The Cat, Witch and the Wormholes

Chapter 3. One thousand years of solitude

Being a ruler is not an easy feat, it was an absolute truth that Celestia knew intimately. For the last thousand years, remaining at the helm of power and leadership, bearing the burden of absolute monarchy, that which she should have shared with her Sister. The only creature in the whole world that she promised to take care for and protect, the only creature she failed so utterly and totally.

They were destined to save the world from its doom and bring prosperity and serenity. They succeeded in their epic quest, but the price of victory was her ultimate solitude. The only price she was never willing to pay. This fee still haunts her in her daily nightmares. Pleadings, blind rage, angry words and her final choice. She saved the world again, but lost a part of herself, maybe even forever.

Because this creature, this monster, this abomination is not the one that she called her Sister, not the one she loved and longed. And when the time comes for their inevitable reunion, she is not so sure that she can stop her again. Sealing the Luna on the Moon took away most of her own magical powers, and after that she lost control of the Elements of Harmony. They stopped responding to her, lying like lifeless stones, and to her dismay, the Element of Magic simply crumbled to dust. The most powerful tool in their arsenal instantly ceased to exist, and she had not the slightest hope that the Elements would ever be restored again.

In the years of unrest, it was the only thing that allowed them to bring Harmony and stop any extraordinary villain. And there were so many of them. These are all poor creatures who fell victim to their own overpowered Special Talents. Those, who surrendered themselves to the dark whispers in their weak minds. These constant whispers of rage and suspicion with which she has to live herself, those that she always ignores, depriving them of their freedom and power. And so, in order to protect the world and help the poor creatures, ending this nightmare, the sisters made the only effective decision - to seal them in stone, as they did with Discord, giving them the everlasting tranquility of non-death.

Her little ponies never understood how destructive and vile their Special Talents can be, if left without proper guidance and careful control, they will again and again lead to all this madness. And the more powerful the Special Talent, the more chances it has to go awry. Even the innocuous talent of caring for plants can turn into an uncontrollable chaos of meat-eating vegetation.

She had already seen this before, and other cases too. Too many to list them all, too many incidents, so that she could allow herself to relax for a long period of time. And some of the consequences cannot even be eliminated. Like the Everfree Forest or creatures inhabited it. Thank you Faust for the Apple family and their willingness to help. Sometimes only those who deal with such things from generation to generation can react in time. Even her royal guard is not always as efficient or prepared as a bunch of farmers with long traditions and experiences.

She always wondered about the times when there were no Special Talents or Cutie Marks, about the times that preceded even Discord. How did these ponies live, were they happier than the current generation? Perhaps she would have lived without all this hidden threat, without a subconscious fear of any new Talent that appears, which could well bring a new doom.

It’s not that any modern pony is aware of this, they are too sheltered, too pampered, they live in Utopia without conflicts, wars and cataclysms. Almost perfect world that the two sisters created for them. They live without the knowledge of past times, of dark times, the only echoes of which remain in very inaccurate fairy tales and legends. She did her best to make sure of it. She made sure that none of them had any reason for any serious conflict, for any deep fear or despair, the things that nourish the Darkness that lurks in their Special Talents. The Darkness that took her Sister.

Most of these Special Talents actually simplified to quite ordinary things, such as sewing, painting, or singing, and did not become talents for war, murder, and maiming. The rest fall under her attention and a special hidden division in the Royal Chancellery. They secretly follow the life of the ponies with possible dangerous Special Talents and react if they decide to go rogue. Perhaps such a secret Service should not exist in such a peaceful country as Equestria, but, nevertheless, it is necessary. Their services are not needed very often, due to the absence of dangers in modern Equestria, but Celestia chose to have them than not and allow something terrible to happen.

Sometimes she even volunteered herself and took ponies with promising Special Talents and magical powers under her wing as her personal students to teach them and shield them from Darkness. As she did with Sunset Shimmer, and now with Cadence. Who not only managed to stop the rogue sorceress in time, the one that the monitoring service failed to prevent, but also got one very dangerous and powerful Special Talent and ascended to alicornhood at the same time. She is a very intriguing person, and this cat is hers too.

Celestia doesn’t have many opportunities to learn something new about this world that she hasn’t seen before; this is the fault of her own longevity and the world’s low inclination to change. But this new ascension of alicorn, the like of which has never happened since all the time since she and the Luna became the Alicorns, and the unexpected appearance of a cat on the divine plane, which also began to show signs of deep intelligence, physical prowess and even sapience. It was new. Yes, many animals were smart, but never were smart as a pony, but this one was. In its eyes, she clearly saw the fear of her, but not the fear of something new and unfamiliar, but the fear of someone who surpasses you, the fear of authority.

A curious phenomenon for someone who is not a pony or any other previously known sapient denizen of Equis. This cat knew who she was, and from that he was terrified. Not that she liked the idea that she was terrifying, but sometimes it warmed her soul, knowing that you were still able to instill fear in your adversaries, even if it was unintentional. But she did not feel anything sinister from this cat, and her prophetic powers were silent. Therefore, she ordered the Royal Guard to keep track of the cat and report on anything unusual that he would do, but still she dropped the matter and focused on its owner, Cadence. That little filly was the one whose appearance she had not even dreamed of.

Celestia always thought that her and the Luna's ascension happened by chance, but now, now there is an opportunity to finally break this damned circle of loneliness. If Cadence also has immortality, like Celestia and the Luna, then she will no longer be alone in the world of mortals, whose lives were short and fleeting, like a candle flame. The only problem is that there was a lingering danger of her Special Talent.

This young alicorn has one of the most terrifying powers Celestia has ever seen in her long life — the power to control Love. And if Celestia fails to teach this filly all good and responsibility, then the world will probably get its most terrible monster of all time. Where there is no Love, there will be Hate, and where there is Hate, there is Suffering. Equis would crumble in her wake. Of course, she may try to get rid of the threat in advance, but there is no guarantee that Cadence will not be able to survive somehow, and then take the path of revenge, one that will destroy everything that the Luna and Celestia have achieved. And so Celestia has no room for mistake.

She carefully determined her first step, which would ensure the best possible outcome. And what could be better than finding a friend to a young Goddess. She even has a very good candidate.

Sunset Shimmer was her current personal student. Unicorn filly with Special Talent to use the Solar Flame. One that is very close to Celestia's own talent for controlling the Sun, which made her bring some parallels with her own youth. And young Celestia was not a friendly or caring person, as she was now, no, she was just like Sunset - brash, spiteful and blunt.

Celestia still remembers all her shouting with her mother and father, arguments and fights with fillies and colts from her home village, which she readily escalated into fights, always returning home with cuts and bruises, until one day she found her dying mother on the floor of their shack, because some bastard decided it would be a good idea to rob them clean and who cut her mother with a shank. Worse, her mother was in the last days of her pregnancy, and the stress of the injury caused her to give birth prematurely. And after giving birth, lying on her deathbed, the mother asked Celestia to take care of her newborn sister, a promise that Celestia carried with dignity and unbreakable duty.

She immediately stopped fighting the locals, even stopped going to school, despite the fact that her father promised that he would take care of the little Luna while she was studying. She would never agree to this. Because now she had a duty. And she raised the Luna on her own, with the same responsibility as if she was raising her own daughter. She loved her immensely and did everything possible to make her happy. And they were happy.

Until Discord came. Until the world ended and began anew. All whom they knew died. Everything around them has changed. But the two of them survived. Have become stronger. Became wiser and gained experience. And they took the Sun and the Moon for themselves. They found the Elements of Harmony and saved the world.

So if there was a possibility that Sunset and Cadence might be as close as she was with the Luna, she will take that chance. Because everyone needs a friend. Even if someday they drift apart, or one of them will become too old to continue living.

Celestia arranged a meeting with all haste, and as she thought the first acquaintance of two fillies was as bad as expected, but the longer they were together, the closer they got. Even if they shouted at each other, argued and sometimes pouted. This cat also contributed to the their bonding, as their personal little secret about his magical talents became the first stone of their mutual friendship.

The cat turned out to be harmless, and their attempts to teach him new tricks were good bonding material and reason for their magical studies together. She, of course, kept her hooves on the pulse, but she did not think that the cat was really dangerous even for little fillies, and especially for them.

But only time will tell if she was right or not, and Celestia hoped for the best. Because their friendship was cute, and she always knew that true Friendship is Magic.