It was a quiet Friday afternoon, something truly rare for Canterlot High. Sunset, Twilight, and the rest of the girls were off at the studio, a visit that was part of a prize they won for submitting the music video. Other students were finishing up their day at school, with no magical events or even mundane events to cause stress or upset the balance of high school, things were truly peaceful.
Outside the sun was shining, with students taking the time to play sports, sit outside and do work, or in some cases simply lay on their backs and count clouds. A few birds flew around searching for scraps of food to steal, but without Fluttershy, their behavior was no different than normal animals.
Luna had left early to get some sleep before the night classes. The school had picked up several part time students, and Luna had opted to act as the night facilitator. Some parents had been looking to take English as a second language course, or adult reading classes, so the school had done what they could to accommodate.
Closing her ledger, Principal Celestia leaned back in her chair, stretching out and holding both hands high above her head. It was almost 3:15 and last bell would be going off soon. Then she could go home for the long weekend, maybe take in a movie with her sister, or try out the new bistro in town, apparently, they had a wonderful selection of cheese-cakes.
A tapping at the door brought her concentration back to the moment. Sitting up, she pulled down her blouse lightly and smiled, “Come in.”
Opening the door, one of the students poked her head in and looked around, “Principal Celestia, can I speak with you?”
“Yes, Miss Heartstrings, how may I help you today?” Celestia inquired, tilting her head a bit.
“Well, my dad took me to the swap meet at the flea market last night, they were doing a Thursday night madness event. Since it’s a long weekend and all,” Lyra said and gulped a bit, looking around.
“Go on,” Celestia said with a calm and friendly voice.
Opening her school bag, Lyra pulled out a polished steel disk or medallion nearly six inches across. Holding it out to the Principal, she lowered her voice a touch, speaking as if she feared being overheard, “I don’t understand the writing on it, or what the symbols on one side means, but this,” Lyra pointed at an image looking at Celestia.
Taking the medallion, Celestia looked down. The image was unmistakable, a yin yang image of the sun and the moon, with a stylized winged unicorn chasing each other. Turning the pendant over, Celestia could see strange symbols, some kind of alien writing lined the bottom, and a large spiral with four different sized stars placed at different points on the spiral formed the center back of the amulet.
“I think it's from…” Lyra said timidly.
Nodding, Celestia rubbed her thumb against it, “I think you’re right.”
“Remember what trouble the crown caused,” Lyra added.
Taking a deep breath Celestia looked up, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this, thank you.”
As Lyra left the office, Principal Celestia looked down at the pendant. What magic did it hold? What powers? How dangerous was it to have here? Picking up her phone, she dialed the cell number for Sunset Shimmer, she was the expert in these things.
“We’re sorry, the number you have reached is currently not available…”
With a sigh Celestia hung up the phone. Look around the office, she considered, “Leave it here? Some demon or such could come looking for it. It’s a long weekend, the girls won’t be back for days. I don’t want to take it home with me.”
Looking out the window at the statue base, Celestia stood up, “I could just throw it through. But what happens then?”
The last bell went off and Celestia walked out of her office holding the medallion in both hands, “Mrs Raven, would you be so kind as to lock up, I’m going to be stepping out for a bit.”
Looking up from her desk, Raven adjusted her glasses and nodded, “Yes ma’am.”
Stepping out into the hall, Celestia watched the students charging off for home or other activities. Nothing cleared the halls faster than last bell on a Friday, except maybe last bell of the school year. Walking down the front steps, Celestia took note of some of the younger students cycling off, or in one case scootering off towing a wagon with two other girls. The energy of youth sometimes.
Looking at the stone statue base, Celestia reached out, touching it once, watching the waves of energy on either side of her hand spreading out like ripples on a pond. Glancing down again she took a breath, “If I just throw it through it might not be found, or it might damage something. If I go through with it, I could explain more. It would only be for a few moments. There shouldn’t be any harm in that,” looking down at her hand she hummed softly, “I guess I could stand to be a little pony for long enough to explain what’s happened. I’ll be back before my sister even notices. What could happen?” She pushes through the marble.
The Principal Effect
She felt dizzy, sick to her stomach, she hurt in places she didn’t know she had. She wasn’t sure how long she had been unconscious for. The last thing she remembered was being torn apart then flung across a room, the impact had left her unable to focus properly and feeling like she was going to throw up, usually a sure sign of a concussion. Moving her head slowly, she heard books beginning to fall around her. A large pile had broken her momentum somewhat but she had still met the floor much harder than she would have liked.
The floor was cold and unforgiving. Almost a purple in color, it was made of some type of polished stone or crystal. One massive piece with no seams, yet with spiral patterns on it that seemed to be part of the stone’s natural texture.
Closing her eyes, Principal Celestia shook her head again. It was almost impossible to focus her vision properly. Her eyes, or vision, kept wanting to double up on her, adding to her headache. She was in some kind of ancient library. Old books and scrolls lined the walls and were stacked on the floor. Some seemed to be leather bound, others wood. Directly across from her stood a large mirror with an almost Frankensteinian contraption of wires, tesla coils, and other things attached to it.
For the first time, however she caught a look at herself. Her wings, horn, body were all white, yet her hair kept the same rainbow colors it had in reality. Well, her reality. Slowly she pushed herself up with her arms till she was on all fours before jerking herself upright on her hind legs. She wasn’t sure if it was the dizziness or something else but she lost all balance, falling backwards into the books again, sending scrolls and books high into the air. Covering her face with her arms she felt the books come back down on top of her.
Looking up, she saw one of the books had landed spread open, and was now hanging off her horn. With a soft groan, she worked a hind leg a bit, “Well that didn’t work. Four legs, not two, why did I even try walking with two?”
Rolling her head to the side, the book flipped off her horn, sliding across the floor, “Hello? Twilight? Anyone here?” Celestia called out. Maybe if someone answered she could just go home and this would be over.
Her ear twitched a few times and rotated, searching for any response. Any sound, the sound of hooves running down the hall would be wonderful at this point. The sound of Twilight’s voice or maybe her dog’s voice would take the burden off her now.
There was nothing however, no sound. No help was coming. The idea sent a chill down her back and tail. Rolling over, she struggled to push up and stand again, but this time she stayed on all four legs. She didn’t move, instead she simply stood, eyes closed, ethereal mane and tail flowing as if in some breeze, “Crawling, just think of it like crawling.”
Moving slowly, she concentrated and watched her legs. She was careful to move only one arm or leg at a time. It was slow but by keeping three legs on the ground at any time, she was at least stable. She also noticed her vision clearing. As long as she focused straight ahead, she didn’t have double vision, but as soon as she looked side to side her headache came back as her vision split.
“Ok, slow but sure, one, two, three, four,” moving slowly, she gained confidence with her four legs, “I can do this, I can do it. Just as long as I don’t have to run, jump or do anything fancy, I should be fine. I just need to find some pony to help and…”
Looking up at the door she let out a long sigh, “Doorknobs.”
She tried working the door with her one foreleg, then the other as she shook the door. She tried using her horn to hook the latch but it was far to long to make use of. Sitting down with a huff she looked at the door, “Come on, ponies have to be able to do this somehow.”
Looking around she leaned down and used her mouth to turn the knob a bit, pulling it open before getting her hoof in the door. Standing up she used her nose and muzzle to open the door fully before sticking her tongue out and spitting lightly, “Yuck, tastes like copper.”
Looking down the hall she took a deep breath, “Okay, with any luck that’s the way out. Once outside I can just blend in with the other ponies and find one of the girls to help.”
Slowly walking down, she lowered her head and worked the doorknob. This door, though, swung outwards, opening to the bright day outside, “Now I just need to act inconspicuous and not stand out.”
The path leads down to the rest of Ponyville, its building looking like they were in the 17 or 1800’s, the residents muddled around doing their business, some pulling wagons, some making repairs, others merely walking and talking. Stepping outside, Principal Celestia blinked a few times, “Umm, there a lot shorter then I thought… maybe they are just kids… Ok just, don’t stand out Celestia, don’t stand out.”
Taking a deep breath Principal Celestia looked down at the ground and started slowly walking down the steps. Stairs were ranking right up there with doorknobs for things she hated. Hands and feet made things so much easier. But whoever considered crystal would be good for stairs or hallways, “I keep expecting my hoof to slip off,” she murmured softly, then rolls her eyes, “You’re talking to yourself again Celestia,” she snorted once in a rather equine fashion as she continued down the stairs.
“It’s the Princess!”
The voice sounded familiar, female, she recognized it as one of the students from her school but she couldn’t place which one. With any luck though, the calls would lead her to Princess Twilight.
“Princess Celestia!”
“Oh my gosh its really her, Princess Celestia!”
“Oh damn,” Principal Celestia said, her wings spreading a bit in shock, as ponies flocked towards her. None of them seemed to come up to her neck, and they came in a variety of colors. Noticing her wings for the first time, Principal Celestia quickly found out one other thing she hadn’t figured out yet. Her reverse gear. Unable to walk backwards properly she found herself falling backwards and sitting in front of the gathering crowd of ponies bowing before her.
“Princess Celestia! You shouldn’t have to be sitting on the dirt, I can get you a sofa quickly from the Sofa and Quills store,” a stallion said.
Looking to her side Principal Celestia took note of her wings, they had been against her side the entire time so far that she hadn’t even noticed them. Flexing one slowly, she worked to fold it against her side again, “I… I’m sorry I don’t mean to be a bother I was just looking for Twilight.”
An older pony with gray mane and tail as well as glasses, ran up, “Oh my, Princess, I was not made aware of your visit today. I am so sorry. Twilight and the rest have already left on some special mission as well.”
“Are there any of her…staff… I could talk to?” Principal Celestia asked before another pony gasped, putting a hoof over her muzzle.
“Oh Dear, Princess Celestia, what has happened? You are positively naked?” the greyish pink pony with magenta mane exclaimed. She wore a golden necklace around her neck as well as having diamond ring for a cutie mark.
Blinking, Celestia looked down at herself, she hasn’t considered clothing. She went through the mirror dressed after all. Now she was not just naked, but so that naked ponies were noticing. Her tail came around her front legs and she felt her ears getting red. Gulping, she looked back the ponies nervously.
“You’re missing your crown, your royal peytral, even your bell boot with crusader guards. Without them you look positively naked!” The mare said, aghast.
“Mrs. Rich, leave her be, can’t you see you’ve made her self conscious now,” a cerise pony responded in a gentle voice.
“Cheerilee?” Celestia blinked, the voice was unmistakable, and even her grayish rose mane style was the same.
“Y.. yes… your majesty. I was unaware that you knew of me,” Cheerilee said, backing up a step and bowing.
Lifting her hoof, Principal Celestia shook her head, “It’s all right. I just needed Twilight, I needed to give something to her.”
“Oh, if you wish, I can hold it for her, and turn it over to her when she returns,” Mrs. Rich offered with a somewhat dark smile.
“Oh, I see, I…” looking down at her hooves and hips, Principal Celestia blinked, “I left it in the library.”
“It would be my honor. No… my duty, to serve the princess in such a way,” Mrs. Rich said, holding her head high, “Shall we go get it?”
Nodding slowly, Principal Celestia looked down at her hind legs and worked to stand up. She had just gotten used to sitting, standing now took some work again to figure out how to do it. With a bit of a huff she got her hind legs to move properly for an equine and stood to her full height.
The howls sounded canine. Principal Celestia had heard wolves on TV before. But this, this was different. Looking around, she saw ponies starting to panic. A few were slamming doors or shutters with their hooves. How that worked Celestia still couldn’t figure out.
Another howl and several ponies around her started screaming, “Timberwolves!”
“Run for your lives!”
“Every pony for themselves!” Mrs. Rich called as she turned, nearly knocking Celestia over as she started to run for the town.
Earth pony and unicorn alike made a mad dash for the safety of houses. Though a few pegasi simply took flight and landed atop trees, their safety apparently coming from their ability to fly.
Turning Celestia tried to run for the door of the castle but the first problem became apparent, she couldn’t coordinate her legs well enough right now to run and ended up falling down. Glancing up, she saw that the door to the castle had already closed. She was likely locked out now!
Glancing behind her, she saw several large wolf like creature charging across the rough ground. Several had broken off, chasing after ponies. Two of them, however, were heading straight for her. Looking around she had nowhere to go, she could hardly walk, let alone run. And flying was something she just couldn’t even consider.
Standing in shock, her legs trembling, Celestia heard a voice yell out, “Get away from her, you birch!”
In wonder, Principal Celestia watched as a small gray pegasus, less than quarter of the size of the wolf, with scruffy yellow mane and tail barrel into its side, sending it sprawling to the ground.
“I think it’s more oak than birch, Derpy,” a second pegasus, snow white with blue mane and tail called out as she rolled in mid air, kicking with her hind legs into the flank of the second wolf sending it spinning.
“Oops, my bad,” Derpy said, jumping into the air, the wolf just missing grabbing her tail in its jaws, “Careful White, these things are mad.”
“Princess are you ok?” White Lightning called out, “Can you make it to the castle?”
A third timber wolf appeared from the underbrush, lunging at White. The surprise attack forcing the white and blue pegasus to climb higher. Derpy made a fast pass in front of another, trying her best to keep it distracted and focused on them.
Scrambling to her hooves, Celestia looked for some direction to go. She needed a place to hide that was safe. A place to hide.
“The princessssss. Get the princesssss!”
“It not the purple one, where the purple?”
Several large canines wearing leather armor ran from the woods. They almost had a gorilla shape to them, with large powerful forearms ending in claw like hands, and short legs. Their heads, however, were most definitely canine.
“It not matters, one princessssss asss good asss nother!” one of the canines said and pointed his spear at Celestia, “Get her!”
“Princess!” Derpy called out as she turned to charge for the Diamond Dogs when a wolf’s paw hit her. The paw caught her in the flank with extreme force. The little pony was sent spinning through the air uncontrolled until she impacted with a tree, smashing through several branches before she hit the trunk hard and bounced up into the crown of the tree. She came to rest in a crook, her eyes wobbling in opposite directions.
White Lighting looked over in shock, “Derpy, are you ok?”
The ball of grey fur trembled and whimpered, her wing obviously hurt, hanging limp at her side. She was barely able to say, “I just don’t know what went wrong,” before collapsing unconscious on a branch in the tree’s crown.
“Derpy!” Lighting called out before dodging something that whistled past her. A moment later she saw four Diamond Dogs firing darts at her from blow guns. Zig zagging, she tree hopped, using the branches for cover until she made it to Derpy, “Come on girl hang in there.”
White Lightning wasn’t the only target however. The Diamond Dogs were on a hunt and their prey wasn’t getting away.
Principal Celestia felt a burning sting as several darts hit her in her side and flank. A moment later she began to lose all feeling in her legs. Looking up at White Lightning she called out, “Run!” before darkness overcame her.
***
She couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t feel anything. All her senses were telling her nothing. It wasn’t warm or cold. It was just dark. Total darkness.
“You’re useless.”
The voice was female but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Pathetic.”
She wanted to speak but couldn’t. She wanted to look around, she wanted to run.
“Ponies died because of you.”
She wanted to cry out…
“They believed in you, but you’re a fraud and now they're dead.”
All around her voices began to whisper.
“Looser.”
“You don’t belong here.”
“Failure.”
“Weak.”
In a break from the darkness two glowing white orbs appeared out of the darkness. The light caused hissing sounds all around her and yet she couldn’t look away. Two shining eyes in the dark, followed by a voice.
“Thou are not Celestia! Who art thou!”
“NO!!!” Principal Celestia yelled.
***
Sitting up, tears streamed down Principal Celestia’s face. Her cheeks were soaked. At the same time, she felt sick. She felt hung over, her mouth was dry, her head hurt. She was dizzy and cold. Opening her eyes she wiped her cheeks with her foreleg and looked around, sniffling.
She was in a cage, a cell. The room was hardly larger than she was, made of some cold dark stone. Her front legs were chained together by a short length of iron chain that was then anchored through a loop in the floor. Around her neck, a heavy iron collar had been locked, with chains going to each wall. Looking at the chains she shivered, she wouldn’t be able to move more than standing up like this, even if she wanted to.
Light was provided by a pair of torches that were set in iron clamps in the hall across from the cell. The entire place smelled dank, moldy, rotten. Water could be heard dripping somewhere in the distance. All Celestia wanted now was to go home, or go back to her nice safe office.
There was nothing to eat or drink. Though she wasn’t sure if she could even drink without being sick right now. She was alone. No one back home knew where she was, no one would be able to find her.
Crying softly, she laid her head on her forelegs, “I can’t do this. I don’t belong here,” She moaned.
“Oh, she awakes. BOSS! BOSS! She AWAKE!” the voice called out as a pair of green eyes moved into view.
Looking around Principal Celestia’s ears flicked, “Who are you? What do you want?”
“Oh, questionssss. Questionsss… we wants what we wants,” came from a Diamond Dog as he stepped into the light.
“We wants you for now,” said a second smaller one.
“Why? I didn’t do anything,” celestia said through her tears.
“Do? Nothing, we wants for what you are. Princesssss valuable,” the larger said, smiling evilly as a third walked up. None of them were clean, they were caked in mud and dirt, some were even showing signs of mange. Their teeth were cracked or chipped, and an ugly yellow brown in color.
“Ponies like you. Ponies trade lots for you. Lots of gemsssss. Presssssious gemsssss,” the smaller one said as he walked up, tapping a spear against the cage.
“Maybe even slaves, lots of slaves for us to use,” the large one said, “To dig tunnels to mine gems.”
Licking his chops, the new one smiled, “Maybe even to play with...Iz like playing with little fillies. Canz Iz play with her boss? Canz I?”
Turning her head away, Celestia felt the tears flowing, “Not for me I’m not a real princess.”
“Ponies pay, ponies always pay,” the largest said again.
“Maybe they give the little grey one, canz Iz play with her? Iz could use her,” one said, licking his lips and pulling out a pony doll.
‘So weak,’ the voice danced in the back of her mind.
“I think she’s already broken, so if they give her yes… you can,” the larger said.
“No… Leave them be, I’m not worth it,” Celestia said, crying.
‘You’re not worth it, and they will suffer for it,’ the voice said.
“I just want to go home,” Celestia said with tears still streaming down her face.
“You are home. Till they pay us, this will be your home,” the largest said, then looked to the mid sized one, “Though if they don’t. Then we may give you to him, to play with.”
The middle one nodded vigorously, “Can Iz play with her tail? Iz like their tailz.”
Celestia flinched in fear with a gulp.
“She big though, Iz likes the little ones tailz better,” he said, laughing and licking his lips.
‘They will suffer because of you, unless you stand for yourself,’ the voice said tauntingly. Flinching Celestia looked around for a moment, the pain evident in her eyes.
“Just let me go… please,” Celestia whimpered.
Smiling, the largest of the Diamond Dogs picked up a leather covered piece of wood that looked somewhat like an overly long flyswatter and walked brazenly up to the bars. Reaching through, he smacked her muzzle with the flattened leather pat at the end, “No demands princessssss. You are ours to do with.”
‘They are bullies. You need to stand up to them,’ rattled through her head, but at this point she didn’t know how.
“If they not pay for you, we lash you to a cart an have you pull dirt from tunnels,” the smaller said, nodding.
Lashing her cheek again the largest laughed, “So, kept your tongue princessssss, we are in charge here.”
‘You have magic, you can call the sun,’ she heard in her mind. Closing her eyes, she shook her head vigorously which did nothing but make the dogs laugh more.
“Keep still, we may even feeds you some left over rat stew,” the middle one said, “Or rotten cabbage, that we have lots of.”
“Trainz her you will?” The mid sized one asked, looking up at the largest, “Trainz her likez a mule?”
Looking down at the alicorn, the dog smiled, “What do you say? Do you need training or can you keep quiet?”
‘Call the magic. Call the day!’ The voice in her mind demanded, ‘You can protect yourself, no one needs to suffer.’
“I can’t…” Celestia whimpered.
Walking over to the edge of the cell the Diamond Dog flipped his crop so he was holding the thin end and touched the base of the handle to the metal chain plate. Instantly an electric charge traveled down the chains, getting a pained shriek from Celestia, “You finish sentences to me with word, Alpha! I am Alpha! Can’t what?”
Celestia cried out in pain as the shock hit her leg and traveled through her body. She couldn’t pull her leg away from it, though so the pain continued until the Diamond Dog pulled the crop back.
‘Let the magic flow, It’s in you. Break free. Brake the chains,’ The voice whispered.
“NO!” Celestia cried out as she shook her head.
Driving the crop against the chains again, the Alpha snarled, “No, what?”
Electricity flowed through the chains, shocking and hurting Celestia’s foreleg and neck.
Looking up at the Diamond Dog Alpha Celestia’s voice changed, “Break the Day.”
Principal Celestia’s eyes flashed a brilliant white with energy as the magic filled her, her iris turning gold on orbs of dark red fire. Her mane and tail ignited in flames, their heat so intense that the chains around her neck and legs melted, liquid iron flowing off her fur like water.
Standing up she spread her wings wide, “The warmth, the heat, the fire!” she intoned.
With a bright flash of light, the bars of the cage turned liquid, molten iron falling like raindrops to the floor. The torches instantly turned to ash, and their holders melted. The stone around her began to glow as she walked out of the room. The screams of the Diamond Dogs were brief.
Laughing she turned and headed up the stairs, “I am…Daybreaker!”
One last flash and the flames faded, cooling. She stood in the ruins of an old castle. Its walls crumbling, its towers fallen or badly damaged. The ceiling of the main chamber had been ripped off and now was open to the sky, to the sun setting in the distance.
Two chairs, thrones actually, stood atop a pair of matching staircases. A dais of marble on a raised platform stood between them. Banners, one dark and light blue, the second white and gold hung above each throne.
“What,” looking around, tears formed in Celestia’s eyes again, “What have I done?” She turned and slowly started walking up the stairs, putting a hoof on the sun throne.
‘You protected yourself. Now you are strong, no one will hurt you again.’
“NO! I killed them,” Celestia said shaking her head, her mane slowly fading back to its rainbow colors, “Murdered them.”
‘They deserved it, they hurt you, so you made them pay.’
Drooping her forelegs over the balcony, Principal Celestia sat looking down at the floor below, “I don’t make people pay for hurting me. It’s… unjust.”
‘Justice, what do they know about justice? They take slaves, they kidnap. You showed them true justice.’
“No… I murdered them,” she whimpered softly.
“Who art thou!” A voice boomed, “Thou art NOT my sister! Are thou a changeling! Answer now or be destroyed.”
Standing up, Celestia’s mane brightened into flames again. Fangs growing as she cried out in surprise as her ears flattened from the volume of Princess Luna’s command, “No, stay back, I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone again.”
‘She will destroy you, she said so. You need to protect yourself from the bully.’
Turning her head away Celestia closed her eyes tightly, trying to force her mane to back to normal, trying to force the magic away, “Please… no…”
Lifting one leg Princess Luna spread her wings in shock before backing up and sitting down further away, “I know that look, I know that fight.” She says softly.
Principal Celestia looked up at Luna, blinking.
‘Don’t trust her, attack!’
Flinching, she turned her head, “I can’t. It’s wrong.”
“Were you kidnapped?” Luna asked softly, “By the Diamond Dogs?”
Celestia nodded and looked down at Princess Luna again, “Luna?”
“It’s me. I won’t hurt you. I won’t come near you unless you ask me to.” Luna said softly.
“I’m scared.” Celestia said, tears in her eyes, “I’m going crazy, I hear voices telling me I need to protect myself.”
“You hear them too?” Luna asked, tilting her head before lying down on the floor to make herself look smaller.
“It wants me to…” Celestia started, then she turned her head away.
“To turn yourself over to the magic? To give up and use it to punish others who wronged you?” Luna asked, “Even if you know its wrong?”
“Yes. I didn’t want to kill them. I just wanted them to stop hurting me, to let me go. And the voice offered that.” Celestia intoned softly.
“The most powerful magics seem to have a corrupting effect, I don’t know why. I fell to it once, hurt ponies I swore to protect, then tried to hurt my sister.” Luna said turning her head away a bit, “Its been over a thousand years and I still feel the shame.”
“What happened?” Celestia asked softly, “The Luna I know, my sister, was always so gentle. She could act stern at times but…”
“I started to feel ignored, started to feel like nopony cared about me, wanted me. It felt like nothing I did was good enough. The power… the corruption, offered me a way out, a way to be the center of attention like I saw my sister as,” tears in her eyes, Princess Luna looked up, hugging her sides tighter with her wings, “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know the cost?” Celestia asked, then nodded slowly before repeating, “The cost.” For a moment, she sat thinking about the cost.
“The cost to myself, to my self esteem. And the cost to others and how they would view me,” Princess Luna said, closing her eyes.
“I don’t know if I can fight it,” Celestia’s voice was full of guilt, “I’m not strong enough.”
“Can I come closer?” Luna asked, sitting up.
Celestia nodded slowly, then gulped.
Princess Luna stood up and slowly walked over, laying beside Principal Celestia. After a moment, she laid a wing over her, “If you’re anything like my sister, you are stronger than you think. She was always the strong one.”
Leaning into the physical contact given by Princess Luna, Celestia nodded slowly.
“In your heart, you know what’s right,” Luna said, then looked at principal Celestia, “And you’ve pulled yourself back from the darkness on your own. That shows a true strength.”
Bright light filled the crumbling chamber as Princess Celestia descended from the sky. She was flanked by four Pegasus guards who hovered above her as her hooves touched the ground. Looking at her sister and the imposter she cleared her throat.
Standing up Princess Luna spread her wings wide, shielding principal Celestia, “It is okay, sister.”
“Luna, that isn’t me.” Princess Celestia said.
“Actually, I think she is. In a way.” Luna looked down and nuzzled the principal gently, “You came through the mirror, didn’t you?”
Principal Celestia gave a slow nod, “One of my little students, Lyra, found an amulet of some kind. We think its Equestrian. I tried to reach Sunset Shimmer but she’s away for the long weekend.”
“Sunset? How… how is she.” Princess Celestia asked, looking down slowly.
“She’s changed since she found friendship. She’s growing into a kind and caring woman.” Principal Celestia said and smiled, “She still remembers your teachings. Magic is growing in our world. And she’s become our…well the one we go to for help.”
Princess Celestia sat down on the floor by her old throne, “She was always great with magic and her studies.”
“I’m proud of how she’s changed,” Principal Celestia said softly as Luna sat down, wrapping a wing around her again for support.
“Where is… this item?” Princess Celestia asked, spreading her own wings somewhat in surprise with her sister.
“I couldn’t pick it up or carry it with me, so I left it back at the Crystal Castle,” Princess Celestia said softly, “Its where I crashed through the mirror.”
“Why couldn’t you pick it up?” Luna asked, tilting her head.
Principal Celestia lifted a hoof, “I couldn’t get a grip on it.”
“Well maybe we should go get it.” Luna said softly before smiling, “And complete your mission.”
“Its it far? I’m a slow walker.” Principal Celestia said, looking down at her legs.
“We could fly.” Standing, Luna spread her wings wide as if to make a point.
“Crawl would be better, much safer, less things to hit, like trees, mountains, the ground. Actually, there’s a lot of ground, so I’d likely hit it several times. Nope, safer to crawl.” Principal Celestia said nodding vigorously.
“Guards, Bring my chariot!” Princess Celestia said, nodding to a pegasus who was waiting by her, “Sister, will you bring her back to the portal. I will head on ahead, I believe there are lots of ponies in Ponyville that need reassurance that I was not taken.”
Principal Celestia watched how easy it was for her counterpart to take to the air, “She’s so confident, so self assured and in control.”
“Not always,” Luna said and smiled, motioning to the chariot, “She has made mistakes, she has worried about choices. She has even forgotten to bring gifts to a wedding. She is far from perfect, she just has more practice than you.”
Principal Celestia stood up and walked over, stopping to look at the royal chariot, “Isn’t this a bit… extravagant?”
Luna walked over and slowly but pointedly climbed into the chariot, turning to sit down. While she didn’t need to, it gave a chance to demonstrate how to do it for the Principal. Looking down, she nodded once then moved to hold her head high.
Principal Celestia mimicked Luna’s technique, though kept her head low. A small eep escaped as she felt Luna put her wing over her again protectively.
“Let us travel, but please take it low and slow. We do not wish to scare our guest,” Luna stated, the guards taking to the air and pulling the royal chariot just high enough above the trees to avoid accidents.
Looking over the side of the chariot, Celestia blinked, seeing the trees fly by, the speed combined with her wide angle view and altitude giving her a case of vertigo. Quickly she sat up and covered her mouth with a hoof, “Urp.”
Luna smiled, “If you're going to throw up please do it on that side of the cart.”
“Why?” Celestia blinked, looking confused.
“Because that’s where my sister likes to sit,” Luna said innocently.
Celestia blinked then giggled, “Oh that’s just mean.”
“It may be, but it distracted you enough to let your stomach calm down,” Luna giggled and looked ahead at the expanse of trees with the castle in the distance, “Try looking just ahead at the castle.”
Laying her chin on the guard rail, Celestia looked forward as they closed on the castle, “I make a pretty bad pony.”
“Nonsense. You think just because you are here you’d be perfect at it? I bet Sunset still makes mistakes with… what’s your species called again?” Luna asked, looking at Principal Celestia.
“Human,” Celestia said, “We are humans.”
“I would bet I’d make a pretty bad human, probably unable to walk, probably muck up the magic or flying,” Luna said and nodded firmly.
“Humans don’t have magic,” Celestia said and sighed, “And we use machines to fly.”
“Well there you have it. I’d officially suck at being a human because I have no idea how I’d even pick something up without magic,” Luna said and smiled.
Landing in front of the castle, Luna stepped off the carriage, “Lets go find that pendant.”
Nodding slowly, Principal Celestia found it was getting easier to walk as her body was learning the motions. Walking seemed to be second nature without actually having to concentrate on which leg was moving.
“Its in the library,” Celestia said, “At least I think it’s the library. Lots of books.”
“Well, for Twilight, that could be any room including the kitchen. She has books everywhere. But we’ll start with the library,” Luna said, lighting her horn to open doors as she walked.
“You make that look so easy,” Celestia said, following behind. Their hooves clicking against the floor as they walked.
“Its just practice. Time and experience. With a little training and practice time you could do it to,” Luna said and looked at the mess in the library.
“Yep this is it,” Looking around Celestia pointed with a foreleg, “That was the pile I landed in.”
“Ohh, Twilight’s going to be upset. She’ll have to sort everything again when she gets back. Well, upset or excited, sometimes that filly dreams of sorting books.” Luna said then smiled, “Ok, this will be showing off.”
Lighting her horn, Princess Luna flicked her head, her magic extending to all the books at once, lifting them off the ground. With the floor cleared, it was easy to see where the amulet had come to rest. With excitement Celestia trotted over and put her hoof on the prize, then lifting her hoof off of it she flipped her hoof over to see the amulet was still…left on the floor. Blinking, Celestia rubbed her hoof against it quickly then lets out a huff and a snort before she starts sliding it across the floor towards Luna.
“Yep, you lift up all the books and I slide a single amulet across the floor.” Celestia said with a bit of a sigh, “But this is it.”
Sitting down, Luna dropped the books onto the floor and picked up the amulet, looking at it closely before cringing, “Oh… ummm.”
“Oh please don’t tell me its not Equestrian,” Celestia whimpered, “I couldn’t deal with that, not after… what I’ve done.”
“Oh no, it is Equestrian, the writing here is clearly our writing. The Emblem is me and my Sister, in fact the crest on the back is Starswirl’s cutie mark.”
“Starswirl?” Celestia asked and moved over to sit beside Luna, looking down at it, “And what’s the butt? I know there’s a big butt, bigger than my butt coming.”
Luna glanced sideways at Celestia and laughed, “Sis would smack me if I commented on that. Starswirl was a great and powerful unicorn wizard that created many spells. But… this isn’t real.”
“Not real?”
“Well it is real in that it is made of real metal. And it is from Equestria, it does belong here, but the writing on the bottom. Authorized replica, minted by the Starswirl Memorial Museum,” Luna looked at Celestia mournfully.
Letting her front legs slide apart Celestia collapsed to the ground, “All of this, the lives, the trouble I’ve caused. All for some cheep tourist bauble….”
“Well wouldn’t say cheap, its worth about fifty bits, that’s a lot of money. And it is best if it didn’t remain in your world,” Luna said and smiled, “So you did a very good job.”
Celestia nodded and slowly forced herself to stand, “I should be going.”
“Celestia.” Luna said and put her hoof against her, “I have an idea.”
Looking back Celestia tilted her head.
“If magic is growing in your world. If there are problems brewing, maybe we should do a cultural exchange of sorts. I can handle double duty for a day or two, with enough coffee. Maybe you could return for a day or two, where we can actually teach you some things about magic and how it works. And my sister could visit your world and check up on Sunset.” Smiling softly, Luna hugged Celestia, “It would also be nice to have someone to talk to who understands me.”
Celestia spread her wings in surprise, then she nodded thoughtfully, “I’ll think about it.”
“That is all I ask, I will make the suggestion to my sister, see what she thinks,” Luna said as she let go of Celestia.
Taking a step backwards, Principal Celestia turned and took a deep breath, “Thank you for everything Luna.”
With one final exhale, Celestia trotted through the mirror. The effect left her dizzy, nauseated, but she came out the other side. She was back in her world in front of the statue base. The concrete was cold and hard to her hands. Slowly her vision cleared and refocused as her mind remembered how to see.
Looking around she moved one hand forward putting it on the concrete before looking down at her fingers, “Two legs. Just two legs now.”
Standing up Celestia checked the time, it was past midnight. Shaking her head, she walked back to her car slowly, she felt unsure of herself walking on two legs. Even after a short time the change felt abrupt and sudden.
She drove home, relishing in the quiet, not even turning on the radio. She didn’t even want to listen to the news. Instead she just drove straight home in silence. Her sister was still at the school for night classes, though she would be home soon.
Getting undressed, Celestia slipped into her PJ’s and headed to the bathroom. She picked up her favorite brush, running through her hair looking at herself in the mirror. She was safe, she was home, she was back in her world. And now she wouldn’t have to worry about magic again.
Sighing softly, she turned to head to the bedroom, “And the girls don’t even really need to know about what happened. Life will go back to normal,” she said softly as she walked, the reflection of her in the mirror, showing angel wings and burning hair for a moment before she closed the door behind her.
