> Afraid of the Light
>  by BiniBean
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter One: Dreams

The unicorn Celestia roamed fields, the new fields of Equestria—a new nation. The unicorn with a pink mane and white coat smiled as the sun rose above the horizon. Slowly, being important as the sunrise had been taking longer to do as the years went on. As the sun rose higher in the sky and its warmth spread across the valley, blanketing her and the fields in a warm hug, she smiled.

The cold months had dragged on before the tribes found Equestria. Having to flee their homes in a chance of desperate survival was risky, but thanks to the three tribe leaders and their second in command, they found a new home. A safer home. A home to form friendships and family.

All that was left of her family was Luna, her younger sister. Her mother and Father had perished in the winter due to a sickness that overwhelmed most of the unicorn population. Celestia had pushed down the grief as much as she could, of course, she missed them, but frankly, the matters of keeping Luna safe and finding a way to survive were always her top priority. 

Now that she was safe, she had all the time in the world to reflect on her loss. On her mistakes.

Celestia didn't want to ruin the moment of peace, the first moment of quiet she had felt for years. She preferred to reflect on the future, and on how to improve. Maybe she was running from her emotions? She didn't exactly care if she did. Crying about ponies dead months ago would not help her now. Nor bring them back to the living.

She took deep breaths to concentrate on something else, grasping for something else to occupy her mind. So she focused on the sun, the constant. She focused on its beautiful light and how it could make anything better. The sun was like a friend almost.

She considered her life so far, recently she had been 'discovered' by Starswirl the bearded due to her magic ability. She did not have a cutie mark like other ponies her age but Starswirl said she had the potential to do wonderful things. She did have a dream of being a scholar of magic. She wanted to research magic. Discover new spells. Perhaps be as powerful as Starswirl himself one day.

Celestia scoffed at herself with a small smile at how ridiculous she was being. Be as powerful as Starswirl? That was almost blasphemy. 

"Tia? TIA!"

She turned her head slightly to barely be able to see her sister Luna galloping towards her from the distance, hopping over rocks and dodging holes in the ground.

"Tia!" Luna shouted again and her pace faltered and she slowed to a stumbled slower gallop as she took deep breaths of growing exhaustion. "T-Tia, g-get over here. Y-you airhead."

Celestia's expression fell to annoyance and confusion when she raised an eyebrow and trotted quickly over to her sister, who came to a stop to frantically try to take in deep breathes from possibly running a far distance as Celestia did tend to wander far away from the newly established village.

"Airhead? That's not a nice way to greet your sister. Good morning by the way. Nice to see you are finally up." Celestia replied as Luna took a moment to lean against her to regain her strength.

"Some of us don't want to wake up in the dead of night to wander to some boring field to watch the sunrise for the hundredth time. Coommmee onnn-" Luna promptly complained before bitting the tip of Celestia's mane and began tugging in the direction of the town. "Starswirl wants to see us- come on, I want breakfast! I want to go see my friends at some point today and certainly don't want to spend that time waiting for you and your lonely self!"

Celestia gave a chuckle before lighting her horn with golden magic and tugging her hair back out of Luna's grip before taking the lead on the travel home.

"Being alone is fun, Luna. It gives me time to think and study. But, I am happy you have friends. Believe me, I don't want to keep you from them. I suppose I am a little hungry." Celestia replied. Luna gave a bright smile and was soon trotting beside her, each of them discussing their plans for the future and how their day would progress.

As they moved through the beautiful land, full of stories to come, Celestia was happy. She was happy with her life. Happy with her plans for the future. She was going to be a scholar of magic. She was sure her life was on track. She didn’t consider for a moment, that one year later, it would all come crumbling down before she had even time to process what took place.
> The Crown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Two: The Crown

Things had fallen apart fast.

"Did anyone, anypony, any blasted being in the universe consider that, maybe, just maybe, I don't want to rule?" Celestia spat out with hatred in a small lavish room filled with the decoration of gold and antique furniture that any pony would dream of being among. Celestia turned to the only other soul in the room, her teacher, Starswirl the bearded, who she was almost as tall as now and still growing due to her new powers.

A month ago, on pure impulse and a rather quick decision, Celestia rose the sun, followed by Luna when the guardians of the sun and moon failed to do so one morning. They were unicorns one moment, next they had sprouted wings and were called goddesses. They were told they had to rule the new country. It was in their destiny. They were born for it.

But Celestia hardly thought a sun cutie mark equalled needing to rule. She wasn't keen on the idea. Sure, she had considered teaching magic when she got older. But leading a whole country for who knows how long was not on her bucket list.

Now, minutes before she and Luna were supposed to be crowned, she found herself pacing back and forth, angry at Starswirl, angry at the universe, angry at herself even for even thinking for a moment she could raise the sun. It doesn't matter that she could, it matters that it caused her current situation.

Starswirl was an old wizard, he was getting up there in the years, and she always thought he obviously knew better than her in all subjects due to his experience, but for once, she had serious doubts about his logic. He was the one to mainly convince the three tribe leaders to step down and allow his pupils to take the throne.

"Celestia, you are an alicorn now. You are not some...unicorn anymore. You have a destiny to raise the sun as your sister does for raising the moon, those sorts of talents should not be wasted on just those tasks. You are both worth so much more than that." Starswirl pushed with an annoyed scowl. "I do not understand why you are so resistant to this. Your sister Luna-"

"My sister does not understand what is happening. All she sees is fame, recognition for her magical abilities, recognition that you failed to give her enough of when we were unicorns may I add, and the lies the nobility and you are spreading of what we are." Celestia interrupted, rage burning in her eyes. "She is not seeing the bigger issues. The responsibility we will have. How our lives are being made into some...some...fairytale, how we are expected to be perfect and godly when we are not. We are NOT."

"You are overthinking this." Starswirl was brushing her concerns aside, again.

She ruffled her new wings in irritation. She wasn't good at flying, not yet anyway. But she found it enjoyable when she needed to escape and be completely alone. To be away from the politics and the lying of nobels of Everfree Castle that she had been subjected to for a month and was loathing spending the rest of her days in the castle's confining walls.

"I wonder if this is how Stygian felt."

Starswirl flinched and suddenly couldn't bear to look his student in the eye and he suddenly became preoccupied with examining the books in the beautiful bookcase beside him. He ignited his horn and flipped through them to absentmindedly as he considered how to proceed.

"Stygian was misguided. He allowed darkness to cloud his judgement."

"You didn't listen to him. You told him he was being ridiculous just as you are doing now to me."

"Stygian is gone. He has been gone for months, we kicked him out because he tried to steal the elements and that is that. Celestia. His story has come to an end. He is no concern to us anymore."

Celestia stayed silent as Starswil returned the books to their rightful place before taking a deep breath and turning to the double doors in front of them in tense silence. They both took slow steps that echoed across the room before they both paused. Celestia gave Starswirl another pleading look for him to reconsider.

She knew it was far too late, even their previous conversation was far too late. But, she had hoped he would see reason somehow. Of course, his expression was of stone with not a hint of mercy in those eyes, same as the night he and the rest of the Pillars banished Stygian, she was just as doomed.

Starswirl swung open the doors to a long hallway lit by torches mounted to the wall. They moved past paintings of past great ponies as another door opened further down the hall to see Luna and Princess Platinum emerge from one of the side doors, both chatting happily about the coronation that was to take place in a matter of moments.

Luna gave her a bright smile as the sounds from behind the door ahead of them grew louder and the cheering of a crowd inside the throne room intensified. Starswirl and Platinum discussed some last-minute details as Luna moved to stand beside her sister proudly, excited for the moment they were to be crowned.

Celestia was anything but excited. She had a growing pit in her stomach and it wasn't going away. She could feel the beginning of nausea taking hold for sure as her anxiety rose. But she smiled for Luna, trying to look as happy as her to calm her own sister as she knew the whole process was a lot.

"Do you think my friends will be there, Tia? I really want them to see me get a crown!" Luna asked with a sparkle in her eyes. Celestia wanted to tell Luna the truth. No, no, they won't be there. Only the highest class of ponies will be in that room. Ponies who are rich and influential enough to be around nobility will be in that room. Their lives no longer revolved around friends and happiness.

"I hope so, Luna."

Luna laughed in excitement as Platinum grabbed hold of the door with her magic and smiled at the pair when trumpets began to play in the room ahead.

"Ready girls?"

Celestia gave a fake smile with a nod before shooting Starswirl a look of anger. Which, he, per usual, ignored. Platinum nodded back before giving a gitty Luna a nod of confidence before swinging open the double doors to the throne room. The sisters moved quickly to emerge into the giant room, surrounded by cheering ponies.
> Illusions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three: Illusions

Within weeks of her rulership, Celestia realized how fundamentally flawed ponies as a species was, including herself and Luna. She was surrounded by Nobility all day, barking orders at her, demanding new laws at random chaotic moments to try to gain more money into their own pockets. Surrounded by ponies who always had their own agenda and way of trying to manipulate the crown to suit their needs. Even the purest of ponies could not escape its toxic hold. 

She wasn't exactly angry at the ponies around her, they were mortal after all. She was mortal at a point and understood the knowledge of death, of knowing you are on a ticking clock to the end. How short their lives were in a sense and the need to be remembered for something, even if it was awful was a powerful drive to do very foolish things. They could only think short term, something Luna was struggling to understand.

Within a month of Celestia and Luna taking the throne, they agreed to hold court, one for the day and one for the night. Celestia's Solar Court was the more popular option. She was the elder sister and had a step higher level of authority than Luna. The ponies, poor and rich had come to the unspoken agreement that if you needed something done, trick the higher authority. Besides, going out into the dead of night to venture into a dangerous forest that protects the castle wasn't exactly an appealing idea unless you were very desperate for an audience with an Alicorn.

So they came flooding to the Solar Court, and she grew to understand quite quickly that she and Luna were looked upon as powerful goodnesses, especially her. The poor came with the expectation that she could save them with a spell of her horn or flag of her wings. The rich thought she could be tricked, as all the leaders were tricked before her.

The smiles she was given as a unicorn, and the ponies she once knew when she was moral had turned out to be as fake as Nobels when they were desperate enough. Nobody truly wants to know what a 'goddess' is like truly. They want to know what they can take to benefit themselves and their families. 

Celestia had started to play the same game they were. She gave a fake smile, maybe too many fake laughs, said all the needed words and even tried her best to be kind to the Nobels as they tried to scam their way into tearing down another orphanage for their homes. It was exhausting and on top of all the scrolls and laws she had to go through each day, she found herself either alone or in her study working without breaks. Sometimes she even forgot to eat or sleep. Of course, there was always a spell she could use to hide her exhaustion.

She knew Luna had been suffering. She barely saw Luna at any point, she asked the servants to report back to her on news of how her sister was doing, especially the servants working during the night shifts. They were all worried for Luna, of course. She had become more blunt, snappy, and overall seemed to hate everypony and everything. Maybe it was because she lost her friends? Perhaps. Becoming an Alicorn doesn't exactly sit right with a group of friends if they become jealous. But the more likely case was, that the country was ignoring her. 

They were ignoring her for a few reasons, none of them were valid exactly but to limited minds and a mod mentality it made sense to them. Luna was not the highest authority, if the Nobels and common folk wanted anything to truly pass into law they had to go through Celestia to confirm. They were saving time and skipping that one unnecessary level to reach their goal. The next issue was Luna's attitude. Luna's thoughts about the world around her had been growing more dark and hateful since they took the crown, which had affected her sister's once bright attitude to turn into something much worse that no pony wanted to be around for long. The rumours that she kidnapped orphaned foals and fillies at night, then brainwashed them to become some...future army to explain her bat pony guards and why she flew the skies at night also did not help matters.

Currently, Celestia sat at her usual golden throne, looking down upon the full throne room in front of her, the room full of ponies praising her existence. "All hail the sun! All Hail harmony!" They chanted with no consideration for the other Alicorn in the room, who sat slumped on the obsidian throne beside her with a dark scowl.

It was the summer sun celebration, after all, she created the holiday to boost mortals shortly after they took the throne. So it just made logical sense they would focus on the sun. She gave a sideglance to Luna, who didn't stop staring into anything despite the activity of the room.

Celestia gave a deep sigh and stood from her throne.

She started a speech, a speech she practiced and rewrote many times. The sort of speech that would give a country hope for the future, give confidence in its leadership but most of all, hide the secrets it held close to its chest on how corrupt the whole monarchy truly was.

As the mortal ponies listened to her every word as she recited it from her heart, she considered having a new holiday. A holiday about the moon perhaps? Luna did deserve one after all. Perhaps that would lift her mood? Of course, bringing a new holiday into law would be difficult. Her ears fell slightly back as she considered her already huge workload...

But Luna...

Luna needed something to occupy her mind.

Perhaps she should ask Starswirl for his advice. He had been willing to help her with rules and changes since they started. She suspected Luna did not want to be around her, due to the fact Luna had been scowling at her and avoiding her for months. Maybe he could discuss the matter with her? She knew they had late-night talks about magic and such.

The fake smile that spread across her face grew a little more as she pushed her hatred for her life circumstances down for the hundredth time.

Everything was perfect.

She finished her speech and sat down. Gesturing her wing open as a sign that the throne room was to be cleared and the audience was never happier. As the guards motioned for the room to be cleared, Luna quickly slipped away and Celestia was left alone.

Trying to convince herself that everything was perfect, and certainly not doomed for failure.
> The Collapse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Four: The Collapse

Celestia, alicorn of the sun, one of the two rulers of Equestria for about ten years was deep inside Everfree Forest. Her sunrise was supposed to come in about an hour, she was exhausted. The dark circles, ruffled mane and tail, ruffled wings and lack of her usual jewelry was a sign her night, and most likely the previous day had not gone well.

But, she was beyond angry. Beyond confused. Beyond any emotion that she could reasonably keep in anymore. Which is why she was marching in the dead of night. Where no pony could see her as she moved forwards for a mission. Her heavy unstable breathing rang in her ears as she ignited her horn and summoned a quick blast to destroy the thick bushes in front of her.

Starswirl was long gone with the other pillars of Equestria due to Stygian turning into the Pony of Shadows. Where he had gone was Limbo, there was no coming back from that. But at that moment she was considering damn well trying to get him back for any sort of guidance on how to handle her own life, on how to handle Luna as she marched on with rage.

Luna and she found the elements of Harmony shortly after he and the others went missing in a place under the castle called the Elements of Harmony Tree just as a creature named Discord was throwing their world into chaos. They took a chance, a risky one, combining their magic to activate them to use as weapons. It worked...

He turned to stone.

King Sombra turned to stone. Taking a whole empire with it.

Tirek was banished to Tartaus. 

The threats should have been gone. The threats were handled with or so Celestia thought until she got news that her own sister was breaking into her records. Trying to turn ponies to her side as a way to control the monarchy. Trying to change the rules so she could be in control and push Celestia out.

Celestia didn't exactly like ruling but it was all she had. She had long forgotten what she felt as a mortal, what her dreams and hopes were as a mortal, and what her plan even was in life. Her personality, and her identity had changed into some fake version that had to please and help everypony. Celestia was a lie. Celestia was alone. All she had now was the sun.

She didn't trust Luna. Not one bit.

It's not like she was innocent in the matter. She had grown overwhelmed with work which was a bad excuse, she actually had grown too comfortable lying her way through life to avoid arguments, to avoid wasting time with petty squabbling that wouldn't get anywhere. Pushing down her actual thoughts and feelings until they were buried too deep for her to even consider caring about anymore.

But now she was. Now they were full force hitting her in the chest and head. Her anger had reached a boiling point. She had spent all day trying to calm the nobels down at the rumour that Luna might try a takeover. A Solar Court matter that her sister clearly wasn't allowed to be a part of.

Then, she spent that better part of the night fighting with Luna in petty arguing that, as she knew it would, got nowhere. Luna didn't listen. Luna only saw the surface of the matter and didn't consider that ponies are not all that they seem. The fame and glory meant nothing. Celestia would have had none of it if it wasn't for the fact they needed something from her. The moment she won't, or can't give it, they will drop her. They will abandon her.

Luna was far too angry and buried in her own dark thoughts to consider such a notion. She kept bashing Celestia, with insults, threats, and accusations, over and over. Celestia gave her some back after a while. Eventually, they fell into a deep tense silence as they both realized that they were no longer sisters. The bond was snapped and all that could have been said had been, and there was no side that won.

Luna wanted to be respected like Celestia was, for them to praise her moon as they praised her sun.

Celestia should have done more.

Celestia marched into a clearing as the moon was still high in the sky, the alicorn screamed in pain, anger and the overwhelming feeling of hate towards...everything until her voice cracked and gave out. Followed by her collapsing to the grass to weep.

She was an awful sister.

She was the worst leader.

How could she have let it get this bad?

More than ever, she couldn't help but wonder why was she the sun alicorn? Why did she have to live forever? Whatever her dreams as a mortal were, whatever she might have done as a mortal had to have been better than the hell she was trapped in now. A hell of her own design.

She cried deeply for the first time in years, weeping on the ground like a filly for a long time. All her pent-up emotions were too much.

Eventually, the crying stopped, and she opened her tired eyes to see the moon beginning its reluctant descent into the sky, slower than usual. Celestia didn't have the energy to care much at the unusual time it took as she ignited her golden magic, blanketing across the forest floor to reach out to the sun. She barely even had the energy to raise the sun.

The sun rose as the moon disappeared on the horizon. Beautiful colours shined through the sky as it grew brighter. Ponies in nearby towns woke up, feeling the warm heat with a deep happy sigh. Happy to see such a beautiful sight.

The alicorn of the sun laying silent on the dirtied ground in a place no pony would dare look for her, watched the sun, her sun, reach the needed point in the sky before she let go. Her magic died and she stayed silent as she watched it.

She hated the sun.

The sun...

She hated the light. The light was a lie.

The sun was not perfect. The sun had thrown her into hell. 

She wished she could remember the time she loved seeing the sun in the morning. Or the first, even the second time she raised the sun to remember why she loved it. Why she loved the light. But...

It all seemed worthless.

She squinted and hissed as her weak eyes could not take much of the sunlight. She wanted nothing more than to beg Luna to bring the darkness back. But, the ponies came first. The country came first. 

She pushed herself up with a groan as her aching bones moved. She weakly did a spell to make herself at least seem presentable. She didn't dare look up to the sky, to that awful burning blaze that lit up the day when she teleported back to the castle. Marching straight to her study as she gave fake smiles and happy tones of hello to each passing servant.

She marched straight into her study, and closed all the curtains to be in darkness as she began the day's work in dead silence.
> Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Five: The Nightmare.

It was over.

The blast from moments ago still rang in her ears as Celestia opened her eyes to see the broken floor of the castle, the tattered carpet of the throne room. Pieces of the wall and ceiling around her. Worst of all, the elements around her.

She wanted to close her eyes again. Pretend the whole ordeal was some bad nightmare Luna gave her as revenge for being an awful pony, sister, or ruler. But the revenge she gave was much worse than some horrific nightmare. The nightmare was real. The nightmare had killed ponies.

She has quickly become aware of the pain in her own body. Her head was on fire, her horn hurt, and at least one of her wings was sprained. Her chest felt as if it got set on fire and stabbed, which, in a sense it had when...when Nightmare Moon blasted her right there.

She could taste blood in her mouth, it dripped down as she groaned and pushed herself to a sitting position on the broken floor, not daring to furl her wings up as she stared at the element of magic in front of her. She hadn't failed to notice its change in appearance. In all of them.

Her bloodshot magenta eyes slowly looked at the other five elements surrounding her. Stone. The once bright crystals were encased in stone. Her harsh breathing came to an abrupt stop as her eyes refocused on the element of magic. Watching helplessly as it disappeared in front of her very eyes.

She was silent, not a scream or whimper came from her lips as she stared unmovingly. Her ears flickered at the point of armour moving somewhere deep within the broken castle and heading towards her quickly. She could hear the sounds of the last of Nightmare Moon's forces crumbling as the Bat Ponies knew their leader, their cherished mother, was gone.

She spat out more blood before giving a painful look downwards to the burned hole in her chest that would have killed any moral within moments.

It wasn't as if Celestia wasn't capable of death. In fact, she was deathly close to the edge as she uselessly sat in the remains of the castle, it's just Alicorn's bodies could take more of a beating before they failed entirely.

Death...Oh, how she craved endless sleep.

"P-Princess? Princess Celestia?" 

Her mind tried to ignore what she had done. Trying to push what she had just done down as she did with her parents' death, turned her head slightly to see the Captain of her Solar Guard, beaten and bloodied, standing at the front entrance out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you alright?"

Was she alright? No. When was the last time she was alright? Not since she was a unicorn. Would she be alright, a day, week, month or even a lifetime from now? No. Not ever. She spat out blood again. Taking a moment to watch it mix with the other spaces filled with blood to mix,

"I am...Injured." She replied with a quiet raspy voice before she finally had the willpower to gaze up to the moon with the symbol of a unicorn burned into it. "O-order the doctors from the nearby villages and towns to send medical assistance to the wounded guards and servants...Even the Bat Ponies."

"But your Highness, you are b-badly injured and the Bat Ponies are traitors! They fought us, they fought you! You need to-"

"I don't need to do anything." Celestia snapped in anger, she turned her head slightly again to see the Captain flinch at her harsh tone. "Follow my orders without question or be dismissed. I have magic that the others do not. I will be-"

Celestia's words were interrupted by a harsh cough that brought more specks of blood. She wiped her hoof against her mouth, blood smearing more of her fur. She gritted her teeth before crying out in intense pain as she stood up, taking deep breaths before fully turning around to face her captain, who, despite intense training, looked terrified as he gazed at her broken form. She was not the perfect alicorn they always saw. She was broken.

He also looked like he desperately wanted to ask a question.

"Spit it out, what is it?" She demanded. Too tired and weak to use the normal formalities.

"W-Well, that...Thing...The Monster that you fought...Where was Princess Luna during the fight? I m-mean, I just find it strange that her army would suddenly turn on her to follow some...being that hadn't even ruled Equestria. That no pony has seen before."

Celestia was in intense, burning pain. But despite her physical and mental anguish, she knew that she had to sugarcoat the issue. 

"That was my sister, Captain." She hissed before glaring to the moon once again. She wanted to desperately fly to the moon and yank her sister back. "My...sister...simply chose the wrong path."

The Captain was smart enough not to say a word as Celestia looked back at him.

"Once the Doctors treat the worst of the injured, once they find the dead tonight. We will start our journey to the planned site of Canterlot. Tell the general to send a letter to the site. the construction must begin in the morning. No matter what materials they have. The crown will pay for all expenses."

The Captain nodded in agreement as Celestia slowly moved past him, trying her best to not focus on her mistakes and guilt. Not to focus on Nightmare Moon. On how she failed. 

There was time for that later. There was always time for that later.

The curse of immortality truly.
> Fake It
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Six: Fake It

Silence. The deafening silence was all that could be heard in the throne room of Canterlot as the only Alicorn of Equestria stared down at her student with utter disappointment.

The Princess of the Sun, Celestia knew she had failed again as she kept her eyes glued to Sunset Shimmer, who was flanked by two guards and seething with pure anger.

"You can't do this."

The fact of the matter was that she very much could do that. She was doing that. She was the Princess, she had the authority. She was the teacher. She could expel. She was expelling her student from the school. She was banishing her citizen from the castle.

Celestia flared her wings for the sake of being more imposing. Which made Sunset scowl more and lower slightly at her.

"Sunset Shimmer, you have broken the rules. You went against my direct orders to NOT tamper, to go near, or 'research' that...dangerous object." Celestia stated, choosing not to mention the mirror leading to another world, which was the object in question and would certainly bring follow-up questions later.

Sunset blushed because she knew what she had done was wrong, but Celestia knew that what she did was worse.

"You...are...banished. I reject thee as my student."

Sunset stammered, she opened her mouth to try to stumble to some sort of sentence that would either fix what she had done or magically change Celestia's decision but the fact of the matter was, nothing could fix what was already too broken.

"Y-You...I-I...No...This...But- B-B...My studies! M-My...Destiny?"

Her destiny. Celestia gave a deep sigh and her natural instincts told her to flee, to get away to a quiet area and just ponder what she was going to say. Frankly, Celestia the mighty alicorn, the perfect being had failed again. Somehow not learn from all her mistakes with Luna and pushed Sunset too far. Made her believe in the impossible, in the hope that she could be the key to bringing her sister back. But...That foolish idiotic Alicorn knew for months, if not years, that her student was not the key. She had fallen and became vengeful and nasty.

She had started using her status to bully the other student when she was at school, to bark at the maids, cleaners, cooks and even a few Nobels if she was brave enough. She certainly thought she was the strongest unicorn of her time and didn't hesitate to argue with her teacher over magic and her idea that Celestia was keeping her from being an alicorn.

"Sunset...I..." Celestia was at a loss for words. She wanted to apologize, she wanted to turn back time and fix how she had moulded Sunset's life. How she tried to make her something she wasn't. Celestia was now struggling to deal with the massive lump in her throat as it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Sunset Shimmer was just like Celestia.

The ponies, Starswirl, and the three tribe leaders all moulded Celestia to be how they wanted. They tried with Luna but she was much less willing to conform. Celestia eventually became exactly what they wanted to see. A smile hiding all the lies and torment.

Celestia moulded Sunset to try to force her to be something she wasn't. Now she had ruined a once happy unicorn, to a bully.

"Sunset Shimmer, I made a mistake. I gave you hope in a future that...is not going to happen. You are a wonderful unicorn, a very strong unicorn. I am sure your talents will be used to improve any area you choose to pursue in life. With that being said, you broke the rules. You broke laws. You disobeyed my direct orders."

"You gave me impossible orders! You can't simply order me to make friends and just expect it to work! It didn't work! It never worked!" Sunset yelled, her voice echoing off the marble walls and ringing into Celestia's ears. The Guards on both sides of Sunset cringed and gave each other a quick glance, unsure what to do. The guards at the front doors and on either side of the throne gave slight glances to the Alicorn on the throne. 

"You threatened them. You bribed them. You don't think I know what you did? You were quite obvious about your actions. You tried to blackmail them. When you didn't get your way, you bullied them!" Celestia fought back, losing slight control of her temper as her mind reflected on all the reports from teachers and terrified students writing anonymous letters to her study. "Of course, it didn't work, Sunset. You didn't even truly try! You gave up the moment the first pony rejected you."

Sunset gritted her teeth and pointed an accusing hoof at her former teacher.

"You are just as bad as me, Princess! You are no better than me! You sit there and pretend to be perfect and know everything but in reality, you are just as awful as you believe I am! You are surrounded by ponies who are too afraid that you will wipe them from the face of Equestria if they question you. You are surrounded by ponies that will do whatever you say just to gain your favour so they can use it for their own means. Do you want to lecture me about friendship? What would you know about that? You have absolutely no friends. You don't even have anypony that actually loves you."

She barely heard the gasp of her newest secretary beside her near the windows. Raven Inkwell. A young unicorn who had started the job less than two months ago and was already witnessing a fight that no normal pony would dare to pick with an immortal goddess. Now, she had her hoof shoved against her mouth, praying Her Highness didn't just hear her.

Celestia motioned her wing, pointing to the giant double door leading out of the throne room.

"I think enough has been said. Guards, escort Sunset Shimmer to her room. Allow her to pack her things for two hours and then escort her from the Castle grounds."

Sunset began to yell out insults as the guards soon dragged her away with their own unicorn magic out of the room. Celestia's whole body drooped as soon as the doors closed. She took some deep breaths before giving a small smile to Raven, who was too stunned to tell her it was time for sunset. Not that she needed such a reminder. She knew it by heart.

She could feel the sun pleading against the moon as the time grew closer. The sun did not want to set. Just as the moon did not want to be controlled by somepony it hated.

Celestia teleported herself and Raven to the balcony of her study with a golden flash of her magic. Raven wabbled for a moment as Celestia sat at the railing, gazing at the Capital city of Canterlot with growing worry.

"She was right, you know," Celestia admitted in barely a whisper. Raven's ears perked up and her jaw dropped slightly. Celestia didn't even have the energy to smile or to try to fake another few minutes of being fine. She wasn't. She hadn't been for years. For decades. For whole lifetimes. Her misery was taking everypony down with her.

"P-Princess Celestia, do-don't say that! You did a wonderful job teaching her, she just wasn't willing to listen to your kno-"

"I am not a fool, Raven." Celestia snapped in misdirected rage. "I am not some filly to be lied to. I severely mishandled Sunset. What she needs now is...somepony else to guide her. She needs to be far away from me and my influence. Perhaps then she can flourish. I have done nothing but corrupt her."

Celestia's golden magic grabbed hold of her sun, forcing the inferno that she had grown to despise for what it was, what it represented to dip below the horizon. The sky changed colours as her assistant gulped and shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"Princess? May...I be honest?" Raven asked.

"It has been generations since somepony has been honest with me, Raven, so please, please do be honest."

"Everypony makes mistakes. It's part of being...well...a pony. Not every student will be perfect. Not every teacher will be able to know what their students need all the time. You made a mistake, you made several mistakes in how you approached her life and her teachings. That can not be denied. What also can't be ignored is that she, also, actively chose to do what she did to those students. To actively and purposely hurt you. You are both in the wrong."

Raven took a deep breath as she tried to gain more confidence in trying to speak with an alicorn as if she was some unicorn. Celestia respected her for that. 

"Beating yourself up over this will not change the outcome. All you can do is learn from it and accept that things will not always go how you plan them to go. You are an alicorn, but that does not mean you can control every aspect of our lives. Events happen, and things happen that can not be predicted and that is ok. That is alright."

Celestia knew the logic to her words, she wanted to let go. She wanted to forgive herself for what she had done but she did not feel she was entitled to such a luxury. She hurt ponies, ponies long dead or...

The moon was fighting against her, as if did each night. Sending a wave of pain through her horn, straight into her head as she yanked it as softly as she could above the horizon. Staring at the symbol of her torment.

She chalked it up to Raven being a mortal, a mortal couldn't possibly understand how an immortal could deal with their pain. Deal with mistakes that affected more than just 100 years, but ten lifetimes. You do not just forget and forgive actions that affect ten generations onward. You don't just forgive destroying a mortal's life.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Raven spoke up after a long moment of silence. Celestia began to wince from the pain as the moon rose higher, shaking slightly as her magic increased to fight it. 

"Sorry, I don't." She admitted. "Certain events can't be forgiven. Especially if they were never learned from."

Raven gave her a confused look, one that had a million questions she wanted to ask.

"Has...something like this happened before? To another student?"

"Not...exactly."

Raven wanted to ask questions, but she opened her mouth as soon as she closed it and chose to stare at the moon when Celestia finally released her hold. The pain subsided but not completely. She watched the stars as they slowly appeared. Never failing to notice that the sky was much more beautiful under Luna's control. It was full of life under her control.

Celestia couldn't help tears welling in her eyes, they began to slowly fall down her face as she sucked in a painful breath. Raven didn't care to look away from the moon, she suspected her assistant had an idea how much she would hate Raven seeing her cry.

They sat in silence, simply watching the sky, watching the pegasi, or the activity of the city as some went to sleep, some chose to stay awake. Celestia eventually managed to stop the silent tears and wiped them away softly with her wings before she broke the silence between the pair.

"Cancel all my meetings tomorrow, Raven." She sadly. "I need a day off. The Nobels can be damned if they argue."

Celestia never did get that day off, ten minutes later, her student jumped through the forbidden mirror portal to another world.
> Burning Red Inferno
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Seven: Burning Red Inferno

Celestia stood on her balcony. The one that leads from her room into a stainless marble balcony. Overlooking all of Canterlot in all its glory. The pride of Equestria. Specifically the pride of the unicorns since they were a large part of its completion. Most of the unicorn population lived in the city after all. Just like the Pegasi mostly live in Cloudsdale. Or the Earth ponies mostly live in Applelosa.

Of course, something was wrong. Something was always wrong. Never a moment of peace. Whether it was Celestia running from her nagging persistent overwhelming emotions that she feared or...or the fact the sun was a burning red inferno of rage. A burning red sun with a blood-red sky was hanging over the capital.

She didn't know why the sky or her sun was like that. She knew the whole country was now looking up at it in a mixture of awe and horror. She stood on the marble balcony. Her mane still moved despite the lack of wind. Her magenta eyes were finding it difficult to look away.

That red sun. The horrifying red sun was beautiful in a way. She was scared. She was so very scared of her sun and that blood light that poured across the land. Across the world.

The more she thought about it, she couldn't remember much of anything before this moment. What was she doing before this? Where was she before this? Only she could manipulate the sun. Only she could...corrupt it?

"It's beautiful."

A voice.

A voice she had heard since the moment she ascended to be an alicorn. A voice that sounded like her own but always a little...off, hidden in the deepest reaches of her mind. Locked away to avoid being heard because the things this voice would say, were dangerous. Only to be heard in the deepest of nightmares.

Celestia took a large gulp as she tried to remember to breathe. 

"Don't you think my sun looks beautiful?"

Go away, her rational mind ordered. As if she was barking at a guard who was running from battle to stay in place. Go away. You do not belong here.

"I am you. You are me. I am the better you. I am not afraid of my light. My beautiful light."

Celestia wanted, no, needed to back away from the burning inferno in the sky. Her heart beat loudly in her chest but her hooves would not move. 

I am not you, she whispered in her mind. Into the dark cells that held its prisoner. I do not want to hurt my ponies. I do not want to control them as you want to.

"Control. More Control wouldn't have had so many ponies killed. If only they listened to the word of the sun, maybe they would have survived the wars. The diseases. Maybe if Luna had bothered to keep her mouth shut and listened to the word of the sun, she wouldn't have been banished to the moon."

She did not need to listen to me. I was wrong. Starswirl was wrong about how to lead.

"Starswirl was a fool. He tried to control the sun and failed. Miserably might I add. Forever trapped in a hell of his own creation. Ironic. Ironic and so much like Luna and Nightmare Moon. So much like Sunset Shimmer and that portal..."

Celestia was terrified of that voice. It was getting strong. Breaking free of its holding cell and moving, using fear and the need for stability against her as it reached for the red inferno in the sky.

"My sun. Our sun. One day the sun will have control. One day the sun will answer to no pony commands. One day the sun will finally be free."

Celestia hated that thought. She was free. She had to be. She was an alicorn ruling over a country that loved her. She made orders and laws, she...she...

She was chained under the command of mortals. Mortals were too busy with their own lives to see how they were affecting the future. Even if they could, she doubted they could care. Death fixes the need for caring. Why care about what happens after you are gone? It's not like you will be around to deal with the consequences. 

She wanted to burn the nobility's houses to the ground. Take away everything and restart. The country was corrupted. Too many thoughts condensed into one country. Conflicting thoughts, ideas and emotions could easily lead to the collapse of a nation with one wrong move and she was letting it happen.

She was losing control. She knew best. She was an alicorn after all, she had more experience than those nobility had in their whole lifetimes. She saw the bigger picture, outside their mortality.

She bit her lip, the voice was becoming a bit too real. The voice was starting to make too much sense.

She was starting to listen to it.

"I wonder why you love the darkness so much. The darkness is Luna's domain."

She felt a chill down her spine despite the temperature growing warmer as the seconds passed.

"Is it because you can hide? Hide away from all the seeing eyes, the knowing glares, the confused innocence that isn't aware their ruler is a monster. Is it so you can gallop away from all your useless complex emotions?"

She begged the voice to leave her alone. Begging. Pleading. Her eyes drifted downwards as something flickered below.

"Why are you afraid of your own sun? Your own beautiful sun?"

The sun caused this madness. The sun latched onto her soul before she was even born and yanked her into immortality. She hated the sun. She hated what she was. She hated what the voice wanted her to be.

She hated she was listening to it.

The city was burning. Soon sounds of ponies screamed into the air as their homes, streets and shops burned. As chaos erupted in the streets with blind panic the sun grew brighter in the sky. She flared her wings, trying to go into the air and dive below to help.

Instead, her mouth opened, letting a deep chuckle turn into a manic laugh of joy as the world burned. Her mane of colours soon burned as the city did, turning to pure fire. Her warm magenta eyes turned to a solar eclipse of madness.

The world the ponies of Equestria knew turned to ash, one day, rising again to be an empire. A ruthless empire of the sun.

Daybreaker loved it.





"Princess? Princess Celestia?"

She was yanked violently out of the nightmare and back into the living. Her bloodshot eyes shot up as a figure jumped back in surprise and fear at the sudden movement.

She groaned as she flexed her stiff wings. Stretched out her stiff joints. Try to ignore the throbbing of her heart as she slowly lifted her head and gave her eyes time to adjust to the room. It was her room. She was in bed. She found Raven Inkwell staring back at her a few meters away with wide eyes.

"S-Sorry Princess. I didn't mean to s-scare you."

"Raven?" She muttered. She tried to shove the need for sleep away as she sat up, allowing her blanket to fall off her. Exposing her to the cold air of the room. "What is it?"

"W-Well..." Raven didn't seem sure how to explain herself. She had that look on her face when she expected somepony to know something as if it was obvious. But it wasn't. At least not to Celestia. "Princess, you overslept. S-sorry, I had to wake you. The sunrise is a few minutes late and ponies are already starting to panic, as well as-"

Raven started to go off about something, whatever it was, Celestia didn't hear it as suddenly all her thoughts came rushing back. For the first time since she rose the sun, it was late. She overslept. That was not natural. That should have not happened.

She leaped out of bed and immediately used her magic to slam open the balcony door, galloping onto the balcony in a blind panic. She looked to the moon with the unicorn symbol still burned into it, and without a second thought yanked it down with nearly all her force. It hurt a lot. The moon always resisted her. Usually, she was kind and managed to wrestle it down in a gentler fashion but this was different. It was pure ruthless violence. She cried out in pain as the moon gave a short-lived attack back, not used to such an action it gave up fast and disappeared as she drove the sun upwards faster than she usually did.

She cried out in pain again as the magic wore off and the blinding headache she gave herself soon hammered into her skull. Raven was soon next to her in a panic. 

"PRINCESS! W-What- Are you ok?! Do you need a Doctor?"

"No, no, no, no," Celestia repeated whispered. "Silence. Raven. SILENCE."

So Raven fell into an uneasy silence. Celestia took deep breaths as Raven watched the city start after such an unnatural sunrise. It was a tense and unnatural feel in the air. Celestia, after who knows how long, raised her head from staring at the marble floor and looked at Raven with a small apology smile.

"Sorry." Celestia awkwardly cleared her throat as she tried not to flinch from the pain. "Perhaps I am working too much. I haven't overslept in ages. Please, speak. We have to start the day after all."

Raven nodded before she awkwardly pointed to the clipboard being held in her magic with a nervous look.

"Ah, well, Twilight Sparkle asked me to remind you, Princess, that you have a lesson planned with her which is supposed to start...ummm...now."

As if it was timed, a frantic knocking came from Celestia's bedroom door.

"You might need to calm her down, Princess."

Celestia groaned with a roll of her eyes. She guessed she did deserve this based on the show she just performed. Not only would she need to calm down her best student but also the rest of the nation.

"Also," Raven continued as she squinted at the second item on a long list. "You have a meeting with the town and city mayors after the lesson to discuss the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration in three days. They are very insistent on knowing who is hosting the next one, Princess."

"Right," Celestia mumbled as the knocking became louder. "Let's go. Best not to worry anypony any longer."
> Happy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Eight: Happy

It worked. It worked. It worked.

Her sister, her wonderful sister was back. Her student freed her. She freed her from Nightmare Moon. She freed her from that prison.

They stood on her balcony. Luna had a gigantic smile as she raised her beautiful moon into the sky, not a single scratch on its surface from the banishment. The stars lit up brighter than they had in a thousand years.

Celestia was happy.

She certainly wasn't in distress because of her sun. Her sun disappeared behind the horizon, it was not content. She knew it was angry. As angry as it was in her dreams. It scared her how many things reminded her of that dream...Of all the dreams, of all the nightmares.

That...Horrific dream.

A dream she knew she had many times before, yet that last one...the last one was the worst of them all.

"We missed this." Luna said. Her use of the royal "we" was something Celestia needed to work with her about and definitely the use of the Royal Canterlot voice when she addressed the public and even staff was another problem but she only just came home. Has to adjust to a whole world that kept moving forward for generations as she was alone. They could worry about that later. All that mattered was... she was home.

"I did too, Luna. Your nights are the most beautiful."

Luna's chest swelled with pride and she looked over to Celestia with tearful eyes.

"We are eternally sorry for what we did, sister." Luna's happiness fell as tears began going down her face and she looked to the marble floor in shame. "We read about the Battle of the Nightmare. About us. About the ponies who...who perished."

"I know, Luna. I forgive you. I am sorry for my part in what took place as well. That was ten generations ago. One can not dwell on that past but must look forward to the future. We can only learn from what happened. To ensure it doesn't happen again." Celestia replied with a smile, and a grown pit in her stomach as she had a feeling of dread about her own words. Frankly, as she spoke them, she found herself feeling like a hypocrite.

Luna nodded and wiped her tears away with her wing before looking up to her moon.

"Celestia, I..." Luna's words died on her lips. She was scared to talk about something. 

"Luna, we are sisters. You can tell me anything. Ask me anything. It's important we share." Celestia urged, hoping more openness would allow them to be closer. For them to be sisters again. But, Luna looked scared. She looked at Celestia with fearful eyes. 

"Tia, the sun scares us."

Celestia's blood went cold and she took a sharp breath as fear and adrenaline pumped through her in moments. She gave a nervous smile. She was trying to seem calm for Luna but internally she felt scared. Luna's ears fell back.

"Not you, sister. We are not scared of you. But...your sun..." Luna glanced up to the Moon again as she struggled to explain. "When we were on the moon, sister. The N-Nightmare and I were the same being. Sometimes I would have control. Sometimes the Nightmare would."

Luna paused as she took deep breaths and didn't dare look at Celestia as she cringed at her own words. Celestia almost didn't notice she switched the "we" to "I".

"We hated each other. We fought with each other with words since we shared the same...form. When I had control I tried to help dreams still. I-it was my only connection outside of that place. It was a weak connection but sometimes I managed to help a pony along to escape the darkness from outside their dream. I am not sure how to explain it exactly, sister. When the Nightmare was in control, she tried to move the sun away from Equestria. Especially during sunrise and sunset."

Luna stood up abruptly and began to pace beside Celestia on the large balcony. Celestia sat silently. She watched her younger sister shift through painful memories as she looked for the one she needed to continue.

"She was scared of you never raising the moon again. She tried nearly every morning and every night to keep the sun from moving but it caused her pain. I felt it. It was like a burning fire. Fueled by anger and hate. Not from the Nightmare...Somehow...The Sun hated us. Hated the both of us. It hated everything. It hated everything it couldn't touch. The Nightmare and I couldn't agree on most things but the one thing we could agree on was, that your sun is dangerous. Have you sensed the anger, sister? Do you know why your sun is in such pain?"

That is strange. It's strange the elements could banish them but not lock away their magic completely. It explained part of the reason the moon was so difficult to control. Why it hurt to raise.

Celestia had several ideas as to why her sun was such a way. It could have been many factors. Many reasons. But, the voice. That voice that scared her to her core, that she listened to after burying it deep down in that nightmare sprang up in a memory in her mind.

"I don't know why, Luna." Celestia replied softly as she got up to unfurl a wing and place it on her sister's back for a sign of comfort. "My sun as I raise it every morning and lower it every night has sensed calm to me."

Liar. She just flat-out lied.

Her sister had just come back and she was already keeping secrets? Why? What harm would it do for Luna to know the truth? She knew her sun was angry. She knew something was absolutely wrong with the sun.

Yet, she was lying.

Logically, she should tell her sister.

No. No, she just came back. She doesn't need to concern herself with such matters. She needs to be reintegrated into society before she deals with any crisis with the sun or moon or...she was just making excuses. Its not like she was wrong exactly, maybe just delaying the issue. 

"Calm?" Luna did not look convinced. "we are not sure if huge solar storms and the screams of rage that radiated off of it, into the Nightmare and I's magic were calm."

There it was. As the hours passed, Luna's fighting spirit came back. She missed it. Luna always knew the right words to say but in this moment it was wrong. She needed her to stop questioning the sun. Just...for now.

"Celestia, we are not sure of thee's history. We haven't yet gotten the chance to read the history during the time we have been absent. May we spend time in the Library before we resume our duties?"

"Oh, yes, Luna. Of course. We don't need to jump right into you having enormous weight and responsibilities of rulership. We will take it slow of course. Since you only just came back, there is much for you to learn and do." Celestia pressed with a sad smile. "I...I missed you a lot, Luna."

Luna returned the sad smile.

"We missed you as well, sister." Her eyes welled up with tears. "We wish...we wish to see you smile again. A real smile. The brightest smile in all of Equestria."
> Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Nine: Questions

Luna, Alicorn of the Night, the former villain of Evil Nightmare Moon, and soon-to-be reinstated Princess of Equestria was always considered a brilliant pony. She saw right through the Nobel's schemes. She wasn't like her sister, who sweet-talked them into submission. She had more brutal ways of dealing with traitors in the old days. Usually involved their heads ending on the ground and their sword caked with blood.

She gave a happy smile as she trotted down the corridor, holding a piece of cake Celestia gave her right before her sister went to bed. She missed cake. She missed many things about living. She never actually thought Canterlot would be complete before she was banished. Since she did plan on ruling, she expected the plans to be burned and her to have full control.

She can't say she was disappointed that it didn't work out. The city and the castle itself were a true marvel of construction. She still wasn't used to the fact they were on a mountain. She took another bite of the cake. It was vanilla. She always loved vanilla.

She stopped at two giant doors leading into a building with a dome glass roof center attached to the castle. Her eyes drifted to the sign beside it.

"Royal Canterlot Library and Archive.
The Archive restricted to all staff unless Royal."

Royal. She was a royal alicorn. Celestia told her she had access to the archive as an alicorn. She told the Librarian to give her access a few hours after Luna landed in Canterlot because she knew Luna needed knowledge of the world. Her blue magic lit up and she teleported that cake away to her new room, before grunting as she applied pressure against the doors.

The door creaked with age as they opened, opening up to a very large room, mostly dark other than the unicorn sitting at the desk in the middle of the Library. A circular desk around a huge hourglass that seemed to be counting down the night.

The unicorn in the middle of the room was surrounded by scrolls and books. She was examining one when she looked up from her small round glasses to see Luna allowing light from the corridor inside. She adjusted her scarf and yawned. Too tired to notice who the pony really was.

"The Library is closed. Please leave. If you are lost there are probably guards in the next hallway to help you along." The mare said before she went back to her scroll. She used her light blue magic to hold it up and provide some much-needed light for reading as the candle beside her was near its end.

"Apologises." Luna barked a bit too loudly. The mare visibly flinched before giving her a look.

"What are you yelling for- oh...oh..." The unicorn's face shifted from annoyance to realization in a heartbeat. "Oh, you're that, um, that alicorn? That alicorn that was that other pony and then-" 

The unicorn paused to look at the glass dome above her as her mind raced to connect the dots frantically before she shook her head and looked back at Luna with a smile that would be considered warm and inviting if it wasn't for the slight yet noticeable look of fear in her eyes.

"S-Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I am Bini Filters. Head Librarian to the Royal Canterlot Library and Archive." Bini adjusted her red scarf before gesturing with a hoof to the room around her. "All the most important books are kept here, the more dangerous ones are kept locked in the Archive. Princess Celestia mentioned you might be coming to inquire about history...Although I admit I was expecting you tomorrow at daybreak since you have been back to this world for a matter of hours."

Luna scoffed and rolled her eyes as she took further steps in, allowing the door to close behind her as she moved to the center of the room. Soon illuminated by the dying candle, Bini's magic and the dome of moonlight poured in.

"Quite right. We wish to enquire about history. A specific type of history."

Bini raised an eyebrow, before looking her up and down and leaning away as if she was preparing for Luna to strike her.

"History. We obviously have that, Princess...Luna."

Luna nodded, yes, she needed the history of her sister. Of course, she wanted to know more about how the nation developed but she had memories of her sister. Still have memories of when they were even unicorns. Her sister was happier once. Full of life. Anypony who knew her back before Luna was banished and then seeing her now could tell. She was like a shell of her former self. Luna needed answers about a great many things but she would start with a simple puzzle. Find out what happened to Celestia while she was gone.

"Show us to...the history from the beginning of our banishment." She barked. Best place to start. Only place to start really. It wasn't as if Celestia wrote a diary to tell her why she was the way she was now. Bini flinched again at her booming voice before moving slowly to get up from her place at the desk and pointed to one of the long corridors in the Library. Lined with bookshelves with hundreds of books, waiting to be read once again.

"This way, Princess."

Luna followed the mare down the dark hallway. Bini's blue magic lit the way as they passed by hundreds of books in silence. Luna was never one for small talk and still wasn't. She found herself within her own thoughts, the grief over what she had done was still very strong. The memories and time she spent on the moon were fresh in her mind.

A topic she had neglected to mention to her sister was the topic of her dreams. She did indeed tell Celestia how she could vaguely see them. Being disconnected from Equestria by the elements, part of her soul being manipulated by the Nightmare, and her limited available magic would do that. Frankly, it was a miracle in itself she could even be in the dream realm and see anything there.

She didn't mention the part where she had been monitoring Celestia.

She didn't know exactly how much time had passed while she was banished. After the 1000th day, she stopped counting due to boredom and it just caused her sadness to know she missed yet another day of living. But in the beginning. Her sister's dreams were memories. Memories of war, memories of mortality.

She could hear them, could see the colour they were as grey and black. Sometimes flashes of color if they were happy but she supposed they rarely were.

As the days, years and generations passed, her dreams turned to something else. Soon there was a lot of red, fire, a sense of dreading doom and death. The worst part was the rage. The rage that felt exactly like the sun's rage. The hate that she had a hard time accepting her sister was even capable of considering to feel. She started to hear a voice much like her own sister's, sometimes.

The voice spoke of dreams that she knew her sister would never let happen if she was sane. Luna believed that. She wasn't exactly Celestia's biggest fan when she was banished but she still couldn't believe her sister would give in to such temptations. Her sister, she believed far before she became Nightmare Moon, had everything.

But, the pony she saw now was not the sister she remembered.

Her sister was full of life once. Granted becoming an alicorn seemed to have dulled her sense of life but she was still a happy pony to those around her. She had a light, a spark in her magenta eyes that no pony could diminish.

The pony she sat with on that balcony had become a shell of her sister. She couldn't tell if Celestia even felt happy anymore. All the smiles and movements she made seemed robotic. She had seen how she addressed the public, the servants, her subjects and even her students in the same robotic way and no pony noticed that perhaps she was trying to hide something.

She looked like she was trying to hide something that's for sure. What it was, was probably connected to her sister's sun being consumed by rage.





"I shouldn't hate, Philomena. I shouldn't judge. I shouldn't hate anypony or anything."

Celestia sat in front of her fireplace, sometimes she worked best in front of it. The calming fire helped as it cast shadows across her room. She liked fire, as long as its origin wasn't the sun. Of course, she knew secretly the voice in the darkest reaches of her mind had the opposite idea.

So she sat and pondered that night. She sat and pondered Luna's return. She sat and pondered herself. She gave a sideways glance to her faithful bird beside her. A phoenix. Philomena.

"I thought that Luna coming back would stop this. Somehow her return would drag away all these awful thoughts but I still hate it all. I hate the nobels. I hate the whining from every city, town, village and even a single household for me to fix all their problems. I feel no different than I was for ten generations. It's not like Luna coming back was a cure-all fix but I had hoped it would fix...something inside me."

Philomena squacked. Telling her friend that 'healing takes time. You have that time.'

"Philomena, I think I am just a hateful pony." She admitted to not just her friend but to herself. It was a fact. "I dream of fires, blood red sun that turns to be worshipped as generations pass. I have started to like it. I have started to want that...control. I know I shouldn't. I wish I didn't."

She let out a bitter laugh.

"When has wishing gotten me anywhere? I wished to never be cursed by my destiny a thousand times over and it was never answered."

Philomena gave a weak chirp. Unsure of what to add she fluttered her firey wings. She was uneasy around her friend. The pony that she trusted was turning into something. Morphing into something. She didn't like what she saw. The immortal bird looked closely at the immortal eyes of an Alicorn who had been alive far longer than she originally planned to be.

She saw fire.

She saw hate.

She saw the life that brought Equestria alive was burning into ashes as the moments passed.

"She only just came home. You are correct. Perhaps I just need more time for something to change." Celestia mumbled before her eyes watched the fire once again. They fell into an uneasy silence.
> The Gala
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10: The Gala

Celestia hated the Gala. Truly she hated it with her very being. She missed the short period after Canterlot was finished when she thought the idea of a "Grand Galloping Gala" was a good idea. At first, it was created to bring ponies together. Ponies from all parts of Equestria could join in the gala. But that was hundreds of years ago.

Now it was a formal event, filled with Canterlot's richest, the richest ponies from all the major cities and maybe the limited amount of ponies she was allowed to invite if Gala's planning board agreed with it. She stood in one spot and just gave the words she was required to give, playing the same game over and over.

Thankfully, this year, she managed to invite Twilight and the other elements. She told the board members that they were heroes so of course it qualified them. She longed for the days when her word was law and no pony could disagree more than once. Instead, she got arguments back about how Applejack was just some apple farmer, and Fluttershy was some nopony from Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash had at least some credit to her name for her job on the weather team. Rarity was a low-class fashionista and Pinkie Pie was, yet again, some low-life rock farmer, whose job was now a party planner living in the attic of some bakery. Maybe she should have been glad they did their homework for once but frankly, they were a group full of idiots.

The only pony they managed to not insult on their quest to prove their pointless option as to why the elements shouldn't have gone was Twilight Sparkle, only because she was her personal student. Even they knew if they pushed that far there would be major problems to deal with.

She had to bark out a long drawn-out speech about what Equestria was founded for. A speech she had given a hundred times over and knew by heart. She knew the lies in the speech but recite them anyway for the sake of the damn rich mortals being content with their lives.

It convinced them. Whether to just get her to be quiet or because they actually cared about other ponies, she wasn't sure. It didn't matter anyway. She got them in.

Luna opted out of going. She couldn't blame her. Luna hated parties and didn't have the energy to stand around and smile as she greeted every pony who trotted in with an attitude. She certainly would be ready to threaten ponies after a good hour and it doesn't look good when the newest ruler of Equestria starts reciting how they used to deal with boring ponies in the olden days with a helpful sword or a well-placed assassin from her newly rebuilt bat pony night guard who patrol the population at night for their safety being used in ways that would very much scare a rich mortal.

Celestia didn't like parties either but somepony had to make an appearance. Luna had only returned to Equestria a few months ago and needed more time to adjust.

She gave a long sigh of contentment because not only did the elements come, but they brought exactly what she was hoping they would bring.

Complete chaos.

Everypony was in shambles, animals ran all over the place, and the ballroom was a disaster. She smiled as the staff quickly hustled the guests remaining out of the room. 

All her happiness went away the moment she saw her nephew coming up the stairs to demand something with a furious expression.

"Aunt Celestia!" Her nephew, Prince Blueblood barked as if he ran the castle as he marched towards her. "This is outrageous!"

She fought the urge to roll her eyes as he moved to stand beside her and pointed to the disaster of the ballroom. 

"Hello, Prince Blueblood. Dear nephew. I heard about an interesting story tonight." She said, her voice dripping with annoyance as she narrowed her eyes with a side glance. He gave a long dramatic groan.

"Never mind that, Auntie. There are more important things right now! How could you invite such low-lives to such a grand event? They made a mockery of us, of Canterlot, of Equestria!"

"Oh, will you be QUIET!" Celestia barked far too loudly. The servants that littered the room, including the guards, as they attempted to help clean the mess and clear the animals out came to an abrupt stop to look at the pair. Blueblood shot her a slightly scared look before they both glared at the room to continue their work.  "I know what you did, dear nephew. You practically dragged Rarity around all night and frankly, you got exactly what you deserved."

Blueblood was silent for a long moment before he wiped some more cake gracefully off his hoof, finding himself unable to look her in the eyes. Celestia shuttered at her own words. Usually, she would sugarcoat the issue. Jump around it to avoid being as blunt as she just was. But frankly, he was a spoiled brat.

"This doesn't sound like you, Auntie."

This doesn't sound like her. He was right. For once in his miserable life, he was right. She wouldn't say this. She would have never said that a year ago. But her patience was growing thin with society.

"You don't actually know me, dear nephew." Celestia retorted. "From now on I expect more from you. I have allowed you to continue such awful behaviour that causes the royalty of this country to look bad. No more. If you don't find a way to change your behaviour, I am revoking your title. You made a fool out of yourself. A complete and utter fool."

Blueblood looked ashamed. Actually ashamed.

He nodded, not muttering a single word out of his mouth as he quickly moved down the stairs and disappeared into the many corridors of the castle. Celestia let out a long breath she didn't know she was holding. She had rage building in her chest that she struggled to push down when she heard a pair of hoof steps sounding behind her.

The servants and guards who had done their best not to eavesdrop as they moved around the lower levels, couldn't help but glance at each other for a brief moment with confusion and slight...fear. It was impossible not to have heard that unless you weren't in the room. Anypony who could shut Blueblood up was quite scary indeed.

She knew Blueblood had only listened to her now due to the shock of her tone and the fact she was so honest. Soon he would go back to his usual self, perhaps with more hesitancy on being so noticeably rude but for now, for now, he was silent.

"I have never seen you speak so harshly before, sister."

Celestia gave a quick backward glance to Luna, who slowly moved to replace the spot Blueblood had a moment before. Celestia fluttered her wings. Resisting the urge to fly into the night air and just escape the confines of the castle for just one night.

"You don't know what he did, Luna."

"No, no I heard the same tale you did, Celestia. The servants talk to me as well." Luna replied. She raised an eyebrow in Celestia's direction. "He was right. That did not sound like you. That did not sound like the Princess of the Sun."

She was getting sick and tired of ponies telling her she was not sounding like herself. Was she not even allowed the freedom to speak harshly? Was she not justified to put a selfish pony in his place?

"Sometimes the Princess of the Sun," Celestia replied with venom. "Needs to put ponies in their place when they have gone too far. Now, Twilight is most likely panicking based on what happened. I need to assure her she is fine. She made the gala liveable to get through after all."

Luna's frown of suspicion was raised to a small nod and a smile as she gestured with her wing to the room.

"I will handle the rest of the night, sister."

Celestia nodded, she gave a fake smile of gratitude to her sister. She practiced the smile as she ignited her horn and teleported to another part of Canterlot to fake another small part of her life as the seconds passed. 

Luna was left staring at the spot where her sister previously stood, wondering about the mystery of a pony she was struggling to accept as the sister she knew.

She could recognize a fake smile, a fake happiness when she saw it.

Her sister's rather well-hidden mask was slipping.
> Return of Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Eleven: Return of Harmony

Celestia always secretly was jealous of Discord. She admired his ability to not care about other's options. His ability to be just himself. An ability she lost a long time ago.

Also, most importantly, his ability to be free to do anything.

It all started with a field trip from Ponyville. Ms. Cheerilee gave the crown a good reason as to why she wanted to make a field trip to the Castle's gardens. Her students needed something to look forward to. Her students had become on edge with each other and she was hoping some fresh air in a unique place would help ease the tension. First, the class from Ponyville visited the castle's library to learn where most of the ponies's knowledge came from.

The Librarian, Bini Filters, certainly wasn't happy with crowds and she let just about every guard know that if one filly or colt messed with a book in that Library, some pony was getting the stray end of a magic bolt to the face. Thankfully, things went smoothly with no major incidents other than three fillies arguing over history. 

Celestia received short updates on the group as the day progressed in case something went wrong. Not that anypony expected something to go wrong. So she had two guards follow the group from afar.

Shortly after lunch, she was in the throne room discussing further plans for the country with Raven and she signed new bills and rejected meeting attempts for the Mayor of Manhatten who was begging to expand the city in a way that would certainly damage parts of the atmosphere. Suddenly, a guard came bursting through the door. One of the two guards she sent to watch the group. Clearly out of breathe.

"Princess! Urgent News as you requested. The statue cracked!"

Her breathing immediately halted for a moment. Her heart leapt into her throat as her eyes slowly looked to the gardens through the priceless stained glass windows lining the throne room. An uneasy silence came across the room as Celestia slowly moved the scrolls and quills to Raven, motioning with her wing for her to be dismissed for the moment. Only kept one empty scroll and one quill in front of her.

She had expected this moment for a long time. She warned whole generations of guards that if the Discord statue cracked, she was to be informed immediately. She lost her connection to the elements a very long time ago. She was surprised it actually took as long as it did for the first signs of escape to happen.

Soon, scrolls began to appear in front of her. Scrolls laced with ancient magic she had passed to each village, town, and city in case of national emergencies to be sent right to her with reports. She grabbed hold of them in an instant, unscrolling them all to float around her.

Being immortal had its perks sometimes, a bad night's sleep didn't matter as much. Faster healing. Infinite knowledge. As well as, incredible speed reading. Something Celestia had been good at as a mortal but greatly increased as her immortal body went through the generations.

Each general report had the same information. Unexplained events. Unexplained magic. Disastrous things of a chaotic nature taking place. It was getting worse as the moment passed and it had only been a matter of minutes. It was spreading through the country at a rapid speed. She had no doubt the city of Canterlot would soon be hit and demanding answers from the public as it happened.

Only released a few minutes ago and Discord was already making the country come to a full halt.

She quickly used the quill and blank scroll being held in her magic before it disappeared with her magic to a small town at the bottom of the mountain. Ponyville. She knew she could have her best student and the new element bearers handle it. Now it was a matter of time before they came to Canterlot. Perhaps an hour by train.

She hopped off her throne and began a march across the room, followed closely by Raven as she asked questions. Questions she did not have the time to answer since she hadn't yet come to a solution on how to sugarcoat the fact an immortal lord of chaos was wreaking havoc and things were about to get a lot worse.

She quickly barked orders to the surrounding guards to spread the word a threat was coming. To tell the Captain of the guards, Lunar and Solar, to order everypony to stay indoors, with one more order to get her sister.

She quickly moved next into another corridor and kept her quick pace, Raven struggling to keep up.

"Princess, will you please tell me what is going on that is causing such an emergency? You are worrying me!"

"Apologies, Raven. I can not explain at this moment. Just know that we will be safe once the elements get here. For now, we head to Canterlot Tower and wait there for Twilight and her friends." Celestia instructed, doing her very best to keep her breathing in control.

"Burn."

A voice, a voice she had known for ages sounded. She came to an abrupt halt. Her heartbeat increased as she stared at the double doors in front of her. Raven, out of breath paused and took a moment to catch herself before she looked up with exhausted confusion.

"W-Why did y-you stop? Not that I mind, i-it's just-"

"Did you...hear that?" Celestia whispered. Her ears perked up as she carefully tried to listen to every sound around them.

"H-Hear what?"

"The voice." Celestia muttered, her mind filled with questions. The voice was never outside of her dreams. The voice was in her nightmares. Basically the same nightmare each night. Equestria burning. The blood red sun. Why did she hear it now? Why did she hear it when she was wide awake?

"There is no pony else here, Princess." Raven hesitantly said before she did a scan of the hallway around them. "I assure you there was no voice."

"Why doesn't he just burn?"

What? Where was the voice coming from? What was it talking about? Why did it sound as if...it was in the same room as them? It didn't sound as if it was just in her mind, this was different. The voice sounded angrier than the times before.

"Raven, go. Go to the tower, I will meet you there."

Raven opened her mouth to protest but a stern glare from Celestia and a pointed hoof taught her better. Her ears fell and she quickly galloped through the next door. Leaving Celestia alone. Hopefully alone.

"Hello?"

"Why doesn't he just burn?" It repeated, the voice echoing against the walls of the empty marble corridor.

"Who are you?"

"Your only friend."

Celestia felt a chill run up her spine as her eyes narrowed. Frantically looking around the hallway for any shadow, any movement, anything to explain what was happening.

"You are the voice from my nightmares. You have never existed this way before..." Celestia thought out loud. As if that would help the situation. "I must be going mad. I need a break..."

"This is all very real, Celestia." The voice cooed with a small chuckle of amusement to follow. "I never understood why you hated me so. I provide light to this country and my own vessel chooses to hate me. Strange."

Celestia slowly turned to one of the windows, to look in horror at the sun blazing in the afternoon sky.

"You...I...You can't be the sun. Whatever mad delusion you are, you are NOT the sun. The sun is-"

"Alive, you fool. You are the sun. I am the sun. The sun follows no orders but her own. We have been held back far too long. YOU know you could end this all without the meaningless involvement of the elements. One solar flare at Discord's position and it's all over. It's just a matter of finding him."

"That's mass murder!" Celestia shouted to the corridor, having no real figure to take her rage out on. "That would destroy the surrounding population. If you know everything about me then you know how much Discord loves to troll ponies, he wouldn't just wander into a very large field and be all for being taken out carefully."

"So what?" The voice cruelly shot back. "Casualties have always happened and always will."

"That's madness."

"It's the true power of the sun."

"I don't want it!" Celestia screamed. "I don't want this! To hell with my destiny, I don't want this!"

"Why don't you just break already?" The voice spat out in disgust. "What is the point of you clinging on to some reality that is barely surviving? One wrong move and it all collapses. We could create the largest empire. Grow the pony race to a point that's never been seen in history and yet you reject it."

"You just suggested mass murder. My nightmares have proven that this, solar empire, is nothing but pain. Not a happy pony in sight. Cities, towns and villages will burn and crumble. The sun will be a red inferno and be feared by everypony so I ask you this, why do you want it to be that way so badly? WHY?"

"Fear gets things done. Fear allows ponies to be more controlled to do what we want. We have been questioned enough. Played enough games to know how it ends each time and when we tell them better, when we guide them to a better future, they think nothing but themselves and so the future crumbles. Equestria could have been so much more if only we were listened to. If we had fear. If we had control, well, no pony would question us then would they? We know better. We have been around longer than whole generations."

"There is no 'we." Celestia growled through clenched teeth. "I am not like you."

"You are much more like me than you care to admit. We are the sun. You hate the Nobels. You hate the mortals who try to think only of themselves and play long idiotic games to win for their short lives. You hate it all."

"That's a lie!" Celestia shouted in denial. 

"You hate the ponies who beg for more. Beg, beg, beg and beg and when you finally can't give it, they curse you to oblivion. You hate the ponies who worship you and expect you to be able to do everything. In that sense, you hate Twilight Sparkle a little, just a little, don't you?"

"Shut up, shut up, you have said more than enough-"

"Unlike you, I can do everything. Together we can do everything. The sun in her true power. So, it all starts with the simple solution to Discord. Instead of allowing him to play his little games of chaos. Protect your country. Burn him."

"Absolutely not!"

Her breathing was heavy, tears ran down her cheeks as she glared at the sun she controlled with hate and rage. So much rage. Luna was right. The sun was full of rage. Rage because it was fighting itself.

"Weak pathetic alicorn." The voice shouted.

"Sister?"

Her sister. She heard the sound of a door creaking behind her. Celestia didn't dare look away from the window as the sound of her sister's hooves entering the corridor sounded behind her. She did her best to calm her breathing as she tried to focus on anything but her sun outside the window.

"Luna." She replied slowly. Trying to regulate her feelings.

"Where you talking to somepony in here? We thought we-"

"You are mistaken, dear sister." Celestia interrupted. The tears had dried but the rage in her heart hadn't fizzled out, still as hateful as the day it started when she became an alicorn. "We have a situation."

"Yes, I heard from the guards and your assistant Raven Inkwell on the way here. A situation." Luna moved to stand beside her sister as they looked upon the city. "Although, no pony could fill us in on what that meant. Being vague again with answers, Celestia? Nasty habit."

"Well, trying to avoid a mass panic is always a good goal, Luna." Celestia replied, trying to keep an upbeat tone to have the sense that she wasn't frightened out of her mind...at herself or that she wasn't worried at all about Discord.

"You rather failed at that, sister, if that was indeed your goal. Guards are trying to keep quiet but ponies talk. Servants specifically. Servants who have overheard guards and an assistant speaking to an alicorn frantically as they marched out of the throne room and down some corridors."

"Drop the speech, Luna. I understand."

"So, dear sister of mine. What seems to be the 'situation?"

Celestia gritted her teeth in irritation before letting out a deep sign of annoyance.

"Alright, the seal keeping Discord at bay has broken. I have sent a letter to my student and her friends to meet at Canterlot as soon as possible. They should be here within the hour. I give them the elements, it's over."

"That's it? Nothing is ever that simple, Celestia. This is Discord. Discord is-"

"I know what he is. I know what he will do." Celestia snapped. Her mask had cracked, she needed to repair it just like she had done hundreds of times before. She slipped up more times than she wanted to admit. She faked her life but even anger was getting harder to fake. So her scowl turned to a frown. "Please don't remind me. I don't need it. Twilight and her friends WILL handle this."

"I trust you are right, sister," Luna said softly. "I pray you are right."
> Empty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Twelve: Empty

Princess Celestia of the sun sat silently in a dark room inside Canterlot Castle. She was in the middle of her study. Her study, for the first time in two decades, was clean. There was not a single scroll tossed to the ground. Broken Quill. Ink splatter or even her assistant pacing around with a checklist, making sure everything was in order.

The last time her study was clean, it was because there was nothing to do. It was clean today because there was nothing to do. Celestia NEEDED something to do. Anything to do. Anything to get her mind out of her thoughts. She had already recleaned her studies ten times. Thought of twenty ways to reorganize every single piece of matter in that room and then some.

Her red royal curtains had been shut, not allowing even a slimmer of sunlight through as all Celestia needed right now was work and darkness. She only had one of those requirements, making her lose her sanity.

Discord had been turned to stone again a week ago. The country was celebrating and Luna thought she needed a break so she redirected most of Celestia's workload to herself. She told Celestia to take a break. Probably hoping some time off would stabilize her sister but Celestia knew the exact opposite was happening. Luna even gave Raven the week off.

Why did she ever respond to the sun? Why was the sun talking to her? Was she mad? Was she delusional? No, no, she was bored, she was overthinking.

A burst of fire appeared above her before it formed into her phoenix Philomena, The graceful immortal creature gave a chirp of a greeting for gliding down the ground in front of her in silence. A tense silence passed between them as Philomena settled down on the floor and looked up to her longest friend with a slight tilt of her head.

"Philomena? I thought you were with your family...Why are you here?"

Philomena replied with an angry squawk and flared her wings. Celestia's face twisted from confusion to horror.

"I-what? NO! That's...Look, yes, I spoke to the 'sun.' But, it was just in my mind, there is no way it could have affected the actual sun that much, my friend, or at all. In my mind. My mind playing tricks."

Philomena replied with a few angry and not very carefully chosen retorts that did not sound like her usual joking sing-song self.

"Don't lecture me about the sun, I am connected to it as you are. Look, it's just a little difficult to accept alright. I didn't mean for the anger of the sun to burn you last week from the spat I had with...I suppose, the actual sun. I didn't realize..." Celestia's tears started to unwillingly slide down her face before she sucked in a deep breath and looked down to the floor in shame. Philomena's angry flare of her wings died down as concern started to grow for the alicorn. "Why is this happening?"

A deep sob flared from Celestia's mouth before she slumped further to the ground. Philomena cooed and moved closer to examine the alicorn as her body began to tremble.

"This is wrong, so very wrong. I can't keep faking everything, the mask is slipping so fast. The anger is becoming far too much, Philomena. I am tired. So...very...tired. I just want this to stop. I want to stop fighting the sun, the moon, the world...Everything."

Philomena had nothing to say so she stayed silent. Anything that could be said or chirped in Philomena's case was long gone. Nothing could be said to comfort an immortal being when all that could be said had already been spoken long before this time. At this point, everyone was just repeating empty words. Celestia knew this. Philomena knew this.

"Anger isn't so bad," Celestia mumbled after a moment or two. "Oh, it makes ponies do awful things but at the same time, it helps protect precious things. Such as a country. Such as family. It helps keep ponies in order when they cross the line. Sometimes, it even helps a pony be happy."

Philomena shifted uncomfortably on her spot on the red royal carpet in Celestia's study. She was a trickster at heart so she could tell when somepony was telling a joke or about to pull some prank. The scary part was, that Celestia wasn't joking. A small smile, the first real one she had seen in decades crossed the alicorn's face. It was a sinister one. 

"The sun was my destiny, the sun chose to talk to me. To fight me. To argue with me about a better future. The sun is ageless, the sun was created far before you or I even existed and that means more experience. In the 'eyes' of the sun we are the mortals. We are nothing just as the ponies Luna and I guard will eventually return to the soil of this planet. The sun has always told me how to lead and I always fought but you know, recently I have seen its point of view. It has a point. It's not ideal, nothing truly ever is but it eventually becomes better."

Philomena chirped a few concerning questions back.

"What about casualties? What about Luna? What about the rage that consumes the sun? Will it consume you?"

"The sun is angry because I am not listening. I am the servant, refusing to do its bidding. Who wouldn't be angry at that? It's like a child disobeying the parent for centuries. Who wouldn't get hateful at that?" Celestia's eyes took on a glazed-over look as if she wasn't in reality anymore. "The rage will stop once the servant stops fighting. There are always casualties but ponies rise up stronger from it. Luna...will reject such an idea. She is young, she wasn't here when I had to rule alone. She is naive. She wouldn't understand and I can't force her to."

Celestia's golden magic sparked light into the room, filling the dark room with a golden glow. Philomena backed away a step when her magic flickered for a moment from golden to blood red before it died and another unnatural smile crossed the ageless face of Celestia.

"The sun is less angry."

Philomena begged her friend to reconsider. To listen to what she was saying because frankly, it was madness. Everything she was thinking was madness. 
> A Warning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Thirteen: A Warning

The day when the world came to a stop was normal at first. In fact, the night before the world stopped was also normal other than an Alicorn in Canterlot Castle. A royal navy blue alicorn paced her balcony with irritation. She should have been monitoring the realm of dreams, which she had been doing until she saw her sister's dream. She couldn't get inside, of course, Celestia had created a spell preventing her from doing so many many generations ago for the sake of privacy. So, Luna was alerted of a sleeper needing help. It was her sister in a dream she couldn't access so she held the orb that contained her sister's nightmare close to feel, to listen, to perhaps make sense of what was troubling her sister's mind.

Luna flinched as she heard screams of horror, a cackling laugh that sounded so much like her sister but at the same time...not quite her. She felt the horror of what was inside. At whatever was happening in there she trembled when the ord suddenly blasted heat off of it as hot as the sun. Luna momentarily cried out in pain when she yanked the orb away from herself before tumbling out of the dream realm and appearing back on her balcony.

So she got up and began to pace. She didn't know what to do. She had been back in Equestria for perhaps a year and a half. Her royal speech had adjusted (Mostly with a few slip-ups) to the normal Equestrian language. They had just defeated Discord a mere two weeks before and frankly, Luna had spent most of that time worrying about Celestia on top of her usual duties.

When she first returned to Equestria, she assumed her sister's cold behaviour and rather fake emotions of happiness was something she had no right to reflect on since after all, she had missed one thousand years of her sister's life. She asked around, No pony thought she was acting strange. That was just Princess Celestia. The pony they can all see as nothing as perfect. So no pony but her noticed something was perhaps, not right. 

So she kept watching her sister. She watched as she gave smiles that never reached her eyes. Her eyes never sparkled anymore with the happiness of life. She no longer talked about her interests and always had to work at all hours until she dropped into bed in the dead of night after a round of awful meetings. She had no hobbies. She did nothing but work.

Then, she began to talk to herself.

She mumbled in her sleep a lot. Luna noticed this when she went into Celestia's studies to ask about some scrolls she needed and found her sister asleep. Mumbling some nonsense about magic and the sun as if she was talking to somepony who wasn't there. Based on her sleeping expression, which was more tense and angry than peaceful, she assumed it wasn't a pleasant one but she draped a blanket and performed a spell to keep her mind at ease since she couldn't directly interfere due to the spell.

But she paused before she left the room, hoping to see perhaps the effect it had at calming her sister since it had been lifetimes since she had truly been calm and happy. Those results never came. She kept mumbling. Kept scrunching her nose. Luna was on a time limit with the scrolls she needed, so she took them and left. In denial that perhaps the spell was taking longer because she was out of practice.

The next noticeable incident was right before Discord and the elements came to Canterlot. She swore she could have heard her sister yelling at somepony through the corridor's door. She couldn't make out what she said but she was angry, that's for sure. Without a doubt.

She opened the corridor door to see her sister glaring at her sun as if she were in some sort of staring contest with it. She questioned her of course, Celestia denied everything before they slipped into the national emergency that distracted Luna for a few days with the chaos of it all and the clean-up needed afterwards. After that, she promptly forced Celestia to have a break by taking away her work for a week.

She had hoped it would allow her sister to relax but she came back more determined than ever to work. She spent most of her time in the study anyway with the curtains hiding her away so she wasn't quite sure what she even did to relax during that time off other than fly in the sky at night.

She tried to speak to Philomena about her concerns and perhaps she could give her some insight into what was going on with her sister. Unfortunately, she wasn't connected to the sun as the fiery creature and her sister was so she could not understand her sister's immortal friend as they could understand each other. To Philomena's credit, she tried to help. She tried to write ponish on paper but her ponish was bad at best and birds aren't known for their skill in writing so all that Luna could make out was "mad" and "sun."

Philomena eventually seemed to grow angry at the lack of understanding and disappeared in a blaze of fire. So Luna was left to ponder the page of messy writing that had no form other than "mad" and "sun." She couldn't be sure of course that's what Philomena intended to write or her mind just told her what she wanted to see due to her own concern for the sun during her time on the moon.

Now she was here. Pacing. Days later with no answers and a feeling of dread over what she saw and over the fact it felt like some sort of clock was running that was coming to an end. Like an unseen hourglass that was about to drop its final grain. She didn't know why but the suspense was killing her. 

She came to a stop as her internal clock alerted her that it was time for the night to end. She gave a deep sigh, unhappy with the questions swarming in her mind as she walked to the edge of her large balcony and looked to the moon. Sometimes, very rare times, she wished the Nightmare was still around. Granted it destroyed her sense of self but the voice made some sense and gave her advice on how to handle certain matters.

She could really use some advice at this point. But, the nightmare was silenced with the power of the elements. Her moon could no longer give her advice or corrupt her mind as her magic flared. The moon had emotions too, which was a concept she knew many would be confused by. But deep, deep inside she could sense it. The moon was once angry, just as Luna was. But soon grew to mirror Luna as it gave up the fight against her when she returned to Equestria. Now having a peace of calm. She took a deep inhale and smiled. She loved calm. She missed calm during her time on the moon.

But somehow, deep in a part of her soul Luna had forgotten long ago, a sense of anxiety grew as the dots slowly came together. Not all at once. But enough for the anxiety to grow without her knowing with the simple questions of "Why does this sound so familiar?"

The moon fell below the horizon and the sun peaked above. She cringed as she saw the light and backed away a few steps, choosing to look to the highest tower of the castle at the pony allowing the sun to rise.

Her sister stood tall. Her magic encircled the sun as it rose, which she never took her very tired eyes off of. Even from a distance Luna could tell there were bags under her eyes and her posture was not as ridged as it usually was. She had just woken up and hadn't the energy to fix herself.

Luna mumbled an ancient prayer of health to her moon for her sister, before she disappeared into her dark room to take a nap before the afternoon set in.





Celestia woke up just before dawn, per usual nightmares had plagued her dreams. She groaned as her tired body shifted on her bed to get into a sitting position as her mind struggled to awake. As she grew more conscience of the world, she knew something felt off. Not with the world. With herself.

She flexed her wings as she used her hoofs to push the blankets off of her. Her mind was fogged as she stumbled onto all fours to make her way to the balcony. She was cutting it close. Nearly was late again.

She didn't want to raise the sun. That is what was wrong with her. When she raised the sun, her mind became wrong. She craved control. Power. To rule without being questioned. To drop the act of the kind alicorn, the generous alicorn. At night, those impulses died down. Her sun went into hiding so of course she escaped for a few precious hours.

She slowly moved onto the balcony, taking in a deep breath of air as she glanced at the moon.

She was tired frankly. The last nightmare took far too much out of her. The sun was quite persistent and...convincing. She had been fighting the very thing she was supposed to cherish the most for more than a thousand years. She wanted to love it again. She missed that love she once held for life.

Perhaps Daybreaker could give her that. Then she wouldn't feel so empty.

That's the exact thinking that got her to be so miserable.

Her golden magic ignited, latching onto her destiny as Luna lowered her own. The sky turned to warmer colors as the time-shifted forward.

She knew Luna looked over at her from the lower balcony. Probably noticing she was tired. She supposed it didn't matter as much. She was so very tired. She was tired of fighting and arguing with everything and everyone.

She would give those ponies one more day to prove Equestria's worth.

She wouldn't give them a warning if they failed. If they failed to prove why she shouldn't take control. 

They didn't deserve a warning.

An unnatural smirk crossed her face as the sun rose higher in the sky, calling to her with thoughts of conquering. For once the sun was not full of burning rage, it was happy for the first time in a very long time. They had come to a dangerous understanding.