Author's Note

Character Tags: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, King Sombra, OC
Tags: Sad, Drama, Romance

Set: 1513 AD; one year after the end of The Broken and The Damned

Redemption~PT. 1

As her alarm clock rang out, Celestia awoke. Her coat was disheveled, and her mane wasn't much better. She didn't know how it became like that, seeing as how it was spectral and not technically physical, but she digressed. Her alarm went off; that meant she needed to raise the sun. So, albeit reluctantly, she got out of bed and made her way to the balcony.

Her sister had already lowered the moon most of the way, leaving her to raise the sun. Her horn lit up with magic, and the great Light Giver rose from the eastern horizon. It would be able to continue on its own, and she only needed to make sure it set at the end of the day. That left her with several hours on her own. To do whatever she pleased.

She sighed, before turning and heading back to her bed. As she did so, she looked around her room. Normally, maids came while she was away and cleaned it every other day, leaving the room more or less spotless for the majority of the time. However, she had told them to stop. She had told them that she would clean her room herself. Well, that was true; she just didn't do it as often as they did. As it stood, her room was positively filthy. Dust coated every surface, her desk was piled high with papers and letters, and an entire corner of the room was filled with empty wine bottles. Despite the mess, she decided she wouldn't clean it up today. Let it get a little worse, then clean it up. Like she had done with threats to Equestria, time and time again.

She levitated up the sheets, sliding back into them. As she did so, however, she stopped as she felt an odd feeling on her flank. Flipping up the covers to look at it, she saw a weird stain on her fur, covering most of her cutie mark. She sighed again. She needed to shower soon anyway.

She made her way to the bathroom, her hoof-falls kicking up dust as she did so. As she arrived at the bathroom attached to her room, she trudged inside and used her magic to turn on the shower. She waited for the water to heat up, watching steam start to curl up from the shower. She had known about running water before, of course; it was a luxury and one that she had thoroughly enjoyed. However, it had always been rather cold; heated water via boilers was a Griffonian invention.

After another few seconds, she decided it was hot enough and entered the shower stall. As she did so, she levitated over a bottle of shampoo, lathering up her coat and using a washcloth to rub around the suds and the water from the nozzle to wash it off. The water was quite hot; uncomfortably so, in fact. However, she just kept letting it fall on her. Any way she could make up for what she did to Rainbow Dash, and for failing her ponys was worth taking in her eyes.

After a few minutes, she stepped out of the shower. She levitated over a towel to dry herself off, before looking in the mirror. Her recent shower had certainly cleaned her up. Her coat was a flawless white, her mane sparkled as it waved in an astral breeze, and she looked the epitome of regalness in her mirror. For the most part. Her face betrayed that image; her face was limp with seeming tiredness, her eyes had massive bags beneath them, and her eyes themselves were rather dull, seemingly devoid of her previous liveliness.

A loud knock came from her door, and she teleported to answer it. She was greeted by a Pryhan soldier, wearing a dark purple cloak and a purple helmet crest. He was apart of the Pryhan liaison force, assigned by their Caesar to help train the next generation of guards and to help guard Canterlot Castle in the meantime.

He saluted, slamming his right paw to his shoulder and bowing his head. "Ave, Princeps", he said. "Your sister requests your presence in Council Room."

"Very well", she said, trying her best to sound regal. "I shall be there shortly."

"Shall I escort you?", he asked.

She replied, "N-no thank you. I know my way, and I'm quite positive that no harm will come to me. You may leave."

"Vale, Princeps", he replied, once again saluting before turning to trot off.

She once again sighed, before shutting the door and turning to fetch her regalia. She didn't like it. Don't get her wrong, she didn't not like the Pryhans. She didn't like their insistence on calling her Princess. She had told the staff that she wanted to be called Celestia, even before she bucked up. Now, though...

She levitated over her regalia, stepping into her horseshoes and sliding on her collar. She stopped when she came to the tiara. It was by far the least used out of all of them; she hadn't put it on in about six months. As she wasn't technically a princess anymore, or at least she didn't consider herself one, so it was pointless. Still, every time she had to put on her regalia, she always stopped and looked at her tiara, debating on whether or not to put it on. She never did, though. She just put it back in the box she kept them in, before lighting up her horn and teleporting out of her room.

She arrived outside a pair of large doors, with another pair of Pryhan soldiers outside. They snapped to attention, the first sound that greeted her ears as she materialized being slamming on metal, followed by them exclaiming, "Ave, Princeps!" She nodded in acknowledgment, before stepping past them into the recently finished Council chambers.

She arrived on the lower part of the dais that made up her former throne. Above her, her sister Luna sat on her former throne. She was wearing the same regalia as she had before the Changeling Crisis, but also bore bags under her eyes. In front of her, covering the former long hall of her throne room, were a bunch of seats around the throne in a horseshoe shape. The seats were full of ponies; about three hundred and forty-five mares and stallions who made up Lunas new 'Senate'.

They were representatives from various towns and cities around Equestria, who Luna had called up to assist in governance of Equestria. They functioned similarly to the senate of the New Griffonian Republic; make laws, oversee most of the day to day governance of Equestria, and help her deal with big issues.

She came in in the midst of one of the Senators, former head of the EEA Chancellor Neighsayer, Senator of Canterlot, giving a speech. "...And how do we know that we don't know that those bugs aren't preparing another attack on us!? So what if they have a new leader; he was a servant of Queen Chrysalis same as all of them! Instead of being punished for their attack on us, they are being rewarded! Given a new plot of land to our west, where they can breed and prepare another attack on us! They don't have our best interests at heart, even if they seek to shake our hooves and become our allies!"

"And what do you propose to do?", Orange Peel, Senator of Manehatten, interjected.

Neighsayer sighed, shaking his head and scowling. "Well, send our new soldiers. Secure this threat to our sovereignty, and prevent them from ever harming us again."

Luna spoke up, saying, "Senator Neighsayer. I know you are not unaware, but a military solution is impossible. The Canterlot Concordance-"

"Which was not approved. Either by this body or by the noble houses of Equestria", he interrupted.

"As sovereign, and as such head diplomat, I am well within my right to sign and enact such acts as the Canterlot Concordance", Luna said. "And, as I was saying, the Concordance clearly states that any aggressive action against another recognized state or the territory of that state will be seen as an act of war against all states in the Concordance. Do you want to go war with Pryha, Senator? Griffonia? Even Yakyakistan?"

"Then, perhaps, another method to ensure their confirmation of alliance." He smiled thinly, before saying, "An arranged marriage!"

Various senators looked amongst themselves. Celestia knew that while many of them wouldn't normally want to do anything like invade another country, they were scared. They had been attacked for seemingly no reason, and many of them had seen dozens of dead bodies as their towns were liberated.

Luna said, "Arranged marriage?"

"Yes!", he said. "A union between the secondary diarch of Equestria, and some, er, relation of their leader. Bonding our nation between the bonds of our secondary leaders, and ensuring that they will not attack us. A fine solution, don't you agree, Princess?"

Celestia recalled something that Rainbow Dash had told her: 'Help and stand by your sister. She's done everything for your country, and you have to support her. Pryhan's have to do their duty to the public to hold office at any level of the state. So, do what you have to do for your country.

She said, "Very well."

Everyone turned to look at her, looks of shock from almost all of them. After a second, she continued, "If that is what we need to maintain peace, then that is-"

"ENOUGH!", Luna yelled. "There will be no arranged marriage, nor any invasion. I can consider sending troops to the border with the Changelings, but I will not be considering this nonsense!" She sighed, rubbing her temples, before falling back in the throne. "Take a forty-five-minute recess. I need to talk to my sister, and perhaps we can let cooler heads prevail."

The Senators got up from their seats, leaving to talk amongst themselves. Meanwhile, Luna lit up her horn, teleporting herself and Celestia away from the Council Room.

++++~++++

The two of them rematerialized in Celestia's room, Luna looking around before saying, "Sister, shall I have some of the castle staff come to clean your room? It's filthy."

"It's fine", Celestia said. "Now, what do you need?"

"It's about what you just did in the Senate Chamber. Volunteering for something like that! What were you thinking!?", she said.

Celestia sighed, trotting over and sitting on her bed. After a few seconds of silence, Luna asked, "This is about what happened between you and Rainbow Dash, isn't it?"

"Yes", Celestia replied, looking at her gold-clad hooves. "She said I needed to help my country. If what Neighsayer proposed would help prevent conflict, then I should-"

Luna interrupted, "Sister. This is actually why I called you to me. During a recess, I wanted to talk to you about this. What you're doing; it's not healthy. Rainbow has a different set of beliefs from us-"

"And whose fault is that?", Celestia asked, still not meeting her eyes. "I messed up."

"Still, that doesn't mean you need to waste yourself away", Luna replied. She walked up to her, lifting up Celestia's head to look her sister in the eye. "You can still be productive. Help me in some duties, work with the Senate to-"

"To what?", Celestia asked. "To exile another innocent mare in anger? To cause another disaster? To put us so far behind other nations in most ways that, even after a year of them saving us, we have to rely on their soldiers to protect our castle? That we are bickering amongst ourselves? For Mother's sake, we're considering WAR! Is that what you want me to do!?"

A look of shock crossed Luna's face, before being replaced by a look on sadness. "I understand, sister. I felt the same sense of, of helplessness, before I became Nightmare Moon."

"Another example of my failures as a leader", Celestia groused.

"That's beside the point-"

Celestia said, "It's exactly the point! I'm a failure!"

Ignoring what she had just said, Luna replied, "Instead of doing what I did, and becoming something you would hate, do something productive."

"Like what?", Celestia asked.

Luna said, "I don't know. That is up to you. However, keep this in mind. Pryhans hate inaction and laziness more than they respect civic virtue." She turned away, trotting to the door and partially opening it. "Just, think about something you'd like to do. It'll help you, and others, depending on what you do. Now, I must go."

As her sister left and shut the door behind her, Celestia kicked off her horseshoes and levitated off her collar. She didn't even bother to put them back in the box. She merely fell back onto her bed, curling up under her sheets. She let her mind wander, and fell back into sleep.