Celestia looks up at the shining display of colors, a small smile gracing her face as she stares up into the swirling magic. She feels like strength is returning to her exhausted body just by basking in its warmth. She leans her head back, exhaling softly, letting her tired body rest for just a moment. Her pearly coat seems to glow a soft golden color, mane gaining all the colors of the rainbow in response to the pure energy above her.
After a moment of falling, she gently spreads her wings out, angling her body to move into a loose swirl. Looking down, away from the orb of lights, she sees three figures falling from the sky, one of them, a blue and white colored alicorn, was flailing in the air, obviously trying to right herself enough to glide down to a gentle landing.
Celestia was about to glide down and help them when she felt a harsh pull in the magic streams. Snapping her head upwards, she gasps. The orb is now pure white and has raised higher into the air, now above the peak of Canterlot Mountain. Before she can react, a bloodcurdling shriek pierces the air, causing her to stall. In a split second, she felt a huge pulse in the magic streams, large enough to cause a sharp stabbing pain in her forehead where her horn connects, and the orb expands and explodes into a shock wave with a huge cracking sound.
It speeds down Canterlot Mountain, and Celestia watches helplessly as it runs through and past Canterlot, then hits the falling alicorns. She watches as they are thrown, each in a different direction. Then she watches as the shock wave approaches her, the wave catching on her open wings and using the extra surface area to shove her back, hard. She cries out as her wings snap back, a crack sounding though her body.
As she speeds through the sky she raises her hooves, covering her ears to block out the loud noise of air rushing by. Celestia winces as her wings suddenly snap forward, no longer being pushed back by the shock wave. Her horn and wing joints are throbbing. She starts to fall, the shock wave dissipating She opens her eyes slowly, feeling the soft fluff of clouds surrounding her.
Hope brims in her chest as she reaches out to grab onto the clouds, but her eyes grow wide when she just passes right through them. Celestia begins to panic when she leaves the safety of the clouds, then turns around to look at the ground below her. Instead of the earth far below, she sees deep blue waves. Moving her eyes around she looks for Equestria. Eventually, they land on a coastline. Scanning the land above the shoreline, she looks intently for the majestic peak of Canterlot Mountain.
Seeing nothing Celestia studies the land, trying to find out where she had ended up. Everything about this shoreline was identical to Equestria’s western shoreline. From the thick trees of the White Tail Woods to the majestic peak of Mount Evermore silhouetted against the rising sun. She was somewhere over the Northern Lunar Ocean.
Seeing the sunrise, she exhales softly, pausing for a moment to let the sun’s rays wash over her. It does not even cross her mind that if she was not the one raising the sun, it meant that she was considered missing. Feeling her energy returning, Celestia opens her eyes again, once again scanning the western shoreline of her country.
Nodding, she smiles gently, now that she knew where she was, she could figure out a way to get back to Canterlot. Looking down at the ever-approaching ocean, Celestia lights her horn, wincing lightly at the burst of pain that shoots through her head. She creates a cushion of light beneath her, at first trying to stop her fall. Almost immediately, her magic stream snaps, her body not having nearly enough energy to support herself. She would have to resort to creating a cushion to land on.
The water grows closer as she stars to hyperventilate, trying to pull her wings in to her sides to protect them. Instead, pain shoots along her back, causing her to cry out. It takes a few precious seconds for her to recover, and open her eyes, having closed them instinctively. Looking at the water, still a few hundred feet away, she has an idea to help slow her fall.
Slowly, Celestia spreads her wings out, gritting her teeth as her wing joints shudder in pain. Pushing through it she extends them out to their fullest extent, and angles them down to move into a spiral. After a few seconds of her wings supporting her full weight, they go limp, snapping coming from the joints that connect them to Celestia’s back as they break.
All she can do is gasp, falling from the gentle glide back into the plummet. Glancing down she sees the ocean just moments away. Adrenaline courses through her as she starts to panic again, charging her horn up and casting a cushion of light beneath her, right above the water’s surface.
Letting out a scream of desperation Celestia pushes all her remaining energy into her magic, charging it up as much as she physically could. After a second, pain shoots through her horn as her magical stream shatters, throwing her head back and sending her flying further from Equestria.
“NO!” She cries out, voice cracking, tears finally coming to Celestia’s eyes as she reaches her hooves out towards her land. Beginning to sob she curls up into a ball. The force from her magic shattering had sent her into a spin, and she finally slows to a stop looking up into the stunning array of stars above her that were fading into the golden sunrise.
Her sister’s moon is the last thing her eyes land on before her back hits the water, and the waves begin to pull her under. Exhaustion racks her body as she reaches a hoof up towards the surface of the water. “Luna…”
Her vison starts to go dark as a burning sensation fills her chest, her eyes loosely following the air bubbles to the surface. “I’m sorry, sister…”
———
Cold.
Indescribable cold and white-hot agony.
Celestia screams.
