Author's Note

I wanted to make this chapter a bit dramatic with some tense moments between Celestia and Sol. I think it's just cringe but i can't really do better.

The Warrior Prince

It was the day for Sol to face Celestia and Sol had been preparing for this day for a while. His fighting style and the tactics he would try were all thought out and combined with his survival skills he learned from living alone. He was more than happy how he was being treated after beating Luna as the guards and maids of Canterlot no longer flirted with him but instead showed a fearful respect. He didn't want to be feared but the respect was a welcome change from the usual stuff that he got for a while after he returned.

Luna was a little mad that she lost but when she saw how it made the others respect Sol she took that loss and threw it aside. He still didn't have his Cutie mark which did annoy him but he didn't care that much as he survived this long without it so he could last another 1000 years if he needs to.

"Your sword Sir." The Blacksmith said as she hooved over the blade for the battle he was about to have with Celestia. Needless to say the whole Nation and beyond heard about what he was going to do. Now he was challenging the sun princess and the arena was packed with not just ponies but griffins, minotaurs and many more as they came along when they heard of the battle that would take place. He saw where Luna and the other mares...the mane 6 or some silly name they had where sitting. The yellow one who he thought was Fluttershy and Rarity the white marshmallow one both looked like they were about to pass out.

Sol looked over to the stand and saw both a set of golden and dark blue armour. Walking over it he felt the texture and weight of them and saw they were more or less both made of the same material. Looking over at the golden set he got a silly idea.

"Perhaps I can reflect the sun to blind her?" He chuckled and had a feeling she wouldn't like him fighting dirty so he chose the dark blue armour. As he put it on he saw himself in the mirror and smile. He looked Like Celestia if she chose to wear Luna's armour. Picking up his blade he got ready emotionally and mentally. The tricks he used against Luna wont work on Celestia so he needed to come up with a tactic to beat her which was easier said than done as she was his older sibling and as a result, she taught him a large amount of the combat he knew. He was going to need to rely on adapting as he went along and strike at every opportunity he could.

"Let's get this on the road. Even if i don't win. Simply injuring Celestia to the point of blood and exhaustion would be good enough for me." As the door opened and he stepped out to see Celestia there with her golden armour on, he smiled at her and she returned it. Luna sat up with the main 6 with a smile on her face and Sol saw her mouth 'Good Luck' to him.

"So shall we lay some ground rules?" Celestia asked as the entire arena went silent.

"What do you have in mind?" He asked.

"Simple. No fighting dirty. No going for the head and no high level magic that could kill."

"Agreed." Sol said to her. As Alicorns they were much tougher than normal. An alicorn could take multiple stabs to the chest and enter a healing coma which would return then to normal within 2 weeks which is the reason for the 'No going for the head' rule. They were tough and likely eternally youthful, but not fully immortal.

Sol backed up and so did Celestia as both of them stood at other ends of the arena.

"Begin." The announcer said but it wasn't shouted as she couldn't do her job properly from the shock and fear that this match brought.

Celestia wasted no time slashing the air with a sword and creating lines of fire that went right towards Sol.

"This move...she's going to-" Before he could finish his thought, his body reacted and with a sideways turning slash, he cut her fire slashes across the centre and turned right but as he turned that way to hit her fire slashes, the force of the impact slide him in the same direction and caused him to spin around. Just in time he saw a flaming sword come down on the location he was just a second ago. Thinking he avoided her attack he was shocked to see that as her sword stabbed the ground, she let out a magic fire which burned the rocky ground and with her magic, she used the sword that was in the ground to control where the fire went.

Sol took to the air and tried to catch his breath but Celestia didn't let up as she sent the fire on the ground upwards with a flick of her horn and a little magic. When Sol felt the flame impact him he couldn't help but smile. The memories of his early training days coming back and his heart starting to beat more quickly. He looked at Celestia with a smirk that told her he wasn't going to hold back.

From his location in the air, he folded his wings and with a strong flap from them, he was launched to the ground just infront of Celestia and as she was pushed back a little by the wind, he went on the offensive and lunged at her. Missing her by an inch as she sidestepped and kicked him.

The crowed gasped and some were covering their faces as they had a hard time seeing their ruler do this to her own younger brother. But Sol was having the time of his life and the battle was just starting.

"I know that smile." Celestia said with one of her own. "Your love of battle is still in you after all this time."

"You know it is. And i don't plan to lose this one." Sol wasted no time and decided to back up and launch 3 magic blasts as Celestia before he teleported behind him and tried to slash her back like she tried to do to him. But she conjured a magic blade and blocked his attack.

"You have to do better than that." Celestia said in a way that she knew would get under his skin.

The crowd wasn't cheering at the match went on but instead they were almost holding their breath as the battle raged on. A prince taking on his elder princess sibling and with their culture it was hard to watch a prince battle in such a way and against such a foe. Fluttershy and Rarity were gone by this point as they couldn't handle the stress, while Twilight was standing like a statue and her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Dash almost had a small smile on her face. Pinkie was covering her eyes with her mane and Applejack had her face buried in her hat, taking occasional glances at the battle.

"Sol is so cool." Dash said in her fangirl voice which was easily heard by almost the whole arena. Celestia was acting more defencing but she was also taking the opportunity to attack when possible. She knew Sol and Sol knew her so this was more of a battle of wit than anything else and Sol could tell she was trying to wear him down as she had barely moved. Most of the time she jumped and let her wings carry her by gliding. Saving her a lot of stamina.

"I knew you would be tougher than Luna. But I'm impressed to see the difference." Sol complimented his older sister. Celestia didn't have a smile on her face. She instead seemed to have...a frown.

"After you vanished, i swore that if you ever came back or when Luna was back after her banishment, that i would not allow that to happen again. Over those 1000 years i wasn't just ruling. I was training." Sol's smile slowly faded and he could see pain starting to enter Celestia as he gazed at her eyes. "All that time. You were alive and you never even so much as wrote a letter." Celestia had a hint of pain and anger in her voice.

Sol realised what this would become if he didn't snap her out of it.

"CELESTIA!" He shouted firmly and shot a small beam of yellow magic at her. Celestia's eyes widened and blinked a few times before blocking. "Calm down. We will talk about that after." Sol felt worse now as the anger Celestia likely had for him that she suppressed for so long was coming to the surface. She was right. It had been so long and he didn't even so much as write her a letter just to let her know not to worry.

"Later. Right." Her voice was low like one exhausted and accepting of the situation. Sol's attention was caught when he saw the end of Celestia's mane become a slight orange for a moment. He had a bad feeling that if he kept going that something would happen that wouldn't be pretty so it made him freeze up for a moment to think.

Celestia's front right hoof was shaking and she was glaring at him with...fire in her pupil. The next thing Sol knew his vision was almost taken up compleatly by Celestia as she went on the offensive. Bringing her sword down, she sent a fire slash outwards which Sol dodged and he just managed to avoid a downwards stab into the ground, but not the resulting fire that shot up from the cracks. The cracks on the ground continued to spread until about half the arena was covered in them and fire was shooting up out of them.

Celestia however was in a conflict in her mind. She wanted to give Sol the battle he wanted to prove himself but as she battled him she was getting flashbacks of him before he vanished. Angry at herself for not trying to stop him but also at him from choosing to separate himself from her. She felt her body tense up and her emotions flare for a moment. She felt 'Her' starting to take over.

"Sol...why did you run away from me?" Looking over at Celestia he was heartbroken to see her face. Her eyes had visible tears in them and her mane had taken on a more warm orange colour. As the fire kept on shooting up from the cracks on the ground, magma soon started to cover the arena but Celestia was unaffected by it as her gaze never left Sol.

"It was stupid of me." That's all Sol had to say. He ran away cause of the pain he had of losing Luna who he was closest too. But that was no excuse to not stay with Celestia. She probably feels left out since her own younger brother chose to run away rather than stay with her. As he gazed into her eyes which had both pain and anger merging together inside, he realised that this was one of those things that needed to be vented. She would only calm down after getting this pain out of her system. A pain that he caused.

"Did you not think i was capable of protecting you? Did you not like me? Not trust me?" Celestia asked as she paid no attention to the magma which she walked through to get to him. Every passing moment her mane become more orange.

"No Celestia. That's not it. I felt like i needed to be left alone. I was young at the time and Luna's banishment made me unsure what to do." Sol wasn't fighting her. Instead he was now trying to avoid her attacks.

"You think i was any better off?! Having to do that to my younger sister!?" She screamed. Her mane was now becoming lighter and changing. The whole time this was happening Sol was feeling the guilt of his stupidity and selfishness over all these years coming back to hit him hard.

What happened next caught him off guard as Celestia fired a magic blast at him.

"Everyday since her banishment it asked myself how i could have done things differently! On that day i lost the 2 of you! Both my younger siblings! I thought you were dead only to show up in Canterlot out of the blue after 1000 years!!" Celestia's mane was becoming a bright red now.

Sol decided to also fight back with his magic as he used his wings to kick up dust and fired his own yellow bean towards Celestia in the direction she was before the dust covered her.

"I'm sorry about what i did. It wasn't right. I know that now." He tried his best to calm her down.

"You only learned that now?! Or did you know for some time and still said nothing?!" Celestia's mane was now a glowing bright yellow and her eyes were pure white. Her mane almost looked like...it would catch fire. Which it did the moment Sol thought about that. Her tail soon followed.

Celestia's face was still covered in tears and some parts of her were shaking. The sadness and anger working together to make her lose control. Sol sighed as he looked at her and the state she was in. He had no clue what to say or do.

"Celestia...i..." He was cut off as he felt a sword on his neck. Every spectator in the arena gasped at that and even Luna was started to consider stepping in.

"No more excuses! Do you have any idea what the following years were like after you were missing? I never felt as horrible as i did in that timeframe! The pain never went away that i should have followed you! I should have done more! You ran off into that forest and for all i know a feral animal killed you!" Celestia had every right to be angry at Sol for what he had done and Sol couldn't find anything to get back at her with. But that still didn't stop Sol from doing what he needed to right now.

Sol then used his back hooves and kicked Celestia away from him. He knew what he needed to do and that was to calm her down. He needed to let her attack him to get the anger out of her system. He stood up and rubbed the area on his neck where she put her sword. Alicorns need to have strong control over their emotions or things like this happen. Their magic can heighten the emotions they feel and caused them to act without thinking.

He had 2 options. Make Celestia more mad and the fight would be shorter but also more brutal. Or draw it out over time and let her calm down normally. For the sake of his subjects who were also nearby he decided to go with the latter. Looking up at Luna who was about to intervene, he glared at her and shook his head which stopped her in her tracks.

"Go back Luna." He heard Celestia say without turning around and she tried to not sound angry at her. Luna knowing she was outmatched by them, backed off.

"Celestia. We aren't finished yet." He drew his blade which he put away a while ago when he realised how much she was hurting.

"You're Right." Celestia's blade was now an inferno of flames and Sol swore he smelt burning metal at that moment.

"We need to stop this!" Twilight shouted as she saw it was about to get out of control. But as Celestia and Sol's blades clashed again in the arena, a magic shockwave knocked almost all the ponies off of their seats and the magma was pushed to the corners. Leaving Celestia and Sol surrounded by it.

"Why didn't you let me know you were alive?! Tell me Sol!" Sol was about to remain silent until he just said what came to his mind.

"Cause i was young and stupid." He pushed against her fire blade and with a step to the side and twist. His blade passed hers and managed to give her a cut on her side. Sol was almost hesitant to fight when Celestia showed no pain.

"That's all!?" Bringing her Blade down again she cracked the ground and sent up more magma and flames which knocked Sol into the air again. Leaving his with visible burns.

"I got to watch out for that." He thought as he picked himself up. The hot rocky ground feeling like sandpaper against his coat.

Celestia threw her blade at Sol and as he blocked it with his own, he saw her fire a powerful magic beam at him. Sol just barely had enough time to put up a shield before the beam hit him. This however made him drop his sword and Celestia's which he blocked was knocked upwards and came down sharply on his back. Pain shooting through him as his concentration was broken which weakened his shield and a few moments later it broke.

Celestia was shaking in her legs by this point. She put a lot into that attack and now that a lot of her anger was vented, she was starting to come to her senses. Realising her emotions got the better of her she felt guilt and regret shoot through her a moment later.

"SOL!" She ran up to see what damage was done and as she reached half way she stopped and looked on in both amazement and horror. Sol had her blade impaled into him on his left side which was also flowing with some blood and he had 2nd and some 3rd degree burns. Both magical and non magical as the magma also left him with large swollen red spots on his back legs. But he was still standing and he looked...furious.

Sol started to walk up to her as his body was glowing with magic. Thinking back to when she trained him, there was one thing that always ticked Sol off. Pain. When he was in pain he felt like he was losing and as a result he often got really angry in intense moments of pain. Allowing him to ignore most injuries he had and keep fighting. But to see him enduring the ones he currently had was something she never expected and just like her, he seemed to also be on the verge of letting his emotions overtake him as his magic swelled up.

"You want to know why i never wrote to you? Fine. I have no idea. Thinking back i don't know if it was cause i blamed you, or if it was me and i didn't want to return to a large standard of life like that. I lost track of time and of my thoughts. I focused on the there and now. Not on the future and not the past as you can't change the past. It's been so long since that time that i can't even remember Harvests face anymore. The first friend i had who treated me equally and not as a scary royal figure. Or as some pony who needs to be protected. I liked it there with him and when he passed away...i don't even remember. It was so long ago. But i do know this. I did wrong to you. But i won't let that ruin the future i can have with you and Luna as a family." As he said this, Sol felt like he was trapped in his mind with his body moving by itself.

"Sol..." Celestia's gazed went from his face to his wings. Sol wings were starting to change colour.

"Do you think seeing you like that didn't make me feel bad for my foolishness. It did. I hurt you and i never thought about it until just before we met up again in Canterlot." Sol spread his wings out as energy seemed to envelop them and his flank was starting to glow as his feather grew larger.

Every pony who was looking on was staring at Sol in amazement as he seemed to be transforming before their very eyes. Even with him and Celestia having a heated family talk in the middle of a battle.

"I'm sorry that i hurt you. I won't do it again! But you didn't hold back with that magic attack. SO I WON'T HOLD BACK TOO!" Sol was now in the same position she was in before and his magic had reached his breaking point. His sadness in seeing what he did to her was making him angry more at himself than her and that anger broke.

Sol's wings stretched out fully and the entire arena was covered in flowing streams of different coloured magic. Each feather on his wing emitted a different colour and they flowed out behind Sol like streams. His tail and mane also followed the same as his wings as his streams of coloured flowed like Celestia's mane. His coat turned a bleach white just like Celestia's was and magic pulses were being sent out as Sol used this never before seen magic. The streams of magic stretched out and went over the top of the arena so even those outside who were trying to see parts of the match saw it.

As the pulses washed over the crowed, all of them quickly found themselves relax. They felt safe, all their worry seemed to vanish and their accelerated heartbeats returned to normal. Celestia herself had trouble resisting the pulse waves that Sol was sending out as she felt herself relax, like there wasn't any danger even when she knew Sol was still angry.

Sol prepared a beam of his own that Celestia saw and put a barrier up to stop, but thanks to how relaxed she felt from the waves, or the presence that Sol seemed to be emitting, it was hard to hold it up firmly. The best way she could describe it was the feeling you have when a limb is burnt out from use and moving it around feels weird and it also doesn't moved fully the way you try to make it. It felt like that but instead of a painful burn, it was a weakness from the relaxation she felt.

As Sol's beam impacted her shield it broke within a moment and she was knocked back against the wall. A moment later Sol's wings, coat and mane slowly returned to normal and he soon found himself shaking off his head. Looking around he realised what he done and looked over at Celestia who had a large black burn mark on her chest, but she was still alive and well.

"Celestia!" He ran up to her to check on her but as he started to run he felt a sting on his back. A moment later he pulled out Celestia's blade which was in his back and limped over to her as she struggled to get up. She did manage to do so slowly as the relaxing effects of Sol's...whatever that was finally started to wear off.

"I think we should stop this match. We need to clear things between us before we do something like this again." Sol said to her as both of them stopped fighting.

"Agreed. Let's stop this." She agreed with him as she saw the blood flowing down his side from the injury her sword inflicted on him.

"So it's a tie?" Luna asked with a relieved sigh before she flew down to check on them. A moment later the gates opened and medical professionals immediately ran over to them.

"I'll be fine. I have been worse off. Make sure Sol is alright." Celestia told the staff as Sol was given more attention at her request. Celestia had 2 reasons for this. She wanted to make sure he was not injured in any permanent way and she knew Sol hated attention. She was right as Sol looked over at her with a shocked expression when she said that and a moment later when most of the doctors were around him, he glared daggers at her. Celestia just smiled and giggled.

"Problem?" She asked with the biggest smug grin she could make.

As Sol was lead way to be treated for his injuries, Celestia and Luna were left to speak.

"What was that all about? I thought you had better control over your emotions than that." Celestia sighed.

"Luna. I had to put up with an intense amount of guilt for both of you over so long and then i learned he was alive. Not just that but he didn't even tell me. I felt betrayed as he didn't feel or think about sending so much as a 'Hey Celestia. This is Sol, i am alive so don't worry.' I would have been happy with even just that. Just to know he was still alive." Luna had nothing to say and just looked at the ground.

Celestia stood up and got her posture back.

"Let's go Luna. We need to sit down and clear this up before something like that happens again." Twilight flew down to Celestia within a moment of them starting to leave.

"Celestia! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly but all her mentor did was chuckle.

"I am. Don't worry." She breathed a happy sigh as she looked over at Sol who was being lead to get treated for his sword injury.

"What was that?" Twilight asked. More to herself than anyone else there. Celestia on the other hand, was smiling as she looked over at Sol and saw something new on his flank. She smiled when she saw it as she knew what it meant.

"I'm sure you can figure it out Twilight." With that. Celestia and Luna teleported back to their rooms to change back into their royal attire and clean up. Celestia more so than Luna.