Being an alicorn and reigning princess ruler along with Luna of Equestria isn't all that easy. Especially the path to get up there- no walk in the park, I can assure you. Take it from Celestia herself.
In the Era of Dark Winters, there was no Sun or Moon- only an eerie glow that shadowed the snow crusted soil. Living in a village in the Southwest Territory, Celestia is a young, fifteen year old Alicorn mare coping with the death of her mother while taking care of her eight year old sister, Luna. While struggling with her new life, she stumbles path with the old, unicorn stallion that lives in the run-down shack at the edge of the village and learns of a revelation that changes her and Luna's lives forever. A story of the origin of Princess Celestia and Luna.
It’s almost as if life really couldn’t get any worse.
Possible slightly better, considering how our circumstances are so bad, but the chances of that ever happening in a hundred years is practically zero. At least I know I can live longer than a hundred years, so that could increases my chances, even for a little bit...
It may make some sense, since my not-so-dandy life is-was, now that’s all over- filled with responsibilities to take care of my little sister and then to act as the new mother of the cottage after my mother passed away.
Oh, and there’s also that crazed old unicorn stallion with the most extreme hygiene problem I've ever seen, and that’s saying something, since our village is not so hot with our cleanliness around here.
He wields a starry cloak and a starry hat that’s bent with weight or a large bell at the tip, adorned with even more bells that literally jingle with his every single move. It’s impossible to miss him- a clang, a jang, then shouts of these prophecies about the end of The Era of Dark Winters, overthrowing the kingdom, the two messengers with the silver manes, and so on and so forth.
Apparently, I’m in them.
We all thought it was impossible- who would think a humble insignificant mare like me could save the world?
Well, Mr. Swirly over there thinks so, but basically everypony ignores him and calls him a crazed lunatic. I do too- occasionally.
But...
I actually think I believe him.
So does my sister, which may sound crazy (being that annoying little bastard she is) but it all makes sense once you know.
We have a secret.
It’s something we’ve never dared to tell anypony, and it’s probably the reason why we’re the center of all of Star Swirl’s prophecies and attention.
I’m an Alicorn.
So is my sister, Luna.
How did we get into this predicament, you may ask?
Well, if you want the answer, then we may have to go back a bit...
I always feel as if a spears stabs me in the stomach whenever I think about my father- he died when I was only eight. Luna was three. But that was seven years ago, and I’ve learned to cope with it after all these years.
Luna never suffered any lost from it, really- she was too young to remember any of it, and though I felt a little guilty for it, I was a bit glad he died a bit early. Better for her to suffer as little as possible, especially with the pain I had over a lost father.
But Luna is known to be a bit of a chatterbox, so during the hours of the harshest storms, and a crackling fire flickered and danced in our fireplace, cracked wooden bowls carved by yours truly steaming with tea, Luna asked about our father before his death.
Fortunately for Luna (and me, too) our mother, Laurel, was a strong mare. When Luna let her mouth spill, I let out a little high-pitched squeak, covering my mouth with a hoof (as if it would have helped at all) and covered Luna’s with the other. I felt ready to strangle her with my bare hooves for asking such a stupid question, and I must’ve looked that way because our mother gave me a look of love mixed with some compassion, empathy, and understanding.
I blinked, confused, as she turned to Luna with a grin, a few strands of her long red mane flipping over her eyes.
“Well, Luna,” she said, a dreamy expression painted onto her face, speaking with a soft whisper of a voice and her head cocked to the left, “Your father was an amazing stallion, possibly the best pegasus to ever fly the skies. The sky was his home, despite all of the wind, snow, and hail from the blizzards and all.” She chuckled to herself, levitating some tea to her lips. “He was so proud of his two beautiful daughters...”
For a moment, I saw that Laurel was in the past, her face momentarily shot with both joy and mourning. But she came out of it as quickly as she had come, and looked back at us with a smile.
Luna jumped in her seat in front of the fireplace, her face illuminated by the flaming red coals.
“But what did he look like?” she chirped. “What did Daddy look like?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“He wasn’t a superstar or anything, but, ha ha, he was quite a hunk. You should have seen us, all those years ago, when we were about your older sister Celestia’s age...”
I decided to tune out of their conversation, because it seemed as if it wasn't going to end until a while, and I already knew what he looked like- I may have been only four then, which is a pretty young age, but I have a strong memory.
Besides, how can you ever forget your own father?
Every single memory I can conjure of him is crystal clear to every last detail, almost as if he were standing right in front of my hooves. Squeezing my eyes, I concentrated, feeling my horn vibrate with raw, yellow magic, and then after a few moments I snapped them open.
It almost as if he were standing right in front of my muzzle, and it took most of my willpower not to race forwards and bury my muzzle into his mane.
He was much of a contrast to my mother- while my mother’s snow white coat and ruby red mane gave her the appearance of an angel, our father’s brown coat and messy darker brown mane gave him the appearance of a humble, muscular Earth pony, even though he was in fact, a pegasus.
I remember how he used to joke that that was exactly what Laurel thought he was until he unfurled his wings. While my mother’s cheeks flushed as red as her mane, he explained how shocked she was after finding out and how she wouldn’t speak to him for the next few days.
Nonetheless, the loved each other just the same.
I stared at the wall, imagining my father, trying to burn his image permanently into my mind so that no matter what happened, I would never forget him. I thought about all the fun times we had in the short eight years we had together, and I was so immersed in my thoughts I jumped in surprise when Luna spoke.
“Celestia? What are you looking at?” Luna gasped. “Is-is there a ghost here? MOMMY!” she shrieked, ducking behind Laurel, who giggled and stroked Luna’s gray-blue mane.
“Shh, shh,” she soothed, “it’s alright, sweetie. There are no ghosts here. You’re safe right here with me, Luna.”
I frowned. “Not from the Windigos,” I said softly under my breath, but Laurel shot me a warning look. I quickly shut my jaw, and watched silently with my mother as Luna slowly closed her eyes, her small belly rising and falling with every deep sigh.
Slowly getting up, careful not to disturb Luna, Laurel levitated the sleeping body to the bed closest to the fireplace, watching lovingly as a smile formed on Luna’s face in her sleep as she cuddled and soaked in the sweet warmth of the glowing fire.
Together, we left the room, wary of every silent step and quietly closing the door behind us without a sound. As we headed to the door, getting ready to outside, my mother let out a long, loud sigh, and I gave her a questioning look.
“What’s wrong, mother?” I heaved a breath. “I’m sorry I said that in front Luna, Mom. I promise, it will never happen again.” I looked back up at her, and I saw her bowing her head in defeat. I opened my mouth to apologize again, but she stopped me.
“It’s okay, Celestia,” she said with a small, weary smile, “you don’t have to apologize.”
I nodded, but it didn't stop me from worrying about her. We quickly put on our coats, and we adjusted the hoods on each others heads, grinning at each other from underneath the black cloth. She opened the door with a small slow creak, and I braced myself as a wave of snow and a mass of hard cold wind blasted into the room.
I was glad I was sheltered safety underneath the warmth of my cloak, or I was sure I would have been swept away with the wind and snow that battered sharply at our doors.
We tenderly stepped outside, watching our hooves, and from behind Laurel I stole a glance upwards toward the clouds, as if the Windigos had magically disappeared and there would be no more snow and this terrible blizzard that had been raging nonstop since forever, I believe.
But, as always, I found the Windigos thrashing about, flying on their wispy hooves, blowing snow all over the place and growing with the clouds they controlled. I shivered, and automatically I felt the warmth of a hoof around my neck. I turned around and saw Laurel smiling tenderly at me and said, “Come on- we need to gather some berries.”
We turned around, and together, walked towards the woods as mother and daughter. Still, I couldn’t help but take one last look at the sky before it disappeared behind the snarl of branches, and wonder if they would ever stop.
I ruffled and unfolded my white wings a little, sighing in slight pain and satisfaction as I stretched their sore limbs and let my snow white feathers feel air for the first time in hours. I looked at Luna, who was now awake and bouncing with unbridled energy, doing the same thing with her own small blue wings and attempting to fly with them. Beside her, Laurel was smiling as Luna buzzed around the room, grinning like crazy.
She was doing some progress and could fly pretty well, but she still occasionally bumped into the walls with a loud thump, usually with her falling to the floor in a daze. That never stopped her, however; after shaking her head a little, she would jump back into the air and try again, and the whole cycle would repeat in a matter of minutes.
Our mother was not a pegasus, but only a unicorn, so she couldn’t help Luna with her flying lessons. It was supposed to be our father’s job, but since he had passed away, by default, the responsibility had fallen to me.
Laurel said I am a good teacher, since I was able to teach Luna more in a week than she was able to do in a month. When she said that, I told her I thought it was a little too harsh on herself, but she told me it was the truth and I just had to accept it. I quickly shut my mouth after that.
Still, it doesn’t mean that Luna is a complete professional at what she does, but it’s better than flapping them and getting nowhere at all.
It was fortunate that Luna is still small, so she could still lean in the cottage; once she grows, she cannot fly anymore- it’s too dangerous for her to do it outside, since everypony believed that she and I are only unicorns, not full-fledged alicorns with both a horn and a pair of wings.
Both Laurel and our father, Chert, believed that we should never tell anyone of our ‘uniqueness’- as far as they (and I) could tell, Luna and I were, and probably always will be, the only Alicorns in all of the kingdom. We don’t know why- we know many couples of a unicorn and a pegasus, but they never had given birth to a filly or colt with both of their parents’ wings or horn. They either got one or the other, or, if they’re lucky, neither.
Still, for some odd reason, we’d agreed with that our secret, as well as our safeties, were our first priorities.
So, since then, we have been living ‘undercover’, so to speak- always wearing our hooded coats when outside, never opening our wings in front of anypony other than each other and Laurel- many things like that, just to stay as low as possible.
It’s a pretty boring and humble life, but, with all honesty, it isn’t all that bad- there are always worse circumstances anypony could go through.
I turned around, grabbing the basket of berries we had collected earlier and sat down in front of Luna who was now tired from her whole flight ordeal and was panting with her tongue sticking out, bringing myself into eye level with her.
I pushed the overflowing basket to her, pointing out the different berries with a little excitement in my voice.
“Look Luna!” I said, singling out an individual berry and bringing it close to our eyes. “It’s your favorite- blueberries!” I hand it to her. “You want some?”
She tentatively gained the berry with her own blue magic and studies it for a moment before breaking out into a wide grin.
“Thanks, ‘Tia!” she squeaked, nibbling happily on the first berry before grabbing another.
I smiled a little and chuckled to myself, getting back up onto my hooves and picking up the basket as Luna gets tired and rushes off, possible to play with our mother, who slept peacefully in the other room, unaware of Luna’s approaching tackle.
I heard the yelp from Laurel soon after I set the basket on the table, preparing the sort the nuts for tonight’s dinner. I planned the crush some of the nuts with the flour we traded at the market for bread and the butter from Baka, the cow who regularly gave her dairy products to some of her neighbors. The rest we would store and possible trade at the market for an occasional treat for the three of us.
The berries, however, were used right away- after we separated out the firm and the weak, mashing the weaker ones for jam, we would either eat them or bake some of them into a assorted berry pie.
After, of course, we give the once every two week shipment of food to King Malson and his Prince Sombra.
I felt a growl grumble deep in my throat, despite the happy squeals Laurel and Luna made behind me. Stupid Malson and his stupid Sombra and his stupid laws and his stupid Windigos... I found myself muttering silently, then shook my head to clear it.
Though the King called our time the ‘Era of Pure Snow’ since he believes we are all in prosperity and that his rule makes the world a better place, everypony else calls it the ‘Era of the Dark Winters’ since everypony else knows otherwise. Under an iron hoof and with help of his Windigos, King Malson’s word is always law. He and his forces enforced every law, and if anypony ever did break the law... well, it was never very pretty.
The most difficult thing was that Malson’s so called ‘laws’ were usually never fair- sometimes, he would arrest a pony because of a minor trip up, and, worse, he would arrest just for the fun of it. It was absolutely horrendous, but there was nothing a pony could do- just stand there, and watch.
Unicorns, despite their magic, were defenceless, too- apparently, the Windigos’ blizzards were magic dampening, and the only things an average unicorn could really do was levitate objects and do simple spells- no protection or offence spells were possible. Pegasi, too- Blizzards made it difficult to fly anywhere, other than near their own home.
Malson said it was to make everypony equal with the other, but we all know it’s to prevent any chances of a rebellion. He’s too obsessed with power and his status as the Unicorn King to have it taken from anyone ‘weaker’ than him.
I sighed. The last time anyone had ever tried to defeat his linage was almost a thousand years ago, when Malson’s ancestor, Malson the First, was on the throne. He was also the one who ushered in this terrible ruling, so it is no surprise that Malson wants to follow in his ancestor’s hoofsteps.
“Celestia?”
“Yeah, mom?” I turned towards her, my sorting almost finished. With my magic, I picked up the basket, now full with today’s shippings, and handed it to her.
“Thanks.” Laurel picked it up with her own glowing red magic while I collected the rest and stored it in a jar.
“LUNA!” I hollered. “WE’RE GOING OUTSIDE!” Laurel looked at me, annoyed, while Luna poked her head through the door.
“Coming, ‘Tia!” Luna giggled, then sped towards me.
My eyes widened. “What the-” Her body hit me with full force and we fell towards the ground, and I let out a groan as Luna jumped on me, laughing.
“That was fun! Again! Again!” Luna said, and I was about to throw a smart remark at her when I decided it wasn’t worth it. Instead, I sighed, getting to my feet and told Luna to get her coat on with a grumble.
While Luna was getting her coat on with the help of Laurel, I gazed outside the window, resting my chin on my hooves. Every other Sunday were always extremely dull- it was Shipment Day, and the Royal Militia were coming to collect the food.
To make things worse, it was the twenty-fourth collection week- it meant that our Quarter’s Delegate, a scrawny little unicorn mare with quite a temper, possibly from the fact she’s the only mare of all of the twelve delegates in the kingdom, was coming as well. It was common knowledge that whenever the Delegate came to a village, a random pony was always be arrested and taken to the capitol to be executed.
The purpose of it, like the magic-dampening blizzards, was to completely prevent any rebellion further with the threat of death. It worked very well, but it’s consequences were devastating for not just the family, but the whole village, too. Since their village was small, it had a residence of only three dozen or-so ponies. Because of this, everypony knew just about everypony else, so everypony, not just family members (if they have any) were devastated no matter who was chosen, especially so if it were a filly.
Oh, I hope it would not be me...
“Celestia!” Laurel called, snapping me out of my thoughts. “We’re done- time to go to the Gathering.”