Not according to her design

It had all gone accordingly to her design, all the planning and necessary steps had been taken to ensure that everything would turn out the way Celestia wanted it to be.

The Sun Princess stared up at the moon, now absent of her sister’s visage that had once made all the ponies of Equestria stare up in a mixture of wonder, curiosity, and nervousness. She let out her breath, watching it evaporate into the cold, night air and smiled. Celestia had perched herself on top of a low-hanging cloud overlooking the Everfree: a vast, dark forest with an assortment of beasts other creatures only told of in campfire stories. Down below her, were the ruins of a castle where events a thousand years in the making were taking place.

Even now she could hear the commotion coming from the main foyer of the ruins, dominated by a loud, haughty voice followed by smaller yet determined ones. Celestia had the sudden urge to teleport herself to assist her little ponies in their fight to save Equestria.

“It could be that simple,” the Sun Princess told herself, “Just swoop in and save them.”

Taking a deep breath, Celestia steadied herself. No, this was her student’s destiny, not hers. It had to be this way in order to save her sister from the Nightmare. After all, vision upon vision had revealed to her the events that would take place tonight.

The 1175th Summer Sun Celebration would be the night when Celestia reunited with her long-lost sister, and all thanks to her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

It had been a chore finding herself the right student for this era, especially since her school she had created for the upper-class unicorn families tended to bring in a lot of talent, but she had known of Twilight for some time now. Growing up with her parents and elder sibling, Twilight’s family had been part of a rich unicorn bloodline that had started to fade into obscurity in the thousands of years since Canterlot had flourished into including the pegasi and Earth Ponies as opposed to the unicorn-only stance the great city once had.

But ever since she had witnessed her performance at her entrance exam to the academy, Celestia immediately knew that she was the one. The Bearer of the Element of Magic and soon to be future princess . . .

It had been an arduous task in finding and the right ponies that corresponded almost perfectly with each individual element and then subtly direct their lives, to ensure that they retained their virtues and did not give in to temptations or vices.

Aiding her in her search had been the visions she had been granted by peering into the future, where she was able to catch glimpses of what was to come. As a student of the late Starswirl the Bearded, she excelled in the field of the White Arts, especially in the area of precognition. With her specialty, she was able to perceive and determine the destiny of each of her little ponies. Especially her student and five special other mares . . .

It had even been her machinations that would have Twilight oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration taking place in Ponyville where Twilight would befriend the other bearers of the elements and through them, discover the magic of friendship.

Once they had the Elements in their possession, they would use them to cleanse the taint of Nightmare Moon from her dear sister, something that Celestia had been unable to accomplish herself.

Suddenly a bright light appeared from the previously silent castle and a wail was heard but instantly drowned out by the tremendous cacophony the light was creating, if light could truly speak then it was definitely saying something through the Elements of Harmony themselves.

Ruffling her feathers, Celestia felt a tremor go through her. They had done it. Rejuvenating warmth spread through her being, with a feeling of pure joy long kept dormant since her sister’s banishment sprung out from the Sun Princess.

They had done it!

Surrounding herself in a blinding light, Celestia descended from the heavens bringing the suns warming rays to touch the earth; it had been two hours of extra nighttime too long, and thanks to her alicorn heritage that gave her the natural magic of her Earth Ponies felt the gratitude of the animals, plants, and soil at the night relinquishing its hold on Equestria.

With her radiant mane billowing behind her, Celestia descended toward the one place she hadn’t set her hooves in for nearly a thousand years: the old castle where she and Luna had once ruled from.

In her current form, Celestia appeared as nothing more than a bright orb of light to the normal pony eye, so as she settled to the cold cobblestone, Celestia allowed the light around her to dim for mortal eyes.

Her eyes refocused, allowing Celestia to look at the six mares that had single-hoofedly saved Equestria from eternal night.

“Oh my, it appears the princess herself has decided to grace us with her presence!” the brown earth pony stallion said in his polished accent. He was wearing a necklace with an hourglass-shaped gem in the middle.

Celestia blinked. A stallion? What was some random stallion in company with Twilight and her new friends? And what was with the tacky necklace?

“So, should we bow or something right now? I mean it feels like it is something we should do even now,” a mint green unicorn mare turned to the right addressing a mare who was the only pegasus of their group.

Celestia’s eyes widened. More of them? And where was Twilight and her group?

“I . . . guess?” the blonde mare of the group said uncertainly as she shifted her wings, with the pupils of her eyes were staring off in different directions.

“Of course we should! She’s the princess!” a nagging earth pony mare with a beige coat and a pigment blue mane with a rose pink streak admonished the two other ponies.

Celestia finally noticed her sister on the side of where the weird group of ponies were, stripped of her nightmare form and huddled and shivering.

“Yes, it is required after all, we are still her subjects,” another earth pony spoke up, this one with a light gray coat and a dark gray mane. Another thing that Celestia noticed was that she wore a pink bow-tie with a white collar.

“A Canterlot Pony?”

“Chillax Octy, I’m sure the Princess will understand. After all, did we not just save Equestria from the eternal night?” a unicorn with a brash voice that seemed to complement her appearance; she had a vibrant electric blue mane which was in sharp contrast to the rest of her white body.

Celestia blinked a few times more as she had looked around in vain for Twilight and her friends, before the full realization fit her like the force of a sonic rainboom: the Elements of Harmony had picked the wrong ponies.

Only one word could accurately describe what Celestia thought about this.

“Buck.”