Nobody knew how it happened, it just did.
It all started like a common cold; watery eyes, runny nose, a sneeze here and there. But that was the problem.
She was sick. Celestia was sick. An alicorn as old and powerful as her doesn't catch the cold, or sink into illness’s wake. In fact, there wasn’t any sort of record that spoke of the beloved ruler having allergies.
Little was thought of it, at first. Unalarmed by events, the Sun Goddess merely brushed it away, and continued on with her duties. But by week’s end, she started to get worse. A fever, headaches, weakness that felt like the very essence of life was being drained from her.
The first to notice was her sister, Luna. At first she thought Celestia was being lazy or was still tired from the day before. It wasn’t a concern for the Princess of the Night either, until Celestia was so weak she could barely move.
Twilight Sparkle was summoned to Canterlot by Princess Luna, to aid in the governance and duties of the throne until Celestia got better.
But she didn't.
The Doctor’s of Canterlot responded quickly and efficiently, sealing off the Sun Tower, and running all their tests and practices. But despite all their knowledge and skill, not a single one knew what had befallen Celestia. Alicorns were creatures of divinity to them, and months before, they balked at the very notion that one could even fall ill. Now, they had no other option but to follow the protocol. Medicine, rest and leave everything else to the patient’s body, with the hope that she might get better the next couple of days.
Never could they have been so wrong.
She remained sick those next days, some could even say she was getting worse. Luna, seeing that time had started to run short for her sister, called out to every nation for help.Griffon priests gathered together, mystic shaman from the Zebra Clans journeyed, and the mighty Buffalo Tribes sent their wisest elders to aid the afflicted Princess.
But it didn't help.
They were left as clueless as the prestigious unicorn doctors of Canterlot had been. No medicine was effective, not a single spell changed her state and no herbs or potions would do anything. No cure could be found.
Then one day it happened.
Celestia couldn't as much as move, speak or even open her eyes. She was in a coma, fighting for her life. All the medical professionals that had been brought in, were thanked and sent back home. Celestia was beyond their help now, and for better or worse, fate now held the life of the beloved Princess in her hoofs.
Luna was in the worst condition out of the three princesses. Her mane unkempt, coat in sore need of brushing, but the most noticeable was the bags below her eyes. She visited Celestia every moment she could. Sometimes, she would tell the comatose Princess what had happened that day, complaining about uptight nobles, stubborn ambassadors, or sharing a good, if rather long explained joke. Other times, she would sit there and stare out the window, her thoughts on that fateful day nearly a thousand years ago. The time that had been wasted over selfishness. Over bitterness.
She was not the only one that visited the Princess, no. Twilight, ever the faithful student, would come visit the mare that had been like a second mother to her. She’d read stories, give friendship reports, recent the recent adventures she had, and… would wait. Cadence traveled from the Crystal Empire the moment Celestia’s condition took this recent turn for the worse, and helped the other Princesses as much as she could. But Cadence struggled to be at her Aunt's side alone.
But nopony could be prepared for what would happen next.
A couple of hours after the sun had set a nurse went to check on Celestia. She was one of the few ponies allowed to attend and much less see Celestia in such state she was in. It was suppose to be a routine shift check; take her vitals, inspect the IV fluids, move her if necessary.
The nurse could see that the bag was doing ok, maybe two more trips and she would need to change it for a new one. Celestia’s temperature was surprisingly lower than before, three whole degrees below, finally getting close to the normal range. A small smile made its way onto the nurse’s face, it seems the princess is getting better she thought. Then she moved on to check her pulse.
That was, if she could even find it. At first she thought it was a rookie mistake, probably put her hoof on the wrong place so she tried again.
Nothing.
Frowning, the nurse moved her hoof away from Celestia’s leg, and placed it along the vein on the mare’s slender neck.
Nothing.
Panic was setting in.
The nurse brought out her stethoscope and placed it were her heart should be beating just to make sure it wasn't her mistake.
Still nothing.
The small smile that had appeared was now fully removed and an expression of both worry and desperation now took its place. A freezing chill went down her spine, and her vision became cloudy with tears. She could not believe what she was seeing, her mind wouldn't let her. The nurse stayed there unmoving for a few seconds until her brain finally rebooted and ran out screaming as loud as her lungs would let her for a doctor.
The only noise that could be heard in celestia’s room was that of quill scratching on parchment.
Date of death: 18 of August 1805 A.D.
Location of death: City of Canterlot, Kingdom of Equestria
Cause of death: Unknown illness
Name of the patient:
The doctor stopped writing taking his time to fully wrap his mind around the name he was about to write down.
Princess Celestia, Co-ruler of Equestria
It was hard writing down those words. It was just as hard as believing the nurse who had told him about Celestia's death. He struggled to believe he was filling out Celestia's death certificate.
It was harder trying to tell Princess Luna and Twilight about it and even more difficult seeing their mixed reactions after reviving the somber news. Princess Twilight's reaction was predictably denial followed by uncontrollable crying. But Princess Luna's was the most unexpected.
The Lunar Princess said nothing, showed no emotion. Her only reaction was a simple request, that they be left alone with her sister.
As soon as the doctor left and the door clicked shut, Twilight immediately launched herself to the side of Celestia's bed crying even harder. Luna on the other hoof could only stand there stoically observing the now lifeless body of her beloved sister. Celestia appeared to be more of a shadow than the expression ment. Her once pristine ivory coat now grey and with patches of stiff fur from all her sweating. The colorful, ethereal mane that waved in an nonexistent wind now lost all its shine, unmoving and with a tone of grey. Her once long, majestic wings now lay limp by her sides, and finally her beautiful kind eyes were now shut, lifeless for the rest of eternity.
Luna knew this day would come but she never imagined it would come this fast, she had thought that in two maybe three more millennia, but never a few years after her return from the moon.
She bit her lip, and held the waves of emotions back. Not now, not here. Later, when the time was right, she would grieve, she would mourn, and she would rage against the heavens and the powers of fate until her strength was spent.
Her attention shifted from her sister’s body, and to the young purple alicorn next to her.
Twilight was still crying, the once dry hospital bed sheets now soaked in tears, the tears of Celestia's most prized student. Her crying was interrupted by the sudden movement of those very sheets, she glanced up hoping to see some kind of miracle bringing back her teacher but instead only found the sight of bedsheets being covered in a navy blue aura as Luna covered Celestia's body with the bedsheets as it is regularly done when somepony passes away.
Their eyes met, all it took was one look into Luna's eyes to understand what she was trying to tell her.
It's time to go
With a slow, understanding nod Twilight gave her beloved teacher her final goodbye before the funeral procession.
One week had passed, one week since the passing of Princess Celestia, one week since the announcement that stated to the masses that their beloved ruler was no longer with them and most importantly one week of careful planning and preparing for celestia’s funeral procession, what might as well be the second most important date of recent history, the first being obviously the date of her death.
The orange tinted sky revealed that morning had came and due to Celestia's funeral procession the sun had not been risen, at least not yet.
Everypony in the Royal Guard knew what had to be done, it was a simple but yet very difficult task to be carried out, pulling Princess Celestia's hearse throughout the city was not going to be a simple task. Not because of the weight of the hearse, no it was due to the emotional strain of having to pull the now dead body of their beloved princess.
In front of them was a golden hearse with a sun engraved at each side and decorated with the occasional gem here and there. The top was a completely transparent glass cover designed to let everypony see who was inside. Princess Celestia, their once kind ruler could be seen by anyone who dared see inside the hearse.
The four guards latched on to the hearse and began pulling. Princess Luna, who was leading the procession, took the lead as the Solar Guard formed up around them.
The castle gates opened revealing Canterlot's main street absolutely filled with ponies who wished to give their beloved princess one last farewell. Out cantered the guards and Princess at a steady pace ready to begin the funeral procession into the main streets of canterlot where most certainly the whole city was gathered in mourning.
Princess Celestia's body had been prepared to look better than she had ever looked, in her lifetime due to constantly being busy running the country especially after her sister’s banishment. Having to deal with annoying nobles and ambassadors time after time for millennia had taken a toll on the the princess who had started to neglect her appearance, not giving enough time to herself.
Her golden horseshoes and chestplate had been polished to a point where one could use it as a mirror, her coat was well groomed and radiant and both her mane and tail were strewn in small white flowers.It was a beautiful and yet saddening sight to everypony there causing even some of the guards keeping the crowd of ponies at bay to shed liquid grief as the hearse passed by them.
Finally, after passing through the main streets of Canterlot the procession was lead to a cliff just outside the outer walls overlooking the valley below where one could see the spot the sun should be rising from. There the Elements of Harmony, Princess Cadence, Shining Armour and some of Celestia’s closest friends, were gathered. No one knew why they were there, most had thought that after passing through Canterlot’s streets they were to go to Celestia's final resting place to be buried.
The four guards pulling the hearse unhitched themselves and joined the six guards that were flanking the hearse just as Luna had told them. Luna on the other hoof was standing there admiring the orange tinted sky that was waiting for the sun to rise. Just as Cadence was about to ask Luna what was going on, Luna’s horn lit up and the hearse’s glass top started to open causing everypony present to let out a small gasp.
After the top had been fully opened Luna’s aura faded from the hearse and started to surround Celestia's body causing it to start to slowly hover over the hearse much to everypony’s surprise. Luna opened her wings and reached out to the sun with her magic, she slowly managed to connect herself to the sun just like Celestia had when she first took control of the star. Luna stretched out her wings and gave a single, mighty flap, lifting herself into the air just above the sun like her sister had done countless times on every Summer Sun Celebration, Celestia’s body followed suit with the rising sun just behind her.
Everypony present was left with their mouth agape never expecting the events that were transpiring. Celestia's body started to shine, at first it was indistinguishable, but then it got brighter and brighter until both Celestia and her sun were shining bright as one another until they became one. Nopony present could keep looking in that direction, the brightness of it all causing all to either shut their eyes or turn their heads another way. When the light resided they were greeted by the sight of their sole ruler finishing raising the sun.
Luna’s hooves finally rested onto the hill, as she looked over the Land of Equestria. The Sun was finally up, and in the first time in three thousand years, there was no sister to greet her, or help her. Not caring about anypony around, Princess Luna for the first time since the death of her sister finally broke down crying, the weight of her sister’s death finally catching up.
Many hours had passed and nopony there had the heart to tell Luna it was time to go, some had already left but those who remained accompanied Luna until she felt ready to leave, ready to lead Equestria into a new era, the Lunar Era.