Into the Twilight

Princess Luna understood death. She might argue that she understood it better than her sister. Her sister, Princess Celestia, was like a bright light, a big shining star. She was warm and welcoming, and treated all of her little ponies as if they were her own children. She was the embodiment of the sun, after all.

However, Luna was different, she was colder than her sister. Even though she didn't consider herself cruel, her fundamental views of death were different from Celestia's. Celestia found death to be an unfortunate circumstance that all ponies must face. There were only two circumstances in which Celestia directly defied the will of Death. The time her adopted niece almost found herself victim to pestilence, and the time she deemed her esteemed student too precious to lose.

Luna did not blame her sister for taking such drastic action to avoid an otherwise inevitable fate, however, she herself had never attempted to challenge Death, for fear of this exact circumstance.

Celestia was dead, and Luna truly had no idea why.

Luna did not, could not understand, comprehend nor fathom the death of a goddess. It simply wasn't possible, and yet, there she was. Celestia was dead on the marble floor, the color had been purged from her alabaster coat, and she was nothing more than a shell of who she once was.

Luna, for the first time since Twilight became her first friend in this new life, started to cry. She wept openly onto Celestia's coat, her tears staining Celestia's mane, which had now faded back to pink. It's usual phantasmal spectra of color was now void, just like Luna's still-beating heart.

The royal guards attempted to say something to Luna as she wept, but all she could her was a never-ending ringing. Luna, at this point, wasn't sure if this was how normal ponies felt when their loved ones died suddenly, or if there was a legitimate spiritual bond that was severed between she and her sister. She didn't feel any physical pain, she didn't feel anything at all.

She didn't even see the light fading from the castle windows.

"Princess Luna!"

Princess Luna shook herself back to reality and stared back at the pony who called to her. Lavender coat, urgent expression and crystal clear eyes with tears building beneath them, it was none other than Celestia's student and daughter, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"Princess! What happened?! Why is Princess Celestia dead? Why is it pitch black outside?"

Luna did not know the answer to the first question, and she was left puzzled at the second question. Nightfall right now? That didn't make any sense, it was only mid-day! Unless...

Princess Luna felt an unstoppable wave of nausea overtake her. She glared at Twilight with determination and commanded only one thing, "Twilight, rally the guards, Canterlot will not be safe soon. I fear that we may not see the light of day again. Evacuate Canterlot, and keep its citizens safe."

Princess Luna's vision became spotted before quickly collapsing onto the cold tiled floor next to her dead sister.

Twilight stared at Princess Luna only for a few seconds before panic started to overwhelm her. What did she mean by, 'I fear we may not see the light again'? She had provided no context, no reason as to why she said what she said. Twilight's breathing became irregular and rapid and it took nearly a minute of pacing to get herself thinking again.

She had to do what Princess Luna said, she trusted her, and if they were in danger, it was up to her to keep Canterlot safe.

"Guards! I order a mass evacuation of Canterlot's citizens. We are dealing with an unknown forces at hoof. Please be ready to mobilize immediately!" Twilight shouted, her voice echoing across room.

There were close to a dozen guards in the room, yet none of them said or did anything, they just shifted glances between Princess Twilight and the other guards.

Twilight glared at them, "Princess Celestia is d- gone, and Princess Luna is unconscious, that leaves me in charge of you. Get your hindquarters in gear and evacuate Canterlot!"

"Yes Ma'am!" the guards collectively shouted, arming themselves and splitting into groups.

"I want an outpost set up at the base of Canterlot mountain, activate the sirens. I don't know what to expect, but I assume it's nothing good," Twilight said, rushing out of the main hall and into the courtyard of Canterlot Castle.

Canterlot was all but silent.

The chilling siren mixed with the sounds of unadulterated panic blended together in a horrific concoction of mania. Twilight would have guessed that it would have taken some time to convince some of the nobles to start evacuating, but it seems that when life is on the line, everypony generates the same amount of pure fear.

Twilight wanted to oversee the evacuation, wanted to help set up the outpost at the base of Canterlot Mountain. However, deep in her mind, she knew that whatever happened next, it was beyond her control. Princess Luna would command the guards, and they in turn would lead the evacuation. Twilight was now left with only one major concern, her friends.

It was Princess Luna that sent the letter to her, moments after Princess Celestia's passing. She teleported all the way to Canterlot Castle without providing her friends any context, she didn't know if they were safe, she needed to get to Ponyville as fast as possible.

"Guard! See to it that Princess Luna wakes up. Brief her on the situation at hoof and tell her I've arranged for the citizens of Canterlot to evacuate to the base of Canterlot Mountain," Twilight said to a nearby guard as she quickly trotted down the steps of the courtyard towards the city.

"But princess, what about you? Where do you plan on going?" the guard asked, bewildered at the idea of being down yet another princess.

Twilight stared at him a moment before replaying in an even tone, "Ponyville is the next town over, I need to see to it that it's safe as well."

That wasn't a lie, Twilight did intend on protecting Ponyville from foreign threats, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Twilight's friends meant the world to her. Her mother and father would be taken care of by Princess Luna, as the Princess of Friendship, it was her job to make sure her friends were safe too.

She teleported all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot, from which she then galloped from the inner city all the way to the palace in less than a minute. To say Twilight was exhausted would be an understatement. Twilight didn't have the energy to teleport all the way back to Ponyville again, so she opted for the next best thing.

She'd have to take the train to Ponyville, and she'd have to get to the train fast too, as many ponies already were probably using it as a method of evacuating.

She hardly even noticed the ponies she bashed into as she moved at breakneck speeds. The air had become unfathomably freezing. Twilight grew up in Canterlot, and in all the winters she experienced, she'd never felt this level of cold.

Twilight then came to a horrific conclusion. They were at the precipice of a mountain, despite this, Canterlot's climate was unusually stable for its location. Princess Celestia once told her that it was her and Princess Luna's magic that held together the climate of the city. Twilight used to be puzzled by what she meant, but now she understood perfectly.

With Princess Celestia gone, and Luna unconscious, Canterlot would become uninhabitable very quickly. There was a chance she might freeze to death if she didn't leave soon enough.

The adrenaline from this revelation surged through Twilight as she bolted towards the train conductor.

"We have to leave now! Canterlot's going to freeze over if we don't flee to lower altitude!" Twilight shouted as the conductor fiddled with the train's control panels.

He gave her a nervous glance, "Princess, we are still waiting on everypony to load their possessions into the train."

She gave him a dark glare that could crack a mirror, "Buck the luggage, ponies are going to die. I'd prefer it if less died because we decided to get this train moving. Fit as many ponies as you can on this train and start moving, that's an order."

With that, every pony was quickly hustled into the train, leaving their luggage behind with some ponies having to sit on the floor.

Twilight was afraid. She was banking on Princess Luna waking up and stalling the permafrost that would cover Canterlot within the next hour. She hoped that the base of Canterlot Mountain would be a suitable place to evacuate. She hoped that her family, her brother and Cadence were alright.

She hoped that her friends would be alive when she got off the train.