Luna was in her Midnight court when they told her. At first she wouldn’t believe it. She told them to wait until her court was finished to explain themselves. She had hoped she misheard them, or it was some kind of sick joke.
But it wasn’t.
They told Luna what had happened, and what Celestia wanted Luna to do now that it had happened. But Luna didn’t want to. It was far too much to ask of her, especially now that THIS had happened. Did she have any time to mourn? To grieve for her loss? No. She was to act accordingly, and follow her elder sister’s wishes.
But it was going to be extremely hard to take the throne all by herself.
Luna galloped towards the Solar Tower, still in denial about what her own Lunar guards had told her only a few minutes ago. Surely they were lying! Celestia couldn’t be dead. She just… couldn’t. She was an all-powerful, well-loved alicorn. No illness could kill her. No weapon could slaughter her. No pony would dare to do this to their beloved ruler. So how?
Luna finished galloping up the gilded stairs and made her way to Celestia’s bedroom. The atmosphere was one of sadness, and it was eating away at Luna’s denial, of her certainty that Celestia was just joking with her.
Surely she couldn’t have just asked everypony to be sad when I came up to check on her?
Luna gently tugged at the jewel-encrusted door with her light blue magic, and stepped gingerly into the richly carpeted room. But Luna took no notice of any of the expensive and decorative furniture. All she could see was a dejected doctor, and a large lump in Celestia’s bed. A large alicorn-shaped lump.
It took forever for Luna to walk across the fluffy carpet to the side of the bed. She looked at the doctor, who nodded and slowly left. He knew Luna would need some time alone with her sister, and he would not disturb her.
After the door clicked shut, Luna turned her attention back at the head-shaped lump near the pillows of the bed. Luna sighed, and braced herself for what she might discover.
Maybe ‘Tia will just jump out and scare me?
The bed sheets were slowly enveloped by Luna’s magic, and she pulled back the top corners that covered the head of the sleeping pony. She saw an extremely long horn, with an oh-so familiar swirling pattern upon it. She then spotted the pastel-coloured mane, the only mane of its kind in the whole of Equestria. She then spotted the drooping ears, the fur on them an extremely light pink.
The rest of the sheet slowly fell off and revealed a face. A face with long eyelashes and soft cheeks, and a pointed muzzle. Luna only knew one pony with those features.
Celestia…
Luna looked quickly at her sister’s chest, hoping to see it rise and fall slowly. It did not.
Luna covered her sister’s nose with her hoof and checked to see if she began to breathe again. She did not.
Luna knew she was gone forever. But she didn’t want to believe it. Not now.
All Luna wanted to see now were the soft magenta eyes of her elder sister staring into Luna’s own cerulean eyes, while she cuddled her and told her it was all a big joke.
But she couldn’t. It wasn’t a joke.
A few weeks had passed since Celestia’s death. No-one knew properly what had killed her, and Luna didn’t permit her doctors to inspect her sister’s body to find out what. But nevertheless, millions of ponies from across Equestria gathered in Canterlot gardens to witness the burial of one of their beloved monarchs.
The coffin was white, and decked with beautiful roses and sun-lilies. It was carried to the gardens on Celestia’s own carriage, and the public wept to see the carriage without it’s familiar rider sitting on it, waving at them all.
Luna stood near the gravesite, and stared blankly at the approaching carriage and its contents. Rain was beginning to drop down, and Luna took the chance to disguise her tears with the droplets of water sliding down her face. It all seemed so unreal.
The carriage had approached by then, and the coffin was slowly being lifted into the ground. The priest-pony was finishing off the readings he was to read, and the grave-diggers prepared to shovel dirt over the pristine coffin. The ponies were crying, and the rain became more thunderous. Luna slowly took something out of her cloak, and stared at it. She began carefully looking at this object, twirling it with her magic, inspecting the appearance. It was perfect.
Before the grave-diggers could throw the muddy soil over the coffin, Luna stopped them. She threw the object down into the hole, and the first batch of soil landed right on top of it, covering it from view. It took only a few seconds for more dirt to join it, and soon the entire hole was filled up. It was time to go.
As Luna made her way back to her gothic carriage to prepare for all the upcoming events, she took one last look at the grave of Celestia. The government planned a huge shrine to be placed on the grave, but it looked very plain at that moment. If there were any foreign ponies, then they would have been confused as to why such a plain grave got a lot of attention.
Luna then stepped onto her carriage. The take-off was quick, and soon Luna was climbing high into the sky. She was leaving for the Unifying Mountain, where she would prepare for her official coronation as the new Queen of Equestria. Luna’s parents lived there, and they told Luna that she must come to them to discuss what was to happen in the future, and to prepare for that.
Luna knew it was going to be a long journey, and when she got back to Canterlot, she knew things were never going to be the same again.
‘I love you, Luna…’
