The Comforts of Darkness,The Mirror of Fire and Does Disney dream of Evil Queens?by L23 amcomChaptersBefore and after the Friendship is Magic scenes: The comforts of darkness.Behind the MLP The Movie scenes: Does Disney dream of Evil Queens?The Mirror of Fire (Part 1)Before and after the Friendship is Magic scenes: The comforts of darkness.My personal regret. In the wake of darkness, how am I supposed to tell that I exist? How am I supposed to say that this story will never get written? How can I say all the dreams I have visited and all those nightmares and illusions became true? When someone thinks about this territory, you feel uneasy, you feel disgusted and you don't want to talk about it. The less I know about them, the better because we all try to pursue the light, but what happens if that light closes the door to you? What happens when the mistake of a young sister could cause all this trouble? What happens when my life gets thrown away in the most necessary moments from familiar ponies? Was my support fake? Should I avenge her? "Dear sister Celestia, why did you leave me behind?” I thought loudly to myself in the search of an answer from the outside. If I didn't feel comfortable before, the situation of these days isn't any better. All the cute moments could be shattered away over time, only for this revenge. I have been falling into a corrupted state. My sister left me, only because she was the favourite from Starswirl. I felt jealousy, I felt envy and I felt that favouritism. I can't believe that her joke about raising the moon was so easy for her to do. Not only raising the sun but she could replace me for doing both tasks in the same day. How could she reach that sense of elitism? Didn't she know that her constant ego discouraged me? Not even that way, she could perfectly do that alone for a price in the beginning. How could I admire those days? That past sounds really glorified in comparison because now I am alone…with these species. They are called bat ponies (or at least, that's what they said) and fortunately, they have followed my message. They took me as their leader. My wings attracted them and took me as one of their cult. They were primitive and wild, much like every zone beyond the Everfree Forest in the harmonized world of Equestria. Harmony, because now, while I am located in the same castle where I shared the place with my sister; the door was closed and the painting was changed. My sister is not here. My sister wouldn't have the will to face this outlook. We are facing lots of troubles and the days get to see the opposite of the night: the day. This dream has managed to become real. However, it is also a daily nightmare to handle for our lives. I still live worrying about those creatures and getting along with them. Is this my future Republic? The moon will answer me and the stars will aid me in my escape. My body however, while I feel powerful enough to do everything under my domain, I feel that emotional void. The tomorrow by itself is a challenge to deal with and those little mistakes make me wonder if I should have all this power under my hooves. I have become a nightmare… in the moon. The comforts of darkness. Those bat ponies weren't that easy to convince. Actually, those little subjects didn't have a good look or cuteness that I could appreciate at first sight. From the very beginning, they had a tribal language, mostly making noises like "Eeeeeek" between them. When they heard me talking in the Equestrian ways, they opened their eyes towards me. They would menace me if I didn't follow them but when they saw my gestures of weakness and despair, they decided to stop and give me a little bit of attention. Looking deeply at their eyes, they were as lost as me. I considered them as ponies and it seemed that my mistake had a prize and I managed to find a balance for all of us. They learned slowly the words from me and repeated them like babies around me. Mostly one or two words in one try. Some of them decided to go back to the wild ways around the forest again but the others followed my lessons that turned out to be really valuable for my plans…and my comfort as well. How ironic, I was teaching them the values of my Journal written along with my sister, I wonder if she is applying them as well nowadays. They realized that my message was effective; they found it easier to talk between them. Some of them were alienated and could follow me. Others learned by force or by circumstance, seeing others speaking it and they fell accidentally over time or intentionally at joining in with the rational ones under my side. In the end, while there were conflicts during the process (two or three big fights in fact), they all argued with the weapon that I offered to them: education. They all had different ideas but no bat pony wanted to recover those ancient noises. They felt developed and more effective at doing the tasks. I was doing something useful for once and I felt proud of achieving something after my past mistakes. I even got the coronation from them and they put me as their royal figure in order to protect them. All my orders were understood and applied. Nevertheless, if I didn't have a bit of sanity, I wouldn't be writing this letter. My body has fallen here in this world after all. This positive message given to them didn't feel as positive in comparison to the negativity that my origins had for getting stuck in this place. I indoctrinated them, the language was the method to understand and spread the hate and despair I felt about you. Those achievements served for nothing but building drones to my cause. If you are reading this paper my sister, then it's because I still have good feelings about you from the inside. For everything else though, what could stop from suffering this personal despair? Whatever you want to respond, whatever you want to feel, it will be mostly useless in my eyes. I have a party to celebrate with these civilized bats. If you are going to visit us, you could see what I have built for myself alone. Tell me right in my face if this task was that easy, feel welcome and take a seat whenever you get to do that. You will find comfort in the darkness like I do because the night will last as much as it has to last.....forever. When the party ended, I felt relieved because I have found out that all my efforts dedicated to the bats have finally paid off. They felt almost like ponies in this event, almost. I couldn´t even tell them from those ponies I met for almost a thousand years ago. The Journal actually worked. It´s no wonder that Equestria found harmony with these values but I wouldn´t like to know about that place anymore. Celestia cannot take the lead for this species under her command. Her overprotective and peaceful manner for controlling the ponies from venturing into the wild is a sign of decadence. That prevention weakens her drones. They feel free in their circles, but they see themselves helpless whenever they find themselves in places like a natural forest. Unlike me, the princess of the Night, conquering these bats, manipulating them, I created a new relatively comfortable place for those hostile creatures and feel that same freedom under my leadership without hesitation. Before Friendship is Magic: the revenge. ”Hmmm hahahaha. I have won my sister! I will be the one to control Equestria!” Nightmare Moon said. ”With all my powers, I have found the maximum to carry the pony society better than you” she said. “Even with the corruption rushing through my veins, I can transform and keep the experiment for development, all by myself. Your good will prevents them to grow my sister. One day, I will show you the truth of your other side and when that day comes, you will see it with all of your eyes” thought Nightmare Moon loudly. “A brighter place doesn´t have to be correlated with neither happiness nor caring forms, just that it shines more on them. It´s appealing to the eye and so it does to ME!” she said. ”The three races of ponies, together?! Not a problem, they had been jointed before you and I were students of Starswirl.” she reaffirmed. “You can raise the sun and moon without any problem but I KNOW how to lead them.” She said with a chuckle. ”Come here my sister! Come here and prove me that your way of thinking is superior to mine!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed. ”If I beat you, the night will last FOREVER!” Nightmare Moon shouted, rising her hoof to the sky pointing at the moon……shining more than ever. Shining more than the usual moonlight Nightmare Moon was used to watching, she was left wondering what was happening. Her face changed to an expression of both mystery and fear. A radiant shining white alicorn appeared in the Castle of The Two Sisters, with her horn turned on, she was turning the moon to the land and putting the sun above it. ”It cannot be! No way! IT´S HER!” Nightmare Moon shouted, sounding concerned towards this unexpected situation. The white alicorn was making the matter disappear, leaving all the nature created put into nothingness. Everything was disappearing like that needle which exploded for the whole universe in reverse. The place was entering into a full blank state. All the bats started to disappear like digital squares fading into the white background. A long moment of silence and pure void filling these moments of existential darkness…. vanished. But what happened to the white alicorn? How did she appear? Why had she taken that path after a thousand years? To be precise, she knew it was exactly that day when she locked the alicorn of darkness. A thousand years after that event which could lead to the same mistake? That white alicorn took the risk to bring back her sister from the other side to the present Equestria along with her bat society, her precious creation. Nightmare Moon woke up and opened up her eyes. Surprisingly she didn´t have any brushes nor did she take any damage. She felt like all of this was an actual nightmare. A very long period yet short for all the struggles she had to face. Her transformation into corruption was set, her mentality from the universe hadn´t changed. ”Where am I? What is this place? Are these ruins…? Wait! Ruins?!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed surprised. “This castle of mine turned into an old place that I had kept reluctant…now with a stoned tree in the middle” said Nightmare Moon with a melancholic tone to the point of almost crying to such destruction. ”A tree that doesn´t do anything for me. I am alone; no bats are with me anymore. All this sacrifice just for this useless tree” Nightmare Moon despised at herself. She all of a sudden, in the verge of shredding a royal tear, she realized: “That tree…I recognize those forms. It´s the cheat my sister used to reform once and fight Discord. The tree that prevents Celestia ´s defeat in my hooves, in front of my eyes” Nightmare Moon changed her mood quickly. ”Hmhmhmhm hahaha” she laughed with a villain tone. “If I have her best secret under my power, I can make the dream of restoring Equestria under my command. All my illusions are becoming true. I have earned my second chance! “Nightmare Moon exclaimed. “I may have lost the bats...but I can replace them with something even better: The ENTIRE WORLD OF PONIES UNDER THE NIGHT!” Nightmare Moon shouted. ”Now, the NIGHT will truly LAST FOREVEEEEEEEEEEEER!” Nightmare Moon shouted convinced. While Twilight was meeting the mane 6 in Ponyvile, Nightmare Moon planned how to take over the main places that Celestia had under her rule. Celestia didn´t appear at all during these events. She didn´t protect the ponies for such a menace of this kind. Lots of ponies screamed and were scared as soon as Nightmare Moon interrupted their carefree activities and the celebration for the Summer Sun Set. Her dark sister was out of control, carrying out a plan in order to take over Equestria. Nightmare Moon´s plan was finally applied: she took the first place as soon as she noticed it. As the old Castle of the Two Sisters was nearer from Ponyville than Canterlot, she began to challenge the little village. She knew they were weak and they would give up under her rule. She raised the moon and made the sun disappear from the sky like the white alicorn did in her dark universe. The only task left for Nightmare Moon was the plan of setting a trap for Celestia, waiting in the castle. She knew Celestia would appear at some time to reunite and set everything once and for all. ”Now, dear sister. Come to me. Come and play under my rules in your own world. Your weak ponies haven´t resisted anything to this eternal night. What a shame! I thought this would be entertaining.” Nightmare Moon said. “I see that you have faith in 6 ponies that are coming for me. If that´s all your hope, I am disappointed. I will play with them anyway, I know you won´t come as easily” Nightmare Moon said. Nightmare Moon´s defeat in Friendship is Magic. ”Very well. You have almost won me, but you won´t take those elements” she thought. She broke the little balls that contained the elements, preventing the true harmonic power to take over her like she was exposed a thousand years ago. ”I have won. Now the night will last FOREVER!” Nightmare Moon screamed with a definitive passion. ”No! We ARE the elements of Harmony!” Twilight exclaimed proudly. ”WHAT?! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed scared, losing her identity. History repeated itself. Nightmare Moon was wrapped into the light coming from the 6 elements, not from Celestia but from the mane 6 that she overlooked at first yet they interrupted and put her plan to an end. Her knowledge about building a society and dreams for it to actually happen was gone. Her energy disappeared. She was alone, wasted and helpless all over again. She couldn´t come back to what she had built for the entire millennia. She also lost the energy of her mane, her size was reduced, her eyes shone with pure innocence and her colours were greyer than ever. Like a newborn, she felt like she stepped into the unknown. All she had, waved goodbye to her. All was under the leadership of Starswirl´s favorite student: Celestia. She didn´t want to wake up. Her weak appearance reflected what she felt inside. How can you wake up after your loss is so big that your existence hardly matters now? If she moved during those moments, she could have clipped her wings and go to the actual void. She didn´t feel like living more years after her luck was shot to its core. However, that shining light appeared again, as if Celestia was the new Goddess to take the new steps and magically keep this pinkish paradise called Equestria. She gave the words congratulating to those little ponies but Luna barely listened to that. Her senses were low in energy; she could hardly recover instantly from that Rainbow power. ”Come back to Ponyville, little ponies!” Celestia said. ”I will celebrate it with all of you, including my sister: PRINCESS LUNA!” Celestia exclaimed. Celestia put her hoof next to the weakened pony and Luna…took it.What other option did she have? Her energy was not enough to go out there in the wild, nor did she feel like wanting to live with those tense thoughts. She took it like a path of taking a break. She could have hated it. However, she wanted to talk with her sister again… she had so many questions. She remained silent for the Ponyville celebration and she stayed happy, pretending that she was like that. From the inside, she was broken, conceptually and existentially. Celestia ended up as the favourite again while Luna got her second position. The white alicorn doubted her little sister had changed over the year. But, has Celestia noticed how hard her dark path was in the meantime? Celestia had so much to talk with her and the positive party in Ponyville ended. After Friendship is Magic: a confession from the Royal Sisters. And so, this awaited moment for both sisters arrived happened after the party. That night remained peaceful and the two sisters were alone in Celestia ´s private room. They were separated. Luna wasn´t as interested as Celestia in talking about what happened to her after the show in front of everyone, yet her reasons were different because she also had questions to ask. ”Luna! Are you feeling alright?” Celestia asked. ” No. Why do I have to?” Luna responded. ”Look sister. This is not how you are projecting it into your head; I know where you come from. “Celestia affirmed. “Oh,really?!” asked Luna sarcastically. “Ruining my whole purpose of building a better world? That you cannot stand seeing how I build a stronger society than yours?! Seeing how you fail and I beat you and…You go and ruin everything I had planned, my purpose of this millennia devastated by a single ray of light?!” Luna said. ”Luna, please. I swear it wasn´t because of envy. You cannot be thinking that I would actually hurt you for a single moment” Celestia admitted with confidence. ”Then tell me: why did you come to the universe that YOU, yes YOU, put me to suffer for an eternal period and come as a hero like that? Are you a heartless elitist or something? That´s not sisterhood, Celestia” she said. ”It´s a convenient betrayal in which you could get rid of me whenever you pleased. “ Luna affirmed. ”Luna, I….” Celestia spoke with hardly any line. “No, that´s it. I am done. I am leaving this lie. There´s no way you can get away with this and pretend we are sisters like this just because everything ends up with flowers and parties. Not with a tyrant that puts her own competence and gets eaten like Saturn with his own son.” Luna said. ”Luna, wait!” Celestia said. ” What is it, now? You are wasting my time, sister. I don´t know what´s my purpose here. Why am I here anyway? My conquest has failed and you come as an angel just to put smiles and feel like a hero for a few days” Luna said. “And you didn´t move for it! 6 ponies did the job for you! My sister is lazy nowadays, 1000 years for this. I expected better” Luna said with a sad face, desperate to prove her sister wrong. “Listen to me little sister, I can explain it” Celestia said. ”NO! You can´t. Leave me alone!” Luna broke down crying and putting her body into the floor. She felt psychologically defeated. ”I expected you would come like this, Luna. The hardest moment for me is not using the elements of Harmony, but saying that your sister…” Celestia paused a little bit “…also commits mistakes even if they seem noble” Celestia said. “What?!” Luna asked confused. ”You were a young pony when I banned you into the moon universe. However, I was also a pretty recent student of Starswirl. Everything in theory could work.” she said. ”In practice, however, things got too out of hand to handle. It was either Equestria or putting Starswirl´s efforts to shame.” said Celestia. “Starswirl´s bias... I hope you have enjoyed all that luck” Luna said. ”My luck was as messed up as yours Luna. Just because the sun shines more doesn´t mean we cannot fall into corruption for seeing everything clearer. I…. I have also had that desire of elitism that you may be thinking. “ Celestia confessed. ”Don´t tell me that you were a failure for being young” Luna answered opening her eyes a bit. ”I wish it were only that.” Celestia said. “Luna, I am also as corrupted as you. I have my nightmarish version” Celestia said. ” You…light being corrupted? Please, you are always the heroes” Luna answered. ” Don´t say I was joking. I´ll take it easy with the morbid stuff but…” Celestia whispered. Celestia turned the room into a black picture. After that, all of a sudden, it was filled of stars and Celestia´s figure turned obscure. ”Sister?” Luna asked confused. ”Do you see this, Luna? Can you tell any difference? Does it remind you of something you know by experience?” Celestia asked Luna with the illusion of Daybreaker, with a menacing scary look. “I…I… have no words.” Luna confessed with a shocking face of feeling genuine fear. Celestia expected that answer and the background turned into the room they were having this conversation. ”I hope you understand that I am no free of problems, Luna. Besides, I don´t want you to go like the previous time. It hurt when it happened, you had no idea how much more painful it was when the hard times came to me…alone. “Celestia said almost closing her eyes of feeling guilty about that. “But…what do I do now? I am here as lonely as you. I do not belong here, I don´t think I will get used to this like it happened before. The bats are gone and my life is too painful to live for another thousand years. Sister, I am still tired.” Luna said. “Why do you think that I left you alone with the 6 ponies I put my trust in the Castle? Do you think I was gone for no apparent reason?” Celestia smiled a bit. Don´t you tell me….No.” Luna was surprised and was left wondering what she was about to hear. Celestia nodded. “It was a hard trip for finding a distant place for your little students. It will take them some time to get comfortable in Equestria. I think you can visit and calm them. They are fine.” Celestia answered gladly. ” I cannot believe you did this. I can certainly feel that you have heart like we were fillies.” Luna jumped onto Celestia´s hooves. Ohohohoho. Oh, Luna. I truly care about you, sister. I knew that your efforts over there were correct. The values against me are not that easy to fix but I hope you can solve that aspect for them. “Celestia said. ” I sure will. But, what´s purpose do I have here?” Luna asked. ” I thought you knew better. I think it´s time to control the moon and the dreams for ponies. They have hard periods finding good sleep and I think you can dream about your society in the dreams” Celestia said. “Oh my….Sister, I simply cannot answer you with all of this. I haven´t imagined that I could have faith with you.” Luna said emotional. “All the pride for one self ends. Luna…we are eternal for now. We don´t know how many years are left for us but if these 1000 years have taught me something, is that I have to spend them with you, Luna.” Celestia confessed. “Celestia…” Luna shred some tears (she was having a rollercoaster of emotions). “Luna. You are all that I have. I´ve been worried about you and I have seen ponies die in front of my eyes. Generations and strangers dying and I could do nothing. I have no long term friendships and I cannot avoid boredom and passive despair. Whenever I try it, I end up more disappointed than the initial point. Put yourself in my hooves, Luna”. Celestia confessed crying with those intimate yet hidden thoughts. ”Sister. I cannot hold it. This is way too much for me” Luna hugged Celestia with all her remaining forces. ”I couldn´t stand another wasted morning where I could be holding you to my side. I was waiting for this moment to come, sister” she said. “This period has been silently joyless to me, Luna. You are all that I have in the end” Celestia confessed. “Wherever you are tonight, promise me that you won´t leave me anymore my sister” Celestia said crying. “I won´t leave you” Luna assumed with her eyes closed, accepting that promise. ”I hope we can do better together. Welcome home, Luna” Celestia said with a soft motherly voice. And that night ended with the sun and the moon standing at both sides of Canterlot´s sky... Behind the MLP The Movie scenes: Does Disney dream of Evil Queens?The reunion with the three princesses. If there is anything that I have to be thankful, it´s being able to finally forget all those problems for a while. If this is happening and why I am here, it´s for something more hopeful than staying closed because of the Storm King. While it´s true that I am relieved after finding my daughter safe and alive, it doesn´t imply that my kingdom can return to the previous stat. So, here I am, all the hippogriffs are sleeping in this beautiful city called Canterlot. Little I knew of this city in between mountains, even though Celestia had described it to me in the few letters we sent to each other. But, to be honest, we hardly got out of our mount back then when we were hippogriffs, less we would know about it underwater. Marginalized, in the extreme of this continent, without help until those 6 ponies made me to get out of my throne and have fun a little moment. I recognize that this party with Songbird Serenade has been overwhelming and much more dynamic than all my years commanding the kingdom. I know that I have something left to do and while I am thinking about this…I admit that I need help in reality. Even though commanding my reign is not a challenge, I need to move forward into a new direction, revive certain virtues that have been forgotten for decades. I have felt these years somewhat incomplete and lifeless. And here I am, still resentful with Twilight for putting the red alarm but I have to say that they have treated my daughter fairly well. She seems to get along with that happy pony: Pinkie Pie. I have told her that she would be grounded for this. However, that line is because she has to know the values of royalty but I need another reference for that. If my reign has to endure, I see that I have to search for an external influence in this continent. We cannot remain the same in a cage hidden over there. After that hug, Celestia put a smile and saw me with good eyes. I know how to hide emotions from the outside, but from the inside, I was fed up with an eternal boredom and I had displeasure thinking about Skystar while flying to Canterlot. I missed sleeping on air. I have been used to sleeping in my throne and that might have been too bland or comfortable for an everyday routine. I am finally sleeping in an actual bed without floating. So, today, I have woken up with plenty of energy and I have to reunite with Celestia this morning in order to see what we can do. I believe that I can erase all the bad things and focus on what´s about to come. I enter in Celestia´s throne room. She was there, along with Luna and Cadance. The three princesses were in front of me. The big question is: am I a major figure for holding the queen title or am I equal to them? That worries me. Diplomacy is something I have not practiced it after so much time, so I have to improvise and resume all the skills. ”Good morning, Princess Celestia” I greeted, with my head duck down. ”Queen Novo, it´s a pleasure to see you” Celestia responded following my gesture. Luna and Cadance came after with it. ”Novo, we are all proud that your daughter Skystar and your reign have helped us to beat the Storm King” Celestia claimed. ” I am sorry that we have arrived late for being distrustful to your messenger, princess. We didn´t think that Twilight would make such a thing like robbing the pearl the way she did when I was going to use it under my orders and my trust” I responded. ” We understand that this accident happened, Novo. She is a very advanced student who gets too worried about me, too much to commit such mistakes of that kind. I am sure she didn´t do that with bad intentions” Celestia answered. ” I perfectly know my sister in law. She gets too obsessed that things go the way she wants to see. If it doesn´t happen, she tries to go for a quick solution” Cadance added. ”Well, even if Twilight didn´t want to cause trouble, she caused bad impressions for following her reasons behind her actions” I answered. ”Don´t worry, Novo. Your daughter decided to come to Canterlot and solve the problem” Celestia said. ”Thanks, Princess Celestia” I responded. ”You can perfectly call us directly by our name, Novo. We are used to the down to earth conversations with normal ponies” Celestia said. I nodded just to accept her terms. I expected something more formal from them but they don´t seem to care about their title showing all the time. It´s a bit shocking but it helps for my lacking skills. ” It seems that you are going back to your home, Mount Aris, isn´t it?” Celestia said. ” Yes, we have been locked for a really long time and we have to fly all over the desert to the south” I described. ” We understand that the comeback can be a bit exhausting this time but we have a little surprise for going back to life as a civilization and establish a possible friendship” Celestia said. ”Novo, we want to give something for keeping these conversations and having more frequent conversations. Do you see what´s behind the window?” Luna asked. I saw how her hooves pointed at something I couldn´t believe: the train station. ” Does it mean that…?” I asked with enthusiasm. ”Yes, Novo. We are going to make sure that the train towards Mount Aris goes with the fastest speed. The train network has improved a lot over these 4 years. We had broadened ourselves to places like the Crystal Empire and now, Cadence goes without effort from here and there. We have no problems at all in giving your train station. If we can have a little help from yours, we can build it in less than a month and use it for all over Equestria” Celestia said. I flew over her and I hugged her for that nice gesture. ”I didn´t expect that this would be so permanent so soon” I said in an emotional state. ” We know about all the calamities that the Storm King made. We have also arrived at helping you. We didn´t have faith on finding friendship in the south, we thought they were non-existent until the recent letters with you.” Celestia said. ”Thanks” I simply responded. ” You are in better conditions now. Everything is over. You can now go and continue what you want” Celestia said. ”This is certainly what I have been looking forward, Celestia.” I said certainly. The train was a big surprise but… ”Don´t think about it anymore, your majesty. You can leave calmly. The constructors are waiting for your orders and start with the railways” she said. “Thank you very much.” I said. I left and waved goodbye to them with the formal gestures and it´s true that I can start something else. All my guards received me and all of them were ready for my message. I told them about the train station, they celebrated it and welcomed my orders of giving those little ponies help for making the railways. We started the project between the center of Equestria and Mount Aris. I am completely surprised that it would hardly take 90 minutes in order to arrive at here, considering how far we live and how much we have lasted during the afternoon. Whatever it was, all ponies treated me well, despite leaving some hippogriffs for guiding the builders. We came back with Skystar safe. There was so much to rebuild and the mount cannot stay as neglected as it is for future visitors. The bad news So, it went like this. I have been trying to teach some values of royalty to my daughter. She is still having struggles in assuming her position but who knows when she has to replace me. She has made a huge achievement so she cannot be that innocent despite her energetic attitude. Nonetheless, she tires me a lot very often; this is why I take a break or lay down a bit because of her tiresome energy. She is still a kid but responsibilities will end up to her someday. Anyway, so many displeasures have passed but I need help. Help because psychologically I could have gone crazy. If Celestia didn´t want to give me some help, with the visit of those ponies, we would have worn out of that refuge even more than this…and that shows. The great majority migrated to the mount back again because they wanted to feel the free air, that sense of liberty and the true hippogriff´s soul. The rest adapted to the sea and have stayed loyal to the water. While my family, especially me and Skystar, would take charge of everything, I found a very unpleasant surprise again: my sister Ocean Flow and Sky Beak would get divorced because of this. Sky Beak loved the rudeness and his valiant attitude would give morality to the guards, encouraging them to feel stronger while defending the mount. Meanwhile, my sister, she definitely shows the blood of her family. She loves serenity and the peace from the sea and while the divorce didn´t end up with drama, my sister told me that they had left that period behind. This worried me more than it should have been. I have my family unstructured and my patience is not there all the times to fix this. Thankfully the massages were always there, because if I ended up crazy, I would be looking myself at the mirror and be obsessed in playing useless contests to see who the most beautiful queen in this world is. I cannot think about so many things all for myself. That event affected me because families are just one and I certainly will have trouble saying this to the children. With all of this in mind, I knew my people would want to go back to their manners, from the mount to the sea. I broke the pearl in all the possible pieces and make a personal necklace for transforming themselves instead of doing it again and again every day. I like seeing that illusion when someone returns to the sea after a while or some visitor´s faces for the first time, but I don´t plan to make that task forever. I have to find the material of that pearl, for now, they have to transform in groups. What has driven to me to move forward was having faith. I have seen how hippogriffs have restored the mount in record time, I have seen how the train station was built and how days have become sunnier. Does that mean Celestia is having the control of the sun now over here? I don´t know. What I know is that I have been preparing myself for private inauguration of the new train station. After ending the month, Celestia wanted to give a personal visit and see Mount Aris with the renewed look. The train arrived for the first time over here and I received the princess with the same gestures used last time I saw her. Celestia´s visit ”Your Majesty” she greeted. ”Princess Celestia, it´s an honour that you are here” I responded. We decided to give a walk and show her everything we made over the course of this month. She was really surprised and even had a good time. She recognized that she didn´t expect this recover to happen so soon and her favourite part was definitely when we transformed her. She was even more amazed with our home in Seaquestria. ”I haven´t seen anything like this in my life, Novo. This is beautiful. I wonder why we didn´t give another try and check that you were hidden over here” Celestia said happily. “It doesn´t matter, princess. It was carefully hidden and while it´s a very satisfying place, my people has grown tired of seeing the same scenery” I said. ”I understand. Still, this is impressive; it makes me happy to see things like these after all.” Celestia said. ”Well, it´s all we have made in such a small place and even with so little, we still have had our problems” I confessed. ”Are you saying this because of your husband?” she asked. ”No, I am not, princess. I have overcome that, it´s fine.” I stopped talking for a while. “It´s just that I try not to think too much about that…” I said. ”What´s the matter, Novo? What worries you? You haven´t put a very good face during the entire visit” Celestia pointed out. “Nothing. It´s just that, I am in a struggling with the fact that my sister has divorced recently. My daughter doesn´t pay attention for carrying the kingdom for the future and I don´t how to explain the divorce to my nephews” I confessed. ”I knew you were somewhat destroyed but not in this way.” Celestia said. “Well. Apparently things have improved overall. It fills me from the inside to see my kingdom improving and that gives me the impulse to go on. About my family, you see that I am not holiday...we are broken. The Storm King is dead, the revenge has been made and now, there´s no guilty party for this situation. Nobody is to blame for this and I feel defeated admitting how we are now.” I said hiding the face a little bit. ”I now understand why you had something going on” Celestia said, confirming that she has a 6th sense for detecting others feelings. ”Another summer I´ve spent alone with my daughter. I have had to take charge of both places and I don´t know why I am doing this. It all catches up to me all the time and the passiveness consumes me a little bit every day. I think those are my trouble. I have nothing else to say, but it feels somewhat discouraging that no one else has been there to help me until now.” I confessed. ”I am sorry. I don´t know how to answer this. I have to admire how much you have had to deal for all those challenges alone, not all queens would get out of that mess. However, there are things that you can fix. If you cannot help in solving completely your trouble, you can try to give some hopes and good vibes to your people to balance it” Celestia said. ”I know, I have already done that and it isn´t enough for me. There is still something to do and I don´t know where else I can go.” I added. ”Do you want to hide the divorce, isn´t it?” she asked at me. ”You would make me a big favour. Those kids are too young to assume it. Skystar, she is too much into herself to care and she fortunately has known how to get over it. However, my nephews Terramar and Silverstream…” I sighed for a while envisioning their faces. “I don´t see them prepared for it.” I confessed. ”I think I have some good news for you. Twilight is setting up a school and she wants to reunite creatures of all over Equestria and give values of friendship. It´s true that they are very different but I think the students will get along fine. Besides, I will keep an eye to see how she carries it. I am sure your nephews will be entertained” she said. ”I believe that Silver Stream is the one who´s fascinated to see what else is in Equestria, while Terramar is more attached to this place, I will try to convince my sister about this. Either way, I am granted for your gesture, princess, it certainly makes me think less stressed about that.” I confessed. ”What else could we do, Novo? I now regret that we couldn´t give any help and get out of this beautiful but still claustrophobic place. You are welcome to visit Equestria in its glory” she recognized. Yes, we are finally here. I think I am taking a break for a certain period. I know they can do it without keeping my eye on them for now” I responded. “Go ahead and take a diplomatic trip, your majesty. After being so much time here, I think you need to change a bit the mind-set; I tend to get out of Canterlot every now and then, despite its beauty like this kingdom does. You have our support and you seem to have good defenses, there´s no need to be neither tense nor overprotective about them. The train station is ready for all of you” Celestia claimed. ”Thanks, Celestia. I will see how I can progress myself” I said. ”Welcome to Equestria, my friend. I will be waiting in Canterlot if there is anything I can assist you. I have to give thanks for giving me such a nice visit. You have finally made it your majesty, congratulations.” Celestia said. ”It was a pleasure, Celestia” I nodded. “Same. Your majesty, take care and…one last thing: it´s not as hard as you may think…” she winked with a smile, taking the train back to Canterlot. I waved at the train when it began to leave. The visit was indeed splendid; I was not used to visits like these and receive ponies in my kingdom. Now, that I am thinking about that party, I think we can take a certain celebration for getting out of Seaquestria. Am I becoming a fan of parties? Nonetheless, I have to talk with my sister tomorrow and take a rest, not only as a queen, but as a mother. I am coming back to the initial point I was lying down for the first time: my throne. It´s a really wild change to witness. From a blank spot in the map and then, become a relevant place. Maybe I should trust more in those who actually deserve it. I don´t know if friendship is actually magic, but it certainly helps in moments like these. We will see how my niece will go in that school. For now, after having Seaquestria less crowded, my throne makes me calmer than usual and feels softer. There are still things to do but that will be for another day, after closing my eyes slowly… The Mirror of Fire (Part 1)The griffons or the bats. It has been a hard day today. I thought that diplomacy and doing cute faces in front of everyone would be easy for me. However, when you have to deal with so many different species from far away, then it becomes stricter than before. In this moon, I have had to upper the bar and despite opening ourselves in all the continent of Equestria and visiting places ponies didn´t use to go, for me, on the contrary, I have had it harder for tidying it up in terms of diplomacy. While it´s true that Twilight and her friends have made a great job for convincing all of us and speak with old and new friendships at the same time, nobody would have predicted this situation a few years ago (not even me despite living an entire millennia). In addition to that, I have had the extra task to recover ourselves from the misunderstandings that the Chancellor caused (in which he later regretted them) and it hasn´t been that easy. The hardest part from today had consisted about deciding which railways would be made: either at Griffonstone or in the extreme depths of the southwest forest where bat ponies live. Their figures came and they didn´t doubt to argue between each other. I cannot comprehend why they had such a rush for establishing those rails. Was it because Mount Aris´ ones succeeded? Anyway, so Luna (yes, my own sister still carries the title of ambassador for the bats, she goes for it from time to time, she never forgot about them) along with a couple of night guards and Grampa Gruff have made a very tiring day for me, why did I have to do this so late before the weekend, taking place for the time that is supposedly for me? To begin with, the railways for Griffonstone would be somewhat complicated and it would take longer than usual, especially because we would have to build a huge bridge in order to cross the sea, while the bats… the huge distance by itself wouldn´t matter that much (we did this in previous works) if it weren´t because the terrain is rough even for making tunnels. Besides, bats would only help partially during the night and contrary to what mundane ponies say, bats don´t die during the day. They do sleep and that´s another factor because the period for the best visibility gets ruined, making it more difficult. The topic has ended up indecisive even though in a certain way, I feel proud that there is a bigger interest for getting a better access to their zones communicating them with Ponyville and Canterlot. While Griffonstone hasn´t improved much as a civilization, one of Twilight´s students, Gallus, has made their species more popular than ever, so others are wondering how his hometown is. I couldn´t put up myself in favor to my sister. That would show a lack of professionalism and because of favoritism, I would have to shudder for recovering my public image for such scandal if I supported my sister because of her familiarity and not because of objective arguments. One wonders what decision to take in such little time, keeping a smile in front of them and having such levels of patience that I have been famous for beating everyone at that in comparison. The most frustrating aspect for me was that while I had experienced worse situations before, at least, I had some kind of enjoyment from somewhere. Here, I don´t even have that to work me off from that bitterness earned. I had dinner with Luna but it wasn´t exactly fireworks; she had reminded me about the railways and tried to convince me again for choosing her option. I, in the other hand, reminded her that I was out of work; this was a moment for us as sisters, not for serving as an infinite wish box for everyone. She showed her charm in the end as an actual sister and I disconnected with a little rivalry between her and me (I don´t know if she does this as a sport or if she simply does it for baiting me and falling into her game). Finally, I am prepared to fall into bed. Even the crown felt heavy to me at this moment. A moment of solitude I desperately needed for thinking about what to do next and relax. An old familiar entity. But what kind of pleasure do I have? My life is actively dedicated for diplomacy and they judge you day after day and despite attending parties frequently they become utterly boring if they are formal reunions. The relaxing part comes naturally because of standing up to my work, not because I look for it and I hope I never lose it. The moon is rising; Luna has decided not to go to the doors dreamy hall these days due to opting for her ambassador part instead. She has always lived with less pressure and her life at least, is somewhat adventurous and different even if some dreams turn out terrifying to deal. She has a dynamic I wish I had but I cannot complain about her. I did it last moon and I think I have to get over it. I am willing to close my eyes and so it ends a day I want to forget right now, it´s officially over for me. The bed again, with my windows closed, saves me from these daily tense nightmares. The comfort is absolute and as soon as I fell asleep, the paradise passed in front of me. My body felt how my energies were recovering so naturally, fluidly and warmly that I feel like I am diving in a sea full of lava. Trapped in heated heart of fire, with a smile and grateful to be finally at home...so much that it feels like my room where I am sleeping does have that temperature… Wait, outside? How is it hot? My bedroom cannot be that hot, I would have covered myself with a blanket. I don´t want to check it out but it feels so strange that I cannot avoid thinking about it. I guess there is no other option then. I wake up and I see that my bedroom has turned out fully orange. Instead of watching the night, it looks like I am witnessing an abrasive sunrise. It feels asphyxiating and it cannot come so harshly from outside, my windows are closed. I get up and again, I still don´t know what kind of magic is showing up to me and it doesn´t seem to come from anywhere apparently. There is no object, portal nor sign of magic around here. I knew from the start that Luna wouldn´t do this. She doesn´t like the heat as much for doing a joke like this one, she would feel uncomfortable if she did. In the end, I conclude to myself: ”It´s like the heat comes from me hahaha, I am the only hot body around here!” I said to myself. “That´s because you are!” said a sinister sassy voice from the void. My smile turned into fears instantly. That line I have just heard sound enormously familiar and I don´t want to admit that this voice would actually come from… “What? Have I cut the fun for you too soon?” said that sassy voice. “You had to come over here, again? I thought I got rid of you back in that dream” I said to the hot entity. “A dream is not the same as something real and much less when that pink pony implied about what we actually were” that voice said. “It annoys me to see that you are still the same coward and just show for doing evil things again, Daybreaker. Come out here if you love laughing at me so much!” I exclaimed. She appeared in the middle of the room with a huge flame around her as an opener. By the time that the flame wasn´t as shining, she began to speak: “Well, well, well… the princess acting like a heroine. Not only once but a thousand years repeating the same words. Pssshh and then you complain about me who has had to endure more stupid things over time” Daybreaker said, daring as always. “You don´t…!” I was going to exclaim. “Exist? We get it; we know the script more than enough, always saying that I don´t exist and pretending I never was in your life. I get really bored for such complex and prejudice each time you fight against yourself, looking at your reflection. It´s funny because of how bad your denial is” Daybreaker said while her form took the spotlight while the flames were becoming smaller. The room became slightly hotter but, why aren´t other ponies noticing this change of hot? They should be suffocated, even more with her presence. Anyway, I had to rely on myself in any case… “Enough, you only want to watch the world burn. You only come here to make things more complicated than usual. You don´t help me with your malice. I can´t get that you are still alive. I have reinforced my fraternity with Luna and you are coming for her. I am not going to let you in!” I shouted. “Malice? Then, what is goodness if I have done nothing yet? A dream doesn´t mean anything and much less when one ignorant pony imagines the worst possible case” Daybreaker said. “Don´t think that a few words of sympathy are going to change my mind. That doesn´t change your intentions one single bit” I said. “Mine? Or should I say yours? Hahaha!” Daybreaker laughed. “You are trying to fool me again, I see that you will never change” I affirmed. “Fool you? Why should I do that if you do it to yourself? You are already wrong by talking to me in the first place” Daybreaker said. “What do you mean?” I asked confused. “Why should I tell you anything? Overall, villains will always stay villains; they can never win because the heroes always have a better sense of morality. Why would you want to listen to me if you know it better than me, bright spark?” Daybreaker laughed. “Ugh, you are so annoying” I said mad. “Annoying? Don´t make me laugh until my head comes off hahaha. It´s you who comes at me as soon as you can. For such a fantastical goodness heroine like you, that would be described as a big treason for drawing upon the enemy….and yet, you are unscathed in the end. Haven´t you asked in the entire millennia why you always get away with it? Has the elder brain come to your head and you don´t want to come outside your bubble? Ooooh, how adorable, a saint believes that she is purely innocent.” Daybreaker said. “Have you ever got tired of coming like this, wasting energy and time in order to burn holes in my patience? I don´t feel like fighting and protecting the rest and it seems I have to do so again” I claimed with disrespect, a clear sign that I am getting more tired than before. “Protecting from whom? Who else is here? I only see an alicorn standing beside a mirror with an intimidating face for no reason” Daybreaker mocked. “I am not tolerating that mockery, Daybreaker” I said. “Mockery? Like you do every day for fun? And let´s not even talk in the parties, your skills are worthy material to teach to your students in your school” Daybreaker said. “Trolling is a skill to take with care otherwise it ends up in bitterness” I affirmed. “My troll moves haven´t hurt anyone. I only saw Luna with a bad face when the sun was entering into the sky when the night was supposed to come” said that intruder. “Leave Luna alone! She hasn´t done anything and she doesn´t belong here. I know what you are trying to do” I suspected. “You are assuming that I wouldn´t coexist with Luna. Like a good heroine, you still don´t me. So predictable and foolish from you and I have warned it. At least, she overcame it before you” Daybreaker mocked. “Don´t say what I have to do!” I said firmly. “You do that to yourself and justify your frustrations with lack of free time and fun” she said. “Ah, so you are going to be my entertainer now?” I asked with a sense of irony. “Well, look at that, you´ve got something right. Congratulations for raising my expectations. I applause you“ Daybreaker laughed. “You are having more fun than me even though your style of entertainment...plays with fire” I claimed. “Fire…ironic, considering the comfort you had while you were dreaming. Diving in the ocean full of lava, feeling how the hot pleasure fills your body. Tell me darling, why do you have such a big fear to admit that you don´t get burned in a volcano? Does that remind you of me?” she asked. I looked at her with an infuriating face. Something in me was dying as soon as I listened to that perversion about me. “You are still trying to live your life like a little filly who hasn´t broken a phoenix egg. All your years of experience wasted because you don´t want to grow up and you prefer living like a child instead” Daybreaker said. “Why are you telling this to me? I asked. “It´s not me who is telling you that but what part of you says that. You hate malice, you create a name for it and you try to stay away from it. How is a foolish teacher supposed to know what´s good or bad if she doesn´t know it by heart?” Daybreaker mocked. “No. It cannot be happening, I don´t know what you are saying” I said desperately and broke out to tears from the inside. She didn´t say anything, she took her time to go after me while I was unprotected but...she, all of a sudden, reflected a different color this time around. Something was surrounding her and the room wasn´t as orange as before. It looked greener somehow and I heard a ghostly voice coming from her. “Celestia, open up your eyes! You are the actual problem. Don´t reject you! Accept what you are, do it quick!” that ghostly voice said. “Enough help for now!” Daybreaker said and that different tone disappeared. The room came back to the previous orange color. “You cannot go after that route. You have never had the will to go for it and unfortunately, you won´t.” Daybreaker said. I stopped crying and left my last tear to drop off from my face. I took a break to recover my sanity and… “Never. Now that I know, you can´t prevent it” I affirmed. “Ooooh very well. And what are you going to do? You can´t get closer to the light because that extreme will poison you. You can´t tolerate that role.” Daybreaker laughed. … “I do!” I closed my eyes for a second and I took a huge breath. “AND I WILL!!!” I shouted and released all my energies for vanishing her with my magic. To anyone´s surprise, Daybreaker closed her and smiled to herself. She accepted the attack instead of opposing it. The answer for that is…. “You know that if you kill me, you accept that you have an evil side. You are accepting the chance of behaving like a corrupted princess and even unsalvageable in moments of pure disharmony. You will never be clean again” Daybreaker affirmed with security. I cried to myself and I knew what path I was taking. I didn´t see anything else, I was running out of patience and I didn´t want to keep this useless diplomacy anymore. She was actually vanishing and becoming a spirit. However, there was something strange in her last words that left me confused for a moment. It was too late before I would control the magic and power to make her disappear but what she said was… “Impressive. I admire that you have taken the right decision and give yourself a chance of how you truly are….may the sun and fire protect your intentions. No pony is free of the neither evil nor goodness, nature doesn´t allow it. Enjoy the darkness in its pure glory my little student….Day…Breaker…good-bye…” she said and she closed her eyes. She patiently waited for her death, almost like she desired it. The room was looking greener somehow… She lost her flames and for a second, she had a blue-green mane, so was her tail while her body was getting smaller and becoming into a spiritual light. I opened up my body and accepted it. I contained her spirit. When it entered into me, I didn´t feel anything until my eyes went fully white. The room became strongly orange again and she wasn´t present… The shining light originated from my body and I felt a strange sense of liberty. Something broke free for such event and I looked around the room. Nothing had changed...save me. In my head, I wore the regalia again and my mane floated in the air more violently than ever. The reflection of that orange color came from my helmet and my body whose rays were hot and powerful. Now that I look at myself, I realize that I am perfectly conscious of my identity; I cannot blame the dark magic anymore. I knew that from Luna. I tried to convince her with that myth but she pursued herself in order to become a better pony with her Nightmare Moon powers in her body. She could have released them at any time but she took it and accepted her. She beat me in this aspect. “What can I do? What can I do?! I am here alone with this intimidating body and I cannot look like this in front of the rest. I have never been a princess like this...” I cried in order to avoid these words, with no illusions around. I took a break and a neuron set up my mind with a different mood. I stopped crying and… “Or have I?” I asked with an evil smile. “If I am lost with this state, the world will burn with me then. If it has to get burned, I won´t always save it….because I never was the God everyone claimed. I was just a product along with my sister” I affirmed. “I will check the rest if it matters to me. For now, I am the only one who I care the most. I am ending this!” I concluded. I went to bed and I gradually lost that orange tone while I was trying to look for some sleep. As I always pretended with Daybreaker, let´s pretend that nothing of this has happened. I had put an evil grin on my face before the dreams started. Was any part of me enjoying this moment? The next day. I woke up even more tired than usual and there was no sign of my modified body. Again, I haven´t resolved at all the railways problem. I decided to call both for an unexpected reunion. I started it in the first hour of the weekend and both appeared again. I was going to make the usual presentations and such rules…in theory, I should have done but: “Good morning, every creature. As you can see, I have reunited both Luna and Grampa Gruff to say that I am able to follow a few resolutions I have and one of them is not doing any railway at all if none of you facilitates me its setup. I am too tired to understand all your arguments. Either you decide one over the other, or we do nothing or I decide whatever I feel like for both parts. I am not going spend more energy and consume myself to this level. I haven´t slept well and I am not in the best mood for it. I leave it that to your own agreements” I said firmly. Both my sister and Grampa Gruff were surprised by my answer, they looked at each other and it seemed like their elitisms were gone. They noticed my behavior and low self-esteem I had because of yesterday. Despite going this way, I left more energies at these words than I would have imagined. I am asking myself if it´s because of… “We understand you, your majesty” Grampa Gruff said. “Yes sister. You´d better get this free weekend for what you want” Luna said. “Fine. Now if you let me, I have personal things to cover” I ended. I left the situation up to them. The railways were going to be built sooner or later but I was leaving a lot to be desired with these red eyes and messy mane. Leaving that topic aside, I understand why Cadence loves to go around during the nights, flying and feeling free with her unrecognizable transformation such as a bat pony. Her boredom and routine drove her to a life full of void besides Flurry Heart. I shouldn´t have put such a dramatic face when I discovered her secret. I emphasize with her and perhaps I should play with fire as well…. And I know that this weekend, I will prove in front of all the dragons the pony who actually dominates the volcanoes… An argument with Luna. I left them there, thinking about a topic that was burning me out. I wasn´t willing to digest all the concerns they had. I think I have acted formally enough for such a bad mood like this one. I feel absolutely destroyed for barely sleeping tonight. I come back to my bedroom and I don´t know if I can accomplish the promise I had made in the reunion. Why would I be dreaming about lava? How did that happen? What part of me attracts me to feel such dangerous move for an average pony? Although it doesn´t feel that strange when someone has to think and consume herself in uneducated creatures that only think about themselves and one has to sacrifice herself for their mistakes. I sometimes wonder if the princess title ends up as worthless in the end. There is barely any power to play while I could have designed a route perfectly if it only depended on me. If it wasn´t because of the rupture between the 3 pony races that leads into chaos, I could carry the torch perfectly and keep this world under my hooves along with Luna. Although my sister doesn´t help. She had been pulling over to one misunderstanding in the past. While it´s true I was Starswirl´s favorite out of the two, she doesn´t hide her desires to the public. Everyone knows about Nightmare Moon but only 4 ponies know about “that dream”. I have kept myself inconspicuous for my own problems yet I cannot hide them whenever they become so palpable. Even when I try to keep my patience, they don´t even say thanks. I still cannot sleep. My mind cannot stop thinking about what has happened last night. At this step, I would be willing to follow its orders and maybe that choice in the end could… Aw, perfect my sister is coming. “Sister?” Luna asked while opening slightly the door. “What do you want, Luna? I am trying to sleep” I said and not with the kindest face I could have shown. “I know but, I have noticed you weird today” she said. “I am perfectly fine, Luna. There is no need to think about that” I said. “Celestia, please. We know each other pretty well and you don´t normally act like this” she affirmed. “Oh really? How cannot I act like that if you are so tiring with the railways?” I said sarcastically. “Look sister. It´s not my fault they feel anxious to have them. I only speak in the name of…” Luna said. “On behalf of whom?” I disrupted her. “Luna, I have seen you arguing like the topic were for your cause and not from the bat ponies. I have had to calm down a lot of tensions this week because of how you emotionally react” I said tired. “But Grampa Gruff is always very possessive as well. I cannot do anything but facing him in his terrain. Did you expect me to fall short?” she affirmed. “He may be unpleasant and we both know it but you didn´t help at all at containing yourself. It´s obvious that you are the minor of the two and you always guide yourself into what you think it´s good for you. That doesn´t work here, sister. Diplomacy isn´t as easy as you think and I always have to work with it patiently” I affirmed. “Are you saying that I am impatient? I may not have the level of yours but you are looking down on me. I would be capable to steer this problem much better than you think” she said. “Look Luna, we have had that elitism back in a couple of moons when we changed our cutie marks and duties. You can defend yourself but I don´t see you resolving tense problems like these. You become really ambitious and you want to go further than you can do and you can´t. You can´t do it.” I answered. “Someone has to end up with a decision even if it´s bad. I don´t see you feeling like doing it. You have been thinking about yourself today and for some reason, you reunited us for nothing. I don´t see that patience you are talking about” Luna responded. Something in me was dying when she questioned my abilities like that. “I have had to waste tons of patience and energies for a topic like this and you go and criticize that I don´t have any. How could you? I thought that you would understand my problems and I feel lonely after hearing this” I said. “You wanted to stay alone today. Go on. Sleep if you want but I prefer resolving this problem by myself for once because I don´t see you very enthusiastic.” my sister said. “If that´s what you are looking for, feel powerful, then. I haven´t had any pleasure these days and nobody says thanks for my efforts. You come here and instead of supporting me, you question my will” I said desperately. “Do you even think that I….?” she was about to ask. “I think that you should leave me alone” I cut her off. “I had to focus not only on those railways but on your ambitions too. You tire me a lot, Luna” I said. “Fine…if that´s what you assume. We´ll have to end to this with or without you” she said. “Equestria hasn´t stopped in a 1000 years, why should it end if you let others to take over you while you are resting?” she asked. “I fear about your actions. If things didn´t rely on me, everything could go terribly bad. Don´t even imagine it when you own sister wants the throne and replace you” I answered. “What?” she asked confused. “I already have a throne. It´s just that…” Luna said. “That you are going to mess it up. I´d rather leave you aside before leaving it on your own completely. You put it really hard with those emotions you show” I affirmed with confidence. “You don´t trust me, uh? Very well, take me like a fool…. Keep thinking like that” Luna said, almost shredding a small tear from her eye. “I would have preferred not having this conversation, now that you are about to cry” I said. “Yeah, I wouldn´t have wanted it either. I am actually a fool for worrying about you today” she said, trying to contain her emotions. “The only thing that you have to worry sister is leaving me alone today” I answered. “This won´t end up like you are saying. Not like this…” Luna left the door with a sad face. She closed the door and I said to myself: “The moon didn´t give any life to us…yet the sun did. I don´t need you, sister” I claimed to myself. There was a great silence when she left. At this moment, I had to begin thinking about what to do all over again, without her on my side. She is probably going to talk to Cadence to comfort her now that she is here in Canterlot. Not only that but she also wants to take over the reign. She believes that´s enough for her. Her power is inferior to mine but she also doesn´t beat me at arguing like I do with different creatures. A primitive species like indoctrinated bat ponies works, but that falls short when I have to handle an entire continent. I try not to keep my head spinning about this topic. However, I don´t know what´s worse. My mind will explode if I don´t do anything. I have to move myself because I feel powerless and I cannot see the light anywhere. At least, I have two days to come up with something. That´s very little time and stress can come back again. All of this without any pleasure for me. The silent escape. I had been thinking during this afternoon, while baking cakes badly because I was too tired to make them great, that maybe I should I test that pleasure that parts of me wants so much. It isn´t easy to take any of these two routes but at least, this is personal and I can resolve it myself, without relying on anypony else. They would suspect that I have left Canterlot without permission but if I fly quickly to the Dragonlands without seeing me and maybe returning tomorrow, I could get away with it. My sister is the one who visits me anyway. My royal guard don´t usually check my room when I am not in charge. Maybe I can afford coming here late if anything happens. I waited for the night to come anxiously. It costs me to breathe a bit because I don´t know completely what will happen over there and I normally hide those fears. I sent the guards to go because I didn´t need them near around. It´s somewhat claustrophobic to me having them all the time but I sent that order to secure the plan. So it went like that. The night finally came and they obeyed what I asked. It feels good that they do it without hesitation. That pattern should happen more often… Everyone was sleeping and even though my eyes are slightly red because of that lack of sleep, I could go out and fly over there without many problems. I left the bed disordered and I used the old bed sheet whenever someone wants to check my room. Not the best trick but at least, that could gain me a bit of precious time if I had enough luck. I closed the curtains and the window with my hooves and I consumed my energies instead in flying fast as soon as I took off so they wouldn´t see me leaving. While the south is not as hostile as it was in the past, Ember doesn´t control all the dragons completely. They live under their own free will and I hope I don´t come across with anyone when I am there. It took me a few hours to arrive at the Dragonlands because of my tired state. I am only driven because of my curiosity and the eagerness of ending everything now. The night should be ending soon and maybe I should raise the sun a bit for concealing the average pattern, even with my little energy left. I will leave it in the natural way. Finally, after so many thoughts in my head, I have arrived to the land of dragons….and volcanoes. This ambient requires an energetic spirit and I am following the contrarian route. I raised the sun as I thought but it dispelled in the middle of the process. It cost me for keeping myself sane in these thoughts and not in what I should do. I left the rest for keeping the flowing mane and tail. I have to keep my normal image if someone sees me. A visit to the Dragonlands. Now I am here in the volcanic crater. There it is the lava in front of my eyes. What surprises me the most is that despite feeling that heat, it´s not as insufferable as I thought? An average pony could withstand this ambient without entering there. I was seeing it fascinated and the interest is killing me. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth for not arriving at the extreme I felt like managing to feel. I have doubts if my body could stand that. I ask myself if maybe a spell for my body could… “Well, well, well. Look at that. A pony who has dared to step into our playground and annoy us again” a pimp dragon said. “Haven´t they taught you that this is our place, white pony? Oh wait, that you are so soft and pastel creatures that you look for the red color of the rainbow over here for you “friendship”, isn´t it?” he continued. They laughed and mocked at me. I turned around my body and the one who was talking to me was Garble and his gang. Twilight had talked to me about them a couple of times. “If you actually knew who you are talking to, you wouldn´t act that way” I responded. “Hey watch out, the white pony is getting furious. How scary and she wants to battle, uh?” he sarcastically said. “You are dealing with the royal princess of Equestria. You hear me?” I affirmed with confidence without blinking. “And what are you doing here, princess? Aren´t you supposed to be dealing with pony stuff? Are you coming for conquering us with your friendship you impose so much?” he asked. “That´s none of your business” I answered. “Very well, as you don´t want to say it in the good way, you´ll have to taste “our welcome”, princess” he answered. They made a circle around me and I didn’t have in my plans to fight. However, I keep my pride and hard image from the outside until the very end. I am feeling tired of all of this, I don´t feel like evading more problems than the ones I have, enough. “Well, princess. Are you going to day it or do you want our welcome?” Garble said. “How about you obey me and leave me alone?” I asked. “We only obey what we want: gems and volcanoes and you are interrupting us. Did you expect something nice like your ponies do?” he said. “I hope you don´t do what you are planning to do” I affirmed. They stopped and thought for a while looking at themselves. They knew ponies can perfectly mess up with them because of their stupidity. “Alright, buddy. We won´t. It´s not that it works that well either. They survive at that” Garble said with certain madness. “I hope so for your own good” I said. “You are lucky that this volcano isn´t the one that we wanted to be today” he said. I made a gesture with my head but I had a suspicious look. They seemed to leave alone and I could return at looking at the lava I was aiming for. Sometimes, looking at it so closely leaves you with the feeling that you could be there and… A legend has been reborn. I received a great tackle on my back. I was placed too near to it and I hadn´t had time to react to such surprise I should have expected if I had been more woken up than this. I entered into the mortal zone. “Didn´t you want orders, princess? We obeyed and there you have them. Ahahaha” Garble laughed with his gang. “Why would we need to waste fire when you were near the lava, fool!” he exclaimed while laughing. I was there, sinking myself into what I wanted…but not in the way I expected. I thought entering in it with a spell so I wouldn´t feel the burns. I was too tired to step into it directly but now, there is no escape. The heat is affecting to my body and that undesirable ending is a big regret. When I closed my eyes and I assumed that this newbie mistake could lead into the bitter end, I only trusted on that life I have had for a thousand years. However, as I considered myself as anypony else, I admit that I am no exception to their rules. Thanks Luna, for wasting my neurons because of your ambitions. I wish you luck with that topic…and with this one because you are going to need it. If I ever saw you again, I would take serious measures with you even though it´s not entirely your fault. You, the snarling griffon and this gang, all of you have carried me into this result. “I doubt you did all of this by accident, my dear” a voice said. “You perfectly knew what you wanted” That voice was coming from somewhere but it sounded closer to my body than coming from the outside…except that magical mirror appeared again, levitating around me. “Look at you” the voice said and that mirror was placed in front of me. “Aren´t you wonderful? Many princesses would desire to have this appearance hahaha” she said. Each time it spoke, I felt how my veins were associating themselves with that heated heart. I was feeling, not hurt but impish. “You know that you love it. You won´t deny that you loved the old hobby that you had for yourself, alone” that voice said, more proper of coming from my mouth than from anyone else. “Finally your visions serve for something right. I am happy that you have given a chance….to the old values” she said. My body was accommodating to the hostile ambient and little by little, I was feeling like that was my own nature. My mane and my tail were blazing but that didn´t bother me at all. My body was receiving all the energies from the heat. My regalia were burning as well but surprisingly, not that it turned to black. They ended up adapting the orange color from the lava. I closed my eyes and I was changing my mood over time, turning that fatigue into a prideful behavior. “You desired coming at this ambient. I think that you deserve me an apology for telling it to you again” I said, adopting those words as if they were mine. I didn´t care the fact that it took my possession. I was about to die but now that I´ve realized about it; this was a part of my identity all the time. Maybe I shouldn´t act innocently and focus on things that actually matter from the beginning. My body gradually caught everything. So vibrant, heated and exciting... the transformation felt complete. I was alive again and I was a part of it. “The phoenix always rises from the ashes. You are not the exception. You only had to find it” I said. “Welcome to the real world again, Daybreaker”. For the first time in a week, I laughed at myself by looking at the mirror. I have found myself. I hadn´t realized that I had to see and check for myself what this beautiful place offers to me. If I haven´t taken part of the problem, then others have led me to do it instead. I like staying here and thinking about the purity and richness this valuable fountain offers. I recovered all my force and I could glow my horn effortlessly. Wave goodbye that disappointing diplomacy and my personal failure. I am here back again and instead of showing my weak forms of dealing my problems...I will use the ancient ones that worked for me! “I have revived…to stay! Now, you will know what happens when you don´t let this princess sleep!” I exclaimed. “And I will teach you one lesson…or two…hahahahaha!” I laughed with the biggest grin I have had in a very, very long time... Author's Note You might have questions about Cadence being a bat pony and that does come from another fic called "The Mare in the Mountain" that is still to be published from other user. In short, she has a second life during the night and has kept a little secret that a few characters know (including Celestia and Luna) but not the Crystal Empire. Her concept/backstory has yet to be perfectly defined but yeah, in this story, she can deploy the bat wings and sharp teeth naturally.
Before and after the Friendship is Magic scenes: The comforts of darkness.My personal regret. In the wake of darkness, how am I supposed to tell that I exist? How am I supposed to say that this story will never get written? How can I say all the dreams I have visited and all those nightmares and illusions became true? When someone thinks about this territory, you feel uneasy, you feel disgusted and you don't want to talk about it. The less I know about them, the better because we all try to pursue the light, but what happens if that light closes the door to you? What happens when the mistake of a young sister could cause all this trouble? What happens when my life gets thrown away in the most necessary moments from familiar ponies? Was my support fake? Should I avenge her? "Dear sister Celestia, why did you leave me behind?” I thought loudly to myself in the search of an answer from the outside. If I didn't feel comfortable before, the situation of these days isn't any better. All the cute moments could be shattered away over time, only for this revenge. I have been falling into a corrupted state. My sister left me, only because she was the favourite from Starswirl. I felt jealousy, I felt envy and I felt that favouritism. I can't believe that her joke about raising the moon was so easy for her to do. Not only raising the sun but she could replace me for doing both tasks in the same day. How could she reach that sense of elitism? Didn't she know that her constant ego discouraged me? Not even that way, she could perfectly do that alone for a price in the beginning. How could I admire those days? That past sounds really glorified in comparison because now I am alone…with these species. They are called bat ponies (or at least, that's what they said) and fortunately, they have followed my message. They took me as their leader. My wings attracted them and took me as one of their cult. They were primitive and wild, much like every zone beyond the Everfree Forest in the harmonized world of Equestria. Harmony, because now, while I am located in the same castle where I shared the place with my sister; the door was closed and the painting was changed. My sister is not here. My sister wouldn't have the will to face this outlook. We are facing lots of troubles and the days get to see the opposite of the night: the day. This dream has managed to become real. However, it is also a daily nightmare to handle for our lives. I still live worrying about those creatures and getting along with them. Is this my future Republic? The moon will answer me and the stars will aid me in my escape. My body however, while I feel powerful enough to do everything under my domain, I feel that emotional void. The tomorrow by itself is a challenge to deal with and those little mistakes make me wonder if I should have all this power under my hooves. I have become a nightmare… in the moon. The comforts of darkness. Those bat ponies weren't that easy to convince. Actually, those little subjects didn't have a good look or cuteness that I could appreciate at first sight. From the very beginning, they had a tribal language, mostly making noises like "Eeeeeek" between them. When they heard me talking in the Equestrian ways, they opened their eyes towards me. They would menace me if I didn't follow them but when they saw my gestures of weakness and despair, they decided to stop and give me a little bit of attention. Looking deeply at their eyes, they were as lost as me. I considered them as ponies and it seemed that my mistake had a prize and I managed to find a balance for all of us. They learned slowly the words from me and repeated them like babies around me. Mostly one or two words in one try. Some of them decided to go back to the wild ways around the forest again but the others followed my lessons that turned out to be really valuable for my plans…and my comfort as well. How ironic, I was teaching them the values of my Journal written along with my sister, I wonder if she is applying them as well nowadays. They realized that my message was effective; they found it easier to talk between them. Some of them were alienated and could follow me. Others learned by force or by circumstance, seeing others speaking it and they fell accidentally over time or intentionally at joining in with the rational ones under my side. In the end, while there were conflicts during the process (two or three big fights in fact), they all argued with the weapon that I offered to them: education. They all had different ideas but no bat pony wanted to recover those ancient noises. They felt developed and more effective at doing the tasks. I was doing something useful for once and I felt proud of achieving something after my past mistakes. I even got the coronation from them and they put me as their royal figure in order to protect them. All my orders were understood and applied. Nevertheless, if I didn't have a bit of sanity, I wouldn't be writing this letter. My body has fallen here in this world after all. This positive message given to them didn't feel as positive in comparison to the negativity that my origins had for getting stuck in this place. I indoctrinated them, the language was the method to understand and spread the hate and despair I felt about you. Those achievements served for nothing but building drones to my cause. If you are reading this paper my sister, then it's because I still have good feelings about you from the inside. For everything else though, what could stop from suffering this personal despair? Whatever you want to respond, whatever you want to feel, it will be mostly useless in my eyes. I have a party to celebrate with these civilized bats. If you are going to visit us, you could see what I have built for myself alone. Tell me right in my face if this task was that easy, feel welcome and take a seat whenever you get to do that. You will find comfort in the darkness like I do because the night will last as much as it has to last.....forever. When the party ended, I felt relieved because I have found out that all my efforts dedicated to the bats have finally paid off. They felt almost like ponies in this event, almost. I couldn´t even tell them from those ponies I met for almost a thousand years ago. The Journal actually worked. It´s no wonder that Equestria found harmony with these values but I wouldn´t like to know about that place anymore. Celestia cannot take the lead for this species under her command. Her overprotective and peaceful manner for controlling the ponies from venturing into the wild is a sign of decadence. That prevention weakens her drones. They feel free in their circles, but they see themselves helpless whenever they find themselves in places like a natural forest. Unlike me, the princess of the Night, conquering these bats, manipulating them, I created a new relatively comfortable place for those hostile creatures and feel that same freedom under my leadership without hesitation. Before Friendship is Magic: the revenge. ”Hmmm hahahaha. I have won my sister! I will be the one to control Equestria!” Nightmare Moon said. ”With all my powers, I have found the maximum to carry the pony society better than you” she said. “Even with the corruption rushing through my veins, I can transform and keep the experiment for development, all by myself. Your good will prevents them to grow my sister. One day, I will show you the truth of your other side and when that day comes, you will see it with all of your eyes” thought Nightmare Moon loudly. “A brighter place doesn´t have to be correlated with neither happiness nor caring forms, just that it shines more on them. It´s appealing to the eye and so it does to ME!” she said. ”The three races of ponies, together?! Not a problem, they had been jointed before you and I were students of Starswirl.” she reaffirmed. “You can raise the sun and moon without any problem but I KNOW how to lead them.” She said with a chuckle. ”Come here my sister! Come here and prove me that your way of thinking is superior to mine!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed. ”If I beat you, the night will last FOREVER!” Nightmare Moon shouted, rising her hoof to the sky pointing at the moon……shining more than ever. Shining more than the usual moonlight Nightmare Moon was used to watching, she was left wondering what was happening. Her face changed to an expression of both mystery and fear. A radiant shining white alicorn appeared in the Castle of The Two Sisters, with her horn turned on, she was turning the moon to the land and putting the sun above it. ”It cannot be! No way! IT´S HER!” Nightmare Moon shouted, sounding concerned towards this unexpected situation. The white alicorn was making the matter disappear, leaving all the nature created put into nothingness. Everything was disappearing like that needle which exploded for the whole universe in reverse. The place was entering into a full blank state. All the bats started to disappear like digital squares fading into the white background. A long moment of silence and pure void filling these moments of existential darkness…. vanished. But what happened to the white alicorn? How did she appear? Why had she taken that path after a thousand years? To be precise, she knew it was exactly that day when she locked the alicorn of darkness. A thousand years after that event which could lead to the same mistake? That white alicorn took the risk to bring back her sister from the other side to the present Equestria along with her bat society, her precious creation. Nightmare Moon woke up and opened up her eyes. Surprisingly she didn´t have any brushes nor did she take any damage. She felt like all of this was an actual nightmare. A very long period yet short for all the struggles she had to face. Her transformation into corruption was set, her mentality from the universe hadn´t changed. ”Where am I? What is this place? Are these ruins…? Wait! Ruins?!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed surprised. “This castle of mine turned into an old place that I had kept reluctant…now with a stoned tree in the middle” said Nightmare Moon with a melancholic tone to the point of almost crying to such destruction. ”A tree that doesn´t do anything for me. I am alone; no bats are with me anymore. All this sacrifice just for this useless tree” Nightmare Moon despised at herself. She all of a sudden, in the verge of shredding a royal tear, she realized: “That tree…I recognize those forms. It´s the cheat my sister used to reform once and fight Discord. The tree that prevents Celestia ´s defeat in my hooves, in front of my eyes” Nightmare Moon changed her mood quickly. ”Hmhmhmhm hahaha” she laughed with a villain tone. “If I have her best secret under my power, I can make the dream of restoring Equestria under my command. All my illusions are becoming true. I have earned my second chance! “Nightmare Moon exclaimed. “I may have lost the bats...but I can replace them with something even better: The ENTIRE WORLD OF PONIES UNDER THE NIGHT!” Nightmare Moon shouted. ”Now, the NIGHT will truly LAST FOREVEEEEEEEEEEEER!” Nightmare Moon shouted convinced. While Twilight was meeting the mane 6 in Ponyvile, Nightmare Moon planned how to take over the main places that Celestia had under her rule. Celestia didn´t appear at all during these events. She didn´t protect the ponies for such a menace of this kind. Lots of ponies screamed and were scared as soon as Nightmare Moon interrupted their carefree activities and the celebration for the Summer Sun Set. Her dark sister was out of control, carrying out a plan in order to take over Equestria. Nightmare Moon´s plan was finally applied: she took the first place as soon as she noticed it. As the old Castle of the Two Sisters was nearer from Ponyville than Canterlot, she began to challenge the little village. She knew they were weak and they would give up under her rule. She raised the moon and made the sun disappear from the sky like the white alicorn did in her dark universe. The only task left for Nightmare Moon was the plan of setting a trap for Celestia, waiting in the castle. She knew Celestia would appear at some time to reunite and set everything once and for all. ”Now, dear sister. Come to me. Come and play under my rules in your own world. Your weak ponies haven´t resisted anything to this eternal night. What a shame! I thought this would be entertaining.” Nightmare Moon said. “I see that you have faith in 6 ponies that are coming for me. If that´s all your hope, I am disappointed. I will play with them anyway, I know you won´t come as easily” Nightmare Moon said. Nightmare Moon´s defeat in Friendship is Magic. ”Very well. You have almost won me, but you won´t take those elements” she thought. She broke the little balls that contained the elements, preventing the true harmonic power to take over her like she was exposed a thousand years ago. ”I have won. Now the night will last FOREVER!” Nightmare Moon screamed with a definitive passion. ”No! We ARE the elements of Harmony!” Twilight exclaimed proudly. ”WHAT?! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed scared, losing her identity. History repeated itself. Nightmare Moon was wrapped into the light coming from the 6 elements, not from Celestia but from the mane 6 that she overlooked at first yet they interrupted and put her plan to an end. Her knowledge about building a society and dreams for it to actually happen was gone. Her energy disappeared. She was alone, wasted and helpless all over again. She couldn´t come back to what she had built for the entire millennia. She also lost the energy of her mane, her size was reduced, her eyes shone with pure innocence and her colours were greyer than ever. Like a newborn, she felt like she stepped into the unknown. All she had, waved goodbye to her. All was under the leadership of Starswirl´s favorite student: Celestia. She didn´t want to wake up. Her weak appearance reflected what she felt inside. How can you wake up after your loss is so big that your existence hardly matters now? If she moved during those moments, she could have clipped her wings and go to the actual void. She didn´t feel like living more years after her luck was shot to its core. However, that shining light appeared again, as if Celestia was the new Goddess to take the new steps and magically keep this pinkish paradise called Equestria. She gave the words congratulating to those little ponies but Luna barely listened to that. Her senses were low in energy; she could hardly recover instantly from that Rainbow power. ”Come back to Ponyville, little ponies!” Celestia said. ”I will celebrate it with all of you, including my sister: PRINCESS LUNA!” Celestia exclaimed. Celestia put her hoof next to the weakened pony and Luna…took it.What other option did she have? Her energy was not enough to go out there in the wild, nor did she feel like wanting to live with those tense thoughts. She took it like a path of taking a break. She could have hated it. However, she wanted to talk with her sister again… she had so many questions. She remained silent for the Ponyville celebration and she stayed happy, pretending that she was like that. From the inside, she was broken, conceptually and existentially. Celestia ended up as the favourite again while Luna got her second position. The white alicorn doubted her little sister had changed over the year. But, has Celestia noticed how hard her dark path was in the meantime? Celestia had so much to talk with her and the positive party in Ponyville ended. After Friendship is Magic: a confession from the Royal Sisters. And so, this awaited moment for both sisters arrived happened after the party. That night remained peaceful and the two sisters were alone in Celestia ´s private room. They were separated. Luna wasn´t as interested as Celestia in talking about what happened to her after the show in front of everyone, yet her reasons were different because she also had questions to ask. ”Luna! Are you feeling alright?” Celestia asked. ” No. Why do I have to?” Luna responded. ”Look sister. This is not how you are projecting it into your head; I know where you come from. “Celestia affirmed. “Oh,really?!” asked Luna sarcastically. “Ruining my whole purpose of building a better world? That you cannot stand seeing how I build a stronger society than yours?! Seeing how you fail and I beat you and…You go and ruin everything I had planned, my purpose of this millennia devastated by a single ray of light?!” Luna said. ”Luna, please. I swear it wasn´t because of envy. You cannot be thinking that I would actually hurt you for a single moment” Celestia admitted with confidence. ”Then tell me: why did you come to the universe that YOU, yes YOU, put me to suffer for an eternal period and come as a hero like that? Are you a heartless elitist or something? That´s not sisterhood, Celestia” she said. ”It´s a convenient betrayal in which you could get rid of me whenever you pleased. “ Luna affirmed. ”Luna, I….” Celestia spoke with hardly any line. “No, that´s it. I am done. I am leaving this lie. There´s no way you can get away with this and pretend we are sisters like this just because everything ends up with flowers and parties. Not with a tyrant that puts her own competence and gets eaten like Saturn with his own son.” Luna said. ”Luna, wait!” Celestia said. ” What is it, now? You are wasting my time, sister. I don´t know what´s my purpose here. Why am I here anyway? My conquest has failed and you come as an angel just to put smiles and feel like a hero for a few days” Luna said. “And you didn´t move for it! 6 ponies did the job for you! My sister is lazy nowadays, 1000 years for this. I expected better” Luna said with a sad face, desperate to prove her sister wrong. “Listen to me little sister, I can explain it” Celestia said. ”NO! You can´t. Leave me alone!” Luna broke down crying and putting her body into the floor. She felt psychologically defeated. ”I expected you would come like this, Luna. The hardest moment for me is not using the elements of Harmony, but saying that your sister…” Celestia paused a little bit “…also commits mistakes even if they seem noble” Celestia said. “What?!” Luna asked confused. ”You were a young pony when I banned you into the moon universe. However, I was also a pretty recent student of Starswirl. Everything in theory could work.” she said. ”In practice, however, things got too out of hand to handle. It was either Equestria or putting Starswirl´s efforts to shame.” said Celestia. “Starswirl´s bias... I hope you have enjoyed all that luck” Luna said. ”My luck was as messed up as yours Luna. Just because the sun shines more doesn´t mean we cannot fall into corruption for seeing everything clearer. I…. I have also had that desire of elitism that you may be thinking. “ Celestia confessed. ”Don´t tell me that you were a failure for being young” Luna answered opening her eyes a bit. ”I wish it were only that.” Celestia said. “Luna, I am also as corrupted as you. I have my nightmarish version” Celestia said. ” You…light being corrupted? Please, you are always the heroes” Luna answered. ” Don´t say I was joking. I´ll take it easy with the morbid stuff but…” Celestia whispered. Celestia turned the room into a black picture. After that, all of a sudden, it was filled of stars and Celestia´s figure turned obscure. ”Sister?” Luna asked confused. ”Do you see this, Luna? Can you tell any difference? Does it remind you of something you know by experience?” Celestia asked Luna with the illusion of Daybreaker, with a menacing scary look. “I…I… have no words.” Luna confessed with a shocking face of feeling genuine fear. Celestia expected that answer and the background turned into the room they were having this conversation. ”I hope you understand that I am no free of problems, Luna. Besides, I don´t want you to go like the previous time. It hurt when it happened, you had no idea how much more painful it was when the hard times came to me…alone. “Celestia said almost closing her eyes of feeling guilty about that. “But…what do I do now? I am here as lonely as you. I do not belong here, I don´t think I will get used to this like it happened before. The bats are gone and my life is too painful to live for another thousand years. Sister, I am still tired.” Luna said. “Why do you think that I left you alone with the 6 ponies I put my trust in the Castle? Do you think I was gone for no apparent reason?” Celestia smiled a bit. Don´t you tell me….No.” Luna was surprised and was left wondering what she was about to hear. Celestia nodded. “It was a hard trip for finding a distant place for your little students. It will take them some time to get comfortable in Equestria. I think you can visit and calm them. They are fine.” Celestia answered gladly. ” I cannot believe you did this. I can certainly feel that you have heart like we were fillies.” Luna jumped onto Celestia´s hooves. Ohohohoho. Oh, Luna. I truly care about you, sister. I knew that your efforts over there were correct. The values against me are not that easy to fix but I hope you can solve that aspect for them. “Celestia said. ” I sure will. But, what´s purpose do I have here?” Luna asked. ” I thought you knew better. I think it´s time to control the moon and the dreams for ponies. They have hard periods finding good sleep and I think you can dream about your society in the dreams” Celestia said. “Oh my….Sister, I simply cannot answer you with all of this. I haven´t imagined that I could have faith with you.” Luna said emotional. “All the pride for one self ends. Luna…we are eternal for now. We don´t know how many years are left for us but if these 1000 years have taught me something, is that I have to spend them with you, Luna.” Celestia confessed. “Celestia…” Luna shred some tears (she was having a rollercoaster of emotions). “Luna. You are all that I have. I´ve been worried about you and I have seen ponies die in front of my eyes. Generations and strangers dying and I could do nothing. I have no long term friendships and I cannot avoid boredom and passive despair. Whenever I try it, I end up more disappointed than the initial point. Put yourself in my hooves, Luna”. Celestia confessed crying with those intimate yet hidden thoughts. ”Sister. I cannot hold it. This is way too much for me” Luna hugged Celestia with all her remaining forces. ”I couldn´t stand another wasted morning where I could be holding you to my side. I was waiting for this moment to come, sister” she said. “This period has been silently joyless to me, Luna. You are all that I have in the end” Celestia confessed. “Wherever you are tonight, promise me that you won´t leave me anymore my sister” Celestia said crying. “I won´t leave you” Luna assumed with her eyes closed, accepting that promise. ”I hope we can do better together. Welcome home, Luna” Celestia said with a soft motherly voice. And that night ended with the sun and the moon standing at both sides of Canterlot´s sky...
Behind the MLP The Movie scenes: Does Disney dream of Evil Queens?The reunion with the three princesses. If there is anything that I have to be thankful, it´s being able to finally forget all those problems for a while. If this is happening and why I am here, it´s for something more hopeful than staying closed because of the Storm King. While it´s true that I am relieved after finding my daughter safe and alive, it doesn´t imply that my kingdom can return to the previous stat. So, here I am, all the hippogriffs are sleeping in this beautiful city called Canterlot. Little I knew of this city in between mountains, even though Celestia had described it to me in the few letters we sent to each other. But, to be honest, we hardly got out of our mount back then when we were hippogriffs, less we would know about it underwater. Marginalized, in the extreme of this continent, without help until those 6 ponies made me to get out of my throne and have fun a little moment. I recognize that this party with Songbird Serenade has been overwhelming and much more dynamic than all my years commanding the kingdom. I know that I have something left to do and while I am thinking about this…I admit that I need help in reality. Even though commanding my reign is not a challenge, I need to move forward into a new direction, revive certain virtues that have been forgotten for decades. I have felt these years somewhat incomplete and lifeless. And here I am, still resentful with Twilight for putting the red alarm but I have to say that they have treated my daughter fairly well. She seems to get along with that happy pony: Pinkie Pie. I have told her that she would be grounded for this. However, that line is because she has to know the values of royalty but I need another reference for that. If my reign has to endure, I see that I have to search for an external influence in this continent. We cannot remain the same in a cage hidden over there. After that hug, Celestia put a smile and saw me with good eyes. I know how to hide emotions from the outside, but from the inside, I was fed up with an eternal boredom and I had displeasure thinking about Skystar while flying to Canterlot. I missed sleeping on air. I have been used to sleeping in my throne and that might have been too bland or comfortable for an everyday routine. I am finally sleeping in an actual bed without floating. So, today, I have woken up with plenty of energy and I have to reunite with Celestia this morning in order to see what we can do. I believe that I can erase all the bad things and focus on what´s about to come. I enter in Celestia´s throne room. She was there, along with Luna and Cadance. The three princesses were in front of me. The big question is: am I a major figure for holding the queen title or am I equal to them? That worries me. Diplomacy is something I have not practiced it after so much time, so I have to improvise and resume all the skills. ”Good morning, Princess Celestia” I greeted, with my head duck down. ”Queen Novo, it´s a pleasure to see you” Celestia responded following my gesture. Luna and Cadance came after with it. ”Novo, we are all proud that your daughter Skystar and your reign have helped us to beat the Storm King” Celestia claimed. ” I am sorry that we have arrived late for being distrustful to your messenger, princess. We didn´t think that Twilight would make such a thing like robbing the pearl the way she did when I was going to use it under my orders and my trust” I responded. ” We understand that this accident happened, Novo. She is a very advanced student who gets too worried about me, too much to commit such mistakes of that kind. I am sure she didn´t do that with bad intentions” Celestia answered. ” I perfectly know my sister in law. She gets too obsessed that things go the way she wants to see. If it doesn´t happen, she tries to go for a quick solution” Cadance added. ”Well, even if Twilight didn´t want to cause trouble, she caused bad impressions for following her reasons behind her actions” I answered. ”Don´t worry, Novo. Your daughter decided to come to Canterlot and solve the problem” Celestia said. ”Thanks, Princess Celestia” I responded. ”You can perfectly call us directly by our name, Novo. We are used to the down to earth conversations with normal ponies” Celestia said. I nodded just to accept her terms. I expected something more formal from them but they don´t seem to care about their title showing all the time. It´s a bit shocking but it helps for my lacking skills. ” It seems that you are going back to your home, Mount Aris, isn´t it?” Celestia said. ” Yes, we have been locked for a really long time and we have to fly all over the desert to the south” I described. ” We understand that the comeback can be a bit exhausting this time but we have a little surprise for going back to life as a civilization and establish a possible friendship” Celestia said. ”Novo, we want to give something for keeping these conversations and having more frequent conversations. Do you see what´s behind the window?” Luna asked. I saw how her hooves pointed at something I couldn´t believe: the train station. ” Does it mean that…?” I asked with enthusiasm. ”Yes, Novo. We are going to make sure that the train towards Mount Aris goes with the fastest speed. The train network has improved a lot over these 4 years. We had broadened ourselves to places like the Crystal Empire and now, Cadence goes without effort from here and there. We have no problems at all in giving your train station. If we can have a little help from yours, we can build it in less than a month and use it for all over Equestria” Celestia said. I flew over her and I hugged her for that nice gesture. ”I didn´t expect that this would be so permanent so soon” I said in an emotional state. ” We know about all the calamities that the Storm King made. We have also arrived at helping you. We didn´t have faith on finding friendship in the south, we thought they were non-existent until the recent letters with you.” Celestia said. ”Thanks” I simply responded. ” You are in better conditions now. Everything is over. You can now go and continue what you want” Celestia said. ”This is certainly what I have been looking forward, Celestia.” I said certainly. The train was a big surprise but… ”Don´t think about it anymore, your majesty. You can leave calmly. The constructors are waiting for your orders and start with the railways” she said. “Thank you very much.” I said. I left and waved goodbye to them with the formal gestures and it´s true that I can start something else. All my guards received me and all of them were ready for my message. I told them about the train station, they celebrated it and welcomed my orders of giving those little ponies help for making the railways. We started the project between the center of Equestria and Mount Aris. I am completely surprised that it would hardly take 90 minutes in order to arrive at here, considering how far we live and how much we have lasted during the afternoon. Whatever it was, all ponies treated me well, despite leaving some hippogriffs for guiding the builders. We came back with Skystar safe. There was so much to rebuild and the mount cannot stay as neglected as it is for future visitors. The bad news So, it went like this. I have been trying to teach some values of royalty to my daughter. She is still having struggles in assuming her position but who knows when she has to replace me. She has made a huge achievement so she cannot be that innocent despite her energetic attitude. Nonetheless, she tires me a lot very often; this is why I take a break or lay down a bit because of her tiresome energy. She is still a kid but responsibilities will end up to her someday. Anyway, so many displeasures have passed but I need help. Help because psychologically I could have gone crazy. If Celestia didn´t want to give me some help, with the visit of those ponies, we would have worn out of that refuge even more than this…and that shows. The great majority migrated to the mount back again because they wanted to feel the free air, that sense of liberty and the true hippogriff´s soul. The rest adapted to the sea and have stayed loyal to the water. While my family, especially me and Skystar, would take charge of everything, I found a very unpleasant surprise again: my sister Ocean Flow and Sky Beak would get divorced because of this. Sky Beak loved the rudeness and his valiant attitude would give morality to the guards, encouraging them to feel stronger while defending the mount. Meanwhile, my sister, she definitely shows the blood of her family. She loves serenity and the peace from the sea and while the divorce didn´t end up with drama, my sister told me that they had left that period behind. This worried me more than it should have been. I have my family unstructured and my patience is not there all the times to fix this. Thankfully the massages were always there, because if I ended up crazy, I would be looking myself at the mirror and be obsessed in playing useless contests to see who the most beautiful queen in this world is. I cannot think about so many things all for myself. That event affected me because families are just one and I certainly will have trouble saying this to the children. With all of this in mind, I knew my people would want to go back to their manners, from the mount to the sea. I broke the pearl in all the possible pieces and make a personal necklace for transforming themselves instead of doing it again and again every day. I like seeing that illusion when someone returns to the sea after a while or some visitor´s faces for the first time, but I don´t plan to make that task forever. I have to find the material of that pearl, for now, they have to transform in groups. What has driven to me to move forward was having faith. I have seen how hippogriffs have restored the mount in record time, I have seen how the train station was built and how days have become sunnier. Does that mean Celestia is having the control of the sun now over here? I don´t know. What I know is that I have been preparing myself for private inauguration of the new train station. After ending the month, Celestia wanted to give a personal visit and see Mount Aris with the renewed look. The train arrived for the first time over here and I received the princess with the same gestures used last time I saw her. Celestia´s visit ”Your Majesty” she greeted. ”Princess Celestia, it´s an honour that you are here” I responded. We decided to give a walk and show her everything we made over the course of this month. She was really surprised and even had a good time. She recognized that she didn´t expect this recover to happen so soon and her favourite part was definitely when we transformed her. She was even more amazed with our home in Seaquestria. ”I haven´t seen anything like this in my life, Novo. This is beautiful. I wonder why we didn´t give another try and check that you were hidden over here” Celestia said happily. “It doesn´t matter, princess. It was carefully hidden and while it´s a very satisfying place, my people has grown tired of seeing the same scenery” I said. ”I understand. Still, this is impressive; it makes me happy to see things like these after all.” Celestia said. ”Well, it´s all we have made in such a small place and even with so little, we still have had our problems” I confessed. ”Are you saying this because of your husband?” she asked. ”No, I am not, princess. I have overcome that, it´s fine.” I stopped talking for a while. “It´s just that I try not to think too much about that…” I said. ”What´s the matter, Novo? What worries you? You haven´t put a very good face during the entire visit” Celestia pointed out. “Nothing. It´s just that, I am in a struggling with the fact that my sister has divorced recently. My daughter doesn´t pay attention for carrying the kingdom for the future and I don´t how to explain the divorce to my nephews” I confessed. ”I knew you were somewhat destroyed but not in this way.” Celestia said. “Well. Apparently things have improved overall. It fills me from the inside to see my kingdom improving and that gives me the impulse to go on. About my family, you see that I am not holiday...we are broken. The Storm King is dead, the revenge has been made and now, there´s no guilty party for this situation. Nobody is to blame for this and I feel defeated admitting how we are now.” I said hiding the face a little bit. ”I now understand why you had something going on” Celestia said, confirming that she has a 6th sense for detecting others feelings. ”Another summer I´ve spent alone with my daughter. I have had to take charge of both places and I don´t know why I am doing this. It all catches up to me all the time and the passiveness consumes me a little bit every day. I think those are my trouble. I have nothing else to say, but it feels somewhat discouraging that no one else has been there to help me until now.” I confessed. ”I am sorry. I don´t know how to answer this. I have to admire how much you have had to deal for all those challenges alone, not all queens would get out of that mess. However, there are things that you can fix. If you cannot help in solving completely your trouble, you can try to give some hopes and good vibes to your people to balance it” Celestia said. ”I know, I have already done that and it isn´t enough for me. There is still something to do and I don´t know where else I can go.” I added. ”Do you want to hide the divorce, isn´t it?” she asked at me. ”You would make me a big favour. Those kids are too young to assume it. Skystar, she is too much into herself to care and she fortunately has known how to get over it. However, my nephews Terramar and Silverstream…” I sighed for a while envisioning their faces. “I don´t see them prepared for it.” I confessed. ”I think I have some good news for you. Twilight is setting up a school and she wants to reunite creatures of all over Equestria and give values of friendship. It´s true that they are very different but I think the students will get along fine. Besides, I will keep an eye to see how she carries it. I am sure your nephews will be entertained” she said. ”I believe that Silver Stream is the one who´s fascinated to see what else is in Equestria, while Terramar is more attached to this place, I will try to convince my sister about this. Either way, I am granted for your gesture, princess, it certainly makes me think less stressed about that.” I confessed. ”What else could we do, Novo? I now regret that we couldn´t give any help and get out of this beautiful but still claustrophobic place. You are welcome to visit Equestria in its glory” she recognized. Yes, we are finally here. I think I am taking a break for a certain period. I know they can do it without keeping my eye on them for now” I responded. “Go ahead and take a diplomatic trip, your majesty. After being so much time here, I think you need to change a bit the mind-set; I tend to get out of Canterlot every now and then, despite its beauty like this kingdom does. You have our support and you seem to have good defenses, there´s no need to be neither tense nor overprotective about them. The train station is ready for all of you” Celestia claimed. ”Thanks, Celestia. I will see how I can progress myself” I said. ”Welcome to Equestria, my friend. I will be waiting in Canterlot if there is anything I can assist you. I have to give thanks for giving me such a nice visit. You have finally made it your majesty, congratulations.” Celestia said. ”It was a pleasure, Celestia” I nodded. “Same. Your majesty, take care and…one last thing: it´s not as hard as you may think…” she winked with a smile, taking the train back to Canterlot. I waved at the train when it began to leave. The visit was indeed splendid; I was not used to visits like these and receive ponies in my kingdom. Now, that I am thinking about that party, I think we can take a certain celebration for getting out of Seaquestria. Am I becoming a fan of parties? Nonetheless, I have to talk with my sister tomorrow and take a rest, not only as a queen, but as a mother. I am coming back to the initial point I was lying down for the first time: my throne. It´s a really wild change to witness. From a blank spot in the map and then, become a relevant place. Maybe I should trust more in those who actually deserve it. I don´t know if friendship is actually magic, but it certainly helps in moments like these. We will see how my niece will go in that school. For now, after having Seaquestria less crowded, my throne makes me calmer than usual and feels softer. There are still things to do but that will be for another day, after closing my eyes slowly…
The Mirror of Fire (Part 1)The griffons or the bats. It has been a hard day today. I thought that diplomacy and doing cute faces in front of everyone would be easy for me. However, when you have to deal with so many different species from far away, then it becomes stricter than before. In this moon, I have had to upper the bar and despite opening ourselves in all the continent of Equestria and visiting places ponies didn´t use to go, for me, on the contrary, I have had it harder for tidying it up in terms of diplomacy. While it´s true that Twilight and her friends have made a great job for convincing all of us and speak with old and new friendships at the same time, nobody would have predicted this situation a few years ago (not even me despite living an entire millennia). In addition to that, I have had the extra task to recover ourselves from the misunderstandings that the Chancellor caused (in which he later regretted them) and it hasn´t been that easy. The hardest part from today had consisted about deciding which railways would be made: either at Griffonstone or in the extreme depths of the southwest forest where bat ponies live. Their figures came and they didn´t doubt to argue between each other. I cannot comprehend why they had such a rush for establishing those rails. Was it because Mount Aris´ ones succeeded? Anyway, so Luna (yes, my own sister still carries the title of ambassador for the bats, she goes for it from time to time, she never forgot about them) along with a couple of night guards and Grampa Gruff have made a very tiring day for me, why did I have to do this so late before the weekend, taking place for the time that is supposedly for me? To begin with, the railways for Griffonstone would be somewhat complicated and it would take longer than usual, especially because we would have to build a huge bridge in order to cross the sea, while the bats… the huge distance by itself wouldn´t matter that much (we did this in previous works) if it weren´t because the terrain is rough even for making tunnels. Besides, bats would only help partially during the night and contrary to what mundane ponies say, bats don´t die during the day. They do sleep and that´s another factor because the period for the best visibility gets ruined, making it more difficult. The topic has ended up indecisive even though in a certain way, I feel proud that there is a bigger interest for getting a better access to their zones communicating them with Ponyville and Canterlot. While Griffonstone hasn´t improved much as a civilization, one of Twilight´s students, Gallus, has made their species more popular than ever, so others are wondering how his hometown is. I couldn´t put up myself in favor to my sister. That would show a lack of professionalism and because of favoritism, I would have to shudder for recovering my public image for such scandal if I supported my sister because of her familiarity and not because of objective arguments. One wonders what decision to take in such little time, keeping a smile in front of them and having such levels of patience that I have been famous for beating everyone at that in comparison. The most frustrating aspect for me was that while I had experienced worse situations before, at least, I had some kind of enjoyment from somewhere. Here, I don´t even have that to work me off from that bitterness earned. I had dinner with Luna but it wasn´t exactly fireworks; she had reminded me about the railways and tried to convince me again for choosing her option. I, in the other hand, reminded her that I was out of work; this was a moment for us as sisters, not for serving as an infinite wish box for everyone. She showed her charm in the end as an actual sister and I disconnected with a little rivalry between her and me (I don´t know if she does this as a sport or if she simply does it for baiting me and falling into her game). Finally, I am prepared to fall into bed. Even the crown felt heavy to me at this moment. A moment of solitude I desperately needed for thinking about what to do next and relax. An old familiar entity. But what kind of pleasure do I have? My life is actively dedicated for diplomacy and they judge you day after day and despite attending parties frequently they become utterly boring if they are formal reunions. The relaxing part comes naturally because of standing up to my work, not because I look for it and I hope I never lose it. The moon is rising; Luna has decided not to go to the doors dreamy hall these days due to opting for her ambassador part instead. She has always lived with less pressure and her life at least, is somewhat adventurous and different even if some dreams turn out terrifying to deal. She has a dynamic I wish I had but I cannot complain about her. I did it last moon and I think I have to get over it. I am willing to close my eyes and so it ends a day I want to forget right now, it´s officially over for me. The bed again, with my windows closed, saves me from these daily tense nightmares. The comfort is absolute and as soon as I fell asleep, the paradise passed in front of me. My body felt how my energies were recovering so naturally, fluidly and warmly that I feel like I am diving in a sea full of lava. Trapped in heated heart of fire, with a smile and grateful to be finally at home...so much that it feels like my room where I am sleeping does have that temperature… Wait, outside? How is it hot? My bedroom cannot be that hot, I would have covered myself with a blanket. I don´t want to check it out but it feels so strange that I cannot avoid thinking about it. I guess there is no other option then. I wake up and I see that my bedroom has turned out fully orange. Instead of watching the night, it looks like I am witnessing an abrasive sunrise. It feels asphyxiating and it cannot come so harshly from outside, my windows are closed. I get up and again, I still don´t know what kind of magic is showing up to me and it doesn´t seem to come from anywhere apparently. There is no object, portal nor sign of magic around here. I knew from the start that Luna wouldn´t do this. She doesn´t like the heat as much for doing a joke like this one, she would feel uncomfortable if she did. In the end, I conclude to myself: ”It´s like the heat comes from me hahaha, I am the only hot body around here!” I said to myself. “That´s because you are!” said a sinister sassy voice from the void. My smile turned into fears instantly. That line I have just heard sound enormously familiar and I don´t want to admit that this voice would actually come from… “What? Have I cut the fun for you too soon?” said that sassy voice. “You had to come over here, again? I thought I got rid of you back in that dream” I said to the hot entity. “A dream is not the same as something real and much less when that pink pony implied about what we actually were” that voice said. “It annoys me to see that you are still the same coward and just show for doing evil things again, Daybreaker. Come out here if you love laughing at me so much!” I exclaimed. She appeared in the middle of the room with a huge flame around her as an opener. By the time that the flame wasn´t as shining, she began to speak: “Well, well, well… the princess acting like a heroine. Not only once but a thousand years repeating the same words. Pssshh and then you complain about me who has had to endure more stupid things over time” Daybreaker said, daring as always. “You don´t…!” I was going to exclaim. “Exist? We get it; we know the script more than enough, always saying that I don´t exist and pretending I never was in your life. I get really bored for such complex and prejudice each time you fight against yourself, looking at your reflection. It´s funny because of how bad your denial is” Daybreaker said while her form took the spotlight while the flames were becoming smaller. The room became slightly hotter but, why aren´t other ponies noticing this change of hot? They should be suffocated, even more with her presence. Anyway, I had to rely on myself in any case… “Enough, you only want to watch the world burn. You only come here to make things more complicated than usual. You don´t help me with your malice. I can´t get that you are still alive. I have reinforced my fraternity with Luna and you are coming for her. I am not going to let you in!” I shouted. “Malice? Then, what is goodness if I have done nothing yet? A dream doesn´t mean anything and much less when one ignorant pony imagines the worst possible case” Daybreaker said. “Don´t think that a few words of sympathy are going to change my mind. That doesn´t change your intentions one single bit” I said. “Mine? Or should I say yours? Hahaha!” Daybreaker laughed. “You are trying to fool me again, I see that you will never change” I affirmed. “Fool you? Why should I do that if you do it to yourself? You are already wrong by talking to me in the first place” Daybreaker said. “What do you mean?” I asked confused. “Why should I tell you anything? Overall, villains will always stay villains; they can never win because the heroes always have a better sense of morality. Why would you want to listen to me if you know it better than me, bright spark?” Daybreaker laughed. “Ugh, you are so annoying” I said mad. “Annoying? Don´t make me laugh until my head comes off hahaha. It´s you who comes at me as soon as you can. For such a fantastical goodness heroine like you, that would be described as a big treason for drawing upon the enemy….and yet, you are unscathed in the end. Haven´t you asked in the entire millennia why you always get away with it? Has the elder brain come to your head and you don´t want to come outside your bubble? Ooooh, how adorable, a saint believes that she is purely innocent.” Daybreaker said. “Have you ever got tired of coming like this, wasting energy and time in order to burn holes in my patience? I don´t feel like fighting and protecting the rest and it seems I have to do so again” I claimed with disrespect, a clear sign that I am getting more tired than before. “Protecting from whom? Who else is here? I only see an alicorn standing beside a mirror with an intimidating face for no reason” Daybreaker mocked. “I am not tolerating that mockery, Daybreaker” I said. “Mockery? Like you do every day for fun? And let´s not even talk in the parties, your skills are worthy material to teach to your students in your school” Daybreaker said. “Trolling is a skill to take with care otherwise it ends up in bitterness” I affirmed. “My troll moves haven´t hurt anyone. I only saw Luna with a bad face when the sun was entering into the sky when the night was supposed to come” said that intruder. “Leave Luna alone! She hasn´t done anything and she doesn´t belong here. I know what you are trying to do” I suspected. “You are assuming that I wouldn´t coexist with Luna. Like a good heroine, you still don´t me. So predictable and foolish from you and I have warned it. At least, she overcame it before you” Daybreaker mocked. “Don´t say what I have to do!” I said firmly. “You do that to yourself and justify your frustrations with lack of free time and fun” she said. “Ah, so you are going to be my entertainer now?” I asked with a sense of irony. “Well, look at that, you´ve got something right. Congratulations for raising my expectations. I applause you“ Daybreaker laughed. “You are having more fun than me even though your style of entertainment...plays with fire” I claimed. “Fire…ironic, considering the comfort you had while you were dreaming. Diving in the ocean full of lava, feeling how the hot pleasure fills your body. Tell me darling, why do you have such a big fear to admit that you don´t get burned in a volcano? Does that remind you of me?” she asked. I looked at her with an infuriating face. Something in me was dying as soon as I listened to that perversion about me. “You are still trying to live your life like a little filly who hasn´t broken a phoenix egg. All your years of experience wasted because you don´t want to grow up and you prefer living like a child instead” Daybreaker said. “Why are you telling this to me? I asked. “It´s not me who is telling you that but what part of you says that. You hate malice, you create a name for it and you try to stay away from it. How is a foolish teacher supposed to know what´s good or bad if she doesn´t know it by heart?” Daybreaker mocked. “No. It cannot be happening, I don´t know what you are saying” I said desperately and broke out to tears from the inside. She didn´t say anything, she took her time to go after me while I was unprotected but...she, all of a sudden, reflected a different color this time around. Something was surrounding her and the room wasn´t as orange as before. It looked greener somehow and I heard a ghostly voice coming from her. “Celestia, open up your eyes! You are the actual problem. Don´t reject you! Accept what you are, do it quick!” that ghostly voice said. “Enough help for now!” Daybreaker said and that different tone disappeared. The room came back to the previous orange color. “You cannot go after that route. You have never had the will to go for it and unfortunately, you won´t.” Daybreaker said. I stopped crying and left my last tear to drop off from my face. I took a break to recover my sanity and… “Never. Now that I know, you can´t prevent it” I affirmed. “Ooooh very well. And what are you going to do? You can´t get closer to the light because that extreme will poison you. You can´t tolerate that role.” Daybreaker laughed. … “I do!” I closed my eyes for a second and I took a huge breath. “AND I WILL!!!” I shouted and released all my energies for vanishing her with my magic. To anyone´s surprise, Daybreaker closed her and smiled to herself. She accepted the attack instead of opposing it. The answer for that is…. “You know that if you kill me, you accept that you have an evil side. You are accepting the chance of behaving like a corrupted princess and even unsalvageable in moments of pure disharmony. You will never be clean again” Daybreaker affirmed with security. I cried to myself and I knew what path I was taking. I didn´t see anything else, I was running out of patience and I didn´t want to keep this useless diplomacy anymore. She was actually vanishing and becoming a spirit. However, there was something strange in her last words that left me confused for a moment. It was too late before I would control the magic and power to make her disappear but what she said was… “Impressive. I admire that you have taken the right decision and give yourself a chance of how you truly are….may the sun and fire protect your intentions. No pony is free of the neither evil nor goodness, nature doesn´t allow it. Enjoy the darkness in its pure glory my little student….Day…Breaker…good-bye…” she said and she closed her eyes. She patiently waited for her death, almost like she desired it. The room was looking greener somehow… She lost her flames and for a second, she had a blue-green mane, so was her tail while her body was getting smaller and becoming into a spiritual light. I opened up my body and accepted it. I contained her spirit. When it entered into me, I didn´t feel anything until my eyes went fully white. The room became strongly orange again and she wasn´t present… The shining light originated from my body and I felt a strange sense of liberty. Something broke free for such event and I looked around the room. Nothing had changed...save me. In my head, I wore the regalia again and my mane floated in the air more violently than ever. The reflection of that orange color came from my helmet and my body whose rays were hot and powerful. Now that I look at myself, I realize that I am perfectly conscious of my identity; I cannot blame the dark magic anymore. I knew that from Luna. I tried to convince her with that myth but she pursued herself in order to become a better pony with her Nightmare Moon powers in her body. She could have released them at any time but she took it and accepted her. She beat me in this aspect. “What can I do? What can I do?! I am here alone with this intimidating body and I cannot look like this in front of the rest. I have never been a princess like this...” I cried in order to avoid these words, with no illusions around. I took a break and a neuron set up my mind with a different mood. I stopped crying and… “Or have I?” I asked with an evil smile. “If I am lost with this state, the world will burn with me then. If it has to get burned, I won´t always save it….because I never was the God everyone claimed. I was just a product along with my sister” I affirmed. “I will check the rest if it matters to me. For now, I am the only one who I care the most. I am ending this!” I concluded. I went to bed and I gradually lost that orange tone while I was trying to look for some sleep. As I always pretended with Daybreaker, let´s pretend that nothing of this has happened. I had put an evil grin on my face before the dreams started. Was any part of me enjoying this moment? The next day. I woke up even more tired than usual and there was no sign of my modified body. Again, I haven´t resolved at all the railways problem. I decided to call both for an unexpected reunion. I started it in the first hour of the weekend and both appeared again. I was going to make the usual presentations and such rules…in theory, I should have done but: “Good morning, every creature. As you can see, I have reunited both Luna and Grampa Gruff to say that I am able to follow a few resolutions I have and one of them is not doing any railway at all if none of you facilitates me its setup. I am too tired to understand all your arguments. Either you decide one over the other, or we do nothing or I decide whatever I feel like for both parts. I am not going spend more energy and consume myself to this level. I haven´t slept well and I am not in the best mood for it. I leave it that to your own agreements” I said firmly. Both my sister and Grampa Gruff were surprised by my answer, they looked at each other and it seemed like their elitisms were gone. They noticed my behavior and low self-esteem I had because of yesterday. Despite going this way, I left more energies at these words than I would have imagined. I am asking myself if it´s because of… “We understand you, your majesty” Grampa Gruff said. “Yes sister. You´d better get this free weekend for what you want” Luna said. “Fine. Now if you let me, I have personal things to cover” I ended. I left the situation up to them. The railways were going to be built sooner or later but I was leaving a lot to be desired with these red eyes and messy mane. Leaving that topic aside, I understand why Cadence loves to go around during the nights, flying and feeling free with her unrecognizable transformation such as a bat pony. Her boredom and routine drove her to a life full of void besides Flurry Heart. I shouldn´t have put such a dramatic face when I discovered her secret. I emphasize with her and perhaps I should play with fire as well…. And I know that this weekend, I will prove in front of all the dragons the pony who actually dominates the volcanoes… An argument with Luna. I left them there, thinking about a topic that was burning me out. I wasn´t willing to digest all the concerns they had. I think I have acted formally enough for such a bad mood like this one. I feel absolutely destroyed for barely sleeping tonight. I come back to my bedroom and I don´t know if I can accomplish the promise I had made in the reunion. Why would I be dreaming about lava? How did that happen? What part of me attracts me to feel such dangerous move for an average pony? Although it doesn´t feel that strange when someone has to think and consume herself in uneducated creatures that only think about themselves and one has to sacrifice herself for their mistakes. I sometimes wonder if the princess title ends up as worthless in the end. There is barely any power to play while I could have designed a route perfectly if it only depended on me. If it wasn´t because of the rupture between the 3 pony races that leads into chaos, I could carry the torch perfectly and keep this world under my hooves along with Luna. Although my sister doesn´t help. She had been pulling over to one misunderstanding in the past. While it´s true I was Starswirl´s favorite out of the two, she doesn´t hide her desires to the public. Everyone knows about Nightmare Moon but only 4 ponies know about “that dream”. I have kept myself inconspicuous for my own problems yet I cannot hide them whenever they become so palpable. Even when I try to keep my patience, they don´t even say thanks. I still cannot sleep. My mind cannot stop thinking about what has happened last night. At this step, I would be willing to follow its orders and maybe that choice in the end could… Aw, perfect my sister is coming. “Sister?” Luna asked while opening slightly the door. “What do you want, Luna? I am trying to sleep” I said and not with the kindest face I could have shown. “I know but, I have noticed you weird today” she said. “I am perfectly fine, Luna. There is no need to think about that” I said. “Celestia, please. We know each other pretty well and you don´t normally act like this” she affirmed. “Oh really? How cannot I act like that if you are so tiring with the railways?” I said sarcastically. “Look sister. It´s not my fault they feel anxious to have them. I only speak in the name of…” Luna said. “On behalf of whom?” I disrupted her. “Luna, I have seen you arguing like the topic were for your cause and not from the bat ponies. I have had to calm down a lot of tensions this week because of how you emotionally react” I said tired. “But Grampa Gruff is always very possessive as well. I cannot do anything but facing him in his terrain. Did you expect me to fall short?” she affirmed. “He may be unpleasant and we both know it but you didn´t help at all at containing yourself. It´s obvious that you are the minor of the two and you always guide yourself into what you think it´s good for you. That doesn´t work here, sister. Diplomacy isn´t as easy as you think and I always have to work with it patiently” I affirmed. “Are you saying that I am impatient? I may not have the level of yours but you are looking down on me. I would be capable to steer this problem much better than you think” she said. “Look Luna, we have had that elitism back in a couple of moons when we changed our cutie marks and duties. You can defend yourself but I don´t see you resolving tense problems like these. You become really ambitious and you want to go further than you can do and you can´t. You can´t do it.” I answered. “Someone has to end up with a decision even if it´s bad. I don´t see you feeling like doing it. You have been thinking about yourself today and for some reason, you reunited us for nothing. I don´t see that patience you are talking about” Luna responded. Something in me was dying when she questioned my abilities like that. “I have had to waste tons of patience and energies for a topic like this and you go and criticize that I don´t have any. How could you? I thought that you would understand my problems and I feel lonely after hearing this” I said. “You wanted to stay alone today. Go on. Sleep if you want but I prefer resolving this problem by myself for once because I don´t see you very enthusiastic.” my sister said. “If that´s what you are looking for, feel powerful, then. I haven´t had any pleasure these days and nobody says thanks for my efforts. You come here and instead of supporting me, you question my will” I said desperately. “Do you even think that I….?” she was about to ask. “I think that you should leave me alone” I cut her off. “I had to focus not only on those railways but on your ambitions too. You tire me a lot, Luna” I said. “Fine…if that´s what you assume. We´ll have to end to this with or without you” she said. “Equestria hasn´t stopped in a 1000 years, why should it end if you let others to take over you while you are resting?” she asked. “I fear about your actions. If things didn´t rely on me, everything could go terribly bad. Don´t even imagine it when you own sister wants the throne and replace you” I answered. “What?” she asked confused. “I already have a throne. It´s just that…” Luna said. “That you are going to mess it up. I´d rather leave you aside before leaving it on your own completely. You put it really hard with those emotions you show” I affirmed with confidence. “You don´t trust me, uh? Very well, take me like a fool…. Keep thinking like that” Luna said, almost shredding a small tear from her eye. “I would have preferred not having this conversation, now that you are about to cry” I said. “Yeah, I wouldn´t have wanted it either. I am actually a fool for worrying about you today” she said, trying to contain her emotions. “The only thing that you have to worry sister is leaving me alone today” I answered. “This won´t end up like you are saying. Not like this…” Luna left the door with a sad face. She closed the door and I said to myself: “The moon didn´t give any life to us…yet the sun did. I don´t need you, sister” I claimed to myself. There was a great silence when she left. At this moment, I had to begin thinking about what to do all over again, without her on my side. She is probably going to talk to Cadence to comfort her now that she is here in Canterlot. Not only that but she also wants to take over the reign. She believes that´s enough for her. Her power is inferior to mine but she also doesn´t beat me at arguing like I do with different creatures. A primitive species like indoctrinated bat ponies works, but that falls short when I have to handle an entire continent. I try not to keep my head spinning about this topic. However, I don´t know what´s worse. My mind will explode if I don´t do anything. I have to move myself because I feel powerless and I cannot see the light anywhere. At least, I have two days to come up with something. That´s very little time and stress can come back again. All of this without any pleasure for me. The silent escape. I had been thinking during this afternoon, while baking cakes badly because I was too tired to make them great, that maybe I should I test that pleasure that parts of me wants so much. It isn´t easy to take any of these two routes but at least, this is personal and I can resolve it myself, without relying on anypony else. They would suspect that I have left Canterlot without permission but if I fly quickly to the Dragonlands without seeing me and maybe returning tomorrow, I could get away with it. My sister is the one who visits me anyway. My royal guard don´t usually check my room when I am not in charge. Maybe I can afford coming here late if anything happens. I waited for the night to come anxiously. It costs me to breathe a bit because I don´t know completely what will happen over there and I normally hide those fears. I sent the guards to go because I didn´t need them near around. It´s somewhat claustrophobic to me having them all the time but I sent that order to secure the plan. So it went like that. The night finally came and they obeyed what I asked. It feels good that they do it without hesitation. That pattern should happen more often… Everyone was sleeping and even though my eyes are slightly red because of that lack of sleep, I could go out and fly over there without many problems. I left the bed disordered and I used the old bed sheet whenever someone wants to check my room. Not the best trick but at least, that could gain me a bit of precious time if I had enough luck. I closed the curtains and the window with my hooves and I consumed my energies instead in flying fast as soon as I took off so they wouldn´t see me leaving. While the south is not as hostile as it was in the past, Ember doesn´t control all the dragons completely. They live under their own free will and I hope I don´t come across with anyone when I am there. It took me a few hours to arrive at the Dragonlands because of my tired state. I am only driven because of my curiosity and the eagerness of ending everything now. The night should be ending soon and maybe I should raise the sun a bit for concealing the average pattern, even with my little energy left. I will leave it in the natural way. Finally, after so many thoughts in my head, I have arrived to the land of dragons….and volcanoes. This ambient requires an energetic spirit and I am following the contrarian route. I raised the sun as I thought but it dispelled in the middle of the process. It cost me for keeping myself sane in these thoughts and not in what I should do. I left the rest for keeping the flowing mane and tail. I have to keep my normal image if someone sees me. A visit to the Dragonlands. Now I am here in the volcanic crater. There it is the lava in front of my eyes. What surprises me the most is that despite feeling that heat, it´s not as insufferable as I thought? An average pony could withstand this ambient without entering there. I was seeing it fascinated and the interest is killing me. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth for not arriving at the extreme I felt like managing to feel. I have doubts if my body could stand that. I ask myself if maybe a spell for my body could… “Well, well, well. Look at that. A pony who has dared to step into our playground and annoy us again” a pimp dragon said. “Haven´t they taught you that this is our place, white pony? Oh wait, that you are so soft and pastel creatures that you look for the red color of the rainbow over here for you “friendship”, isn´t it?” he continued. They laughed and mocked at me. I turned around my body and the one who was talking to me was Garble and his gang. Twilight had talked to me about them a couple of times. “If you actually knew who you are talking to, you wouldn´t act that way” I responded. “Hey watch out, the white pony is getting furious. How scary and she wants to battle, uh?” he sarcastically said. “You are dealing with the royal princess of Equestria. You hear me?” I affirmed with confidence without blinking. “And what are you doing here, princess? Aren´t you supposed to be dealing with pony stuff? Are you coming for conquering us with your friendship you impose so much?” he asked. “That´s none of your business” I answered. “Very well, as you don´t want to say it in the good way, you´ll have to taste “our welcome”, princess” he answered. They made a circle around me and I didn’t have in my plans to fight. However, I keep my pride and hard image from the outside until the very end. I am feeling tired of all of this, I don´t feel like evading more problems than the ones I have, enough. “Well, princess. Are you going to day it or do you want our welcome?” Garble said. “How about you obey me and leave me alone?” I asked. “We only obey what we want: gems and volcanoes and you are interrupting us. Did you expect something nice like your ponies do?” he said. “I hope you don´t do what you are planning to do” I affirmed. They stopped and thought for a while looking at themselves. They knew ponies can perfectly mess up with them because of their stupidity. “Alright, buddy. We won´t. It´s not that it works that well either. They survive at that” Garble said with certain madness. “I hope so for your own good” I said. “You are lucky that this volcano isn´t the one that we wanted to be today” he said. I made a gesture with my head but I had a suspicious look. They seemed to leave alone and I could return at looking at the lava I was aiming for. Sometimes, looking at it so closely leaves you with the feeling that you could be there and… A legend has been reborn. I received a great tackle on my back. I was placed too near to it and I hadn´t had time to react to such surprise I should have expected if I had been more woken up than this. I entered into the mortal zone. “Didn´t you want orders, princess? We obeyed and there you have them. Ahahaha” Garble laughed with his gang. “Why would we need to waste fire when you were near the lava, fool!” he exclaimed while laughing. I was there, sinking myself into what I wanted…but not in the way I expected. I thought entering in it with a spell so I wouldn´t feel the burns. I was too tired to step into it directly but now, there is no escape. The heat is affecting to my body and that undesirable ending is a big regret. When I closed my eyes and I assumed that this newbie mistake could lead into the bitter end, I only trusted on that life I have had for a thousand years. However, as I considered myself as anypony else, I admit that I am no exception to their rules. Thanks Luna, for wasting my neurons because of your ambitions. I wish you luck with that topic…and with this one because you are going to need it. If I ever saw you again, I would take serious measures with you even though it´s not entirely your fault. You, the snarling griffon and this gang, all of you have carried me into this result. “I doubt you did all of this by accident, my dear” a voice said. “You perfectly knew what you wanted” That voice was coming from somewhere but it sounded closer to my body than coming from the outside…except that magical mirror appeared again, levitating around me. “Look at you” the voice said and that mirror was placed in front of me. “Aren´t you wonderful? Many princesses would desire to have this appearance hahaha” she said. Each time it spoke, I felt how my veins were associating themselves with that heated heart. I was feeling, not hurt but impish. “You know that you love it. You won´t deny that you loved the old hobby that you had for yourself, alone” that voice said, more proper of coming from my mouth than from anyone else. “Finally your visions serve for something right. I am happy that you have given a chance….to the old values” she said. My body was accommodating to the hostile ambient and little by little, I was feeling like that was my own nature. My mane and my tail were blazing but that didn´t bother me at all. My body was receiving all the energies from the heat. My regalia were burning as well but surprisingly, not that it turned to black. They ended up adapting the orange color from the lava. I closed my eyes and I was changing my mood over time, turning that fatigue into a prideful behavior. “You desired coming at this ambient. I think that you deserve me an apology for telling it to you again” I said, adopting those words as if they were mine. I didn´t care the fact that it took my possession. I was about to die but now that I´ve realized about it; this was a part of my identity all the time. Maybe I shouldn´t act innocently and focus on things that actually matter from the beginning. My body gradually caught everything. So vibrant, heated and exciting... the transformation felt complete. I was alive again and I was a part of it. “The phoenix always rises from the ashes. You are not the exception. You only had to find it” I said. “Welcome to the real world again, Daybreaker”. For the first time in a week, I laughed at myself by looking at the mirror. I have found myself. I hadn´t realized that I had to see and check for myself what this beautiful place offers to me. If I haven´t taken part of the problem, then others have led me to do it instead. I like staying here and thinking about the purity and richness this valuable fountain offers. I recovered all my force and I could glow my horn effortlessly. Wave goodbye that disappointing diplomacy and my personal failure. I am here back again and instead of showing my weak forms of dealing my problems...I will use the ancient ones that worked for me! “I have revived…to stay! Now, you will know what happens when you don´t let this princess sleep!” I exclaimed. “And I will teach you one lesson…or two…hahahahaha!” I laughed with the biggest grin I have had in a very, very long time... Author's Note You might have questions about Cadence being a bat pony and that does come from another fic called "The Mare in the Mountain" that is still to be published from other user. In short, she has a second life during the night and has kept a little secret that a few characters know (including Celestia and Luna) but not the Crystal Empire. Her concept/backstory has yet to be perfectly defined but yeah, in this story, she can deploy the bat wings and sharp teeth naturally.
