blinking, she realized that some time must have gone by without her realizing it, but coming to the slow realization that she was outside was harrowing. Wait... why was she...
She looked down and saw the wooden floor of her cabin. It dawned on her that the walls had gone missing. She remembered trying to use magic, and then... this. Was there really such a big mistake?
She got up. Help... she needed help. Something about this screamed that to her in the back of her mind. Yes that was right, Twilight had told her about local ponies, surely they could help right?
Luna slowly started making her in the direction of the north. Her mind shifted and weaved, never staying centred on any given thought except that she needed to head towards help.
Lofts of darkness sprung up from ground all around her, and there was a thin screeching sound that you could hear like it was just loud enough only you could register, no one else. The entire forest grew darker.
Celestia slammed her hoof down.
"What do you mean you can't go now! I know you're the best specialist for this!"
Professor Keyfried shrunk back in fear. He couldn't believe that the very princess of the sun Celestia had sought him out like this, at his own dwellings. You came to royalty, not the other way around. It was insanity. He chose his next words carefully.
"Your majesty... you must understand. I just retired no less than two months ago, all my life I would've been privileged at such a request. I dedicated my life to understand many aspects of magic, diagnostics even being one of my specialties. However..." he sighed, he couldn't back down here, even if it was Celestia before him, "I have a responsibility to my family now. I could understand if the patient was here in Canterlot, but around a week out to the western wilderness? I simply cannot do that. Loathe am I to admit it, but my wife and I... were not expecting the latest. It is all I can do to keep up even now with the three young ones. Please understand."
"How much, name your price. I'll have it here by tomorrow."
"Princess... please..."
Celestia grit her teeth before him, and he instantly shrunk back in fear. Seeing this, a slight look of what seemed to be shame crossed her features before she became the very image of distant.
"Fine, I'll look for the next best candidate, but I know they will be far less meritorious than you. If something happens to my sister..."
Shock filled him. Sister?! Combine that with the death glare she gave and he thought he'd pass out. Slowly, she was gone and he could breathe again. While what he heard had shocked him, it would've never changed his mind. But the revelations rang through his mind. Surely that couldn't be right? He had misheard. Slowly, he crept back indoors and started to hear the distinct echo of a burgeoning family. A slight smile graced his features as he made his way back in, but he wouldn't feel right for quite some time.
Celestia's headache tripled.
"These useless aristocracy..."
The aid near her let off a nervous quiet chuckle and then coughed into a hoof.
The team she had left behind had not been nearly as efficient or prolific as they should've been. Being inundated by cases that had piled up that she could've handled in a days time for her was not exactly her idea of what she had envisioned. Catching up due to their failure had cost her time to search for someone to send out to Luna by four days now, and she still shook with anger at the memory of Keyfried. She had secretely attended lectures of his before and seen how impressive his work was, so it angered her all the more.
No matter, tomorrow she had plans to meet with several potential candidates.
It was within this musing that she came across a file that different than the rest.
"What's this?"
"Ah! That's the new relay news update. It was collected and brought fourth to you in format to keep you updated more accurately on the happenings of the kingdom. While still a work in process, I believe it is a remarkable work of logistics and pegasi tenacity."
"Hm, let's have a look shall we? I do believe I'm starting to remember my earlier efforts to get this project started."
She started scanning through the document after having opened and unravelled it. It was a strong collection that showed how different places across Equestria developed and changed, information like population size, new construction and industry data presented itself. Extraneous points and comments were occasionally added in for remarkable situations or happenings. It made her smile briefly seeing some of them. As she shifted through the contents, something caught her eye. Or at least she thought it did.
"Say, how many towns have been connected to this so far?"
"Almost all of them, your highness. It's truly amazing how fast it has spread, and the amount of jobs it has provided has been a small local boon."
"Yes indeed, but could you do me a favor and bring me an official list regardless?"
The aid went over and started digging documents on the other side of the office, and Celestia started tapping a hoof on the table. Surely it was a coincidence, right?
"Ah! Here it is, your majesty."
Celestia quickly took the list into her magic and started scanning it. Her eyes slowly settled on one word.
"Riftly. Why did they not report anything this quarter? They're on the list."
"Umm... the next closest town did not receive any pegasus with any documentation to pass on towards Canterlot for collection. It was removed before it made it to you, but I was there when the work was being revised and compressed for your reading. They definitely had a note about the no-show from Riftly for whatever reason and reported it."
Celestia sat back in her chair. That was... odd. She remembered her recent visit there before seeing Luna, and suddenly felt bad about not paying more attention. It was the least she could do for places she'd likely see few times.
Suddenly a chill went down here spine. There was no way that—
She got up.
"Princess? Is everything alright?"
"No... there is something I must check, you are dismissed for today.
Celestia touched down on what she believed to be a mixture of stone, ash and dirt.
There was scattered trails of smoke beginning thick and then slowly mixing into the sky all around her. Giant piles of detritus and demolished material scattered and piles to no end. The worst part was how tainted it all looked, somehow the situation not bleak enough, for it had it all looked like it had the life sucked out of it all. Burn marks of unnatural origin had lit things never designed to combust and stole the traces of life.
She began to walk forward slowly, unable to even think.
Blossom turned as a loud cacophony of distorted noises rang through her home.
"What was that?!"
"I don't know, stay here and watch over Hazel, I'm going to check it out."
Blake rushed through the front door and slammed it closed on his way out.
"Is everything okay?" She had such an adorable curiosity to her, and she was proud that she hadn't dropped down in a fright like most fillies would her age.
Blossom made for Hazel, and started hugging her from behind as she resumed her breakfast.
"I'm sure it was nothing, daddies just going to make sure everything is okay across town."
"Breakfast isn't the same without dad, I won't finish it till he's back.
"That's very cute of you sweetie."
Celestia tried to ignore everything around her. The acrid smell was nauseating and every step further she couldn't bare to look any longer more.
Admidst the ashen remains, charred bodies in all shapes and sizes lay scattered all around. Limbs and bodies contorted in different ways as though melting into the ground before having met the end.
The silence was deafening, and Celestia could hear her heart in her chest. It was pounding.
All she could do was keep looking and taking in the apocalyptic scene before her.
Celestia suddenly heard something crying out in the distance from her, it was quiet and weak, but she heard it nonetheless. She made for it.
"Mommies... just going to see what daddies doing, okay?"
Blossom quickly left and made for the sound the third explosion had come from carefully. This was quickly turning out to be something clearly abnormal. She turned the corner, and fell back in surprise. A horde of ponies were running away, from what she couldn't see.
She spotted Blake in the chaos, and made to yell to him, before she could his initiative found its way first: "Run! Blossom! Take Hazel and—"
An explosive wave of darkness and banshee scream passed through everyone and that made the ears bleed blew past every pony on the main path. Blossom just barely avoided the wave but ears rang from the scream, and she lay there disoriented for several minutes.
She slowly got up and saw the street again. Ponies were writhing in agony and screaming, a strange fire around them. Some had already passed out. Their fur looked fine, and it confused Blossom to no end what was causing them so much pain. She could see the unnatural pure blacken fires around them, with tealish aspects mixed in. Just as she saw one of the ponies give in with no previous signs of injury have their body sink into the ground halfway and completely collapse into a tar looking ash.
"BLA—"
Another building exploded, throwing debris everywhere.
It wasn't her fault. She had repeated that in her mind over and over since arriving like some kind of mantra. A mantra she knew was false. Still, surrounded by pure death and decay had made her blood run cold. She knew with every aspect of her being what must have happened, but it only became increasingly more painful as she trudged forth even knowing that towards the unknown sound.
Blossom finally got back up for the second time, her vision a haze now. There was something moving across her line of sight, and she heard a pony mumbling to itself.
"Help... help... why I cannot find any pony?"
It was quiet, but she had certainly heard it.
Strange beings warped around the figure, spinning and slowly making their way around her. Like other ponies she had seen, a horrifying fire had spread around the figure. Instead of the fire being small however, it looked like a massive bonfire exploding and expanding in pulses that sought to suck the life out of every pony in a kilometre radius. A body near her had one of the strange beings leave it and head towards the figure. Completely distorted and lacking any equine figure, it soon too joined the main mass of cursed energy. The voice she heard in the back of her head made out something along the lines of "protect her" among the sea of otherworldly madness.
Finally, her mind had cleared enough to snap back to what she should be doing. Ignoring the walking pony, she started making her way back to her young filly. She had to do this, if nothing else.
The sound got louder as Celestia finally made her way over the remains of Riftly. How many remains had she crossed over without even realizing it? The look of horror on her face had eventually surfaced after the initial shock. It had taken her a while to figure out what the poor fate of these little ponies had been most likely, but once she came to a conclusion it was nothing but grim. She needed to find her sister now, before any other tragedy could occur, but she couldn't break out of her current trance.
What was she supposed to have done? Who could've ever predicted something like this? She realized she had been crying without being cognizant of the fact when a few more drops landed on her chest. Was it really her fault for not forcing Luna's hoof?! Was she really so blind to how disastrous the situation was?! Had she unknowingly staked the lives of thousands of ponies on the vague notion she could send some small unit out here to help Luna?
All thoughts led her to self-hatred. The worst part was the fact that she still could not completely fault or disagree with her previous actions. But seeing the result...
She saw something stirring just up ahead beneath a crook in the piles.
Blossom was panting as she saw her home finally. She was far more exhausted than she had realized. Nothing was able to load in her mind besides the singular thought to save her little one. Her mind had been reduced to its base instincts faced against oblivion.
Slowly, she made her way inside and saw a frightened little filly.
"Don't... worry. Mommies here. Please... run and meet her later in the forest. Run... run..."
"Mommy!"
A small filly was crying below the crook of a darkened body that looked like a clay cast that resembled a mother hovering over and protecting her until the final moment. How this filly had survived was a mystery no one would ever know. It didn't matter.
Celestia used her magic to lift the filly and put her on her back. She would protect this one no matter what. That was all she knew and held onto. The filly reacted in fright and shock, and quickly started complaining to leave her with mother. After that, Celestia couldn't even listen, it was all a blur in her mind.
She started her search again reluctantly, hoping to find the source no matter how much it tore her up inside.
She would be taking Luna today no matter what. She feared that Luna wouldn't even be able to understand that, or be conscious for it at all.
She looked around for any sign at all of life once again.
With the little one on her back, she continued to search with no particular direction in mind, only avoiding areas she thought she had already been. It was difficult due to the monochromatic nature of the world now. She made no sound, half afraid to to and half lying to herself that it was to listen for Luna. There should've been a bustling life here, families living out their lives in full. How many ponies had been living here? She had no idea. Somehow she doubted many, if any had made it. Besides the one she had found.
A slight glow lit up something further ahead, and it stood out against the darkened surroundings. Celestia rushed there immediately. Indeed, it was exactly what she had been looking for.
Luna lay on her side in the fetal position, covered in debris breathing slowly and unresponsive. As it turned out, the glow had been coming from what seemed to be a translucent cocoon around her. Getting closer to it for inspection, she quickly withdrew all the same. This energy was full of life, it had not been produced by Luna. It was mixed with her power however. She swore she heard silent whispers of pain that were indiscernible, they cried out in agony, and it wasn't just one voice, but many, untold many.
It all hit her at once after she had let the filly down off her back.
She threw up to the side of her body, and sat there with glaring nausea. She closed her eyes.
She didn't want to think about the loss of life. Or how they went out. Who they were and what they meant to each other. She couldn't right now. Her sister was in front of her.
But what followed that disgusted her even more. Calculation. Cold and based on a lifetime of service in politics. Her mind had immediately jumped on how to cover all of this up. What kind of a pony had she become? It shook her to her core. It got even worse when she knew there was no other way in the end as well.
But how? This was unprecedented, an entire town. It wasn't some small mining incident, ponies would find out soon and be hunting and demanding for the truth. Relatives would have to be informed.
She forced her eyes open and looked around her at the desolate wasteland. The filly was staring at Luna with a combination of shock and awe, and Celestia doubted she even understood what she was seeing anymore. That's right, this was all just some nightmare for her. Celestia would make sure it stayed that way.
It was far past the town itself that she finally saw some semblance of a plan forming. It was going to take work, but there was no other options.
Carefully, she gave the filly some warning before picking her up in magic, as well as making to break the ground below luna to lift her with it. She then flew with them in her grasp to take them away from here, anywhere else was better than here and she needed the place clear for what was to come. After she had flown about five kilometres away, she dropped them down lightly in a clearing of the forest. She then cast her weakest barrier to surround them. The filly would be unable to escape it and hurt herself, and Celestia could maintain something of that level in her sleep even while distanced.
She made to return back to the remains, only this time she flew high and past. She was all eyes on the largest local mountain she had spotted. She didn't care how unrealistic it would've felt, if it was possible then she would hold onto that angle until the end.
The fastest way to do this was unclear. She could brute force it, but that led the risk of the final outcome seeming implausible. She could also take her time, but every second here wasted led the risk of Luna's health deteriorating and ponies showing up from travels to take in the before picture that could complicate everything. She would need to to make good time.
She lit her horn, and started firing a beam towards the downward slope of the mountain, trees were felled one by one as she blew by with haste, drawing a line in diagonals in hope that there would be some overlap from collisions. A path had to be cleared so that the risk of the rock slide not flowing naturally all the way down to the casket of a town would be hampered.
Next, she flew close to the top of the mountain. A brilliant idea suddenly formed in her mind. One by one, she found segments where rock stood out and started hollowing out the supporting areas with a drill like piercing magic of light that she shaped up before oscillating and thrusting. She made key insertions and indents, and moved across the mountain to touch upon as many important locations as she could. This needed to seem plausible on inspection, so path the rocks came down the mountain would need to be an actual real rock slide.
Finally, she made to create space and get high up. This was the important part. She would blast just below where she had done all of that work, and the foundation would crack bottom to top and start the avalanche. It was tough to calculate how much power she should use, but she tried to imagine about enough to blow up a building or something. She wondered if Luna had done simi—
She gathered her power and fired swiftly. The crash echoed and scared all life in a mile radius, and for a moment she thought she had failed despite seeing the resulting crater she had made. Just as she was about to prepare another one, the telltale signs of it began, and boy did it go when it got going. Trees that had already been uprooted were taking into it like they were floating down a river, and the sheer volume of it surprised Celestia. This would be more than enough. No more than two minutes later and the entire town - which had already been filled with the remains of every building, had a fresh new pile layer on top. This was satisfactory. She did a quick flight in a circular manner to make sure that no area was left uncovered. Content, she made to fly to where she knew her barrier was.
It was there that she found them, exactly as she had left them. The filly had passed out. Good.
It dawned on Celestia she would need an excuse for her absence. No matter, she would conjure up something and the ponies of the palace wouldn't have it in them to be that suspicious anyway. What troubled her more was what to do with her sister and the lost child.
She supposed she could do what she had done a few times in the past on sad situations she had stumbled on. An anonymous drop off to the Canterlot royal foster home, something she had established and provided an occasional lump sum donations beyond the normal funding provided. It was one of the few things she could genuinely think of and be proud of these days. She would be providing another allotment soon, that was sure.
Luna was more troubling. She knew that she was going to have to hide her now. Hide her and finish up establishing the team to figure out what was going on with her so that they could provide treatment while swearing them to secrecy. What she currently saw of Luna, she knew it was going to be hard to hear. She didn't want to think about it. It was time to fly back home. There was always spare bedrooms in Canterlot. She would have to ensure one had good reason to be closed off and isolated without alerting any suspicion. She had originally planned on reintegrating Luna back into equine society and civilization, but it was clear that now was not the time to reintroduce her.
There was so much to do, and so little time. The next week would be critical. Now was not the time to be weak, she had to be there for her sister and make the most of this situation for her ponies. Even today, it was better they believed that this town suffered an innocent fate, one where they passed peacefully instead of the hell she had witnessed. Whatever had possessed Luna to do that was beyond her, and she realized that both of them had fallen deep into sin despite putting everything they had to swim back to the surface to breathe. What mattered in life was not wasting the sacrifices of those so as to make them not in vain. She would ensure that if anything.
It was pitch dark outside, Celestia had only just raised the moon a few hours ago. The buildings windows lit the local vicinity in straight lines from the lights inside ending by the walls. It was at the back door here that Celestia that made to knock in a coded manner. Her connection here knew it for times they needed to meet in secret for times like these.
The door opened slowly with no words shared. They weren't needed. Not yet.
Faithful Promise shared a look with Celestia, checking the situation by reading her expression alone. She gave a nod, and turned to look at what was brought to her.
"How many?"
"Just one. Same as always, please."
Faithful couldn't resist a sigh.
"I just wish we weren't already being pushed to our limit in capacity already, but we'll have to manage. Let me."
She went to the covered up figure. Celestia stopped her, and they shared an awkward silence.
"I've... been delaying too long expanding our home, haven't I? Tell me honestly, can you keep up with care?"
She had to look down and the ground, and shuffled her hooves in a nervous manner.
"Celestia, you know that it will always be hard... even if things have gotten a little worse lately."
"You didn't answer the question, please, I need to know."
"Fine. It has dropped in quality over the years. It's all we can do to feed and guide them all daily, let alone give them individual attention. Is that enough, or do you want more?"
"That is all I needed to hear. You'll be hearing from me soon. I know I haven't said this much lately, but thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish we could meet for tea like old times sake, but I know neither of us will have the time for that for a long while. I must go, there are still things to be done, have a good night."
Before the door even closed Celestia had disappeared and faded into the night.
Celestia didn't even bother to put covers over her sister, who now lay gently on a procured bed. The magical cloak still surrounded her and did the job, but it had receded in size as it slowly seemed to absorb into her. She had stressed a lot lately, but knowing her sister could rest here and not in some god forsaken place undisturbed and in a safe did wonders for her mental health.
It was times like these she thanked the sun that she had established agent Rosebud into the service of the maids. Sometimes even Celestia didn't know how she accomplished so much in her position. She secretly believed that she had acquired blackmail against the head maid.
This room was now secure and under her watchful duty. To be seen by no other maid or servant.
Now came the time to get who she needed in here, in and out without any hiccups.
It dawned on her that she had been completely ignoring the existence of Twilight, and made a mental note to get back to her tonight. She was still undecided on how much to reveal after all.
She teleported back into her personal bedroom, that being the best way to leave Luna sealed.
This time she quickly went over her desk to do a final run over the letters she had quickly drafted. She closed them up and sealed them. Four of them sat there in near identical order. She quickly went for the door. Trotting to the servants room, she skipped the usual process. Opening the door with magic so she could enter without breaking stride, she saw several servants and maids lounging in the room. It was where they gathered, relaxed during down time, and found all of their equipment for shifts that they'd need.
"I need these delivered now, who can do it?"
Several of them took a moment to realize who it was that had entered, but a few tensed their bodies up and came to attention.
"Yes! We shall immediately!"
It came to her at no surprise at all that Rosebud was one of them, she must've known how important this was, if Celestia came here. Even if she hadn't been informed yet. She had already been given a partial briefing. Celestia fed her information personally.
As soon as she came she was leaving, having dropped off the letters.
She made for the meeting room of which she had called the majority of those who were supposed to run the place when she was gone. She would air her grievances even if it didn't change much, the catharsis was greatly needed.
Young Celestia tucked little Luna into bed, the poor thing had already passed out. The day they had spent the day today together and it had been one of the best days of her life. She couldn't believe that she'd get to spend the rest of it with somepony so fun, so full of life.
Already they had become best of friends, and she knew that they would have a relationship that would trump all others. As her older sister, she would ensure it would be so, hehehe. They had already done so much together. Staring down at her little sister now, sleeping peacefully brought such contentment to her heart.
She made a solemn promise to herself as her sister, that for the rest of her life she would watch over and protect her, and lead her in the right direction if need be.
"What I am about to show the four of you will not be discussed outside these doors or unless under my permission. You will not be forgiven if this is broken. Can I have your words that you will abide with this, no matter what you learn, see and discover?"
Glint Presley, Suture Gadget, Manfred Song, and Ruby Aura stood before her in a line and slightly nervous. One by one, they sore to secrecy just like she asked.
"May I ask a question? You brought a diagnostician, a technical analyst specializing in medicine, a professor from the college of wizards and a magical construct analyst. What could possibly warrant combining these skill sets? Are we trying to revive some ancient evil?" said Ruby.
They all gave nervous chuckles that died out as they arrived.
"Perhaps that would have an inkling of truth, but it is better that I show you right away. I will explain the rest in due time today. You will all be receiving payment for any time spent on this working as a team. Are we good to proceed?"
They all murmured assent and Celestia did a double check that there was no bystanders, before unsealing the rooms enchantment with her signature to allow them entry. The enchantment would re-engage in thirty seconds to continue its function of maintaining secrecy and prevention of exposure to any source.
She led them to a bed in a room that had been lit up only partially, with the bed being the darkest area. There lay a dark alicorn who slept softly, a small bubble of cyan magical liquid surrounding her as though she was in an aquarium like a fish, and the only hint something was wrong the slight grimace on her face.
"This is my sister. Her name is Luna. Yes, I have a sister. Yes, she was Nightmare Moon once. I am completely unable to figure out what ails her, but I know that anything that could do this to her has severe implications. It is my task to you all that you both figure out what's going on to her and find a treatment for it. I do not know which one of you will be able to find something, which is why I have brought you all who have such multifaceted disciplines. I believe combining your expertise would be best. I will not tolerate failure, my sister must live above all else." She paused and gave a soft sigh, "but please, ask any questions before you even consider starting research, I will answer anything within reason, now go ahead."
The next thirty to forty minutes Celestia patiently answered question after question. They were all stunned to learn the history of Nightmare Moon, and how true it had all been. After the shock had faded, they all started drafting early mental theories, these ponies were academics who had made it this far through curiosity.
"Your highness, would you allow me to test this layer of magic we currently see around her? I can already sense a peculiar quality about it. I assume her situation has stabilized by now, yes?" Ruby showed no hesitation to begin work.
"That is exactly the reason I brought you here. Go right ahead, I do not need remind any of you to be careful. Your assumption was correct, she is stable but I can tell that she is only getting worse as time goes by slowly."
She started casting several exploratory spells one by one that would not affect the encasing around her, which was critical for keeping the situation the same as how she found it and not causing any reactions. She sat down and started considering what she had found on her initial look, trying to coalesce and consolidate the information in her mind.
"It is a complicated mixture your highness... that is for sure. I think I can sense some form of life energy, some magic that has what I believe to be her signature that is entwined with something else that I do not yet know. That is what I'm seeing so far. What kind of life do you suspect died for it to be squeezed into this kind of form? It horrifies me to imagine the possibilities."
Celestia was once again being pushed to maintain her poker face against an onslaught of guilt. Her sister's sins had become her own, or had they ever been separated in the first place? "That's right, I believe I saw dead animals in the forest where I had found her, she must have wandered for quite some time. While the local wild life would be devastated, I believe it can still recover over a long enough period, please rest assured."
"I see... based on the density range I believe it to be in, it must've been a lot. How such a pony could cause this is heartbreaking, and I know you said the Nightmare is no more but I cannot help but shake the feeling of how ominous this realm of possibility enters into."
"Please be at ease, as you can see she is of no harm to any pony. She is weak, the very opposite of what we'd expect to see of the Nightmare. I suppose I didn't explain well enough, but that form is predatory. It cannot resist being in control, and we would for sure see that it had any involvement. Rest assured that is not the case."
Before their conversation could continue, Manfred broke in: "I have enough information now, I will be stepping away to look into several of those topics, by our next meeting I plan on having a strong understanding of each, so I must make good time to balance this with the rest of my life. Forgive me, but I shall be making my leave." He made to bow, "your Highness," and left.
"He is exactly right. I believe you all get the picture now, and I will be leaving shortly. Any final questions?"
"Yes... has this form wrapped around her changed at all?"
This gave Celestia pause. After confirming her memories, "I... do think that it has been shrinking slowing, as though she is absorbing it. But do not take my word for it, please observe yourself as shes in your care now as well over the coming weeks."
"That's enough for me. We'll begin. Have a wonderful rest of your day, your majesty."
"You as well, may your research and findings be as swift as your wit lifted you into these stations. Goodbye."
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
There has been a development in the situation with Luna. If you could make your way to Canterlot fairly soon it would be appreciated. I will explain everything in person, just like last time.
Twilight sat back in Celestia's personal bedroom chambers, having just taken in the horrific tale Celestia had just laid out for her.
"And you said she's here now? Is she still asleep?"
"Yes Twilight, she is."
"I sure do hope she doesn't remember her actions, even if she didn't get to see the direct result of them. To accidentally cause a rock slide that destroyed an entire town... wait, why was she going in that direction anyway? She... must've been searching for help! It all makes sense." Her eyes became pinpricks, "Oh goddess! I told her about the town when I had visited her, she must've been searching for it, this is all my fault!"
"Do not say such a thing Twilight! We cannot be certain what was going on. Please, I cannot have you taking blame for something that is no where near the case."
"You're... right. Sorry about that. I just can't help but feel that perhaps she thought of the town in a haze or something. It frightens me."
"What I do want you to think about is your continued role in all of this. I will allow you to visit her if you wish, but as you know I already have a team working to get her back on her feet. I would not forbid you from looking into what they discover or showing you what they report myself. You could even participate if you truly desired, as I know you love your reading. I would ask you don't allow for it to take over your life like it would've in the past, though."
"Heheh, I will definitely consider it princess. I'll see her before I leave today."
"Good. Remember to go to Rosebud for access to the room. She is managing entry."
At an unknown time, Luna woke up. The world felt like it was spinning, she was burning up and every sense was slamming down on her like she had drank too much. Her entire being felt ruptured. She wanted to get up, but the surge of lethargy had her recalculating that right away. As she became more awake, she became aware of a voice in whatever dark room she was in. Wait... why was she in some room? Her memory was hazy and voided, and nothing made sense.
"The night, a canvas, where fantasies roam free and unmasked. The city sleeps, its chaos stilled to a tranquil healing. Embraced by the darkness, the sleepers find their light, so let us cherish each fleeting hour."
She found the strength to look to the side where she heard the voice coming from. A white furred pony with a scarlet mane and tail was speaking softly, reading and reciting from a book she was reading by the bedside sitting in a wooden chair. She put it down, leaned down to something unknown, and brought up a towel to Luna's forehead while removing one Luna didn't realize had already been there. The pony had been looking away at the start of this, but as she turned her head she found Luna staring back at her she kept the gaze, recognition flaring in her vision without reacting too harshly.
"Your highness! Please, allow for me get others, it is a miracle that you're awake, I will be back."
"No!" Her voice was weak, but it was enough to stop the pony, "I'd love for you to continue reading from that book, if you don't mind."
"As much as I'd love to, I must go. Be back, your highness."
This time the word had registered in her mind, and she immediately hated it. Highness.
As the mare left the room far too quickly, there was nothing to stimulate her anymore, and fight as she could it all started slipping again. She swore she could hear something in the distance as the sweet embrace of sleep retook her. Her dreams dominated of the sweet and caring touch that soothed her in her final waking moments.
"I swear she was conscious just no more than five minutes ago, princess Celestia. This is a wonderful sign."
"Indeed it is, but I wish I had been here for it all the more. Did she say anything?"
"She mentioned wanting to hear me read more, but I was too concerned with getting you. Please understand, princess."
"You were right to do that, but you may as well have heard nothing. Still, I'm glad that she was conscious again, I had begun to fear that she was in coma. Perhaps your reading could guide her mind back to us."
"..." she saw the nostalgic smile on Celestia's face that imagined something she could not see. "Yes... I will continue reading for her, your majesty."
Two weeks later
"And I'm telling you that life energy and the soul are closely related, the two are so close in fact that it may as well be the same thing under certain contexts, but they are two different forms of which it can exist. Think of the soul as a pure object, a complete unit, which is self-sustaining, while life energy is some crude version of that, like taking an orange and squeezing it into an indescribable form. It cannot be denied that the energy we see here constitutes a thickness no singular soul could handle. Well, except for an alicorn perhaps as we've seen."
Manfred Song had spent the past thirty minutes explaining his research, and the rest of the team had sat through it patiently.
"So far we've confirmed several things about the nature of the magic around her, but we've been too scared to probe deeper. We should get Celestia's approval tomorrow."
Glint Presley frowned, "then is it how me and Ruby feared then? I was unable to find any hints of anything normal that could be plaguing her, but as we can all see she is clearly being affected by something, and she has stopped waking up. None of us even saw it happen the two times it supposedly did."
Suture Gadget finally broke in: "I must admit I feel bad, my entire side of things has been fruitless. Trying to design an entirely new technology for what would basically be a project on my own that will be designed for something we still don't understand and that has been frustrating to say the least. I wish I could get started proper. We should present to Celestia our main theories for now and ask her which one to act as the work toward treating them for the time being while we still confirm what it is."
Manfred shuffled nervously on his hooves, readjusting them several times. "I still cannot shake the feeling of that cursed like energy that flows around her. I'm telling you, I could sense her signature all the same about it. It's also still being soaked into her. It's clearly helping her in some way, goddess we ignore where it came from. I posit that it's some form of survival mechanism that an alicorn soul can go through. We are utterly lacking in any information or history here, this is entirely new territory." They all looked in silent agreement. "We knew that from the beginning, and we simply do not know enough still. What I can say is that the kind of bubble this mare has formed would theoretically help prevent her soul from collapsing. Think of it like a plug in some sense. I know that we cannot confirm this, to your point Suture, but we should keep moving forward with that as the main idea."
"I'm going to say it, I still don't like this. We're running out of time, how long until that magic around her runs out? It must only be a week and a half at most. What happens then? This is a ridiculous timeline to follow when we haven't even fully confirmed anything yet. Let alone start working on solutions." Glint glared at the rest of them, long hours spent in the hospital having colored the rest of his life as of late.
"I just suppose we're going to have to work even harder. Overtime from now on on off duty it is." Ruby cracked her neck. "To be blunt for a moment... I must say from a logical perspective this case has been nothing but fascinating. I almost wish I could present on it some day. It is not every day you get to work with an alicorn, and one that supposedly controls the divine realm as well. It's the goal of ponies like us in academics to discover something new and present it, so let us count our fortunes that we could accomplish half of that. Most do neither. We're even being paid for this. I couldn't believe the very generous amount I received."
"Yeah well count your blessings later," Gadget gave her a look of disapproval, "because if we don't figure out something soon who knows what will become of us. This is Celestia's sister we're talking about. Failure is not an option. You heard it from the mare herself."
"You're correct. But we all have limits regardless of how much we want to find results. We should conclude here for today and meet again tomorrow at the usual time. I will see you all then, as I have to be going now. Good luck and make sure you all don't allow your schedules to ruin your time to recovery despite this added work, we cannot allow ourselves to be run into the ground. Goodbye."
"Guess I'll be going too."
"Me as well. Let's leave together."
"..."
Ruby Aura lingered a moment longer than the rest.
"Not leaving yet?"
"No... I just wanted to check over something one last time before packing it in. Please go ahead." They both promptly finished their departure and closed the door behind them.
Once they were gone, despite there being little reason to be paranoid, Ruby checked that no one else was around in the room. She let out her breath. Walking over Luna's bedside, she started casting a particular spell that had shaken her earlier today.
The spell was one well designed to take a sample of life energy and figure out the origins. She decided to test this aspect of the situation just to cover all of the angles, if you will. The result had shocked her, and while it would've been obvious something had been wrong to any pony who saw her, she had counted her luck that she always showed up a little bit early before the others. That way no one had been there to see her reaction. This time was no different, except she was mentally prepared for it. There was no question about it - the life energy surrounding Luna had been taken from equines. It disgusted her. Ruby was not one to take rash action, and that bode her well, when her oath to the princess came to her recollection quickly.
She cast darkened eyes over the mare they believed to be on the verge of being comatose, who knows if she already was. Just what had truly happened around this mare? How did she capture so much equine life? Was Celestia lying about the circumstances for the destruction of Riftly? She couldn't stop thinking about it. She wouldn't be surprised if the information they already all knew kept the rest of them up at night, but this surely would for her.
She knew she would keep this secret, but there would come a time she demanded the truth from Celestia. But now was not the time.
She got up and packed her things, and her departure soon after leaving the room in a dull buzz of nothingness.
Celestia finished up the draft for the official expansion of the Canterlot royal foster home. It would be just across the street from the established one, on a vacant plot already owned by the royal family. She had also scheduled a day of local visits, attending to the foster home to secretly to see how the filly was doing as well as if she was acting up at all, of course it was all on a long list of public appearances she was going to soon. It was something that was much needed lately, a welcome refuge from the recent nonstop work inside the castle. She smiled briefly as she imagined going out with Luna on a similar type trip, the two sharing witty banter in-between the more attentive parts of the day where they could not.
To her side lay a newspaper tucked carefully with the rest of her material, one of which that had circulated around the nation by this point. It read 'Disaster at Riftly, small town suffers horrific fate' in the headline. She had personally combed through the fine text to make sure every aspect of it fit the narrative she had envisioned. To her relief, it had. The populous had responded as per expected, with grief and many small donations made to those whose families were affected in other communities. She had also been surprised to learn that it took a lot longer for any pony to find the wreckage. A full three days, in fact. Good.
She finished her coffee and started organizing what she had finished for today, casting a sidelong gaze to the window and the wonderful winter world that lay just outside.
For a while now the accounting side of her government had been running at a solid surplus. She had built up a sizable moat per se, and she foresaw having to use some of it in the ensuing events to come. It was always good to be ready for any obstacles or emergencies, but there would be a concerted effort to increase the dispense back to the community for some time.
Checking the time, she prepared to head for her meeting with the team working on Luna's recovery. After she would be attending a private spa session. She needed that more than anything after how much had stacked up on her plate recently. But for now, she had to prepare herself for whatever they would explain to her. She hoped it didn't soil the mood for the after party.
Escorted by guards, she made for the room just past where Luna was currently being kept. She felt it was wrong to do everything in front of her when she was out like this, even if she wouldn't hear a thing or really be present. Besides, it just felt right.
Making her way into the smaller room which had been converted into a simple meeting room, she saw that they were already seated and ready. A small package lay on the table. With grace, she dismissed her guards and then closed the door behind herself as she made her way to the table to sit down.
"Please relax everypony. I appreciate the fact you have organized the work so far for me in text. Please, give me a moment to go over it before asking any questions about how we'll proceed while I may also do so in turn."
Opening the sealed folder, she began reading and digesting the contents. The outline of several theories were provided, as well associated explanations logic wise in relation to the magic they observed so far. At the bottom was some form of request that Celestia wouldn't bother with yet. Among the list provided, a few of them stood out: Nightmare Moon's essence trying to revive itself through an automatic curse, Luna having been attacked by an assailant curse user since returning, in which she responded with some kind of magic to prevent the curse from destroying her and the result mixed to the strange phenomenon they see now. It went on. They had the audacity to list a potential reason for this was that Luna's true magic being inherently to steal life energy in the first place. She had almost grit her teeth at that. Were they implying that Celestia had given life to all, while Luna only existed to drag her creation and warmth back down into the darkness like some greedy demon?
She refused to allow those thoughts to stay around, because she knew they were simply being thorough. That only helped a little. She would not allow feelings to spill over and start effecting their professional judgment. That would be the worst case scenario, in fact.
There had even been one that almost made her laugh if not for the seriousness of the topic. Some hypothesis that the divine nature of stars and night had continued to act as a force like they had in assisting her escape from the moon, as an actual being with agency, and had used the divine connection both sisters held to their respective part of the day to continue to influence her. Celestia threw this out immediately, knowing that it was not quite the case due to her own experience within her realm and conversations with Luna in the past.
Finally, she came across the main theory that they had marked with emphasis. While this had been something they had already discussed, they went much further into detail and solidified the spoken conversations into a polished and written form, adding on more while organizing everything they had gone over so far.
One such excerpt, the main bulk of it which had been highlighted caught her eye in particular.
"We put forward and posit that an alicorn soul may be an inherently greedy thing. That it special enough in complexity in in comparison to a more regular soul. This is evidenced by the long lives of alicorns versus that of most ponies. We lead this into a mechanism for which it recognizes that it is damaged in some way, and as a result uses some form of cursed magical reactionary application to steal the life around it in some last ditch effort to survive. We have zero knowledge or ability to know if this scales from mere longevity extension to an actual restoration of the soul if there's enough life energy to be taken in. It is all unknown as of now. As pointed out in every angle presented thus far, the cursed aspect has the signature of Luna in some capacity, so it cannot be denied that her influence has some degree of impact. Whether this was forced on her and she managed to adapt to it and cause this to prevent complete disaster, or to it simply being the base case which is aforementioned above. This point is a critical fact of which we must keep in mind for the remainder of the time spent on this.
While Celestia certainly had no idea if this really was the case, she accepted that it did indeed seem to be one of the more likely causes of whatever this was.
It was after finally going through the bottom properly and not skimming it that she resumed the conversation.
"Firstly, I must say you've all done good work. These points certainly make sense, even if I have my reservations about the lines of logic in quite a few of them. We are going to move forward with your main hypothesis in mind as the cause so that we can make progress. If it turns out to not be the case and we wasted time, I will accept all of the blame. Furthermore, I will be accessing archives of which few ponies even know of, in search of knowledge around the soul since we are so certain that it must centred around that. I will pass along any information that I believe has any value if it I find any.
"Now, as for your proposal at the bottom. The danger this presents does not sit well with me. But you were correct to list our lessening time availability as a reason for moving forward with it despite the risk. I will spent today ruminating over it and give an approval or not by tomorrow."
The rest of the conversation flowed easily now that all of their ideas had been shared, and Celestia quickly dismissed them after checking for no misunderstandings on her part.
Twilight prepared to head out for Sugarcube Corner, her library left in perfect shape after a days hard work making sure everything was tidy and returned to the correct places. It was a lot of extra work to be so scrupulous every week, but for her sanity it did wonders. Being able to return home and having everything be clean was such an unappreciated thing.
Today she had another fancy little meeting with her friends, and would be leaving for Canterlot yet again tonight. She was glad she could fit all this in. Everyone in Ponyville had accepted her with open hooves, but it was her close social group that allowed her to accept that this was truly home now. Time had passed quickly the past few months, she was growing and leaning into her friendships and it both felt like yesterday and two years at the same time.
She had been afraid that her relationship with Princess Celestia would take a complete nosedive and plummet into nothingness when she moved here, and while unfortunate, the fate of her sister had allowed her to stay semi involved with her. Twilight's friends here had filled a gap in her heart that she never knew existed until recently, but she would never want to abandon her connection she had back in her old home either. It was for that reason she was glad that Celestia had been so open with her about Luna. She had promised that tonight she would show Twilight the private and hidden archives that regular ponies had no knowledge of or access to. It was a personal collection of Celestia, who had endeavoured to save many relics of the past over time when she could. As twilight understood it, she had been quite successful.
Who knew how much forgotten and lost knowledge lay there waiting be be rediscovered? Sure, they'd be working to find something specifically for Luna, but what you found along the way was also its own little treasure.
Tonight was going to be awesome, she just knew it.
"Twilight! Come on egghead, we're already all here!"
"Just a minute!" Her smile reflected the happy nature of the town she had come to know.
Jotted Page continued his rounds around Canterlot as he tried to figure out where would be his next best location to find somepony or something to gather more information.
He had spent the last several years doing similar in his free time, although he basically considered it a part time job. The scoop he had gotten in the past had gotten him paid, after all.
He was convinced that he was onto the next big thing. He had followed all kinds of drama that had usually been hidden from the public's view, and he had a veritable talent for being in the right place at the right time to observe and document the more elusive and interesting happenings of the city. He had once managed to sneak into the backyard of the esteemed Fancy Pants lucrative property, and making it out after to leak his intense argumentative disagreements with Fleur de Lis had sent a certified tremor through the Canterlot public after he been rewarded handsomely as an anonymous news source supplier. How exhilarating! He could still remember the adrenaline rush as he made his leave without being spotted.
Now, he believed he was onto something that would triumph even that.
He had been documenting the schedule of princess Celestia for some time now, so he knew how much time she spent at each kind of event as well as the fluctuating that was normal and what was not. He personally suspected that for the past month or so at the minimum, something had come up in private that was eating away into her time enough that only one of the sharpest individuals could catch. He was that kind of pony after all.
The main problem was that he didn't exactly have access to the castle. The castle was the most securely guarded and designed place here in Canterlot, and he felt like he needed some kind of work around. He wasn't willing to risk his livelihood on a suicide mission searching for something that may not as well exist. Well, he would take anything at this point. So far his search had been fruitless. It's not like he could just up and bribe some guard either. He was not naive enough to ever attempt something like that. He would figure this out, but until an opportunity came he could not pounce.
Once again he turned a corner while going through some of the notes he had taken today. It was common practice for him to write down anything of note just in case.
He bumped into somepony's flank, and started apologizing immediately. Yeesh, he had gotten carelessly absorbed again.
"Oh don't worry about it, I tend to get my head stuck in the clouds too."
As he finally gave some attention to mare he had run into, something hitched in his mind.
"Ahh please accept my apology again, I've been up to this for a little too long today and have gotten tired. Would you mind if I asked your name? Mine's Jotted. Jotted Page. It's a pleasure to meet such a fine mare as you."
"No problem at all Jotted, I'm Twilight. I was in a little bit of a rush myself so it wouldn't have been a surprise if I had done the same as you. Heheh."
His mind ran a thousand miles an hour. Twilight? Wasn't that...
That's right! It was the name of the princesses most recent student. This was it! His opportunity he had been waiting for! She most likely had access to all sorts of information he would drool over. He had to make this kosher right now and get on her good side.
"Well, if that isn't that a name I've heard before! Aren't you princess Celestia's protege? Thee Twilight Sparkle?"
She gave a slight blush and coughed, "yes, that's me. Nice to meet you."
"If you don't mind me asking, are you visiting the palace today? I've always wondered what really goes on in there. The average pony is just so far removed from that sort of thing. Wouldn't you agree?"
She paused to consider it. "I'd never really thought about that. But it's probably true, isn't it. It's not as interesting as you think though, just lots of boring bureaucratic drudgery. She cast a glace back towards the castle, "listen, I'd love to chat more, but I kind of have to be there soon actually. Bye!"
"Of course, Twilight! Have a good day. I hope to see you again."
He smiled and gave a little wave as she left the area. His smile only got wider, and while he would be retiring for the day he couldn't help but feel this could be his inside angle he'd been searching for.
Celestia led Twilight up the stairs to the deeper part of the tower which very rarely saw any pony activity anymore. The door itself was even a little dusty.
Celestia looked back and simply smiled, "it seems to have been a little bit neglected as of late, hasn't it? You'll have to forgive me. Some cleaning is order, me thinks." She stuck out her tongue.
"I wouldn't have it any different, princess. We always needed to get this place ready before starting. This shall be a worthy challenge!"
They both had a good little chuckle as they entered the room.
Indeed, the insides were no better than the precursor they had just seen. Dust coated the surface of almost anything visible, but boy was it a feast for the eyes. Twilight guessed there must've been upwards of a thousand books total in this small little getaway, and she was sure that even after helping Luna however they could, she would ask to return here just for the privilege of getting to see it all later.
They began work using magic to move things around and luckily they had come prepared with feather dusters and some cloths. They began by opening the window and sending the dust into a frenzy with the dusters and out the window with some magical mini gusts on Celestia's part. There was lots of coughing, but they made it through.
It was around half a hour later than they had finally started to make some serious progress, now going through books individually by lifting them up with magic and also doing the same with the cloths to wipe them down while reorganizing the room. To do something so mundane proved calming in the end. It didn't matter what it was, this was precious time spent with Celestia, and their light chatter over the course of it all put her at ease.
An hour later, and they finally dug in on the big ole pile.
"I think I'll start over here, the vast majority have no legible titles anymore, so it may as well be a guessing game."
"We can only hope our best that the pages themselves are still in fine condition. Around a decade ago I had done a run through in here and most were fine based on my memory, but I still worry. No matter, let us begin Twilight. Please, let me know if you see anything interesting right away. Anything related to the soul or life energy will do."
"Absolutely! Now what do we have here..."
Several hours had gone by, and Celestia had begun to get a bit sleepy, despite herself. She had forgotten just how obvious some of this old knowledge had become, and many of the works had not aged well over time. That didn't mean she wasn't thorough in her search, but the amount of skimming had been astronomical. She had gotten her hopes up once on a book that read 'Magical aspects of life that avoid common knowledge" on the first page, but alas it was too good to be true. It simply got into what she boiled down to as a bunch of magical fun facts that were loosely related to life in general.
She wanted to be upset over the lack of progress, but she'd be lying if seeing Twilight having the time of her life didn't warm her heart which had been left out to freeze far too much lately. She had left after a few hours to get the servants to bring them tea, and they had enjoyed it carefully in a cleared spot that was not near any books lest a spill happened. They drank and read at the same time. Silence was good too.
They had also underestimated the amount of books here. While looking for more, they had found a few hiding in hard to spot places in the cramped room. Unfortunately, this had not been designed as a library type setting in the first place. It had served more as a makeshift solution. The actual room she was supposed to have converted by now had been neglected far too long, it seemed.
Celestia put down the book she had currently just finished skimming and let out a small sigh.
Cracking her neck, she almost suggested a break to Twilight when something caught her eye.
There was a book that stood out just barely against the rest, most of them being quite brown or black with the white of the pages, if you could even see them depending on the thickness of the book. This one, it seemed, had not completely lost all color. The slight tint of auburn was what gave it a unique contrast against the sea of greyness.
Intrigued, she lifted it out from the pile it was in the middle of, the books making a small sound as they all fell down in one big thump, since the speed at which she had pulled it out had prevented them from being pulled in a manner that could cause them to also be pulled and make the entire thing fall. It was something you practised over a long life.
Leering at herself, she knew that it was most likely too good to be true that she had found anything special, but she always had some small hope.
Opening it up, she quickly saw that it was part of a nine book series, "Marshal's guide to", detailing different topics of magic. Going top from bottom in the index she saw... Enchantments, Projectiles part I and II, Transmutation, Illusion, Spiritual magic, Divinati—
Spiritual magic. Those words right there, she put her hoof over them as if the confirmation of her eyes wasn't enough. She checked which book in the series this was she currently held and quickly found disappointment that it was only transmutation.
But then it sparked a thought in her so insidious it almost hurt. Surely... surely her younger self had collected the entire collection. She had always done that. It was basically a personality trait of hers. What made her bit her lip was the fact that she knew a significant chunk of her books had been lost in the Everfree conflict over a thousand years ago. Many of them she still had no idea what happened beyond that, not even being related to that topic for crying out loud.
She got up and walked over to where she had found 'Transmutation'.
"Find something finally, princess?"
"I really do hope I'm getting on the right track here Twilight, I'll let you know in another few minutes if I do."
"Alright, I'm going to carry on."
Grabbing a pile of them from that spot in her magic she piled them beside her seat so that she could quickly run through them. She promptly sat back down and restarted the process, only this time only checking titles so it was a lot faster.
Her heart had nearly jumped out of her chest when 'Projectiles I' and 'Divination' came up quickly, and quickened her pace. Just as she was nearing the end of the pile and getting ready to get more from where she came from, the second last book made her do a double-take. She had been going a little too fast in anticipation, so that when the words finally registered she had to slow down and look again.
Right there. It said the words. 'Marshal's guide to spiritual magic'.
She really hoped that this wouldn't be some lame material like she had seen earlier. She should've had checked the previous instalments to see what kind of quality she was dealing with.
So it came a pleasant surprise that the material content was actually quite heavy, and the terminology made Celestia's brain hurt a little in trying to remember what certain words meant, that were no longer being used.
If she was being honest, this was one fascinating read. She couldn't help but wonder who this Marshal had once been. How had such an amazing academic not cemented his way into her memory? Especially one of which she seemed to own the majority of the series, possibly all of it.
The book had examples of several magic beasts being tested, and it was no surprise to her to learn how the variability of a soul did indeed exist. By chapter two, she had all but confirmed that they could have unique abilities that stemmed from the soul and into the body. This was looking promising.
Her heart skipped a beat when she got to chapter seven. The chapter had a warning attached to it, as the material was considered potentially triggering to some. Apparently the moral content would not be easily accepted for most. Now that she thought about it, regulations didn't really exist at all back in those days. Ponies had done the craziest of things in experiment and few had ever batted an eye.
What mattered was what this was all about: Damaged souls.
The chapter explained it quite clearly, actually, and it only meant that Celestia feared all the more that this was the case with Luna. It read: "A wounded soul is a nigh inescapable death sentence if the damage reaches a certain point, depending on the soul. Minor damage, and the soul will be able to slowly mend itself. There comes a point where this is no longer possible, and the due process of life energy leakage begins. After enough energy has leaked, the soul approaches collapsing quite quickly, and by that point there is almost nothing you can do to save the individual. Only comforting them as they near the end.
This was seen before in the "Scholar's war", one in which two schools of magic had entered an unlikely feud. Several ponies had actually managed to cast spells that later damaged their opponents souls, and I was there to personally witness one such case. While there have been extremely rare cases of recovery beyond the point of no return as they call it, I personally have my doubts around them. I will go over these methods in the next section with as much detail as I eventually was able to gather about them."
Celestia flipped a few pages to get to that point. After about two minutes of reading, she tore five pages out of the book quietly and folded them carefully into her bag that she had brought with her today. She then continued to read the section.
She had to slow down at this point. There was another section that stood out greatly, and it lifted her spirit with more hope than she had in ages.
"While I have never been able to verify the existence of these sacred artifacts myself, there have been several testimonies over the years of ponies in higher positions who claimed to have either owned or seen them. What I speak of are the five "Inner World Sanctuaries", legendary Amethysts that had been discovered in the deep north in ancient times. The rarity of them is extreme: only five of them exist to my knowledge, a quintet that were all found in a similar location in one vein. They had stood out right away for their fantastical and perfect designs straight from the rock, but it wasn't until later that the depth of that statement had been fully confirmed by a magical analysis done by one of the colleges of wizards. Apparently my peers had all but confirmed through one of crystals making its way into their possession at the time, that these crystals had a truly magnificent design, one which could house a higher tier of magic than any other item usually could.
The reason for this is the internal structure of the crystal, which provides a perfect balance in its matrix for storing any spell. It is said that a spell thought impossible like a "life essence density amplifier" could actually exist within this and function due to the stabilizing nature of the thing it was being stored in. Well, it was not entirely impossible with a more questionable approach, but it may as well have been true. But it is the fact that spell could theoretically be combined with some form of channel healing spell for the soul that all contemporary scholars dismissed as useless now. Under normal circumstances any kind of healing spell trying to use an application of life energy fizzles out before it can reach the necessary density that was required for the soul it was to repair to have any effect at all, but with the crystal that limitation could be removed while the spell was sealed inside with untold energy."
She snapped out of her trance that she didn't realize she had been in.
"Twilight! You must come see this at once."
Twilight let out a little yelp as it had surprised her, but she quickly recovered and headed over.
"Read this entire section and tell me what you think. This is the best thing I've seen so far. I dare say it's a breakthrough."
Twilight followed suit as Celestia had done and took her time going through the same passage. After a similar passage of time, it was Twilight's turn to be shocked.
"This is unbelievable! Have you ever seen or heard of one of these "Inner World Sanctuary" amethyst's before?"
"I... do not think so. But there is definitely something about it that rings a bell. Still, I'm going to look into the manner. The fact that they were rare even then is concerning, but we need to hold out hope. What came before that troubled me far too greatly to make this an entirely positive outlook, but we have something now."
"Of course... princess."
"I am truly satisfied with this today Twilight. I will do good to pass it along to my team quickly. I do hope you enjoyed your time here, as I know you may want to stay longer but I will need to be leaving quite soon."
"More than satisfied princess, as long as you promise to allow me back in here sometime."
"I grant you all approval on the proposal from the other day. You may continue with the testing. You all know how important this is to me, so I do not need remind any of you to be careful. I will return later when you're nearing the end of today to hear your early results."
"If... if we find results that are indicative of the worst case scenario that aligns with that book you provided us all with, what are we to do?" Ruby exchanged a look around at the similarly nervous colleagues. "As much as we all want to help, princess, we're not sure if we'll be able to come up with anything remotely viable in time and—"
"We will deal with that when the time comes if it is indeed as we fear. I will continue to employ you all here, but I am not expecting some miracle work either. I understand how difficult this all is."
She looked at the state of her sister who had only moved a little in the bed since arriving. The bubble which had originally surrounded her when she arrived had all but disappeared by this point. You could barely see the final traces of the final bits that were soon to fade away as well. Her expression sharpened.
"No matter what, I'm going to keep searching. I owe her that much. See you all later."
Celestia sat alone at the dinner table, besides the stationed guards and singular maid. She was supposed to have been eating, but it was a mere going through the motions at this point if that.
It had bothered her ever since she first heard the description. That amethyst. All of her senses screamed at her that she had seen it at some point, but the memory came up blank over and over. It drove her crazy. Her thoughts grew darker as she thought of alternatives, but she quickly dismissed it.
What would she do if her sister really had hit the point of no return? She would be running out of time and fast. There was no room for error, they only had so long before her soul gave out and collapsed. She couldn't bare the thought of it and it quickly soured dinner, again. She had tried to restart the meal several times now, but this kept happening. It was a mental cycle that had repeated itself far too much.
Why did it always come down to time? Fate seemed to play a cruel game with her. First she had to wait a thousand years, and now it threatened to take her away in the blink of an eye.
What bothered her the most was that she had not even been given any real time to reconnect with her sister before she had gone unconscious. Was that so much to ask for? She had even missed her final few times waking up. What kind of sister was she? Was she the ruler of Equestria, or the sister of Luna? It gnawed it her.
She had to hold onto hope that it simply wasn't as bad as she was imagining it. Her stomach hurt at the thought of returning to that room and hearing the conclusion they came to.
Celestia was not a pony who ever panicked. A millennium of life had taught her that. It had also taught her that the one pony who could restore that feeling in her currently rested on the precipice of destruction. Could she even imagine a future without Luna? One of the only reasons she had held on for so long had been her dream of Luna's eventual return. If she lost her, what was left for Celestia?
She forced herself to take a few more bites of the asparagus, gave up, and then dismissed herself.
She would be arranging to meet with a historian that specialized in historical treasure soon, perhaps they would know something about the sanctuaries. That was something for now.
Twilight sat lazily down in her bed staring out the window.
Her excitement from yesterday had been all but erased. She regretted feeling that way at all.
After seeing the face of her mentor when they had uncovered just how unlikely it would be for Luna to recover, she had reacted poorly and without proper regard for Celestia's feelings. She knew that Celestia had done well to mask her own internal struggle at reading what kind of fate could be in store for her sister. Twilight's misplaced reaction made her cringe inwardly. It was only on the train ride home she had started to realize just how rude and insensitive she had really been.
Celestia hadn't even really reacted to it either. She had probably been too focused on other thoughts for her sister in the first place to even notice. That didn't make it okay.
She had once a determination to save Luna for Celestia's sake. Where had that burning fire gone? She had released that tension when Celestia had determined she would taking over, but why?
This was the reminder she shouldn't have even needed. She was going to use it regardless.
Celestia was not alone in this. She wouldn't allow it.
Celestia's heart pounded in her chest as she approached Luna's room. She almost wanted to run away rather than hear anything.
She hesitated in front of the door for this reason. Taking a moment to gather herself and putting on a proper mask to deal with her ponies, she gathered the courage to unlock the enchantment and enter.
"I'm telling you, based on the readings I'm receiving through magic, I'm almost certain she has enough energy for around half a year at mo—"
They were all sitting in the corner they had been provided for lounging. When Glint saw her, he reacted as appropriately as you'd expect, snapping to attention. They all did in some delayed chain reaction.
Celestia had completely locked up.
"Is... is it true?"
None of them looked like they had it in them to say anything, which was all Celestia really needed to see for final confirmation.
Instead she turned away from them so they couldn't see the expression she was showing, and made for the bed to be at Luna's side.
It was Manfred who had the courage to join here, just behind her. The older stallion likely had experience breaking bad news.
"I believe you heard what my colleague said as you entered, so I will not beat around the bush."
She looked back at him with a slightly wretched look. Even the old stallion lost some composure seeing the princess like this, but he continued anyway, "We all believe that she has months to upwards of a year to live your majesty. As much as we want to do something, we fear that this is simply beyond all of our grasps."
She turned her gaze back to Luna.
"I knew that deep down all along. If any of you want to quit, feel free to at this point. I will not force you to attempt the impossible any longer. I don't know why I said what I did earlier. You're also all free to leave for today."
She heard hoof steps as a pony approached her from behind.
"I'm going to resign your highness. I apologize. I have felt woefully out of place this entire time. If this situation had turned out different I am sure that I could've probably done something, but instead I have merely been one of which these other three can bounce ideas off of as well as organizing everything we've found so far. I specialize more in the technology side of things, so this has been a frustrating experience to say the least. I hope you will understand, and I'm always available at your beck and call if there's any developments I can help with."
Suture Gadget's voice had sincerity to it. She appreciated it.
"No, thank you for all of your work. You're free to go as I said. Please, have a good rest of your day."
One by one they all gave their farewells and blessings and left. She suspected the rest would be doing the same soon as well. Perhaps they just didn't have it in them for today. She heard one of them stop before leaving, but before she could ask what the deal was the pony left as well.
It was after the door shut for the final time that the floodgates opened.
She stroked Luna's cheek and then her body gently while openly weeping.
"If only I had been there for you all that time ago," she murmured to no one, "how could something so silly have led us down a path such as this. Everything seems so insignificant now."
Her body started trembling.
"You were right to hate me coming back from the moon. I can only imagine what you went through alone. No pony should ever have to go out like this."
She bit her lip until it started bleeding.
She stayed in a state like this for another twenty minutes, her emotions thundering back into her leaving her a mess, then cooling off and allowing her to be calm for a bit, this cycle repeating several times.
"I don't even know why I spend so much time outside of this room. I should be spending as much time as I have with you."
She paused. She then let out a deep breath.
"No."
Suddenly her expression hardened as she remembered something. Her teeth bared in a primal display, grinding. It would've terrified any pony if they had seen it.
"No. I will not give up hope now. I will not give up on you Luna. There are still things I can do. Believe in me."
The rooms silence answered her. She stood up.
"I must go now sister, stay well while I am gone."
She went over to the sink to freshen up, and then looked in front of the mirror they had in the room. Her appearance certainly reflected her haggard feelings, but there was a coldness reflected back in those eyes. She forced herself to shape up as much as possible.
She left with her mask back on, if only slightly more cracked then before.
Celestia was inside of a large and unknown sealed room of some sort.
She was laughing hysterically.
"Ahahahaha! Of course! As if I expected anything different! Always getting in my way, just like always, aren't you?!"
There was no one else around.
"With no options you think I won't do it?! After I've already come this far?!" She was yelling, bordering on screaming at this point.
Her laugh resumed, completely unhinged. She didn't care.
"I'll do it alright, you cannot stop me. That's right. I've already prepared everything after all. Done all the research. I'll do it... I'll..."
Return to three and half months earlier
Jotted Page grew increasingly frustrated with this backwater small town.
He had gotten a tip that the young Twilight Sparkle had taken up residence here. Why had he been so unlucky so far as to not cross paths with her again? He had paid for the trip out here and the longer he stayed the more it would cost him.
"Excuse me? Have you happened to see a pony named Twilight Sparkle at all?"
"Oh, Twilight? You can usually find her at the library, but don't be surprised if she's absent with her friends."
"I will give it a check. Thank you."
It wasn't a guarantee, but finally he had some chance of seeing her.
A large marble round table sat in the centre of one of the meeting rooms within the castle.
Several Ministers gathered around Celestia at the head of the table.
Maverick Tinker was one such Minister. The Minister of Labour in fact.
"I apologize for gathering all of you here today on such short notice. To be frank, I have a project that I wanted you to all be aware of. I will explain it shortly from now. Is there any questions that needed to be asked before I start?"
Celestia took command of the meeting that she had called them all here for on short notice right away. While not unprecedented, it certainly meant that something was going on of significance. Maverick knew from experience that it was better to listen to the entirety of her thoughts before asking anything. Just as he thought that the others shared in this sentiment, a mare two seats from him spoke up.
"Is this about the expansion of the foster home? We've already processed that mostly and any deviations could be troublesome."
Precise Planning was one of the other minsters he respected most at this table, who had asked the question to his surprise. She was officially titled for Public Works, but she really dictated for all urban planning, housing, and development as well after her competence had garnered Celestia's approval over time. She was that good at her job. He had seen it first hoof.
"It is not."
No one else spoke out for a measured pause.
"Then I shall continue. It is actually an additional project, not in Canterlot mind you. You see, it has come to my attention that a town called Riftly was recently lost."
Everypony in the room became slightly more downcast on remembering the tragedy.
"After reading about it, I couldn't help but wonder just how long it had been since our government has spearheaded a developmental project for our public. While it will be taxing on the populous, pun intended my little ponies, I am putting forth a project to construct an entirely new city just due around fifty kilometres from here in the east. The Cragmire Peninsula has long since been on my watch as an optimal placement for a city. That time will be now. We will clearing the land and constructing soon enough."
Several ponies started talking all at once including Maverick. Celestia held up her hoof to silence them, and pointed to one of them to speak.
"Would that not be a large hike in taxes across the board your majesty? That is an expensive endeavour that would put a large enough pressure on the ponies that we could quite possibly expect to see some outlash. Ponies are fine right now as the majority are making enough to get by, but add on this and it could tip things quite quickly into disapproval from the economic shift. In the past our government has assisted, not completely started and pioneered, these kinds of large scale works. Could we not delay and try to find some other source to work with?"
"A valid question, but one that I can assuage. While it is true that this will put a collective added pressure on every pony, it is also true that the long term benefits would eventually be reaped. It is also forgotten by you all, but Equestria started on doing this very thing in the beginning quite a few times to get things going. This city would provide opportunity for work to many, and even more so once it is established. Do I need to get into the trade increase we would see as well? We would do well to take the short term burden to allow the future to be even more prosperous for Equestria. What has occurred recently has reminded me of this."
This was enough of an explanation for many of the ponies who had originally barged in with their points to hush and no longer request to interject.
Maverick was not one of those ponies. He got his chance to speak.
"How many ponies were you thinking of employing for this? Something of this scale would require a sizable workforce, but as head of labour I would like to start figuring out estimates immediately."
"Hmmm... I was thinking around four to five thousand."
"What?!"
He had allowed his composure to slip for a moment from the shock of the statement. He coughed into his hoof and continued.
"Excuse me... it is just, that is an extremely large force your majesty. May I inquire why you believe that many would be required?"
"It is indeed not a matter of requirement my good Maverick, but a matter of preference. I believe that, just like I mentioned before, the faster we gain those benefits from finishing construction the better. It should not overburden us too greatly, especially since we have some leeway from the treasuries accumulation over time, I do not see a problem."
"I... I see your highness, excuse me."
The rest of the meeting went smoothly, and Maverick allowed himself to be a little excited about his job for once. This would be massive! While he had initially been surprised at the unlikely ambition coming from Celestia, he was not going to squander this time to shine.
"There are a few of you I'd like to have a few more words with for added detail that I'd like put in, but as for the rest of you, you are free to go. This was a less than standard meeting in the first place, so please feel free."
Maverick was one of the ponies she personally picked to stay, among three others. She mentioned both wanting a specific circular design for the city and put emphasis on the shipyard. There was a bit more, but he mostly tuned it out as it wasn't as important to him. He started to think about contacts he was going to have to reach out to soon instead.
He went home that night feeling an energy he hadn't felt in a long time.
"You wouldn't believe how much this town has surprised me! And I really mean that. I've been far too lost so far. I'm so glad to have met somepony who could help me out."
"Hey! It's no problem at all. I had a similar time my first time here coming from Canterlot, but the ponies around here were more than willing to help out, so of course I'd do the same! Especially knowing you'd be comforted by a familiar face, even if we just met not too long ago."
"You're exactly right, again, thank you. I've been on a trip detailing different parts of Equestria with a different angle for my work, and I've been struggling at times like now as you see. I had been hired to do all of Canterlot but I was completely unable to check out the castle. I'm not sure I will be rewarded for my hard work when I came up short. Still, here I am with hopefully no royally sanctioned areas to continue to blockade me, aha."
"Oh really, did that happen? I didn't realize just how restricted it can be. I suppose I'm just so used to passing through there naturally. Say, after you finish here in Ponyville I wouldn't mind helping you finish your work in Canterlot. I'm heading there anyway. Unless you have something else you need to do?"
"Absolutely not! That sounds fantastic! I will expedite and finish up here in a jiffy. Is there somewhere you wanted to meet up later?
"Sure, see me tonight at the train station around six p.m."
"Done deal."
Three weeks later
Celestia lay in bed, unable to sleep yet another night and staring up at the ceiling.
Time was running out. It had not been long, but every second mattered.
Luna had not shown any major changes or signs of discomfort, but who knew how long that would last? Who knew how accurate the estimates were in the first place? This wasn't something you could just up and say "whoops!" when you missed the deadline.
Her visit with the historian had been mostly fruitless and a waste of time. While they had known about the Inner World Sanctuaries, they basically said the last time any one of them had been seen had to have been at least five centuries ago. So they were lost. What else was new?
Should she go on a adventure in search of then? Was that even realistic? What were the chances she even found a lead, and how much time would she waste in that desperate chase completely unaware of Luna's condition? The thought to send Twilight flashed into her mind, but she tossed it all the same. Twilight may have been knowledgeable, but this was far too removed from anything she could do effectively. This was nothing like the original mission she had sent her on. Should she pay a group to go searching for her? It was truly tempting. She quickly made a note by her bedside table for tomorrow, where she would see it and make a decision then.
Still, while Celestia had been stubborn since her decision to never give up on Luna, it didn't make the situation feel any less hopeless at times...
As her thoughts sank, she once again had the mental image of her filing cabinet at her desk pop up, and what was inside. Everything it had meant and implied. No. She had to stop thinking about that.
But still, what kind of avenues did she even have left? She had done a lot more research from that same room that started all of this and had truly learned a lot, including multiple spells she would need to know if they did ever miraculously recover a Sanctuary amethyst. Even a few extra spells in her fretting. But all of it was useless unless she had one. Twilight had joined her quite a few times, bless her. She had even brought a friend along once, how it made her proud to see Twilight continue to flourish.
Her mind flashed to the rare times of travel in her life and meetings with the upper echelon of other civilizations. Even seeing jewellery had been rare to see. She thought of the dragons by chance in relation to treasure, and suddenly challenging them one by one for their treasure troves didn't seem so far fetched after all. Wait. She could actually do that. Why hadn't she thought of that already? She suddenly felt very stupid. It struck her that it should've been obvious that one of the five would end up in one of their lairs somewhere. This was happening. As extreme as it sounded, she truly believed that it was the best option available to her. Perhaps it would even allow her to regain a little bit of confidence that had been waning back. No dragon would be getting in her way. She would incinerate them down to the bone with fiery energy they could only dream of if they dare tried to stop her.
But her daydreaming didn't stop there. She had grown nostalgic at this point, after so much consideration for all of the neighbouring races on Equus. She thought of the Zebra's, Kirin, Diamond Dogs, Centaurs, Cyclopes, Minotaurs, Griffons, hell even the—
Griffons. There was a memory she had of meeting the late emperor Silabo Vulus that clicked. More importantly, his wife who she couldn't remember the name of that had been with him when she had seen them. It all came back to her in one burst, but she was absolutely certain of it, now that she actually remembered. They had bragged, in front of her, some few hundred years ago, that they had recently acquired an extremely rare gem in which they placed into a necklace for his wife. She remembered seeing the gem stick out as the centrepiece. It matched the drawing that she had recently seen.
She got out of bed and rushed for the door. Opening it and completely naked, she yelled at the stationed two guards.
"Bring me the fastest delivery pegasus that Canterlot has! Go now!"
They were completely stunned, but eventually came back to their senses when she nodded her head for them to go again and rushed off.
She then backpedalled into her room, closed the door and locked it, and then immediately lit the candle near her desk.
Scrounging everything together that she would need quickly including pen and papper, she started penning a letter to none other than the current emperor of the griffins - Cyrel Daris.
The griffin's royal family was notorious for never throwing anything away.
Hope surged through her veins and brought her back from the depths. She would meet with Cyrel and secure the amethyst in no time. She would give him an offer than he could not possibly resist for it. It was unlikely he even cared for any of their older stuff at all. She could start the conversation slow, and then manipulate the situation perfectly to bring it up and her request to acquire it. Within no time she would be working on finally saving Luna.
It was all coming together.
Just as she was putting the finishing touches on the letter, an intense knock came from her door.
"Just a minute!"
There was no response or continued knocking, so they had clearly heard.
She then finished her final sentence and signed off on it. A quick reread to ensure no mistakes were made in the hastily prepared official summons covered up as an opportunity to discuss other important topics that would tempt the griffin emperor. Shen then put the letter inside of an envelop and wrote the destination and stamped with her her seal and sealed it.
She made for the door, and when she opened it the pegasus had practically fallen into her room.
"Are you the most fastest and capable one?"
"Of course, your majesty! I shall deliver this with posthaste and without fail!"
He bowed before her.
"Then I give you my blessings. Please, take care to take this to the griffin domain. I will need to inform some others of this soon while we wait for a response. But for now, I must sleep. Now go."
A nod of the head and he was off, practically sprinting through the hallway and almost tripping. They were known for flight anyway. It was quite amusing.
She made her way back into the room and put out the candle. While she had been excited at first at the chance, she eventually passed out after some thirty minutes or so from exhaustion that had accumulated from past sleepless nights.
Word had spread around Canterlot quickly of the impending visit of the emperor from the griffin kingdom, and Canterlot was abuzz with it all around. Celestia's invite had inspired much curiosity.
As much to have had dominated the larger part of tonight's dinner at the private little soiree at the Rosy Iris, one of the premier restaurants for the aristocracy of Canterlot.
Maverick, and a hodgepodge of other ministers along with other officials and business ponies were attending. It was a common thing now, and allowed for incredibly flexible open communication that you wouldn't normally get through normal channels. If you had said that the entirety of Equestrian planning had spawned from a single gathering at some quaint restaurant, most would've laughed. Maverick would not, even if it was not entirely true. It never would be as long as a white alicorn never knew or attended. Or maybe she did know, but chose to ignore it anyway.
"I must say! It is as if she feels like she has something to prove lately. Are you sure we aren't all missing some big event that sparked this?"
"My my, why must everything always have such a concrete answer? I personally have experienced such fluctuations in motivation and inspiration many times now. One could even say it's a regular part of being an innovator of business. Not so different for a ruler, I assume."
Straight Side and Flawless Venture had always seemed to find a way to be at the forefront of conversations at these little arrangements. Maverick didn't mind it at all. In fact, Flawless in particular often had very interesting outside angles to view politics from, so Maverick had always tried to pay attention when he was in a giving mood.
"Why must we complain? I for one welcome her newfound inspiration. If anything, it gives all of us something to finally prove ourselves beyond the normal measures. Our jobs may be hard, but everything becomes routine at some point. I'm glad for things to be changing. When she allowed us to vote on issues to settle them while she was away was so fascinating compared to her usual deciding hoof. Even if she ended up changing most of it later on her return."
"Must you remind us of that after we embarrassed ourselves questioning her latest judgment? Although I must say even now I do feel a little uneasy about it..."
Maverick had to speak up at that.
"It'll be fine. Celestia has never steered us in the wrong direction. Venture here is going to take a large gist of the burden, do you see him complaining? Besides the normal amount I mean." Several chuckles followed. "But here we all are to discuss what opportunities he's going to gain from this new city. He'll be one of the first to get open access information to begin planning for anything he may be able to use in the future. And we all know how far seeing this auspicious fellow is."
"Yes speaking of this new city, has Celestia named it yet?"
"No, I do believe she has not. It'll probably come up at our next meeting."
"I see. Well I believe it'll be fitting as always."
Her hoof ran through Luna's mane softly for the umpteenth time. It had grown on Celestia to do this. It relaxed her. Made her feel like she could dote on her sister without a care in the world.
Her mane may have lost the magic that once ran through it, but it was still as silky smooth as she remembered it to have been. It was almost greedy, to be able to play with such a suave and perfect thing for so long.
A frown crossed her lips when she noticed that a few of the hairs had started to grey a little. It was only a scant few, and one would only notice if they had looked very carefully. Celestia had, and it wasn't a great feeling at all to have found them.
"Do not worry little sister, I have everything figured out. It is not long now until the griffin emperor arrives and I secure everything I need to help you."
"..."
She sighed.
"Princess?"
Celestia finally turned away from Luna for the first time in twenty minutes. Rosebud had come from the rounds. She came all the way up to the bed and sat next to Celestia.
"She's still beautiful, even after everything I mean."
"... You should've seen her when she was still in her prime. Not this fading version of her."
"Are you—"
"I'm fine, Rose. I've had enough time to get used to seeing her like this."
Celestia turned to look straight at her.
"I have told you about my meeting with Cyrel, right?"
"Yes. Although I have not heard all of the details."
"I'm going to take him to the woodshed my little pony. He won't know what slithered by him. I will provide him with a fair return for it, but he will not know the significance. It shall seem like generosity."
"And what if he is surprisingly protective of his families heritage?"
"And why would he? I have dealt with their kind for a long time now. The chances of him not jumping at this chance to help his kingdom are close to zero. I may not know him very well, but some things never change."
"If it is so. I just wanted to make sure you are ready for anything, princess."
There was a knock on the door. Who could it possibly be at this hour?
"I'll get that."
Celestia paid it little mind despite her curiosity.
Slowly, two pairs of hoofsteps approached and the two figures sat down beside her once again, with a chair being pulled up for Twilight.
"She still looks so peaceful. It's hard to believe there's much wrong at all at times."
"Yes, well, sometimes the surface can be such a shallow thing Twilight..."
They both allowed the quiet to resume.
"I've heard her mumble and shift around earlier while she was here, and even her waking. It is a shame that instead of somepony as attached as you that I got to see her in such vulnerable and precious moments of life" said Rosebud.
"You'll even get to see her laughing, smiling, playing, telling stories, and taking command of life again, I assure you this." Celestia had allowed her expression to strengthen, even if it remained focused solely on her sister.
"As much as I appreciate you coming here unexpected Twilight, I must ask why? You've already done so much for me, but I have already explained to you this recent breakthrough with the griffins. I am absolutely certain I will attain it. My memory has never failed me before. They have it."
"It's not that, princess. We've gone over so much, but I wanted to go over the most personable magic that you've yet to show me."
"And that is?"
"The actual spells you'll be using to revive Luna, I know that you had still been deciding on the specific process."
"Ah." She finally turned to Twilight. "That is no problem. What I am currently spending significant time working on researching and using is one of the magical condensation spells, which will be focused to funnel life energy into the Sanctuary for storage. Think of it like a giant summoning circle with the amethyst at the centre as the point of accumulation. I will have to carve out the markings, but that should be quick with these," she flexed her wings. "That can be done multiple ways. Unfortunately, I will have to destroy a lot of wildlife to accumulate enough energy inside, but I am not taking any risks on not having enough."
"That... makes sense. How will you follow it up?"
"The spell that I've finalized it down to is the Life Convergence spell. It improves self-healing the of the soul and provides with with an overflow of life energy that will be provided by the sanctuary until it is satiated. It basically forces the soul into a regenerative state with unlimited stamina to rebuild its frame and become whole again."
"What if she is unable to switch into that state? Is that even possible princess? I hate to even consider it but we need to cover all the bases."
"Your concern is valid. I had originally envisioned using the spell of divine rebirth. Which is technically the safest and more sure fire way. The problem is that it would take far too long to gather enough energy to even get close to saving her. While it would all but guarantee success, it is all for naught if the timing is impossible. Starswirl only put out the framework, and as far as I know it has never been cast before. A purely hypothetical thing. But it follows a logical line of spell formulation, it is simply the apex which has never been attained."
"When you say rebirth... you don't mean...?"
"Of course not Twilight. It is simply the name. It will not cause Luna to be reset or anything you're probably imagining. It is a truly miraculous and god like spell if I say so myself. In theory the way it simply does an absolute and instantaneous reconstruction of any being, back into prime state is nothing short of divine, just like the namesake says. The method skips so many things we take for granted that it requires something we could never acquire normally, enormous and near unlimited energy that you could only get from masses of advanced life.
"The life I plan on using to save Luna is of low density, but it exists in massive quantities. I will clear a forest to the south, of which the energy of the vegetation isn't dense at all compared to living beings but there is so much of it anyway. Where there is little civilization, and then construct the means of which to absorb all of it in one fell swoop. We can work to bring back the forest later. I will make sure of that. If I feel like it is not enough, I will go to another. There is also another potential step, but I'm unsure if it will be needed, so I will not discuss it right now."
"That's... simply amazing princess. It really is coming all together. I'd love for you to go over the specific designs later if you could."
"Of course we can Twilight." Her smile was soft.
"I'm just glad we finally can see the light at the end of this princess. I know how much it's hurt you to see her like this."
She went to hug her side. Celestia opened her wing and let her in. It was warm. Comforting. What she needed.
"Yes... it's all coming to a head now. Not much longer. I will meet with the griffin's emperor here in Canterlot in two days and that will be that. One last hurdle."
Cyrel lounged with a dull boredom inside of his carriage as his group made the final strides towards the meeting point, on the outskirts of Canterlot for a more private invitation. It was probably going to be just as opulent as anywhere else in the rich city.
Still, it had shocked him that he had received this invitation at all. When was the last time someone in his line had been contacted like this by Celestia? While he had initially been suspicious as to why, there was far too many different parts of the situation he didn't get for him to have any inkling on a motive.
She had promised something that would benefit his kingdom greatly, but the finer details were to be made in person.
They soared in the sky against the final splotch of golden rays that the setting sun produced which had caused the sky to take on a rusty ginger color. The clouds had only partially parted, creating entire worlds that were separated by the vast expanse of the dark void inbetween.
As they neared the humble garden of Norrich, which had been carved into another part of the side of the mountain, he couldn't help but feel like this was too good to be true.
Cyrel had been modestly successful in his rule so far, but he knew that it was far from prosperity. He should've been jumping for any chance to improve his standing, especially since it was a tenuous thing in griffin society. Yet, coming from the hands of the ponies who had made everyone else look pathetic by comparison, it had bordered on a bitter taste for him.
They finally landed down, and as his servants and guards alike opened the doors and formed a path to both his sides to create a literal line to the area where they would be having dinner, it seemed. A large overhang for a gazebo, and a fairly open space that had a large dinner table assembled with had been filled with a plethora of delights, against the backdrop of the well maintained garden which threatened to overgrow into them at the centre of it all.
He walked slowly and with poise, ensuring that Celestia nor any pony would ever see weakness from his kind. His own had kept the same standard. Good like always.
But it was to his surprise that he saw no other ponies around at all. Celestia alone sat at what would soon be the other end of the table.
"It is a pleasure to meet you at last, I didn't realize this would be quite such an intimate gathering my good lady, for I would've sent the brutes away earlier. Give us space."
One by one, they broke rank and went to spread out with distance away from them, forming a spaced out wall against any possible intruders. His servants made to rest by the carriage for the time being.
To his surprise meat was on the table. Celestia of course knew of his kinds diet, but there was still a side of him that had wondered if she would refuse it. Not exactly a good way to start negotiations, so he shouldn't be surprised.
"It is good to finally meet you as well. Please, make yourself comfortable. I figured I'd show you the respect that you deserve. My ponies arranged all of this that you see, and then I let them retire for the day. If you require anything, I can easily whisk it myself." She pointed at her horn in a teasing manner.
"That will most likely not be needed, but thank you. I know that you are most likely keen to get down and into things, and I certainly wish to hear more, but let us eat all shall we?"
"Yes, we shall."
It was only slightly awkward, but he didn't care enough for it to bother him any. She would be the one to make the first move, so all he had to do was wait. It wouldn't be long now. He couldn't help but be surprised at how good the meat they had prepared for him was. What pony had actual skill in such a thing was beyond him, but he wouldn't allow it to be anything more than an amusing thought until later. There was wine, and while extremely rare for the average griffin to partake in such a thing, he chose to down smaller amounts of it now.
"I do not desire much, Cyrel, but I am more than willing to offer a gracious amount regardless. It will be both a trade and an agreement."
"I'm all ears, Celestia."
"I desire several historical objects from the griffin kingdom, and Equestria has recently come into need for access through the Yargras path. In allowing us to take this way through your lands, we will provide construction of new roads along the path itself, increased trade, and a lump sum of bits that you will find quite generous. I only ask that you do not question why we need access to the areas beyond."
"That is a truly tempting offer, Celestia. Did you have something in writing that provides more minutia on the offer?"
Using magic, a neatly folded paper appeared besides Celestia. She hovered it over to his side and lay it gentle down in a spot in which he cleared carefully of any food.
Unfolding and beginning his look through, he saw that the path itself had been outlined clearly, even including several checkmarks. He would need to confirm a few things about it still. Next, he saw a list of trinkets and items that were being requested. Even if you ignored for the fact that he was completely taken by surprise that they, or perhaps she, even know about half of these things, he wondered what tied them all together? Surely this wasn't random besides age in antiquity?
And then he saw the bit figure. He had nearly squawked when he saw it. Had there been a mistakenly added zero?
This would certainly benefit his country, no doubt about that. It had been too good to be true, or had it? Celestia was known throughout history for the legitimacy of her rule. She made it this far because of it, and also because she was was an ageless goddess. Even the griffins who lacked education, which was many, had known about the goddess of the sun. She made the world to tick to some degree after all.
So why did he feel so hesitant looking at this? He continued to sip his wine as he pondered it.
"Ah. I must ask, now that I've had a chance to look, there seems to be several items here from our treasury. I cannot endorse sending those unless I have a very strong case to. Do you have any strong reasoning as to why?"
She didn't give him an immediate response like he had wanted. She finished the food she was working on, wiped her mouth, and then finally gave something.
"Nothing so crazy Cyrel. It has come to our attention that a local artifact from the griffin kingdom was found with a peculiar enchantment here, something of which we believe was caused by unnatural means by simply being near your kind. Even I found it fascinating, when seeing the details of what they had been working on. We are looking to test a theory around this, if you will."
He gave a little hum as he continued to think.
Were the ponies really so rich that they could offer this much to test a theory? Or was it connected to the lands beyond his they wanted access to? It seemed likely there was far more to this then she was letting on.
Everything had seemed to check out though. It didnt matter too much in the end if it didnt bother his kingdom much, it was not like Equestria had ever really been an aggressor or oppressing. This really was a breakthrough for his kingdom and rule. While he couldn't skip doing his due diligence to make sure they weren't taking advantage of the locations of which they could go through his kingdom, nor put his kingdom as risk without realizing it, this seemed well worth it.
He looked across the table, and the princess had a smug as ever look he had come to be used to in the past few minutes alone. It was only slight, but the immortal eyes shimmered with something ancient and judging. He didn't like it.
"I see. There is just one problem as long as I'm understanding the terms clearly. Several of these items are so precious that I could not give them away, even if I wanted to. If you would be willing to accept the trade with some of them removed, namely these," he marked three at random that he had personally known to be in the treasury, "then I'm sure we will be able to quickly come to a final agreement and enjoy the rest of the night."
She retook possession of the list to view what he had marked. A quick glance and already she was coming back at him.
"No. I need these if we are to have an agreement. We have been more than giving on our side, you must do away with a little of your own to make this work. Surely those useless trinkets don't come over the well being of your kingdom? Or did I misunderstand something? Are they in use? I had been expecting to hear of them collecting dust." She let out the smallest and lightest of short lived laughs.
There it was, that arrogance.
"Then I'm sorry, but we're going to have to refuse. I will not part with my families history like this. You misjudge us, Celestia."
He lied through his beak.
"What...? You cannot be serious, my good Cyrel."
"Oh? But I am?"
Finally she had begun to change her expression. It came to his surprise that the adrenaline and excitement of seeing it excited something inside of him greatly. He quickly became addicted to this feeling.
"Perhaps you simply look down on us, but I can assure you our family has a dignity that shines even in the hardest of times. I will not part with these treasures."
He could've sworn he had seen her eye twitch when he had mentioned family. He lapped up every second of this. He could savour it until the final moment, until he then finally conceded some to make the deal work.
Princess Celestia. Until now she had stood like an impenetrable bastion of grace and power. Instead, here she was at his mercy for some reason he didn't understand, laid low and the one desperate for once. Over something that wasnt even that important apparently. He knew there was more to this, and he would get to the bottom of it.
No in in his lineage had ever come close to this, and it was a glorious thing.
He refilled his drink and the conversation continued into the burgeoning night...
"How about I double the amount, and you simply let this go. It's a fair deal. I have nothing to hide here that will harm your kingdom in any way, I can promise you that."
D-Double the amount? He came far too close to allowing his mental shock to bleed through to reality. That was insane. It only drove his curiosity even deeper.
"While that is exceeding generous, I cannot agree to this under the current circumstances."
"Is there something I don't know about? Some connection you personally have to these items? If one of them you find to be needed for removal, please show me."
"Have you been listening to me Celestia? I said I would not part with any of them."
"Well... it is just so surprising really. I had thought that griffins were practical creatures, who would prefer value now rather than useless memoirs of the past."
"You do not think wrongly my good lady, but our royal family is different. We have to be."
"Cyrel, be honest with me, is this really about you caring about your families legacy or are you simply trying to bargain here?"
"Then why can you not be honest with me to start? Why are you being so adamant and pressing when this is such a non issue my my perspective. Unless you haven't disclosed something about these items that you want? Hmm?"
Finally, Celestia paused to consider what he had said. She looked down at her food only for a moment.
"And what if I told you that this relates to someone close to me. I'll cut to to the chase. My student is borderline a historian. She has been obsessed with griffonian history as of late. Give me the list."
She waited for him to let it go before grasping it in her magic again. She drew it over and quickly used a pen over it and then passed it back.
There was only one article left. The Vulus era amethyst necklace.
"She has been obsessed with this item ever since she saw it in a book once. Of course, the rest of the items would've been just as great to bring back for her, but I can make do with just this. As for the passage through your kingdom, it really is harmless. There is a material we are in great need of that is known to occur in large quantities for one of the new cities were are constructing, found in the Spectick region. Do I really need to give more?"
A lot of the tension faded away after the confession. Suddenly he felt foolish at all to have been so caught up in this at all. He was about to agree to the terms when something in the back of his mind started bothering him. It ate away as his consciousness. Every sense of his screamed at him to ignore it and accept this offered rope into shared prosperity that was being thrown out to him, but he let it eat at him.
Had she lied to him again? Of course, he didn't know the princess THAT well enough. But really, would she go so far for one student? Would she have reacted that way? Were they really that close? Ponies were sometimes like that he reminded himself, but still...
No.
There was no way that desperation could be for a gift. The more he thought about it the more he was sure. Celestia, that little ancient snake, had tried to pull another one over him.
"I was truly about to agree. But I must admit it's bothering me. Why do you go so far for a mere student? I cannot comprehend it."
"Twilight is special. She is an element of harmony after all. Even if you do not know that. I wish nothing more than to see her reach the heights her talent can achieve. I also happen to rule the richest country on Equus. It sort of fits for me to spoil myself and others I care about sometimes."
"So you're trying to make me believe you'd give decidedly ginormous bits for a present, eh."
"..."
"I do not believe you."
Celestia was trembling, he could see it even from a distance.
"You don't understand how important..."
"Enough! I will leave immediately. I do not know what has come over you, or what the true situation here is, but I know it is something foul."
He turned away from her and took a few steps. He heard her mutter something. He looked back one last time, just to see her get up and slowly approach him. She looked lost in thought, despite the purpose in her step.
Celestia tried, but her plan fell apart like sand on her hooves. Admittedly, she was much better than this; her long experience in diplomatic exchanges would normally give her an advantage over all the mortal kings and ambassadors, who each had to learn the ropes of politics and make their own experiences that would never catch up to hers.
But Celestia couldn't, not this time, because she was running out of time. She took a shortcut with Emperor Cyrel, offering precious wealth and resources in the hope that the plight of the decadent Griffin Kingdom and the greed so ingrained in Griffin culture would speed up negotiations.
Celestia should have been better than this. She was better than this. But right now, Celestia had no time to lose.
Every day counted, every minute, every second of her mind were focused on one thing. Her sister.
"Wait a moment, Cyrel, please!" She was running out of time and options.
"No!" The Emperor marched resolutely towards the doors of his carriage.
"PLEASE!" She screamed and knelt before the Griffin Emperor.
Cyrel was...shocked, astonished, horrified. To see the immortal matriarch of the pony kind kneeling before him was not within the realm of possibility in his mind. Not ever. For although the kings and rulers such as himself envied the Sun Princess for her control, virtue, and power, they also admired her.
He gazed at her with wide-eyed wonder as his mind tried to reconcile the truth before him with reality. After all, who did not admire Princess Celestia Sol Invictus of the Ponies, even reluctantly? Who did not long to be acknowledged by her, even for a fleeting moment? Not only was she an inspirational figure to the ponies, but many kings and queens of the other races had tried to emulate her in one way or another.
And yet... to look at her now. So wretched and forlorn... begging for trinkets and promising a mountain of gold. Cyrel's mental image of the near deity he had dreamed in his mind crumbled to dust, leaving a desperate mare begging a beggar for scraps.
It was incredibly sobering.
"Celestia... what are you doing?"
"My sister is dying! Is that what you wanted to hear?! Her banishment has left her badly injured, and I need your artefacts to save her life, THIS artefact!" She finally revealed it.
"So that's the real reason!" He shouted, outraged. "You invited me here. Lured me with the promise of riches. Wealth my kingdom desperately needs! Hoping that I would be greedy enough not to question it! YOU TAKE ME FOR A FOOL!" Cyrel felt insulted that the princess thought so little of him that she would not even show him, the Griffin Emperor, the proper respect and courtesy. She wanted to trick him like some gold-hungry griffin peasant.
Had he had time to think, Cyrel would have cursed himself. On reflection, he wanted the gold, and had his mind not been clouded by the fumes of anger, he would have accepted her offer without much thought.
"I had no choice! My sister's life hangs in the balance and I haven't got the luxury of time! Please believe me, I meant no offence!" Celestia pleaded.
Cyrel could not bear to look at her any longer, so he turned his head towards the eastern view of the garden. This day had been a disaster so far. He had hoped for a good deal, maybe even an excellent one, and instead he was dealt a hot potato. Still, Cyrel's mind rebelled against this reality. Why had Celestia deceived him? If she had come clean from the start, he would have accepted it immediately, and he would have Celestia in eternal debt to him, a prospect countless politicians before him had dreamed of.
But she didn't! What was the point of all this secrecy! What was... WHAT WAS SHE STILL HIDING FROM HIM!
"Is this all, Celestia?" He had enough.
"Cyrel -"
"IS THIS ALL?" His voice is now cold.
Celestia flinched and stood up, stunned by the Griffin Emperor, who now had a visage of rage on his face.
"I... I just want to save my sister. My little sister, Emperor Cyrel."
"You know, before I entered your castle, I heard rumours of a great tragedy. Yes, I actually did homework before coming here. A pony village was destroyed by a rock slide, was it... Riftly? I had asked several experts, and they all said it was extremely unlikely to be natural. There were no survivors." His words cut mercilessly, ignoring Celestia's pleas.
"That such a tragedy should have befallen your kind so recently. Was it your doing? Were you trying to hide something?"
Celestia frowned, with fire threatening to rise from her belly. "I hope you are not suggesting that I was the cause of our ponies suffering, Emperor Cyrel?"
"And how would I know?"
"I have not ruled ponykind for millennia, working to build bridges with every creature, only to be smeared like this. Do not insult me, Emperor Cyrel! The destruction of Riftly is a tragedy!"
But the Emperor was not convinced, "... perhaps you had no part in it. But what of your sister? Did she have any part in the destruction of Riftly?"
Celestia had completely lost control of the conversation. She did not answer immediately, hoping to think of something to divert the conversation.
"My sister is comatose in bed. She is ill and..." she started and then stopped. She closed her eyes in defeat and resignation. All this time the Kingdom she had built should had been ready for her sister's return, but at the the very last she had failed. Her attempt to save her sister's future reputation was in vain, Luna would have to accept it. She looked into Cyrel's eyes and saw the anger and indignation. He was ready to leave immediately and curse her if she told another lie now. There would be no more chances.
'Honesty has never been my element' she thought despairingly. She hoped beyond hope and prayed in harmony that her honesty would find the Emperor's heart.
"...in her wounded state, my sister Princess Luna, destroyed Riftly."
"She destroyed the village?"
"Yes."
"Why? She longed to bring back the eternal night. Does she wish now to destroy those who oppose her?"
"No. She is dying, she barely has the strength to stand, she can never return to her former state."
"And yet she destroyed a village!"
"She was not acting on her own will, Cyrel. Believe me, Nightmare Moon was cruel and wanted to dominate all ponies and subjugate every creature to her rule, if I thought that she could return I would not be acting like this. What happened to Riftly was a tragedy."
"I was going to try to salvage her reputation as a princess. I have waited a millennium for Luna to be at my side again... but those plans no longer matter. Now I'm trying to save her life."
"And what about the lie, the one you so carefully tried to pull the wool over my eyes and those of your ponies? What ails your sister that you must lie to me and everycreature?"
She explained Luna's condition to the emperor. The talk was long, longer than she would have liked. She had to patiently guide the Emperor to understand the wounded state of her sister's soul, to calmly explain how any creature would have chosen life over death if forced to do so, and how Riftly's demise was a tragedy for Luna also.
They talked for so long that Celestia had to raise the sun. The light of the morning sun illuminated the Emperor's face. He was troubled. He had never expected or wanted to be involved in this mess.
He looked at the matriarch of pony kind and made his decision.
"No."
Celestia blinked, "What?"
"No, Celestia. I will not help you with this."
"How... How could you? Don't you understand what I-"
"You want me to be a part of your... scheme. To be your accomplice in your crimes, in the hope that your spell will revive Nightmare Moon. That's what this really is. This is folly. My crown and my kingdom will have no part in this. This is my final word."
Emperor Cyrel had had enough. He came for riches and found problems instead, and his kingdom had enough of those already.
As he approached the door, he turned his head to look at the sad mare, who looked at him with wide eyes. They were not friends, and Celestia's deceit had shown him that she was not his, but Emperor Cyrel respected Princess Celestia enough to leave a few parting words for this mare who was so unwilling to let go her sister.
"You should have learned to grieve, Celestia. If what you said is true, then your sister's time has come. Let her sins die with her in a pure ending. Just accept it, like we all have to."
"Grieve?" she spat out the word with a choked breath.
"Grieve," she cursed this time, "I have seen mortals... born, grow, wither and die before my eyes... I have seen family, lovers, friends and enemies fade like leaves in autumn, leaving only memories. Memories that also fade like mist before morning. Who are you to tell me I should mourn my sister, my only sister, my only companion who walked with me through the ages before you were a even a speck of dust!"
"I've had enough of this! Your disgusting sister will never make it, and you can rot with her! I will make sure of that, Celestia." He did not even bother to look at her this time. This was it.
He turned away from her, intent on leaving Equestria for good.
"How dare you... you..."
Had he had time to reflect on all the revelations he had received today, he would have taken a closer look at Celestia. Seeing all the illusions of power and control fall away to reveal the mare within should have given the griffon pause. Had he had time to reflect, he would have realized that he was looking at a mare who had endured thousands of years, who had covered up a terrible tragedy, who had lied to his face about her intentions for a chance to get her sister back, with the same zeal and insanity with which some ponies accused Princess Luna of having in bringing the eternal night.
"Foalish mortal..." He had barely heard it.
Had he had time to consider what would happen if Celestia Sol Invictus, like her sister, were to be denied something precious to her, something that she longed for with all her being, and what depths of depravity she is willing to fall for it, he might have realized his folly and that perhaps, as the peasants that accuse the nobles of, madness does run in the family.
But his time was up.
Suddenly he felt the temperature of the room skyrocket! His head whipped back only to see a flash of orange which blinded him, his scream died halfway through his throat.
Celestia stood still under the gazebo which had been tainted by the bloody ritual of the nights affairs.
She looked down to her hooves, which lay in a pool of blood. Not too far from the scene of carnage that was dominated by guts, melted flesh, and brain splattering of that which was left of the griffin emperor. Immeasurable feathers floated in the blood all around, moving slowly. The body had exploded violently from her blast, and had sent bits flying everywhere. They all had.
What was she going to do?
Bodies lay all around her, the emperor just being patient zero. All of them mutilated beyond measure in the mad dash Celestia had found herself in after starting all of this. Bodies imploded from being struck with too much volatile energy had simply died immediately, feeling no pain on their entire being being torn apart. A few others had been caught in the fiery waves she had conjured to take out the waves of them which had tried to attack her helplessly. They may as well have been ash now. Her inner solar power from the sun being released would always sunder and devastate any mortal.
There was no sound at all, only her thoughts left. The foul stench brought her immediately back to Riftly. It was happening all over again, only this time she had done it.
She had hunted down all of them to prevent this from leaking. She had done it without thinking for more than a second. She also had no idea if any of them escaped in her rampage. It was unlikely, but still possible. She didn't care much at the moment now.
Why?
Why did fate always seem to find a way to work against her. What had she done to piss off fate so much? It had worked its tendrils into finding every possible way to make her life hell. Even now, it dragged her further away from her sister. Every time she thought things would finally be improving, it continued to mock her. Celestia had lived a long life, but this rival of hers had never deigned to give her a chance, even after all this time.
That was what had started all of this after all. Every word, sentence and exchange, all she could think of was the graying texture of her sister, whose doom was impending and had little hope of making it through all of this. Her odds just kept plummeting. It had panicked her to her core tonight. Things had gotten out of control with the emperor in the end, and he had become too distrusting to listen to her. After he denied the final vestige of hope for Luna something inside of her had broken. This pathetic mortal had tried to get in her way of saving Luna. She had given him a fitting fate for such a sin.
Mortal.
It had become far more common for her to think this word. It horrified her. Is that what she thought of all of her ponies? What was she becoming?
Murderer. She had become a murderer. The realization sent her to her knees to soak in the blood further as she broke down.
What would Twilight think if she saw her right now? Or any pony at all? She had become the lowest of scum.
Luna meant everything to her. Truly. She hadn't realized it, but somehow she had allowed herself to become no different than Nightmare Moon in the journey to save her sister. The worst part was that she knew deep down, if it meant saving her sister, she would do it again.
Her lifeless gaze was slow to break its focus on the emperors body before her.
She didn't have all the time in the world, somepony would be coming sooner or later to check on things. She had to come up with something, anything...
At least there were no witnesses. It may have been an international disaster, but she was one of the most trusted beings on Equus. Her testimony would colour the resulting news.
She had invited the emperor here. Everyone knew that. While it was an emphatically awkward sell at best, and almost impossible at worst, she would claim that the griffin's had tried to assassinate her tonight. This had been self-defense.
It dawned on her that instead of the griffins simply delivering the Sanctuary to her, she would have to go there herself now, or someone she trusted. Take it by force. How much longer would that take? Suddenly, despite being covered in the remains of slaughter, all she wanted was to be by her sisters bedside again to see if she was okay. If it had gotten any worse.
Sighing, she made to finally leave and fly back to the capital. She would be ready to elucidate her planned story by then.
Jotted Page's heart pounded in his chest while he shivered in the small bedroom of his apartment on the east end of Canterlot.
All he had wanted to do was continue his research on what was going on with Celestia. He had even gotten a lengthy and thorough viewing of the castle from Twilight to that end. He had seen that there was a few off limit areas, even for Twilight.
He had made the mistake of his life tonight. It was past midnight now, but he couldn't dream of sleeping after what he had seen and heard tonight.
As Jotted Page lay hidden in a hedge nearby, he almost was able to hear what was being said between the emperor and Celestia. He had arrived here hours before anyone else, and none of the servants had checked his spot during the preparation, so he had maintained his vigil, despite being bored for the longest time until now.
The conversation took on a more emotional fervour, and what he heard next was blood curdling. Looking through the tiny gap in the wedge in which he had been peering through all night, he saw Celestia completely eviserate the emperor like he was some bug as the emperor made to leave. He was unable to move an inch or peal his eyes away while the massacre began. Terror locked up his limbs, and he fought to be silent with all his willpower after Celestia had finished and began looking around.
Eventually, after a lifetime of sitting there she left, and he didnt gain the courage to move an inch until thirty minutes after she left. It had been the entire night, and yet it felt like no time at all.
It still terrified him. The kind and loving Celestia annihilating the griffins like they were bugs. His brain couldn't reconcile the two versions of her. Just how deep did this go?!
He knew deep down that he had to tell someone about this. He may have started this because of his personality to drive him into these kinds of stake outs, but this couldn't stay under wraps.
He would have to be careful about who he told. A few names he believed he could trust popped into his mind. He would explain what he saw even if no one believed him. He would get it off his chest, even if it would never get off his mind forever.
But for now, he whimpered like a foal while basically hiding under the blankets, as though imagining Celestia was hovering outside his place ready to bomb it and him, ready to eliminate the final shred of evidence.
Ponies would know the griffins died, but it was his job for them to know the truth of it. He would make sure of that. Even if they didn't believe him.
Maverick heard about the emergency meeting while he was on his way to the castle. Now, it was a rush to get there.
On the way, he met up with another one of his cabinet. Meticulous Manner was one of the ministers he got the least amount of time to talk to, but held in a high regard. Hearing from him a mini-briefing would be perfect.
It was a hushed tone that he brought it with.
"Can you believe that Celestia came back from that god-forsaken meeting covered it blood? The griffins actually used it as an attempt to kill her. This is unbelievable."
He knew it wasn't good news. This was worse than he imagined.
"Are... are you serious? Then she—"
"Yeah... she defended herself. There's already been confirmed casualties by guards rushing in after her return. This is crazy."
They rounded the corner in the castle, hastily approaching the meeting room.
"Then brace for impact, who knows what kind of state of mind she will be in."
The guards based outside let them in immediately, and the meeting room was found to already almost be full despite the earlier than usual summons.
"Good, now almost everypony is here. I will explain everything shortly my little ponies, despite how much it pains me to go through it again."
Maverick quickly came around the large wooden table to seat at his assigned seat like always. He sat forward and at attention without thinking. This meeting would by and at large dictate the future of Equestria for the coming times.
After about five more minutes and a lot of nervous shuffling by those already here in their seats, the last minister arrived and the meeting doors slammed closed.
Celestia gave the entire room a scan slowly.
"I will be direct and get to the point you're all most likely already fearing the worst of. The griffins merely listened to me for show. Over the course of the night they slowly maneuvred to surround me in a way to optimize blitzing me, I assume. They did it at the emperors signal as he tried to distance himself once it started. I still cannot believe how much of a risk the emperor was willing to take, with his own life at stake. I barely managed to react in time and save myself. I was forced to use as much power as possible in the moment, and I ended up claiming the lives of many griffons. I do not know if any of them escaped the initial attack from myself. The emperor was caught up in it, which reports will soon confirm."
Some mummers were of relief, while in others the anxiety only seemed to rise.
"We're all glad you survived, your majesty, it is completely unacceptable that the griffins take our hospitality and try to take away our beloved ruler from us. This is beyond unacceptable. They must pay."
The old stallion, Wessex, of course was the one to be mentally ahead and replying to Celestia without pause. Maverick wished to be at his level some day. Ponies around the room gave quick nods or comments of approval as they caught up with his thought process.
Now that Maverick had more time to look at Celestia, she was cleaned already, but clearly in a rushed manner. There was no way she would show up fresh from the scene to something like this, but the imagery of it gave him a shiver down the length of his spine.
"This has come at the worst time my ponies. We all know and understand that. Just the other day we were discussing the current economic pressure." She paused to give them a moment. "While it is going to be an additional stressor, I do believe all of you know that this cannot stand. What the griffin's did must be met with severe punishment. We must respond."
Many ministers rushed to agreement, and Celestia had to hush them down.
"I will be declaring war shortly," Actually saying it out loud caused several gasps of those present, "who knows what the griffins will do once they receive word that their assassination attempt failed. We don't even know how many were involved in this plot. It is my goal to limit casualties as much as possible for this reason. I promise you all, our victory shall be swift, and I see now that a heavy hoof of reformation will be needed for them. We shall begin military preparation immediately. I will lead our forces myself - this is personal. We will need to mobilize by the end of a months time."
The rest of the meeting was tense, and several ponies couldn't help bring up the burden that had already been mentioned. Celestia had even mentioned confiscating griffin wealth after their victory to help pay for everything, and several ponies had been shocked to hear that, even if they didn't directly bring it up. Maverick was one such pony. The after party was going to be a massive headache this time around. It would be no party at all.
It came to him that suddenly his job was ten times more important than he had realized. Perhaps this was a new era on Equus, ponies only had so much influence in the end after all. The griffins had proven that they could force the ponies into action like this. Equestria needed to be ready for anything, and the new city they were building, of which he had already seen was going quite well with no short contribution from his part, would be critical for increasing and maintaining the hegemony of Equestria. If they were to remain the pillar of harmony and effort for peace across Equus, they needed to be at their strongest. His hooves which had felt full before, suddenly didn't feel that way. He needed to do more.
The meeting continued with many intense bouts that had to be intervened and mediated by Celestia, many ponies facing a situation they could not handle well the first time around. By the end of the several hours long meeting, their plan of action, while lacking details, was clear. General Reacher would be the second hand pony of Celestia in the upcoming conflict, and it was his job to set up and organize the military expansion and chain-of-command in the next thirty-ish days. There would be assistance of logistics from some others, and any pony patriotic enough would be given a quick chance for training in order to see if they could be allowed to join the war effort in a unit alongside the current forces if they were up to par. Many guards would be transferred directly into positions of soldiers and some officers would be selected in this process to govern their eventual units under the command of Reacher, enacting his orders with leadership. They would also most likely receive some sort of official response from the griffins in that time.
Twilight was visiting Rarity's boutique when the news finally broke. The fashionista turned to Twilight while going through her gallery of merchandise with her glasses on.
"Twilight! I'm so glad to see you! Have you already heard the horrific news from Canterlot? It's only just spread here in Ponyville today!"
"What the heck are you talking about Rarity?"
"A massive scandal to say the least! The griffins attacked Celestia! She barely saved herself, I can only imagine the shock and outrage spread across the country right now! There's likely to be more news incoming as well. Have you not heard from Celestia yet?"
"Of course not! This is... crazy. Rarity you aren't joking right?"
Rarity gave her an incredulous look. "Twilight. I would never joke about something like this. This could even effect Ponyville eventually."
"I guess it's just... a lot to take in Rarity. I'm going to need to ask Celestia myself tonight. I'll see to it that spike sends something soon."
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing still. If what Rarity said was true then Celestia must be hurting so much right now.
"Wait... did Celestia," she coughed, "actually... you know..."
"Yes. Yes she did Twilight. I know it's a shock to all of us, but I don't think she had much of a choice. You know that she didn't like being forced to do that just as much as you would.
"I... I suppose you're right Rarity, thank you."
"Please darling, I know this is troubling. You know you can come to me with anything anytime right? We need to stick together at times like these."
"It's... it's just so hard to think of Celestia in that way. She's always had such a pure image in my head. I think I'll need a while to get over this," she made an apologetic face, "in fact I should probably go, I know its been cut too short but I really need to do some things and—"
"I understand, Twilight. Go."
Maverick was annoyed that his friend had insisted he come over when his work had picked up so much lately. Didn't he understand how important his work was?
He knocked on the apartment door impatiently and started tapping his hoof in annoyance.
Finally, it swung open.
"Maverick! Finally! I've been waiting for you. You wouldn't believe what I've heard. But it best be said inside. Come in, come in."
"Listen, this better be good Pierre, you know how busy I am lately with all the recent drama. Its been hectic to say the least."
"Trust me Maverick, I wouldn't have called you here if it wasn't important. Really."
Pierre was a school buddy from Maverick's younger days, and the two had shaped both of their careers in Canterlot while staying in touch. Pierre worked in the news outlet and had access to a lot of information early, as well as niche or secretive topics. Maverick had learned a lot of surprising things from him about the goings of Canterlot over the past few years, but it's not like he believed all of them either.
"Listen, I'll make us some tea to relax. It won't be long."
Maverick sighed and just accepted it. He had come here after all, and this was a friend. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt even if he felt pressed for time most of the day.
After about ten minutes and some light chat, Pierre had the tea on a little table in the middle of two couches where they sat opposite to each other. They both took a few sips before settling down.
"Listen... Maverick. I know that I've told you some really childish and outlandish stories over the past few years, but what I'm about to tell you is sincerely serious."
Maverick leaned in. Pierre may have been a bit of a goofball at times, as well as many other things, but he knew him long enough to know that he was trustworthy. He would listen if his friend was taking this seriously.
"We had someone come in who was absolutely terrified of us working with Celestia in any manner behind the scenes, and he felt like his name would be leaked. This is someone who has provided valuable information in the past at times, but I've never seen him so terrified to speak."
"And what had him so scared, come on, now I'm interested Pierre."
"I'm getting to it. He ended up agreeing to only speak to a select few us with a promise that nothing would be published or revealed at all. I truly felt like he was getting it off of his chest. Now, what you're about to hear is so scandalous that even I sweat a little bringing it up."
He actually did look around briefly with a nervousness to Maverick's surprise.
His tone was a lot quieter when he resumed his story.
"This pony... no, this informant. He was actually there hiding when Celestia met with the griffins and their emperor. Hard to believe I know. His recollection is entirely different than what we've all been told about what happened. He claimed that a lengthy and at times intense discussion occurred, and Celestia, when seemingly denied something, attacked the griffins and killed all of them in cold blood. It was no assassination attempt. He was too far away to hear much details if any, but he swore on his life that this is the truth of what actually happened."
Maverick's demeanour hardened immensely.
"That's an extremely serious claim Pierre. You're right to think that it's dangerous. No one would ever believe this. I don't want to believe this. I've worked with Celestia for years at a distance. Sure, she's been a bit different lately, but this is..."
"I know, Maverick, I know. But my experience with this pony is burned into my memory. I'm sure he was absolutely telling the truth, or believed he was. It was far too genuine. I've never seen a pony so paranoid and tense, especially in comparison to how he used to be."
"Listen, Pierre. I do trust you, but this isn't something I can just up and accept. The anecdote of one pony is nothing against our princesses history, even if it's troubling coming in this context. I don't want to believe it. However, with that being said, if you ever find out something else you need to contact me again. Things have been getting intense lately, and even I can see that Celestia has been acting a little differently. Just let me know if you find out anything interesting. I'm going to carry on like normal with this in the back of my mind. I certainly won't be acting differently around her. It's just too much for now."
"That's... good enough Mav. Thanks for hearing me out. To be honest his nervousness has been a little infectious. I need to get this past me as well. What you said is true, one can only hope none of this is legitimate. But yeah, I will keep you updated if anything comes up. Let's hope nothing does."
Celestia stared out across the expanse of her slice of Equestria, towards the west where a sunset was soon to be. The balcony of the castle in Canterlot was wide and free, and a gentle breeze fluttered past her, ruffling her fur lightly.
How long had it been now? She knew the answer to that. Why did she keep asking herself the same question over and over?
It had been many centuries now, and yet too many few still. She was so emphatically tired of waiting. Time had become the slowest thing in the world, yet sometimes she blinked and a year had gone by. Ponies who she should've known like the back of her hoof sometimes became gray faces, whose entire identities remained unknown to her while they serviced her.
It reminded her of the recent absence of one maid she had grown slightly fond of. The pony had passed away already, just when she was just getting to really like her. When had she become so old? Or had it been sudden sickness? She couldn't really recall.
Celestia had weathered many rough patches through her life, and always pulled through for a singular string of light.
That her sister would one day return and rejoin her.
For a being of light, Celestia felt like the most hidden and concealed mare in all of Equestria. No pony knew who she really was inside, and her mask was so perfect that it allowed her to control every situation to her liking. She had been more genuine in the past, but when those ponies she had opened up to passed away she continued to see less and less reason to reveal her true self.
She had accomplished so much over time now despite her lacklustre attitude deep inside. Her going through the motions was still productive as a ruler. The quality of life for ponies today was a massive improvement to that of the past. She had improved international bonds, generated prosperity, and even been there for some of the most shining examples of equine greatness that her little ponies had accomplished.
There was so much for her to be proud of in this time. Yet she felt absolutely nothing at all for it. She had improved the lives of everyone around her, yet she alone had remained stagnant. Stuck in place and time. If it wasn't her sporadic nightmares about her sister that reopened old wounds in her heart, it was the periods of depression where she barely remembered why she continued living on in the first place. So many times she had searched for purpose, for hope, and for meaning, to grab onto something to pull her out of this head space, and it sometimes had satiated her for a while. Yet the shadowy tendrils of the past and sins left without repent always managed to grab her soul in the darkness and drag her back into the void.
Her lifeless eyelids were barely open as she cast the magic to seal the fate of the day and bring the cursed reminder that was the night. There was little hope that even after an eternity of waiting that Luna would even forgive her. That thought had almost broken her several times alone. But she had never truly given in deep down. That was one thing she actually took pride in sometimes.
Seeing the moon there, and the tumultuous turmoil of her mind drove her crazy, especially with guilt. This had been another thing that repeated in her life so many times. She desperately needed something to snap herself out of it.
Without so much as thinking, she looked down and cast her magic. Gripping her front right leg with more magic than one would ever be comfortable with, she snapped it like a twig. The pain was immense, and that was a relief even as the tears of pain that she never came to realize fell. Reality reaffirmed, she made to go inside to continue to break the cycle. Her moods would always alleviate after some time, and this would be no different. Her life had brighter times despite the darker undertone that always lurked, but she cherished them whenever she could. She hoped for that feeling to return soon.
The leg would heal any time she felt like it. Or needed to go out in front of her ponies.
She cast all thoughts away except for one, just like she always had. It was a simple thought.
"What do you mean Celestia isn't here?! I came all the way to Canterlot just to see her!"
The frazzled guard really hadn't been expecting the student of Princess Celestia to be taking out her frustrations on him.
"It means exactly what I just said. She's currently away, and we cannot tell you where she is."
Before Twilight go get back into him, another voice spoke up.
"Who isn't here?"
Both Twilight and the guard turned to see a white earth pony with a brownish mane approaching.
"Raven Inkwell! It's been a while since I've seen you, do you know where Celestia is?"
"I do. Walk with me."
They both started on a journey whose destination was unknown to Twilight.
"The princess has left to check on the progress of Equestria's newest city of "Oblatio", which she has named recently."
"It really came at the worst time, and I was really hoping to see her too after coming here..."
"Twilight, I think both of us know that perhaps she needs a little reprieve from all of the stress lately. A little leave from here will do her a lot of good. I even heard she's putting on a few touches of herself on the new city, how wonderful is that? Anything to get her mind off of things"
"Yeah, you're probably right. Do you have any idea how long it'll be until she gets back?"
"She did speak with me briefly before leaving. She said it was likely it'd be either later tomorrow or the morning after that."
Twilight stopped, so Raven followed suit.
"I still just can't... believe what I've heard about what happened with the griffins. It's just so surreal. I can't even imagine the chaos all the leadership here must be facing. What Celestia must be facing... she was the one who was targeted after all."
"Yes, everyone has been stunned as you say. The griffins have already declared war on us firstly, before we could. That hasn't gone public yet, but it will be soon. Celestia will be giving a speech on it soon that will be spread and relayed to the entire nation. So don't worry about it being some big secret."
"Wow... it's that bad. I heard of it in Ponyville and it still hasn't sunk in. There hasn't been war in centuries for goddess sake! This is beyond crazy!"
"You're telling me. We're all still desperate to figure out why they tried this after all. It doesn't make any sense. Did they get greedy when Celestia went alone? We know griffin's can be short-sighted but this is something else. They should've known better than to doubt the capabilities of an ageless alicorn, surprised or not."
"Is it... is it really true Celestia plans to lead our forces herself?"
"It is. I believe she strongly wants to end the conflict as swiftly as possible and with as few casualties as possible for both sides. Using the most of her power to overwhelm them into submission is almost certainly the best way of achieving that."
"But she's our princess! She's the last one who should be fighting, she's..."
"She's the one who makes the decision in the end, Twilight, she always has been. I'm sure several ministers tried that alley only to receive the slamming conviction of Celestia to finish something that started in a personal manner for her. That was enough to shut them up for good on that topic."
"Again, you're right." She sighed. "It's too much, everything that's been happening. I need to speak to her soon, make sure she's okay..."
"You will get your chance Twilight. Why don't you stay until tomorrow? This is obviously important enough to you. I'll have a room prepared."
"You know what, I'll have to take you up on that offer. Thanks, Raven. Really."
They both smiled.
"I'm sure Celestia will be beyond happy to see you when she returns."
In the deeper recess of the castle, in a room not recently receiving much attention, Rosebud sat in quiet contemplation by a bedside, like always with the chair pulled out.
A small rag was smeared with blood laying in her lap. It had dried several times, with the most recent batch soaking a portion of it.
Luna had started coughing up blood recently. Celestia had yet to know of this, and Rosebud, for once in her life, had actually hesitated on reporting something to her on her own accord. She knew how much pressure was on her mentally already. Would it really be right for her to add on to that? She would've reported it if Celestia had asked her directly, but she had not. It was truly a relief that she was so busy as to not do so.
Even if it meant that Celestia was eventually angry at her, she still believed this was the right way to handle things. Celestia needed to stay focused on saving Luna, worrying would only slow that down and lessen chances. Odds that they didn't have the leeway to allow to worsen.
Many hairs on Luna had grayed by this point, probably around thirty to fourty percent. It was a slow process, but it was agonizing for Rosebud to see it slowly creep up day by day attending to this pony. She was being forced to watch the worlds slowest funeral procession.
If one hadn't paid attention, you wouldn't notice that her breathing had gotten slightly more strained as well. Rosebud was not the kind of pony to miss those kinds of details, but sometimes she wished she was.
She was surprised that the researchers hadn't really come back much at all. No visits in the past two weeks now. Probably in shame at how futile their effort was, and she could relate with the pain and disappointment of coming up short. It was not something you actively wanted to think about.
She had originally been uncaring and apathetic about Luna when she had first been assigned this additional duty. She couldn't help it, she really had nothing other than her being Celestia's sister to care.
She would be lying if hearing the soft stories of the past from Celestia during the lost hours of the day hadn't changed the feeling in her heart. So few times did Celestia ever break character from the standard ruler picturesque, even around those she was closer to. Hearing her talk about the days of the past and sharing them with Luna had been the most sincere and emotional she had ever heard her speak in this room.
It was hard to spend this much time around a pony in clear decline and be so unable to do anything. Even a trained pony like Rosebud felt it. She never really showed it much, but it bothered her. She had grown attached to some degree.
Sighing, she made to go finish the rest of her duties before any pony started questioning why she was gone for so long. She may have intimidated the group of maids, but that didn't mean they didn't speak behind her back.
Twilight had been trying to read for the last few hours in the comfort of bed that her room provided. She had only been mildly successful because her thoughts had a tendency to become distracted by her hopeful upcoming meeting with Celestia. She had already slept overnight and today had been a little too lax so far.
Just as she was beginning to consider lunch after she had skipped breakfast, a solid knock rang through the room several times.
"Twilight? Twilight are you there?"
"I am! Coming!"
Twilight swung the door open with magic and hopped out of bed, allowing the book to fall softly onto the sheets.
"Is she here?"
"She arrived around thirty minutes or so ago, and has been discussing a few details with some ponies. I suspect she's probably going to be holed up in her room for a bit after that."
Raven had continued to help Twilight since yesterday, and Twilight was very appreciative of the fact. She felt like she knew her a bit more now. They had even shared dinner last night.
"I'll go grab a quick snack and then head over then, so I'm not too early. Thanks for letting me know. You've been a massive help, Raven."
"Please Twilight, it's nothing. I've enjoyed getting to interact with you more now. You normally just rush to princess Celestia and then leave."
Twilight gave a sheepish laugh and coughed to the side.
"I never realized it quite looked like that. Is like that. I'll try and stick around more, the ponies here have always been lovely, you've definitely showed me what I've been missing out on."
Twilight approached Celestia's chambers just like she always did, although this time she did so a bit slower than normal. There was a certain nervousness brought on by the nascent topic that was about to be broached. As much as she had tried to prepare herself for this conversation, it would never be enough.
She just had to go through with it.
The guards gave their usual understanding look to Twilight while they made sure the princess was allowing her in. It was quickly granted.
When Twilight slowly entered the darkened room, the curtains being closed was the first thing she noticed. The fireplace was lit and burning steadily, and Celestia sat before it not facing her. It felt eerily like another time she had been here, only the context made it flip on its head this time around.
"Princess...?"
There was a slight pause to Celestia's response.
"Twilight? Please... do join me by the fire."
The tone in which it was said had already thrown off Twilight. She couldn't quite put her hoof on what it was. There was a certain unbalanced nature to it.
Twilight sat down besides her, a small gap between them.
"You must have so many questions."
"I do... princess. But first... are you okay?"
Celestia's gaze on the inferno never budged an inch.
"Have I ever been okay Twilight? Sometimes I wonder when I'll wake up from this nightmare."
"Princess you can always—"
"It's fine, Twilight. I know you'll be there for me," she turned her head finally to face her, "even if I don't deserve it."
She looked genuinely miserable. It broke Twilight's heart.
"What happened with the griffins, it wasn't your fault! They attacked you! I know that you would never normally—"
"I killed them in cold blood, Twilight."
Her gaze shifted, becoming colder as she had said it.
"And now I'm going to have to kill even more of them to save Luna."
Twilight was unable to say anything after that. Celestia took that and came back to the fire. She had to come up with something, anything, to break Celestia out of this.
"I just want you to know that while I may not understand what you're going through, I will always be willing to listen. Nothing about this is right, and when your hoof is forced it's never a pretty situation." She swallowed a lump in her throat. Scrambling for words.
"And now we've had to delay saving Luna even longer while both sides prepare for the upcoming conflict."
She had started trembling. This was something Twilight had never seen before in her life, and it almost didn't seem real. She hated it.
"Twilight... I want to leave now. I would face Tartarus, a hoard of dragons, anything... there's no time for me to be okay anymore. I don't even know if I can go in there and see Luna anymore, I don't know what I'd do if what I saw..."
It broke Twilight's heart. This hadn't gone even remotely close to what she imagined in the time here in Canterlot spent waiting. She knew it would be tough and painful, but actually facing it cemented those fears.
She rushed to cross the distance and hug Celestia, of which Celestia had to push her away for a moment to open her wing to allow for a proper hug on her side.
Celestia's trembling slowly subsided, but her gaze still refused to budge from the fire. She squeezed Twilight with her wing as well.
"I have become something rotten on the way to saving Luna," she paused, "perhaps I always have been. I only ask that you do not hold my sins and extend them onto her. She... she has never deserved any of this. Never wanted any of it. Please tell me you'll pledge your allegiance to her after this is all over, no matter what Twilight."
There was so much, too much, that Twilight wanted to ask right now. To clear up everything and more. But it simply wasn't the right time. Celestia was getting it all out, that was what mattered. That last comment had been troubling, but she knew Celestia wasn't exactly been in the clearest of mindsets right now. She would not deter her any more than as little as possible to help her continue to do so.
"The fact that you're saying all this is revealing, princess. You aren't shying away from anything and you're taking it head on. You aren't nearly as far gone as you think. You're just a bit... overwhelmed. If it means sharing the burden, I can sign up to the-"
"No! Do not even speak of such a thing Twilight. You will not be joining us on the battlefield. That is the last thing I would ever want to see. Can you not care for my sister instead for my prolonged absence? I know that Rosebud has done as much as she can but she is still only one pony. I only ask you help on the side. You'll have free access to all the archives while you stay here as well, I'll make sure of it. I dont need to remind you that you're already helping me by being here right now, Twilight."
"I can do that... princess."
They fell into silence, the hug separating but they stayed close. Celestia sighed after about ten minutes of peace.
"How much do you think is acceptable before it becomes too much, Twilight?"
"What... what do you mean?"
"How many sacrifices to save Luna in the end. It is the question that has haunted me for months now."
Twilight thought of all the tragedy that had occurred so far. Riftly and now, the griffins. More was coming, but that was not directly the fault of this situation to save Luna, even if it had been the reason to call the emperor over in the beginning.
"I don't know, princess. But I know that we need to limit it as much as possible while getting the Sanctuary from the griffins. I get that."
"And what if they don't have it anymore? I was never given any confirmation by the emperor that they had it directly in our conversation. Nor would there be a hundred percent chance he was telling the truth even if he had. We have not seen it for ourselves, so for all we know it was lost or sold ages ago. Our war would just be a slightly greater tragedy I suppose, with less of a redeeming factor to it now."
Her laugh was light, like she had realized her entire life was a lie and couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity.
"You have to believe they have it princess. I do. They will."
"I know Twilight. I know. What I'm becoming scares me, Twilight. I see the way ponies have been looking at me lately. Even if they themselves don't realize it. I fear that I have crossed a boundary that can never be returned from, and I will only sink deeper. My only hope is to get Luna above the water even if it means me reaching the bottom."
She shook her head.
"Ah, listen to this old mare rambling Twilight. I'm sorry. I know you mean the best but I shouldn't be subjecting you to this. You're a blessing in my life, and I want you to know that I appreciate you being here."
"Just... just because you've had to do unseemly things doesn't make you a bad pony princess. I know that you would never do them under any normal circumstances. Please, try to forgive yourself, if even a little."
"If only you knew what I had considered doing..."
"It will not come to that, princess, whatever it is. There may have been a delay, but we will be successful."
"One can only hope Twilight... I'm so tired of fate pulling the rug out from me at the final moment now."
There was so much more they needed to discuss, but with some level of resolution Twilight chose to allow it to last. Besides, Celestia had needed to attend to more meetings to her chagrin, and their time had run short. Hopefully, it had been enough to lift Celestia's spirit for now to carry on with the vigor close to what she normally had.
They had a tender hug once again, and Twilight quickly planned out mentally how she would schedule her life to be in Canterlot more now to help, before making her way out of the castle and to make a quick stop by her parents before returning to Ponyville, which would be a brief thing.
Dire Comet laid his newspaper out on the living room table while he sat back lazily in the couch that accompanied the set. The soft steam lifted from his tea cup off the table as it sat besides the paper on top of a coaster. He could see the majority of upper Canterlot from the view of his window.
Unbelievable.
Dire had grown up a particularly uncomfortable pony. His talent had been such a rare thing, and while he had far and away surpassed anyone else in the field, it was basically useless in modern Equestria.
He had always had a masterful and potent affinity for destructive and combative magics. In his youth he had even adventured a bit in the hopes he'd find something to prove himself to be who he knew he was. It hadn't really done it for him. He never found any grand opponent, nothing even close to it.
Still, being so talented in magic he had eventually leveraged it into working his way into education, and eventually, teaching. He had become a professor by the second half of his life, and by now he had taught more generations than what he knew what to do with. What he taught wasn't that interesting in his opinion, but a lot of it still formed the fundamentals to reach out into the more esoteric branches that were. He had done a lot on the side. Some students had truly enlightened his existence as well, talented ones, pushing him late into his life when he had started to grow a little complacent. But with time his pure power had waned, replaced with a deeper knowledge to raise the efficiency of his magic to make up for it. Practice could never be replaced, however. Something he was sorely lacking in for the longest time now.
Yet now of all times, when he would be considering retirement in reasonably around five years or so now, this news struck.
"Griffin's Attempted Assassination Of Celestia, War Declared"
The headline had been basically all anypony was talking about in Canterlot, or any part of Equestria it had reached by now. So probably most places.
They were recruiting for the upcoming war effort, anypony patriotic enough to could join if they passed basic testing to be deemed fit enough.
He knew that in his old age, this was beyond him. His life had already passed him by.
So why did it call to him so greatly? He had been completely unable to let go of the thought the moment he had heard.
Again - he was lying to himself.
He knew why.
All his life, deep down, he had wanted to prove himself in combat as the great mage of this time. Now it had come in an opportunity to do it in the most honourable way possible - protecting his fellow ponies. It was something he had never even said aloud at any point, not even to his parents or the close friends he did have. It had sat there inside of him, treacherously whispering to his heart that he was missing something. It was whispering feverishly now.
'I want to prove myself'.
Yet why did it have to come now, so late in the final hour when he wasn't chomping at the bit to take action?
He let out a sigh, and began finishing off his tea.
He had no spouse. It had never been his thing, or perhaps he hadn't looked hard enough. His estate which most would consider quite grand was a wasted thing for a singular pony. He cared little except that it offered him a quality of life that few could afford.
What was holding him back?
Excuses. He realized it in a flash. It was all excuses. He had absolutely nothing holding him back, even if he had nothing to prove anymore.
He had everything to prove still. To himself.
Cracking his neck, his eyes lit with a fire not seen in many decades of that in his youth as he got up from the couch and made to head for the heart of Canterlot to sign up.
Celestia sat patiently while waiting for the signal for her to come out. She was about to give a speech that she had personally prepared, and it was important to solidify the morale and unity of her ponies for the future conflict.
There was going to be no breaks today. Right after she was going to be consulting with General Reacher to get an update on the preparatory progress. They needed to be ready soon, as they could not allow the griffin's to get a head start and attack the severely weakened outer provinces. They would meet them before it could happen, seize victory, and immediately march for the griffin capital to finish things quickly.
But this came first.
She hadn't even seen her sister recently. It was cowardly, but she had allowed herself to become buried in work and not made spare time to go see her. It had been a while, and who knew what her condition could be. Rosebud would report any significant changes at the least. She allowed that to comfort her. She would see her before they left for the Griffin Kingdom, that was sure.
Finally she got the signal to climb towards the podium, her introduction complete.
When she finally saw the crowd, it was a little larger than she had been expecting. This was an unprecedented event in recent times, so perhaps she had been naive. Thousands of ponies filled everywhere the eye could see across the streets and in buildings.
"My dear ponies! Thank you all for coming to listen to me! It was against all expectations that the griffins would ever make a move against us like this, coming straight at me when I had opened my hooves in welcoming nature like always. I may have been shocked but I will never be defenseless! Fear not, my ponies! I have survived their ambush and become a stronger mare! While their treachery breaks my heart, as I have always worked to improve the harmony across Equus, I will not allow it to destroy me. Make no mistake, my resolve has never been stronger! We cannot let this go unanswered! They act as savages and will be treated as such! They have already declared war before we could, as if to add insult even further when they were the aggressors! The only thing they have left is to lie and deceive, claiming it was actually I who turned on them. Who has ever heard of something so preposterous!
"But their threat is real my ponies. That is why we have been preparing, and we shall ride out to meet them and protect the ponies of Equestria! Any pony with the courage to fight and protect their brethren are welcome to join us! But nopony shall be forced to. That is core tenet of our civilization, a shining one! I will lead our forces myself at the front, and victory shall be assured. It is my goal to dismantle the griffins as quickly as possible with a show of force. We will reform them with a heavier hoof this time around, until they are beings fitting of harmony who understand the blessings we have granted them.
"No matter the struggle, we shall persevere like always!
Glory to Equestria!"
The crowd roared the same line back in response.
Six young ponies gathered at Sugarcube Corner, seeking solace in each other's company amidst the recent chaos of the world. The fresh aroma of baked goods wafted through the air, tingling the senses of anypony inside the cozy bakery.
"Too much is happening lately," Twilight murmured, taking centre stage of the conversation having being the closest to the epicentre of recent events. "It seems like the political unrest has been put to rest for now over the united front we've taken against the griffins. I still can't believe that they're leaving in a few days supposedly."
Pinkie Pie, ever the optimist, tried to lighten the mood like she always did and with a cheerful smile. "Hey, we always have found a way to handle whatever comes our way, right? I'm sure this will be over sooner than lickety-split!"
"Pinkie, dear, don't forget that war is a grotesque thing, no good will come of it. I fear for all ponies and griffin's involved. I just... I understand why we're fighting, especially since they attacked Celestia in such a cowardly manner and all, and that they were coming for us anyway after that, but I still can't... accept such a thing being normal or acceptable."
"Um... you're totally right Rarity, every single little creature has value. I just hope we can come to a peaceful solution sooner rather than later."
"Well I dun know bout y'all, but I had to convince Big ole Macintosh not to sign up. Come as a surprise I figure, him being to up and ready to go for Equestria. Sure fixed him a mentality real soon after hearing it though. We've gotta stay back here and home base and support as much as we can in our own way. I even sent a message to Canterlot through Twi that we'd send some food if it was needed for those out on the front lines."
"Well save me a slice! I'm sure I'll have worked up an appetite by then."
"What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?" said Twilight.
"Well, no duh? I signed up. It's finally my chance to kick some real flank!"
"Are you crazy! You could seriously get hurt or—"
"Relaaax. I've got this, guys, seriously. I promise I won't go too crazy out there, and return home. A hero that is." Her smirk threatened to stretch past her face.
"I don't know about that RD, I hear it could get real dangerous out there."
"I agree with Applejack, surely you must rethink this, Rainbow Dash! This is no light subject matter! We all want you here alive and blessing us all with your presence!"
"I don't know what I'd do if you... left us Rainbow." Fluttershy was playing dirty, it seemed.
"Guys, seriously, stop. No fair Flutter's. I made my final decision the other day. I'm not backing out of it now. I appreciate the gestures but... I'll be fine. I promise you."
"If that's how you feel, than we can't stop you. Please stay safe out there Rainbow. Personally, I don't know about the rest of you gals, but this affects me largely as well. I had originally even considered joining myself, but Celestia quickly talked me out of it. Instead, she wants me to do some work in Canterlot working with logistics and some other stuff on the side. A lot of seeing how it's done and learning to eventually do it myself. I'm kind of excited for it. Don't worry though, I'll still find time to come back here to visit. I won't be a stranger."
The rest of their conversation was calm and shifted into more innocuous topics, having gone over the weighty topic in the room already. As they departed, a few of them made sure to wish Rainbow Dash well and reminder her to stay safe. They all had different ways of adjusting to the upcoming storm, and only time would tell how it really effected them.
Celestia flew overhead the massive ranked formations of the army her ponies had assembled as they marched north east toward the griffin lands. General Reacher had been efficient in his formations and planning, and had assigned the appropriate leadership hierarchy to keep things working smoothly in almost every possible situation. Chain of command was key.
He had also created several strategies regarding the tribes, even some she hadn't thought of before. They had been mostly split off into their own tribes to work in specific ways as units, but they would be relying on each other to fulfill the roles they had been given with efficiency. That way they could protect one another.
Earth ponies could dominate the griffin's if the griffin's became pinned down, and it was the job of both the pegasus and unicorns to largely make that happen.
The unicorns were the ultimate supports, and their position in the back reflected that, while the pegasi had the flexibility to work in-between the earth ponies and them. In truth, the pegasi probably had the hardest job, since they could engage with the griffin's the quickest and had to be ready to move to any location at any time. It was a complicated position. She believed they would pull it off regardless.
The unicorns had been trained for several tactics in which they could all cast magic together in conjunction, but there was no doubt that the heat of battle would eventually reduce them to individual casting. That was fine.
All of them wore a standard uniform befitting Equestria, and it provided some level of armor without overburdening them.
The turnout had been nothing short of epic. Tens of thousands of ponies, approximately thirty two thousand to be exact. Ponies from all across Equestria had responded with outrage against the griffins and answered the call to defend Equestria, as well as punish the griffin's for daring to try and take their rulers life. That was what they ran on, anyway. The already established military, which had been basically a skeletal organization, had become revamped and a reinvigorated machine, and General Reacher could be seen near the middle of the army in a specialized unit.
Twilight had even told her that one of her friends from Ponyville had signed up. She had mixed feelings about that.
Then came her role in all of this. It was simple. Be as overwhelming as possible to inspire hope for her ponies while hopefully getting the griffin's to surrender sooner. If being more brutal and devastating with her methods meant saving more lives, she would do that in a heartbeat. She may have been slipping lately, but she still knew she had to do this much. It pained her that she couldn't be at every battle to protect her ponies. In the back of her mind the leering hypocrisy rang out, but she squashed it immediately. She had to stay focused, for Luna's sake.
The army would be splitting off to head for different key areas eventually, each one taking their portions of the three tribes, for different battlefields that would most likely occur a few hundred more kilometres from here near the border. For now, they moved as one massive force and would for some time. They would stop and resupply at several smaller towns on the way.
It was while musing all of this she remembered a conversation she had before leaving, which had taken her entirely by surprise.
Celestia had finally regained the courage to see her sister again, and the result had been startling. At first she had wanted to be angry at Rosebud for not telling her how bad it had gotten, but she had quickly forgiven her after thinking about it for a few moments.
Then, a pony who had frequented the room no longer did so once again.
"Your majesty, are you alone? I was hoping to speak with you."
She turned away from Luna to see that it was indeed the voice of Ruby Aura, one of the researchers she had let go.
"Ruby? This is a surprise. I had thought you all had returned to your regular lives. Rest assured that while we couldn't find anything traditional, there is still hope for my sister."
"That is... good to hear your majesty. But I am here for a different reason."
"And what is that, my dear pony?"
Ruby hesitated for a moment, but quickly let all spill out: "I know that there's a lot more to the story of Riftly than what was told. The other researchers weren't the ones to cast the spells and have the knowledge to interpret them exactly like I do. I know that Luna stole the life of countless ponies in a far more direct way than you explained. There's no way she could've grabbed all of that life energy if they had all passed away from that rock slide." She bit her lip, "its been bothering me ever since I discovered it, but I kept quiet. I didn't know what to do with the information. But I do want to know the truth! And I want to know what's going on now that these recent events have happened."
"Do you really want to know, my little pony? Do you really?" Where the was seriousness, there was also a sadness that indicated she had never wanted to talk about this. She paused, but only briefly, "sometimes the truth is better left unturned. Luna directly caused the death of those at Riftly, do I really have to say anymore? Or do you want to drag my sister through the mud more while she was in her darkest hour unable to even understand what was going on?"
"Those ponies lives deserved more than to be forgotten in some lie! The dignity of their existence demands it! All of ours does!"
"And those ponies families are better off not knowing. Do you think the deceased would've preferred they suffered? You should know this, Ruby. Do you think I enjoyed deceiving the public? Of course not."
"I just... I do understand it, but, it's too cruel for those ponies to have their end be some mirage."
Celestia just kept looking at her.
"And now? What is going on with the griffins? I wouldn't normally think anything of it, but recent events have made me feel different. This isn't normal, just like Riftly wasn't..."
"The griffin's have one of the sanctuaries, Ruby."
"Wait, are you telling me the emperor was brought here for that reason under the guise of a trade agreement? What... what the hell happened?"
"He refused to see reason, even when I poured my heart out to him. He was going to deny our hope and for what? Pride."
"Princess... don't tell me that you—"
"And what if I did?"
Now it was Celestia's turn to approach Ruby. She towered over her, and Ruby's blood ran cold at the sudden shift.
"Just... just what is really going on, Celestia? I want to believe this isn't what is seems like."
"Ruby. You only need to know one thing. My sister," she turned to look back at her again, "will be saved no matter what. I will make sure of that."
"Even... even if it means things get even worse? Just where does this end Celestia? Do you really think Luna would've wanted all of this? Of course not!"
"Luna wouldn't have wanted to be crippled in some bed, unable to even think or do anything but cling to life!"
She had shouted it, to both of their surprises.
"Celestia... I have looked up to you all my life. I was born and raised under the light of your sun here in Canterlot itself. It pains me to say this after seeing you that way for so long, but the more I think about it the worse all of this is. This isn't right, and this isn't you. You have to see that, surely?"
Celestia's visage slowly became downcast. Her eyelids closed almost completely and she stared down now. It was a tense few seconds.
"You think I don't know that," she choked out, completely taking Ruby by surprise, "you think I ever wanted any of this? Everything has all gone wrong and I've been reaching for whatever I can to salvage what I can. I hate it. I hate this. But... this isn't about me. It never has been." Her enunciation and pronunciation had grown stronger and fuller as she continued.
"You know... I think it was your team that once posited it. That perhaps alicorn souls are selfish. Maybe there was some truth to that, more than we realized."
"Cele—"
"I've come too far Ruby. I'm going to finish this. I will save her no matter what, that is for certain. I do not regret doing everything in my power so far, even if it was beyond a shame how things turned out this way. I want you to know that I'm still trying, as hard as I can, to reach the end of all of this with as little casualty as possible. I'm leading the war effort for this reason. This war will be an unavoidable tragedy of which I cannot predict the scale of, but I will not waste it. Fate would have it that way as always, it seems."
Ruby seemed overwhelmed, and after a while broke.
"I don't know if I can stand by and watch all of this. It's just... too..."
"Unfortunately, you'll have to. You remember your vow, correct? I will be holding you to it."
"Yes... your majesty."
Ruby slowly made to leave, and Celestia didn't like the expression she wore.
Maverick rushed to get to the castle on time. Apparently, he had gotten the short end of the stick and was chosen to be the one that Celestia's protege shadowed for a week. He hoped it went smoothly, but that was almost never the case. He just prayed he could be a good role model in the end.
When he finally arrived in the courtyard, she was already there waiting for him
"My apologizes for being slightly late, I had to take care of some business."
"No problem at all! Maverick, right? A pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you've been told already, but my name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm princess Celestia's personal student. Being assigned to see how different aspects of government function is amazing! I already had something I needed to take care of at the castle, so I was fine to just stay here and wait after."
"Nice to meet you as well. It's also nice to see somepony actually excited for this kind of work. Come on, we can talk as we go. I'm going to check in here and then head out to different spots in town. We need to make sure that resources are being allocated properly. I run labour, but a large part of that is making sure that the ponies we do hire are receiving the right things so that they can work effectively. There's some other side stuff I have to get done, that isn't really my normal, but that's just how things are when we're so overwhelmed like this."
After they had signed in at the castle and checked in, they began a round trip through Canterlot. For once, there wasn't an emergency meeting that had become common as of late.
"Come on, let me show you what kind of orders I'm sending for the workers in Oblatio from the merchants and travel agencies."
She had remained fairly quiet throughout the day, asking questions in between spots while jotting notes occasionally. Maverick was working with other ponies he knew already for many years, so he had to point out things wouldnt always be that smooth when you start. Another shipment of tools was being sent out, as well as food and more wood and marble, which had already been a steady stream to Oblatio as it kept up construction. Based on what he had heard, they had already made it to around the halfway point, and soon applications for ponies across Equestria to move there would start. It was an amazing opportunity for any pony to receive housing like this in the first place, even if it wasn't fully paid for by the crown in the end.
Unfortunately, he would soon also have to start the process of sending materials to the front line of the war. The supply chain would be critical to victory if things got rough out there. He was optimistic that they could take momentum early with Celestia's presence, even if it stretched them a bit thin as they went deeper into enemy territory. Things were going to be very split and the amount of resources they had would be pushed to the limit for the first time in longer than he could remember. That meant not every project could get everything they needed, some came others came first while others suffered lessened shipments. The war took priority if they started to run out of anything of course, as Equestria's safety was always the number one priority.
Finally, nearing the end of the day where the brisk air started to turn cooler as the light of the sun no longer warmed them, he made to somewhat of a strange location with Twilight.
The foster home that was sponsored by the royal family. They had began expansion for another building, but the funding had been redirected as economic pressures had built up. The halfway finished building had been covered up, awaiting the finishing touches off to the side in a sealed off area.
An older mare was waiting for him outside of the home.
"Umm... I believe it was Faithful? Faithful Promise?"
"That's my name. Please tell me you have good news. You cannot understand how overwh—"
Her sentence was broken off by the shouting of several foals, who were playing outside with a distinct lack of supervision.
"Yes... I'm really sorry to inform you that things have only gotten worse on our end. We won't be able to finish the second building for some time. Perhaps after Oblatio starts generating wealth we may be able to—"
"That's unacceptable! These foals are the future of our nation, how could we allow them to have such substandard conditions?! Celestia promised me that this would get done."
He winced at that, and knew that this was the part of the job he hated. He just had to take it and accept it sometimes. There was no getting around it.
"Look, we really wish we could. I promise you I'll take a look at the budget and see if I can get a small amount redirected to hire a small team to finish things up here slowly but surely. I know more than anyone how painful it is to see such work be incomplete and wasteful until it is finished. You have my word."
She gave a response, but he became distracted by the foals again. There was something one of them said that had caught his ear—
"Are you listening to me?", she sighed, "Well, fine, there's nothing I can do about it anyway. But please, the ponies around me are burnt out from these conditions and I'm afraid they're going to leave because of it. That would be an unmitigated disaster for all of us, running this operation would legitimately become a nightmare. I'm begging you, find a way."
As he answered that he would, he heard it again. Some filly had mentioned several key words that he knew he had heard before and caught his ear. Some of them being "blue", "alicorn", and most importantly, "Riftly", if he had heard correctly.
They ended up leaving after that, but it stayed on his mind that entire night even after he finished up work and gave his farewell to Twilight, who had been an excellent observer and companion.
He went to bed that night struggling to sleep, mind whirling from the cyclonic nature of thoughts for all that had occured lately. His mind always came back to that filly however. He made up his mind, and eventually dozed off to sleep not too long afterwards.
Dire Comet sat in part of a circle around one of the many established fire pits that their unit had put up for the night. There was hundreds of them set up decently spaced out, with ponies mingling and finding warmth.
They had been marching for days now, and soon would be reaching the destination of Byane. It was a smaller village near the border of the Griffin Kingdom, and it would be their final spot before making contact with the enemy.
Splitting off, four main forces had been sent to each identified position that command wanted them to start from. Dire didn't know much more than that, and he also didn't care to. He was here for one purpose, and he was sticking to it. Leave the rest to those who had already spent enough time painstakingly going over the details. He didn't need to hear it to add on to the stress he already held. None of them did, really.
He had stood out against the rest of the ponies as the only aged one, well, he hadn't seen any others of similar stature, but few had even acknowledged it.
Not only this, but while the eventual battle formations would have them separating, the tribes mixed for times like these. He enjoyed that greatly. The times of his youth tingled in his mind as he heard the excitement and passion of those younger than him, as they discussed what was to come.
"Do not underestimate the griffins, young one," he was looking at one in particular who had made a naive comment, "I can tell you that would be your first and last mistake this warpath sooner than you can blink if you let it. Trust in those around you and always consider how things might change."
He had cut in on the plethora of voices, and many ponies quieted and had given him the room to speak quickly seeing as he was one of the few who seemed like they knew what they were talking about, as they had no clue on anything about him. For all they knew he was a veteran.
"None of us have ever experienced anything like this, and neither has our ancestors for longer than we can remember. Our progeny probably will only hear whispers of it if we're lucky, and not partake in any continued bloodshed. Let's all hope this goes smoothly, as our great Princess Celestia has so passionately spoken about. But make no mistake, this is war. Some of us will not be making it home."
Everypony became downcast at that, but there was one that pepped up to counter it.
"But it's not like we can back down from something like this! They did something unforgivable! Celestia has been at our side for as long as history and they tried to take her away from us, and now they threaten to hurt all of our families eventually if we let it. We must fight!"
"We all know that, son, that's why we're all here after all."
There was some light chuckles, but the underlying truth of his statement still held true and that was punctuated by the serious looks the majority slowly transitioned to. Ponies who had allowed any kind of distraction of their purpose quickly righted it.
Dire did not know what lay in store for any and all of them, himself included. What he held on to instead, was that even if he met his end, he could demonstrate to the world what he had kept inside of himself for so long. That would be enough for him. It didn't matter who actually saw it, or if anyone did at all. He would go out with fireworks, not like a candle being extinguished by the gentle wind, of that he would make sure. If he survived long enough, he was sure that he could continue to improve. That would only increase his chances of surviving even more, and he bet everything on it. He just had to make it to the point of momentum. Forget everything about unassailable odds, for nothing mattered if it came down to that anyway. He would believe that there was always a path forward, regardless of any circumstance that would sweep the mind off the rug.
It was during this night, that, when formality and strict adherence to the military standard could be dropped and all could relax a little, that he noticed several pegasi doing tricks in the air above them. One of them stood out as particularly impressive to him, and he couldn't help but smirk at it. Even if he couldn't make out the details of the pony well so that he could remember her, if it was indeed a mare like he suspected, he would want to remember seeing her at times like these before everything if she amounted to anything after all of this. His eyes weren't perfect like they used to be, especially against the trickery of the night. He was glad that ponies could still have that kind of energy even when facing a situation like this.
Twilight sat back in her chair in a lonely room. It was stiff, but she hardly noticed. Without Celestia here, it had become a barren place. Books surrounded her like always, a dream scenario which was sorely lacking at the moment. The cramped nature had never bothered her.
She had been ruminating about the spells Celestia had told her she would cast to save Luna, once it was time. Having actually just came from seeing her earlier today, it made the feeling of desperation all the more real. While she wasn't going to be the one casting these spells, it still felt right to be learning them.
There was aspects of the magic that really reminded her of a spell she had already essentially mastered and succeeded in using - Krazor's spell. Channelling magic of which would normally overwhelm any mortal unicorn was certainly a daunting prospect for anyone not named Celestia. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how much of the burden was simply lifted by the sanctuary amethyst itself. For all they knew, it could contain absurd amounts of energy and have next to zero problems storing them. You could leave enough magical energy inside to blow up several buildings, and leave it for decades only to come back and find the crystal as dormant as ever, a mischievous glimmer in the depths the only sign of any untapped potential.
While on the topic, she couldn't help but marvel at how incredible such a feat was if it wasn't so rare. The amount of breakthroughs in magic would be exponential if they had access to items in excess such as this with some level of availability for the average researcher. However, the sanctuaries were considered legendary treasures for a reason.
Still, there was two major hurdles to get out of way in order to actually save Luna. First, you had to learn how to convert living things into life energy, and then store it into something. In their case, this meant setting up a large magical construct to designate an area of which you wanted to take that energy from. That kind of spell had to have had a million different variations, so it hadn't really had a properly designated title besides being an energy condenser variant. Problems arose if the life you were trying to take had any level of consciousness, as the souls could resist having their life essentially snatched away, and it would ruin the spell entirely to have that resistance. Instead, that was why the forests were so perfect for this. They had already marked down several uninhabited areas with large growths to use. While it would be a pain, it was basically required to modify the spell in order to target more specific kinds of life (to prevent the issues mentioned), making it even harder. Celestia had already shared her outline for how it would be done, and it was something Twilight had already gone over plenty trying to master it.
They had no desire to kill smaller animals that lived in the forests, even if they destroyed the ecosystems they lived in. They could deal with that later and give those animals a new place to live, but they only had so much time to help Luna. If you had nothing to store it, the life energy would be wasted under most circumstances. Unless you had some kind of magic that was esoteric enough that used it, it would be a massive waste. They had only known one spell currently that could harness it, because it was useful for their situation.
Well, two technically, but Twilight hardly considered the 'Divine Rebirth' spell to be a fair example. It had never be used in history as far as they knew, and existed only as a concept. Not to say that it wasn't exciting to imagine pushing the boundaries and actually using something like that which would make history, but it was unrealistic and thus a waste of time to look at right now.
What she actually looked at, was the Life Convergence spell. This spell had actually been used in the past, even if it had become a lost art over time. Twilight knew in theory how to cast it, but it wasn't something you could just up and practice. In the same way that you didn't just have life energy available for use in casting. The idea of flooding and amplifying the souls ability to heal into an artificial state in that so much energy was pressed onto an individual in a safe way that it basically spilled and wasted some energy in order to make sure the soul had absolutely no gap in its soothing shell that it used to heal was something that amazed Twilight. There had to be waste to make sure that the soul never had a moment of vulnerability during a moment of change. If you cast the spell and it started to lose power, or stopped entirely halfway through, the adjusting soul would be in a truly hazardous position as it never had the time to finish its liquid transition into a more solid form. The fluid constitution of the soul meant it was all the more vulnerable, after all. You couldn't just induce it into a vulnerable state like that and then expect it to be fine if you just left it like that.
It was to that point that Twilight knew why the princess studied so hard, and strained to be ready so thoroughly. Twilight felt it right to do no less.
Still, she had become a little bored of looking at some of the same material lately. Her mentorship in Celestia had been temporarily replaced by several ministers, most of which she enjoyed shadowing. She had never gotten to see that side of Equestrian politics until now, and she couldn't help but feel like she got to see the better parts of it still.
Her confidence in the competence to help out at any governing position had increased, and it pleased her to know she could be of more help in the future if things got even tougher. It was never something she wanted to spend her life in, but dabbling in all sorts of areas like that did a pony good.
Besides, she got to meet many ponies who she hoped could form connections with in the future. Friends.
It was as her thoughts glided that she returned to darker places and something that had disturbed her as of late. She had-had time to process it now, and couldn't help but find her conversation with Celestia on that day to be somewhat strange and concerning on that day.
The mannerisms, and how she spoke had felt out of character on reflection to the point that Twilight had questioned her own memory several times. At the time she had been too overwhelmed, and the pacing of the conversation had felt like a flood for her. None of the contents had really processed properly until after, and by that point the princess was already gone. Not that she'd see her again so easily now, anyway.
Twilight had known that Celestia had been struggling for some time now with her sister, but this had felt different. There was a sense of finality and fatalism that had encompassed the conversely colder attitude she had taken with Twilight.
Not only this, but the way she spoke about the death of the griffin's had seemed so... so empty. Like it hadn't mattered. She knew that the princess must've been wholly upset still at the way the turned on her so suddenly, but she couldn't shake this feeling. Not only that, but it was how she had said it. Twilight was certain of those words, at least.
"I killed them in cold blood, Twilight."
This had been such a strange way of responding to her mention of self-defense. Why had she responded that way? The foreboding sense of guilt in sins that Celestia had shared only further cemented the sentiment. Even talking about sacrifices. Twilight knew that they had to get the sanctuary, and that the sacrifices of war she had mentioned had been an unfortunate thing that was forced upon them by the griffins hostility. For this reason, Twilight didn't view it as true sacrifices. Celestia obviously had felt guilty for the impending death regardless, so that had alleviated her worry quite a bit. It still bothered her. All of it. Clearly, both of them had not been in the right state of mind. She was sure that Celestia had been more so, in fact. Her life so recently almost been taken from her. That was right.
There was too much to ask her, and she would likely never get an answer until the war was basically over. No doubt, it'd bother her for the longest time. She'd just have to live with it, she supposed. Even if it nagged at her.
She sighed, and began to pack up her things so that she could return home to her parents place. She was glad to spend some time there and have a reason to do so these days, even despite the reason why.
She had made much progress so far, but more was clearly still required. She'd keep this up. But for now, it was time to rest.
As they crossed the final stretch of land which mixed meadow into something of a precursor for warmed tundra, the final town finally came into Celestia's sight. She breathed a sigh of relief at the undisturbed nature of the place, for they had made it before anything could happen. She was glad. They had not been too late.
This time around, she had been walking with her ponies at the front of the formation, surrounded by her guard. Leading them all. She gave peripheral glances and saw that the sentiment was largely the same for others. All were glad to see that their fears were unfounded.
Just due around twenty kilometres north of here, they were sure to find hostile lands. This was it, and they could not allow them to make it to this point before them. They were going to be the ones invading, not the other way around. She had surmised that the chaos of losing their emperor must've slowed them down, and it appeared there must've been an inkling of truth to that. They had declared war almost immediately, but the initiative to strike had not been possible for them it seemed.
"Come now my ponies! Our final stop before our destiny awaits!"
The town had received word long ago about all of Equestria's recent dealings through the pegasi news routes that had been sent out, and had already prepared somewhat to fortify the town and be ready for an attack. Speaking of pegasi, Cloudsdale may as well have become a shell of its former self at this point and a near ghost town. The demand for pegasus work had tripled and quadrupled now, and they quickly approached being the most important tribe by a large margin at times like these. The contributions of earth ponies and unicorns was certainly significant, but it could be said that the pegasi were the ones connecting all of it so it could run smoothly in the first place. It is what allowed for the distant spots of Equestria to stay informed, after all. The opposite was true as well, where they could contact the centre to draw attention to unfocused areas in times of need. Some ponies had probably left after hearing, as well. Nopony would blame them if they did.
Her ponies overcrowded the town the moment they arrived, as it was obviously not built for these kind of numbers. That was no problem at all, as they wouldn't be staying here for long.
They checked in with the local populous, and reports that griffin sightings had increased by early scouts confirmed what they already knew.
Staying here tonight would be the final stop, and then the chaos of war would begin.
Celestia made for the local town hall where she would go over the strategy with the top level officers that had been left with this portion under her control. General Reacher commanded the second largest force directly, and had gone another route. Eventually, they would hear news from each battlefield and adjust, but for now they just had to stick with the preorganized plan.
While her ponies rested up, she worked tirelessly away into the night so that they could be as prepared as possible.
Soon, she could unleash her true strength which hadn't been used even since a millennium ago, unable to go all-out even against the corrupted version of her dear sister.
Soon...
It was only a little bit longer until she had the blasted Sanctuary and could end all of this. Return to better days, only this time not alone.
The level of shock at what welcomed them had been cruel.
As their march, after countless steps taken, had finally slowed and now halted, they witnessed their fears made manifest.
Before them lay Byane, a torch that stood out even in the midst of day. Griffin's swarmed the airspace above, and the telltale signs of engagement were ubiquitous on the mangled dwelling. Nopony knew if the town still struggled against the invaders, but they knew they would soon hear the answer to their call of desperation, from of all Equestria if they still drew breath.
Unfortunately, they would be unable to execute many of their tactics in their own home, but this was a battle that they had to fight no matter what.
Colonel Birch Eve, who they all had grown familiar listening to, quickly took command.
"Stand at attention! Before us lies the enemy! Do not allow your emotions to cause a break in rank! Move as an organized unit! We shall meet them with superior form! Move forward with poise and remember your training!"
His commanding voice held all the oomph you'd expect for somepony whose confidence and experience had placed them at the top of their position, and it calmed ponies enough for them to stay focused. Even if the adrenaline had kicked in already for most.
They moved forward as one, formations already held the entire journey thus far, it only needed to come forth and meet the enemy.
Many ponies had cursed the griffins under their breath as they approached, the volume quiet enough to die before it neared you.
Smoke billowed from buildings engulfed in flames, and the swarm of griffins which had been chaotic before had become focused as they neared finish of their cruel work on the place and set their sights on the new army. They had grown confident after destroying the first thing they met, it seemed.
A younger looking mare was seen trying to sprint out of the village dodging and weaving between falling debris, but it was cut short by a foul griffin swooping in and using a scimitar to deadly affect, essentially opening up half of the side of her body. It was utterly gruesome, and she succumbed on the ground to the mortal wound without much more struggle.
Seeing the visceral brutality in front of him, awoke a brutal emotion inside of Dire, and he grit his teeth at the feeling. In fact, everypony around him were ready to savage any griffin they saw in a hundred kilometre radius. The unspoken ferocity grew to feverish limits, but the echo in the back of Colonel Birch kept them at bay. They knew better, even after the storm of emotions, to keep from breaking rank and offering up easy targets to the enemy.
But that time was quickly approaching now, and the unicorns were given the signal to begin casting. They had actually been given a number system for which made calling out multi-casting easier. This time the number was four, which had been practically screamed by the leading unicorn of the group. The second number that was said afterwards was simple - direction in which they were all to direct their magic together. One meant one o'clock, two meant two o'clock, and so forth.
So, just like all of the others, Dire lit his horn and focused on creating his part of the giant magical net they were going to create. The amassed magic formed quickly behind most of the griffins to their right at one o'clock who were flying just outside the village parameters. The net had very little space in terms of holes in between, and may as well have been a wall for forcing opponents to go where you wanted them to, except it was more flexible in shape.
Dozens of griffins were caught in it, and the speed of which the net hit them and then trapped them with the force of rapidly approaching being pulled towards and thrown at the pony army didn't allow them to budge, really.
And that was exactly what happened - they were tossed heavily right in front of a large group of ponies who had yet to see any action. That would quickly change soon enough. While they tried to regain their bearings from having been in flight to dumped roughly on the ground and draw their weapons, earth ponies heavy hooves connected in a battering way as they galloped to meet them, Dire shivered to ever imagine receiving that kind of blunt trauma.
The griffins in fact were being jumped so hard that, multiple earth ponies had surrounded most of the griffins and they could not protect themselves from every angle, and thus the beat down began after a few hits that discombobulated and overwhelmed them.
It was a massacre.
But this was not to last, and merely a fraction of the entirety they still had to meet. As the griffins were quickly adjusting, Dire just now realized the faint sound of Griffin communication could been heard over the melee, even from this far away.
Two swarms of griffins made to go left and right of their force, seemingly attempting to get around them for an eventual flank, which would lead them directly to the most vulnerable unit, his own type.
He briefly heard the cut in from Birch again, who had been speaking mostly this entire time, which had been almost impossible to stay focused on to hear all of it. He wouldn't miss anything directed at his unit.
"Everypony, stand your ground! Pegasi, begin operation B!"
Around two thirds of the pegasi moved to defend the unicorns rear and prevent them from getting around completely. From what he knew, it was more their aim to sabotage the unity of the griffins ranks than to beat them right now. They should've fought safely, without the intent to finish off any griffins. Not quite a distraction, but neither a full on confrontation. They still made attempts to fight, but they focused on staying mobile and not getting caught out.
The tactic was mostly successful, even if many griffins eventually poured through into the space directly behind them.
Dire was vaguely aware of a formation shift as he moved about to allow some portion of earth ponies to join them in the back for added protection, and he was forced to refocus on what was in front of him.
Dozens of griffins held what had been the terror of their initial reactions.
A literal firebomb squad soared towards them, ready to drop the hellish liquid fires on them all.
He once again heard the leading unicorn, and this time he knew he would have to make his shot count.
On a count of three, they prepared and readied a barrage of beams to meet the bombers before they could get close enough to drop the blasted things and cause untold casualty. It was the earth ponies who would be mostly effected, at the front. They could not allow this.
Finally, after the longest three seconds of his life were up, he fired like the rest of them. The beams poured forth like liquid arrows thick with deadly energy, fired at unprecedented speeds as to appear to never dip down due to gravity. His pride swelled as he saw the noticeable thickness of his beam being far greater, containing more power than almost any other here could produce. It was also to his pleasure that as he stared down his beam, he saw it directly blast through the side of one of the bastards, leaving nothing but a gaping hole to bleed from which had been that side of the body but a moment ago, as it collapsed from flight and fell to the ground a bloody mess.
This feeling didn't last long, and to his horror several bombers had made it through despite their attacks, and tossed the liquid death down onto the majority of the earth ponies, choosing to take the opportunity to hurt the ponies before it was lost, like trying to go deeper into their ranks before dropping it, which held far more risk.
It was to his amazement that, while most ponies had locked up in terror at the impending doom, a singular cyan pegasus moved like a blur and snatched most of them before they could reach the ground. The speed was unreal, and if he lived through this Dire knew he would never forget the scene before him.
One of the bombs did land however, and to every ponies horror the earth ponies quickly fell into recumbent forms while rolling in pain and also a desperate attempt to put it out.
A giant sphere of water appeared above them, and then was promptly released and exploded like a tidal wave as it landed on the burning ponies. The affect was immediate - almost every single roasted one of them was put out, and he believed that they wouldn't have had suffered any mortal wounds from that short a time being lit. They would be scarred, yes, but alive was better than not.
Or he would've thought that if not for the intense panting he was making as he tried to recover. It was with a start that he realized he had acted on his own for the first time, his instinct to save his fellow ponies taking over. Nopony had the time to admonish him for it now he knew, but he would probably hear about it later.
To his dread he realized that he had only seen a narrow scope of the battlefield in his urgency, and his heart nearly broke seeing the charred remains from another spot. Something deep inside of him hardened even further at the sight of it, which was surprising considering how much he had already seen.
These monsters would pay. He'd make sure of it. No, this wasn't enough. HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO HIS FELLOW BRETHREN. His inner youth had been coming back for a while, now it was reborn, like a pheonix whose final moments had taken far too long before the fresh new life began. His eyes burned with focus and determination, and a little hatred.
Too much had happened in the intervening moments, the battlefield becoming too complex for him to fully understand anymore, with ponies and griffins fighting everywhere the eye could see. The griffins main force had arrived and began the full engagement with them, it seemed.
Just as he was about to start taking individual actions, as any attempt at cooperative magic had faded and they were given the clear to move independently, something barrelled into his side. As he tried to recover from his fall, the griffin moved first.
He barely maneged to jump back to avoid a mortal wound, instead the slash from the scimitar had cut the side of his face, allowing fresh blood to pool down it. The second attack was met with a hastily prepared shield, and it gave him the proper time to regain his bearings for the fight.
It had finally become personal now that there was an opponent in front of him, and he was ready to fight all-out and until the end if this was it.
War had made its return on Equus, for better or worse.
They climbed the mountainous terrain with dispersed trees along the main path that ponies used to use in the past to enter the Griffin Kingdom during more peaceful times. It was far too narrow, so they had been unable to move in formation like they had most of the journey. Instead, they filed about 10 ponies wide and created a massive line of ponies as they traversed the path that would soon turn to more flat like ground as they got deeper into griffon territory.
Most ponies had been paranoid due to the tight quarters and unpredictability of being surrounded by so many blind spots in the trees. They stayed on edge, ready for anything to jump out at them.
Once again, Celestia led the way. Each step was measured with purpose and all the weight of the world behind it. As though she would die if she took even a single step backwards.
They had yet to encounter any griffins, and it had been only a matter of time until they did. They would not allow them to just up and make their way all the way to the capital.
What they might've been doing, in fact, was realizing that dealing with Celestia wasn't something you could just rush. She had no doubt they were frantically calling it out to leadership and trying to establish some sort of plan.
She felt that it was partially a mistake on their part, as the current situation made it painfully difficult for her to fight properly if she had to defend her ponies, the cramped positioning preventing her from using much of her power lest she accidentally hurt her ponies. Perhaps they were just too cowardly to go on a suicide mission like that, even if it meant dealing a larger blow to the ponies. There was no way they had enough forces to win here at this time, even if they had the advantage.
That did raise her spirits as well, for the land would even out and open up. Out in the open she could easily tackle anything they threw at them.
They would have to camp in enemy territory tonight, but theoretically could reach the capital in a few days if they moved nonstop and unimpeded. She really doubted that would happen.
In the bushes that accompanied the trees, Celestia heard some slight ruffling. Instantly, she was on guard, and made to stop, which would cause everypony behind her to as well. As she focused on spotting anything that could be an enemy, she found nothing.
Just as she made to breathe a sigh of relief and continue forward, her vision snapped with focus on something sticking out. A crossbo—
"ENEMY ATTACK! DEFEND YOURSELVES!" screamed Celestia, and without hesitation a veritable swarm of bolts fired out from every nook and cranny that had remained subtly still until now.
Thinking quickly, she threw up massive shields down the line stretching hundreds of metres on both sides of her forces to block the bolts, but roughly half of them had already gone past that point - so they continued unhindered to the vulnerable ponies within. Several of them had been directed at her, but she sidestepped them with ancient instincts and then took to flight. The sheer magnitude of the spell had costed her speed that would've caught more of the bolts before they could get through.
Knowing that there was no way they would fire again so soon she released it. The unicorn squads should be aware by now, and providing some level of shielding for what more was to come. She had to focus on eliminating the threat as soon as possible.
Unbeknownst to Celestia, she harnessed something they already had in the war - flame. Drawing an aspect of her inner nature forward and channelling it into her horn, she called for an inferno of fire to stretch across the sides of the path to eliminate all of the cover immediately. It would roast the birds if she was lucky. Instead of staying in there, they charged the ponies from all sides.
Next, before Celestia could join in on the fighting, something absolutely ridiculous happened. A giant boulder-yes a giant boulder, came rolling down from the top of the mountain straight for all of them. How in Tartarus had they managed that?! There was no time to think about it.
Celestia knew that simply splitting the thing wasn't a guarantee to slow down its momentum and potential parts still hitting their group. She thought about putting up a shield to block it entirely as well, but the weight of the impact would mean that it would seriously screw her up for a while, because maintaining a shield against onslaught meant a large burden on the brain and subsequently horn usage if you refused to allow it to shatter when it became too much. Her mind raced in acceleration at the milliseconds of decision time she had. Blowing it up wasn't an option, shrapnel. Melting it wasn't, either, for that would take too long. Could she redirect it? Impossible. She could dig up the grou—
Her mind snapped as it realized it was out of time, and she made the instantaneous decision to risk a shield. It lead to the least amount of damage for her ponies, after all.
Throwing up another massive shield in front of it, she quite literally braced for impact.
And what an impact it was seconds later! How many tonnes in weight had that been?! It must've been hundreds. The force of it slamming with all that weight and speed against the shield created an ear splitting roar and cacophony of sound, but Celestia didn't hear it. She was too busy. Her entire body had locked up, every muscle in fact, and her face contorted from the pressure. She opened her eyes, and she was sure they were probably bloodshot. The headache was slamming but she knew it wouldn't last forever.
Looking at the results was astonishing, a massive pile of stone broken apart and laying there without moving. She released the shield and it shifted but didn't continue its destructive slide. She celebrated the small victory as much as she could while feeling so sick.
As she turned to check on all of her ponies, a griffin whose greed knew no bounds went for the throat of Princess Celestia herself. Once again sidestepping, slower than she normally would've, the griffin was caught swiping and missing her after image - but only barely. There was a pause in time where he saw her face, months of built determination behind it, but it was only for a moment longer before time resumed, and a hoof reinforced with an abnormal amount of earth pony magic slammed into his side and sent him to crash into an open spot in the glade of which he became a splattered mess from the sheer force and impact of the landing.
She took a moment to recuperate after the nonstop reaction she was forced into, and then began to fight her way back to clear the rest of the griffins behind her that her ponies were struggling with.
Maverick sat at his place anxiously awaiting the ponies he had invited over.
Things were escalating too quickly for him to handle, and he had been sweating without realizing it.
One time this had come up before, and he had shrugged it off. Which made sense at the time. Now he had found another, and it was uncanny how unbreakable the horrible hunch was.
At last, he heard a knock on his apartment door. He reached towards it and opened it a little more quickly than one would think is normal.
Standing there was Straight Side, looking unamused. He couldn't believe it, he really had come. Having one of the longest tenured and respected ministers answer his call briefly blew his mind.
"Well? This had better be important like you said it was."
He recovered quickly, his life had required it from him far too many times. "Of course it is! But first please come in! The others are still on their way, they should be here soon."
Both of them had been overburdened lately, so he knew that if something went wrong in this little meeting, all of this was likely done here and now, even if there was any semblance of truth to this trail of conspiracy.
Straight Side slowly took a seat in the living room, on the side of one of the couches. Maverick stayed standing, ready for the next visitor.
"I promise you, if what I heard so far is true, then this will be of utmost important what we discuss tonight. I have have found evidence recently that proves too concerning."
The next knock was already banging away as he finished, and soon he was getting a party settled into this little soiree.
Jotted Page sat in his spot uncomfortably as every pony in the room stared at him.
"You... you really promise to tell no-one about this? Not even Celestia once she gets back? The only reason I'm here is because she's away you know."
"Listen... Jotted. Stop worrying about us ratting you out so much and calm down. If what you claimed to my source really is true, that is the least of all of our worries," said Maverick. "Now please, just tell everypony here everything you saw slowly and clearly. We're all patient and here to listen." He gave Jotted a comforting smile, but it didn't really do much for him.
Still, he had told this once before and enough time had gone by without his hide being torn a new one, so that he had started to feel a little safe now.
"Alright, listen. Listen... I'm an idiot okay? All this time I've played paparazzi and tried to find the wackiest of spicy drama behind the scenes to sell to local news. It was exciting, and it lit my blood on fire." He swallowed. "But I know now that I have always been playing around with something that is far more serious than I ever wanted to encounter."
All of the ponies continued to look at him expectantly.
"I... I had this stupid idea. Celestia had been acting a little differently lately in my opinion, and I was doing anything and everything I could to try and figure out what it was. More than a month ago, I did the stupidest and riskiest maneuver of my life. I managed to figure out where the princess was meeting with the Griffin Emperor by overhearing some loose-lipped guards while doing my thing. I went there hours before the meeting had actually happened, during the point of which the ponies setting it all up and slowly started to leave to allow the princess to be alone with her guest. I hid myself there all night, and it was close enough to almost hear what they discussed that night, but not quite for most of it.
"Listen... I don't know what the hell went wrong, but that meeting was nothing like the public thinks. There was no assassination, nothing even remotely like that. Things got heated between the Emperor and Celestia, and it ended with Celestia turning on all of them and killing them when the Emperor seemingly denied whatever it was she wanted. I still can't shake the sounds and screams of their end from my mind. The brutality. How she became something completely unknown and terrifying in the blink of an eye. It haunts me. I had thought I was going to die too, and I still can't believe she didn't discover me. I had even waited there for hours and hours after she left, terrified of her lurking predatory gaze finding me and finishing me like the rest of them."
The stunned silence in the room felt different now.
"That is some story—"
"Please! You have to believe me!" He practically leapt to the ground and lowered his head in prostration. "I swear on my life! My mother! Anything! Even Celest—" he stopped right there, realizing how ridiculous that sounded after the fact of his previous words.
"I promise you all... I would never say any of this lightly. I'm not crazy and I'm just hitting my limits of stress, that's all. It's true, all of it."
After his thoughts turned incoherent near the end, he chose to say nothing after.
"That's certainly damning if it's true, Mr. Jotted... but don't take this the wrong way but not a single one of us is going to seriously suspect our princess after just this. We know you think you're telling the truth, but you have to understand..."
It was Misty Buttercup, another one of the ministers who had agreed to come tonight. There had been four of them not including Maverick who had invited him.
"Yeah. I'm going to have to agree with Misty here. Maverick, we know you have more than this, right? It does hurt my heart to even suspect such a story could be true, but all of us saw how genuine our fine Jotted Page is. So please, if you have anything to still show us, go for it."
"She'll be here any minute now, in fact."
"What?"
"She wasn't able to come earlier, but she said around eight thirty she could. That's in only five minutes now, so please relax a little while we wait and reflect on what you just heard."
Maverick didn't fully know what he had wanted out of this meeting he realized, but something deep inside had compelled him to do it anyway. She was a little late, and seeing the impatient ponies wanting to get this over with around him put pressure on him that they probably didn't realize existed.
Breaking his looming dread of a no-show, the knock finally came. He jumped out of his spot which he had sank into, a wooden chair of which he had chosen so his guests could enjoy the comforts of his home.
"I just want you to know the only reason I'm here is because I'm pissed."
Faithful Promise stood before him, a young filly at her hooves.
"After everything I've been through with her, now she decides to stop meeting with me like she used to, and then I find out that the expansion we were getting was basically cancelled, after she promised me! I'm at my wits end!"
"Errr.. ehehe. Totally! I apologize on behalf again for our council that things ended up that way again, Faithful. Thank you for bringing her here, like I requested."
The young filly had a look of curiosity at him. Faithful guided her in, and then sat down further in the back and away from the majority of them. Guess she really was ticked off.
Before the filly could be overwhelmed by being the point of interest for so many adult ponies, Maverick stood directly in front of her vision to shield her from it as he spoke to her.
"Now listen, Hazel was it? Nice to meet you, I'm Maverick, and these are my friends," he gave her a silly smile and closed his eyes, and then pointed to most of them, "we just want to hear a little bit about this 'blue alicorn' you've been telling your friends about. And anything else you happen to remember about where you used to live."
Despite his efforts, she turned a little shy. "Ermmm... hi. Hey! Can I call you Mav!"
"Of course you can!" his forced enthusiasm was funny to those behind him. "Listen, if it makes you comfortable, I can sit with you while you talk. Would you like that?"
"Sure!"
He gave the two ponies on his main couch a look, and one of them left for the chair he had left vacant to make space. Lifting up Hazel, he carried her to sit right beside him as he supported her softly by rubbing her back slowly with his hoof.
"Now, tell us a little about this blue pony with wings and a horn."
"She was just simply amazing! Her body glow like a candle, and she floated in some magical bath. I've never seen a mare so pretty. She looked just like the white one that was with me, except prettier."
"White one? She must mean Celestia," Straight Side said quietly to the others, quiet enough to not interrupt the filly.
"Where did you see this beautiful pony, Hazel?"
"That's easy! Riftly! My old..." she stopped and looked like she remembered something that really bothered her, and progressed to be on the verge of tears. "My old home. I miss... Mommy... Daddy..." she started to cry, and Faithful Rushed over to soothe and coo her out of it while Maverick got out of the way. Basically cradling her.
"I didn't know you'd upset her! Please, I have enough comforting to do back home. Please, don't bring up bad memories like that."
"Ma'am, we apologize, let us just check one more thing quickly."
He approached Hazel who was being held and showed her a picture of Celestia.
"Is this the one who was with you, my dear Hazel?"
"Yeah! She looked exactly like that? Why...?"
"No reason at all. Have a lovely night Hazel, and you as well for that matter Faithful. Thank you. You don't know how much this means to us."
Faithful basically rushed out of the place after that, obviously keen to not fall behind and get back to her never ending job as a substitute mother for far too many, including the one who now followed her home.
"I think you all are starting to get an idea of why I'm so suspicious."
Looking around, most of them looked moved, even if just a little.
"Also, I just came to the conclusion right now, but I'm going to start sending a portion of my pay-cheque to finish that damn expansion we had delayed. It just feels wrong, living like this while ponies struggle. I'm not exactly hurting for bits after all, and I can save up some to hire the ponies do it later myself. It's right up my alley. I would've done it anyway, just much later in time."
To his surprise, everypony in the room had apparently taken that as a reason to be guilty. They offered to contribute as well, even Jotted. In truth he felt guilty himself for accidentally pressuring them by saying it like that. Usually he was better at not speaking mindlessly like that.
"Really... you don't have to."
But they insisted, and so it seemed that they would quickly build up enough capital to get it done if it was so many of them. It would be the most fantastic surprise. He could already see it.
But there was more pressing concerns to return to.
"You all heard it. Celestia was at Riftly. That little filly would never lie about that kind of thing, and I directly confirmed it when I showed her the picture. You don't just mistake an alicorn. Sure, it'd be questionable normally, but we all heard what Jotted had to say. I also talked to Faithful earlier, and she had indeed confirmed the mysterious origins of the filly in the first place."
"Okay, but what are you saying? What can we even do about this?"
"I don't know. Keep looking? We can't just ignore this." He paused, giving it serious thought. "We need to stay connected, I don't think this is a hunch anymore, let me know if any of you find anything, anything at all."
"For once, I fully agree with you, Maverick," said Eclectic Watch, who had been surprisingly absent in the conversation so far to give the stage to other ponies so far.
"Yeah... tonight hasn't been fun to say the least. I wish I hadn't heard all of this. Don't look at me like that, I was joking. But I agree, this is concerning. I'll keep my eye out," finished Honey Ivory who was the other unspoken minister he had convinced to attend tonight.
"I don't know when or how or if we meet again like this, but lets stay in touch. Who knows where this all leads."
One-by-one they all left, and he gave them his good nights as they crossed the doorway and out.
He really hadn't been going crazy after all, other ponies saw something in this just like he did. What could he possibly find out next? It wasn't like Celestia was around, so he could certainly do some digging.
He went to bed that night tortured by incessant thoughts.
In the personal chambers of Princess Celestia there existed—
Dire Comet sat down and rested his aching joints and bones. The ponies who were left, around two thirds of the original amount, all of them rested far away from the bodies of the days nightmare. Few said anything, many had gotten emotional and broken down, several times, and those that remained held a respectful vigil for the dead while questioning everything.
"Please, I know you all must be heartbroken, but you must understand that this is a great victory for Equestria! We annihilated their invading forces! This could've been ten times worse, we could've all perished! Then who would be left to protect Equestria?!"
Ponies looked lifelessly to the burnt remains of the village, or to the other side which held the battlefield full of corpses soon to be graves of soil.
Everything the Colonel said was true, but it meant nothing at the moment.
Most ponies had gathered to mourn the dead, or to be close during this time of extreme hardship, where they had to lean on each other or they would break.
Dire sat alone.
He had indeed improved over the course of the battle. At first he had barely managed to fight a single griffin, and then he had been blasting them off his comrades backs because he had gotten them off his own. His life had come close to being taken from him several times regardless. By the tip of his tail it felt like, he had avoided it. The wound across his face had dried, and he was sure that it would become a scar. Maybe it'd reflect the powerful visage he had always wanted more effectively.
Yet... it all felt so hollow surrounded by those who fought to keep you alive, and yet you couldn't do your part to keep theirs.
It was during this reflection that he saw another pony was alone. A pegasus.
Seeing how young she was, and the spark of remembering her heroics, it surprised him that she was alone at all.
He had to approach her.
As he softly made his way over, in that it was more painful then he'd care to admit to get there, he sat down before her with enough space to be respectful but enough to show he was there for her.
He noticed his voice sounded older to himself for the first time as he spoke: "Are you alright? What is your name, if you don't mind me asking? I cannot help but feel I saw you pulling off the most remarkable saves during an attempted fire bombing of our ponies, catching the bombs before they could break and splash everypony. Getting rid of them. You have my thanks on behalf of everypony."
"Yeah well... it was nothing, alright? Nothing," she bit her lip. "I... couldn't save so... so many ponies. What kind of pathetic pony am I?"
"Please do not disparage yourself! We all failed to save somepony at some point. Be glad there isn't more of us gone, the Colonel has that right at the very least."
She had started crying now that he paid attention, and she looked down to avoid his gaze.
"It's... Rainbow Dash. From Ponyville."
"A fine town." It was all he could come up with at the moment. "I was born in some small backwater of a town that doesn't even exist anymore. You wouldn't have heard of it."
"I came here to kick flank," she made a laugh that sounded a little crazy and it cracked, "but I don't think I was prepared to have to take the life of another. I... I actually did it you know? Like... killed one of them. Multiple of them." He could see her swallow as she struggled with it.
"As did I. It never gets easier. The only thing you can do is reaffirm the reason why you're fighting in the first place as hard as you can in your heart and hold onto it." It was a partial lie, and he felt halfway guilty over it. Even in his youth, he had already sinned deeply.
"You... how can you stay so calm against all of this? You're... too strong. I wish I could be as strong as you. Maybe then I'd save more ponies," she had such a bitterness by the end.
"I'm not strong at all, Rainbow Dash. In fact, to be completely honest with you..." she looked at him as he carefully considered his next words, "I believe I am in fact weak, for distancing and disconnecting myself from other ponies, just to protect myself. I had rage at the sight of their plight, but I think it is not nearly as genuine a thing as you hold. You're far stronger than I am, believe that. Truly. You will grow stronger because of it."
Reluctantly, she answered. "Thanks, Mr...?"
"Dire Comet. How rude of me to ask for your name and not introduce myself. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
There was a pause, and suddenly she rushed forward to meet him in a hug. He was completely nonplussed, and he had to push her off of him for a moment to balance himself and properly return it when they reconnected. Her look of heartbreak before he had showed her the real reason why had been surprisingly painful for him to see. Even while they sat there together, just being there for one another, it didn't go away. Minutes went by but neither noticed. Time had dissolved.
Who knew how much of a break they would get before the violence started up again. They would need to wait for next orders from high command while reporting this travesty. Dire knew now that his reason for joining all of this had been pathetic to the maximum, but his reason for staying now would be the true pride of his life. Little did he know, the pony crossed with him had thoughts that were uncannily similar at almost the same time. The purpose of growing stronger never changed, but it took on a new value now. To protect, and not just as a lie this time.
He wanted to protect the pony in his hooves, heart beating against him.
He knew her potential was greater than his ever was. He hadn't needed to see much to know that. That wouldn't stop him from doing everything in his power to help her get there, even if it meant the worst for him. He had always been ready, adding a little more to that wasn't much.
Before all of this the ponies rancour for the griffins had been all they could think of, and now that the battle was over it was forgotten like the wind, left with only grieving souls struggling to find one another in its place.
Celestia stared across the miniature plains before them.
Her ponies had taken surprisingly few losses from the surprise attack earlier that day, and now they had finished their ascent to flat ground. Most of them were quite tired. They were fortunate to have saved every extra pony they could, for they would need them.
It was to her continued dismay that such a massive force had assembled before her. They must've outnumbered her own ten to one. Just how much conscription had they employed? This was beyond insane! Did they really think they could overwhelm her by sheer numbers alone? Suddenly moving that giant boulder didn't seem so crazy anymore. She knew that they knew she was here and leading this force. So this was no mistake. She supposed that being in enemy territory always meant they would have more available, but still, to this extent?
She had almost entirely recovered from earlier, but it had taken hours. Her headache alleviating over time. A perk from being an alicorn, like many other small things she took for granted, she supposed. Using that shield had been incredibly inefficient. She could use magic ten-fold the destructive capabilities in terms of output compared to it, but it would still strain her more to hold onto a shield in a situation like that and be forced to take such a massive blow.
She hated to admit it, but while earlier she had no time to think at all, now that she could she couldn't help but have the tiniest bit of satisfaction that she could let off some steam for once. She'd make sure of that. Besides, there was no time to be wasting, for Luna did exactly that every moment she didn't move forward to the solution.
The ponies behind her had limits, however. They could not keep perfect pace after fighting. She had to temper expectations.
Seeing what she believed to be tens of thousands of griffins hovering in the air en mass around six to eight kilometres away from them probably terrified her ponies, who had already dealt with enough today. She had to do something to reinvigorate them. She had just the idea. It would knock two stones down at once. She'd get to release a little while motivating them.
It was time to stop playing around. She would use close to the maximum of her potential here to strike fear into the enemy permanently.
Through her horn she brought to life a small fireball above her. It quickly grew it size as she pumped it continuously with magic. After about a minute of this, she had what could only be described as a small sun. It was nothing close to that in reality, but the visual effect would've stunned the griffins even from over there.
This wasn't her land anyway, now that she thought about it. Who cares if she messed it up a little?
She had already given the enemy enough time to react. Even though they hadn't. Shocked senseless she assumed. Best be running away tail tucked behind you by now.
She sent it forward, and it came down towards the land to scrape it as it went. It disintegrated whatever it came into contact with. It burst forward with as much speed something so massive could move with, and seeing it quickly approaching sobered up the griffin forces real fast.
They started all flying away from its future destination as fast as they could, those closer to the middle by far the most at risk. She calculated how close it was was to the majority of them, and once it was close enough sent out a magical ping that would reach the ball of flame almost without delay.
To say that the explosion and subsequent shockwave was ginormous would be an understatement. Almost none of them would be hit directly, but the expanding waves of flames moving outward would. The world itself collapsed inward from the impact, the entire landscape having received a more permanent change. The end of the plains had been more forestry, for sure where they would retreat to later, and even many trees in the back were caught in the blast.
She had no clue how many she had taken out before they could evade, and it didn't really matter. The affect had been successful on multiple counts. Looking back, some of her ponies even looked a little scared, while others looked on in awe.
What made it even better was the fact that, as time went by, rather than returning to once again face them, they had simply opted for retreat as far as she could tell. It seems her ponies would be getting the break they so desperately had been pining for after all. This location was perfect as well, being able to see all around them meant they could protect themselves that much better in the plains. You didn't find land like this very commonly out here.
She gave them the early news of rest, and the relief on all of their faces had been infectious.
They started building camps, and she couldn't help but wonder how the enemies had been so foolish to engage them in such a way that was more suitable to the ponies and Celestia herself. Just how badly had they miscalculated? If they knew anything at all, they would do everything in their power to reproduce what had happened earlier today as much as possible. As much as she hated to admit it, that was most definitely the best way of going against her force.
They still had quite some distance to make it to the capital, where she knew for a fact the treasury was that held what she needed. Patience, she told herself. This was all going swimmingly. Just keep it up. Luna will be fine.
The night came quickly, and despite the night watches they setup for any signs of return from the enemy, it was a calm and peaceful night.
Celestia was inside of her war room within the command tent they had setup when the news broke.
"What?! Did you misspeak?!"
The in uniform messenger pegasus looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he currently was.
"Err... it is as I said. I'm sorry to report that... the forces led by Mosier were wiped out."
Celestia hoped her mouth didn't look as agape as it felt. What in the world? How was this even possible? The war had just started not too long ago. How had they befallen such a travesty...
"Did General Reacher already respond?" she struggled to get out after a moment.
"Yes. He sent reinforcements to prevent further invasion of Equestria - but the griffins had already retreated. It seems they know we've pierced closer to the heart and want to focus on defence."
And what a pain it had been! It had been like they had read her mind. Ever since her little showing not too long ago they had refused to fight in any open way, and the path to the capital was no easy treading to say the least. Constant harassment, it seemed, had been intended to whittle down the ponies. Guerrilla warfare in fact, and it sucked. Just when they had thought they would get a break, a new set on griffins would swoop in firing bolts, and then be gone quicker than they came. It was an infuriating tactic, especially when it caused loss of life. Mostly because they could not give chase to a satisfactory degree in the terrain. It was too risky and would spread them too thin for further counter-play.
Speaking of loss of life, Celestia was feeling mightily guilty right now. In front of her soldiers she had forced an air of dignity and effete to remain a statuesque symbol for them, but it was beginning to dawn on her just how much blood was on her hooves.
Her mind unable to focus any longer, she went through the motions the rest of the day, hearing of several towns being destroyed and the other remaining forces she had left all taking some level of casualties had been harrowing and humbling. Sure, the griffins had also taken massive losses, but it was still horrible all around for their chances of finishing this as fast as possible. She was almost tempted to storm the capital alone to get this over with. Who cared of the risk?
That night, when she reached her tent and was finally alone, and away from judging eyes she finally began to show some cracks.
She knew how bad all of this was. She was not in denial. Enough time to think about it and her entire life for the past few months had been called into question. It was an endless loop of mental destruction, guilt leading into the eventual wretched clutch for anything to save her sister in the end, even if it tore her and Equestria apart.
A mountain of bodies - griffin and pony alike, stood under her hooves, phantasms grabbing and doing anything they could to pull her down with them into the darkness. Their cries wouldn't go away, it was all she could hear. She felt like she was going mad. Reflecting on the fact that she had viewed killing griffins with her massive fiery inferno the other day as some kind of stress relief had nearly caused her to throw up in front of all of her ponies as she realized it. The version of herself from a few years ago would've died inside to see what she had become.
She felt trapped. No, it was more accurate to say she was drowning. In the end that was what this was. She had already gone so far, and it was all she could do to tell herself that she had to make all of this worth it. All of her horrible planning for the worst case scenario came to mind, and she reached rock bottom. She never wanted to think about that. Why couldn't the Sanctuary have been easy to collect? Why had everything gone so wrong with the Emperor. Why, why, why...
She couldn't even bare to think about how ponies would react if they knew what she had become. That was probably the worst part. She remembered Twilight and imagined her reaction to finding out about all of this, and couldn't handle it anymore. Their last meeting already had been too much, her pouring a part of her heart out only for Twilight to try and make excuses for her in her own lack of awareness. She started whimpering without realizing it.
"Your highness, is everything okay in there?"
It took all her willpower to steady her voice before speaking, "yes, everything is alright, please carry on."
"Yes your highness."
She struggled to care about what he had actually heard, and that night as she fell exhausted into sleep as she struggled to believe she'd be able to look a pony in the face again outside this tent by tomorrow morning. She knew deep down that by tomorrow, she will have reset mentally just like she always did, back into her cold and calculating side she had recently come to hate. Her base mentality had become twisted, and she struggled to admit to herself how split her moods had become now. Which version of herself was the real her? The desperate sister on a mission to save her other, or the sorrowful introspective mare she found herself in quiet times. She knew which she would be by tomorrow. Not even her dreams offered reprieve that night, continuing to torment her.
In the heart of the Griffin Kingdom, amidst towering cliffs and rugged terrain which melted into the stone of the buildings from the ground up in all the capital, Roeshak wanted to claw his eyes out.
His feathers ruffled with anxiety, like they did all the time these days, as he gazed out towards the horizon of the looming threat. Below him, bustling preparations for defense were underway if you wanted to believe that some of it wasn't just panicked flight. The weight of the situation hadn't just gotten to him alone, it seemed.
The griffins were seasoned warriors. They had never come close to facing a threat of this magnitude before. Both were true.
Yet why did it have to be?
He loathed with all his being the fact he had been forced into this situation. Leadership, he told himself, was not his forte. It had fallen into his claws after tumbling a little, so to speak.
Not only had something entirely unprecedented happened, but what came after had just been the icing on the cake. If you asked any griffin if it was safe to travel in the ponies lands, they would've laughed at you not long ago. No one had ever seen the news of the Emperor's demise coming from a mile away. It was ridiculous to even think about. Yet it had indeed happened.
The sole survivor of the affair had been bloodied and mortified, and it had taken a while to even get him to spit it out, the poor lad had been too traumatized. The ensuing chaos of finding out their grand leader was gone had been disastrous. Declaring war against Equestria had been the easy part.
Apparently, as if things hadn't been tragic enough, some of his own had felt it time to return to more brutal traditions. They had quite literally fought for leadership afterwards, and between the double-death of Durk and Veer duelling like imbeciles and the chain of command being cut short, he had somehow arrived at the top of the pecking order. He had wanted to improve his life and move up in society, not arrive at the top with all of the pressure. It was always better to be just under leadership by just enough for the benefits, but not at risk to be promoted into the hot seat. How he had been so unlucky that the seat had moved so many times was beyond him. At least he had gotten them to accept the title of "acting" before commander.
At first, he had seen some success against the ponies in his quickly rushed plans, but that had quickly turned around once Celestia started making her move. What could you even do against such a monster? She had started all of this and now she wanted to finish it too. It wasn't fair. Hearing the accounts of her unleashing an explosion that would nigh-destroy their capital had him close to wanting to just up and leave everything behind himself. It wouldn't have sounded realistically true for any other threat in the first place. He'd rather have believed his men were simply incompetent and got wiped out the natural way. He had adjusted the strategy, sure, since it was obvious they needed to after that, but the ponies continued to reach deeper and deeper into their land, lead by their demonic princess hellbent on ruining them.
Surrender was obvious. Surrender was not an option. The others around him, steeped more deeply in their culture than himself, would basically finish him on the spot if he even suggested a thing. They were fighting for better or worse, and it was going be the latter. While he didn't have it in his heart to sabotage his own men, because he still cared for the lives of his fellow griffons, he had continued to make adjustments even now to counter the ponies even while knowing it was losing long term. Raid teams had been circling in and out of rotation for some time now. Everyone was tired. All this did was delay the inevitable he knew, but they had to fight as hard as they could in the end anyway, right? Not that he personally agreed...
Roeshak didn't have any close family, and he was glad because at times like these he wouldn't want them to see his state when he got home.
I'll do everything I can... it's the least I can do for the place of my birth he thought to himself. He felt like this was something that actually validated why he was working as hard as he was.
He heard a wave of messengers approaching him, and knew he'd have to tear his vision away from horizon. Work never ends... he just hoped that negotiation could be a strength of his when tested.
It was somewhere in there monotonous ramblings that he heard it.
"They're going through Enocs point?"
"Yes... is there something you've come up with?"
"Hold on."
He quickly took out an old map that they been studying with fervour to almost no point. There it was, just like he remembered. He had thought it a good look for his men as he tried to appear busy studying it earlier.
"Do we still have the ammunition stores? And the rest?"
In the recently flourishing city of Oblatio, there existed—
Dire walked carefully, every step on edge. Being deep in enemy territory, and the pony who had previously defended his rear being sorely missing, he knew he could not relax.
They had slowly been working their way towards the capital of the Griffin lands, to reconvene with the main forces of the princess granted that she had also made it there. He personally felt that her making it there was more likely.
Reinforcements were supposedly on the way for his group, which had been whittled down due to the near-constant harassment of the enemy. Time and time again he had fought viciously and ruthlessly in order to try and save his fellow pony. Despite his significant improvements in combat, it would never be enough. It wasn't enough.
They had started in the thousands, and now they remained a magnitude lower than that in the hundreds.
He counted his blessings that he had made it this far, really. Especially the fact that Rainbow Dash, who he made to keep an eye on, had also fared just as well. He ate meals with her, and the two had grown closer over time. Sharing precious details of their lives freely.
As the combat became less organized and a more chaotic dynamic, they had even shared a few moments. He believed that they naturally knew what the other was thinking, at times. Their ranks, which had originally been entirely different, was far more dispersed and distributed now. They still had cliques, but the strictness to adhere to separation from another had fallen tribe-to-tribe. Colonel Birch was still with them, leadership intact, but he had chilled on the strictness of it all after having seen the combat break down to smaller scale. It wasn't worth it to try and force tactics under those conditions. They had fought together at will, and forming chemistry was something that they had to hold onto. It could save their lives in the end, after all.
Most of them had been given rest over the past few days as well, but they were still tired from all of this. It showed in their movements. They walked with a resigned pace that said they were ready for what was to come, but didn't want to charge towards it.
It was as they were rounding a corner along the main path which consisted of only heavily disturbed dirt like always, that they realized they were finally approaching something tangible.
There was a griffin village roughly and hastily established it seemed, and in Dire's opinion it looked quite barbaric. As if to add onto that fact, griffins flew around in an obvious enough way that he knew they were panicking behind the scenes of the war. It made him bitter to know they had been so effective while flopping like this behind the scenes. How?
"Prepare to take this town by surprise! Our final stop on our way to meet with the princess and finish all of this is before us! For Equestria!" said Birch, who had preferred shorter and efficient calls now.
The ponies at the front were the only ones visible to the griffins so far, including Dire, and griffins had not spotted them yet. The element of surprise could vastly help them seize victory here.
After a moment of pushing the earth ponies to the front completely, they charged. Dire ran behind one such pony he knew rather well now, Iron Fey. The earth pony was a certifiable monster block of pony mass, who Dire secretly believed could charge entirely through a griffins body if allowed to at full speed. There were scant few other earth ponies who held this kind of physical intimidation, but they existed. They even had two or three others left he could say similar for.
This was it! Every single one of Dire's instinct honed in and competed in his mind as his blood rushed in the charge. They would take victory here! He could briefly sense Rainbow Dash seemingly holding herself back with the group for now. All the pegasi flew directly above their charge without getting ahead of themsleves. Good, she had remained patient so far in the war, it wouldn't do good to break that now.
A few griffins had turned and noticed them, and the yelling began. It was too late though, they wouldn't be able to—
Wait, what was that? The griffins at the front had backed away, and because they had closed the gap he could see it pretty clearly. The griffins had formed several lines and were forming a line of pikes to receive them! How was that possible? He didn't want to believe it, but every second led him to a very dangerous conclusion, that this was actually a trap! Had they seriously faked not being ready?! What kind of genius tactician came up with that and had the precognition to know when they'd arrive? Did they really have scouting that thorough even at this point in the war? How were they not exhausted by it?
He closed off his thoughts, however, because the ponies near him grew tense as the clash approached quickly. They would not catch them by surprise, and he desperately thought that they would be outnumbered and face oblivion if they didn't have any edge to this fight.
An idea caught his mind.
He lit his horn brightly as they came closer, and as time slowed he saw the desired effect on the griffins face, they prepared themselves for something dangerous. About two seconds before the clash, when every sentient beings focused heightened to the maximum for the critical moment, he released it. A bright flash of light exploded from the point of his horn, and most of the griffins were forced to close their eyes against their better judgment, while raising their pikes just enough.
In front of him, Iron dodged a polearm lunge at the last second by an eyes closed griffin and he slammed into the body it, proceeding to use the body as a battering ram and not slowing down any. He blew through their ranks like a knife cut through butter, and by the time four bodies had piled against him he had stopped and sent all of them flying forward from the impact as they collapsed onto the ground in a pile. Dire instantly threw a strike to his side onto a griffin who was fighting a pony already, as Dire had reached deeper into their formation due to the immediate success of Iron. It landed, and they started overwhelming the griffin quite quickly with a flurry of blows. Dire was able to multitask at the same time, as he created a rectangular and thin magic wall above the recumbent griffins who hadn't gotten up from the charge. He pushed down, with all of the force he could muster, and the wall hit their bodies while flattening them onto the ground. There was resistance from their bodies, but he pulsed his magic as hard as he could, and a second later their bodies gave out and splattered like bugs underhoof.
Unable to keep everything around him tracked, he felt a flash of pain on his behind. He turned and saw a griffin had slashed the right side of his flank with a now bloody scimitar. Buckling slightly, as his leg had been partially hit, he grit his teeth and thanked his lucky star that the griffin hadn't been in a position to critically injure him apparently, and turned to counter. Before he could, a cyan blur flew past him and drop kicked the foe, smashing the beak in and then proceeding to flip out of it and back into the air. A simple magical lance was all he needed to finish the staggered griffin.
The battle raged on, and while the ponies were winning due to superior numbers and the initiative from the start, they did not notice the second wave of griffins flooding in from behind them. It wasn't just from behind them either, a circle of griffins slowly formed, and after the fighting had slowed down due to the ponies minor victory they started to notice the encirclement closing in. This was bad.
Dire, who had taken the risk of saving the majority of his magical reserves, knew now was the time to use it to give them any chance at surviving this.
He put everything he could into the arcane magical slashing attacks he sent in all directions that flew horizontally at his opponents. They didn't hit many, and the energy wasn't dense enough to pierce the griffins flesh deep enough, but it landed on quite a few of them who had gotten a little too close a little too quickly. If he had been stronger, they would've been chopped right in half then and there. It wasn't huge, but it was something.
This time, it was the griffins turn to charge in, only they had the numbers to cover the airspace above them entirely. It truly was an attack from all sides.
If this is my last stand, Dire thought, let us go out in the greatest struggle in Equestrian military history.
Dire and Rainbow dash stood half standing, minor injuries en mass and exhausted, back to back and facing opposite directions. There wasn't many griffins left, nor was there pony for that matter. They were still outnumbered ten-to-one. Dire only saw more griffins at the moment.
They both panted for breath harshly. The past few hours of combat had been exhausting. Dire knew that he would have to make as much as he could out of the little magic he had left.
"Never thought... it'd end like this... eh?"
"Who... are you... kidding?" she replied panting.
"Can you... still fly... as fast as ever?"
"Of course... I can..."
"Do you trust me?"
He didn't hear a response, but his heart received it anyway in the light fluttering of her wings. They had both almost entirely caught up on breath now.
He spoke quietly now, so that only she could hear. "When they come for us, I want you to attack and intercept every single one of them as aggressively as possible. Don't think about defence at all. Trust me."
"Done."
The griffins continued to close in around them, not underestimating them until the very end, their weapons glinting with a violent premonition.
One of them rushed forward, and the string of inaction broke, the rest of them swooping in all at the same time just a fraction of a second afterwards.
Dire swung around to watch Rainbow Dash as she flew to meet them. His mind hit the peak of its processing power, and time seemed to slow down to the point he could see every single minute detail unfolding one-by-one as they came. All was clear.
Rainbow Dash, in a way that pleased him greatly, launched the entire force of her body with reckless abandon straight towards the griffin, and at the final moment before the blade could hit her Dire summoned a tiny magic shield to deflect the blow away from her just enough that it'd miss by inches. She connected and smashed the poor sod, a literal indent in the chest of the poor thing from her front hooves, internal organs most likely smashed in, but that was only the beginning as the flung herself to the next target.
The next thirty seconds or so was one of the most fantastical light shows Equus would ever see as a rainbow blur shot to and there across and all around Dire in a three-hundred and sixty degree blitz that both protected him and met the entire wave at once. Dire also managed to dodge and weave the attacks that came at him when they got close while staying focused on her, long enough for Rainbow Dash to return and get the pressure off of him. It was almost like a dance where the strings of fate guided their movements, where Dire never lost focus on her for not even a millisecond while swinging his body around to keep sight on her at all costs and prevent anything to connect through to her. They would both immediately perish if there was a single mistake. He created walls for her to land and push off of at impossible angles to keep going at the frightening pace she held. Countless blows were avoided by near invisible blockades that had existed in an almost ephemeral sense, where they did their duty and then faded before you could ever perceive them.
Rainbow Dash landed with a thud besides him after the last griffin had been battered.
Both had reached the peak of exhaustion at this point. He had no idea how deep of a deficit that burst had put her in, but her barely being able to breathe among the painful gasps for breath was enough for him to tell it was everything she had left. His head hurt harder then he ever remembered with a brain-splitting headache, and he felt on the verge of puking.
The few griffins that were left stood shocked, but to his dark expectations further reinforcements slowly landed in front of the two. They carried a line of crossbows, and Dire knew this was it.
"Do not worry. I will protect you."
She finally looked at him, and as realization took hold the light which had been gone from her eyes lit for the first time that day as the recognition hit. He threw himself in front of her as the rain of projectiles came.
"Fly and escape, live on. Please."
It was the all he could come up with in the final seconds of his life.
The pain from the impacts were immediate and all went dark, and he swore he heard a scream as his consciousness faded.
Twilight sat bored outside of a meeting room of which she wasn't allowed into. The details weren't for her to hear, even though she was shadowing the pony inside. It was unfair and dumb, but they had claimed it was all confidential details that only the minimum amount of confidential ponies could hear.
It was a shame, but it allowed her to get back into the extra reading she had been doing. Today, she had decided to go through what started all of this. 'Marshal's guide to spiritual magic'. It was almost nostalgic at this point. She took her time reading through it fully, instead of skipping to the more relevant material they had rushed to the first time they found it. It was as she neared the section about the Sanctuaries that Twilight noticed it. She flipped a page she saw something tiny, that she hadn't seen when going over it with Celestia. Now that she got a careful look at it, it did indeed look like there was a tiny amount of paper left near the base as though pages had been ripped out. Checking for the page number, she wanted to slam her hoof down that there wasn't one. What kind of careless pony wrote a book that didn't have page numbers?! Ponies in the past were backwards, and that was final in her opinion. It prevented her from checking if and how many pages were missing. Still, after staring at it for long enough she was certain some were gone. Groaning with frustration, she finally stopped obsessing over it and read over the passages past it. It was an old book after all, who knew how many had possessed it in total so far in the past. She'd have to accept that.
Doing everything she could to rip her mind away from it, she sought another topic. She thought back to Ponyville. The ponies there she knew had been placed into more strenuous positions due to the recent dealings of life, and suddenly Twilight felt guilty about her minor problems in comparison. Rainbow Dash... she really hoped that she was okay. She really missed her. Missed all of them. It was time to go back to Ponyville soon, but she wouldn't see Dash even after returning.
She might never seen Dash again.
The realization cut through her heart like a razor, but she didn't allow it to take hold. There was no way she would ever believe that her friend was gone until the moment of truth itself arrived. She was capable, and Equestria was going to take care of its own. She bit her lip. More than that, she started shuffling in her spot nervously.
She needed to find something else than worrying. Her ken was massive, come on Twilight... come on.
She had taken a liking to one of the ministers. Maverick. She latched onto the thought more out of need than want to give the stallion any extra credit. One of the younger ministers, she had noticed that he seemed the most flexible. There was a lot he potentially messed up on, but it was because he was taking on things he knew could make him look bad in the first place. The fact he was willing to put himself out there - even while a pony like Twilight watched, was impressive in her opinion. He also, without realizing it she thought, had some of the most diverse connections in the city, period. It was like he knew everypony because his semi-cheerful self could worm its way into anypony's heart.
Needing something else at this point, she pulled out another book she had found, one which she believed to be one of the rarest in that room. On the Nature of Souls, by Eifern - Grandmaster of Zeek. She had no idea what Zeek was, but it was assuredly some college of old which had been lost to time. This was her first time going through it, and her excitement knew no bounds. Being forced to not participate in that meeting was a blessing right now. Over the course of an hour she went through it with special consideration to slow the pace down and really absorb everything. She really wished this Eifern had mentioned how he figured out so much of this stuff. Most of it made logical sense, but testing it would be incredibly difficult. You sort of had to take a leap of faith when reading books like these that they were done by legitimate methods in testing, even if you hadn't been there. It was an idea that was hard to swallow sometimes. You couldn't test everything you read, sometimes you just had to believe and accept things were true. The unicorns of the modern era had looked down at their predecessors as lacking in any real knowledge or academic abilities, but it was painfully obvious looking at something like this and seeing that they were just as advanced if not more so in certain regards!
A certain passage stuck out to her in particular:
"It seems that, in the formation of an artificial soul, via magical means or other, that the influence of emotion and attitude can be imbibed into the souls structure in some way we still do not understand. To the point we cannot see it when directly observing the soul. There are very obvious examples of this, magical golems being summoned with the intent to attack by the castor were aggressive by nature the moment they able to move. This was why. To take it a step further, we tried modifying constructs with different mindsets and intents for each iteration of the same being, whose lesser soul was easily malleable.
To our surprise, there is no need to try and force any specification into your magic. If you truly feel a certain way while doing the adjustments - the will shall be carried out. Even in subtle ways we found, where we tried smiling while doing the work. To our disbelief the little golem picked a flower not thirty minutes later and gave it to some little filly. It was astonishing. We have no idea what the limits are on this, or how much they can influence a being. We know that any normal sentient being born is free from all these attachments, and thus isn't warped in any way. Thank goodness for that, we all held.
Further research is still needed in this area, and as we continue on to..."
She had tried to mentally compare it to several experiments she had ran in the past. This was definitely something she wanted to try and replicate.
Her thoughts were broken short by the doors swinging open. It was time to resume the rest of her day.
Multiple voices rung out at the same time, Straight Side's somewhere mixed in the outrage.
There was a brief pause, and then Straight decided he would take over to prevent the situation from losing all control, and in part to repent for allowing himself to join in on the foolishness.
"Please, everyone. We all know that this is most dreadful, and a shame. But, what is done is done. We cannot get back the lives of those already lost."
"But... but so many! This is outrageous! How dare those griffin basta—"
"Silence! We shall not revert back to such base instincts of which you'd see in the common attitude of a protester holding a picket-sign crying outrage with no tangible plan to fix anything! Calm yourselves."
That had settled things down quite well, even if the uncomfortable murmurs persisted for a moment.
"What does matter, is what we can do now. General Reacher and his men have seen much success, and Princess Celestia herself marches on the griffin capital with haste. We shall be seeing the end of this conflict soon enough, even if the losses have been unacceptable as is so far. We should all be far more worried with the escalating costs, unless something changes we will be going for broke. The timing of this war coming directly after we started the construction of Oblatio was an unfortunate thing that none of us could've ever predicted, but it has left us stretched far too thin."
"Raising... raising taxes again will be a very risky thing, Straight side. Ponies can barely get by right now, and while they believe in the cause of the war we cannot ignore the dissatisfaction taking place irregardless." said Chances.
Sometimes Straight Side hated how accurate Chances Bightley could be.
"There is nothing we can do about it. We'll have to slowly guide our landing as softly as possible and hope the war end soon enough."
Voices finally rang out in some level of agreement this time.
"Oblatio has filled with ponies now. Several tens of thousands in fact, Princess Celestia herself once said we needed to be patient to reap the rewards of it. That time should be coming soon, right, Maverick?" said Minty, who hadn't spoke thus far until just now.
"You're exactly right. The construction is done and the polish on the city, while not complete, is enough. They will be providing a massive boom in tax providence for our ponies, they already are starting to in fact." said Maverick, who somehow had seemed ready for his name to be called on at exactly this moment.
"Well it'll be needed... several towns are going to have to be rebuilt after all of this mess near the border with the griffins is secured. I also believe that we should be voting on the construction of new boundary defences, but that is rushing it a bit, I think," said Precise Planning, whose input had been sorely lacking so far.
The rest of the meeting had be saved, and went far more smoothly than the first half where the ponies had been shocked at the losses of war. Losing that many towns and roughly half of the army had been a truly bitter pill to swallow for all of them. News of victory lost all of it's brilliant sheen when accompanied with the noted loss of life.
It was as they were filing out finally, that Straight Side saw somepony hovering in the hall who he was not used to seeing. It was a mare, and she looked uncomfortable for whatever reason.
"Is there a reason you're here, miss? The palace is kind of a off-limits zone until things start to calm down, if you know what I mean."
"I have something important I need to tell one of you," she lowered her voice, "can you be trusted? This is top secret."
"Please ma'am. I've heard it all. Now can you—"
"Who is this?"
Maverick had come along and stood beside him.
"It's just some lame mare looking for attention at the worst of—"
"Ruby. Ruby Aura."
Celestia and her forces stood in shock at the baffling scene before them.
The griffins town stood burning, not a griffin in sight. Actually, to say it was burning would be an overstatement at this point, as it had mostly burnt. Few flames were left, but the heat from the charred remains still tossed up the wind of their approach to be felt in their faces.
A million questions went through Celestia's head.
One common theme remained - a trap. But that wasn't nearly enough. What kind of trap could this have been? It was a bizarre sacrifice to just up and ruin a perfectly good monument of living for so many.
She tried and tried to summon ideas, but it was all too vague. Whatever they had wanted to achieve here, it was bad news.
It was because of the silence that her words need not be screamed as she had become conditioned to do over the past few weeks.
"We shall be taking a detour. The path to our left may be slightly slower, but I doubt they will raze another town again in the hopes we fall for whatever this is."
Ponies fell in line to continue the voyage like always, but the nagging thoughts stayed with the town.
Celestia looked to her surroundings in wonder. This would take them closer to the Feeryan Mountain Range, something she had enjoyed visiting in her younger years. The range itself would practically curve and guide them to the capital as it faded back into the ground. Fitting.
To be honest, the tension she had felt earlier had started to subside. The area here was far more clear, so the griffins chances of catching them off guard was close to zero. They had banked a lot on the ponies being overwhelmed by the choice back there, she had bet. Did they think they were that impatient? Frustration did simmer a moment as a blue figure crossed her mind, but she quickly cleared it. Decisions had to be hard, cold, and logical at times like these.
That didn't stop her from daydreaming a little. What was it she had done here in the past? Skiing in particular stood out in her mind. She even remembered there was some amazing pools of waters along the caves here. Something even more interesting popped into her head, exploring the underground caverns from said caves. If she remembered correctly in fact, this was home to one of the largest hollowed areas in Equus that she knew of. Luna had enjoyed the time greatly.
She bit the inside of her mouth and tried to forget it.
It was around twenty minutes later they heard something strange.
"Can you hear that?" she asked it to her aide besides her directly, who looked just as confused as her.
"It sounds like... a low rumble? Don't tell me a dragon moved in recently around here."
And it wasn't just Celestia, multiple ponies were now looking around wondering what the ruckus was about.
"Wait, it sounds like it's coming from..."
The ground shook violently, and several ponies off balance fell over because of it, Celestia and the majority of pegasi took flight and stared down in bewilderment.
But this was no earthquake. The ground split apart, cracked, and collapsed downward in a sinkhole far too large to be natural. The roar of the shifting earth was deafening, and Celestia watched in horror as the majority of her ponies got dragged into the depths.
Many things had happened after that, mostly with pegasi eventually finding the courage to fly into the rubble after things had calmed down. Celestia's gaze hadn't shifted, and she was practically locked in place. Her mind was too. All except her wings, which ran in the background on their own accord to keep her airborne.
Several pegasi came up to her to report things, and she gave replies that she couldn't say what were. The only thing she did know for sure, was that she made sure the rescue effort had started.
Bombs. They had travelled underground and setup, how many? An insane, unbelievable amount to be able to collapse this much on the surface. A massive gamble, considering how long it must've taken to setup and coordinate.
She seethed, but under it all there was a surprising level of respect. The griffins had someone gifted at the helm, she'd give them that. She had to give whoever it was that. The griffins hadn't even needed to engage them to cause more damage than throwing thousands of their lives against them.
On the other side of that coin, she cursed herself once again. How many times in her life had she thought of the answer, only to ignore it because she had allowed herself to relax? To come up with realization just after the fact, time and time again, it was another sick joke by fate she assumed.
Eventually, a throng of ponies had setup some... relief camp with tents for the wounded or dead that were found. Nopony had really had the courage to approach her after the initial orders, but that was changing now it seemed.
"Princess. What shall we do? This shall take days for us to fully clear and make sure we've searched as much as possible. We—"
She noted that it was somepony she didn't personally know. Perhaps this was the best they could do for now, either that or he was the only one with the courage at the moment to approach her.
She put on a stern face.
"Worry not. It is simple really."
Everypony gave her an odd look.
"You shall all stay here and protect yourselves while carrying out the rescue. Get in contact with General Reacher and follow his orders from here on out."
"What are you—"
"I shall be heading for the capital. I will be finishing this myself. I should've done it long ago."
As if they hadn't been surprised enough today, they all gave her the most incredulous look.
Ponies yelled out at she flew up and high, and then away as she made for the capital with burning blood and the determination to fight the entire griffin race herself if she had to.
It was an unremarkable night in Canterlot, when time had seemed to slow down to a dull flow, and the guards had taken to walking at half-pace, that there was a stirring at an undisclosed room which never saw activity at this time with any normalcy was the only break in it.
The door creaked open after being unlocked magically and twisted traditionally. Light poured into the room from the hallway, which spaced torches provided less and less as they got further away. Inside crept a single pony whose own purpose was unknown even to herself.
The few that knew of this room had treated this room as nothing more than an afterthought, she surmised, that she felt compelled to visit its sole inhabitant.
Going over and lighting the candles one-by-one, she grabbed the last as it came to incendiary purpose with her magic and dragged it with her over to the table besides the royal bed.
"I know that you've been awful lonely lately, Luna. I wanted to make sure more than just Rosebud has been checking up on you."
Complete silence - like always, answered her. It didn't slow her down any.
She set the candle down besides the bed on the night stand. It finally illuminated the resting mare who had been undisturbed by light till now. She sat on the side of the bed to take in the sight, even if it filled her with a frown the longer it went. She would not avert her gaze.
There lay, as she always did, the withering form of Luna. Luna had come to seem increasingly less recognizable as time went on, but her status as an alicorn was always obvious because of the wings and horn. Approaching the appearance of an ancient mummy more than a healthy and lively being, her entire body had become gray and sunken at this point. She was emaciated. Her breaths were shallow, too shallow as they were slow. You could practically call it the wheezing of a sickly pony fighting off a tough flu. You could even start to see her ribs starting to stick out. Twilight had thought all of this bad enough, several darkened lines, no, cracks had started to form in various places as though she was some piece of pottery that had been treated a little too harshly. To say that she looked like a shadow of her formal self would've been the understatement of the century.
How long had this mare been fighting to hold onto life now? There were limits that were never actually supposed to be tested, and they had been insulted to the point of wanting to actually show they were indeed limits. That was what Twilight saw.
"You have to stay strong Luna. Celestia will be back with the remedy soon enough. Nopony has ever fought as hard as you have, and we're all proud of you for holding on."
She bit her lip.
"So please... just keep going for a little while longer. You'll be feeling good as new in no time."
With no one to respond, a comfortable silence took over. Twilight had wanted to remain strong for the pony in front of her, but every second she increasingly uncomfortable. Yet she couldn't peal her eyes away.
It was after some ten-or-fifteen minutes something remarkable happened. So remarkable, in fact, that Twilight didn't notice it at first.
Luna's eyes had slowly started to drift open. The iris had been completely drained of all colour, leaving only the void to stare back. The term "staring into ones soul" felt aptly accurate for what Twilight saw, as the eyes reflected the lifeless future Twilight had come to despise. Her eyelids only made it to around just below half-open, and there was the tiniest twitch of life in her hooves and limbs.
"Where... where am I?" her voice had sounded dry, of course having not drank any water in ages. They couldn't force her to anymore without risking her choking. Alicorns could go without, but it wasn't desirable.
"You're safe and sound in Canterlot Luna! Luna! Can you hear me?!" said Twilight, who kept from yelling to scare the poor mare, but still had an intensity to her susurration. Luna showed absolutely no sign she had heard anything at all.
"So cold... I can't see anything. Is anypony there?"
Twilight closed her eyes harshly as she could barely bare to listen anymore. She forced herself to.
"All is dark... the void. Am I... still on the moon?"
Something broke in Twilight, and she did something she really shouldn't. Not with a pony this frail. She leaped onto the bed fully, and carefully lifted Luna until she could sit behind her. Throughout the process, there was still no sensory indication from Luna any of this has registered. Twilight hugged Luna from behind, her barrel against her back and head on her shoulder and across the side of her neck. Tears flowed freely as she held the pony as tight as she could without hurting her.
"Please... I'm so tired of just existing. Sister... I know you hate me... but I miss you so much. It hurts too much... sister." despite the weak and dull nature of her voice, it had still managed to bleed in true pain by the end. Each word spoken slowly as though it was its own sentence.
"I'm sorry... for being so worthless. For... for becoming a horrible pony."
There was nothing Twilight could say. She did all she could, continuing to hold the broken mare. Even if their touch could not be felt, the cry of her soul did everything it could to traverse the contours of space and time and pierce into the void that Luna found herself trapped in and let her know that somepony was still there for her.
She grit her teeth, eyes clenched further, and it was a truly wretched thing. Her body heaved with sorrow that came in strengthening waves.
"I just hope... somepony... anypony... will feel... I ever gave them happiness," the light that didn't exist in the first place died out, and her eyes started drifting closed by the time she finished speaking. They re-opened partially just a little after, as if she was resisting sleep after a long day.
"I love you... Celestia... please forgive... me."
The last words barely audible as they drifted off. But Twilight had heard them. She would've never missed it.
For hours that night Twilight stayed hugging Luna without moving, unable to handle the heartbreak. She felt if she let go, those words would become final. Afraid that letting go even for a second, the mare would lose the last final spark of life and pass away.
Somewhere, inside of those hours, without realizing it, Twilight had spoken with resolute and tired eyes staring forward into nothing. Memories flooded her mind of their brief time together out west, and even if they weren't the most harmonious she still felt them precious.
"We will save you Luna. No matter what. Hold on just a bit longer."
The first thing to appear in the darkness of his mind was soreness and aching all across his body he felt. Who was he? Nothing made sense. Every sense bled back into reality as as he slowly awakened.
What had happened? Why was he so exhausted?
After a while of struggling to feel things out, he finally began to get a sense of direction. He was laying on his back, on what felt quite soft. Probably a bed. There was a slight weight on the top of his barrel. It didn't really hurt more than anywhere else.
Finally, after much struggle, he finally managed to slowly open his eyes and take in the first view of a world he had thought he had left behind.
Before him his body stretched out in a makeshift bed it seemed. All bandaged up, his entire body that is, to the point he could only see the slightest hints of fur underneath it all in the tiny gaps where he had apparently not needed such thorough wrapping. Small stains of blood splotched several areas, who knew how many times they had been replaced already due to his bleeding.
Before his mind could wonder further why he was still alive, he saw what had been weighing on him.
The head of who he assumed to be Rainbow Dash had lay flat over him, half sitting off to the side in a chair while resting on him. Her mane covered the entirety of her head so that he could not see her face, but the colors were unmistakable. She was snoring softly. It brought a slow smile to his face. Just as quickly dominated by a more profound thought. He was glad. She had actually lived. He had as well, for reasons he had yet to understand. The last thing he remembered gave him the shivers... there was no way.
His tiny view of the world expanded, as light and sound which had previously been a disconnect clicked into place. Dozens of other beds and injured ponies surrounded him, with attendants working vigorously to help all of them. They seemed overwhelmed.
"Where am I?"
A pony, who was clearly not a part of those taking care of the rest, but was observing the inside of the tent, saw him and began approaching him after having seen him woken up. That's right, he was inside a massive tent. It all made sense.
"May I ask your name?"
"Dire... Dire Comet."
Dire just kept noticing things. Most aptly was the fact that this seemed to be a bat pony. Many of them around him were bat ponies that were taking care of others.
"You're lucky to be alive, Dire. Our reinforcements had been lagging behind, but your units heroic efforts holding out as long as you did allowed us to jump in at the last second. We'd all believed you'd have died within minutes, but our medical teams somehow kept you stringing along because of how fast you got treatment. It is truly a miracle that you're alive. You especially have this pegasus to thank, she carried you to our care centre faster than I've seen most free flying pegasi move, let alone holding another. Your vitals being missed just enough being second. Count yourself blessed.
"I don't even know where to begin. I can't believe I'm alive... I will have to thank her when she wakes. Thank you all for saving my life.
"No problem. Rest assured, our position is secure. After you... passed out, we finished the job you had all started. We are currently far behind the current points of conflict, as our forces have pushed further towards the capital. It is just a shame that we couldn't arrive sooner... it was too horrible to see the remains of that battlefield. At least we managed to save you two in the end I suppose, but it is a horrible thing to have to bury so many of our fallen."
Wiped out. It brought ancient emotions back to him. Grief hit him like a wave as he thought of all the shared memories from the past few weeks. He had grown to like and know many of them, even if the time was short. Now, they were all gone. He realized with a start he had been lightly crying without realizing it.
"I just hope all of this can end soon enough. I'm sick of losing friends and fellow ponies."
"Aren't we all. Listen, I'm going to let you rest. Do you want me to move her or...?"
"Let her be. She saved my life after all, and I have gotten more than I could've imagined being here to see for myself that she is okay."
The soldier left him, and he lay his head back and closed his eyes, contemplating everything.
After around twenty minutes or so, the figure on him started to stir. She yawned as she slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head up.
"What was..."
They were looking at each other like this couldn't be really happening.
"DIRE!!"
She slammed into him, which he eventually realized was for a hug. He was too busy wincing from the impact.
"Heheh. Sorry," she said after hearing his 'discomfort'. It was short lived as he heard something he had once wished to never hear again.
"I'm so glad... you're alive, Dire. I can't believe everyone is..." she choked on her words by the end. He felt a warm liquid fall onto his neck from her.
"I could say the same. I've never been more proud of my life than seeing you making it out of all of this. You have my eternal thanks for saving me, as well."
"Yeah... yeah... don't think anything about it dumbo. Don't do that ever again."
They lay there hugging for what felt like forever, until the tears dried up. They were briefly informed that they were to be sent back home, and he was surprised to hear Rainbow Dash argue against it.
"I can still do more! I'm not as hurt as him! Look! I can still save lives! Please!"
But it wasn't meant to be. The orders had already been received and stated, and despite her frustration he felt that she was secretly relieved. He knew he was, for both of them. He held similar thoughts, but was wiser to know that he'd just be committing suicide at his current state. His vitals had been missed by just enough by the bolts he was told later, and that his healing process would probably take around a week before he was back to some level of decent health and able to move around.
They had known reinforcements had been coming, but the timing left him depressed, if only they had come even hours earlier, everything would've been different. So many more lives could've been saved. Apparently the majority of reinforcements had come in the form of bat ponies, who had lagged behind the main forces due to being further away from the griffin lands at the start, and who had also apparently received the news late in their communities. Who bloody knew what happened there to cause that, but they were here now. Fighting for Equestria. They were as good as they came for that reason alone he thought.
They lay there resting and talking the rest of the day, until Rainbow decided she actually needed somewhere other than him to sleep. That night he slept feeling strange just before dozing off. When you thought it was the end and suddenly were thrown back to life, this happened he supposed.
In a darkened room cut off from light, several ponies were speaking with hushed tones.
"You say you can hire upwards of fifty to a hundred?"
"Yes. Yes I can. It will be expensive, so you better not be lying to me about this. The only reason I considered it at all is because there was multiple of you backing it."
"It's serious, Flawless. We need to see if there's anything else. We know something is up, and now we need to look to see how far it may go. She," he pointed softly to an uncomfortable mare off to the side, "has provided the last shred of evidence we needed to escalate all of this. We're going in."
Flawless looked around nervously due to the conspiratorial nature of all of this.
"Fine. But you better keep my name out of your mouths if this all goes up in flame. I'm helping you because of our history but goddess forsake me if this comes back to ruin me!"
"Relax, Flawless. Once we procure anything we'll work on getting it spread as far as possible. Besides, we know everything about the castle. This war has left every position thin. It'll all go smoothly. I say again, relax."
"Just... don't fail alright? I expect results, as always for my investments. Even if the reward is something none of us dare even speak of."
The entire room burst into laughter.
"I can't believe it actually worked! Those ponies act so posh and arrogant and they fell for such a basic trick! Shows them not to mess with us!"
Roeshak was joined by those working directly under him as they celebrated the massive success of their trap for the princesses force. Roeshak had practically placed all of his hopes behind it in a crazy gamble that would get him killed if it failed, and it had worked! Actually worked! They had spent days scrounging every explosive they had and moving it underground to make it happen. He still couldn't believe it.
Drinks had been clanged and dumped into voracious bellies, and Roeshak was no different. He was not drunk, not nearly, but the lightest of buzzes elevated him with the recent news, and cause for celebration.
It was when they were about to start another round that a messenger burst into the room. God, he hated messengers, they always gave him anxiety. He tried to not let it show in front of his men as the messenger came forward.
A whisper in his ear and he was flabbergasted.
"What?!"
All of the griffins around him had sobered up real fast seeing his reaction, eyes wide.
"You're telling me... that thee Princess Celestia, has come here alone to finish this? What kind of blasphemy is this?!"
"Sir...! She is standing several kilometres away on the plains before us awaiting our response of surrender or challenge. What shall we do?"
Roeshak cursed everything. Still, this had to be a bluff right? Firstly, he was convinced that she wouldn't actually destroy their capital itself, so that was some relief that she couldn't just blow them up like she had done to a large portion of his forces earlier in the war. This was a defensive advantage. But still... it had to be a bluff right? Was there ponies waiting in the forests behind her somehow? Or was she really that over-confident in her ability? He hated to admit it, but she was truly a monster. But was that really enough to fight all of them here? He had recalled most of his forces back to the capital as the ponies had pushed inward, and she'd be facing ten thousand to one. Not only this, but artillery could be used as they had it here from the old times of the kingdom, which they had recently restored. He felt like if they played their cards right, they could overwhelm her. Attack from every angle, wear her out, and then eventually finish her when she eventually made a mistake. Was that really so unrealistic?
The other side of him hesitated against his better judgment. He had heard the reports of her actions so far. The pure destructive potential was ridiculous. They could only really do what they could to prevent disaster was to spread out and hope she didn't actually want to genocide their entire race. But she had asked for surrender, had she not? Surely that meant there was something there. She was not killing mercilessly and without pause.
That made him lean towards fighting, even though the mere thought of it sounded crazy. Who could even say that aloud in a serious manner?
But it was not lost on him that this was it, considering she was here at the heart of their kingdom. They didn't really have much choice anymore, she had gotten here regardless of all of their efforts to slow them down. The earlier success drained away from his mind quickly as he got serious. Well, looking around the conclusion had always been the same. They may have been off put like he had been hearing the news, but once again he knew that surrender was not an option, lest he wanted to forfeit his life for free and allow an even worse fate to befall his people by the replacement they'd eventually have. Some other incompetent, he figured.
No. It was crazy and surreal, but they were going to have to do this. And if... and if they actually won, the war was as good as over. The ponies would never recover from losing their princess. He believed that with all of his heart.
"Send out the word, we will not surrender, we shall fight. Give her our answer," he motioned "ALL MEN! PREPARE FOR BATTLE! I WILL BE PERSONALLY COMMANDING OUR FORCES! MOVE OUT AND STAY READY! YOU ARE ALL TO STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING THE COMMANDS TO A TEE TO ALL YOUR MEN! DISMISSED!"
He tried to mentally prepare for the grand odyssey that was tackling this Goliath before him, and stressed. He was just going to have to do what he could, just had like had so far. This was the battle for his life, and all the griffin race.
Princess Celestia stood calmly, the sight of the capital - and her final objective, finally being in her sight. It was like a weight off her shoulders to know that what she had been so desperately seeking was finally within her hooves grasp. Now, all that awaited was the griffins response. She really hoped they surrendered, but really doubted it would happen. Long enough had she known their kind to know that they hated that kind of defeat more than anything. Such silly pride.
Pride.
Pride was what had destroyed everything in her life up until now. Her relationship with her sister had become irreparable because of it. She found herself being a hypocrite yet again. Disgusting. Who was she to look down on the griffins when she held the same flaws in the end.
Unlike the griffins however, they did not have some purpose beyond simple survival. For Celestia, she would go to Tartarus and back a hundred times to save her dear sister. It burned deeply inside in the background of her mind, the desperation. She would show them the true meaning of conviction if they doubted her. She already had. Perhaps they needed a reminder.
She would show them the difference between mortal and immortal. That was certain. If they answered like she expected.
That time was now, finally. She saw the singular griffin flying towards her, most likely terrified of being burned on the spot having delivered the news.
He landed several minutes later before her. She waited expectantly.
"Princess Celestia, on behalf of my commander, I am to announce: we declare that we decline your offer of surrender. We shall meet you."
She could see that he swallowed harshly and looked terrified despite trying to pretend that he wasn't.
She started laughing. It made him take a step further back. She quickly stopped.
"Alright then. Come at me if you dare. Unless you're content to watch me smash up the place."
She gave him an unnerving grin, half-hoping that by scaring this one it'd spread to all of them. She was sure it looked beyond evil to his warped perspective.
He slowly backed away, nodded, and then flew off faster than he had came.
Now was the time, she told herself. She had the power, the will, and the opportunity. She knew how powerful she was, but she could not slip up now. She was not invincible after all. She'd bet everything on her success here. Her sister didn't have time for her to play the slow game any longer. Risks had to be taken.
Roeshak stood on the wall, with binoculars as he stared down the princess in the distance, while also being aware of his messenger arriving soon. He could make out most of the details of Celestia, and it was actually the first time in his life seeing her rather than seeing her imagery in a book. He was sure the same could be said for almost every griffin here.
The messenger landed on the wall near him looking nervous. Welp. This was really happening. He had delivered their decline.
"Listen... we are going to stress hit and run. I want our units pulling in enough to warrant her being focused on them, but not enough to be at significant risk. We need this to be a war of attrition. Nobody knows how long she can go on for, but I doubt it is forever. We have to bet on that. Minimize risk, and then take advantage of her tiredness later. It is the only way. Follow the patterns I showed you all. Is that understood?"
The circle around him gave acknowledgement.
"Very well. Move out. Listen for my directions to come later and stay ready for them."
Around fifteen thousand griffins flew above the capital, spilling out to the sides in an attempt to surround the sun princess from as wide an angle as possible. They would've blot out the sun if they had flown close enough together, bodies forming a massive wall. Instead, they spread out at different heights and layers.
Almost every single one had a weapon, be it a crossbow or some melee weapon. The most common being a scimitar.
Roeshak gave the signal, and small portions from each area slowly made their way towards her. He wanted to see how she would respond.
As his men neared, he saw princess Celestia light her horn for the first time that evening. Through his binoculars it was almost blinding. Hey, if she wanted to expend a lot early on, he was all for that. Even if it was ridiculous how much she had within her. Moving the sun was a task no mortal could comprehend, and perhaps they'd see a glimpse into that today. Hopefully not.
"Curse the ponies magical apparatus, it's so unfair," he whispered under his breath.
His griffins picked up the pace as they approached her, but used curved flight paths so they weren't easy targets.
He saw around twenty to thirty red orbs appear above her, and held his breath. A few seconds later fireballs were being fired off in every direction towards the omnidirectional attack. The flames were lengthy, leaving a long trail behind them to take up more space in the sky. As if to copy them, they also moved in a circular pattern around her, to protect her from most angles. This prevented the fire from giving chase forwards after the griffins if they backed off.
Most of his men retreated as the projectiles came forth, but it was a grim reminder when he saw many burnt figures falling from the sky and towards the ground who had been too slow. The fireballs quickly dissipated into nothingness after most of them had regained distance from her.
She looked no different afterwards, an almost bored expression on her face. It frustrated him to no end to see it through his close view of which he stared through on the glass. He could make out most of the details, even from this far away.
Still... there was no way she could just keep doing that forever. It also wouldn't get her anywhere to just stay still. Something had to break. It was time for them to start firing projectiles themselves.
Well, it was beginning now. You could say many things about the griffins, but coward was generally not one of them. Despite seeing their comrades drop like flies around them when they tempted fate by getting a little too close or unlucky, they never hesitated to go back in and fire their crossbows at her. It honestly made him proud.
Several hours had gone by. Roeshak felt like he'd been reading rather than watching, a book about every single kind of offensive spell known to ponydom. He hated it. Several thousand of his men had perished, but still they pressed on.
They neared the time of tempo change he had planned for.
He had taken many breaks to communicate with his army, but most of his time had been peering through his binoculars watching Princess Celestia, studying for any weakness, and any indication that she was slowing down. He swore he'd feel the indent of the blasted things against his face for weeks after this.
Right now, she was panting, but it did not look like she was unable to catch her breath. He tapped his claws against the stone of the walls parapet.
Something inside of him flipped on.
"Begin operation thunderstorm."
Two massive walls of griffins flew to each side of Celestia.
Roeshak waited for his men in the field to give the signal to begin the operation.
They'd spent hours here at the base of operations getting ready for this.
Then, it began. Every single griffin from both walls advanced on her as fast they could. How would she respond?
She turned to her right, and that nasty glow returned that threatened to blind Roeshak if he kept staring into it all day. He removed the binoculars so that he could see the bigger picture.
A flash.
Oh dear, he thought to himself. Lightning crackled through the sky and upwards to rejoin with the clouds, bifurcating and forking endlessly through the wave coming towards her. It hit quite a few as far as he could tell.
Again and again, flashes lit the ever darkening sky as she cast it both ways. There was still a lot of light out, but it was getting closer to sundown.
She was unable to take out all of them with this, and he watched carefully to see how she'd respond to the first close engagements of the day, literal hundreds hoping to swipe her with blades as they passed by, or even slam into her. He didn't know what his men would actually do once they got close. He hoped they slammed into her. No one was invincible once you staggered them and prevented them from fully recovering.
A giant magical bubble formed around her, and many griffins slammed into being unable to slow down before it had appeared in front of them.
"FIRE!" he screamed.
Dozens of ballistas across the wall, which had been calibrated and re-calibrated a million times to ensure perfection, fired all at once towards the princess and the shield. He quickly threw up his binoculars to see if she saw it or not.
As he stared her down, he was pleased to see that she seemingly didn't notice them. Perhaps the pounding of weapons against her shield really was distracting?
At the last moment though, he saw her eyes flash towards the bolts. It was too late. Her horn flashed a bit brighter, but a massive slamming noise hit that could be heard even by Roeshak, and the shield shattered. What came after was a blur, and a ton of dust and dirt was thrown up from the impact, making it hard to see.
All of his men in the field should have rushed forward, but they remained still, and even he was shocked to the degree that he didn't blame them. By the gods! It had actually broken her shield. Had she been hit by one of them? Seeing this monster handle everything so powerfully so far, you had almost come to believe that it was impossible in the end.
A rush of elation hit him. They could do this! She was vulnerable to some degree! This was proof of that.
"MOVE FORWARD!"
His throat already hurt from the screaming so far, but he still put everything he had into it. His words made no difference, but he meant them all the same.
The smoke was clearing, and he stayed focused as hard as he could on seeing her outline for when it appeared.
When he saw it, he couldn't believe his eyes. There before him, a massive bolt was stuck into the ground directly besides her. She was leaning against it, half of her body a bloody mess. Her left wing was... gone as far as he could tell, and the bolt had torn through the side of her body as well. He could actually see bone sticking out, most likely from her ribs. She was bleeding severely, and wheezed for breath.
He threw his view all around, and finally spotted some of his men moving in to finish her off.
Time slowed as they approached her. His heart pounded in his chest as he saw victory before him. He brought his view back onto her as he waited for someone to arrive. He wanted to see it happen, confirmation before his very eyes.
None of these things happened.
He saw it with absolute clarity. The princess, who by all rights should've been exhausted and reeling, grit her teeth. Body massively destroyed. The look on her face burned into his mind the moment he saw it. It was of pure hatred and anger. Her teeth stood bared against the world and her eyes were pinpricks, her body shook. He would have nightmares of this image for the rest of his life. Where in the world was this vortex of demonic emotion coming from?! This looked like blood lust if he had ever seen it!
Another flash, not nearly as bright as earlier times today came. Except this time it wasn't from her horn. Fire came forth from her flesh in all of the areas that had been damaged. The fire exploded outwards from her, rising and rising. Before his unbelieving eyes, he saw it. Her flesh was being rebuilt at a rapid speed under the flames.
The flames themselves gave him the chills. These were no normal flames. They felt and looked ominous to him. There was small shades of dark lines mixed into them. They cast eerie shadows upon the bolts around her, which had landed all over the place in a fifty meter radius there, all stuck in the ground deeply.
Before his eyes, he watched bone reform, and eventually the flesh cover it and then a layer of skin, and fur to follow that. The fire didn't disappear. It spread to her entire body and flowed through the air no differently than the hair of her mane or tail would've done. Only far more sinister.
So much had happened in so few seconds, that when he finally saw a griffin reach to close the final gap to attack her, what he saw was the opposite. She surged forward in a flash with speed he had never imagined possible and slammed a hoof into the griffin, who wouldn't have been able to react even if he had been entirely ready for it.
That was only the beginning. She took flight, and gave a similar fate to many. The bodies, which were basically demolished beyond recognition, burned with the cursed black and orange flame even after reaching a stop on the ground. As if to killing them wasn't enough, their destiny was to burn into nothingness and leave this world forever, forgotten.
Roeshak stood back in horror. He couldn't watch anymore. But he had to.
Looking back, the fighting had broken down. The rest of his men who hadn't joined so far rushed in foolishly. Or was it foolish? With the princess, no that demon flying around, what tactics could they do when her position shifted every few seconds?
Lightning, cursed flame, and beams of piercing light shot through the sky. As if to add insult to injury, she was multi-casting while beating down whatever was in her sight. It was a flurry and dance of death. He wondered what the most merciful death was weighing all of those endings. Perhaps lightning?
Where had this newfound strength come from?! What in Tartarus was that?! This was looking more and more like a nightmare rather than reality.
After a while, he realized with a start everyone around him had been looking at him expectantly, terrified out of their minds.
"Su... surrender! Announce surrender right now!"
Even now she flew through the sky meeting obstacles, a force of nature destroying whatever lay in its path. Several massive fireballs - which he only just saw now, smashed into the walls of the capital and all of the griffins took to the skies. Had she gone berserk and now was going to destroy everything in sight?! The walls crumbled where they had been hit.
Below them, the majority of the stone walls collapsed from the explosion. Their city had been exposed.
He looked around again. There wasn't even a smidgen of a chance one of these griffins would go out and confront that demon right now.
"Get me a megaphone! Right now! I'll do it myself!"
He was eventually given a wooden megaphone for projecting his voice. Despite facing death, he headed for the storm before him. Praying his voice could be perceived before being knocked off like the rest, or that she could hear it at all. He didn't know where the courage came from.
"WE SURRENDER!! PLEASE, STOP! WE SURRENDER!"
She heard it while flying to her next target.
She stopped just before the poor griffin, who looked on the verge of passing out being so close to her.
She turned and looked to where the voice had come from. The difference in uniform and megaphone stood out in her vision. Flying over to him was easy. She did not fully relax, but seeing everyone around her shell-shocked was enough to not be wary.
"So... you surrender?" she said as he got in speaking distance.
"Yes! Yes! Please, no more of this, I beg of you."
She looked around carefully, scanning for any hidden threats. She saw none.
"Good. You should've listened to my initial request."
"Yes... we should've. Please forgive our foolishness, supreme one. Your majesty I mean." The griffin looked down, pain in his eyes amidst the fear.
The cloud over her mind slowly started to fade. She had felt strange for the past hour, after her emotions had hit a peak, but she had accepted the burst of strength without question wherever it came from. Her emotions had gotten the better of her to say the least. The flames on her body calmed and receded back into her. For now.
"Good. Now that your surrender is established, I ask you take me through your city and to the treasury. There is something I wish to see. My ponies shall be arriving shortly, and you are to do every single thing they tell you to. I needn't remind you what trying anything at this point will incur."
"Yes... of course. Please, follow me... your majesty."
She gave a slight grin at that.
Celestia walked through the streets of the capital of Haldesberg.
On every cobbled street, no matter where she went while following this griffin who had told her his name was "Roeshak", their apparent commander, she found lines and lines of griffins prostrated and down on the ground in reverence and fear. It never ended. She doubted they stopped, even minutes after she passed.
They climbed up a hill as the approached the palace, and finally the path cleared up with no more griffins being up here from the residential areas.
"Let me ask you something. Is the treasury untouched like always?"
He hesitated a moment.
"I believe so, your majesty. But I cannot guarantee anything. Forgive me."
"Good enough."
After several minutes, and entering into the palace they came to the back of the place, where it connected into the mountain for the vault.
"I will be going in for a while. If you do not see me, do not panic. It simply means I've left for other duties. Simply wait for my forces to arrive and follow their instructions like I said. Also, I am not to be disturbed while in there. I will be locking it."
"Yes, you majesty."
He prostrated himself before her. Good. She'd keep him in leadership, he was pliable enough to ensure that the ponies could enact whatever changes they saw fit. He'd carry out for them what they needed. Reasonable enough.
With several more steps, she entered the vault, which also happened to be the royal families treasury, containing everything they had accumulated until now. It was time. Her mind had cleared fully now, and elation surged as she realized she had made it.
Sealing the vault door behind her with magic, she set out to find the Inner World Sanctuary.
Celestia lit her horn for light as she explored the surprisingly large crevice that was the treasury. Most of the walls had been replaced with marble, but there was still some evidence that this had been a mere cave at one point, exposed rock here and there, as well as the ceiling being a dead giveaway.
Finally, she found several torches to light on pillars. It appeared that there was eight of them, all massive to hold the place together and solid for millenniums.
Various Trinkets and jewellery were sprawled across the floor everywhere. Wooden chests, some open some not also aplenty. Sprinkle in the fact that there was hundreds of gold coins piled up, and Celestia had her work cut out for her. She didn't mind, glad to even be here.
An hour of searching went by, Celestia taking her time to sift through things carefully to not miss the necklace that contained the Sanctuary by memory. She was beginning to get slightly frustrated, she had already searched around sixty percent of the stuff in here, she felt.
No matter, she told herself. Stay patient.
After another half hour she felt her eye twitching.
"Where in Tartarus name is it!"
She kept looking, looking and looking. A few minutes later, and she was sure she had checked everything. Realization was starting to sink in, but the denial was stronger.
"I see, I simply missed it, I shall go over everything again."
She was speaking to herself far too much these days.
After another half hour of rushed searching, her temper flared. She smashed her hoof down.
"Damn it! Where is the blasted thing."
Nearly a hundred ponies flooded the hallway of the castle.
The guards never stood a chance against the flood.
The doors to the Celestia's royal chambers were slammed with a makeshift battering ram.
It was half an hour later, more fervent searching later, that it began.
"No... this can't be happening right now. It's here somewhere, I know it. Stay calm Celestia, stay calm."
It was creeping up in her mind, the horrible possibility that all of this could've been for naught. Blood pounded in her ears, her heart was pounding and she had to stop herself from completely losing control to the fears.
Her wretched face pleaded to fate. She looked up towards the ceiling as though it was the sky
"Please... don't make me do this. Don't you know how much I've suffered already? How much we've sacrificed? Enough is enough!" her voice cracked, "how long I've spent telling myself it wouldn't need to happen? Months of lost sleep over it?! How can you be this cruel to me, after all this time? You're going to make me do it anyway?! WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO DESERVE ALL OF THIS!"
Maverick, leading the ponies inside, began to search and confiscate anything they could. At her desk, after smashing the filing cabinets lock, and opening it, they began rifling through everything inside.
She had been ranting for minutes to no one but herself, in the open air.
Now, she stopped all of a sudden.
She started laughing hysterically.
"Ahahahaha! Of course! As if I expected anything different! Always getting in my way, just like always, aren't you?!"
Fate wouldn't have it any other way. Fate had always been her enemy. She would never surrender to it, she would prove it wrong... she did have it in her....
Maverick stopped when he found it. Five pages, torn carefully from a book, delicately handled and placed in a folder for protection. Just below them, another folder existed which seemed to be associated with the five pages. He began slowly reading through the five pages before he would move on to the second folder which Celestia had marked as some kind of plan, and they were lightly tied together with a hole punch and string.
She was crying without realizing it, but she had taken on a crazed look despite it. She really didn't know what she was doing or saying right now. Her breathing sped up again.
"With no options you think I won't do it?! After I've already come this far?!" She was yelling, bordering on screaming at this point.
Her laugh resumed, completely unhinged. She didn't care anymore.
"I'll do it alright, you cannot stop me. That's right. I've already prepared everything after all. Done all the research. I'll do it... I'll..."
Maverick could not believe what he had just read.
The five pages read approximately like this:
"Long ago, there was a dark wizard named Vortex. who dreamed of greater destiny. He allowed himself to become deluded so far that he was willing to do anything for further power. Vortex had grown jealous of the princesses, and knew that the potential of their kind was higher than the three tribes. He could reach it, he told himself. Unknowingly, to the small town of Wessex, he carved out a dark summoning circle that encompassed the entire town. It was the most tragic bad stroke of luck that no one caught him creating it. He did it during the night and carefully, over the course of months, working slowly and hiding any traces so that they could not be seen by day.
"One day, when it was completed, the tragedy unfolded. This dark wizard, whose name should be lost to time, came to the centre of the circle which encroached the entire town. No pony realized what was happening until it was already too late. This wizard was powerful, very powerful, and his boosted ego caused him to attempt something no mortal ever should.
"His dark will, stronger than anypony could've ever expected, overpowered every single resident of the town. Countless sleeping ponies had their lives stolen from them in a flash as he activated the dark ritual of the summoning circle. The few ponies that were awake, only felt pain and struggled but for a moment before they were destroyed and converted into life energy, having lost the contest of wills against him. All of the energy surged towards the centre of the circle and towards him.
"But while he may have been strong enough to overpower the individuals, he had miscalculated. He may have been powerful for a unicorn, but it was not nearly enough for what he was attempting. His soul, which we believe he had damaged himself to open a hole for which the life energy could enter, apparently wasn't ready for the overflowing life energy from the equine lives he had stolen, whose density was far greater than most would dare to handle. He poured fourth all his effort to capture and pour the life energy into his soul. He suffered endlessly we assume, in an attempt to ascend to a higher plane of existence. Unfortunately for him, but fortunate for all of us, his soul could not handle the sheer power he had brought to himself, and it overwhelmed him entirely. His soul shattered and collapsed after it became excessively overfilled from life energy, and he perished as a result. We do not know the exact reason he failed, but we assume that it was never possible for him in the first place. We only have a few writings in his journal to go by, from before he perished.
"No one will ever forget the tragedy of finding this town, Wessex, completely barren of life and struggling to figure out just what had actually happened. It is a harrowing reminder that there are areas of life and death that should never be touched upon."
Maverick's eyes seared as he read the words. What in the world...? He dreaded continuing on to the second folder. He hoofed it off to Straight Side to read while yelling he found something important. He started on the second folder.
Her breathing was ragged, and she wasn't sure if she was having a panic attack.
Gone. Missing. Lost. Where?
The necklace was nowhere to be found. She had gone through everything so many times now. She cursed everything. Were you seriously trying to tell her all of this had been for nothing? How much of Luna's precious time had she wasted? Was she even still alive? How many lives had been lost in the war alone? Her mind ripped back and forth and the despair of it all broke her.
Celestia screamed, over and over. Until her voice started breaking.
She decided that wasn't enough. She may have had used more magic today than she probably ever had, but she wasn't done yet.
She sent out blasts to several parts of the vault in randomness directions, coins flying everywhere and all miscellaneous things being ruined or thrown around by the shockwaves.
She was going to have to do it. Something she had told herself she would NEVER do every single night since that insidious five pages had first been read by her. The idea had taken root immediately, and even Celestia couldn't believe that she was considering it at all at first. It haunted her, and remembering the Sanctuary being held by the griffins had be the shining light of her life in relief of it. That way she could forget it like some dark memory and pretend it never happened. Like so many things she'd already done to in her long life. Her relief to know that she wouldn't have to do it had saved her from having a breakdown in the pressure of seeing her sister's slow demise. However, her mind and actions had never fully aligned, for while she told herself she would never do it, her actions of preparing for it had been going on nonetheless.... It was like she had known it would all come to this in the end. And now, after all of this, EVERYTHING, she was going to have to—
Maverick's horror only got worse as his eyes widened again. Oh gods, it was right there in front of him. He couldn't believe what he was reading.
The second folder was simple. Princess Celestia had thoroughly plotted out the exact magical dimensions of a summoning circle over the city of Oblatio. It was there, clear as day, that she had every intent to sacrifice tens of thousands of ponies who had recently moved there. It mentioned "backup plan" right in the beginning, but there it was all the same. The damning evidence. All the details were there, directly comparable to the dark story he had just read. He still couldn't believe it. He'd have to hoof this to the wizards to confirm the findings. But if even he could tell, there was no way they wouldn't come to the same obvious conclusion, besides understanding the magic a bit more.
"We have what we were looking for, and it is far, far worse than anything we could've imagined. We have to get this out and now, and begin preparations. Everyone come here and read this for now," said Maverick, as he motioned for everypony to take a turn reading what he just had.
Shocked gasps and intense reading followed as each pony saw it through, and soon the path of Equestria was unequivocally apparent. They had to act.
—sacrifice the city of Oblatio, just like she had been despairing over for months and months now. She was going to have to waste even more lives to save Luna. But it was no waste at all, wasn't it? Her sister would be returning to her. Yes, that was right... no amount of mortals could ever compare to her beautiful sister in the end... her only immortal companion and family.... Who she had never even had the chance to have a proper conversation with even since coming back. She could never give up on hearing Luna forgive her, on finally having a real conversation with her again that wasn't strained by tension, and she wanted to laugh again over the fact that if she hadn't forgiven her before now, she never would now knowing everything that had happened.
She collapsed in a heap and balled her eyes out at how unfair it all was. Her world was spinning, and she hated everything. All this time she had wasted, being spineless and unable to go through with it to save her sister. Once the town had enough ponies there, she could've started immediately. How many lives would that have saved? The war could've been avoided entirely. Did it even matter? She had been preparing the magic circle every time she had visited there, and tried desperately to ignore what she was doing. She had even had the city designed in a circular fashion to make the construction of the circle easier. What a walking contradiction she was. She still couldn't believe she had done and ordered it, knowing the implications early on, and even now.
Inner flames started simmered inside her, begging for release quietly, and a dark cloud sidled over her mind.
And now she was truly going to have to do it. There was still finishing touches to be made to the circle, and she'd have to move out Luna carefully after it was completed, and enact the ritual. The sanctuary may have been legendary for how much energy it could store, but having the near infinite amount of excess energy created by the ritual meant that the chances of failure were next to zero. That's how powerful the lives in Oblatio were. Her little ponies made her proud. It was basically impossible to fail - even as the life energy slowly faded away and was lost due to the unstable nature of it, there'd be in excess enough of it even after half of it had gone. She could fill her sister's soul and revive her. Perhaps there was even enough to attempt a 'Divine Rebirth', she pondered. She'd have to make a judgment call at the time. She was confident enough that she understood how to achieve it, since the mechanics were the same, only the scale had gone to a level which scared most, and obviously nopony had ever had access to that kind of energy reserve before. Her sisters only hope may be it in the first place now, she was unsure if the standard Life Convergence spell would be enough to save her at this point. It terrified her to consider that.
Thoughts swarming an incoherent mess, it was as she was recovering that she saw it.
For some strange reason, an ancient breastplate, custom design, had broken apart and fallen before her. Probably because of her reckless magics.
What she saw lining the inside near the neck made her heart skip a beat. There it was... a necklace lightly taped on the inside of it. What....
She looked around and bit her lip to re-affirm that this wasn't a dream with the feeling of pain. It was real.
She lifted it out and broke the tape easily with the magic. Who knew why it was in there, and who cared? She had it now. There surrounded by gold and inside the necklace was what she had been searching for, for so long now... she stared at it, it was sparkling even with little lighting.
The flames were gone. The shadow over her mind began to disappear.
The Inner World Sanctuary. The legendary amethyst. Right there, in her magical and careful grasp.
Tension eased from her body, and she still found herself in disbelief. She stared at it for the longest time. The past few hours hit her in a wave at the absurdity of it all, and she gave a different kind of laugh. All that agonizing over the worst and now she felt so very foolish.
Fate had been playing cruel jokes on her it seemed. That was far too close. Relief flooded her in waves. Thank goodness, from the bottom of her heart she told herself, that she did not need to increase the needless bloodshed. She had found the Sanctuary. All that was left was to gather life energy, which would take no more than a few days culling forestry and collecting, and then save Luna. Simple.
She broke her trance, and quickly remembered what it was she really needed to do. Her war effort was done, and she needed to return home. The homing device she had enchanted with her signature would allow her to return to Canterlot. It assisted her in long distance teleportation that normally wouldn't be possible. She had set it up before leaving, so that she'd be ready to return as quickly as possible as soon as acquiring the Sanctuary.
But there was still one final risk to take. One that she dreaded doing, but knew she had to. There was a very high chance that the simple life energy of forests would be too low quality for Luna this deep into the decay of her soul at this point. She needed a spark of the highest possible density life energy mixed in to get things going and to ensure success of the entire process.
Doing it was going to be painful.
It was simple. Souls repaired themselves slowly if they were only damaged lightly. She had prepared herself for this.
She was going to use her magic to rip off a tiny portion of her own soul and convert it, the densest life energy she knew of, and store it into the Sanctuary here and now. She could still function fine with a minimally damaged soul, and it was better to begin the healing process sooner rather than later. The main risk was accidentally injuring her soul too much. She'd have to be extremely careful.
She went over the spell in her mind over and over. She had to get this right. Grasping ones own soul with magic had to be one of the strangest feelings in life, and she knew it'd be very hard to stay focused with such a sensation going on. But she'd have to fight through the pain because losing focus meant possibly causing more harm than she could handle.
Finally, she knew it was time after practising it mentally one more time. No one could truly prepare you having your soul touched. For the first time in a long while, she truly felt nervous.
Lighting her horn, she created the spiritual magic required, and formed it into a grasping spectral appendage, with several fingers. Carefully and slowly, she watched it go through her fur and then skin until she felt the outline of her soul. Feeling it gave her goosebumps and a million warning signs hit her brain which couldn't comprehend what was truly going on despite her consciousness knowing.
She forcefully grabbed and pinched a portion of it, and it was the strangest pain she had ever felt. It was indescribable and overwhelmingly painful, and for a moment she felt further empathy for Luna who had somehow felt something worse than this while trapped on the moon and defenseless. She grit her teeth as her entire body tingled and brain became mushy from the feeling. If Luna could handle more than this, so could do this at the minimum.
She wanted to scream from the pain as she pulled harder and harder, but refused to let her magical grip budge even a little as her brows furrowed in intense concentration.
After around twenty agonizing seconds, her entire being felt a tear that shook her to the core and her magic disappeared for a moment. She felt like something deep and important inside of her was missing now, that was the best way she could describe it. She quickly grabbed onto the portion of the soul while ignoring whatever it was she was feeling and converted it into life energy carefully. She then broke the gold off of the amethyst, freeing it, and guided the energy into it. It collected perfectly, and she stared into the depths. There was the tiniest of glimmers inside as the only indication it was in there. When she magically grasped it, she could feel it more clearly being present inside.
Feeling stranger than she ever had been, she remained sitting and waited to see how much damage had been done. She closed her eyes and remembered the spell her team had taught her that they had used on Luna during the diagnostic stage. This had been something she had actually practised in preparation for this moment, and she cast the scanning field over herself carefully.
After about two minutes of feeling it out, she grinned widely.
Success. It was not even close to enough to be fatal. Now was the time to return home and finish this.
I'm coming to save you, sister.
She started charging up her magic for a long distance teleport, and found it significantly harder to do so then normal. She had expected this, and after a while it was ready. She finished and disappeared from the cold room which had observed a lifetime in but a short few hours....
As Dire and their caravan finally arrived in Canterlot, the sight was one for sore eyes. Besides him, Rainbow Dash was smiling as well at the sight.
They were surrounded by other ponies, mostly injured like Dire himself, all packed into the caravan back home for discharge.
Dire had received additional attention on the way back. He was getting close to being fully healthy again.
The coach driver, who was the strongest of the earth ponies, gave them the indication they could get off and return to wherever they lived. Rainbow had chosen not to get off on the previous stop, which would've been closer to Ponyville. He had asked her why, and she had given him a mostly non-answer. Not that he minded.
They stayed together for a bit while ascending the city.
"Listen, my place is down by Riverlime road, you can visit anytime you like. Just like I've told you many times before. My doors are open to you, and any of your friends you want to bring along for that matter."
"Got it, Dire. Listen... uhh, look," the pause was was quite long, even for her. "I want you to know that... you helped me get through all of that. More than you could ever know. I'm not sure I... could've kept going if you hadn't been there. But hey? We won right? We may not have been there to see it ourselves, but our princess supposedly kicked some serious flank on her side of things. General Reacher is occupying their capital as we speak in her wake. Kinda awesome."
He wanted to say that she had done the same for him.
"That makes two of us being glad this is all over, if that's what you mean. And yes," he brought a hoof to lightly stroke the side of her head down to her neck in a caring and gentle manner, something he had seen a father do for his daughter in the past, that he tried to emulate. "I wouldn't be alive if weren't for you. I cannot thank you enough. When I think of our fallen comrades... I know that deep down they are smiling down us, glad to see us back here. Go. Be with your friends and family back in Ponyville again. It's been too long. Just remember to come visit me once in a while, alright?"
She looked like she had something to say, but nothing came out. Seeing this, he gave her a nod of acknowledgement.
"To the next time we meet. Stay safe, Rainbow Dash."
"Back at you, Dire."
He heard her whisper something under her breath as he turned and began walking away from her. He couldn't risk staying any longer unless he wanted the ducts of old to break their hinges.
He slowly made his way back home. There was a key hidden at his estate, so getting back in would be easy as always.
When he was nearing the upper limits of the city and a few turns away from his place, he noticed a commotion near the castle. It was kind of hard to miss in this open area, the path to the castle was the largest after all.
He wasn't sure why, but he decided to go see what was the big fuss. Maybe there was more news from the post-war state of things?
Princess Celestia appeared back inside a dark room.
Home. She was back home.
She quickly lit the nearest candles in the room and turned towards the bed that held her sister. She held her breath in fear for the worst of what she'd see. But she could not avert her eyes. She had to know.
Approaching the bed, and eyes adjusting to the lighting quickly, the sight of something came into her vision.
"What... oh... oh gods Luna? LUNA!!"
She quickly rushed to her side and closer to her on the bed to observe her more carefully.
Before her the mare who had once looked something like her sister looked far more like an old corpse you'd find in an ancient burial site. No... please don't let it be true....
Panic filled her entire being, and she let out several moans and whimpers in despair.
Please... please... don't be gone. Don't leave me. Not after all of this. Celestia had no idea what she would do if she was unable to find any sign of life.
She slowly brought her ear towards what she believed to be the chest of her sister.
After connecting as gently as she could, she listened.
Several agonizing seconds went by. Just as pure terror filled her veins, the heard it.
Thump. After another ten seconds, she was sure she heard it again. Thump
She slowly lifted herself away after hearing it enough times.
Seeing her sister in this state was enough to bring her back into tears. It hurt to cry again at this point.
"I'm so proud of you Luna. You're far stronger than I've ever been. Hold on tight sister, big sister will save you soon enough."
Celestia turned and looked at the Sanctuary, which had dropped onto the floor, realizing it existed again after confirming this wasn't all for naught.
But... a dilemma formed in her mind.
Did she really have the time to go collect energy? Luna looked like she had nothing left, certainly not days and days!
Dark whispers of her own creation re-emerged as fate laughed on in the background.
Finishing the summoning circle in Oblatio would be almost no time at all if she went as fast as possible... she had already started that....
Every second her heart pounded. She looked back to her sister. She had to stop wasting time.
The decision loomed over her again, and all the relief she had felt earlier felt so foolish she vowed to never underestimate fates cruel irony ever again. Why did she ever allow herself to relax?
Celestia, completely locked in place firmly, found her features darkening, and thoughts finishing which had already been started long ago that same day.
Then, she broke her trance. She solemnly looked over her sister again and scanned her features, letting it all sink in.
Then, she once again powered up for teleportation. Seconds later she was gone.
The room, completely silent except for the flicker of the candle Celestia hadn't bothered to put out, remained stagnant.
Yet... not five minutes later... the door creaked open slowly.
An unknown pony entered the room cautiously, noticing that it had been recently occupied.
The figure moved halfway through the room, paused as it hit something with its hoof, looked down and eventually reached down to the offending obstacle, and picked up the Inner World Sanctuary with curiosity. The figure stared at it.
After, the figure tucked it away and came close to the bed, looking at the sole thing on it.
Another sound broke out, and the figure turned its head towards the door. The figure watched as another pony entered the room.
Celestia flew through Oblatio at night, casting nonstop magic to sear invisible lines into the city. It was exhausting.
A few ponies had seen her, but only for a moment. They most likely questioned their eyes and disregarded her presence as a mirage.
She'd been at this for a few hours already. So close... the final line would be connecting soon to finish the massive matrix structure.
A few minutes later and she saw the end, connecting the line to where it had already been worked on today.
Landing slowly and off to the side where nopony would see her in an alleyway, she fought to catch her breath.
This was too tiring. She hadn't gotten a break for the longest time now. She had gone straight from fighting the griffins all of yesterday to injuring her own soul and returning home, only to spend even more time working on this now.
Even basic magic was tiring her at this point. It was hard to admit to herself, but she knew she was reaching her limits. As much as she wanted to teleport straight back to Canterlot and retrieve Luna, she knew she couldn't burn herself out doing that right now. The slight leaking of her soul, as well as the unstable nature of it, and her own efforts was just too much right now.
She'd have to fly back, comparatively very slowly to blinking over, and use it as a rest period. It wouldn't do to not have the strength to cast the ritual. She knew if she just got some rest, it'd be possible for her. But it was needed. She wouldn't get both of them killed in stupidity.
After a few minutes her breathing had steadied, and she lifted off into the darkness and back towards Canterlot.
It'd take hours to get back. This truly was a marathon.
The time past slowly, yet quickly. Her movements were automatic and lethargic, using as little energy as possible as she traversed the empty countryside. She'd have to raise the sun for morning just before arriving at Canterlot.
For once in her life, she truly didn't want to have to do what she was born to do. The spell to move her celestial object, the sun, was something anypony could cast if they knew how to. Of course, in modern Equestria, that meant that quite literally only Celestia and... Luna knew it. But in the past many had known it. What mattered about the spell the most was affinity. The more you lacked the affinity towards a celestial object, the harder it was to move. She surmised that, in the ancient past, when other ponies would group up together to move the sun and moon, that any given ponies natural affinity to do so was zero to twenty percent at most, for what was naturally occurring in the randomness of pony variance. If you had to get unicorns who had almost zero affinity to move the sun, it would quite literally take tens of thousands of them. But if you got a group of around fifty who were in the ten to twenty percent range, they'd be able to do it. That was actually exactly what it used to do, before Celestia ascended.
Celestia, of course, had an affinity of one-hundred percent. The spell for her used less magic than it would for any other being, and that would never change. It wasn't possible for it not to be so. But... even with that perfection, she was one pony. It'd still take a significant chunk of magic to raise the sun, something she couldn't afford to waste right now.
Still, it could be far worse. She had already gotten the worst done half a day ago. The spell to move the moon was the same as moving her sun. It was also the complete opposite of her being. She quite literally could not have any less affinity for it. She was a zero with unlimited zeroes after the decimal point. Luckily, she had done it before injuring her soul. She didn't even think she could move the moon anymore at this point unless she spent hours recovering before trying, an idea that gave her some fright. She figured that moving the moon used twenty times the pure magical output as moving her glorious sun. It'd be closer to a hundred times normally, but she had quite literally been casting the spell for over a thousand years. You could not achieve better mastery over it. That had saved it, to some degree.
Well... she knew that she'd have to do it. The cycle of day and night could not be broken. This was something wound deeply into her very existence. She just knew it had to be. That didn't make having to do it any less dreadful.
Celestia derived much satisfaction from moving her beloved sun. Even at the darkest of days in her life. Today would be the first time that she could really truly remember not wanting to move it.
It was as she was lost in her thoughts, and after hours of flight already, that she felt it.
She stopped in mid air.
Reverberating waves of magic she couldn't recognize was shaking Equus. It wasn't actually shaking anything, but any unicorn that could sense the fluctuations of magic in the air across the planet was most likely feeling this right now. It was coming from the direction she was heading.
Something... was causing one of the most powerful magically energy spikes she had ever felt in her entire life. It was extremely far away, whatever it was, and the fact that she still felt it so strongly from this far meant it was an unbelievable feat, whatever it was. It shook the foundations of the planet. The magic was entirely unrecognizable. Whatever it was, it wasn't something she had ever felt or seen in her long life. At least in a very long time... which meant...
Pure panic surged through her. No... it wasn't possible, right...? Discord couldn't have broken out already... could he?
It was the only thing she could think of right now, or the only individual capable of this to be more precise, that could generate this kind of power. If alicorns were a level above regular ponies, then Discord was a level above alicorns. Only the Elements of Harmony could be said to be above or at the same level of Discord. Celestia had no doubt that after being sealed for so long, he would be itching to use his power to the fullest. His god-like powers....
Horror filled her like no other. There was no way she could deal with Discord right now. Even if she was fully healthy. This was an unprecedented disaster. She could get Twilight to form a connection with the elements of harmony! She may not have before because Luna had come back already purified, but she was friends with those ponies in Ponyville at the least.
Maybe... just maybe she could salvage this and help Twilight deal with Discord. But... that would be the same as sacrificing Luna, would it not? She had chosen this path due to the glaring evidence that she was utterly out of time in the first place. Maybe, just maybe, she could save Luna and then they could work together to banish Discord again! That made sense as well, but if he found out what was going on.... Perhaps her diminished presence and weakness would actually be of benefit here. He most likely wouldn't be able to spot her out nearly as easily because of it. Yes, that's right... she could do this away from his prying eyes and catch him unaware.
Celestia continued flying back towards Canterlot, entirely new dilemmas filling her mind. Whatever was coming, it was clear, this was one of the most important junctions in Equus history.
Doing everything she could to bury her concerns, Celestia saw Canterlot from afar. She had been flying as fast as she could after she had recovered a bit more. It hadn't taken too long.
The intense magical spike from earlier hadn't been felt for long, but it was unmissable. The duration was probably because of how far away it was.
Seeing Canterlot, seemingly fine and normal as she approached now, she had to temper expectations. It relaxed her a little. She had no idea what was really going on. She hadn't really interacted with any other since Roeshak, and that hadn't been anything real. She had zero information regarding Equestria. Sure, they could work and run things for a while without her, but not forever. Her hyper-focus on saving Luna took precedence of course, but it got her thinking on the catching up to come.
Was it even possible to cover up what was going to happen in Oblatio? She severely doubted it... and she didn't exactly have a lot of time to work with to come up with something, anything, to salvage the situation. All she knew was that saving Luna was non-negotiable at this point. She'd face any consequences to see it through. That didn't mean she wouldn't try to rally things together either, though.
Yes... she could do this. She'd save Luna, figure out an explanation for the destruction of Oblatio, perhaps a rogue griffin force gone deep into pony territory, which she herself would 'vanquish', and guide everything back to normal slowly. That was already a great start. Filling in details later was fine.
Only this time, Luna would be back by her side. This nightmare she had been living in currently would slowly give way to the light of day and the happiness of having her eternal companion back. She knew, deep down, how unforgivable her actions had and will be. She had never been in denial about that. But... she could could never give up because of it either. She had to keep moving forward, no matter what. If Luna, who Celestia wanted to return to her full glory, could rise back up after her own unforgivable sins a thousand years ago, then Celestia could as well. She had to.
Give anything enough time, and it shall heal. Her sister came back from a thousand years of banishment. If that wasn't proof enough, she didn't know what is. Yes. Celestia could get back to leading her ponies into prosperity and happiness, and at large even all of Equus. She'd mine away at the mountain of sin over time. And with enough time... she'd begin to forgive and forget all of this... she wished for nothing more. That, and to be with the one pony who she could never forget, no matter how much time passed.
Nearing the towering spires of the castle, she felt that it was close enough that she wouldn't be wasting too much magic to head back straight into Luna's room. Then, she could bring them straight back out with haste and head straight back for Oblatio.
Celestia's horn hit, and soon she was gone.
A lone alicorn stood looking at nothingness. Her eyes were empty of all emotion.
No, it was not that it was true emptiness, but something that should've filled their vision was missing.
Something she had seen in this exact bed, not too long ago....
She had no idea how long she had stood there. At first, she had double checked the entire room, but now she remained fixated on the empty bed.
Luna was gone. Missing. Disappeared. Abducted?!
Before she had realized it, she was seeing red. Somepony had disobeyed her. Somepony snatched her sister away from her!
The door of the room, which had previously been lightly enchanted, blew off its hinges and slammed into the wall on the opposite site of the hallway. The wall surrounding the door previously was also simply gone. All that remained was the giant hole in which Celestia tautly walked out of, staring daggers at the world.
She made for the only area that made the most sense to her right now, where she was most likely to find any pony at all. The throne room.
A large throng of ponies stood collected in the throne room. A few hundred. There was copies being spread to everypony that needed it for further escalation of proof across several impromptu tables, and several parties here who had come to support their cause after learning the truth. The rest had been detained for now.
Maverick was currently in the mix of another heated conversation, something he felt hadn't stopped since all of this started.
"I'm telling you, we gather every powerful mage we can and force her to step down and into custody! We've already had so many volunteer to join us after hearing the truth. We should keep spreading the word and—"
"And what if she willingly gives herself up? We have no idea what she will do when we confront her with all of this." said Maverick, who secretly prayed that the former was exactly how she would act.
"Are you kidding me, Maverick? She may be graceful and courteous on the surface, but she has always been headstrong, how many times has she directly overruled the majority of the ministry and basically bashed our decision making abilities, embarrassing us? I can think of far too many examples."
"You and I both know—"
"She only did that because—"
"We have to finish this before the military comes ba—"
A echoing slam broke the attention of every pony in the throne room. They all looked to see where it came from, the main doors and entrance.
Standing there, stood no other than the centre of all this controversy and conspiracy for the past few days.
Princess Celestia, who came not in kindness, lacking all decorum and usual grace, and looking demonstratively as though she had just been pulled directly from a war zone. Her scowl swam through the room and infected everypony present.
"I don't know which pony to ask, so I ask you all. Where did you put her. Where is my sister Luna?"
Now that Maverick had time to look her over proper, he couldn't help but notice how cold her visage really was. How tense her posture was, and how her words were laced with... threat?
Being one of the ponies at the forefront of all of this, he nervously nodded to his colleagues as they gave him the look. Damn them all for making him be the one to have to do this.
"Princess Celestia! You are hereby under arrest, for plotting to enact genocide through a dark magical ritual on the city of Oblatio, instigating the war with the Griffin Kingdom by killing Emperor Cyrel, which led to the deaths of tens of thousands of ponies and griffins alike, covering up the tragedy of Riftly, and much more for all we know! We demand that you stand down, and face trial for these crimes. A fair trial. We shall present the accompanying evidence then fully. You are to be detained because of the active threat of the aforementioned plan surrounding Oblatio, with magical inhibitors for the time being. Do you accede to this?"
Nopony had really seen Celestia shocked before. They were seeing it now, in full bloom. It wasn't to last however, as her stern gaze returned.
"Arrest? Listen to me very carefully, my little pony, I don't know what you all think you've found or heard, but I can assure you it is all fabrications and duplicity," said Celestia, as she slowly stalked to stand directly before him, towering and looking down at him. "Are we clear? Now... Tell. Me. Where. My. Sister. Is."
Maverick swallowed nervously. He cast a sideways glance both ways, and saw that whatever he was feeling was nothing compared to the stressed mess around him. His next words would break the tenuous peace before the imperious goddess before them, and that was reflected in all of their terrified expressions.
He chose his words carefully.
"First of all... speaking of this sister... I can tell you that we have no idea who exactly you are referring to—"
Her eyes bore down on him hard, and he almost shrank into the ground to hide away under it. But he could not allow himself to falter here. He had swore to himself, long ago, that he would do what was right. It was a principle he had followed all his life with urgency. Now was no different, when it was being tested in the more dire of ways. When having a spine actually mattered was when you had it when things required the toughest of decisions.
"Do not lie to me, little pony, I give you all one more chance. Tell me where she is right now."
The tension, as if it wasn't bad enough before, reached a peak fever. Maverick was pretty sure that he had already sweat several gallons. He was drenched.
Every single pony in the room, other than the princess had mentally answered, and scolded themselves for thinking the same thing: "or else what?"
Maverick had to do something. His mind raced a thousand miles per second. With Celestia bearing down on him like this it was almost impossible. But they couldn't just take all of this back. His conviction didn't falter, but he had no idea how things were going to break down after he answered. Perhaps he should give a signal to his men to engage her? She did look exhausted after all... after you got past the anger which stole your attention away.... Did she have it in her to fight back? If you had asked him at any point during his life until the past few days, he would've answered immediately that he couldn't even imagine her hurting a butterfly. What stood before him gave him an entirely different outlook on life. And... and if what they had found out was true, which they all clearly agreed on did-no, he had to stop thinking like that. There was undeniable proof of her evil! What it clearly showed was that she had no qualms about hurting any pony, that was for sure.
He was also truly lost on an answer. They had heard a little bit about this mare called Luna from Ruby, but he had not learned much more than that due to circumstances. Had some part of his group acted on their own and learned knowledge about this individual from Ruby he didn't, specifically where she was held, and taken her? Was that even possible? What in blasted Tartarus was going on? He had thought that Ruby's refusal to give a full explanation until later was ridiculous, but they had respected it due to her assistance and offer for further help once they had gotten to trial. He realized how stupid that was now, far too late. Their own cowardice in lacking the ability to press her further had messed things up, especially since some other schism in their group had taken it into their own hooves apparently. That was all he could think of.
But how could he answer in these conditions?!
As his mind raced, pushed to its absolute limits by facing what felt like death in the face, he heard a pin drop.
"Princess Celestia! Tell me isn't true! That my comrades didn't die in a war that you started! That their lived were lost because of your selfishness! That my nightmares-"
"Nightmares?"
Princess Celestia stalked up to the older unicorn, he stood defiantly against her. He was surrounded by fellow unicorns, some of which were semi-famous wizards and professors from colleges. They gave him space as she approached.
"What would you know of nightmares? Do you know how long I've been trapped inside a dark room, waiting for a sliver of light to break through the ceiling and lead me back into reality?
"Do you know how long I suffered, alone and miserable with only myself to blame? You know nothing of nightmares my little pony. Your mere existence is but a blink of my eyes."
Nopony had much a clue what she was talking about, but Maverick felt like he had an inkling of an idea by now.
"Answer my question!"
"WHERE. IS. LUNA!"
Celestia staggered not a second after yelling, but caught herself. It took a second for everypony in the room to process the torn up and slightly bloody patch on Celestia which had come from some sort of blast. Everypony in the room turned to the lone offender, whose horn lightly smoked from casting.
"GIVE ME BACK MY—"
A flash, and every pony had to either close or avert their eyes.
There, a sizzling and bloody heap lay against the cracked wall on the side of the room. They could all feel the heat from the thermal wave. Smoke rose from the body. The section of stained glass above the wall shattered, and shards rained down both outside and inside.
"What?"
All eyes were back on Celestia except for Maverick. He didn't understand something about the corpse, there was something strange about it. While ponies started backing away as subtly as they could, he realized what it was that he saw. There was a faint layer of darkness covering over the body, flickering lightly. What had Celestia done to that pony?
Celestia sped off to the side again to avoid another dark lance, one that decimated another building behind her. The Everfree castle was not far off, and the rest of the surrounding city had taken its place for the continued conflict of the sister's.
Their beautiful capital city in the Everfree was now burning. Countless buildings had already caved in. Where had it all gone wrong? Not ten minutes ago they had been arguing, and now the world wept because of their inadequacy.
Her focus, which had constantly been teetering towards making sure her ponies were okay, cost her.
Nightmare Moon slammed into her in a tackle, something Celestia hadn't been expecting at all.
She was sent flying down and towards the ground, and she had tried to tuck her body inward to prevent her head and neck from getting hit and knocking her out prematurely. Her body, however, was forced through several buildings by the sheer force Nightmare Moon had slammed into her with.
With any luck, she had avoided major injury, and she struggled for a moment to orientate herself and get back into it.
Standing up, she felt several things piercing her body from the landing. Good. Nothing she couldn't heal when she pushed herself to it.
But when she was examining herself, she saw it. Rather, she saw what she had ended up crashing through. The gory remains under where she had ended up splattered all over the ground underneath her. She saw part of a leg from a small pony sticking out, from some filly or colt, and threw up.
How many ponies had her sister already killed fighting without concern for their lives? She had crossed a terrible threshold... Celestia was unsure if she'd ever be able to come back from it....
Feeling her sister approaching, she wiped her mouth to get ready.
"Luna! You have to stop this! How many ponies have to perish before you wake up from this Nightmare?!"
Nightmare moon was hovering over her now.
"You still doubt us, even after all of this. We see that you've already healed. Good enough for that at least. Well, sister, since you continue to mock us by holding back we will have to force your hoof into taking us a little more seriously."
"Luna what are you..."
Nightmare Moon's horn lit up, and the beacon of light which represented the sheer aura output grew massive. Whatever She was casting, it wasn't going to be pleasant.
Then, the light disappeared. Only the cold expression of Nightmare Moon against the backdrop of the darkened sky behind her remained. She was eerily still and calm.
"Tell us, sister, at what point of our subjects cries for help dying out will you start using everything you have? We tire of this warm up."
In the backdrop behind her, coming through the clouds, an orange tint took to the sky above Nightmare Moon's head from the angle Celestia saw her below.
"Luna, you know I can't do this! I'm begging you! Look! I was wrong! I can give you everything you were asking! Just come back to me and—"
Her words stopped as the meteor shattered in the sky and passed the clouds. It was approaching so quickly that both alicorns had to teleport out of the way of its path of destruction. When Celestia reappeared high in the sky she heard the thunderous and ear-splitting sound of it decimating everything on the ground that each shattered piece hit. The scale... how much of the Everfree had that destroyed? Most of the capital must've been destroyed.
"Luna... how... how many hundreds or thousands ponies did you just..."
Tears of indignation flared in her heart and soul. This injustice could never stand, even if it came from her beloved sister. She mentally slapped herself for not truly waking up until things had escalated this far. Since when did it being one life or a thousand matter? It was an insult to the sanctity and dignity of life.
The battle soon resumed, as Celestia maneuvered her way slowly to the resting place of the Elements of Harmony while fighting as earnestly as possible to prevent her intentions from being obvious. She had no idea if they would help her, but it was the best she could think of right now.
The sky shook with light trying to not be consumed by the darkness. A scintillating symphony of opposite natures meeting to deny each-others existence. Whether they wanted to or not.
Celestia burst from the throne room into the airspace above while flying to retreat from the hundred beams of magic that had been let loose on her. Already, lightly armoured pegasi took the the skies to prepare for battle.
There was a small part of her that couldn't believe what was happening. There was a much larger one that screamed at her to destroy these traitors for hiding her sister from her.
Unable to dodge all of their attacks, she created a shield bubble around her. The impacts from a dozen or so bashed her brain to the side inside her skull as she dealt with the backlash of holding it together. It held.
After gaining some distance, she once again saw the pegasi. They were doing large circles around her like ravens would circle carrion. Pathetic. She had dealt with the tactics of griffins for months now, they would be useless against her. It was the unicorns who gave her pause. She hadn't fought against a fellow pony with magic in the same way since... Luna.
What she saw next blew her expectations she didnt know she had. One of the unicorns was creating magical platforms, essentially stairs, into the skies. All of the unicorns poured up the makeshift metaphorical ladder even as it disappeared behind them. Ridiculous! Celestia's superior sight honed in, and she saw it was the same older unicorn who had the courage to actually speak up earlier. He cast without releasing the spell while on the move. Quite impressive indeed.
What happened next shook Celestia to her core. Each pony, from the group that had been stacked together, split apart and started and started walking on individual platforms that appeared as they all diverged. How many individual continuously changing parts to this spell could that singular unicorn manage? It was madness! For a unicorn, that is.
Each unicorn ran through the sky as though it was the ground while Celestia maintained her hover. They were at differing heights all around her, above and below, and some on the same level of altitude. It was a truly bizarre sight. She'd soon be attacked by them again....
There was a small aspect of herself that grinned at all of this. Mortals, who she had taken care of for millennium like small fillies, now sought to what, usurp her? How laughable. They could get creative all they like, she would crush them.
A magical hammer appeared above her and swung down, but it met nothing. Celestia had let them start things again, but she would finish them.
Celestia flew, and beams, shards of ice, gusts of wind, and other arcane evocation launched upon her at every turn and swing of her undulating flight. She also dodged soaring pegasi using their bodies as torpedoes with their weapons in front of them. Her eyes remained on that singular unicorn who hadn't stopped casting since they took to the skies. How long could he keep it up for? She didn't care to find out. Ruin everything for them immediately, there was no need to entertain this.
Calculating his movement path, she gathered her magic for a simple beam to intercept him. The beam flared and just when she thought it'd hit its mark, numerous magical shields appeared to protect him, and by the time she had pushed her magic harder to break through he was already gone and the shields were being released anyway.
So everypony here was going to protect him, then? Fascinating.
Continuing to dodge and weave through the skies, she circled back to switch up her tactics. Lets see how picking up the pace will do.
Charging her horn with far more power than before, she prepared a special surprise of lightning that should hit enough of them when it was released. She doubted they'd be able to protect themselves that way. The magic was both too fast and it was not like they could pull the same trick of protecting each other in those circumstances.
As the lightning came out and forked, Celestia slowed her movement. What she had failed to notice, was the temporary ceasing of the platforms. Unicorns fell. And in the middle of figuring out what was going on, a giant magical battering ram shot into her side and sent her sprawling through the air and falling towards the ground. She cringed hard as the blunt trauma trashed her left wing and damaged the entire left side. As she started to slow her chaotic tumble, she saw that they had already rebuilt the platforms again. They hadn't fallen far before it was back. That one unicorn must've done it....
But this wasn't to be the end of it, the pegasi, who had been biding their time mostly came swooping in as a group and hit her either bare hooved or with weapons. She covered her vitals with her hooves and by that point and a group of them slammed into her and threw her towards the ground, or in this case on the buildings of Canterlot. Several weapons were embedded in her as they did it.
Groaning and getting up twenty seconds later, she realized that her body had gone through a building and down from the second floor to ground level, leaving a gaping hole. She quickly pulled the weapons out and cast them to the side with her magical grip.
Celestia cursed herself. She had been trying to think logically to fight them so far. Yet she fell for such drivel. It wasn't lost on her how slowly she was healing, and how lacking her magic had felt against her own ponies. She was processing far too slowly, that would've never even came close to hitting her before in the past. She was sure she had dodged worse even recently, in the war.
Were they even her ponies anymore? She didn't know. All she was sure on was how surprised she was at how weak she felt now.
They were giving her time it seemed. Only a few bones broken... not a problem normally....
And she hated it. It boiled inside of her, and she found herself repeating the thought over and over again over for her weakness and loss of focus. It wasnt just that either, her reaction speed felt dampened. How far had she fallen already? She couldn't reconcile these mortals being able to do anything against her, and yet they had. It didn't matter how stretched thin she was after pushing herself for so long... it still bothered her. Had she unknowingly lowered her status down into to their domain by injuring herself?
She had been fighting to save Luna... that was right, so why did she seem to be enjoying this fight despite her frustrations? She felt alive. But it was not enough, she desired victory and domination.
In the end - it didn't matter.
Searching for anything, something, in her moment of weakness, she remembered that feeling. Her soul may have been injured and preventing her from properly recovering and outputting magic, but this was something she could rely on. Yes... it was her only move forward if she wanted victory. It had to be done. It was an addicting feeling when it brought her out of the depths of weakness.
The dark inner flames came back anew, like an old friend. It felt so good as well, and she felt herself healing, far faster than before. This was something she could rely on. She was not weak. From deep within the wellspring of her existence a metamorphosis was slowly taking place. The flames grew all across her body, mixed with dark lines and a cloud that veiled over her consciousness once again. Her wing was already back and ready for usage, she realized. Her spirit hit a celestial crescendo inside of her, and she was going to keep it dancing until it hit the zenith. The fabric of her being would be rewritten into something stronger. So good it felt, that she began to forget that her soul was damaged at all. Her physical features were slowly changing as well, which she was vaguely aware of at this point. She would never be able to come close the peak of her powers, but it didn't matter to her right now. This was enough of a recovery in strength to salvage the situation. It had to be.
Celestia took to the skies like a pheonix reborn, ready for round two to be entirely one-sided.
Soon enough... Canterlot was burning. Within those flames, the menace of darkness lurked underneath.
Dire Comet fought to catch his breath. It was unfair, really, that he had recovered and been forced to exert himself as hard as possible so soon after doing so after getting home from the war. While he definitely felt stronger because of it, he had never thought that it would be used against the ponies beloved princess in Celestia.
She was beloved no more. At first, he had been disbelieving, but as the evidence piled up and he heard more and more it had enraged him. How many lives had he seen stolen from them in the war because of Celestia? And for what?
Soon, the ponies of Canterlot would look up and see the truth for themselves after hearing the impossible to miss commotion.
All of it had reached a head in the throne room. Once violence had broken out, instincts had taken over and all of this had begun quickly. What had shown up was no regal princess. It was a cruel monster. He hadn't blamed that unicorn for attacking her. How many families had be irreversibly destroyed because of her? He felt that even lacking his own he could understand it. The thought of Rainbow Dash perishing was about the closest he could compare it to it now, and even that drove him up the wall.
Rainbow Dash... could she have also found it within herself to fight Celestia? A part of himself was glad that she wasn't here to have to see and experience this... but another side of him wondered. Truly ruminated on the changed probability of victory if she was here. There was no doubt with her speed she could most likely avoid many of Celestia's attacks and be a real threat to her when supported. Entirely changing the situation.
No, he needed to stay focused.
They had actually dealt a blow to Celestia... she would be back soon he assumed. There was no way that was enough. But they had done it. She was not invincible. The implications of losing her did not matter right now. Justice was at hoof. They'd think about that after they'd defeated her, at the very least. If they could.
Yet, he knew that Celestia was holding back. Why? He didn't know. But so far she had not revealed much of her power. The stories he had heard of her from the war that had spread in rumor had been ridiculous, but believable. This was a goddess. So why did she hold back? Was there still a small part of her that didn't want to fight her ponies? Was she saving her strength for something else?
In the end, the reason didn't matter. They'd have to be ready for her to adjust to the situation when she realized it was not working so far. He dreaded that. Already he had been forced to cast magic and hold it for a long period of time. His fellow unicorns had recognized the importance of protecting him earlier, but there was no way he could keep that up forever. He may have grown stronger, but even he had limits.... Well, he still had a lot to give. Switching gear back into war mentality felt natural at this point. Fight until you have nothing left to give.
What came from the wreckage was not that which had gone in. The unicorns and himself had come down onto the rooftops of the buildings in Canterlot so that he could rest for however long he could, and they all stood isolated building-to-building. He would not use that same platforming as before unless he had to now that they were more in position. He couldn't babysit everypony, he wasn't powerful enough for that. It was time he joined the fight in earnest. That blow he had landed earlier would not be the last.
What was going on with Celestia though? Her entire body bore flames, which flickered with an ominous feeling to them. This was not the pure fire of the sun, he felt, but a cursed flame which made to extinguish and consume your soul if you let it. There was no way he could allow himself to be hit and emersed in it. He doubted he'd be able to neutralize it if it did.
He was pretty far away from Celestia at this point, and would need to get closer. They couldn't allow ponies to be picked off one-by-one.
Celestia, surrounded and staring them down, saw the flames around her flicker far faster as they sank into her a little more. Dire teleported around a hundred meters closer towards her, onto another roof. What came next was an attack he had never seen before. Coming from within, she released a wave of fire that expanded from every part of her body. It expanded quickly and hit what must've been every building in her immediate vicinity as well as anything else in the way. He was glad to see that that the majority of his allies had managed to protect themselves with shields, but this was something that was going to make fighting her harder and harder if the footing they had held the threat of setting them on fire. Let alone buildings eventually crumbling....
A few pegasi who had been too close fell from the sky like burnt flies, and there was also a few unicorns who hadn't been fast enough to react which rolled in pain, being roasted alive. Who knew what'd become of them.
The battle resumed in earnest, and it was one of desperation for both sides. Even if neither side could ever understand the true extent others feeling.
Dire saw Celestia move at breakneck speed and plow hoof first through a hastily prepared shield and a panicked unicorn. His end was not pretty as she met her mark.
The unicorns teleported nearer to her, but with enough of a gap to not get instantly shredded by her closing the gap. Close enough to attack. Many times she glided and missed her mark because they had adapted to teleportation to avoid her, but that was a particularly draining tactic. It would not hold long-term, but what other options did they have? The dynamic of before returned, with attacks being exchanged when possible, but it was harder to slow down Celestia this time.
Dire looked around. He was partially hidden right now on the side of a roof, a chimney concealing him with his back against it. On one of the few safe spaces left on top of a building, where there was rare stone foundation that wouldn't burn. There wasn't many of them left. In fact, he may have been the last one, it wasnt impossible. Or perhaps those left had already retreated however they could. Canterlot had become a hellscape, unrecognizable from the shining beacon of ponykind he had come to love over the course of his life.
Celestia was hovering over all of it, admiring her work. Scanning for any signs of life, signs of further defiance.
How many times had she forced the flames to burst from her body? It crushed buildings and felt unfair to have to deal with. She'd even cast lightning a few dozen more times.
He was getting ready to use up the last of his magic. He still had quite a lot compared to before he had started fighting again, but a fifth at most compared to the reserve he had come to build in total.
He realized that, if he was going to fight Celestia, it'd have to be one continuous strain to keep up a brutal pace. He was getting used to having to do that. That was the only way you survived. He was lucky she hadn't targeted him until now on round two.
They had actually still managed to land quite a few blows on her, but she recovered far too quickly for it to mean much this time around. The losses they took in contrast were a complete disaster. The fight had turned quickly.
He looked across and down into the streets. There was several bodies burning. He had come to hate that cursed flame. What kind of evil had Celestia unleashed on the world? Even with his most basic senses he could tell the flame would last far longer than it normally should've, burning and burning even past the time there was nothing left. The darkness was buried deep below the flames. The bodies hadn't disappeared yet, but he had no idea how long they'd been dead. How it boiled his blood, even now, to see it....
His next attack would need to surprise her somehow. Because he held the advantage of knowing her position while she wasn't sure if there was anypony left to challenge her, he'd had to make the most of it. What he heard struck an icy dagger in his heart.
She was laughing now... no... it was cackling. Celestia, no, that demon was talking to herself now. Some inane rambling about destroying everything and to let it all burn. Her physical features had become more and more twisted as time went on, and her mane was one of flame rather than the beautiful shades ponies had painted in her likeliness for thousands of years. Her tail remained the same as it used to be, but the doubt that'd remain no different than her mane. Even the iris of her eyes had grown a foul black rather than white. Her true form, it seemed, was one of imperious and destruction incarnation.
It dawned on him that he was essentially about to challenge Celestia to a duel. This was one of the most inconceivable thoughts that had ever came to him. To go out against the sun goddess of Equestria? Perhaps there was no greater glory possible. A lifetime of repressed dreaming of greater things entered the fray.
He spent some time coming up with a strategy. He believed only a risky strategy would be able to catch her off guard at this point. Looking across streets, he saw something that slowly gave him inspiration. Broken glass had rained down from the windows being smashed and destroyed from buildings at varying heights.
With this in mind, he began preparing to engage Celestia.
Several platforms started appearing as he crafted them, but while these looked similar to what he had created before, they were inherently different. He'd made sure of that. He hoped that she wouldn't notice the change quick enough. Not needing to move them slowly to stay with a respective pony for footing, he'd be able to throw these around at a high tempo. That was a double-edged sword, because if he calculated things wrongly he'd waste magic and not land a hit.
Sending them out into her view, he quickly made to get them shifting all around her in a blur. He didn't want them to be immediately destroyed, so he had to make them tough targets.
Peering around the corner to look at her, he saw that she was already firing beams to try and intercept them, while keenly keeping her vision widespread. When the beams didn't see much success, although she did score one of them, she released a wave of fire again. Something he'd grown used to seeing and nearly feeling. The wave of fire was blocked by the chimney he was on, and it went past him with no harm to himself. Luckily, that kind of magic was ineffectual against his platforms. Or, more accurately, his magic mirrors.
Now, with his heart pounding, he'd have to step out and face her again, alone.
Creating a ball of arcane magic, he left it behind the chimney as he turned the corner and began sprinting towards the end of the roof towards Celestia. Just as he was about to run off the roof and into open air, he created a true platform to run on. He fired many bolts of arcane magic, close to Celestia but enough to miss by enough that she wouldn't bother with them. She was fully focused on him now, and it should've been a terrifying thing. There was no fear left at this point though. Only resolve.
Most of the bolts were intercepted by his mirrors, and they began a wild chain reaction of ricocheting as they bounced from mirror to mirror at every possible angle around Celestia. Eventually, they made to hit her but her shield held all around her. Only one managed to hit her before she had realized, and he hadnt seen the damage. This was good though - that was one of the best ways to get her to waste magic, gritting it out to hold a shield together, blow after blow. He stopped, and fired a beam after directing his hidden ball of magic to begin its flight path.
Celestia's shield warped, as all of the previous attacks had finished, and only blocked his beam. What kind of confidence was it that she was willing to waste magic just to intercept his beam? Did she want to show him how futile it all was? How overwhelming the gap was between them? It only enraged him on further.
And finally, it happened. The ball of arcane magic slipped through a blind spot he had created with the mirrors by sending it below the buildings to street level and then blocking the view of that angle as it came up and towards her by having his mirrors locked in place rather than moving. It slammed into the back of her right hip and threw her to the side, blood gushing into the open air against all expectations of finding more shadows beneath. It must've left a decent indent in her frame, and the shield disappeared allowing his beam to continue on. It grazed her and tore a sheet off the left side her body, but it was shallow. He'd miscalculated. That should've done far more damage by hitting her more head on.
She fell, and he saw her eyes lock onto him again. Her wings pounded to right herself, and soon she was closing the gap between them. What kind of monster recovered that quickly?! He was pretty sure she was healing the fresh wounds as well. Every time they had scored some victory over her, she just came back with a fury to prevent them from gaining hope. It was unfair. He had to believe it was still possible despite this. He had to.
What began after was far more what he had been expecting. He was forced to teleport into the open air and begin falling, high enough that he'd have ages before he ever got close to hitting any building or the ground. That was about the limit of his calculations, none of it had any preciseness to it anymore. Enough to prevent disaster.
Celestia swiveled and immediately launched three giant pillars of fire at him. He created three spears of wind, thin and far weaker than what was coming at him no undoubtedly. They aimed for the middle of the each fireblast. They met each other, and the wind pierced through the middle of the things to disperse them enough that they couldn't make it to him. It didn't help that Celestia came through the blinding mess in the air not a second later and barrelling towards him again. His teleportation was forced.
Similar type exchanges continued for another two minutes or so, with Dire becoming increasingly sicker and sicker from casting far too much and the disorientation of falling while partially spinning making his head spin. It didn't help that she had become impatient, and at one point had summoned dozens of fire pillars to shoot straight down towards Canterlot at random, apparently hoping to just hit him by luck. Somehow, he was lucky enough it missed his destination point he arrived at. Countless buildings blew apart under the inferno. Or they just got further crushed and melted. Just as he was about to lose all control, he cast one final teleport after waiting to the final second before getting hit by another of Celestia's beams so that he could calculate an exact coordinate. He landed safely on one of the only rooftops he had actually seen that was still safe from the firestorm below.
The exhaustion hit. It was impossible for a unicorn like him to have enough mobility and still attack somepony as strong as this while trying to switch between the two. He slowly looked up and saw her hovering again. She had approached him, and now stayed there staring him down once again. Looking down on him.
There was a silence between them as they shared a mutual look. He spat. The world was ending in the background, but neither heard it. Then, to put him out of his misery, she fired a simple beam at him again. He truly had nothing left, and he was tired of all this insanity. He had accepted his fate long ago. He smiled knowing he had fought one of the strongest beings in existence and actually traded some blows back.
The beam made to cut straight through his heart and finish him off, but a figure appeared in front of him at the last second. He had kept his eyes open firmly to show her she would never break his spirit, even if he lost. The figure stood tall before him and blocked his view as it appeared, taller than the rest of the ponies, including Celestia.
The impact, and its associated sound a moment later, was nowhere to be found.
By the time Twilight's chariot had landed down in Ponyville, she hadn't even given the two stallions who gave her the rushed ride much acknowledgement besides a quick thanks as she sped off.
Ponies throughout Ponyville tried to greet her, but she was forced to ignore them. She had to get to her destination as quickly as possible.
The rumours Twilight had heard in Canterlot while she was there had burned in the back of her mind, and she did everything she could to ignore them for now. She would confirm things for herself later. That was the correct thing to do.
Already, she was approaching the Everfree forest on the outskirts of town. This was where she had been putting in so much work lately. There was no time to consider danger, and she head towards the heart of the forest towards the rendezvous point.
Twilight dodged and weaved through thickets, branches, and other colorful obstacles which the forest had to offer. She passed over the invisible signs of work she'd already completed.
All of this was risky, far too risky, and Twilight knew that if she failed she'd never be able to look Celestia in the face again. She also knew that there was no way she could ignore what she had seen in that room any longer at the same time. There was no time left, and by some stroke of fate the method for saving Luna had fallen unto her rather than Celestia. Who knew where she was and what she was doing, it was not with Luna and that was all that mattered right now. Twilight had actually waited in that room for a while hoping she'd show, but it didn't happen.
Twilight had done enough research, and she had the remarkable idea to speed up things by sacrificing not a normal forest, but the Everfree.
And what was Twilight supposed to do? Watch Luna perish while she cowardly thought about failing to save her? There was no way she could do that. It was watch her pass away, or try this and give her a chance at the minimum.
The Everfree was famous for its strange magical properties, as it was no normal forest. Twilight was absolutely sure that it represented far more life energy in total compared to spending the time to destroy many ordinary forests collecting energy. They didn't have the time for that. For the past month or so, she'd been slowly building the summoning circle around the entire Everfree. It was complete.
Her friends, who had caught on almost immediately because of how much time she had been spending on it, had helped clear her path and protect her many times. Her gratitude could never be expressed enough. Even if they didn't get it yet. She felt bad about restricting the majority of details so far from them.
The clearing where the centre of the forest lay came into view, and it came to Twilight's relief that she saw exactly what she'd been expecting.
Skidding to a stop near a panting and recumbent Rainbow Dash, who looked exhausted, she saw the large sack that concealed a precious and frail cargo.
"Did the flight go smoothly? Please tell me nothing crazy happened!"
"Relax Twilight... I came here as fast... as I could. You're so lucky I'm... in better shape than ever right now," said Rainbow Dash.
"As fast as you could?! Are you crazy?! I swear if she isn't okay..."
"You're just lucky you crossed paths with me at all in Canterlot, bucko, I still wish you would explain things more clearly," said Rainbow, who finally seemed to be breathing steadier.
"You're right, I'm sorry. This entire situation has me stressed beyond belief. This is a ponies life we're talking about! I can't afford to mess this up. No... it's more than that..."
"Listen Twi, you got this! I don't know how bad you think this mare has it, but we've all seen you diligently at work! You'll be fine!"
"Rainbow Dash, this is it! There's only one chance! I can't afford to mess this up! Sorry if I'm freaking out a little!"
Twilight fiddled with her saddlebag, and carefully opened it up to reveal the precious treasure stored inside. The Inner World Sanctuary she had found in Luna's room. There was no doubt in her mind who had most likely left it there, and it raised far too many questions, but she had decided to take it and do this herself after waiting long enough for Celestia to come back. It hadn't happened. So, she got Rainbow to fly out Luna in secret, which had been one of the most embarrassing things Twilight had ever done - distracting ponies in the castle while Rainbow awkwardly left while snaking her way out of the room and towards a door to take her outside so she could fly off.
She placed the amethyst exactly in the middle of summoning circle. Luckily, she'd had enough time to modify the summoning circle to only affect the vegetation itself. So while any creature may find itself without a home, that was something they would just have to live with as they found somewhere else. It was likely Ponyville would get something going again quickly. Hopefully a little less chaotic than what they had now.
Rainbow Dash was being surprisingly quiet, and she had a rare look of curiosity mixed with concern as she stood far off to the side. Or had she simply changed since the war? Oh, how it guilt trip Twilight to not even have a proper reunion with Rainbow Dash since she got back. Even though she had hugged her in tears on the first site of her, they hadn't much chance to really catch up. They had to later. Rainbow had come back alive, and now Twilight would succeed and save Luna as well.
So, she mustered up her courage and began preparing to start the ritual. The magical side of it was simple in Twilight's opinion, but it was the magnitude of it that scared her. This was an insane amount of energy to be controlling, period. The Sanctuary would carry the burden for her as she stored it, but the mass wouldn't move into it instantly, it'd take time to sift it in and collect it.
She pulsed out her magic, and it briefly reminded her of Krazor's spell as it spread to fill the entire circle with magic, to saturate the lines as the ritual began.
If you had the right view, you'd see portions of the Everfree beginning to light up as the lines woke up and illuminated the dark forest, which blocked most light to ground level even during the day.
Her magic having finally reached every point of the circle, Twilight gave herself one final mental slap.
Then, she began chanting while pulsing her magic to begin.
"Fluat vigor, reformatio vitae libera mihi."
Now, the Everfree was truly glowing with power. Every single point containing life energy within her circle that it could detect from the design it had been given became apparent in Twilight's mind. She could feel every single area and aspect of each living thing.
Then, the burden of fighting against these things to destroy their shape and claim their energy began. The strain was far harder than anything Twilight could've ever imagined. This was nothing like she had expected! Was the Everfree special in some regard? It struggled against her mind mightily and she grit her teeth against it.
Then, like a fish growing exhausted after a long fight against the rod and line of a fishing pole, things began to give.
Once they got going, the migration of energy towards the centre of the circle began. A kaleidoscope of color made of the freshly created aura swirled and swam its way through the air as more and more joined it as more life lost the battle.
Yes! Twilight could feel it getting easier and easier as more and more gave up, and she started collecting it in a large mass above the amethyst. While maintaing her strain on the ritual, she began funnelling a stream of life energy from the accumulated mass into the Sanctuary. It was working!
After several more minutes of focus, the trees around them began to disappear. Twilight couldn't see Rainbow Dash behind her, but she was sure her jaw must've been on the ground right now. It was almost frightening, how foreign and strange this new empty world was. She also felt a pang of guilt. Even though what she had destroyed held no minds, it still felt wrong.
While Twilight couldn't do it right now, she was sure if you squinted you could see the outline for the buildings of Ponyville from this far away. Ponies would be coming to check out what was going on soon enough.
The giant mass of energy nearly overwhelmed Twilight overhead. It was one giant ball, and she constantly had to apply some form of telekinesis to keep it from spreading out and escaping. It was a delicate balance of controlling the mass while continuing to pour into the amethyst, which glowed with power as it kept sucking in more and more. Just how much could it contain? It was crazy to think about. Which reminded her, she had felt some small portion already inside from the moment she first found it, but she wasn't sure what it had come from. All she knew, was that more was probably better to have more than less.
Now it was Twilight's turn to pant, and she fell flat after the flow ended and all evidence of the ritual seemingly disappeared into the comparatively small gem. Any average pony could've seen the flicker of light coming from it right now, and never realize how much that truly reflected. It glowed intensely now.
Without any foliage to surround her, a wind blew against her in the barren wasteland, unobstructed by anything anymore.
As Twilight had expected, there was no way this wasn't enough energy! It felt extremely dense in her opinion, and the amount of it was ridiculous. The Everfree truly was special, and it would live on forever in Luna if she had anything to say about it.
It became apparent to Twilight that she could see the castle of the two sisters, something she had come to know during her time exploring the Everfree while working, as well as it being something she had read about before hoof, and seeing it exposed like that was bizarre. It looked entirely out of place.
Now, she turned nervously towards the bag Rainbow had brought. Wait, where had Rainbow gone? There was no way she would leave her during such a critical time like this, so why?
She sighed. Who knew in the end. This was Rainbow Dash she was thinking about.
Besides, Twilight was feeling a little guilty about Luna being left inside the huge container. That was no place for her to be... but they hadn't been able to come up with anything else at the time. She mentally cringed at the image regardless.
She was glad for the guilt because it was quickly getting replaced by a deep seated nervousness. Step one had been completed... now the most crucial one remained. Once Luna's soul entered the process of change through Twilight's spell, there was no going back. It was do or die time. Literally.
No pressure at all Twilight...
No. Twilight had to believe. She had the energy, she was looking at it right now! She'd felt it! It wasn't being wasted out in the open, so there was no need to panic. Only that Luna's life held on by a thread every second.
She bit her lip.
She let her breath out harshly and brought two hooves to smoosh her face on both sides.
Remember your conviction. Remember why you've been doing all of this. You've prepared for this like everything else in your life, now was not the time to get cold hooves.
She opened the bag, and even seeing through the small gap that revealed itself made her cringe again. She'd never get used to seeing Luna like that, or any pony for that matter. It shouldn't have been possible.
She picked up the Sanctuary in her telekinesis and stared at it. Feeling the power flowing smoothly and lightly inside. To her surprise, it did not feel full entirely, but quite close to it. As far as she could tell anyway.
Well, now was better than ever.
She reversed the process from before, and began bringing some of the energy out under her guidance. It moved to surround Luna, and as more came out it fully immersed the entirety of the surface area of her body. Once this was acheived, Luna began to float gently into the air and out from the bag. She stopped a few meters up.
More and more Twilight poured, until she was sure that the current reserve around her was enough to start the Life Convergence spell. Messing it up by not having ample energy at the start wouldn't even be funny. Let alone halfway through.
Body floating and shining with so much aura around her, Luna was a strange sight. Eyes closed and balled up, skin revealed from all fur being gone and wrinkled beyond belief. Darkened hollows lay there. You could actually see a lot of the underneath anatomy now, including the blood vessels themselves sticking out like cords. It was disturbing. Her mane and tail had but a few strands left...
Twilight focused on shifting her perspective to that of a spiritual one. Soon she was feeling the outline of Luna's soul. Because lets face it, it wasn't exactly possible for her to resist that right now. Under any normal circumstance that would've broken so many natural instincts to the offending party and they would've lashed out. Now, it was easy and like playing with play dough.
Carefully, ever so carefully she felt the shape of it. It was already mostly collapsed, and the shape of souls were profoundly strange to the imagination. The way they shifted did not fall under the normal laws of physics, but she could still tell. It also didn't help how little of it there was left. If you had asked her if she was feeling the presence of a regular pony or an alicorn, she would've leaned towards a normal pony at this point.
Begin!
Luna's soul noticeable emulsified as the spell started, and Twilight nearly choked it with life energy from every direction. The aura vibrated wildly around her, and Twilight began drawing more out of the Sanctuary. First, Luna's soul would fill with energy in it's unstable state, and then it would begin rebuilding itself while in a position that would normally destroy itself if not for the external support.
Twilight nibbled at her lips while at work as she was anxiously awaiting to see what would happen.
It was working! As far as she could tell everything was going perfectly, and she was already getting used to rate of draw needed to keep this up.
Everything looked right, but after about ten more seconds Twilight began to feel a lump in her throat. Why was there no change happening? She couldn't detect anything at all. It should've started by now!
No... no this wasn't happening. Why wasn't it working! Everything was perfect! Nothing made sense? Why!
Luna's soul, which while supported, was not in a position to last if it didn't start rebuilding itself. It'd start collapsing again soon!
Twilight cursed everything. Why was this happening?
"LUNA! FIGHT!" she yelled with everything she had. "DON'T LET THIS BE THE END! PLEASE! LUNA! YOUR SISTER NEEDS YOU!"
And then she saw it. Small pieces of Luna's ephemeral body began pealing off like ash leaving a chimney, gone with the breeze gently.
"Twilight! You can do it!"
"Believe in yourself, Twilight!"
"Keep it up, you're almost there!"
The sounds of all her friends surprised her, and Rainbow's had been the first she heard. Of course that was what she had been doing. Her blood went cold as she realized they had come to see her darkest moment.
Her body language must've betrayed much of her inner feelings, because they quickly settled down in apprehension or confusion. Probably both. They also had no idea what was even really going on. It must've looked like the strangest spectacle of all right now for them. Yet they supported her none-the-less.
Turning slowly to the side, she saw all of them with concerned faces. A lone tear slid down her face.
"Don't give up! Keep trying! I've seen hope at the end of the tunnel before and it'll come now! Don't you ever stop!"
Rainbow Dash somehow always seemed to have the right words at times like these. Perhaps it was recent experience speaking. Twilight gave a shaky nod and turned back towards Luna, who had a third of her body missing.
No matter what, she would support her until the end. She prayed that she woke up somehow, or something! Perhaps something about her was dormant now, and that was why it wasn't working?
It was almost impossible to miss, but Twilight saw it even against the blurry spell in front of her. Body turning to dust, a closed eye had the smallest of drops running out and down the husk of her face.
Twilight screamed something incomprehensible and closed her eyes tightly when she saw the rate of decay speed up. Within seconds there would be nothing left.
Just as Twilight began whimpering, a deafening impact hit. It almost threw Twilight to the ground, but she managed to stay upright.
A giant rainbow had appeared and ran through the sky, from the Castle of the Two Sisters, and poured into the mass that was surrounding Luna. Twilight felt untold power surge through herself and around the spell. This power felt like nothing she had ever experienced before, and her fundamental understanding of the universe felt different now as it spread. She also noticed that there was a weight on her head, of which she wasn't sure of.
And then it clicked. The Life convergence spell wasn't working, but time wasn't up yet. If she stopped casting, all would be over immediately. Or would it? She felt like she could do it. Really do it. Use the Divine Rebirth spell. It felt like there was unlimited energy to work with now, truly. There was no better opportunity. This would be no riskier than what was already going on. It was decided.
Twilight had no idea how she knew what to do, and she didn't. Voices whispered in the back of her mind that she would never understand, yet something clicked in her subconscious. Things just made more sense right now, as though the magic running through her veins had pushed out her potential to the max. It wasn't about knowing how it worked in its entirety, for that would be impossible, it was more like finding the key to open the door on an unstoppable flood and allowing it to go do its thing afterwards.
She stopped casting, but only for a moment to let the first spell die out. Then, she triggered the largest scale spell she'd ever attempted. The machinations of this spell were beyond understanding, and once it started it could not be stopped.
Four massive pillars of solid white light appeared around them, and soon a divine horn sound out from the heavens heralding the arrival of a new being. The air shimmered with ancient magic and crackled.
All of the accumulated energy warped and became sparks of golden light that formed a tapestry of cosmic vibrancy, and Luna disappeared entirely for a moment.
Then, the connecting strings of light grew like vines off of the sparks and coalesced into a singular spot, and soon something was growing there. Something perfect.
A body was forming anew, and the soul which had gone hadn't at all, it'd merely been in the soft hooves of the cradle of a divine bath. A vortex of spinning aura came down from the heavens, and they put the finishing touches on the body.
Just as Twilight began to see the brand new form of Luna, who appeared now looking like never before, her entire existence was whisked from reality.
An unknown amount of time had passed since Twilight Sparkle had disappeared. It felt like both an instant and years of time to her. She'd made a journey through a strange realm, one that was weightless where every color span as far as the eye could see, as she had swam through it to some unknown destination. Nothing made sense right now.
Where was she?
Slowly opening her eyes, what she found was the very concerned faces of her friends. They had made a circle around her.
"Darling, are you quite alright? This has been freakishly bizarre." said Rarity, who spoke for them all.
"Ugh..." groaned Twilight, who began getting up. "I feel so strange. What happened? I only remember this crazy power surge and switching the spell and..." her eyes grew wide. "Luna! Is she okay? Oh gods did I finish the spell?"
"She's fine Twilight, err, as far as we know. Maybe take a look at yourself for now hun," said Applejack.
They gave her space, and she got onto her hooves shakily. She did feel different. "Wha..." glancing to the side, new appendages could be seen that shouldn't be there. Her brain could not reconcile what she was seeing and what should've been.
"Wings?" there's no way those could be real... she managed to move them a bit, and bit her lip.
"Oh..." she shook her head. "Look! I'll... we'll figure it out later! Where is Luna?"
Twilight wanted to avoid thinking about it for now. It was too much.
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie moved out of her line of sight, revealing a floating alicorn.
Luna looked significantly changed from when Twilight had first seen her after her return from the moon, and obviously anything that had come after that. She'd grown to be massive in stature, and Twilight quickly assessed she must've been slightly larger than Celestia at this point. Her coat was also darker, a liquid ink black that threatened to consume the world, and her mane and tail blew softly in the wind as an enormous starry paint splotch, flowing in waves. Her cyan eyes glowed.
There was many things different, and it wasn't lost on Twilight that many debris and rocks floated in the air with her even after the spell had finished. Was that anti-gravity magic? Luna was turned upside down and body stretched out while contorted in a weird way, and her eyes were going through a spasm. No, it was more accurate to say that they were twitching wildly to look at a different direction every second. It was a scary sight. Her mouth was slightly ajar, as though to say something, but couldn't. No, it was her entire body, it held some level of contraction and eventual relaxation. What was Luna going through right now?
Twilight wanted to be concerned, and she was, but it was finally starting to click that she had succeeded. The circumstances of what happened eluded her, but she'd succeeded all the same! The joy in her heart grew to unimaginable heights. Not only was Luna back, but her presence felt overwhelming even while she was seemingly dormant. Was Twilight's ability to sense magic inherently different now that she was also an alicorn? If a regular unicorn leaked magic like a small hose over time into the atmosphere, what she currently saw before her felt like a waterfall.
The group had gone silent while staring at her, and eventually her eyes died down and became still. She grew still, all expression gone and a blank stare was all that was left. Then, subtly, only her face changed. A look of... pleasure? That was the best Twilight could come up with at the moment. Her eyes were wide and she had a look of wild excitement.
"She's... she's high?" guessed Rainbow Dash while breaking the reverie, who Twilight was rapidly trying to figure out how she could tell such a thing.
"I don't know. This is too strange. She must've came back in perfect shape, so why is she acting like this? None of this makes any sense! Luna! Answer us! Are you okay?!"
Twilight, ever the observer, noticed another thing. "Why is her horn lighting up and pulsing every few seconds? She keeps doing it. Does everypony see that?"
"Umm... I've been watching her carefully this entire time, Twilight, she's been doing it for a while now. Doing what I don't know," Fluttershy seemed to be scared of not knowing, or perhaps it was just how insane this entire situation must have been from all of their perspectives.
"I guess I have some explaining to do. Thanks for watching her, Fluttershy."
Twilight began explaining everything, filling in details that they had never heard before about the situation and their eventual plan for it with Luna. Many shocked gasps and comments came from it. Nearing the end of her tale, Luna twist her neck and looked straight at their group with a conscious effort.
"Luna! Are you finally here with us? Say something! We've been scared something went wrong now for god knows how long! Thank goodness!"
Maybe this was worse than Twilight had been expecting. She had to gauge Luna's state quickly enough.
"Don't you... remember me? It's Twilight Sparkle, Luna, we met not too long ago before..."
"I have no memory of this. None at all." She squinted at Twilight. "Another alicorn besides my sister? How... vexing. That's not all, I feel... another. Far to the northwest of here. Whomever it is, it appears they're on the move and coming in this direction. Perhaps they sensed me? I understand now that it must've been you who has brought me here from the moon. The Elements give us that much. I thank you in due, though your motive leaves us perplexed. Did sister put you up to this?"
Luna's face held a curiosity that was tilting towards suspicion.
"Wait! What is the last thing that you remember? You were... not in the greatest shape before now. I just used a spell to bring you back, but maybe something went wrong? I'm sure we can catch you up, and I can only imagine the look that will be on Celestia's face when she sees you again."
Luna's face scrunched up at this. Then, it twisted into a grimace for some reason.
"We feel strange trying to draw on our memories. What have you done to us? Do not lie to us."
For the first time, Twilight began to sweat under the pressure from the newly formed alicorn. The presence was overwhelming.
"Do not make us use magic to make sure. Explain."
"I'm telling the truth! Your soul was damaged after coming back to Equestria, and it appears the ritual to heal it has done something with your memories. You were... dying Luna. Now that you're back we can work on getting you back to normal, but it is a miracle you're here with us!"
Luna considered her words carefully. Not entirely convinced it seems.
"The Elements of Harmony continue to whisper to me. You used them on me, yet they to inhabit me as a host. I think I'm starting to understand, yet I do not know exactly what they want. I will accept your explanation for now. In fact, we feel that you have earned a just reward. Is there anything you desire? Anything at all? We believe it possible to deliver unto a most just recompense."
And there it was again - that slow and almost smug grin that came out. What was she feeling right now?
"Please, Luna, I have already gotten everything I desire just by seeing you here again. You don't need to give me anything, but I need you to—"
"Then I must move on. As much as I want to embellish your person, the Elements continue to hound me. Celestia was always the one behind everything, and it is her I must get to explain everything. Of that I'm certain. Follow me if you decide to have any wish come true after all."
Luna's horn no longer functioned like a normal horn it seemed, because rather than gently lighting up it simply exploded with an excess of aura that blinded.
Then, she disappeared in nonstandard teleportation. Rather than just move herself, the air itself seemed to have been included in a large cube around her, as the air had to rush in and fill the vacuous gap that had been left by it with a crack.
Panic filled Twilight, this was far too early for Luna to be doing anything! She wasn't in a clear mind yet, this could lead to an even worse disaster! She had to catch up.
Luna coldly absorbed the scene before her. The ponies establishment was currently under much duress it seemed, and she'd come here after feeling the presence of her sister nearby. This wasn't what she had been expecting at all. The attack she had arrived to receiving having been swiftly dealt with.
Looking behind her, she saw a weak and cowering unicorn, staring disbelieving. She'd turned her back on her sister, who was flying some distance opposite to her, but that was fine right now. There was no way her sister would be able to hurt her. Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely true, if things continued the way they were going.
"Tell me, little pony, what exactly is going on here?"
Whoever this pony was, he clearly was far too overwhelmed to give a proper answer. After some time, she started to grow impatient. She sighed. It was so tempting to tap into the near unlimited power the Elements of Harmony had granted her for the time being, and force this pony to help her figure out what was going on without delay. It'd be so easy to read his mind, or manipulate it altogether. The alicorn Luna had just discovered held a far better affinity for this power, but it had chosen Luna for the time being to carry out its will as a host. When she had first awoken, they had been whispering to her clearly, begging her to fulfill their purpose and make things right. They desired her to carry out their will, but now they'd gone mostly silent. Why did they have to be so vague? She had no idea what they had wanted her to do, but they stressed something important had be done. Was it dealing with her sister here?
Clearly, something was up. The Luna saw the shape of souls in her vision currently, which she felt was related to her new power. Including her sister. The soul of her sister was surrounded by a smoggy dark cloud, and it prevented her from seeing it properly. It didn't take long for Luna's heightened sensitivity and knowledge to figure out what was going on.
Her sister had befallen a similar fate to what she once had, and her new perspective gave her an entirely different view of the curse. Alicorn's souls were special, and the dark emotions they could find themselves steeped in for too long could manipulate their natural magics into a curse. She wondered what had lead Celestia to this. She would need to ask later.
Everything had been a struggle since she had woken up, the entirety of her memories a jumbled mess, even now. The Elements had manipulated and potentially blockaded many of the memories she knew she held, and she wondered how much her current attitude was also being influenced. It truly bothered her that they would do this. Why? What could they possibly be blocking for it to be worth influencing her sense of self? You are the collection of your memories, so removing a portion of them was insulting as to say that version of yourself was not worthy. Is that what the Elements thought? Was she simply a tool which had been forced to bend into their will? Why did she care so much about all of these ponies right now, even? Hadn't they... hadn't they what?
She hoped that once their presence had left her, she'd still be keep a clear enough head. She disliked being their puppet, but she could not deny the help they had provided in bringing her back. She was certain they had aided her return, details unimportant for now. For that reason, and that reason alone, she would carry out their will as best as she could despite her confusion.
Her sister, whose soul was fluctuating greatly underneath, was clearly in a transformative state on the outer layer, swarmed with a dark cursed magic that Luna remembered being swallowed whole by once. As far as she could tell, the transformation was not complete yet. Celestia had not fully given in to the dark temptation in some recess of her being yet.
Celestia, who apparently didn't recognize her, began attacking with a fury. A thousand arrows of burning light came, and Luna opened a gate into the void to intercept them. The large portal-like cosmos interrupted reality in-between them, and the arrows were dragged in silently, and like that it was over. Luna didn't need this for protection, but she felt that preventing further destruction or harm for anypony caught in the crossfire was probably the right thing to do.
Removing the hoof from her head she hadn't realized had been there rubbing, she instead stared at it in front of herself in contemplation. If her current form had become that which could warp reality, something Luna was sure she had seen in the past but had no clue what from, then the Elements of Harmony were a step above that. Feeling their power directly within herself, she felt certain of that belief. They could also warp reality, but they also could erase or create it entirely if they were harnessed properly. From nothing. Currently, the latter was possible for Luna only because they had chosen her as a host for the time being. That power was quickly waning, probably because she was not the alicorn named "Twilight". No, that wasn't accurate, it was more like ten percent of infinity was still infinity, but it would drop off quickly into a real number and collapse soon enough. It was likely she had less than an hour to do something with this power before it did. But what she saw before her did not require it to that extent. Again, it simmered that she felt she was missing something. Some purpose.
For now, dealing with Celestia would need to be the priority. Speaking of her, she had apparently taken Luna's self-defence as an insult. This would not do. Luna needed Celestia to see herself, and no one else right now.
Maverick, huffed and he climbed the partially burning building, up the staircase to the upper level where it was still clear, heading for a window to get onto the roof somehow.
He had grown up here, and he would never abandon it. He'd see this through till the end, even if that tyrant destroyed everything. His left shoulder was bleeding from glass which had hit him like shrapnel earlier, but it was not something that would require immediate medical attention. The bleeding had already started to slow.
Opening a window at the top of the building, he practically spilled out and fell onto the roof. After a moment to get himself back up, he began scanning to see just what was left in Canterlot from this vantage point. Where had it all gone so wrong? Everyponies hoof had been forced, and somehow it had come to this.
While scanning, he spotted the hovering figure of whatever was left of Celestia. But that wasn't what ended up capturing his attention. It was a strange sight which he could've never forseen. Another alicorn, black as the sky without any stars to alight it, and a tremendous mane to make up for that which held all the light of the cosmos, seemingly spilling out into the air in a large influx of scintillating beauty flowing through the sky.
It took twenty seconds before he could come back to reality from this strange scene before him. He, he had to do something! At this point, with all lost, perhaps he could beg this alicorn to take revenge? It may have burned him to ever consider trusting another alicorn, or relying on one in general, but what other option was there?
"Over here! Please! Can you hear me?!"
The alicorn sharply turned to look at him, and he had to swallow the nervous lump in his throat.
"I'm begging you! I know nothing of your greatness yet, but I ask you with all my heart to stop this evil tyrant named Celestia! All of Canterlot pleads you!"
He got down and bowed, with his head down as far as it could to the ground, desperately hoping his words could please the alicorn enough to listen or act.
"Calm, little pony, we see now that our sister has caused much harm here. But do not be afraid, we intend to correct things."
It should've been everything it promised, her words. But that wasn't the affect it had on him. How alicorns could speak of correcting things, after all this death and destruction? Of suffering? Being so arrogant as to act the hero while ignoring the true plight ponies faced. He couldn't stand it, but again he swallowed his true thoughts and pride.
"She, she killed everypony here. Almost everypony. Please, I do not know how you're related to her as you say, for she has never mentioned a sister, but that doesn't matter! I beg you to stop her, end her!"
"We did not kill any—", the alicorn paused for a moment, "my sister has not killed anypony here, what are you talking about?"
He was still recovering from the intensity of which she denied doing anything... of course he would have to deal with another warped mind. He wanted to laugh. But again, what was she saying?
"How can you say that... ah, I'm sorry, what is your name?" It was extremely awkward and out of place, but it kind of fell out of his mouth as he realized how little he actually knew. Actually, it was fitting amidst the chaos around him after all.
"We shall tell you later, perhaps we should demonstrate what we mean instead. We had almost forgotten our own actions until now. But first, let us move to a more suitable location."
He never felt any magic grip him, which was what he was expecting, but it never came. Instead, one second he was on top of a roof, and after he blinked his reality had warped to that of the Canterlot main square. The cobbled road was at its widest here in Canterlot, with a large fountain, somehow untouched even now, being in the centre. He was also surprised to not find himself particularly dizzy. He'd been teleported by another in the past by a skilled unicorn, and that had left him reeling. This was nothing like that.
Once again, he saw the dark alicorn mare, her horn still glowing. Then, he heard strange pinging sounds. Shadows were dropping into existence in a constant downpour in the square, practically filling it up. Looking closer, he saw that the flowing shadows were covering... bodies. He simply stood in shock as hundreds, no thousands of these bodies piled and piled in the square, taking up all of the space and on top of one another.
He walked up towards one of many, oh so many, and saw that under the shadows something wasn't quite right. It was like... reality was blurred? Distorted? He had no idea how to describe it, but the body was so still he was sure it must've been a corpse, and the image made him sick. Before he could truly react though, he heard the mare speak again.
"I shall now release these ponies from their timeless state, and bring them back to full health. That is satisfactory, is it not?"
At this point, he was speechless. What did you even say to this fantastical sight and experience? He looked towards her, and only found a confident and vainglorious attitude.
A cyan cloud spread through the ranks, interspersed through the shadows as each body slowly raised into the air to dance like shadowy fairies from the tales of old. Then... the shadows began to fade, and each body became instead a glowing wisp of turquoise brilliance. He spun and spun, and all he could see was the reforming bodies of each and every pony that'd been brought here. If there was a gap to fill, it drew in the healing aura and slowly returned to being a body part once again. The peaceful look on each pony being cradled by the softest of touches was mesmerizing, and it almost looked like they were ascending away from this plane of existence into a peaceful one. Being inside of the cloud of magic, he could feel it. Harmony. True harmony. He'd never been one to believe too deeply about the tenets of pony society, but there was something there that made it brought up to the forefront of his mind and in appreciation of it all.
Then, floating down as softly as clouds, and as tranquil as falling snow, the light began to fade and ponies began to lightly glide down and onto the ground, eyes closed and dreaming.
Just as the magic faded, a few ponies began waking up in clear confusion. Would most of them view what happened to them as some sort of nightmare in the future? That wasn't right.
As if to answer his thought directly, Celestia had apparently decided to catch up with a vengeance, having not been carried with the teleportation. A burning star crashing through the sky heading straight towards the other alicorn.
He barely heard, but the words were clear: "And now, I must clear your vision, sister."
Pure darkness poured from the alicorn, and as it spread to the air, the ground, everything, it consumed it. The background faded into darkness, and it kept expanding. As it came towards Maverick, he expected to fall through the ground, but no such thing happened.
Destroy. Conquer. Eliminate. Ruin. Rule. Burn. Reduce to ashes.
These were some of the swirling vague thoughts that had been leading what was left of Celestia. Deep inside, her sleeping self, understood nothing that was going on. What was she doing? Where was she? She was only vaguely aware of what her body and outer self was doing. Her vision was still there, but it was oh so narrow.
She was moving, flying off to get revenge or something. It didn't really matter to her much at the moment.
Her vision, which had already grown narrow, began to only see darkness. What was going on? Who was this pony she was coming in to face now? Everything felt so distorted, and she couldn't recognize the pony much at all.
Wait... a tiny sliver of her mind caught on to something. The flowing mane. The stars. That magical signature. Those cyan eyes. That surprisingly dark coat. It stirred something inside of her, and something was screaming, echoing in the back recess of her mind, but she couldn't hear it well.
Her outer form had stopped moving for some reason. They were only a short distance away from each other now, and Celestia was hovering before this... new alicorn?
All at once, and with the shock of lightning, something clicked in her mind. A single word.
'Luna.'
She latched onto the thought with every fiber of her being. Memories were crashing down, everything was coming back—
There was no way.
This had to be fake, and this twisted and trapped place she was in a cruel joke.
But she fought. Fought with everything she had for control. There was a strange presence there, it was her except different. It had no right to deny her this. Her very soul itself would not allow it. Her soul was trapped, pinned down, dominated, confused, chained up, and sleeping. But that was not enough, this very image invoked all the strength she could ever conjure back to fight against whatever was controlling her.
Thunder rumbled in her ears, her vision warped, and then—
Snap.
It took her a moment, but she realized she was back in the real world, thoughts slowly catching up to what had just happened.
She looked at herself, and seeing her mane filled with fire rather than rainbow was enough for her to know that she hadn't restored herself fully. But this was enough. She had some control, for now at very least.
And then she looked to what had brought her back. Her breath caught in her throat. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing, especially now that it seemed so real.
But how? Wasn't the reason all of this started was because of how useless she had been to save her sister?
None of that mattered right now. She was right there in front of her. In the flesh. Looking at her with curiosity and a hint of, was that... hope?
"Celestia, can you see me? I should be all you can see right now. Can you understand what I'm saying?"
Tears flowed from Celestia the moment she heard the sweet voice, unchanged, even after all this time, even after all they had been through. She could never forget that voice. It must've been strikingly strange to see this demonic mare crying and with such an expression.
"Luna. Is it... is it really you?"
"It is, sister."
Pure joy, the strongest she had ever felt, swelled in her heart. Relief flooded her senses. It was too much, and her heart was pounding. Nothing else mattered, her sister was back, that was all that mattered! Healthy, strong, full of vitality, and most importantly here! 'Here here here!' She couldn't stop repeating it. Whatever happened from now, it did not matter. Her sister was finally back!
"LUNA! YOU'RE BACK!" the strangled cry barely made it out of her before her voice cracked.
"Indeed... I am sister. It is... good to see you too." Celestia was now flying around her in a circle, checking over her every detail, making sure there was nothing she was missing, even when it was all she could see in this world of darkness. But that didn't matter right now. She couldn't care less for the outside world.
"You're... a bit different than I remember last seeing you, Luna, and I would never mistake your presence, but I cannot help but notice your changes..."
"And you as well, sister. I... I can see you fell just like I did. Do you..."
Luna's lips went into a straight line.
"Do you-do you trust me?"
"Of course I do." There wasn't any hesitation.
"Then stop moving, and simply trust me, sister. I have the Elements of Harmony enhancing me, I can end this transformation you've undergone, but you must not struggle."
"Anything for you, sister. I... I'm only now just beginning to remember why I'm like this in the first place. I... please, if you could, sister?"
Celestia landed, and tried to be as still as possible while facing her sister directly.
Luna raised her hoof and brought it to curve towards the sky, and from there, a soft rainbow began lifting up from it.
"Let the Elements envelop you sister, I have complete control of them right now. Trust me, you will not be hurt."
There had never been a moment where Celestia had doubted that. In the past, the Elements had been a harsh thing despite being a power for good, too powerful to truly control properly, but whatever had happened, Luna was guiding them gently somehow. The rainbow expanded into a long snake, and swam around Celestia in a vortex, until it formed into a tornado that slowly caved inwards towards Celestia. It was like a weight coming off her shoulders that she hadn't known existed as it came closer and began dispelling the foul magics. She closed her eyes, and simply breathed slowly.
She waited until all was silent and no longer felt the flow of pure harmony. Weight which she hadn't realized had been dragging her down released.
Opening her eyes, and looking to herself once again, she saw that she really was restored. There was a lingering burn under her fur, but she tried to ignore it. But that wasn't all, the weight of everything began catching up to her. Celestia had not stopped moving and using magic for the past few days, and that transformation had been the only way she had been able to continue. She collapsed down onto her knees.
"Oh-sister! Are you alright? Did I hurt you after all?!"
"Just..." she struggled to get it out inbetween breaths, "just oh so tired Luna..."
"Wait... I, well, I suppose I must explain, but, I can sort of see it, sister."
"You can see...?"
"The shape of your soul, I mean, I know that sounds impossible, but I can Celestia. And what I see... it seems that wasn't enough to heal you. Wait... what is that?"
Celestia had no clue what Luna was talking about, and couldn't keep up right now. She knew that her soul was wounded of course, she had done that not too long ago. But to see the shape of the soul without casting very specific magic? She'd never even imagined that possible. None of this made sense in the first place, and she wasn't about to doubt Luna, so she supposed she'd just accept it for now.
"Just another moment, sister, I can fix this too, I can feel it. Allow me and don't move again just for a moment. The Elements power has not run out yet, I still have some time, maybe twenty more minutes."
This time was different, and Celestia felt Luna grab her physically in her magic. She couldn't control her twitching in reaction at it, and Luna gave a slight scowl. She hadn't meant to do it. But the touch changed, and physical transformed to something different. Spiritual touch. Far, far more uncomfortable, and instead of a singular spot it surrounded her. She felt oh so trapped, and warning instincts screamed in her brain. Having your vulnerable soul, the most sacred of places, being manipulated, there was no greater discomfort. Even if it was only the slightest of touches. She shivered wondering what was to come.
"Luna... I-I'm not sure this is safe, are you sure..."
The steely look in Luna's focused visage answered her.
"Completely. I ask again, do you trust me Celestia? I will not harm your soul, nor let it befall any danger. Trust me. This must be done, Celestia."
They stood staring at each other, in this strange and isolated world.
"I do. Please, just be careful."
"You shall be fine, sister, besides—"
Celestia's consciousness came crashing down at the feeling of her soul emulsifying, but she heard some final words before blacking out:
"—you are now free."
Twilight stayed hidden behind the wall which ran parallel to the city square, where her little investigation had slowly brought herself towards. It'd been strange, teleporting further and further as she became more aware of the increased pool of magic available to herself. At first it had been short hops, then lengthy as she eventually made it to Canterlot to witness the state of things...
Currently, in the square was a giant globe of sinking darkness. She couldn't see inside of it, and wasn't quite sure if it was safe to proceed inwards. She'd seen what had happened before though, and it'd left her without breath. That alone had given her enough confidence to trust that things were under control.
The shadows, which had burst out to consume with a hunger, sank back in as quickly as they'd came. It seemed whatever Luna had been doing, she'd finished. Ponies, who were first to be released, stood around looking fairly confused and searching for answers. Many of them appeared to be stunned.
Just like that, it was gone. Luna, and more importantly, a surprisingly picturesque looking Celestia stood in the middle. Pure once again.
Everypony turned to give them attention in the decidedly massive crowd. Was every pony living in Canterlot here? They spilled outwards even deep down the four main paths meeting at the middle of the square.
More importantly, Twilight would have to deal with what she saw just only a few moments ago...
Twilight would never mistake her mentor. Even in that twisted form. Twilight had heard the legends of Nightmare Moon, yet had never seen the apparition despite so much anticipation. But what she had seen here had been a very real and a conversely scary image to that of her sister.
To step out and approach them... already ponies were demanding answers now that things began to settle. As much as they could in these circumstances, that is.
Well, Twilight had to do this eventually... She came out from around the wall and begin making her way towards the sisters. It was really awkward when halfway she realized that ponies were turning and giving little gasps and shocked reactions to her new appearance. She still wasn't used to it either. It really didn't matter right now, and Celestia would ask questions while having the same stupor, but Twilight's own questions were far more important.
Luna gave Celestia a look, with a flick of her neck towards Twilight, and their gazes met. Celestia immediately looked away, but then back again, rather instead of her eyes, it was to her newfound wings.
"Prince— no, Celestia, please, tell me what's going on. I know that Luna being back may be startling to say the least but, I mean..." she looked around the destroyed remains of Canterlot around to emphasize her point. "And... and that form, did you-did you really do all this? Why? And what about all those rumors about the war? Tell me they weren't true... tell me..."
"Twilight I..." Celestia could only stand there and gape. Slowly, as reality encroached on their little reunion, the very unhappy faces of ponies from all of Canterlot registered. All of them were staring with outright anger and animosity towards Celestia.
"It's true, all of it is true." She said after a long moment. She had whispered the words, yet Twilight had heard all of them clearly and nothing else.
"I will not lie to you Twilight. I lost myself. I became a monster, no different than my sister a thousand years ago." She turned to give Luna a pleading glance, as if to say 'sorry to bring this up'. Luna seemed to hold no hard feelings for it, so Celestia continued: "I murdered the Griffin Emperor when he denied me hope of saving Luna. I started the war. I killed thousands of griffins and ponies, by my hoof or caused by my actions, and by the time I came back here I was too far gone in my own darkness that seeing Luna gone broke me. I was even willing to sacrifice so many ponies for her Twilight. How I could ever be so... so..." Celestia closed her eyes. "Who am I to weigh lives like that? Everypony wants to feel deep down like they'd make the right choice in the hard times, myself included." She reopened then to stare directly into Twilight's eyes. "But I failed. All I've ever done is fail. Nothing I can say will ever be enough. The Elements of Harmony have allowed me to remember this, however late."
Twilight, rather than rush to respond, tried to let it sink in. This was... too much right now. To hear all her fears confirmed like that so clearly...
"Sister? What is this talk about saving me? War? We're going to have to talk about this later."
It was Celestia's turn to fall into complete confusion. The look she gave Twilight was in askence for answers, before she responded.
"And indeed we will, Luna, and yet there is more I wish to say." She started walking towards Twilight.
"I want you to know that, despite everything Twilight, I never wanted to do any of these atrocities. I mean that, even if... it sounds hollow now. That they will never be okay and—" she gave a nod to their audience, most of which would not hear most of this, "—the ponies of Equestria deserve better. I do not know what will happen now, but I am sure of that. I know now, that in the future that it does not include myself.
However, most of all, Twilight, I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It just clicked just now, that you must've done something. Brought her back to me." She gave a warm smile, one that Twilight had seen a thousand times, despite everything pressing on them right now.
"Thank you Twilight, for bringing back my... my dear sister Luna." She fell to her knees and looked straight down, and after a moment Twilight saw a few drops fall. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I am forever in your debt."
Before Twilight could respond, some random pony from the crowd decided now would be the perfect opportunity to pitch in.
"Remorse? Guilt? You just destroyed our city! You killed thousands of innocents? Actions speak louder than words! How many suffered because of you! You think all of us are gonna just accept this little sympathy act?!"
Everypony turned to find the interloper, but it didn't matter, because soon cries joined in, shouting and screaming at Celestia's direction.
"Traitor!" "We gave you everything and for what?!" "Everything is gone!" "My home!" "Our lives are ruined because of you!" "How many more lives do you have to take before you leave everypony alone?!"
Several ponies even began throwing pieces of wreckage, including stones at Celestia. Several hit her, but she didnt dare move to dodge anything. Barely heard against the ongoing ruckus of rancour, Twilight heard Luna speak. "I was not aware of much of this. There's more to be discussed than I had originally thought, sister." She was giving her sister a stern look, but the sigh after was drawn out, "I may not be able to bring back that was already lost, most importantly any lives, but right now there is something I can still do."
She brought a hoof to her chest and chanted, "oh sacred moon, grant me thy essence."
A layer of frost emerged around her, but that was not what took Twilight's focus. Slowly, starting from the base of both the tail and mane, the starry cosmos which had become the hallmark of much of Luna's image, transformed distinctly into a glowing silver. Soon enough, there was not a trace of star-stuff left, only a reflection of the moon in a pure white form that glowed faintly.
Then, her horn followed in the act. The aura, typically cyan colored, Twilight saw that it was now also the same color of her mane and tale. Was this what focusing on that specific aspect of her night meant for Luna now?
"To channel the pure frozen energy of the moon is to ever approach the slowing of all movement, down to the smallest level of all matter. I can see this now." She looked towards the sky. "Normally, I would only be able to bring it to a complete stop, yet today, with the Elements blessing, I shall break this and go further."
It felt like all of Canterlot was currently being washed in the liquid mercury. At first, it was like nothing was happening, but then it began. Objects lifted up and into the air, and began to move slowly and with strange arcs. Objects reformed back together. Shattered windows saw every glass particle down the last one come together and fit themselves back into the gap where they had originally existed, where the newly rebuilt construction was being pieced together as items seemingly reversed in time from the cataclysm that had proceed all of this. Twilight even saw a bird flying in reverse, colored in that same magic, and she couldn't look away from the spectacle of it.
Ponies all around stared in wonderment. What else could you do? This was a divine feat, and one you'd likely only see once in your life if you were more than lucky. Then again, they'd experienced more than just this today that defied imagination.
Buildings blocked up together, and then saw their neighbour do the same. Row after row was restored, nothing left out.
Twilight stole a look at Luna, and saw that she had a look of pure bliss on her face, as well as a bit of... pride?
"Hah. Hahah. That's right, applaud our supreme power!" Twilight could see that same expression that had reminded her of when Luna first came back. After the initial strangeness...
Luckily, the majority of ponies had been too busy taking in the wonder around them to hear it, and the few that did and turned only saw a Luna that was pretending nothing of the sorts had happened after the trance she had been in seemed to have lifted and some embarrassing realization set in.
As things began to calm down, there was still one pony of which was unsatisfied.
"You have been able to fix our city, and have saved the lives of all of Canterlot, for that we are all in your eternal debt. However! You cannot take back the suffering we've all endured under the hoof of Celestia! Tell me, everypony! Who remembers the pain before you were sealed away?"
Hundreds of shouts in agreement came back roaring as ponies thoughts were corralled back to what had caused all of this in the first place.
"Celestia has caused immeasurable suffering! How many have died because of her actions, atrocities she fully admitted to committing with a emphatically weak excuse of a reason! How many ponies, no, even griffin lives were permanently ruined because of all of this? Celestia was fully intent on destroying everything! Your intervention will never change this truth! I can't even imagine what she would've done at Oblatio! Nor do I want to!"
It was a grim reminder, and the brown earth pony had a look bordering on hatred as he addressed Celestia and her sister. Twilight came to recognize that it was Maverick Tinker, somepony she had actually trained and worked under in the past few months. It was an uncomfortable realization to say the least. She couldn't blame him at all for this impassioned outburst. Twilight shared much of his contempt, no matter how much she had wanted to bury or deny it.
"Who are you, my little pony? We wish to know your name."
"Maverick Tinker."
Celestia looked conflicted as to whether she should respond, but Luna stole the initiative anyway.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Maverick. We wish it was under better circumstances. Our name is Luna, in return." She turned to scan over the crowd. "Let it be known that Maverick has brought up entirely fair points about our sister. We have done what we can to allay this crisis, but we cannot take back the past in full. No one can. Not even the Elements of Harmony, which I act under their good will."
Luna paused, looking contemplative.
"Luna! I beseech you!" Luna looked surprised that the stallion had more to say. "You clearly have the power to end all of this! We've all seen it. On behalf of all of the ponies of Canterlot, no, Equestria! Please bring justice to Celestia!"
Luna closed her eyes. Ponies, continuing with the trend, yelled and screamed in agreeance. Demanding action.
"If you ask for justice, then it must be dealt equally, no?"
"What are you...?"
"For I have sinned no less than Celestia, even if none of you were there to witness it. In fact, I am far more deserving of punishment. Our sister's actions were born of the selfless wish to save, whereas ours has always been selfish. Regardless, we are both guilty."
The crowd had grown quiet, knowing she had all the power and control to dispense judgement.
"And finally... I do not, even now, have it in me..." For the first time since arriving, Luna looked truly shaken. Her downcast gaze was hollow.
"No... I cannot give you what you ask for, my little ponies. My sister is... I am sorry. I cannot... I will not... I am no executioner." She shook her head. It sobered all who heard it from mob justice.
"Twilight."
Twilight jumped, surprised at being called out in the middle of the tense situation by Luna. Why had she thought of her specifically?
"We can sense it. Something special that you carry on your person. Please show it to us."
Twilight hesitatingly opened her saddlebags, which she had brought with her just in case. Old habits die hard. Opening them up, and magically lifting it out, was the Inner World Sanctuary which she had not forgotten to keep. She floated it in the air in front of her in presentation.
"It is because of you that we stand before anypony here today, so we shall bestow upon you the last of Harmony's gift, before it is gone once more."
Twilight didn't know what she was going to do, but allowed Luna's aura to overtake her own and bring the amethyst over towards herself. Luna touched her horn to the stone in midair, and her entire body overflowed with a rainbow exterior, which seemed to slowly flow towards her horn and into the stone. This processes continued for a minute, and just when Twilight thought it would never end the light died out.
The Sanctuary no longer looked like anything she recognized, besides the shape. In fact, she was almost sure that it was close to breaking as Luna passed it back towards her. The stones glow was so intense with the rainbow kaleidoscope that signified the Elements power that it no longer looked like an amethyst at all. Taking it into her own magical hold again, it confirmed her suspicions. There was no way it could store even the tiniest amount more, and the feeling it gave off... so recognizable, yet so foreign.
"This is our gift to you Twilight. A miracle, stored for safekeeping for when Equestria needs it most. We may not know you well yet, but you have earned this right for bringing us back and allowing us to do what we have, and for our life itself. We see that now and thank you. We know that the Elements have chosen you, so there cannot be a more worthy recipient. Please, take this, keep it safe, and use it when Equestria is most in need. You will need it."
"And now, we feel the last of it fading from us. Goodbye, sacred Harmony. We hope your will was realized today, even if we never truly understood it."
Luna looked towards the skies. A few moments passed while all were quiet. Things could finally relax.
Just as Twilight stopped examining the Sanctuary, Twilight saw the change in Luna.
Luna had completely locked up, and her stare looked terrified and unseeing. What was...
"Sister, are you alright?"
Celestia had noticed the sudden change too. Both Twilight and Celestia took a step towards Luna, but stopped when they saw her bite down on her lip, hard. Blood poured down from her chin from the violent rupture, and Luna was breathing hard. Luna had closed her eyes now and her entire faced was tensed as can be, brows furrowed.
"Luna! What's wrong?!"
Celestia rushed forward and forced Luna into a hug, whispering into her ear. Luna's expression never changed.
What was Twilight supposed to do? None of this made sense, just like... when Luna had first came back. Something had snapped her out of it then, but what? They were too lacking in details, and it didn't look like Luna would be able to explain any time soon.
Twilight saw that Maverick still looked furious to the side, but was clearly holding back from saying anything more. Furthermore, the ponies surrounding him, actually, just about every pony seemed to be hating the fact their savior was being enclosed by Celestia, who had so recently scarred them all.
Celestia was whispering hush reassurances into Luna's ear, desperate to know what was going wrong. She pushed down all of her regrets from the forefront of her mind, no matter how much they weighed on her. Her sister needed her right now. That was all that mattered. The ponies that were surrounding them at this inconvenient time, and the looks they were giving, wasn't helping either. She needed to block them out, too.
Celestia could not see Luna's face right now, but when the words finally registered, Celestia had to supress a shiver. All it took was one word. "Celestia." It contained the culmination of centuries of negative emotion, most of which being hatred. Where had this come from? Celestia's heart had soared so far in this reunion, and yet now it felt as things had reset. What had changed?
"After everything you've done..." it was all she could do to simply listen. "You dare act as my..." she snarled, "sister."
Celestia's blood ran cold.
"Destroy... I wish nothing more than to strike you down.. after what you... what I..." After several moments of silence, Celestia decided to push Luna apart so that they could look at one another, face to face.
What she saw there was expected, but no less painful. Luna was barely holding back, her face twitching and rigid. Her horn lit up and for a heart-wrenching moment Luna lurched forward and Celestia thought all was lost. But she came back down and continued to seethe while removing the glow from her horn.
Celestia had been willing to do nothing and let her sister do it. The realization shook her, but things were moving too quickly for it to sink in.
"And yet..." Where Celestia saw aggression, she also saw hopelessness and confusion. "And yet..."
Luna looked around slowly, as though she had no idea where she was anymore. There was zero recognition there.
She looked back to Celestia. Her eyes slowly cleared, like there was some deeper realization.
"And yet..." a lone tear streamed down from her left eye, "and yet you're all I recognize... in this god-forsaken place. You're all I have left." It broke Celestia's heart to see Luna like this. "If you're gone... where will that leave me? I'm so tired of being all alone... How could I ever... to my own flesh-and-blood—"
"I feel the same way sister! Please! If nothing else, let us be together again! Like those days from so long ago!" Luna's sunken expression did little to alleviate Celestia's fears. "I wish nothing more than to earn your forgiveness, sister! I'd do anything for you! Even if you hate me!" She heard a sneer off to the side, but ignored it. "Let us start again, anew, please! Forget everything else!"
Before Celestia could continue, the crowd decided now would be the best time to cut right back in.
"Get away from her!" "She's trying to manipulate her!" "Please! Stop her before it's too late!" "Finish the sun-tyrant!"
Luna was practically hyperventilating. Her eyes glazed over.
"No! I remember feeling, I mean-you were..." Luna looked bewildered.
Pounding her hoof down several times, she stood stock still and let some of the tension fade. It looked like she was forcing herself to focus on something in front of her.
"I... I remember now. Enough."
Everypony quieted down.
Luna stood, and her presence grew as her shadow seemed to stretch and loom over every pony packed into the centre of the city.
"Me and my sister..." Her voice grew louder, projecting even to the furthest reaches of the crowd. Yet it was soft, carrying the somber message to a light finish. "We have no place here anymore, I can see that now, if anything. There can be no reconciliation for these crimes, for we have both sinned greatly and are both undeserving of worship nor rulership from any single one of you.
"All I can do is promise you all this, we shall be there for the time of need in Equestria whenever it comes. We owe that much. But know this for now, we shall be leaving these lands post-haste. We are no longer welcome here. We also know that the ponies here can manage just fine without our guidance, for we've seen it. Besides, you've still other princesses," she directed the crowds attention towards Twilight, "This is to be our goodbye. I shall return in time. Farewell."
With one final look back to Celestia, Luna gave a firm nod. Celestia was unable to meet any gaze other than her sisters. Then, encasing the area around both of them, they both teleported far, far away.
Left alone, surrounded by ponies who would never understand the full gist of what went down on this day, Twilight simmered in unresolved and conflicting emotions and thoughts. But first, she had to pick up the pieces here, whatever they may be. Canterlot's opulent sheen remained, yet the inhabitants would be marked by a horrible nightmare memory that blurred away the richness of life into a harsh reality that they had so briefly experienced.
The world was a far simpler place. At least - it was to these two.
Two unicorn fillies could be found frolicking around in a grassy plains, content to enjoy another beautiful day out.
One white and pink, the other dark and light blue.
The younger of the two, the blue unicorn, chased after her older sister while laughing lightly. Her older sister looked back as she went to make sure she was keeping up.
"Celly! No fair! You've had longer to practice teleportation!"
"Is that excuses, little Lulu?"
They came to a stop. Luna was pouting in frustration, and Celestia ate it right up.
"Never! In fact, I'll figure it out faster than you ever did! Just give me..."
"Oh? You mean something like this?"
Celestia lit her horn up, and after focusing for a few seconds, managed to teleport a few feet ahead of herself. Afterwards, she looked smugly at Luna and stuck out her tongue, and then fell over laughing again when she saw the expression.
"Grr! I'll show you!"
"Please, sister, just admit you're struggling and ask big sister for some help. Just like you've always had to."
The next ten minutes or so were fairly entertaining for Celestia, watching Luna try to cast over and over with the spell fizzling out and hearing frustrated cries over and over.
Celestia turned to look at the sun behind her, which was still rising. She'd always appreciated its beauty, and moments like these against the backdrop of natures perfection here, enjoying the little free time they had, bathed in its light drew a sigh of satisfaction from her.
"Wah!" She promptly heard her sister fall, apparently.
"Don't hurt yourself trying, Lulu, okay?"
Luna was catching her breath, and when she responded, it was beyond triumphant: "Too scared to see your sister pass you up, eh?!"
"Oh? Are you saying what I think you're saying?" She called the bluff.
As she turned to look at Luna, she saw the youngers horn was already lit. She blinked and prepared to say something again, only to realize her sister had appeared right in front of her.
"Ahh!"
"Yahaha! I told you we were superior! Mom and Dad are going to hear all about this later!"
"That's... that's very impressive Luna." Celestia was genuinely impressed. Also proud, but she'd never admit that willingly to anypony.
"Toooo bad you've just caught up to my dust trails, I'd like to see you try using the magical disc spell like I do."
"You couldn't even create a mirror image of a cat! I did that with ease! And now, I've started working my way through the stuff you've done too! Admit it sister, we are superior with magic!"
Celestia felt a little fire burn in the back of her heart. 'So little Luna wants to play with the big ponies now?'
And thus began a little magical competition, with each sister pulling out all the stops to demonstrate why they were the better. At first, it was fun, but by the halfway point things had gotten surprisingly serious, if not callus between them.
It was at this point Celestia had enough.
"Just admit it Luna! You haven't been able to do anything half as cleanly as I have even if you just barely managed to cast them!"
"Never! You've always deny, deny, denied our successes with little comments like that! Why can't you just admit it is actually me who is the better."
They were both glaring at each other now.
It was at this moment, that Celestia chanced upon the most ridiculous of ideas. Something that only could've been conjured up from this ridiculous situation.
A small grin came onto her face. This would really stick it to Luna.
"Actually Luna, I've just realized, there's a way of showing you just how better I am once and for all."
"Please, stop with the bluffs 'Tia, we're both out of tricks and you know it."
"Perhaps I should demonstrate to my foolish little sister."
Celestia said that, but she was starting to sweat a little bit at how stupidly reckless this idea was. She most likely was going to be the one laughed at in the end for this.
Nevertheless, she turned and brought her attention to the sun.
"Watch me."
Lighting up her horn for the umpteenth time, she made to cast a vague spell to control the sun and show her sister it moving under her power. It took how many unicorns to do that normally? It'd for sure blow Luna away!
She quickly realized the weight of such a spell was, well, impossible, and began gritting her teeth and pounding away at it.
Behind her, Luna was giving some little jest about 'this being the big reveal?'.
Just as she was about to stop because the burden became too great, something just... clicked. She had been imagining a beautiful sunset in the meadows when it happened. Once it did, things began to fall into place and the spell felt different. It continued to feel different. Before she knew it, the struggle was gone and the magic was flowing properly. She couldn't believe it!
After another twenty seconds of struggle, because despite the change this really was still a difficult spell, she opened her eyes to see the sun moving rapidly ahead of schedule in the sky. Enough to be easily noticable as abnormal.
Looking back, her sister was legitimately speechless, and Celestia made to boast all over her.
"See! I told you I'm the greatest! Better than you ever could be! There's no way you could ever—"
Blinding light surrounded Celestia, and before she knew it everything about the world had been whisked away.
A pony who led a mostly selfless life, was about to be born anew with only selfish thoughts beforehoof.
Luna could only stare in awe as the giant ball of light slowly broke open, revealing an entirely new... Celestia?
Gliding softly down towards the ground, what she thought to be her sister landed unconscious. Luna rushed forward to see if she was okay, and began shaking her in panic.
She couldn't help but notice the new appendages... fantastical wings. But that was impossible, right?
"What..."
"Sister! Get up! Something crazy has happened!"
Celestia lurched up, and shook her head around looking for assailants, or something. Luna didn't know why.
"Look! You've got wings now! And you... you actually moved the sun! I saw it! And-oh my gosh is that a cutie mark?!"
"I did... I am?" Celestia looked at herself. "Ahhh!" she screamed as she saw them as well. The sun on her flank brand new. They stared at one another for a long moment in shock.
"I did, didn't I?" Her grin was devious. "Mom and Dad are gonna go crazy!"
They both began laughing and began dancing in a little circle around one another. It was a celebration in the end, after all.
It was no longer than five minutes before they calmed down, and Luna had no so subtly inspected the wings a thousand times. They were both beyond excited to show off to their parents and others the change.
Finally, when things began to relax...
Celestia, who had begun to figure out how to move her wings just a little bit, flexed them open as wide as possible. She then stood up on her back hooved and looked down on her sister.
"Sooo little Lulu, care to finally admit it?"
"Ah—"
As realization set in, Luna shrunk down in frustration. It'd been all fun and games doing things they'd seen any grown unicorn do, but this wasn't exactly...
It didn't help that her sister kept giving her that look. Smug.
Celestia yawned. "But perhaps it's time to go home, Luna. Don't worry about it."
One part of herself was willing to just let this go. Even Celestia had calmed down and been ready to retire back to their homes. She was tired, and, to be honest she had to admit that was pretty spectacular. Beyond her.
She mentally paused.
Her sister pulling ahead. She hated that. It was dumb and stupid, but she hated it. On an already crazy day an even crazier idea had taken form.
Without saying anything, she hmphed and turned her back on her sister to try something desperate. It couldn't hurt to try, right?
She wanted to show her sister up, no matter what. Normally they would've dropped this by now and gone home, but today had escalated and been different.
So it was now that Luna felt herself struggling with her magic to do similar to Celestia, but different.
"Luna. What are you doing?"
Luna said nothing, only continuing to sweat as she attempted her casting.
After several minutes, she felt close to exhaustion. There was no way... how had Celestia done it?
It was when her exhaustion allowed her mind to drift just the slightest, that for some reason a mental amalgamation of winter, a dark night spent blanketed near a warm fire with a starry skyscape above came into her mind.
It was such a small thing, but it too clicked something in her mind. She didn't know why, but it felt easier and easier. So instead of giving up, she pushed onward.
"Luna... oh my gosh! Luna!"
Finally, after a long arc, the moon had forced it's way unnaturally into the sky and blocked out the sun. An eclipse.
Luna all but passed out on the spot afterwards.
"Hah... didn't... think... I'd keep... up... did you?"
Celestia had no idea what to say. How could this have ever happened was so beyond ridiculous. She stepped forward to make sure her sister was okay but an explosion of darkness suddenly surrounded Luna. A dark sphere formed, and inside it anothers soul was permanently evolved.
Celestia was no less enamored, stunned, and eventually elated at the very same change in her sister. They both continued to play and laugh like nothing much had changed, even if everything had.
When they eventually returned home, it did change everything. Eventually, the other ponies demanded that the moon be brought back down. A pony born to do that did just so.
