Who Were They?

"Oh my little pony, wake up." cooed a soothing voice. Applejack's head pounded as she struggled to open her eyes and make out her surroundings.

"Where am ah?" she groaned. Her voice weak, she felt pain across her body.

"We found you by the river bank, you must have gone through several rapids and waterfalls judging by your injuries." said the voice.

Applejack managed to fully open her eyes as her vision started to gain focus again. She found herself in a large one room cabin, inside was a full kitchen in the middle of a large hospital bed filled room. "What is this place?" she turned to the voice to see a large caribou female with a nurse's cap and a red collar.

"A hospital on the edge of our great nation of Rangifer." explained the caribou nurse.

The mare has heard stories about the Caribou nation, a "no mare's land" where males rule and females have no rights.

"Now don't worry my pony, we are in a very remote part of the kingdom, you should be fine as long as you stay put and don't leave." instructed the nurse.

Applejack tried to move but felt a surge of pain shoot through her body. "What...happened to me?" she groaned in pain.

"Broke several ribs and a leg, don't worry, I managed to fix you up." she assured. "Now rest and take it easy."

"Ah can't, ah need to find my friends, on a mission-" Applejack tried to get up but the nurse stopped her.

"Let me soothe you." the nurse closed her eyes and her small antlers glowed. Applejack suddenly started to see visions of her family.

"Mama! Papa! Can we go play in the mud?!"

"Ah don't see why not, just as long as you wash yourself immediatly afterwards."

"YAY! You're the best parents ever!"

"Mama? Papa?" was the last thing the mare said with a smile before she fell asleep back on the bed.

"Works every time." smiled the nurse as she left the mare in peace to work on something else.

"How is she doctor?" asked Cadance as she, Shining and Twilight walked with the medical doctor to a medical room.

"She's fine, but she is still a bit emotional about the news of her sisters death." explained the doctor. "I suggest than you avoid mentioning anything upsetting to her."

"Like Sombra's escape?" chimed Shining.

"Especially that your highness." the doctor then opened the door to reveal a plain white room with Luna on the bed, back to the group and curled up tightly on the bed. "Go easy on her." he told the three royals before he left the room.

"Aunt Luna?" began Cadance with concern.

"Is...she...really dead?" mumbled Luna in a quiet voice.

"I am afraid so Aunt Luna." she was saddened to break her the news. "But she died defending the crystal empire, she died a hero."

"Was her death quick? Did she die peacefully?" the moon princess asked without facing the three visitors.

"She did." lied Twilight. "Her death was quick and peaceful."

"Was it Sombra that killed her?"

"No...it was this alicorn that went by the name Mistress Superior." answered Shining Armor.

Luna quickly shot out of bed and turned to the three ponies in her room. That name was all too familiar to her. "MISTRESS SUPERIOR?!"

"You know her?" asked Cadance.

"Know her...she raised us!"

"WHAT?!" Twilight, Cadance and Shining say with complete shock.

"Look, there is a lot about me and my sisters past that you have no idea about. Mistress Superior was the closest thing we ever had to a mother, to hear that it was her that killed Celestia is something that is hard to swallow." explained the blue alicorn. She got up and walked to a nearby dresser drawer. "Where's my regalia? Where's my armor?"

"Aunt Luna, what are you doing?!"

"To bring that sisterhood to justice and make sure Superior's new successor gets hanged for high treason!" she continued to search.

"Hanging?!" Twilight could not believe what Luna was talking about. "That sounds more like vengeance! Celestia has always taught me that justice must always take precedence over vengeance, it has no place in Equestria!"

The alicorn princess looked at her sister's former student with pity. "I have always felt that my sister has shielded you too much from how this world actually works, and I have always told her that she was making a mistake in doing that."

"Shielding me?!"

"Like the fact that you are the last of a long line of students my sister had, and only two of them ever succeeded in becoming alicorn princesses, everypony else failed, each failure feeling like another stab in her heart, each failure more painful than the last!"

"Celestia never told me that..." the unicorn was in complete shock.

"Celestia never told a lot of things." she turned over to her niece. "I demand that I be given some armor so I can lead an expedition to capture Superior's successor and her accomplices."

"Are you sure about this Auntie?" Cadance was very doubtful of her aunt's strength to do this.

"They have meddled in our affairs for long enough."

The pink alicorn sighed. "I'll have a guard fetch your armor for you."

"Thank you Cadance."

"But I am not doing this for vengeance, I am doing this for Aunt Celestia!"

"Understood."

Cadance turned to leave the room to get a guard to give her aunt her armor.

Twilight was in too much of a shock. What other things have Celestia failed to mention to her? How many students did she have before her? She felt her long held faith to her mentor fade with every passing moment. "Maybe Kage was right..."

In Canterlot, the castle remained empty apart from a skeleton crew of workers and guards that kept the place clean and working for when Luna or Cadance returned to rule Equestria from here. Flash Sentry was the head guard at the castle and walked around the castle as he made sure all of the guards under him did their duties.

"Another quiet...night..." Flash said as he realized it was actually past noon yet the sky remained dark as a reminder of Celestia's recent death.

He walked down the hallway with the stained glass windows. Still quiet. "It's so eerie to hear this place be so quiet and-" his words were quickly interrupted by a loud explosion that shattered all the stained glass windows.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE GREAT TIREK!" boomed a voice as the guard suddenly felt his magic drain from him, his world slowly became gray.

"Help...me..." he weakly cried as his energy drained away.