A mark of one's Destiny

Celestia held herself away from her student and her friends. She was so proud of Twilight Sparkle. She had been watching her for most of the young mare’s life, and while she knew this destiny was inevitable, she couldn’t help but think about that day so many centuries ago, when she first started down this path…

-1000 years ago-

Breathing heavily, Celestia returned to the ground. She still held the Elements of Harmony within her magic, and could still feel the tears streaming out of her eyes, unchecked.

She looked up at the moon, only to see that now it had the silhouette of a female unicorn branded across its surface, the only reminder of her sister left. She looked back to the ground as she heard the sound of hooves quickly galloping towards her. She quickly wiped at her face before turning to face them. “Your Majesty! We are so sorry it took so long to arrive to help-“

“Enough. It is done now.” Celestia cut the night guardsman off mid stream, before his apologies could make her show her weakness. “Where is my uncle?”

“On his way, your Grace.” The guard answered, as a magical pulse of blue appeared in the air. The faint sound of tinkling bells could be heard, and the great conjurer Starswirl the Bearded winked into being.

-Starswirl surveyed the scene that lay out before him. He had been called away with the majority of the castle guard to deal with a group of Sirens who had gone mad. Celestia had assured him that she would be fine with her regular duties, and cheering up Luna. The Princess of the Moon had been growing weary of how she was treated by the subjects of Equestria, and had been spiteful as of late. She had even been reluctant the last few mornings to lower the moon on time. She had begrudgingly done so at the behest of Celestia and himself. He had never fathomed that she would have been able to cause such carnage.

His eyes landed on Celestia. She was, as always, doing what was expected of her as Ruler of Equestria. But right now, her standing up rigidly and pretending to be capable of continuing on was not what should be expected.

“Guardsmen, I believe you are needed to begin the process of reparations.”

The Guardsmen snapped their hooves, and nodded their heads at the Mage. They then fell into a bow before their Princess, and with a wave of her hoof, were dismissed.

Starswirl watched them trot around the corner of the castle, out of sight, and then turned his attentions to his niece.

-Celestia felt a mild feeling of relief and gratitude wash over her at the calm way her uncle examined the situation and took charge. But, although she knew she could now allow herself to break down, she could only really feel a heavy sensation of numbness running through her. She didn’t feel the tears start to again fall heavy from her eyes, or the blood from the gashes running rampant across her body. She could only feel the hopelessness of what had just happened. She let her magic cut out, and the Elements started to fall towards the ground. She vaguely was aware of her uncle taking the gems into his own magic and placing them back into their containment.

She faintly heard Starswirl sigh as he came up behind her.

“My dear, what happened?”

Celestia opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t seem to get any words to form. The numbness had made its way to her head, and her thoughts seemed to blend together. Celestia’s knees started to buckle under her, and the ebbing blackness that had been tickling her mind suddenly overtook her. With a rush of pain, Celestia fell to the ground, into a tear soaked sleep.