Just a Dream

by Dancewithknives

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6254

Some memories are better left forgotten

It's that time of year again. Like every other time she had experienced this anniversary, Celestia simply wishes to forget about everything, but some things cannot be simply forgotten.

Special thanks to Washingtonian for editing, and mondo thanks for Twilight_Crow for ripping it apart and fixing absolutely everything that was wrong.

Live reading here

Oh, and apparently, I did something good, because I was featured on the same day that I posted it. 8/29/13

Now that it was featured, i should add that I did not make the original coverart. It was made by this guy, for his own story, but, with permission, I took his image and used a photo editing app on my phone to change it to how I wanted it.

Published 2013-08-29 14:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-29 14:20:02 UTC

Where do fallen angels go?

Just a Dream
By:
Dancewithknives
8/5/13

There was a chill in the air, and darkness was descending across the land of Equestria. But as dark and foreboding as it sounded, the ponies who called this land home were not retreating back into their homes to hide from the impeding fall of night. Instead, they were welcoming it.

The moon was on its way up into the sky like the sun had done several hours earlier. Lighting the earth below this heavenly body were candles and lamps. Pumpkins were carved to varying qualities to show several different emotions. Cobwebs and large, plastic, hairy spiders sat within their cotton-made homes, giving a spooky yet welcoming look to the passerby of the night.

Around Equestria, the streets, once filled with the hustle and bustle of mares and stallions, children, adults and any other creature that called Equestria their own, were gone. In their place, the haunted façade of buildings awaited to be visited by passing ghosts, ghouls, vamponies, wereponies and whatever other creatures that were allowed to be out on this one night in particular.

Nearly every building was decorated for Nightmare Night, but one in particular was not.

Standing above the other buildings of the city on its artificial plateau, the Castle of Canterlot stood tall and proud before everything in the surrounding valley with its usual regal and stoic look. The fine marble and golden structure flew the flags of it's nation atop the towers, and the windows flooded the surrounding area with light.

Of course, the inhabitants of the castle were not ignorant of what time of year it was, the majority of the staff had gone home and were readying themselves to celebrate the end of the harvest as well! But, the building itself did not take part in the merrymaking. Sadly, the majestic structure was cursed to forever remain professional, it was the head of the nation, and business, unfortunately, were always its priority.

Through the brightly lit, pristine halls of Canterlot Castle, three alicorns stood side by side from tallest to shortest. The three ruling Princesses made their way through their home, towards the stables that held the chariot that would take them away.

Excitement encased the young Princess Twilight. Words of both thanks and anticipation spilled from her mouth as she hypothesized how Ponyville, and her friends to that matter, have been doing during her one year of absence. It was good for her to be so excited to return to her humble beginnings. Her joy of returning to Ponyville not only served as a break from the rigorous learning and observing to be the ruler of tomorrow, but to also remind her of what the mattered most. To refresh her memory of how she had earned the position, and the five ponies that helped her.

The chariot was pulled into place, decorated in a spooky design and being operated by ponies who looked to be travelers from Transcoltvania, with spooky bat wings and large pointy teeth. But, as the blue and violet ruler boarded the transport, the largest of the three reluctantly declined.

Princesses Luna and Twilight questioned Princess Celestia over her change of heart and begged her to join, be she explained she simply was too tired. She had been working tirelessly to ensure that tonight would be free of bother, and it had taken a toll on her old spirit. She wished to join, but she painfully confessed that she would be holding them back, that she would rather wait until the morning and hear of their adventures as they recounted them.

With a smile and a wave, the two were off, soaring high in the air on their way into the valley below to fill their night with merriment and fun.

As she had been planning all along, the final Princess in the castle waved and showed them off, and then retreated back into her home. The staff still remaining in the castle was few and far between, which allowed the tall mare to walk at a leisurely pace and in relative privacy. She made her way from the stables to her own chambers, every step of the way her smile gradually disappeared until her muzzle sat at a neutral expression before her own door.

With the same respect that she had shown to her sister and student, one guard stood before the chamber of the Princess; Like he had done for her on this day for the last thirty years. The greying unicorn simply bowed his head in a nod and stepped aside.

The Princess entered, and as always, the door locked behind her.

Like she had promised to both Luna and Twilight, Celestia did not spare any time as she slipped off her jewelry and prepared for bed. The horseshoes sat in their designed shelf and the necklace found its way onto the usual mannequin it frequented.

And like the countless times before, the mistress of the sun slipped between her fine cashmere sheets, rolling and tucking herself tightly within their web; hopefully trapping her in their embrace until morning.

As always, the Princess’ tiara floated off of her head and away from her horn. The floating, golden and jeweled headwear lazily made its way to the nearby nightstand and hovered in place.

The Princess closed her eyes, and the tiara dropped.

It fell and fell and fell, never hitting the dresser it was meant to, but instead ripped through the fabric of time, fading away until the gold lost it’s color, diamonds broke away like leaves in the wind, and the overall structure of the piece shrunk until it was a fraction of its size.

It did not fall forever, for this rabbit hole did indeed lead to an end, the descent of the tiara stopped as it landed upon a head that was full of bushy and straight hair. The owner of the head was standing up on the very tips of its hooves, stretching its slender body as far as it possibly could up and over the barred box before it. The little intruder wearing a crown atop of its head used its front hooves against the wall it was trying to scale as leverage in keeping its balance while trying to sneak a peek at the contents of the small container.

The image had lost its colors; just an effect the decay of time often brought about, every single thing seemed to hold the same acid burnt look, only in different shades. The sound was likewise, forgotten. But no matter how hard it tried, time could not ruin the first sighting of the box’s occupant.

Just like the bigger one before it, a teeny tiny Princess was fast asleep wrapped in its sheets, and just like the tiara on the bigger one's head, a shining jewel of the color grey sat upon its dark forehead being held by a tiny chain of precious metals that memory had left blank.

Even for as tiny as she was, the little filly wore the honored right of royalty proudly upon its head as it slept for the first time in the sheets of its own bed.

The Little Princess’s bigger sister looked with wide shining eyes of wonder at its new best friend in the entire world. Promises were made that day, words of love and friendship were spoken by the able bodied, but their sounds have long since been forgotten; the only remains were that of one sister sneaking into this room well past her bedtime to admire the new addition to her life. All while she stretched her growing body as far as she could, from the tips of her hooves up to the top of its decorated head to see the insides of the crib that had been labeled by a shining plaque, “Luna” .

Time rushed ahead and forwarded itself on the two. Celestia was no longer stretching her body as far as she could over a child’s safety barrier, but instead she was sitting on a large cushion that she had taken from her couch. She sat, back curved as to shift and prop her head up high into the air, allowing the clean and pristine youthful feathers, that had looked faded, stand out and be extended as far as they could. Her eyes were at about a quarter closed, and her head was level, purposefully looking down at the guest of her small table, just the way she was being prepared for.

Across the small wooden table with a vibrantly faded sun on it, occupied by unbreakable plates full of pastries and a teapot of juice, a darker shaded filly sat slouched against the back of a miniature chair. Eyes wide open and filled full of amazement over sitting at a big filly’s table.

The bigger sister kept her composure and sipped her refreshments at a mechanical pace, speaking at a controlled canter to her sister like she would spy adults doing when discussing things over tea.

Her sister, still wearing a diaper, did not have the experience or pleasure to witness how to properly attend this type of a party.

She clumsily knocked over and spilt juice as she attempted to drink and eat with her hooves.

The older sister kept her cool, many napkins and towels were on standby from a prior attempt at a tea party, and she kept speaking calmly. She took a nibble from a biscuit, a sip from her cup, and kept up a largely one sided conversation with big words that she, let alone her dear sister, had no idea as to what they meant.

But then, just then, Celestia had an idea. This idea was so great that it broke the fillies self-trained composure as she immediately got up from the table and made her way to a large toy chest. She threw the heavy wooden chest open and then dipped her horned head into the box. Her visitor, who was distracted by her sudden exit from the table, laughed at the scene of her shaking her mark-less bum in the air as she dug through her personal belongings.

From the sea of toys, she reemerged with a long brimmed sunhat with a beautiful bow around the top of it, all equally different shades of decay.

The brighter of the two sisters walked her way back to the table, reorganized herself, gingerly removed her tiara, and set it down carefully onto the tabletop before she donned her special tea party hat.

She regained her proper pose and began to talk nonsense again with too many out of place words. But Luna did not see her. Instead, the alicorn foal had stopped mid quest for snacks and was fixated on her sister's colorless headwear sitting atop the table.

Celestia stopped; she was not blind to young Luna’s infatuation with her tiara. So, like a proper gentlemare, Celestia caused the shiny metal loop with a jewel in it to float over and then carefully set it atop the head of her sister that still held a chain and her birthstone.

Luna bounced in her seat with giddy excitement. She looked up, crossing her eyes, craning her neck and darting her head around to try and get a glimpse of how she looked with the shiny metal object riding atop her cranium.
She stopped, she looked back to her sister who was sitting with a drink close to her lips. Her mouth moved, saying something before trying and failing to control her smirk.

Luna shook herself and did her best to mimic her sister. Fluttering her wings, arching her back, leveling her head, causing a glow to start at the tip of her horn and shaking a biscuit in a weak, pulsing light. While the pastry shook under the unstable grip, another glow, lighter in hue, also surrounded its form and it slowly rose to the younger filly's lips.

Luna laughed as she took a bite of her snack and clapped her hooves together.

The monocolored tiara atop Luna’s head faded in and out of reality. This time, when the picture became clear, it was of a darker shade, a different design, with different stones decorating its peaks, and overall more fitting to her own coat’s tone. But, even though her headwear was made specifically to fit her head perfectly, the small piece of jewelry was having the hardest time in doing so.

Like corn kernels above a fire, Luna’s headwear bounced up and down atop her temple as she raced as fast as she could after her prey.

Hunter and hunted darted across an empty field of grass, through a doorway, and into the cover of the garden. They shot past voluptuous bushes full of blank leaves and over troughs of scentless flowers. The tinier princess pounded her stubby hooves against the grass as hard as she could, trying to get a leg up on her quarry who was practically tripping over her own growing hooves.

The chaser pounced, opening her wings and flapping them for one quick burst of speed into the backside of her target. The two tumbled and rolled, manes were intertwined and tiaras fell to the ground. When it was all said and done, Luna was pinning Celestia back first to the ground. The older sister laughed as she tried to roll and worm her way out of the capturing grapple of her hunter, but could not keep up fighting as Luna opened wide and stuffed as much of her lighter sister’s flesh into her mouth and then blew all of her air out.

The older princess had no hope to escape the paralyzing fit of giggles that locked her body up. She stretched her long hooves out as far as she could and gave in to her capturer.
Little Luna sat up and established herself as the queen of the hill right atop her sister, and, for a second, Celestia sat and allowed her to bask in her glory. Without any warning, the dominated flipped over, sending the victor to the ground and in turn leaving her vulnerable. Celestia likewise pinned her foal sister, and both laughed as she tried to break free… but then, Luna stopped fighting. Celestia realized this and stopped too, then turned to see what had caught her sister’s attention.

Sitting atop a stoic flower was a beautifully colorful creature resting in the warm sunlight. Luna wormed her way out from beneath her sister and crawled her way to her newest discovery. Celestia, catching a glimpse of it as well, likewise inched her way towards it with Luna.

The two, both on the ground, sat with their noses a mere inch away from the attractor of their attention. Both, with curious eyes wide with awe, watched as the little butterfly opened up its wings and lit up their faces with its beauty.

They were caught, drunken in their ecstasy at the entrancer, before it flitted and fluttered its majestic wings about for its audience until it took to the air, flying away.

The two, like addicts to its effects, chased after the butterfly, jumping and reaching up to capture the beautiful creature, trying to keep it for themselves. The two raced around in circles, chasing after the careless insect, diving, flailing, rolling, and running in every which way that it moved to dodge their attempts to capture it. As the two young fillies gave the garden as much regard and care as a giant monster attacking a city would. The older of the two alicorns slowly began to fade away in her pursuit of her sister and their target.

As Luna kept running, she gave no regard to the slow disappearance of her sister as if it were not occurring. The view shifted; slowly, the angle of perspective pulled up and away from the dark shaded alicorn wearing an equally dark tiara. When it finally found its spot to rest within the castle overlooking the gardens.

Looking through the window to the freedom she yearned, Celestia sat at a table with her hooves supporting her head, book and tiara before her. She stared blankly at the book through dull, glazed over eyes.

She huffed; one half of the open book claimed a vast majority of pages, the half that she wished it would simply vanish. While rubbing her eyes, the older princess caused one of the pages to glow and flip over for her.

She gave a pout to her vain act and looked out the window, seeing young Luna still outside playing. She looked out upon her little sister and smiled. It felt relieving to see her so happy even though she simply wanted to close the book and join her. She turned back to the book and began to read once again. As strange as it was, the mere sight of a happy Luna was enough to put a smile on young Celestia’s face.

Time once again began to move at its own tempo as the scene progressed. The books became larger and with more chapters. Stacks began to be added to one side of the desk and reached higher up into the sky before they gradually shrunk and found their way to the opposite side of the desk. The Princess herself began to change as well; pudgy fat and weight began to grow upon her before it disappeared as smoothly as it came. Her body grew taller and taller as the skyscrapers of books that accompanied her, until the young filly shape was no longer recognizable from the lady looking, young mare that had taken her place.

Before too long, the Princess at the desk no longer looked out the window to find motivation for her studies. But instead, she looked at the desk beside hers, more specifically its occupant.

Like Celestia had done many winters ago, Luna occupied the smaller desk that had once belonged to the grown alicorn. And just like the forerunner before, she sat with a complete lack of attention and stared mindlessly at the book before her.

The most recent occupant of the study looked through her book with little interest, her eyes merely skimming through its contents and her head beginning to slip through her hooves.

Luna’s little ears drooped lower and lower from their properly alert position as her head became harder and harder to hold up. She yawned and smacked her tongue against the top of her mouth. She blinked again and, even though she tried, her eyelids began to slowly close. Like an approaching disaster, her head slowly slipped between her hooves at the same rate as her beautiful- yet at the same time, dull- eyes closed.

A quick pair of lips darted close to her ear and quiet secrets were shared. Thanks to the sudden violation of her personal space, the filly shot awake, startled. She looked to her side and then up, as she had seen when she first sat at her desk, a tall mare was sitting beside her, looking down at a book.

The bigger alicorn tilted her head a teeny bit and gave the filly beside her a wink.

Luna began to speak, animating her words with her hooves, pointing at her book and then out the window at the beautiful day outside. The two conversed, resulting in a more dynamic protest by the smaller of the two until she finally pushed her book away and crossed her hooves across her chest, a pout on her face.

Celestia paused, looking at her sister and the situation that she presented. The big Princess looked at the book that she was reading, and then had an idea.

Luna began to glow in magic as she was lifted from her bench and brought beside her sister. Her book was likewise brought over from her own table and then placed atop her sister's textbook.

A stand was summoned, and the novel was set at an angle so that little Luna could read it while her head poked over the raised platform of a desk.

The youngest looked up, and the two talked again. When the chat was over, Luna found herself leaning against her sister as the two started to read, slowly, in tandem; the older of the two waiting and keeping her pace nice and slow for the little one beside her to follow along in the book.

All the while, their two tiaras rested on the table before them, waiting to claim their place atop their mistresses’ domes.

The sight of the two sisters leaning against each other over columns of books dissipated as the strong blocks of the castle were turned into nothing. Through the haze of all this, the castle began to reappear into the picture, once again forming into the expertly and perfectly laid bricks from another area of the castle.

But, unlike the big sister and little sister duo from before, two dramatically different ponies were present in this room, one standing off to the side while the other was surrounded by an assembly of other, much smaller, mares.

Celestia sat on her bottom, allowing dressers and cosmetologists to muscle and order her around, spreading powder, blush, makeup, and a number of other cosmetics across her face at an efficient rate that would only be rivaled by an assembly line.

The experts came and went as they started and completed their jobs, but as always, her foal sister was right at her side.

Luna kept her distance for the time being, not wanting to be in the way as her sister was fixed up and pampered like a prized model. She watched with the type of honest and natural admiration and attention that any good sibling would have at this point. Even though she was the younger of the two, she would not be comfortably called the "little" sister anymore. But, as mature as her body was, the affection she shared had not changed.

The dark alicorn waited patiently, and sure enough, the chamber maidens ceased their efforts to boost the beauty of their Princess anymore and exited the room, leaving her to prepare in privacy.

As the two began a conversation, Luna approached her sister but dared not touch her lest she provoked the beauty patrol to come back.

Luna walked in circle, orbiting her sister and inspecting every last bit of her with a happy smile.

Celestia was not her normally cheery self. For what felt like the first time in ages, tomes of worry and uncertainty were evident in her face. She was speaking to her sister, but her attention was downwards, towards her dress. She kept smoothing it and trying her best to gently ensure it did not hinder her movements.

Luna stopped stalking around her bothered sister and sat before her, spreading her wings; then, in an almost snooty way, pointed her nose up and made a statement. She kept the tiniest sliver of her eyelids open so she could take a peek at her sister's reaction to what she said.

Celestia, mid tug, let go of her dress. Her mouth was open. She stared at Luna with her pupils dilated to gigantic proportions.

She closed her mouth and then asked Luna to repeat herself, to which she did.

Celestia charged a step forward and took Luna in a tight embrace, ignoring whatever the imprint of her sister was doing to the dress that she had been painstakingly trying to straighten. Celestia gave Luna a peck on the side of the head and then whispered something into her ear.

Celestia let go of her sister and summoned a chest over from one of the corners of her room. Luna cocked her head sideways at the box, wondering of its contents before returning her attention to her sister, who was now wearing a big ceremonial crown.

The treasure chest opened, and light flooded out of it.

Now It was Luna’s turn to have her jaw drop in disbelief.

Celestia nodded.

Luna shook her head and constantly repeated her claims of denial. But, try as she must, she could not stop Celestia or her gift.

Rising gently from the padded box was Celestia’s tiara, the one the crown was substituting for the occasion. Its rightful owner said a few words before she placed it upon her sister's head.

Luna removed her dark headwear and, for a moment, marveled at the honor she was given, then she happily bounced up and down around her sister... but stopped dead in her tracks when a loud sound from the clock on the wall warranted hers and her sister’s attention.

With Luna as a chaperone, the newly crowned Princess of the Sun walked out a glass door, to the awaiting citizens of Equestria.

Luna stepped aside and allowed her sister to approach the railing alone. The lightly toned alicorn in a dress and crown took a deep breath, puffed her cheeks out, and then exhaled slowly. She smiled, and then took to the air, gently rising up and up for all to see and just as she had practiced, the sun followed her command; it was the first official Sunrise by the dressed alicorn.

But, as time had taken to this occasion, the world changed at its own whim. The light faded to darkness, torches lit along the streets, the sun peeking over the horizon turned into the moon and instead of the first diarchal Princess of Equestria, it was Luna who landed on the stone balcony.

The Younger alicorn looked up to see her own work and beamed with pride as the Moon hung over her land. Trails of light flew up into the sky before exploding in once bright, now dull lights. Ponies cheered from the streets below as banners displaying the sun and moon were waved by the patriots.

But, through all this praise and cheer, the first thing Luna did after her work was done was turn her body around and, as she wanted, her sister was right beside her, wearing her usual warm smile, and a dark colored wreath of metal on her head.

Time blasted ahead again through the cold winter’s night, changing the seasons in a matter of seconds, years passed by in the span of a blink. In the same way that time had tarnished these memories, the attributes of the celebrations disappeared. Every time the scene repeated, Luna would land on the balcony and there would be less and less ponies standing in the cold snow below, less fireworks being shot into the sky, less vendors taking the time to stay out in the cold night to accompany the dying celebration; Until there was but one observer.

Then, like the rest, the final domino fell.

The towering, alicorn Princess of the sun found herself broken from her normal composure. She ran as fast as she could through the halls of her home, shooting through doorways and pushing past anything that got in her way. She was running late, and would not make it otherwise.

Celestia pushed through the last door, sliding to a halt, her chest rising and falling from the sudden burst of adrenaline that she had become victim to. Her hot breath exited her mouth as white clouds, like the way a dragon snored, and she kept panting to keep her muscles full of oxygen.

Did she make it?

She stepped forward towards the balcony, indenting her hoofs into the snow as she approached the terrace’s other occupant.

She whispered a few words and gently reached a hoof out towards her partner. She delicately set it on her shoulder.

The pony leaning against the balcony turned around in haste and stared up at the mare who had come to see her. She slapped her sister's hoof off of herself as bright shining tears reflecting the moonlight flowed down her cheeks. She pushed past her sister and rushed for the door.

Celestia called for her sister, trying to get her attention while following her closely until the door of the veranda slammed shut in her face.

Celestia's eyes slammed shut and her hooves instinctively found their way to her nose, the pain of the impact caused her to lose her balance and fell on her bottom. But, no matter how much the wound stung, the mere thought of what had happened hurt even worse. She sat there, alone on the snow filled balcony as tears of her own began to form up in the corner of her eyes and slowly flow over her own eyelids. She let loose a few whimpers as she sat alone one the snow filled balcony. She snuffed and snuffed, still nursing the bridge of her nose, and then slowly realized another pain that ailed her. Not from her nose, or anywhere else on her anatomy… but her heart.

Where was Luna… did she not notice that she was hurt?

She had tried to make it back in time to see her sister; why else would she have come all the way out here? Luna knew that she cared... didn’t she?

The tall alicorn sat alone on the outlook of the city, surely her sister would come back. Luna knew she loved her, she would come back to see her? Wouldn't she?

Celestia waited, surely Luna would return…

She never did…

Alone in the snow, Princess Celestia sat on her backside with the cold realization that her sister did not care enough to come and check on her…
Her innocence was lost.

The wounded Princess brought her hooves up from her broken nose and covered her eyes, wiping the tears away from them. Her nose eventually healed, the snow melted as it always would. Seasons came and seasons went, but Luna never did.

The Princess finally uncovered her eyes , and as she did, her nose became broken once again.

She was no longer standing atop her castle, and unlike before, her sister had finally returned. But not in the way that she had anticipated.

Luna’s surprise homecoming had been decorated with broken tiles and shattered glass. The castle’s defenses were nowhere to be seen, leaving the Princess of the Sun by herself and stunned at the disarray of the place that they had once called home.

Luna herself had changed as well since the last time the two had seen each other. Celestia could hardly recognize Luna when she saw her; she must have been a terrible sister.

But then again, “Princess Luna” was not who this mare wished to be, and the broken nose was her welcoming gift.

This time, the lighter Princess did not allow the pain of her nose to prevent her from doing the right thing. She tried to talk, to seek forgiveness, so they could move on together. But her offers were returned with demands, ultimatums, and agendas. Both had spent years of their lives studying and believing in the ways of diplomacy, but neither one was interested in not having their way.

Many words were spoken during that argument, the type of words that could not be taken back, the type of words that should never leave a sister’s mouth… but they did.

Luna stood proud upon the bed of thorns her tongue weaved for the one she had once called her kin, and to the other mare, the words cut deep into her soul.

Celestia stomped her hooves down onto the stone floor , her tears falling freely from the irritated and saturated crevices of her face. As loud as she could, she shouted out three very simple words, the same words she used to tell Luna all those years ago, her composure compromised, her legs trembling. Her last ditch effort.

Her guest stood straighter and smirked. She looked away and said something, then, as if they were playing a game of horseshoes, a metallic object skipped across the floor, finally resting at the sun sovereign's hooves.

Celestia collapsed to her haunches, tenderly reaching down and touching the "gift".

Luna’s tiara…

Trembling, she gingerly took the jewelry into her grasp, stuffing it against her chest, warming its cold texture against her breast as she failed to hold her emotions back.

As the distraught mare sobbed to herself, her visitor approached, walking in circles around her like a bully on a playground, talking down to her while she held the heirloom as close as she could to her heart.

Then, the trembling and sobbing stopped. The wounded pony's hooves tensed, her heart began to beat faster and faster. She looked up at her tormentor with a new drive of determination that burned her tears away. She returned to her hooves, throwing the prized object aside and summoning six glowing jewels to her side.

The dark colored tiara bounced to the outlying regions of the room, but when it stopped, it was, surprisingly, at the hooves of another pony. Supplying the only colors to the monotone, acidic, and decayed dream, a present representation of Celestia had been standing there, watching throughout the preceding events, acting as the lone spectator to the memories she would have better left forgotten.

The strength and conviction that her past self was valiantly showing at this moment long ago was vacant from the aged and experienced mare as she lost her footing and fell before her sister’s prized possessions. No matter what she had tried, she was stuck in the loop, never able to not witness these events for every year on this exact night since it happened.

The sights kept coming, unrelenting in their quest to punish her. Every glimpse of the past caused more and more of her heart to break over her mistakes.

Her foal sister asleep in her crib.

Their tea parties.

How they would play in the gardens.

That she would watch over Luna when she was forced to play by herself.

When they would read together.

How Luna wanted to be like her on her coronation day.

The fact that the pony Luna wanted to be admired by the most, was her.

And now the sum of it all, the two were fighting over who would decide the future of the nation that they had once been so proud of.

The leader that ponies admired as being the epitome of perfection could not watch as her little foal sister, no matter what she became, cried out in wide mouthed yet silent bellows of pain as magic from the elements lashed out against her and then countered with her own dark magic. Celestia broke down from her crumbling façade into a full sob, throwing her head onto the floor and covering it with her hooves to try and block the flashes of light that the Elements of Harmony gave off and illuminated the room.

She was a complete wreck, she was pitiful. Reduced to cowering on the floor and trying to simply block out the documented fight before her, the dreaming alicorn felt a tap at her side.

She looked up, and her sister, the one she had seen off to Ponyville to take part in the festival, was standing over her, standing in a cordial and proper posture, with her head only slightly pointed down and her wings sticking out.

Through labored and shaky breaths, Celestia looked up at her. She was out of her element, vulnerable, compromised and weak. She did not attempt to do anything but look up at the Mistress of the night with watery eyes. She was in no place to defend herself, nor was she planning on doing so.

Princess Luna’s judgmental eyes cast a gaze down upon her elder sister as she uselessly tried to wipe her vision clear. The dreams were indeed Luna’s territory, she held all of the power.

The Princess took a step forward, right up to her sister and then slowly set her hooves around her neck and head, granting her a shoulder to cry on. That shoulder of which she gladly took.

Strobes and flashes of light lit up the two in the largely colorless dream. Luna pulled herself away and angled her sister’s head in a way that she could look into her eyes. Luna gently cleaned a few stray tears and then combed her hoof through her sister’s head, fixing loose cords of mane before she looked into her eyes.

Celestia opened her mouth, beginning to voice sorrow and an apology, but Luna simply covered it with the tip of her hoof and shook her head. There was no need for an explanation. No words had to be spoken. Nothing that the younger of the two did not already know.

She stepped aside and began poke, prod, and nudge her sister back to her hooves. The two headed for the nearest wall. The Princess of the Night kept up her slow walk towards it and simply was absorbed into it. Her sister followed, exiting the dream that she had dreamt more than one thousand times.

As the two princesses vacated the dream, a bright light lit the wall they had used as an exit, projecting a pony bracing a storm of magic that had overtaken its defenses, leaving only a mark on the wall from where her shadow had protected it from the light.

The flash overcame everything; there were no sights, no sounds, and no movements. Just like a closing of curtains, a simple fade to black.

Silence….

Author's Note