Only in my dreams

Luna walked into Celestia’s room, carrying a tray with a tea pot and small porcelain cups in her magic.

“Sister” Luna was met with silence, “Perhaps we can talk?” She waited a moment longer before delving further into the room. “Sister?”

Again, there was nothing but the quiet echo of her voice.

Luna realized she was alone in her sisters room and started to lightly hum to herself. Being the explorative mare she is, she couldn’t help but explore her sister’s room while Celestia was out. After all, whenever she entered her sisters room it was either to wake her from her slumber, or report important matters to her.

First, she started by sitting on Celestia’s bed. It was soft and plush. The moment her rump put weight on the cloth, it felt like several forces had started pushing her down.

Oh my, my sister. You treat yourself well. She chuckled to herself.

She rolled around in the bed for several moments, enjoying the time she was left there. However, with time, all fun fades and one has to find a new source of entertainment. No exceptions for The Princess of the Night.

Luna hopped off of Celestia’s bed, and looked around for something new to do. She soon spotted Celestia’s personal closet. Hoping to find something of interest, she trotted over to the the sliding door. Her horn lit up and the door slid open with no resistance.

Luna nearly screeched at what she saw.

oOo

Starswirl started to laugh, keeping her attention off of what she desperately needed to notice. “My Celestia. You have become quite the klutz lately, haven't you?”

“What are you saying?” She asked, anger rung in her voice.

He laughed once more. “What am I saying...” His words formed anything but a question, “What I’m saying is that you're missing something that’s right under your muzzle.” He cast a hoof outside of the shadows.

Under his fur, she could see the wrinkles in his skin that had formed over hundreds of years. Even with his magic being restrained, he should have easily been able to keep himself young.  “And I’ll be sure to tell you soon.” Again, he started laughing like a mad pony, “If you come back alive.”

Celestia looked confused. “What’s that supposed to-” She stopped as something wrapped around her torso, “Oh me”

oOo

Luna gasped as a large roll of wrapped plastic descended in her magic. It was coated in hundreds of tiny bubbles. She quickly unrolled the large plastic sheet and laid it on the ground. She took a moment to decide what to do with it.

The first thing that came into her mind was to pop all the bubbles between her hooves.

However, another idea crossed her mind before any actions were taken.

She took the sheet with her magic and brought it close to her face. She started by wrapping it around her neck before proceeding to cover her body in plastic wrapping.

Luna had covered her entire body in the bubbly plastic. Neck to flank and down her legs, there was no fur showing on her entire body other than her head. “ Aha!” She cried in joy. “ With this, I will become completely immune blunt objects!”

Suddenly, before she could praise herself further, she heard a loud boom from below and the castle seemed to shake under her hooves.

Which servant hath made a grave mistake this time!

oOo

Celestia found herself flying through the air. The wind rushed through her mane as she was slammed against the stone wall.

A large, grey creature came rushing at her. Saliva poured from it’s mouth, leaving wet patches of stone wherever it passed. Celestia moved out from the beasts path, barely missing it’s massive paw as it crashed into the wall.

It lifted it’s arm from where it had landed and slammed it down where Celestia was standing. She moved out of the way again, narrowly avoiding injury. She could hear Starswirl laughing in the background.

“Too bad you locked your only chance of a savior on the moon, Celestia!”

He moved into full view, exposing his entire body. But what caught her eye the most were his own eyes. They had turned into a blood red color.

“Now you’ll die here, under my hoof, with no hope of survival!” He clopped his hooves on the ground, and his laugh turning from evil to childish.

The beast threw another paw at Celestia. Only this time, she was distracted, leaving her open. The impact sent her flying through the air again.

Dust filled the air around her, leaving her confused and disabled. The blue glow of Starswirls cell being the only object she could see.

She pried herself from the hole she was pressed in and shook her head to regain her ability to think straight. As if on triggered by her regaining her ability to think, the dust settled, leaving her exposed and still unable to act properly.

Suddenly, a bright blue light filled the corner of her vision.

Before she could react, the source of the light directly hit her body. She fell to the ground as she was so nearly electrocuted by what had used to be Starswirls cage.

With her energy drained, she lay panting on the ground. She tried getting back on her hooves, only to find they were unresponsive. She could feel her magic try and heal her body, but was stopped every attempt left her in greater distress.

Starswirl moved towards her limp body, chuckling all the while, “ Look at you, Celestia. Ruler of an empire, strongest magical being to ever exist. Far greater than the ones that brought you into this world, and yet here you lay at my hooves. I could do whatever I wanted to you now. And do you know why?"

Celestia eyed the stallion from her lower position. She could see the good in his heart that had been covered by so many layers of hatred and disgust. She wanted to say something back, but was completely unable to speak.

" Because your weak!" Starswirld slammed his hoof down in front of her muzzle, causing her to flinch, which in turn caused more pain to course through her body.

He turned his eyes toward the stone beast, motioning it forward. It approached the two of them.

“And now with nopony to save your flank, there’s nothing to stop me from taking it all.”

The large beast was just at some hooves of distance away from the two of them. Starswirl lifted his horn in the air. The beast took it in his paw, crushing the device that had been used to keep him from using most of his magic. His body started to heal itself. What used to be wrinkled skin had flattened, making him look some decades younger. His grayed fur had started to turn dark blue and his eyes returned to their original purple color. In his current form, he could pass as any other young stallion.

“How about I tell you a little story before I kill you hmm?”

“Not too many years ago, your parents locked me in that cage. The thing is, they didn’t do it with a good reason.” He stomped his hoof on the ground, “ They said, and I quote ‘You have become to powerful be allowed to publicly expose yourself. And for this reason, you will be securely kept in a place where your powers will not go out of control and you can be brought back in the case that your power is needed.’ You see? Nonsense!” He stomped his hoof down, cracking the stone under his hoof.

He kicked Celestia in the side, taking his anger out on her. “They betrayed me, Celestia! And here you are, taking the punishment for their decision. And the punishment is death.” He lowered his horn to her neck, and lightly pushed it against her flesh. A single drop of blood fell from Celestia’s neck, “I honestly hope you’re not ready.”

Celestia closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, only to fell his horn pull away from her. She craned her neck to see what had happened.

“One more thing before I put you down,” He smiled from ear to ear and lifted his hoof above her head, “I’ve always wondered how much stress you could put on a princesses horn before it snaps.”

Her eyes clamped shut as he brought his hoof down on upon her horn, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces.

Celestia screamed as pain coursed through her body. Starswirl obviously enjoyed torturing the mare, “Oh? little shattered pieces. Even better.”

He observed his hoof to check for any damage to he may have caused himself, but found nothing. “You know, maybe it’ll be more entertaining to watch something else kill you. I’ve had my fun.”

He looked up at the beast, which had been patiently watching the entire time.

“Kill her.”

Celestia could almost see it smile as it approached her.

She was hit by a large drop of saliva that came from its mouth. It slowly raised it’s arm far above her body, preparing to bring it down onto her with full force.

Celestia shut her eyes, preparing for the worst.

The sound of the air splitting as the monstrosities wized through the air, but was soon replaced by a much different sound of magic.

Suddenly, she heard another thunderous clap of stone hitting stone and magic pulsing through the air.  A loud wail came from the monster looming over her body. The beast fell apart into a pile of rubble as Luna shoot it with bolt after bolt of pure magical energy.

She flew past the rocks and to her sister, completely ignoring Starswirl’s presence, “Sister! Are you okay?” Luna poked at her sister's body for a moment before she responded.

Starswirl lost himself at the sight before him. Seeing the trouble he was in, he used what little energy he regained to teleport himself outside the castle walls.

“Get... Starswirl...” She rasped. Luna caught Celestias head she fell unconscious.

Luna looked for any traces of the stallion, but found nothing. He was gone already.

oOo

Celestia found herself once more following the young boy around in his daily life. First, she started with him at home, waiting to leave his room ‘till his father was gone. Then, rushing off to school just to be bullied around by his classmates.

Truly, she hated her inability to help him.

Once he had arrived he went straight to class, and sat himself in the back of the room. Soon enough, other students started to wonder in. Others sat themselves near the back with the same boy that Celestia watched over every night.

Another young male sat directly to his right. He had brown hair and blue eyes. His face was tense and he had the body build of human girl.

“Hey Jesse!” he teased, “ You get any new dolls lately? I bet they match your name.” The kid started to laugh wildly.

Jesse laid his head down on his desk as he tried his best to ignore the verbal assult that came from his classmate.

The day passed with nothing other than teasing and bullying. It was the same as any other day and Celestia hated it.

With the school day gone, Jesse started on his walk home.

She could feel herself waking up. The normally heavy coat of pressure lightened and her vision blurred.

I’ll see you again soon, Jesse.

oOo

Celestia’s eyes fluttered open. Above her, stood her younger sister, Luna.

She tried to lift her head off the pillow, but was pushed back down as a flash of pain passed her. Luna looked at her like she was stupid, but instead of insulting her, she offered only words filled with pain.

" Rest sweet sister of mine." Luna nuzzled her sisters cheek, offering a small amount of comfort to pained mare. " You need it more than ever now."