Celestia smiled and took a sip of tea. It was pleasantly warm, a heat that trickled down her throat and gently in her chest, and she sighed as a cool breeze flew through her coat. Her mane, heavy and thicker than ever before, fell in front of her face, but she left it there for the hairs to brush her skin and waver in the wind. The sun, her sun, the one she currently felt in her horn, enshrouded her in heat and light -- she had never felt warmer.
She sat like that, eyes closed in the wind and the steam of her tea in her muzzle, until the red behind her eyelids dulled and dulled and Celestia felt the moon rise.
Celestia opened her eyes and looked over her garden, shadows dancing in the moonlight. She listened to the fat birds chirping only a few feet away and the tourists looking upon the statues starting to pack up; she looked at the remains of her teapot and table shattered on the ground where Luna and Twilight had been sitting just a while ago; she felt her magic flickering.
Celestia was still shaking, but now she was smiling, too.
Twilight threw herself onto her bed, her wings cramping and her head thudding. Her chest burned and stung with heat, a pain that moved up to her throat and eyes as she stared blankly to the crystal floor. She could feel her teeth grinding together, somewhere far away, and as her legs fell to a dull numbness, she folded her ears back and focused on the steady burn of her horn -- her heart beat inside of it, and a fire of pain ripped it in two as it still smoked from the crater she'd made in the middle of the desert. Sand covered her legs, and she watched as grains of it fell off of her horn and body and onto the floor.
Twilight watched, her vision blurring, as water followed the grains and washed them away into cracks in the floor.
Behind her, through the window, the world lit with stars.
Luna raised the moon, felt it like a cool stone rising in her stomach and up to her chest, and even as she relinquished her hold on it and left it to hang, the stone ached inside of her. It chilled her, up to her eyes, and Luna ground her teeth together as she stared out to the darkness. She locked her legs, standing tall against the wind, and despite her coming headache she glared to the blank sky -- hot air puffed from her nose while her fires winked over the dark, and the stars painted the world in paleness.
It was weak light. Pale light. Cold light that washed over her and into her skin, and Luna heard a growl in her throat that bubbled to her mouth and eyes.
Somewhere, inside her stomach and her horn, Luna felt a trickle of heat despite the wind. Something hot and smoking and exploding, and so warm; she heard ponies calling her name, and she saw a dark pony but with a sun on her flank and in her sky.
Luna screamed, and her body toppled to the dirt.
Fluttershy frowned and stroked a hoof through purple fur. It was matted and covered in dirt, and Fluttershy tried not shake as she patted Twilight.
She didn't say anything, just frowned, and even though her chest boiled and her eyes ached and everything hurt whenever she looked at Twilight's face, she shakily wiped her cheeks for her. Something inside of Fluttershy swam when she did so, a squirming that felt like a cramp deep in her everything, and she fidgeted while hot streaks fell down her muzzle. Her tongue felt swollen and heavy, and Fluttershy hugged her friend even tighter through the wrongness.
Dawn came and the sun didn't, but Fluttershy just stared at Twilight through blurs.
Twilight looked up at her, then at the window, and when Fluttershy didn't feel anything when she looked too, that's when she realized. She scooted away from Twilight and the cramp turned to the stab of needles, and Fluttershy turned the knife towards herself. She turned her head away from Twilight, instead staring to the blank sky.
Fluttershy still pointed the knife, but she only felt a twinge.
Applejack stared at the empty room around her and fidgeted with her dress. The guards behind her watched her as she stepped forward, and Applejack shook under the cold mountain air. Her gut quivered, her mouth watering as she wandered around the room filled with hot smells, but she frowned and adjusted her hat and kept trotting.
She sat her saddlepacks down by the large doors in front of her, engraved with the symbol of a fiery orb, and stared out to the nearest window to see the darkness; by now she expected heat and life and color over the crops, and Applejack flinched away from a stab of hurt through her body and coughed hot and tight to the floor beneath her hooves.
Everything hurt a bit, but she grimaced and tipped her hat to Celestia's door.
Applejack sat down to wait at a nearby table, and after a few seconds she smiled.
Rarity pushed her way through the crowd that had already started to form around the castle, shuddering as she brushed bodies with strangers clumping around the main gates. Her back ached, she could feel sweat crawling through her mane... a rasp was in her throat, a feeling like lead that held down her hooves, but she trudged onwards.
The sky was dark, so dark that the ponies around her smudged in her eyes and a wind ripped at her mane -- but she somehow felt warm. A raging fire stuck in her chest, something so volatile, and Rarity narrowed her eyes with a snort as more ponies gathered in her way. She secured her saddlepacks and the bag in her teeth, and flared her horn to scoot everypony aside and part her way through the ocean of ponies.
Even when the sun rose behind her, tiny and pale, Rarity kept walking.
Spike didn't know what to do.
Spike clutched his chest, felt the shuddery thump underneath his coat of scales. His legs bowed and flushed with pain, and then he collapsed on the floor, everything a blur. He looked out the window, but all he saw was a little-bitty flame. He could still feel its heat, somehow, no matter how small it was -- he could feel feathers and fire and he could see a smile. He could feel how unfair it all was.
Spike buried his head in his claws, and leaned into Twilight and Fluttershy when they hugged him.
Pinkie Pie frowned, and then smiled.
The ballroom was cold and she shivered, but as her tail quivered she set up streamers with Rainbow Dash. The sun came up a while ago, and Pinkie Pie had giggled at the sight before she looked at the clock on the wall and went back to the decorations. She bounced up and down, rump swaying to the beat of a silent song, and after Pinkie helped Rarity get the tables ready she danced a bit with Applejack and sat down to have a snack.
She was eating her cake -- even through the ugly cold swirl that felt like a stone gurgling around her belly, through the shaking of her hooves, through the loud chime of the clock that made her ears flick -- when Luna walked in.
Pinkie frowned and rubbed her belly, and then she smiled and cut another piece of cake.
Rainbow Dash stared at the decorations at the back of the room. Rainbow Dash rubbed her forearms. Rainbow Dash helped Pinkie set up the banners. Rainbow Dash whistled to herself. Rainbow Dash flew to the back of the room when Luna walked in.
When Fluttershy walked in with Twilight and Spike, Rainbow Dash sniffled and hugged them.
Fluttershy sat down at the back of the room and sat her head down on the table, staring at nothing.
Rainbow Dash joined her, and with a stab of ugly wrong in her stomach and lungs, split the knife between the two of them.
The candlelight fell softly across her face, and she took another sip of tea. Celestia could feel her sun shining across her skin, its warm rays over her coat, even through the wall and the blinds pulled shut; she heard its call, of foals and birds and heavy rain and farmers' smiles, and of those things dimming away. It was a vice inside her chest, an ache around her hooves, wings, horn, and Celestia heaved -- her entire body tingled with needle-pricks, as she imagined that flame in the sky.
The clock ticked.
Celestia snorted, pulling her weighted mane away from her face. She moved her hoof over to a pile of parchment illuminated at her right. After placing a sheet in front of her muzzle, she breathed in deeply. She stopped, looked around her: the room was dark, the window was dim, and it was silent.
After dipping a quill to an inkwell, placed words to paper. Placed herself to paper.
Celestia didn't look at it when she was finished; she grimaced and then grinned. The clock tocked. It was time to go.
Twilight Sparkle took a sip of tea. It had gone cold, but was still sweet, and after she had drained her cup she stood up from where she was reading and stretched her legs.
A drop of golden light fell warmly through the window, over the poem Celestia had left her, and over Twilight's mane and face. Twilight turned and looked out through the glass, stared out at a clear, cloudless sky.
Her smile was achy, but it was a smile.
Luna's sun was beautiful.
Author's Note
Celestia's poem:
