Princess Celestia's POV

I sit on my bed staring out of the window. Pegasi keep the skies clear, allowing me to gaze at the sun. It is maybe an hour until I have to lower it and Lulu has to raise the moon. The time ticking away concerns me, although for a different reason. I have yet to deal with her, and the longer that time passes, the less likely it is for me to win this fight.

The vampire has been a part of my life for more than a thousand years, and I have despised her from the start. Just the simple fact that she was a vampire and not a unicorn means she dishonoured the family name. How Luna fell for such a stallion, I have no idea. Even before I heard the prophecy, I knew that she was trouble, for she looked so similar to both of her parents, and both of them were incredibly skilled at magic. Then I was told that she would bring darkness to my kingdom, and she has done so. Three times. The first two times with Nightmare Moon, which I managed to stop, and now with the Umbrum, which I have not managed to deal with at the present. She has threatened the peace I brought to my kingdom, and that is inexcusable.

Blueblood returned earlier, looking as though he had been through Tartarus. Apparently he had fought, and the guards I sent with him had chosen to stay so that he could flee the Crystal Empire. However, he seemed as though he was holding something back. I have had my suspicions for a while that Lulu has chosen to work with her filthy daughter, but she could become a threat if Blueblood is helping her as well. Two powerful unicorns who rarely use their power and are therefore easy to underestimate, combined with the dark magic of Sombra and the vampire...

I banish the thought. Blueblood, working with King Sombra and her? No, I am panicking. He dislikes vampires just as much as I do. Besides, nopony has done much in this war yet. Perhaps I can fix the issues of the past without the vampire and her little group of friends hurting me. I think it might be time to start sending my little ponies out to protect their home from invasion. To protect their princess. I want my ponies to thrive, but they cannot without me. Should I be unable to look after them, the land will fall. I have protected them for fifteen hundred years, and now they must return the favour.

Somepony who has made this situation slightly better is Lord Tirek, ironically. It was easy to find him, as he left a small trail of destruction in his wake. I followed it like a breadcrumb trail and found him. He was eager to please. Of course, he has only decided to help me for his own selfish reasons, but if he can help me get what I want, I am happy. What do I want? I want to see the vampire and the Umbrum gone. I want to remove all traces of their dark magic. It is unnatural. It doesn't belong. Light must fill a room, and the shadows must not fight back. Yet they do. They seek to claim what they know isn't theirs. I want light to be returned and restored to my kingdom. I want the vampires to retreat to their homes in the caves and forests, never to bother me again. I want the Dreamwalkers to stop tormenting me. I want light.

I'm scared of the dark.

There is a knock at the door. "Come in," I call.

Lulu opens the door and takes a seat next to me. She holds a coin in her magic. "A bit for your thoughts, sister?"

"I don't know what to think," I sigh. There are too many things to think about and it is driving me crazy, though I can't let Lulu know. "I want my kingdom to be happy, and that extends to the Crystal Empire."

"I feel that it is not our business what happens in the Crystal Empire. Let them be. They will not attack us unless we attack them."

"I know, but..." I trail off. I decide to be honest. Honesty is one of the Elements of Harmony. I have to set a good example at some point. Maybe it will change things. "Sister, perhaps it is time for me to admit I have grown used to calling Equestria mine over the last thousand years. I cannot help it. My little ponies are my children, and I care for them deeply. I want them to be safe. I want there to be light in their kingdom, whether that is the light of the sun or the moon. I fear if King Sombra's influence were to spread here, there would only be darkness, and nothing for them to look forward to."

"I understand. I know this pain even more than you do. I have been through it many times myself."

"Don't talk about her." The words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them.

"Am I not allowed to mention my daughter in my own home?" she growls. "I know what she has done, but that doesn't stop me from loving her. Sister, if Twilight Sparkle were to kill somepony, would you put her in Tartarus and never speak to her again?"

"No, but that's different."

"It is exactly the same. I want to see my foal again. I can guide her on the right path, I can-"

"Join her and overthrow me."

"You are full of praises for your only living family," she spits.

"Lulu, you and your daughter have already tried to do exactly that twice. I have put up barriers because I do not trust others. Twilight, my wonderful student, has not yet had that experience of a close friend letting her down. She may think she knows all about harmony, but she doesn't really know about how light and darkness balance each other out. According to ancient law, there has to be both."

"So why are you so concerned about Moonlight and her little bit of darkness?"

I know the answer, though I could never tell anypony. Not just out of pride, but out of fear. Cold hard fear. King Sombra's speciality. He and the vampire could find out at any time with the scrying mirror in their possession - and I thought I had destroyed them all bar my own - but I doubt they would know the right question to ask. They don't know that those mirrors can show more than just glimpses of the past and events in the present. Those things can be used to make prophecies and show a pony their true self. I don't like what I see whenever I ask my own mirror, in the secret tower room where I have made myself a little place to hide from the world. I asked it to predict my future as recently as last week, and it yielded the same result as always. That little bit of darkness is dangerous.

"Sister, what's wrong?" Lulu asks, snapping me out of my trance. She wraps her wing around me.

"Everything. The world is on fire, and I can't control it."

A gold corona surrounds my horn and the sun dips below the horizon. Lulu drags the moon into the sky, then leaves. I find myself in the turret room, stood in front of the mirror. I do not remember walking or teleporting here. I know what I have to say, but the words are stuck in my throat, suffocating me, trying to save me from the pain that is yet to come. Still, I have to know if anything has changed.

"Mirror, show me my fate," I eventually choke out.

I am shown a solar eclipse, and the moon that covers the sun absolutely. To the right, mocking me, is a large bright star. I hear her voice, the vampire's sickly sweet voice. It says things that I don't want to hear, that I have heard enough times already, words that drive daggers into my heart, but I have no way of stopping them. I hear her, and King Sombra, and Nightmare Moon, and other voices, other vampires and monsters in the night, saying what I have always feared. Then the world is on fire, and I can't control it.

I look at the flint and steel in my hooves, and throw them across the room. The vampire is the spark that sets the world on fire, but I can't do anything. Just as Lulu and I are equals, the vampire and I are too.

Fire and shadows. Fire and shadows. I am stuck with the voices in my head. I want to get rid of the fire and the shadows, but they are oddly intertwined in a way that makes no sense, and they lead to darkness. I had hoped that, when she left Canterlot Castle after Lulu returned, that I would never see her. When she returned, I had worried that she would once again try to overthrow me. I told Lulu to convince her not to listen to King Sombra, but of course she did. Or perhaps she listened to destiny. I hope she hasn't realised what hers is yet.

I like my life. I like being Princess Celestia. I like ruling Equestria, and making sure everypony is happy. King Sombra and the vampire don't want everypony to be happy; I am sure that is right. No, they want to hurt those whom they think are below themselves. They only care for themselves - and each other, of course. Their evil has made them grow closer. Perhaps I can use that to break them.

Yes. Love and light can kill an Umbrum. A plan unfolds in my head. Of course, I was always going to have to do this, but if I can capture one of them, I can use that to convince the other to surrender. Perhaps I can still prevent the events the mirror has shown me for over a millennia.

Now all I have to do is coax them in the right direction, and hope that Lord Tirek or one of my other new allies can help me.

There is a loud POP behind me. "Discord," I mutter.

"Right-o, Princess."

"I fear you are one of the only ones able to stop her."

"Yes indeedy."

"Go to the Crystal Empire, and bring her back."

"Alive?"

"It doesn't matter either way."

"Yes, Princess. One thing, though. You can't keep all those secrets to yourself. Luna already knows the entire story. She's visited your nightmares often enough."

"And?"

"I don't know what she plans to do. I doubt she wants it to come true either, but they say these things are written in the stars, and the sweet Princess of the Stars is-"

"She is not a princess."

"She is a princess by blood, Celestia. She could control the stars if she wanted to, write her own fate. But because she doesn't know, she can't make a choice. Maybe if you had told her from the beginning it wouldn't have been a problem."

"Bring her back, Discord, and speak not another word of this. If I need to I will speak to Luna about it, but it is not your place to question me."

"Yes Princess." There is another POP and he disappears, leaving me with my thoughts.

Author's Note

This is a step away from the main story, but still important. I wanted to delve into why Celestia hates Moonlight so much. Things will make sense in a few chapters' time.