Time to Say Farewell

by Toriandthehorse

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Luna, Drama, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Death, Sad
Length: 2215

Every Sun must set eventually...

There is something not everypony knows about Alicorns.
It is that they, too, have a time where life leaves them.
Now, exactly one hundred millennia have passed. One hundred millennia since the beloved rulers of Equestria first stepped hoof in their world.
Now, Princess Celestia and Luna have to step down from that oh-so-high position.
As hard as it may be, to give their final wishes to the land they love like a child,
it is time for them to say:
Farewell.

For someone special. You really are something.

Published 2019-10-18 20:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-10-18 20:40:01 UTC

Legends Never Die

Evening was settled deeply, in the city of Canterlot. The moon shone high, adjoining stars bright and winking. Streetlights had long ago flickered on, shadows casting their tight embrace around every corner. Ponies drifted off into the dreamlands, the weight and worries of the day at long last lifting. Rest and slumber had fallen unto a blessed many of the pony kind, seeping through tough outer shells to comfort the inner. It would seem like any other night. But it wasn’t.

The two royals occupying Canterlot Castle knew this.

They were both in one of the Castle’s many wide, gold-trimmed rooms. The elder paced, from one edge, to the other, and back again. Her long horn, now marred with various chips and scratches, gave off small bursts of yellow magic turned gray. The letter she held in her grasp teetered to the edge of falling. The younger sat unmoving on the fringed carpet. Dark circles ringed once-bright green eyes. Her mane, once so beautiful and sparkling, was losing color and flow rapidly.

“We are very sorry to have to do this?” A low, raspy voice emitted from the once proud Princess Luna.

“But we aren’t doing anything, Sister. This is simply the passage of an Alicorn life.” Celestia answered, voice equally worn and tired. Her hooves, bare and without any royal regalia, kept tapping mindlessly against the beautifully polished floor, moving without direction. Once upon a time, years ago, she might have noticed and appreciated the luxury of such gleaming floors… but now, she was just so tired. Each next moment brought a heavy stiffness further into limbs once fierce. She heaved a sigh, now heavy with burdens of what was to come. “I must admit, I am looking forward to this all being finished.”

Luna wearily lifted her eyes. “Did you not enjoy Our time here?” A muscle in her leg twitched. She winced and weakly rubbed the spot.

“No, no… I truly did. Watching Equestria, and later, Twilight, grow as they did… it does make a mare proud.” A faint smile lifted the dull edges of Celestia’s mouth. Oh, those were the good times. Good times indeed.

“But it has taken its toll?” Luna finished. Dark eyes, still bearing glimmers of intelligence and wisdom gained over the years, tracked her sister as she moved, and moved, and moved.

“I’m afraid so, dear Luna.” Celestia sighed, closing her eyes for a long minute. “I wish for this to pass quickly-” A painful spasm spiraled through her horn, tearing the magic apart and ripping a gasp out from deep inside. Small sparks broke free from the magic’s fading hold. With them dropped the scroll. Ah, yet another reminder of time passing ever so quickly. She stared at it a moment, then reached down to cradle it in a trembling white hoof. Her chest rose with a visible breath. Collecting and composing. “Why didn’t we do this sooner, again?”

“Matters not now, my Sister. Shall we continue?” Luna asked, a lethargic unease edging further into her failing voice. Celestia glanced over at the other Alicorn, almost giving a double take when she saw what had become of her sister, even just in these last few hours. The ethereal mane was no more; in place was a dull gray mane that sagged in chunks. Multiple feathers were misplaced, barely supported by the wingbone – there was no chance of one last flight. Celestia felt her breath catch. They had once been such worthy rulers, and now… fading so quickly…Then she shook her head, hard. Didn’t matter. Didn’t matter, didn’t matter, didn’t matter. She focused what she knew to be her final moments of strength back up into her horn. The gray aura weakly fizzled to life, precariously lifting the scroll and its quill high once more.

“Dear Princess Twilight…” Celestia muttered, slowly scanning the page. Funny. I do wonder if Twilight always felt this way before sending me a letter, she mused silently. “There is something you have yet to learn about Alicorn customs. Now, this will undoubtedly come as a surprise, but it is what must be done. After one hundred millennia’s of being, an Alicorn passes into the next life. At dawn this day, it will be the next year. It will be one hundred millennia’s after the year my sister Luna and I were brought into this world. Thus, it will be Our time to pass on. It is difficult for even Us to accept, but… but what?!”

“We assure you everything shall be alright?” Luna suggested, voice distinctly straining to form the words loud enough.

“That ought to do.” Celestia scratched the words down. She savored the sound, pinning it to her memories. Memories, memories… so many memories. Years and years gone by… filled with highs and lows. An eerie laugh tittered somewhere in the back of her mind, taunting her with the unknown. Taunting her with reality and illusions.

“Um… We apologize for what inconvenience this surely brings.” The darker mare murmured, tone cracking down to silent.

Inconvenience… for whom, though? The Crystal Empire had Princess Cadance, the whole of Equestria had Princess Twilight, and Princess Flurry Heart was almost to the point where she could easily take over for Twilight, if it came to that. They’d be leaving the land in safe hooves, no doubt. And for themselves, well, surely… wherever they were headed, things would be alright…

A moment of quiet passed, both sisters deep in their own thoughts. Only the soft scratching of quill on scroll audible. And suddenly, that stopped too.

“I’m scared, Luna.” Celestia admitted quietly. She looked down, staring at the hooves that had once flaunted shimmering gold shoes with pride. A tear leaked out of her pale pink eyes, scalding a way down the age old muzzle to drop onto the ground. From shame, or sadness, she wasn’t sure. She was supposed to be the strong one; she was supposed to be comforting Luna. She was going to be leaving her land forever, saying goodbye to the descendants of ponies she had grown up with.

“Tia…” The younger struggled to her feet, face contorting from the screams of protest radiating out through her very being. Her limbs ached, from wingtip to hooftip. Slowly, with a visibly choppy gait, Luna limped over to the pony she had ruled with for centuries.

“I-I can’t just… leave like this! We can’t just leave like this!” Celestia cried. The tears flowed openly now, each tear like a memory, finally bursting through the barriers of denial. Words of sorrow pushed to get out… but all she could do was stand there and cry.

“Everything needed here was already done, Sister. They don’t need Us anymore.” Luna said gently, draping a frail wing down over her sister’s own. The tremors of age and weakness rippled out from one sister to the other, just as power had once done.

Thoughts rushed through Celestia’s feverish mind. Emotions, moments, memories, from so long ago… all coming back in a flood. Overwhelming the inside and streaming out through glassy eyes that had seen so much… down a muzzle that had spoken words, harsh and kind, a muzzle that had eaten the finest foods and drank the finest drink. Each moment something to remember. Each moment one she hadn’t savored nearly enough.

“It’s alright, Sister.” Luna murmured, summoning enough strength to draw her sister into a hug. “All will be well…”

Into her sister’s mane, Celestia wept. With every passing minute, the strength left in waves, residing back and pulsing forward after hundreds of thousands of years, leaving behind a numbness she hadn’t felt since, well, since back then.

“I can’t… say farewell…” She choked out, through the squeezing hold of an unknown hoof. She wished she could go back in time, fix the things that had broken, make peace with the ponies she had failed.

“I understand that, Tia. But look what you have done here.” Luna reached out her trembling other wing, turning her sister’s face to look into her own. “When we first arrived, Equestria had nothing but hate and evil. ‘Tweren’t but a few settlements, back then, do you not recall?” Celestia lifted her eyes to meet Luna’s. They locked, and held. She gave a small nod, accompanied by a muffled sob. “And now see. War is nonexistent. There are cities, holding thousands of good ponies. Equestria now has three Alicorns to take Our place. Perhaps it is hard, yes. But… you are a legend, here. And legends never fade.” Another cry rippled out of the elder Alicorn, as the words dawned.

As twilight neared closer still, a long while shrouded in thick heaviness passed. The only sounds audible were the racking sobs of a falling Alicorn princess. Next to her, the entire time, stood the younger. Her graying navy wing draped over the contrasting gray-tipped white wing. Two mares, different as day and night; sun and moon. Yet still together as the end neared, and neared, and neared.

So much she had worked for, so much to say goodbye to.

“They were good times, Sister.” Luna said, softly. She gazed out the window, where the faint light of a sunrise began to appear. Celestia lifted a hoof and pressed it against her muzzle, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt an exhaustion she hadn’t felt ever before. Perhaps from all the tears, perhaps from what was physically happening to prepare her for the ascension into the area of naught.

“Are you not afraid?” Celestia murmured, matching her sister’s line of sight.

“Only a touch.” Luna gave the taller Alicorn a sly sideways glance. “When you’ve been banished to the moon for a millennium, you learn to accept whatever shall happen.”

Celestia nodded. It did make sense. She sniffed, choking back another cry. It came easier, this time. She was simply too weary to continue, as the light of sunrise further illuminated the buildings of Canterlot she had looked down on over years and years. Yet another sign that their time was coming, and coming quickly.

“I’ll miss this land so.” She whispered, more to herself than to Luna.

The moon was settling lower with each moment. The sun was rising up to meet its partner, bathing all the land in a golden glow only to be seen at the very moment.

Celestia inhaled all the way, filling her lungs with air and exhaling it all out. She closed her eyes, taking everything in. Then she bent down to retrieve her abandoned scroll once again, and, with a heavy, heavy heart, began to write.

As the last word made its way onto the page, sun and moon linked for but a moment.

Celestia felt herself lifting into the air, wrapped tightly in a binding of light. She noted it wasn’t an uncomfortable hold; rather, one meant to comfort. She looked over to Luna. The smaller mare’s being was starting to fade, disappearing into the eternity of a dark light. Kind eyes remained solid, lifting one last time to wrap Celestia’s own in a tight, sisterly embrace.

And then, Equestria’s rulers of precisely one hundred millennia’s were granted the pass to the freedom of eternity.

Dear Princess Twilight,

There is something you have yet to learn about Alicorn customs. Now, this will undoubtedly come as a surprise, as I have indeed kept it from you, but it is what must be done. After one hundred millennia of being, an Alicorn passes into the next life. At dawn this day, it will be the next year. It will be one hundred millennia after the year Luna and I were brought into this world. Thus, it will be Our time to pass on.

It is difficult for even Us to accept, but I can assure you all shall be alright.

We shan’t ever forget you, nor what you have done for Us. Because I do believe you taught me just as much about friendship as you believe I taught you. Move along with teaching the rest of my land what you mastered so skillfully.

Remember, my dear Twilight. Remember what you have been taught. Remember what You have taught. For it is a valuable lesson, one you have the talent to share.

Stay strong. You now have a land to rule; you are now head of Equestria. But you are not alone. You have Cadance, and Flurry Heart. To think naught of the lovely colts and fillies of your late friends.

I am incredibly proud of the mare, the ruler, you have become. I know you can navigate whatever challenges you will face, these upcoming years.

You will be lowering the moon now. The sun will be in your grasp, rising already. When they reach their middle peak, it shall be time for Us to pass.

Thank you, for sharing with me the best years an Alicorn could want. I wish you all the best, for what is to come.

I fear I must say farewell, now, my dear Twilight Sparkle.

Until we meet again.

Princess Celestia of Equestria.

Author's Note

I basically wrote this drunk on coffee and listening to Alone. :pinkiecrazy: Not to mention, I wanted to get down a sad piece for the finale.

Hope everyone enjoyed!