From the Stars

The sun goddess woke. It had been a good night’s rest, and she had quite enough energy to perform her daily task. Her sister passed her in the castle’s hall, and nodded. Celestia’s horn glowed as she crossed the passageway to the courtroom, and the horizon became a deep red as the sun neared. Her hooves clopped against the stone steps as she ascended to her post. She turned, faced the doors, and magically swung them open.

The day had begun.

The pure white aura of Celestia’s eyes faded. Living the memory was painful in more ways than one, but despite the magical and psychological energy it drained her of, it was more important to search for any important information. That brief glimpse of Luna had brought a tear to her eye. No! She could not allow herself to get hung up on personal concerns. As horrible as it was, soldiering through was vital. At that point, it was much more important to lead than to allow herself the luxuries of emotion. She closed her eyes, and when they opened, they were once more ablaze with magical energy.

Celestia had hoped for it to be a quiet early July Tuesday in the court, and, for the moment at least, her hopes were aligned with reality. Evidently nopony had business that her subordinates couldn’t handle, so she was able to relax. She loved days like this. Her life hadn’t been consistently peaceful and enjoyable for almost two millennia, now. Peaceful mornings were largely her only solace. She breathed deeply. Almost as if in response, a green flame materialized before her, and a scroll formed. It began to drop, but she caught it with a swift magical outreach. She unfurled the scroll. Spike’s familiar scrawl appeared:

Dear Princess Celestia:
Today I learned that even though a good friend might make decisions that are obviously not the best, it doesn’t mean you should put them through the proverbial hell and high water for it. If you do, you might end up with a big conflict. It’s much better just to let them know what you think peacefully.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Written By Spike

Celestia smiled. It was nice to see a report from Twilight again. Her friend’s letters were quite satisfactory, but Celestia had seen a dearth of letters from the apprentice herself lately. She furled the scroll, considering if Luna might like to see it. Deciding against, she tossed it aside.

She settled in, and called an attendant over to fetch her breakfast. She ate in silence, glancing over some official papers, which proved to be neither interesting nor important. Zoning issues, more complaints from Blueblood, she signed them all and sent them away. Exercises in futility, all of them. Celestia really didn’t know why she needed to deal with them. The endless paper-pushing was dull, but at least it was more peaceful than what she had to contend with most days.

The hours began to blur into their neighbors, and the morning marched on towards noon.

The alicorn released her magical grip on the past again. It had occurred to her that Equestria was heating. The sun had been up for much too long. She needed to conserve a bit more of her energy while she set it. The last while had been a constant assessment of priorities. Drawing solar energy, she sent it on its journey down to the horizon. Feeling her body, she realized she had been sweating. Her own health was vital too. If she kept up this routine, her body might give out on her. Even worse, the sun could flicker and go out.

She strode over to the window, an exhausted look in her eyes. The Royal Guard, looking more ragtag than she imagined possible, stood by the Canterlot perimeter. The multiple magical barriers were bright and strong, except perhaps for her own, which had faded to such a dark yellow it was nearing orange. She summoned a guard. He was bruised, with multiple dents in his armor and his normally pristine wing bent and matted with blood.

“Erect another barrier, I will take mine down shortly. Tell the force to be as watchful as possible. I must sleep.” He nodded, and left. She strode toward the mattress that had been dragged into her command post and lied down on it. Her long horn flashed briefly with a yellow glow, and her magical barrier faded from the city limits. In its place, a light blue field appeared. She wondered briefly whose it was, but she fell quickly enough into desperately needed slumber.

Celestia was in a dark place. It had a surface underhoof, but one utterly lacking of texture or feeling. It was a surface to move on, but invisible and intangible. The area around was black. She could breathe, but the air was impossible to describe. It had no quality. She turned, and suddenly Twilight Sparkle was there. "Twilight! Are you alright? I've been so worried, where are your friends? What's happened in Ponyville? Nopony and nothing's been able to leave Canterlot, or enter for that matter, are you alright?" Her constant stream of questions to that effect continued, but Twilight didn't respond. Instead she stood, smiling slightly. Celestia glanced to the side, and when she looked again, it wasn't Twilight. It was a very young dark blue pegasus filly. Perplexed, Celestia moved closer. "L-luna? What are you doing here?" A second later, an even more perplexing question came to mind. "Why are you so young? You're a pegasus! You haven't been like this since before the Ascendance! You're not Luna any longer, even. You're..." she paused, remembering the name from ages past. "Nightwing. How...?" The pegasus looked up at her, smiling in wonder.

Celestia blinked, and suddenly she wasn't in that strange dark place. She was in a warm field on a late spring evening. Nightwing was playfully fluttering below the clouds, Celestia looking up from below. She extended her wings to join the pegasus, but they wouldn't. She looked at her sides, and found them absent. Looking up, she found her horn also not present. She wondered... she looked down. Her suspicions were correct, there wasn't a foot and a half of space between her head and the ground. Giggling, the earth filly ran around, chasing her friend only ten feet above. Solaris' sun slowly fell onto the horizon as the fillies ran and flew through the field.

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, best friends Nightwing and Sunbeam Swirl were once again simply playing.