Daughter of the moon

Chapters

Prologue: Banishment
The fallen
My interview with the Princesses by Dr Whooves
New World
Flashback: The Truth
Canterlot
Dreams
Courtship and Cults
The Alicorn Pamphlet by Princess Twilight Sparkle
The Date
Celestial Plans and The Wonderbolts

Prologue: Banishment

19 days before Nightmare Moon's banishment

Luna, a dark blue coated alicorn with a star sprinkled flowing mane, was locked in her room. For the last few days, she had been crying and mourning for her husband, who was banished 5 days ago by her own hoof. He had gone too far and was corrupted by the shadows. He almost killed the last pony she held dear to her, all because her sister tried to deny her happiness.

No. There was nothing left for her now. Maybe she should just stay locked in her room. Would anyone notice her absence? Would they celebrate? The wicked Night mare of the Moon is gone. That's what they all want. They don't seem to understand that, although she is an immortal alicorn seen as a goddess, she just wanted love and happiness. Was that so hard?

"I hope you are happy 'Tia. I barely have any happiness left." She said bitterly, tears still flowing, staring at her moon through her window. "I just want something to be happy about, I just want to be loved again. To have my husband back, the way he was before the corruption"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Someone at my door? That is unusual. It could be Pulsar, but she should still be in the hospital She thought as she trotted to the door, and upon opening it, she saw her Royal Doctor.

"Excuse me for the interruption, Your Highness, but we discovered something in your recent examination." He bowed whilst speaking.

"Pray tell, what didst thou discover?" Luna asked

"It seems a congratulations are in order for thee, thou art pregnant. A month into pregnancy as well."

Luna stared, mouth agape, in utter disbelief. She was pregnant. She is going to have a child that would love her. Maybe she could fix her relationship with her sister, now that Celestia will be an aunt.

"Thanketh thee doctor, but may we ask that thou wipe this from the record. We will tell our sister ourselves, and we don't want the nobility to discover this."

"Of course, Your Highness, it will be done." he bowed once again

Luna closed her bedroom door, and then proceeded to jump around squealing like an excited school filly. She also thought she heard a quiet giggle, but dismissed it.
She could finally have something to love her, she could finally have happiness.

Oh how wrong she was.

5 minutes before Nightmare Moon's Banishment

Luna was standing in a room connected to her own, a nursery that was painted with the colors of the night, with stars and the moon on the ceiling. A small blue cot lay adjacent to the back wall, and a desk stood against the left wall, near the door. Upon the desk lay a note with two names.

"Perfect. I can add more decoration later, but I am happy I have two names for the baby." She glanced at the list, which read 'Girl - Twilight Sparkle. Boy - Dusk Shine'

"Now for the hardest part of this day, confronting 'Tia. For too long has she ignored me, I have had enough. I shall not let emotions get the best of me, I cant let that happen, or I will endanger my unborn child. I must stay calm, and confront her. A small display of power will also show her how serious I am. It's a shame it had to come to this" She sighed and set off towards the throne room.

Luna walked onto the Dias where the two thrones sat, one a shiny gold that easily represented the warmth and light of the day, and one black and silver that represented the cold and bitterness of night. She stared at the entrance, and at Celestia, who was speaking with some nobles. The nobles that Celestia spoke to noticed Luna before Celestia did, and had that same look of disgust as she was used too, but something was different this time around. They were staring, not at her face, but her stomach. They knew. Somehow they knew. The doctor must have been unable to wipe the records in time. They were going to treat her child like a monster like they did to her.

Luna felt her rage boiling in her chest. There was only one way to make things right.

"CELESTIA!" She shouted with enough force to make windows shatter. As she did, she stomped her hoof, cracking the stone below.

All the nobles fled. Cowards

"Luna? What's going on? Why did you scare away our company?" Celestia started to walk up to her.

"Not another step! Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?" She glared at Celestia and stomped both hooves and caused the wall behind her to crack and break, crumbling behind her. "There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be me!"

Luna flew up, and raised the moon, eclipsing the sun. Shrouding the land in darkness.

Celestia watched in horror as dark magic formed around her sister, sealing her in an orb of black. Once the orb dissipated, the mare floating there was different. Her coat was as black as the darkest of nights, her eyes looked draconic, her teeth were that of a predators, and she was taller, as tall as Celestia. Luna wore the armor she wore in times of war, except it was now a light blue instead of black. Her flowing mane and tail were rippling, and long, and her wings had changed into a shape Celestia had never seen before. Her laugh sounded crazy and maniacal.

'Luna' shot her magic across the ceiling, destroying it, leaving a wide hole.

"Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty! Do not fall to the shadows like your husband!" Celestia begged.

"Luna? I am... Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!" as she shouted this, she shot a beam of magic towards Celestia, who dodged the magic then flew out through the hole in the roof. "And where do you think you're going?"

Nightmare moon flew up through the hole, and glared at Celestia. She shot more magic towards her, but Celestia once again dodged it. Nightmare Moon watched her sister dive and fly away, and followed. Shooting more magic towards her sister, she began to get annoyed with Celestia dodging every shot.

Does she not care for her ponies that praise her? She is letting me destroy our castle.

After a few more dodges, Celestia was finally hit by magic, causing her to crash back down into the throne room. Nightmare Moon watched with glee and laughed at her sister's fall.

Celestia eventually rose to her hooves, and looked up at Nightmare moon with great sorrow. "Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these." as she spoke, she activated the trap door containing the Elements of Harmony, and floated them all around her. She flew up, facing her sister as the Elements spun around her, making her glow with the power of harmony.

Nightmare Moon was scared, not for herself, but for her unborn child. How could she have been so stupid to let her sister near the elements. Panicking, Nightmare shot a powerful magical beam towards Celestia, but at the same time, a rainbow beam shot out from the Elements. The beams seemed equal at first, but eventually the rainbow beam started overpowering Nightmares beam.

"CELESTIA! PLEASE DONT! IM PREGNAN-" The rainbow beam hit her, and carried her to the moon, banishing her. Leaving a scar on the moon that resembled the head of a mare alicorn.

Celestia stared at the moon with her wide, tear filled eyes. Nightmare Moon's last words sounded too much like Luna. Was it a lie to distract her? Was it a trick? Celestia looked down towards the Lunar tower, where Luna's chambers are. I can get some answers. I really hope it was a last attempt at stopping me.

Flying down to the tower, she landed onto the black and silver balcony, and walked into the room. The room was mainly black, with silver highlights, and the walls and ceiling were decorated with the stars. She stared at the tear stained pillow on Lunas bed, and next to it, a picture of a stallion. How long has she felt like this? how could I not see the signs of her depression.

Celestia looked around for what felt like hours, she found Luna's diary and read some recent entries. The pages had smudges and tear stains, where Luna had been weeping while writing her true feelings. New tears dropped onto the pages. She looked around the room once more, and saw a purple door, one that she didn't remember being there the last time she was in this room. Her heart broke when she went inside. It was a nursery, a night themed nursery. It was true. It wasn't a trick.

Celestia just stared at the room, it was painted by hoof by Luna, she could recognise her sisters art anywhere. Glancing at the desk, she picked up the piece of paper in her magic. Baby names. She already had names.

"Twilight Sparkle. Dusk Shine. Both themed to be between night and day... she believed that this baby could bring us closer. To become a family. But I ended that before it begun. How could I have been so blind." She muttered to herself.

She could've gained a niece, but instead she lost a sister.

Now she is finally gone, we can rule alone Celestia. We can be the Queen

Shut up Daybreaker. Leave me alone

The moon, 2 hours after banishment.

There was only pain, coldness and void. Nightmare's chest felt like it was going to explode. The air in her lungs had expanded due to the low pressure in the moons little atmosphere. It's almost null. Moon dust clung to her coat, but none of this worried her, no, she feared for her child. The moon is no place to have a child, it could not survive. Not unless it is an alicorn, which is almost impossible.

Some mother you turned out to be

Nightmare's ears jerked up as she looked around frantically. "WHO'S THERE?!"

We put our self before our child before it was even born.

"Our child? ah, my weaker self, come to try and take the body back? Well I wont let you."

No Nightmare, just, do what you can to help our child and I wont resist. For our child. I only hope this is the right decision for it.

Nightmare grinned. "Instead of calling it 'The child', how about we find out more than just it's coat color using that nifty little spell you used." Her horn glows a violent teal, and her stomach flashes between blue and pink, before staying on pink "Seems like its a girl. What was that name you chose for a girl?"

Twilight Sparkle

"Now that won't do at all, we need something to link her to the noble house of the moon. Why not add a nice middle name based on a constellation? hmmm Ursa? no. Polaris? nah. none fit."

Andromeda?

"That's not a constellation, but she is special enough to be named after a galaxy"

You know, you don't seem so evil now

"I'M NOT EVIL! I just had a certain alicorn pouring all their hate and sadness into me! I was just here to help you, but you used all that hate to not only twist my mind, but your own too."

Wha....I....

"I grow tired of this conversation." Nightmare laid down on the harsh, rocky land and attempted to sleep.

The fallen

Author's Note

This whole story is being rewritten, in light of the prequel that is being released.

The fallen

1 year before the 1000th summer sun celebration

Princess Cadance is a light pink alicorn with wings that gradient to lavender, a perfectly brushed mane consisting of purple, magenta and a very light yellow. She was surrounded by royal guards, trudging through the wicked, chaotic forest know as 'The Everfree'. Her mission is to collect ancient texts from the ruins of a castle located in the forest.

"How long until we reach the ruins, Captain Armor?"

"We are an hour away, Your Highness." Captain Armor saluted.

"Good, I want to get away from this creepy forest as quick as possible." Cadence shuddered, looking into the dark abyss of forest in front of her. She worried about all the dangerous creatures that use this forest as a hunting ground.

In the distance a wolf howled, causing some of the soldiers to tense up. If they had to fight the creatures of this unnatural forest, they were glad to have an alicorn there with them. They quickly learned the alicorns didn't need their protection, but the public and nobility didn't see that. They felt better knowing their princesses were protected.

The howl got closer, and this time Cadance reacted, looking behind them and squinting. All around them, glowing misty green eyes appeared. They were surrounded. The captain turned to his troops, to see one of them staring up in the sky

"Captain! Unknown object in the sky coming towards the forest!" the soldier shouted

The captain looked into the sky, searching for the unknown object.

"is that? .. METEORITE! TAKE COVER! GET THE PRINCESS TO COVER QUICKLY!"

The small meteorite entered the treeline, destroying and burning the trees.

With a giant explosion, it crashed several metres ahead of the group, the shockwave causing them all to fall backwards, all except Cadance, whose alicorn strength cancelled out the effects of the shockwave on her. She heard a few cracks that sounded like bones and winced.

"You boys ok?" Cadance trotted to where the guards are, checking for any injuries

"Two out cold, some broken limbs. Nothing too serious. We should call for assistance and medics. But the green eyes are still there" The captain reported

A purple blur came out from the crash site, and rays of purple lightning shot past them all, hitting all the green eyes. They heard multiple yelps from the eyes, and they seemed to dissappear.

"I need to see what that was. It may be important" Cadence began to head towards the crash site, but was stopped.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, It is my duty to protect you, so I have to stop you or go with you"

"Very well, Captain, lets go" Cadance sighed

The two walked over to the smoking crater. The captain was unable to see anything due to the smoke. Cadance, however, could and saw what looked like a mare wobbling on her hooves, then collapse on the ground.

"Do you see anything, Your Highness?" He looked over at Cadance, who stood tense, mouth agape and eyes wide

"Captain, send for more medics and an extra escort, Aunt Celestia needs to be contacted right away, say its of the utmost importance and she must be here before the escort."

"Yes, Your highness!" The captain galloped back to the other troops. As the princess flew towards the middle of the crater, staring at the mare that fell to Equus from space, and managed to fight off a pack of timberwolfs using ranged magic with perfect precision through smoke.

"I really hope aunt gets here soon."

Soaring through the air in a hurry, Princess Celestia headed towards the pillar of smoke coming from the Everfree forest. Equus has not seen a meteor crash in hundreds of years, and this one almost hit her niece. That would take a few days for her to be back to her duties

The captain had said something about green eyes and purple magic from the meteorite that fought them off. Her mind ran through many possibilities, each less likely than the last.

After landing near the crash site, Celestia approached Cadance. "Greetings niece, the escort and medics you sent for are almost here."

Cadance stared towards the crater, not saying a word. Celestia waved a hoof in front of Cadance, causing the younger pink alicorn to flinch and look at Celestia.

"S-sorry aunt, but...you need to see it for yourself.."

"Very well, but what could cause you such a reaction?" Celestia Walked over into the crater, then suddenly stopped and stared at the thing that caused the crater and fought off what she now believes were Timberwolves.

It was a lavender alicorn, barely taller than a regular mare, a burnt indigo blue mane and tail with magenta and purple strips towards the middle. She was covered in burns, soot and dirt. Cadance stood next to Celestia.

"I checked for breathing and heartbeat, only found a heartbeat. It's like breathing is not a function she is used to." Cadance looked at Celestia. "Falling from the sky, not used to breathing air. She is definitely from space. But how?"

"I'm not sure, but until we understand her intentions in Equestria, we must restrain her and her magic and take her back to Canterlot untill she awakens." Celestia teleported a magic inhibitor ring, hoof cuffs and a wing brace in front of her.

"I don't think restraining her is a good idea auntie, she will panic if she wakes up chained. I know I would if I woke up in a new place all chained up."

"Very well, we will take her to a guest room in the castle, but we will still place a magic inhibitor on her horn for our safety."

Celestia walked over to the unconscious mare and placed the inhibitor ring on her horn, causing the mare to flinch and twitch.

The medics and escorts arrived for the injured soldiers, and for the mysterious mare.

Twilight ran across the moon's surface, doing her best to avoid the attacks. Each ray of magic hit where she last was every time she dodged. Her horn glowed as she surrounded herself in a magenta barrier to block any more attacks, and faced her attacker ready to fight back. She cast an invisibility spell and a spell to silence her footsteps and snuck up to her opponent. She was about to fire her stun spell when a black hoof hit her horn, cancelling the spells and knocking her to the ground, and hit by a stun spell.

"Close, but you forgot to disable the shield, so I could see where you were the whole time. Why didn't you disable your shield or at least make it kinetic resistant instead of just mana resistant?"

"I forgot. I'm sorry mother, I will do better next time."

"You know I do this to protect you from enemies. If you do not know how to fight and defend yourself, then others can take advantage of that and even though we are immortal and cannot die, we still feel pain. I don't think you would enjoy years of constant torture."

"I understand but can we take a break and do some more stargazing?"

"Sure we can, my little star."

Twilight groaned as she slowly woke up, everywhere hurt. Her limbs, her face, hay even her tail hurt somehow. She opened her eyes, and was blinded by a piercing light above her. "Ugh.." Her eyes adjusted the light and she looked around. Where am I? What is that light? I was supposed to be in that weird place with what mom called 'Trees'

"Ah you are awake. How are you feeling?"

Ok, ok, remember what mom said about addressing ponies, use the royal we. After letting out another groan, she looked at the doctor "Where are we? Are we imprisoned?"

"Calm down, you are in a hospital. A place of healing. Just stay calm and rest, you will have some visitors soon." The doctor walks out the room.

Ok Twilight, remember what mom told you. Breathing should be painful but will eventually come naturally, and will make me seem more normal. Ok now how did she explain it? She took a few minutes but eventually took in a deep breath, and winced in pain due to her underdeveloped lungs. "Ugh, that hurt. Ok mom also told me about food and water." She glanced at the glass of water on the table, and attempted to pick it up with her magic. "My magic isn't working? What? How?"

"Magical inhibitor ring on your horn. Apologies, but we did not know whether you were hostile or not." Twilight turned to look at where the unknown voice came from, to see Celestia and Cadance standing near her bed. Seeing they were alicorns, her eyes went wide and she tried to move, but trying only caused her muscles to burn with pain.

"Calm my little pony, we are not here to hurt you. We only have a few questions for you. Are you willing to answer some?" All Twilight could do is nod, still fearful that they were here to hurt or capture her.

"I was there when you fell, who are you?" The pink alicorn seemed to be genuinely curious.

"We are...Twilight. Who are you?"

"I am Princess Cadance, Alicorn of love"

"And I am Princess Celestia, Alicorn of the Sun" Twilights eyes somehow got wider as she began to panic more

She already found me! She is going to hurt me! What do I do? "N-nice to meet you"

"if you are comfortable, I would like to ask you some questions" Celestia asked

"O-ok" Twilight timidly squeaked

"How are you an alicorn?" Celestia questioned

"Um, w-well I was born an alicorn" answered Twilight..

"Where did you come from?"

"I-I came from... Another dimension..." Twilight lied.

"Interesting, Cadance I want you to look after Twilight. Maybe show her Equestria, since she is not from here." She is lying

"Of course auntie. Ever since you adopted me, I have enjoyed the assignments of looking after ponies." Twilight seemed to get mad when hearing this, letting out a little growl

"Something the matter Twilight?"

"I.. Was once a niece, and my aunty was very... Abusive... And the way you spoke to eachother just brought back memories of... her. I apologise"

"Oh, that sounds terrible! I'm sorry you had to go through something like that!" Cadance seemed to generally care, unlike Celestia who seemed suspicious of Twilight

"Yes, terrible. Would you care to tell us about your dimension?" Celestia asked

"B-blank... Desolate... Cold and uncaring, no air, food or water. For the last 900 years its just been me and mother"

"How old are you?" Celestia asked, even more suspicious

"I am 998 years old. Mom said the lack of air, gravity, food, water and other things made me grow really slow." Celestia seemed to ponder the answers, then nodded but still looked suspicious.

"Rest now Twilight, you have been through a lot, we will talk more later. Cadance, stay here to keep her company." Celestia and her guards walked out of the room, leaving Twilight and Cadance alone. Twilight groaned again and practiced breathing, wincing with every breath. Cadance watched her, sitting down on a chair next to the bed. After hours, Twilight finally got used to breathing, and picked up the glass of water with her hooves expertly, as if she was an earth pony and takes a sip.

"Can I get something to eat? it's been a few hundred years." Cadance nodded and went out the room for a few seconds then came back in and sat down again.

"A garden salad will be here for you soon." Twilight looked up at her horn and at the inhibitor ring. She rolled her eyes and tried to take it off with her hooves.

"You can't take it off unless someone with the right authority takes it off." Twilight thought for a bit, then proceeded to snap her horn off her head, breaking it apart and making the ring fall off. Cadance just stared with wide eyes at what she just saw.

"Relax, it's fine, we are alicorns, our body just fixes itself. You should know this. Hah, your face there, cute" Cadance looks away blushing at being called cute.

"I look older than you, you can't call me cute" Cadance countered.

"Yeah you keep telling yourself that cutie" Cadance just rolls her eyes

"You are the flirty, manipulative type aren't you"

"Mayyyybeee. Why? Is it working?"

"Nope"

"Fuck"

"Watch your language"

Celestia didn't believe the whole 'other dimension' story. It was too outlandish. Twilight had made two mistakes, using her real name, and that look of anger and jealousy when she revealed Cadance as her adopted niece. It was obvious who she really was, but was it really possible? Could luna have given birth to an alicorn?

Given how Sombra was when Twilight was theoretically conceived, means that some of the dark magic Sombra used to ascend himself could have help in the creation of the first naturally born alicorn. There hasn't been any alicorns that aren't related before Sombra. So there has never been two alicorns mating before.

Sombra was the odd one out back then. If her theory on Twilight is true, then the odd one out right now is...

"Cadance" she whispered, finishing her thought

Celestia paced in her chambers. Her plans won't work. Twilights cutie mark is magic. But also stars. I am the alicorn of the sun, Luna is the alicorn of the moon. Cadance is now the alicorn of love. But Twilight. She has the symbol of magic, but also stars as her cutie mark. Is she the alicorn of magic? The alicorn of the stars? Maybe both. But I know one thing. She must wield the Element of magic.

"Ok new plan. I can't get her to use the elements against her own mother, if my theory is correct. But how can I stop Nightmare Moon? Maybe Twilight can help us change Nightmare's mind? Maybe we can convince her to be good?" Celestia continued pacing. Maybe I can try and get closer to her, and get her to trust me. Then she can convince Nightmare to change. If not, I have my old armor and sword. And the crown of day break. That is the last resort.

Celestia left for the infirmary and peaked through Twilights door once she arrived. Cadance and Twilight were Talking about Equestria, with Cadance trying to make sure Twilight knew everything about it. Hmmm a hint of flirting going on. Maybe I can use this. If a relationship were to happen between them two, my plans can work. She knocked then walked into the room.

"Twilight, your room has been prepared and you are allowed to leave here once you are able to walk. Cadance take her to the astronomy tower. That's where she will be staying."

Cadance nodded. Twilight actually looked excited.

"I love stargazing! I always stay up all night watching the stars" Twilight exclaimed

"Interesting, I assume you must be a nocturnal alicorn then" Celestia noted

"Um, yeah. Is that... Bad?" Twilight worriedly asked, still obviously nervous around Celestia.

"I knew a nocturnal alicorn once. She did some things that had to be punished" Twilight frowned, but Celestia noted the anger in her eyes. "But I'm sure you won't cause the trouble she did. Right, niece?"

Twilight looked a bit panicked for a second, until she noticed Celestia looked at Cadance while saying that.

"Oh you knew another alicorn? Was it your parents?" Cadance innocently asked

Celestia noticed the look of disbelief and anger Twilight was making. She couldn't help but smirk a little Gotcha.

"No, It was my sister. Unfortunately, I was blind to how my subjects treated her. The loss of her husband was her last straw and succumbed to the darkness" Celestia looked at Twilight "She only told me about her pregnancy once it was too late. For almost a thousand years, I have felt guilty, because I thought I had doomed Luna's child, but now I don't think I did"

"What do you mean, auntie?" Cadance asked, very confused.

"I will give you a chance to tell the truth, Twilight"

Twilight looked at Celestia, then Cadance. Celestia saw fear, but also intelligence in her eyes. She was calculating different options. Most ponies wouldn't pick up on much when looking into a ponies eyes, Celestia wasn't most ponies. Twilight was either calculating escape routes, or a lie. If it was escape routes, then she is out of luck. The room is surrounded by an anti-teleport field.

Just because Cadance didn't want to use restraints, doesn't mean she was going to put up precautions. There are no open windows, all sealed. The door is the only exit but the corridor is full of guards. The only thing Twilight can do now is try to lie or accept the situation and tell the truth.

Celestia honestly did not expect what happened next.

Twilight burst into tears. Shouting apologies to both of them. She told them all about how Nightmare moon had tried and trained her to be an adept warrior and an even better spy. How ruthless and abusive she was, and how she enjoyed the times when the real Luna had control, which was a rare occurrence.

Cadance, of course, calmed Twilight down. She had always been so good at that, whether it be friend or foe.

"Very well. The doctors expect a few more days here for you, and I'm sure Cadance will be here for most of that time. I have a council session to attend"

"Okay auntie, have a good night" Cadance bid farewell to Celestia.

Celestia regally trotted to the throne room, where she had called an emergency council meeting. There was already many rumours after the 'meteor' almost 'killed' Cadance and her guards. Some thought it was the griffins somehow. Some, like the ones who saw Twilight, believe that a new alicorn was born. Some even think its Celestia's child that had been hidden for years, and failed at an escape attempt.

Some things her ponies come up with really are outlandish and odd. Like that time she was seen eating a whole cake to herself and ponies thought she was a changeling since apparently a Princess would never. In her defense, she didn't have anything to eat that morning, and the cake was just left out.

Walking into the chaotic throne room snapped her out of her memories. All the council members were shouting at one another, like usual. What she didn't expect was a bunch of nobles also in the throne room. She didn't call them, just the council. They probably just thought that they were so important that they were entitled to join.

Celestia noticed that Captain Armor was there too, standing next to Blueblood and fancypants. Obviously, Prince Blueblood had decided to make Shining Armor his security detail for today.

Shining Armor and Fancypants. I wonder if Shining Armor ever thinks of your... 'Private training sessions' with him everytime he sees you. And I wonder if Fancypants does the same with your 'Private night meetings' with him

Stupid thoughts. Stupid Daybreaker. There is a reason she tried putting Daybreaker in that crown. If only she hadn't failed, but at leady there is no chance of becoming Daybreaker fully unless she puts on that crown.

"Calm down, my little ponies!" Celestia sat down on her throne. "I have called you here today to discuss the meteorite that hit the Everfree forest. There has been a lot of rumors and scandals that I am very aware about"

Almost all of the ponies in the room asked several questions at once. She held up her hoof and the room went silent again.

"I will start by telling you a story from a thousand years ago. As many of you know, there is a law that's been in place since I was made Princess of Equestria that states the land of Equestria is to be a diarchy if there are Two alicorns that are fit to be the regents of night and day" Celestia begun, and heard some gasps from the ponies who never knew such a law existed.

"Equestria was a diarchy from when this law was created, to almost a thousand years ago. I was Regent of the day, and my sister, Princess Luna was Regent of the night. It was our duties to raise and lower the sun and moon. Throughout the years, Luna started to be hated by ponies, even though every war they made, she led the armies to victory. Eventually, she became distant and locked away because of how our ponies treated her. I was not a very good sister back then, and ignored her pleas for help. Eventually this led to her embracing darkness and turning into a wicked mare of darkness. You all know her name to be Nightmare moon"

This time, the whole room gasped, Except for Fancypants. A few families told this story through generations, in case she ever returned. His family must be one of them.

"Some of you may be wondering why I am telling you this instead of addressing the meteorite. It is because they two parts of the same story. The last few years before Luna fell to the darkness, she found love. Eventually they married, but once again, my mistakes led the king down a dark path. That was when the war of the crystal empire happened. A month before the war ended, Luna was kidnapped by the Shadow King. He forced her to bare him an heir. She was only gone a few days before she was rescued, but that was all it took. As I was banishing her, she told me the news that she was with child. It was unfortunatly too late, and I thought the child lost" Celestia continued, each pony in the room watching her and listening, reacting to each part of the story.

"At least, I thought the child was lost, until she fell to Equus in a ball of fire. I thought it was impossible for a natural born alicorn, but Luna had once again proven me to be wrong. So now, The daughter of Princess Luna is in Equestria for the first time. We need to decide what to do with her"

Celestia looked around at all the ponies in the room who had looks of shock and disbelief on their faces.

"Excuse me, Your Highness" Fancypants spoke up "But can you tell us what she is an alicorn of? You are the alicorn of the sun, Cadance is the alicorn of love, so she must have a role, right?"

"Yes, while I'm still unsure, my current theory is she is the alicorn of magic and stars"

The crowd once again gasped

"Two? How fascinating. I believe, that since she is the alicorn of the stars, that she should become the Regent of the night!" Fancypants proposed.

The rest of the council seemed conflicted about this.

"But we do not know her intentions" one council pony said.

"She could be working for Nightmare moon!" said another.

"Princess, but may I ask what makes an alicorn fit to be a regent?" Fancypants asked

"Well, the main criteria is an affinity for either day or night" Celestia responded

"So she fits the main criteria. It is the smartest decision that she be named Equestria's newest Diarch"

"It's true! And it's within the law!" another council pony shouted

"She must be trained and made diarch" Another shouted.

Nopony saw Fancypants nod and wink at the Council ponies who agreed.

"Then we must put it to a vote"

Twilight stared at the ceiling, bored out of her mind. Cadance went to go talk with Celestia an hour ago. It was unfair, she felt fine. Perfectly healthy yet they still want her to stay another day. They could at least give her a book or something, she needed to learn the history of Equestria from when her mother was banished to now.

"It's only a thousand years of history, it's going to take days" Twilight groaned. "It would help if I could GET SOME HISTORY BOOKS TO START!"

She sighed. She wasn't going to get anypony's attention. She was 90% sure the room was soundproofed, either that or the doctors weren't very good at keeping their patients entertained.

"Where are other patients? At least on the moon I had mother to talk to, and moon rocks to play with. Here I have a water holder" Twilight complained

"I believe that's called a cup, Twilight" Cadance said as she walked in

"Finally, your back from talking to sunbu- oh hi Celestia"

"Hello, Twilight. I heard from the doctors that you are getting quite restless here" Celestia chuckled "You are so much like your mother in that regard"

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. "Nightmare always used to say 'You are so much like your other mother' to many different things. I'm bored of hearing it. Anyway, we need to talk Celestia. Alone"

"There are many ponies who wish to talk with me about many important things, so it will be a while before we can unfortunately" Celestia sighed

"That's fine. I guess I will wait for the break of day" Twilight watched Celestia carefully.

Celestia tensed up and stared at Twilight, who looked smug.

"Cadance, I need to talk to Twilight alone please. Thank you"

"But-" She stopped talking when Celestia glared at her. She left quickly without another word.

"Hmmmm an interesting reaction to a simple phrase" Twilight mused

Celestia appeared what seemes to be a blade of sunlight and pointed it at Twilight

"Tell me what you know" she demanded

"Hah! You did name it! With such a cool name as well. Ugh why did mine choose midni-" she stopped speaking, feeling Celestia's blade against her throat.

"Tell me!"

"OK, fine. Mother has a 'Dark side'. I have a 'Dark side'. Mother said that your parents had 'Dark sides' and that she was glad they weren't alicorns. I just put two and two together. The name was a total guess between Daybreaker, Nightmare Sun and Sunburner. Glad it wasn't the last two" Twilight rambled

"So, what your saying is it's genetic?"

"Yeppers... Is A word I'm never using again. No idea what I was thinking there. Anyway, it's amplified tenfold by being an alicorn" Twilight explained. "At least thats my theory"

"Should I be worried about your... Dark side?" Celestia cautiously asked

"Oh 100%! She's crazy! Absolutely loony. Heh loony, I wonder if anyone has called mom Loony Luna" She burst out into a fit of giggles

"This is not like the Twilight I was speaking to yesterday. You are too... Rambly"

"Correctamundo. Adding that word to the 'never saying again' list. Nice to meet ya, Names Midnight Sparkle! I know, so creative right? Heyy can I borrow that cool looking sword? The doctors didn't give me any books so I wanna chop them to little pieces!"

"No. You won't be killing any ponies" Celestia sternly said

"Ugh how boring. Nevermind. I'm guessing you want Twilight back, right?" Midight asked and Celestia nodded. "Fine, it's boring here anyhow. See ya!"

Celestia watched as what was supposed to be white in Twilights eyes changed from a greeny blue color back to white, and her pupils got bigger.

"Oh, where did Cadance go? Um why do you have a sword?" Twilight asked.

Celestia put away her sword.

"Apologies, I just had a conversation with.. Ahem.. Midnight Sparkle"

Twilight frowned

"Did she kill anyone?" she looked around and was relieved to see no blood on the walls or floor.

"I suggest you find a way to control or be rid of your dark side. She is definitely worse than Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker"

"I plan to, when I figure out how" Twilight affirmed.

"How often does she take control?" Celestia inquired.

"she very rarely does. She only has five times now throughout my life"

"Good. Tonight you are free to leave the hospital and go to your temporary chambers in the astronomy tower. You have been voted as the new Lunar regent by the council, so you will get a room next to mine"

Twilight stared at Celestia, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Lunar regent? But that's mother's position! Why am I getting it?! Why would they vote me to become a leader of the nation when I've only been here three days! Its crazy!" Twilight sputtered

"I told them the story of Luna and Nightmare Moon, and they decided" Celestia said.

"This is highly unrealistic, they don't know me yet they make me their ruler. This is like a story made by a foal or something! And they all voted for this? Great. Just great"

Twilight sighed and stared at the ceiling again. The soon-to-be Lunar regent couldn't begin to fathom why the concil of Equestria had decided on such an imbecilic decision. Celestia left her to think, and Cadance came back twenty minutes after she had left and sat by Twilight's side.

"Three days and you already co-rule the nation. That's got to be a new record or something" Cadance said.

Twilight hummed in agreement but stared at the ceiling still. She pointed to certain sections of the ceiling and said the names of constellations.

She was going to be forced into a position of power that, to be fair, she probably just inherited. Maybe she could accomplish her true goal so much easier now.

It can't be that hard to overthrow Celestia if she was her equal in power. She just has to make sure Equestria loves her more than Celestia, and make her feel as her mother felt all those years ago.

Totally easy.

My interview with the Princesses by Dr Whooves

Our leader, Princess Celestia, has been ruler for as long as anypony can remember. Her Royal Highness has publicly spoken about how old she really is, but the important question is: how?

The answer can be found by simply asking the right Princess. Each section will be about the Princesses answering a very popular question about alicorns.

Chapter 1: How do alicorns live so long?

There are many different theories to this question, here are some examples:

They are Gods that have come to rule over us mortals.

They are manifestations of the Celestial bodies and systems they represent.

The amount of magic they have grants them millennia of life.

I sat down with Princess Celestia and, more recently, Princess Twilight to talk about this question.

Princess Celestia told me that they were all partly true, each answer coming together to make a while truth. She didn't go into much details. Princess Twilight, however, had a very clear answer for us.

"Alicorns are like demi-gods, except it's not purely biological. Apart from me, every alicorn in existence has had to ascend. Celestia ascended when she raised the sun for the first time, therefore discovering her destiny. So it's linked to destiny. The magic level of an alicorn factors into our long life, and as far as I'm aware, it grows as we do. Lastly, we are connected to our Celestial bodies and systems. If the sun were to supernova and die, then I expect Celestia to start to weaken and die a few years after" - Princess Twilight Sparkle.

This answers our question about their long life. It's all to do with their magic and its source. They are immortal as long as their source lives.

Chapter 2: Do alicorns need sleep, food and water?

Once again, Princess Celestia was pretty cryptic about this, but Princess Twilight happily answered truthfully.

"I spent over 900 years on the moon without air, food or water. I survived, yes, but it severely impacted my growth and lungs. If I had all those things on the moon, my size would be taller than Cadance, but still a little bit smaller than Celestia" - Princess Twilight Sparkle

We asked her about sleep and whether Alicorns needed it, and once again she happily gave an answer.

"Yes, we do require sleep. We only need it for our body when it requires healing. I can go a few days without sleeping, until I pass out. We do not get any common symptoms of insomnia. The real reason we have to sleep is because of our mind, it requires rest or It won't work properly, just like anyponies"

I commend Princess Twilight on her clear and straightforward answers.

Chapter 3: Why do alicorns run Equestria?

I managed to speak to all three princesses on this one, and all three actually gave three very different answers.

"As Solar Regent, I believe it is the council and the public that keep us in charge, running the nation. It's the smartest decision, as we have the most experience and can run a nation for thousands and thousands of years" - Princess Celestia

"I've only been on Equus for a few weeks, and I believe that it's the most logical way. If Equestria had a monarchy or diarchy with an earth pony, unicorn or Pegasus, then every few decades there would be a fight for the crown. In the past, there was a monarchy composed of unicorns, and because of this there was a war between the three tribes. Alicorns represent the harmony between all tribes" - Princess Twilight Sparkle

"The laws say that an Alicorn has to sit upon the throne, but I'd like to personally believe that it's because we live for so long that ponies have recognized that we can take care of them and their future generations" - Princess Cadance

All these answers are all very informative, and the biggest reveal is that they rule so that we can live in peace.

Chapter 4: Are there any other alicorns out there?

This was an interesting question, and it had an unusual affect on Princess Celestia.

"No" - Princess Celestia

"Look up into the night sky, look at all those stars. Each star is either bigger or smaller than our sun, and have many different planets orbiting them. There could be more alicorns out there, ruling their own kingdoms on their own world, but we may never know. There are only four known alicorns. Turn your gaze to the moon, and look at the mare in the moon. That is a mark of a powerful banishment spell. My mother is on that moon, waiting for the day she can come back. Her name is Princess Luna, and once I find a way to rid her of the darkness that corrupts her, we can all be a happy family again" - Princess Twilight

So while it's unknown how many alicorns are out in the universe, it's safe to say that there is only four as Princess Twilight said.

Chapter 5: Can alicorns be killed?

This had an interesting effect on Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance , and their answers were very vague. Princess Twilight answered truthfully once again, but unfortunately could not reveal everything.

"I do not intend to answer at this time" - Princess Celestia

"I cannot answer this question, I'm sorry" - Princess Cadance

"Now this is an interesting question, and I can't quite answer it fully, but I can tell you some. Alicorns can bleed and be torn apart, yes, however it doesn't kill us. Any time we are hurt enough that it would kill a normal pony, we fall unconscious. The greater the wound, the longer we will be unconscious. We can regrow limbs, and worst case, regrow our whole bodies from our Celestial bodies. There has been records of ponies being able to kill an alicorn in the past though" - Princess Twilight

Chapter 6: Conclusion

After interviewing all the alicorns, it's safe to say that there is definitely more we can learn about their species, but that it will stay a secret for a long time.

Now we know that alicorns cannot be killed, but still can be injured momentarily. We know they live a very long time, possibly till the end of time. And we know how many there are.

Thank you for reading my guide to alicorns. - Dr Whooves

New World

Twilight sat in the corner of an aisle in the castle library, reading a book about modern magic. She enjoyed this, just her alone, reading a book in the peace and quiet. No Aunt to question her or drive her crazy. No nobles to annoy her, and no ponies to ask for something from her.

She kind of wished Cadance was here to keep her company. She always enjoyed spending time with Cadance, no matter how many times Twilight explained that she has be aromantic for her whole life and the fact she is now around ponies probably won't change that.

She had no interest in any ponies Cadance made her meet. She had no interest in any of the nobility or council. She just doesn't see herself being with anypony that would just die in a few decades. Just doesn't seem worth it.

Looking around on the bookcase shelves, she saw a book on love and relationships. I guess it wouldn't hurt to research it.

She grabbed the book with her telekinesis and put the book on modern magic back in its place on the shelf. She sat back down in her little book fort she created, and started to read 'Love and relationships' by Amore.

Twilight read the book for hours, absorbing information about how the many different types of love works, and how relationships are beneficial to happiness.

She didn't understand what all the different 'courting' methods are, or why someone would do some grand gesture just to possibly get rejected. It's just not efficient. Surely it's easier just to go up to them and ask rather than buy chocolates or flowers or something.

Twilight read through a section about romance, and things started to make a little sense to her. She continued to read through the book, determined to finish it quickly.

"Well, what is that you are reading?" a familiar voice asked

She groaned and looked up to see Cadance standing in front of her smirking. Of course she was going to tease about it. Twilight cursed her ability to get lost in a book.

"A book I found" she answered.

"Found out anything interesting?"

"Well, apparently Love and relationships are good for happiness, but I don't understand why somepony would go through so much trouble to ask" Twilight rolled her eyes "Just ask rather than get chocolates or flowers or something"

Cadance gasped and looked at Twilight, looking slightly offended

"Romance is a big part of it all, Twilight! Romance is how you woo a pony! Romance with your special somepony can lead to a happy life with that pony! It says it all in the romance chapter of the book!"

"I haven't read much of that chapter. I understand these gestures are for manipulating ponies. For example" Twilight materialised some romantic chocolates in her magic and looked Cadance in the eyes. "Dear Cadance, I brought these flowers to show how much I love you, and I would like to go on a date with you soon. I hope you feel the same way"

Twilight continued staring into Cadances eyes, and she noticed the pink alicorn blush slightly. She elected to ignore it, it was probably just because she didn't expect the example.

"See? And if you loved me and accepted, I would then have power over you and manipulate you into doing things for me to prove your love" Twilight explained.

Twilight opened the box of chocolates she materialised and ate one. She watched Cadance quickly grab a book in her magic and hold it in front of her face, pretending to read.

"Want one?" Twilight asked, holding up the heart shaped box of chocolates to Cadance.

She took one quickly and thanked Twilight, then went back to the book.

Cadance continued to hold a book to her face, trying to hide her blush that was almost gone. After an hour, she heard quiet, cute snoring. She looked at Twilight, and saw the lavender mare asleep, with a book on her face.

Right, it's midday and she is nocturnal, not to mention she hasn't been to sleep for a few days

She picked Twilight up with her magic, carefully to not disturb her. Twilight flinched when she was surrounded by Cadance's magic and her magic failed, dropping Twilight on the floor, luckily not waking her up.

Weird, she must have stopped my telekinesis, but why did she flinch.

Twilight twitched and mumbled something. Cadance thought she heard something about Nightmare Moon, so maybe Twilight was having dreams of her time on the moon.

Celestia had said that this might happen, and the best thing to do is try and comfort her while she sleeps. It sounded like she has experienced dealing with someone with abuse trauma before, or at least knew someone who had dealt with it before.

Cadance followed Celestia's instructions and laid down close to Twilight, therefore allowing the sleeping mare to seek comfort if she needs it. She still felt like she was taking advantage of Twilight by doing this, but she trusted her auntie.

Twilight subconsciously moved and cuddled up next to the larger warm body next to her, causing Cadance to blush again.

Cadance looked at the book Twilight was reading, and checked what page she was on.

Chapter 13: crushes. She almost finished it. Good to know someone likes my book.

Cadance decided to read the chapter Twilight was on. Crushes are always tricky. You can have one or multiple, and it might be a misunderstanding of your own feelings, and just be love for a friend. I remember writing this. I was young. Hmm common symptoms with crushes. Ha, I was so young, I wrote symptoms like its a disease or something. I bet I got some of this wrong too, let's see. Accelerated heart rate when close to your crush, very common blushing, attempting to make eye contact more often, always trying to be closer and a feeling of nervousness around your crush. It's true, these are the most common ones.

Cadance looked at Twilight sleeping, and smiled. She quickly noted her raising heart rate and heat in her face, and frowned. Why was she leaning against Twilight and when did she put a wing around her?

Cadance quickly checked around to see if anypony had seen, and saw nopony. She released the breath she wasn't aware she was holding and looked back at Twilight.

I'm sure it will be fine to stay like this. She won't be asleep long, it's just a quick nap, I'm sure. I don't have a crush on her, surely there is another explanation for it. Unless there isnt and I do. Crap.

"It's been three weeks, Your Highness, you can't keep delaying it!" Fancypants argued

"I know I can't, but in order for it to be perfect, it needs to wait another few days! Planning a coronation takes a while!" Celestia retorted

Fancypants sighed and facehoofed. He has been trying to make the coronation of Twilight Sparkle to happen since the vote passed to make her Lunar Regent three weeks ago. Celestia was a bit suspicious about how eager he was, maybe he wants to get her under the influence of the nobles?

They have no idea how intelligent her niece really is, no idea how well versed in politics she is. She could almost rival Celestia in it and running a nation. She has spent the last three weeks studying it and modern history too.

Twilight wouldn't tell Celestia where she learned to be so good at politics . Luna certainly was not that good, so it stands to reason that Nightmare Moon wouldn't either. She couldn't be that good due to the studying, so where could she have learned it?

"I have decided that the coronation will be in two days time. Twilight will be informed and, should she accept, will be prepared for the ceremony" Celestia announced.

After the council meeting had ended, Celestia searched the castle for Twilight. She didn't have to search very long however, as Celestia knew Twilight's routine. She wakes up, if she has decided to sleep that day, spends all her time in the library, then goes back to bed in the morning.

She went to the library first, since she has found Twilight there many times before. The head librarian bowed as she entered the library, and pointed towards an aisle in the library. Celestia nodded and peaked into the aisle and saw Twilight and Cadance cuddled up, both asleep.

Surely they aren't together already? It's been three weeks, that's too fast.

She coughed into her hoof loudly, waking Cadance up but not Twilight. Cadance instantly became very red and stared at her with wide eyes, as if she was a filly caught doing something she shouldn't.

"I will say, I know you are the Princess of love, but don't you think that dating someone you met three weeks ago is a bit fast?" Celestia remarked.

Cadance's face somehow got redder, and she sputtered gibberish trying to answer. Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at the pink alicorns expense.

"Well tell your girlfriend, when she wakes up, that she is being coronated Lunar Regent and diarch of Equestria by the council in two days" Celestia calmly said.

"We aren't together!" Cadance finally managed to say, just a bit too loud. "She flinched when I tried to pick her up with telekinesis and started to have a nightmare so I did what you told me to!"

"Ah. Shame you two would make a great couple. Just, tell her the news when she wakes up. I have things I need to do" Celestia stated and walked out of the room, but not before she heard Cadance whisper 'I know we would'.

She felt bad trying to push them together so fast, even though it will bring them happiness. She told herself it's for the greater good, and that if they marry a month before Nightmare Moon's return, Equestria won't have to deal with a possible team up between the Changelings and Nightmare Moon.

Ever since she intercepted a message from Chrysalis, she knew that she had to do something. So a royal wedding that also is the Alicorn of loves wedding is the perfect bait for the changeling Queen.

Two months to get Twilight and Cadance together, and then eight months after that to marry them. Everything should work out just fine. By her calculations, this path shall lead to the defeat of Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, and Daybreaker.

Twilight and Cadance are the key to everything. The pieces are set. Her and her family will suffer, and so may some other ponies. But that is a better option compared to the destruction of Equestria.

After Twilight becomes the Lunar Regent, Celestia will spar with her, to test how well trained she is, and see how easily she can beat an older alicorn.

She turned a corner, deep in her thoughts, untill she bumped muzzle first into an old doorway. She stared at it, and began to feel sadness, pain and regret.

"I forgot I had it moved here after the fight..." She whispered. "It's been so long..."

She opened the door, and crept in. The small room was dusty and full of cobwebs, all the walls were dull and grey, paint all faded over the decades. The air was stale and the stench horrible, rat corpses lay on the floor, mostly skeletal. It was mostly empty, aside from two objects.

A statue and a mirror.

In the ground below the statue and mirror, there were two plaques. Celestia cleared off the dust from the plaques, and read the one below the statue.

"Selena Pulsar" she whispered.

She looked at the statue of a filly, around the age of 15, with a messy military cut mane, smiling and looking up into the sky. Of course, she wouldn't be that happy, forced to smile alone in solitude for almost a thousand years, trapped in stone.

Celestia then read the plaque in front of the mirror.

"Sunset Shimmer"

This mirror was special. It was a gateway to another universe, one where even Celestia dare not enter. Her old student went through it after a fight with her sister, and she never returned. Eventually Celestia lost all hope of her student returning, and stored the mirror next to Pulsar's statue, in memory of the two sisters. She looked back at the statue.

"Pulsar. I don't know if you can hear this, or if you are even conscious and aware. I hope you aren't, I really hope you have just slept through it all. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. There has been a few more siblings that represent night and day, and every single time they fight and die tragically. They are calling it the Curse of the Eclipse" She sighed. "You two were so happy with each other until the feud with my sister drove you two apart. Maybe one day you can forgive me, if you are ever free"

Celestia walked to the door.

"Maybe if you come back and forgive me, so can she, and we can all start over and be happy. One big happy family untill the end of time"

She left and closed the door, not noticing the statue shed a tear.

"Stop fidgeting!" Cadance chastised, pulling the eye shadow away before it went on something other than Twilight's eyelids.

"I can't help it! Why do I need this stuff anyway, it feels weird!" Twilight complained

"You need to look your best for the coronation, that means makeup, and since the Royal dressmaker and makeup artist is running late, I have to try!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked at the dress on the manakin. It was a mix of magenta, yellow and white fabrics, with gold hoof boots similar to Celestias. On another manakin, there were more hoof boots, but silver and with magenta gems on them, and a silver peytral with a magenta gem in the shape of her cutie mark in the middle of it.

The door burst open and a white mare hurried in, carrying a few bags in her magic. Her mane and tail were of a violet hue, and both brushed to look fancy and curled.

"Terribly sorry I'm late, darlings. Some friends and family are hard to get rid of when you are in a rush. I'm Rarity, the Royal Dressmaker and makeup artist" She bowed quickly, then went over to the dress.

"Hello Rarity, I'm trying to get Twilight here to stop fidgeting while adding her makeup" Cadance explained.

"Hmmm. I don't think she needs it. She has a natural beauty, and brilliant complexion. However did you manage such a complexion, Your Majesty? I must try it" Rarity pleaded

"998 years of no air and moon dust" Twilight stated. "No air would kill you, Moon dust is poisonous, and you won't live for 998 years. I wouldn't recommend it"

Rarity stopped and stared at Twilight.

"So the rumours are true? You really are Nightmare Moon's daughter. Sweetie Belle isn't going to believe this"

Twilight sighed and looked out a window, watching the night sky. It made her feel safe and calm, her and her mother's night sky. Always so peaceful and serene, the world lit up in moonlight, the perfect chill in the air.

She closed her eyes as an abnormal, yet surprisingly pleasant warmth flow around her neck and body.

She eventually opened her eyes looked away from the window and saw Cadance and Rarity staring at her, looking at her as if she grew another head.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, your mane and tail, they... Are like Celestia's" Cadance gawked.

"Oh, maybe my growth is finally catching up with my age now that I have air and food and water. That's good. I wonder how tall I will be?" Twilight calmly mused.

Twilight shook out of her thoughts and teleported the dress perfectly onto her self, then used telekinesis to hover the boots over to her hooves and slipped them on.

"I think it's time. How do I look?" Twilight asked as she turned to see Rarity still staring at her, mouth slightly open, and Cadance also staring at her, face red but mouth closed.

She rolled her eyes and trotted out the room. She didn't really care how she looked, but knew it was probably important for an event like this.

Eventually, Twilight made it to where Celestia was waiting, ready to pronounce her the newest Princess of Equestria and new Lunar Regent.

Maybe I should rename it to Stellar Regent, unless Celestia allows me to raise and lower the Moon too. It would make sense.

She waited for Celestia to finish her speech. She didn't really concentrate on the speech, just concentrated enough to know when to walk out and accept the tiara.

She is probably just saying something like 'I am very proud of my niece, and I really do wish my sister, her mother, was here to witness such an event.

Celestia gestured her hoof back and stepped to the side.

Right, that's my cue. I got a little surprise for everypony here. Even though I think it's completely useless and probably just a formality, I'm going to make this the most remembered event this year.

As Twilight walked onto the balcony, the stars in the sky started to glow even brighter.

"Twilight Sparkle, I hereby name you a Princess of Equestria, and the nation's newest Lunar Regent!"

Celestia lowered a silver tiara with her cutie mark onto her head, and as soon as it was on, the sky burst out in many different colors, and was full of nebuli and galaxies. Ponies across the nation will know that this was the night Twilight Sparkle became their newest ruler.

This was the night where she outshined Celestia and her Sun. Where the night was loved more than the day.

And oh did it make Twilight smile.

Celestia walked past yet more of her staff talking about last night's coronation. It annoyed her to no end.

Just because it was all flashy and colorful doesn't mean it was amazing. It wasn't functional at all. The day brings warmth and light into the hearts of all ponies. The night is cold and bitter.

Bring the sun close, show them all the Fury of the sun!

Celestia rolled her eyes. Of course Daybreaker would try and use this newfound jealousy to try and take control.

She needed to let off some steam, but what could she do? She could eat cake till the day ends, but where would she get it all.

Maybe you can duel Twilight in the arena

Now, Celestia knew it was stupid to listen to Daybreaker, but that did sound like a very good idea. It's a safe way to let off steam since she wouldn't be able to kill Twilight.

Celestia teleported to outside Twilight's bedroom door and knocked. After a while, a tired Twilight answered the door.

"Mm what do you want Celestia, it's like, midday. I'm tired"

"I want to have a duel. To see what you've been taught and possibly teach you some more if necessary of course" Celestia lied.

Twilight raised an eyebrow then sighed.

"Fine. Give me a second" Twilight responded as she closed the door.

After a few minutes, Twilight left her room and they both silently walked down to the arena, which was full of Royal Guards training. All the guards stopped and bowed to the Princesses and the captain came up to them.

"Good afternoon, Your Highnesses, what brings you to the arena?" Captain Armor asked.

"We are here to duel, Captain Armor. We will need the court cleared, but you and your men can stay and watch if you so wish" Celestia offered.

Captain Armor nodded and barked orders at the guards, telling them to move off the field. Twilight watched all the guards move towards the viewing platforms quickly, doing their best to stay in form.

"So, you want to duel to see how well trained I am?" Twilight asked, sounding very unamused.

"Yes, it is required to see which one of us would lead our ponies into war should one ever happen" Celestia explained.

"Right. So what are the rules?"

"Only one. If you are rendered unconscious by a fatal blow, you lose"

Twilight nodded and yawned.

Twilight knew this duel wasn't to do with what excuses Celestia said. It was all to do with Twilight's coronation and how it was the talk of the nation.

She wants to win to prove she is better than me. She is jealous. Well, I'm not going to let her win. 998 years on the moon because of her. No happy family because of her.

She sat down at the end of the arena, and on the opposite end, Celestia did the same. All the seats in the arena were filled with spectators, guards and civilians. It seems news of this duel travelled quick and made it a public event.

The captain started a countdown. She was about to fight the pony her mother lost to, and the pony who made her whole life torture. Celestia is to blame for everything that has happened to her. Celestia is to blame for her not growing correctly.

The countdown ended and the duel had begun.

Celestia moved fast, closing ground between the two.

Twilight just sat watching the enemy run towards her.

Celestia's horn burned bright, and a sword made of fiery sunlight formed on front of her.

Twilight yawned.

Celestia swung, the blade ready to cut Twilight in half, and the heat enough to cauterize and singe.

Twilight summoned her starlight blade and blocked Celestia's attack within a fraction of a second. She quickly punched Celestia in the chest, causing her to slide halfway down the field.

Celestia's blade dissappeared, and her horn dimmed. With a flash, her horn brightened slightly, and a burst of magic sped towards Twilight, and she took a single step to the left to dodge. She didn't attack, she waited for the perfect time to take Celestia down in three moves. All it would take is three simple moves, and she would be able to go back to sleep.

Celestia charged again, this time taking off into the air, reappearing her sword, and slamming it down onto Twilight. She blocked it and yawned, taunting Celestia. Her taunt worked.

Celestia fumed, her horn burned white hot. She raised her horn to the sky as the ground began to tremble, a beam of roaring flames shot down from the sun, and it was aimed straight for Twilight.

It hit, erupting the arena in smoke and flames, and the whole crowd gasped. After the flames had cleared, Twilight still stood there, smoking a little.

"Ow, I think I got a small sunburn" Twilight calmly joked.

Celestia looked shocked and angry. Her eyes were different, the whites of her eyes had turned black and her pupils were a yellowy orange color.

Guess its time for my moves. I hope the infirmary knows how to dispell dark mind magic.

Twilight teleported to Celestia, faster than a blink of an eye, only a loud crack! and a bright flash signified her teleport. She swung her sword, forcing Celestia to block as quick as possible, both swords locked in a bind.

Move one.

Twilight looked into Celestia's eyes and cast the mind control spell. The whites of her eyes went green, her pupil turned red, and a purple mist flowed out of her eyes.

"Lower the sun" She commanded.

Celestia's eyes slowly turned green with the purple mist flowing out. She obeyed, lowering the sun, and Twilight raised the Moon and stars.

Move Two

A few stars began to dye themselves red, before plummeting to the crust of Equus, slamming into Celestia head on.

Move three

Twilight dashed through the smoke, and swung her sword again. This time, instead of the sound of blades clashing together, there was only the sound of a blade tearing through flesh.

The smoke eventually cleared, and Celestia lay on the floor, unconscious, and in two separate pieces.

"We have a winner!" The captain called.

There were no cheers, or applause. Just gasps and mumbling.

Twilight yawned again, and left the field. She told a guard to come and get her if the doctors can't undo the dark magic, then walked back to her room. She saw Cadance outside Celestia's room, knocking.

Probably hasn't heard about the duel.

"Cadance. What do you need?" Twilight asked.

Cadance looked at Twilight, and instantly gasped and rushed over to her

"Oh my gosh, what happened!? Why do you have blood on you and why do you look so roughed up?" Cadance exclaimed

"Oh, Celestia challanged me to a duel and I won in Three moves. Did you not see the sky?"

"Auntie challanged you to a duel? Why? Are you hurt?" Cadance worriedly asked

"I'm fine. Celestia is currently in two pieces and under the effect of dark magic. You should probably go check on her. I'm going to bed" Twilight yawned again

"Wait, um, do you want some company?" Cadance asked, face going a bit red

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her.

"To my bed? What are suggesting, hmm?"

"No! Wait I wasn't! No I didn't mean it like-" Cadance sighed "Have a good sleep"

Cadance walked away and Twilight swore she heard Cadance call herself stupid. She shrugged and went to her room, ready for some sleep.

"Greetings, daughter. I trust everything is fine?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"Yes. Celestia just wanted to duel me. Now she will think twice before wanting to fight me again" Twilight said.

Nightmare Moon wrapped a wing around Twilight. Twilight leaned into it and smiled.

"They believe you are the source of my trauma. Blaming you again, like always"

"At least if they think that, they won't know the truth. They can't know. I have ponies currently putting plans in place to remove Celestia from the throne temporarily. If all goes to plan, Daybreaker and the true Nightmare Moon will be gone forever" Nightmare moon stated.

Twilight looked at her mother to see Luna sitting there with her wing around her back. She smiled, and Luna smiled back.

All they want is to be a happy family, but they can't until Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker are gone.

"I've seen that other alicorns dreams, you know" Luna said, smirking

"You mean Cadance? I bet she dreams of that Captain, wouldn't surprise me"

"Oh if only that was true. She dreams of a relationship with someone you know though"

"Oh? Who?" Twilight asked, very curious.

Luna looked at her daughter and smiled again, then winked and pointed a hoof at her. Twilights face went a bit red, and she was very surprised.

"Me? No. You're lying. Really? Me?"

"Yes, I've unfortunately walked in on some very naughty dreams too" Luna chuckled

Twilight got even more red and flustered

"Wha..buh...I...uhh" Twilight spluttered.

"Looks like you return those feelings, judging by your reaction. I have one condition, if you two get together I want grandkids!" Luna proclaimed

Twilight groaned and covered her face with her hooves. She was so embarrassed, even if it was just her and her mother there.

If it's true and Cadance does like me, then maybe it could work? Maybe. Celestia probably wouldn't allow it though.

Or would she?

Flashback: The Truth

19 days before Nightmare Moon's banishment

Pulsar, a black coated Pegasus, sighed and looked up at the moon from the cloud she was laying on. Her red and black military cut mane and tail danced about in the wind. Her abnormally large wings that gradient from black to red were splayed out on the cloud, feathers rustling slightly in the cool air.

The war was over, and she could finally relax despite her healing injury. She had just been released from the castles hospital. Being general of the army of Equestria and being 15 was difficult, but thanks to all the training and being Princess Luna's student, she managed it.

The moon and starlight filled her red, draconic eyes. She sighed contently once again, and thought back to the good times with her mentor. Soon her thoughts went back to a day ago, where she and Luna had a major fight.

I should probably go apologise. I said some pretty hurtful things. Like I said to my parents before.. No.. Don't think about that. That or sister... I have no family, and she offered to adopt me and be given one. I was stupid and angry, so I declined the offer. But having a new family sounds... Good.

Pulsar sat up, and looked at the castle. She knew what she needed to do. Luckily, those lessons with Sombra allowed her to be the first Night Pegasus to master shadow magic. All she needed to do was travel through the shadows and she could be in Luna's chambers and apologise.

Embracing the shadow around her, she seemingly dissappeared. Travelling through the shadows was easy for her, and soon she found herself in Luna's chambers, still hidden in the shadows.

Luna was crying, and staring at the moon through her window.

"I hope you're happy, 'Tia. I barely have any happiness left" she heard Luna say, and the bitterness in her voice was clear.

Pulsar's ears went back. Of course she would blame Celestia, rightfully so too. It's all be Celestia's fault. Sombra's fall, Sunset's dissappearance, Luna's pain and depression. It's all her fault

"I just want something to be happy about, I just want to be loved again. To have my husband back, the way he was before the corruption" Luna wept

Pulsar was about to reveal herself and try and comfort her mentor, but she was stopped by a loud knock at the door.

When Luna went to go answer the door, Pulsar came out from the shadows and laid down on Luna's bed. She watched Luna talk to someone at the door, and wondered who it could be. She couldn't help but giggle when Luna shut the door and started jumping around squealing in excitement like an excited filly.

"What's got you so excited?" Pulsar asked, making Luna jump and turn towards her.

"Pulsar?! You're supposed to be in hospital! Did you run away again?" Luna accused

"I got told to leave by the doctor. I came to say sorry, for what I said... I shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me...you were just worried about me. I almost died, and you wanted to make me something I don't feel I am worthy of. I didn't think about the family aspect" Pulsar apologized.

"It's OK. I pushed you too hard, I understand that changing genetics sounds scary and weird, but it's perfectly safe, and the offer is still on the table"

"Right. I accept it then. I want to be your daughter, I think we both need happiness after everything, but I do have a question, if that's OK? " Pulsar inquired.

Luna hummed in agreement, nodded, and gestured for her to continue, and Pulsar shuffled a bit on her hooves and felt a bit nervous to ask.

"I'm.. Not going to grow a horn because of this... Right?"

"No. This won't make you into an alicorn, don't worry" Luna divulged "You look relieved, do you not want to be an alicorn?"

"No. I don't. No offense but I would be so uncomfortable with a horn. Plus I'd have to learn magic and we both know who is the best at teaching that. No, I'm happy with just my wings" Pulsar said as she flapped her wings a little.

"That's understandable. Are you ready for the spell?" Luna asked and Pulsar nodded. "This won't hurt one bit, but it may feel a bit weird. And remember that you will no longer be related to your parents or your sister"

Pulsar closed her eyes and nodded again. She was ready, she didn't care for her parents when they were alive, as they didn't care for her. She also knew that her sister wasn't coming back.

She felt a tingling sensation all over her body, and it tickled a bit. She couldn't help but giggle at the feeling. Even if it was unbecoming of a military general, she was still a filly and in front of her soon-to-be mother.

Her coat started to change color, the black turning into a very dark blue similar to Luna's coat, but her wings and hooves still faded to red at the ends. Other than her coat, nothing else changed.

"It's done. You can open your eyes now, Daughter"

She opened her eyes, and Luna had placed a mirror in front of her. She looked at the changes, and hummed in approval.

"The blue fits the red more than the black did. Thank you, Lu-.. Mom"

"I unfortunately have a meeting I'm being forced to attend to, but we can spend some time together later if you are not opposed?" Luna asked.

"I'd love to. I think Dissy wants to talk to me anyway, it's been a while since I've spoken to him" Pulsar happily said.

Luna squinted and looked out the window into the gardens.

"I still don't trust him, I feel like he is up to something" Luna accused

"He's trapped in stone, he can't do anything bad. We just talk" Pulsar defended.

Luna sighed and nodded. Pulsar knew that Discord was an old enemy of Luna's, but he was actually pretty sweet and funny once you get to know him. At least, that's what Pulsar thought anyway.

Pulsar left the room and glided down to the gardens from the balcony. As she got closer to Discord's statue, she thought she heard him singing something about wrapping up winter until he stopped.

Ah, little miss moon has come to visit me, and after so long too. Have you finally come to keep a lonely draconequis company?

"It's been two weeks, Discord" Pulsar rolled her eyes "I was fighting a war, and I got impaled in the stomach on some nasty black crystals"

Yes, the war, plenty of chaos to enjoy there. I suppose a congratulations is in order, Little miss moon. Perhaps this story should be called Daughters of the moon now instead.

"What? What story?" Pulsar asked, very confused.

Don't you worry about that, little miss moon

"You've called me that for years. Did you know this was going to happen? That Luna would become my mother?"

Of course I did. Everypony did.

Pulsar sighed and looked up at the sky, feeling a pleasant chill through her coat. She heard the training of new troops in the field, heard every grunt and every groan of pain.

A loud Clang! filled her ears, and when she opened her eyes, she was suddenly in the war again. She panicked and started hyperventilating, watching ponies fight and die, seeing all those dead bodies littering the floor. Those cold green eyes, in every enemy soldier. She wasn't armed, she had no protection, how could she defend herself.

PULSAR! hey! Snap out of it!

Pulsar shook her head, and she was suddenly back in the garden facing Discords statue, sweating and hyperventilating.

"I... I'm sorry... I don't... Know what happened" Pulsar quickly apologized

How many battles were you in? What did you go through?

"Dissy, you aren't acting chaotic or joking around, you sound serious. I don't like it.."

As much as I hate to admit it, our friendship has grown on me. This is a very serious matter, and until now I didn't know I could be so serious. Now tell me how many?

"I was on the front lines.. Most days from when the war started to the last day of it" Pulsar answered honestly.

Dr Discord is your new therapist. Now, it says here you have childhood trauma from your abusive parents and from war. Is this correct?

"I-... I guess.. Yeah"

Then let the mental healing begin!

"Ugh, stupid day-walking idiot. Why should I be denied food just because I'm a little different. I fought in that war so that they wouldn't become slaves, yet I'm blamed for the reason it started" Pulsar complained, walking towards the castle away from the main streets of Everfree city

She hated being out in the day, but she needed to get some things for the nursery Luna was building, plus she wanted to try and get something to eat.

Once she got to the castle, she could get something to eat without being thrown out, and she could bring all these small decorations to Luna.

She had enjoyed the last few weeks as Luna's daughter. She eventually noticed, after they were forced to announce it to the public, that it made ponies hate her more. Sure, they feared her because she was the General of the nation's army, and maybe they have heard tales from the battlefield, but that didn't stop them from denying her entry to most places.

Of course, it never truly mattered anyway, because spending time with a mother who actually loves her is the best part of her day.

Once she got close to the castle, she noticed a large crowd forming in front of the gates. She thought maybe Celestia was making a short speech or walking near the gates, but she quickly started rushing towards the gates when the Moon rose to cover the Sun and many ponies ran out of the main area.

The crowd wouldn't let her through. She decided that she could come back for the decorations later if they were still there. Taking off into the sky, she darted towards the castle throne room.

She almost made it past the gate, until a Pegasus Guard tackled her. Before she could even comprehend what had happened, she heard a sharp clash, and the next thing she knew, she was back in the war and back in that dreaded battle.

She hadn't had an episode in a week, but when she did, they were quite violent. When the visions had ended, she was pretty surprised to see the guard beaten on the ground.

More guards rushed up to her, demanding answers.

"What do you think you are doing?! Fucking night walking psychopath!" one guard angrily yelled, checking the beaten guard for a pulse.

"I...I'm sorry... I just had... The clash started visions of war..." Pulsar tried to explain before a spear tip was pressed against her neck.

"You are under arrest for the assault of a Royal Gua-"

Two alicorns in the heat of battle passed them, causing a building near them to explode. The guard stared for a little bit, then looked back at Pulsar. Another guard whispered in his ear, and suddenly paled and looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"T-terribly sorry, Princess Pulsar" The guard apologised, while Pulsar rolled her eyes at being called 'Princess'. She was pretty sure she declined that offer, but all the guards told the newbies otherwise as a prank. "but you are going to have to come with us for questioning"

Pulsar sighed and nodded. This was not the first time they had done this, but it was the first time they had so many guards escorting her.

The sky suddenly lit up, colors of the rainbow cutting through the darkness, and she heard that familliar scream, along with a beg.

That was Luna's scream. Her mother was in danger, she had to act fast. She sank into the shadows, completely dissappearing and flew up to where she heard the scream. There was nothing there, but the moon had changed, it had the mark of what seemed to be in the shape of a unicorns head.

Looking around, she saw what looked like Celestia heading towards Luna's chambers. She needed answers, and she needed to where her mother was.

Gliding down to the balcony connected to the Lunar tower, she hoped Luna was OK. When she saw Celestia crying on Luna's bed looking at a recent picture of Pulsar and her mother, she held her breath.

Why would Celestia cry over the picture like that? Didn't ponies usually do that with lost loved ones? Does that mean Luna is dead?

All these questions and more filled her head, making her grow more anxious and worried.

"Where is mom?" She asked, walking in from the balcony and emerging from the shadows

Celestia jumped a little, and looked over at her. The look Celestia gave her didn't seem right. Was it regret? Sympathy? Pity? Maybe even blame?

"Where is mom, aunt Celestia?" Pulsar asked again "I heard her screaming"

"She... Rebelled and gave into the darkness like her husband... I was forced to use the elements and... Banish her to the moon" Celestia choked out

Pulsar's heart dropped. Her mother was Trapped on the moon? She gave into the darkness?

No. No mom wouldn't do that. Celestia must be lying.

"Tell me the truth! Why did you take mom away from me?! Bring her back!"

Celestia looked down at the floor, and Pulsar saw tears. She was furious.

In Pulsar's eyes, Celestia had taken away her last true family, her last true friend, and using the excuse that she held fell to the darkness.

She didnt accept that.

She took off out of the balcony door and flew a good distance away, and channeled some lightning. Luna had taught her how to stun an alicorn using lightning, and was told how much energy It would drain.

She promised to only use it as a last resort.

The lightning surging around her wings turned black, arching between her feathers. She darted towards the tower again, eyes aiming at the still target.

She struck her target, and all the lightning banded together in one giant bolt and hit Celestia with a Crack! followed by a loud Shack-Boom!.

Celestia was thrown back, colliding with the door that was ripped to pieces, and hit the wall with a loud bone snapping crack.

Pulsar's wings smoked, feathers singed and some even on fire. She charged at Celestia, who had yet to recover from the previous attack, and kept punching her till Celestia's face was beaten and bloody.

Eventually guards came and tackled Pulsar, subduing her. Celestia was taken away to the infirmary while Pulsar was thrown into the dungeon.

She had once again let her anger get the best of her, and it has once again caused others pain. She remembered the pain of being the reason her sister banished herself, and Celestia was going through that pain now too. She should have tried to help, rather than attack.

What had she done

Celestia sat on her throne, ready for the court session of the last family member she has. Pulsar, being a military General, was granted immunity to the assault of the guard. Unfortunately, she does not get immunity from assaulting Celestia, because she declined the offer of being crowned a princess.

Celestia, being the victim, was legally not allowed to pass judgement or overrule anything the court decides. She truly hoped they would go easy on her new niece. She didn't think she could bear losing her whole family within the space of two weeks.

Court was now in session, and Celestia watched as the judge called the accused into the courtroom. She had to hold in a gasp when the guards pulled Pulsar into the room.

Her ribcage was visible through her skin, her coat thin and patched, with many bald spots. Her mane and tail were rough and tangled, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her wings had holes in them, as if she had been hung on hooks through them.

She looks like she hadn't eaten since before she was arrested. Did the guards really hate her that much that they would do this to a filly who is only 15 because of her link to the night?

She began to wonder if everything Luna had said about them hating her and the night was true. If it was true, how could she had been so blind to it?

"Selena Pulsar, you are accused of assaulting royalty, and the attempted assassination of Princess Celestia of Equestria. How do you plea?" the judge asked

Celestia saw Pulsar's mouth move, but nothing but a croak came out. She had been so dehydrated that she was unable to speak, she can't even defend herself.

"Very well. The jury has come to a decision, and decided on a sentence"

Community service and some jail time is the best case sinario. Execution is the worst. Come on, please take mercy on somepony who isn't even considered a mare

"The jury has decided guilty, your honor" a stallion from the jury spoke up

"Very well, and the sentence?" the judge inquired

"We have decided to sentence the accused to petrification"

Celestia didn't hold in the gasp this time, and apparently neither could some of the ponies in the court room that were not in the jury.

No. Not that. They can't, I thought I stopped that? That's a fate worse then death, and only used for those who threaten reality or serial killers. It would never be used for the assault charge or the attempted assassination charge.

It was now obvious to Celestia that Luna was right. The judge and jury have been against Pulsar since before she even stepped in the court room. That's why the jury took almost no time to come to a conclusion, they already had before.

Celestia tried her best to brainstorm any possible opportunities or loopholes to stop this madness, but she couldn't.

There was nothing she could do.

Unless.

I may not be able to stop the sentence, or stop Pulsar being turned into a statue, but I can damn well do my best to allow Pulsar to come back when Luna does. Maybe I can add something to the spell, make it a little less permanent. Maybe a weakness to Lunar and stellar magic? So when Luna comes back, she can free her daughter.

Celestia watched Pulsar get pulled away out of the room. She is going to command the guard to give Pulsar any food or drink she wants for her last meal, and she is going to make she she gets it.

Walking out of the court room, Celestia ordered the guard to do just that, then she decided to have a little word with the judge. He would not like where this conversation leads, not one bit, but him and his jury just rid her of another family member.

"Judge Honor, may I speak with you in private?" Celestia asked, masking her emotions.

She bought the judge to her private dining room, and sat down where some tea was waiting for her. She took a few sips, watching Judge Honor take a seat himself.

"Did you want to speak about the Selena court case?" Judge Honor asked

"Yes. I noticed that the sentence didn't really fit the crime. Tell me, why was she given such an extreme sentence?"

"She tried to kill you! She assaulted you for no reason! She is getting what she deserves!"

"Do you want to know why she attacked me?" She waited for the judge to nod to continue. "I had just banished her mother. The only good mother she has ever had. Her original mother and father beat her and treated her horribly because of her race. It's come to my attention that my subjects seem to think it's ok to treat that specific race of pony poorly. I will be putting a stop to this. Back to the point, she was angry at me, her aunt, for banishing her mother, but because of her race, you and the guards have twisted it to be an attempted assassination against me while I was unable to say otherwise. I may not be able to stop her fate, but rest assured I will be ending this racism. You may leave now, Solicitor Honor"

Celestia watched him leave and sighed, sipping her tea once again. She needs to be ready for the petrification ceremony in an hour. She can make the best of this. She had to try.

An hour later, she stood at the base of a block of stone waiting with some guard mages ready to perform the ceremony. Some more guards walked around a corner holding chains, and soon after them, the filly the chains were wrapped around.

Celestia noticed she looked like she had eaten and drank something, and that her mane and tail were brushed and her coat was regrow with magic. Celestia did the best she could for the filly's supposed last moments.

The four unicorn guards used their magic to place Pulsar onto the stone block, and froze her body to make it easier to manipulate the body and make the statue look happy.

They put Pulsar in a position staring up at the sky, a smile on her face. The mare looked joyful, but her eyes showed terror and depression. It made Celestia sick at how the unicorns seemed to enjoy doing it. They were eventually ready to start the petrification spell.

Sounds of muffled screaming filled the air, as Pulsar tried to scream but her locked muzzle blocked too much sound from coming out. Some tears appeared in the filly's eyes, but were quickly evaporated away due to the strong magic being shot at her body.

Soon, Pulsar's back legs and tail were rock, and the screams grew louder as Pulsar's mouth opened a tiny bit. The process was going so much slower than usual, and the unicorns seemed to be getting joy out of this.

How many of her subjects have fallen under the illusion that Night-walkers were inferior?

"When it's done, bring the statue to the mirror room. I will deal with it later" Celestia said, unable to witness the process anymore.

The guard she addressed nodded, and she went to leave, but not before whispering an apology to Pulsar. The filly looked so scared behind those eyes. Why couldn't they see that all Pulsar was is a scared filly who had lost her family.

She wanted to go to her chambers and cry for days on end. She was close to breaking down when she heard her subjects cheer about how Luna and her student were now gone.

She had failed this nation. She had failed her family.

This was all her fault

537 Years after the petrification of Pulsar

Pulsar just stared into the abyss like she had for however long it had been since her imprisonment. She knew she spent a few years crying, and a few years in anger.

She knew she was all alone, and didn't know where she was. She had no hope, no happiness. She could see into the world if she tried really hard, but she only did that if Celestia was visiting.

Her last visit was a long time ago, and she was forced to stare at that stupid mirror if she looked out.

"Pulsar?" a voice distantly called

Was Celestia visiting again finally? Maybe somepony different? Was Luna going to turn up and save her?

"Pulsar!" the voice called, sounding a little closer

She recognized that voice, but she could quite put her hoof on it. It was male, sounded quite unique, and it wasn't coming from the world outside.

"Pulsar!"

"Dissy?" Pulsar choked

The draconequis in question faded into view next to her.

"Finally, took over 500 years to get through" Discord remarked

"Dissy, how are you here? Why are you here? Are you free? Can I be free?" Pulsar bombarded him with questions

"Calm down, little miss moon, I have managed to create a mental path between us, so that we can keep each other company till we are both free" Discord explained

"I... I don't have to be alone?.."

"No. Not anymore. I am here for you, my one and only dear friend"

"Thank you, Dissy. Thank you for not being chaotic and joking around when I need you to help me. Thank you for taking our friendship seriously"

"Of course, Little miss Moon. Anything for you"

Author's Note

If you enjoyed this chapter, go check out the prequel.

It is set before and during the war that is mentioned in this chapter.

It is also the reason I am rewriting this story.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/521861/the-shadow-the-student-and-the-moon

Canterlot

Twilight was somehow more bored than she had been on the moon. That statement seems impossible, yet somehow it was true.

"Ugh, so much paperwork that is just stupid nobility trying to suck up to me and gain things. Do they think I am so weak minded?" Twilight complained to herself

Not to mention she has to run the Solar court for the next few days, as well as the Lunar court. Her duties didn't seem to end, not to mention she was grumpy, although she didn't know why she felt grumpy because Cadance was on a mission.

She sighed and signed another document, yet another stallion from the nobility trying to ask permission to marry Cadance. The amount of marriage proposals both Cadance and Celestia get is ridiculous. I'm so glad I don't get any of those. Oh, nevermind

She stared down at a marriage proposal from a high ranking pegasus guard called Flash Sentry. She swore she recognized that name, but decided it wasn't worth her time and rejected the proposal with a red stamp. Always say no, they just want something for themselves. I'm not interested in marrying anypony unless it's Cadan-

Where had that thought come from? She told herself she wouldn't entertain this little crush of hers. She knew Cadance probably wasn't interested, despite what her mother claimed.

"Pff, dreams about me. I doubt it. Probably just a one off thing" She assured herself

"Oh, you have someone dreaming about you? Do tell"

Twilight jumped as the familiar voice spoke.

"Cadance? I thought you were on a mission? Why are you back so early?" Twilight questioned

Cadance chuckled a bit and got closer to her.

"Yes, well, it turns out the griffins made a false report. Paranoid creatures" She joked.

Twilight grumbled. She remembered what her mother said about the griffins. They were violent, warmongering creatures. Apparently they enjoyed eating ponies, and other meats. Being honest, she wouldn't mind trying some meat.

"Soooo who do you think is dreaming about you?" Cadance teased

Twilight glanced into Cadance's eyes then looked down at the floor, feeling her face heat up.

"Uhhhh ohwouldyoulookatthetimecourtisabouttostartitwasnicetalkingtoyoubyeeee" Twilight quickly said as she walked out the room as fast as she could.

Wow. That was the most cowardly thing I've ever done. Hope I didn't upset her, I just panicked

Twilight kept on thinking about Cadance and made her way to the throne room. Why did she feel this way? Why did she have to be so useless? The biggest questions Twilight asked herself almost made her steps falter.

Am I evil? Am I the villain? Do I even deserve an amazing pony like Cadance?

She knew what the answers to those questions were, but she tried her best to maybe convince herself otherwise.

Yes. Yes. No.

She felt hollow, she just felt wrong. She felt worthless, unloved, even hated. She hated how she was around her mother, and around Celestia. She hated how she was when she was alone. She hates her stupid wings, and her stupid ugly face, and her stupid hair.

She hated herself, no, she loathed herself.

Guess I wouldn't be a good villain without self loathing

After a while she realised that she was standing at the door to the throne room, with guards nervously watching her. Ever since a lot of the guards saw her beat Celestia, she was feared by them.

Sighing, Twilight walked into the throne room and sat on the throne. All the ponies in there stared at her, as if she was a filly in the wrong place.

"Good afternoon, Princess Twilight, may I ask why you are here rather than Princess Celestia?" One noble mare asked

"Celestia is in the infirmary injured. I believe they have her in one piece again but they might be struggling with the dark mind control magic" Twilight explained, sounding bored.

The crowd gasped at hearing the news that their beloved Princess was injured.

Fucking solar hoof-lickers. Probably going to ask who did it and if they have been brought to justice. I might actually enjoy the looks on their faces when they find out who did it

"We demand that the pony responsible for hurting Princess Celestia be punished!" one voice called

"Will you punish them yourselves?" Twilight asked

"Anything for Princess Celestia" another called

"Well, go ahead and punish them. She is sitting on the throne right in front of you. Celestia challenged me to a duel and I won after three moves. I don't care what else you have to say about this, I declare solar court to begin!"

A few ponies stepped up, fighting over the classic case of land. So Twilight let one split the land however they wanted, then allowed the other to choose which piece of land in the split they wanted. It's a guaranteed 50/50 split.

Another pony wanted funds to build a school in a small town called Ponyville.

"And you say this town doesn't have a school due to lack of funds? Where is this town again?" Twilight asked

"Um.. It's between Canterlot and the Everfree forest, Your Highness. It's a small town, mainly earth pony" the magenta mare with a flower cutie mark answered

"I will take a look at the documents for the town, and visit the mayor. If I see no operating school, like you have said, I will give the town funds to build one and fund the salary of some teachers" Twilight declared.

The magenta mare nodded, thanked her and left the throne room.

As Twilight watched her, she saw something move in the shadows at the top of a pillar. It was a pony with some strange item in their hooves. She quickly closed her eyes and sent her shadow over to the pony secretly, to investigate.

The pony was wearing some clothes to blend into the darkness, and had a picture of a large white unicorn with a blond mane. She didn't care for finer details in the image, she just needed to see if the target was in the throne room.

After confirming the unicorn was not there, she continued on with court. She was constantly looking out for the white unicorn she saw in the picture.

After a small while, the doors to the throne room burst open, and a few guards walked in, following a white unicorn who held himself high, his combed blonde mane seemingly perfect.

Twilight's shadow watched the pony hidden in the shadow aim the stick thing at the unicorn, and just watched him. She was sceptical about what the pony was using, she sensed no magic powering it, no arrows or anything. It didn't seem like it could pose danger.

"Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" The unicorn said, his voice full of arrogance and entitlement.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle" She corrected him.

"Right. I am Prince Blueblood. I demand to speak to Princess Celestia"

A mere unicorn prince trying to demand something from an alicorn. Twilight did her best not to laugh, it was the most amusing thing she had heard in court.

"She is unavailable right now. I can tell her you stopped by" Twilight calmly said, but her gut was telling her that something was wrong.

Her shadow reported that the pony in the shadow had a miniature cannon, and that it was going to shoot the Prince in three seconds. She cursed herself for underestimating the weapon. She had to move, time slowed in her eyes. She began planning, she knew that if she pushed the prince out of the way, the weapon would hit another innocent pony. She had to be the one hit by it.

Twilight sprung into action, and all the crowd heard was a bang, and all they saw was a lavender blur leave the throne and move towards the prince.

Fuck. Miscalculated. Went to far, went in my neck rather then my shoulder

She turned back to Prince Blueblood, who stared at her neck in shock. She couldn't breathe or speak, but she could still act. She took off into the air and darted to where the shooter was.

Tackling the pony to the ground was easy, the multiple panicked weapon shots into her chest and head was not so easy. She couldn't fall unconscious yet, not until she brought this assassin to the guard.

She grabbed the scared, shaking pony and glided down to one of the guards. She dumped the pony down in front of the guard, and pointed to him, the shaking pony, then the door.

The guard saluted and grabbed the pony, and a few other guards helped drag the pony out.

Twilight had one more thing before succumbing to her injuries. She sat back onto the throne, and carefully looked over every pony in the room. None were hurt.

Twilight nodded in satisfaction, and the last thing she heard was a guard shout her name as the world turned black.

Cadance ran. No pony would get in her way, not when she heard that Twilight had been shot multiple times.

She knew Twilight would be ok, but she still couldn't help but be worried. After this event, she knew. She knew that she loved Twilight, and she now knows that she wants to be with her.

She probably shouldn't have yelled at the doctor, but she just needs to see Twilight and help her. Nothing can stop her.

She burst into the room where Twilight and Celestia were. She saw Celestia with the bandage wrapped around her waist, like it had been for a few days.

Celestia smiled at Cadance, and then looked at Twilight.

"The bullets in her chest hit her lungs, and one in the heart. The bullet in her head hit the frontal lobe and luckily stayed in there. If it had hit the temporal lobe, it could have resulted in a loss of memory. We can't grow back memories" Celestia explained, repeating some of the things the doctor told her.

"Frontal lobe? Just tell me what will happen with her" Cadance demanded

"The doctor said something about a possible personality change for a few days, and she might be a little more open when expressing feelings. She will be back to normal in a few days, but right now, I think she is waking up" Celestia pointed out

She heard a groan from the other mare in the room, and saw her start to move.

"Ugh... My head hurts... Where am I?" Twilight groaned

"Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're ok! I was so worried!"

Cadance hugged Twilight, and after the hug, she looked at Twilight, and saw that the lavender alicorn was looking away with her face as red as a beet.

"Are you OK Twilight?" Cadance asked "You look a little red"

"I can't help it! You're so beautiful and attractive and amazing, it's so hard not to!" Twilight blurted out before shoving a hoof in her mouth, going more red

Cadance stepped back a bit, face red and surprised by the outburst. She began to wonder if Twilight truly meant what she said or if it was something to do with her injury.

Twilight groaned again, this one seemed to be in annoyance, and started hitting her muzzle with her hoof and calling herself horrible names. Eventually she stopped, looked at Cadance, then cast a spell and was suddenly back asleep.

"Well, that was pretty expected. So, niece, do you share these feelings?" Celestia carefully asked, trying not to ruin her plan.

Cadance nodded a little.

"Yes, but I want Twilight to ask. I want her to be the one to decide to invite me to a date when she isn't recovering from an injury and not truly herself" Cadance said as she sat down at Twilight's side, and closed her eyes.

She didn't see Celestia's frown.

Celestia watched Cadance sit at Twilight's side and close her eyes. She frowned, and cursed under her breath.

The assassin that was sent for Blueblood was not the same one she had sent to attack Twilight. Who had hired the other one? And what happened to the one she had sent?

It was all supposed to be perfect! The assassin would hurt Twilight, Cadance would come running, they would discover their feelings for each other and get together. Once they were together, she could plan the wedding and make her move against the changelings.

She needed answers, but she couldn't get any while stuck in the hospital. The duel was a bad idea, of course the alicorn of magic would win. The only good thing about the duel is that she knows that Twilight can beat Daybreaker.

Celestia got up off her bed, and decided to leave the two sleeping alicorns alone. The doctors would probably complain, but she felt she was healed enough to resume her duties. First, however, she had a statue and a mirror to visit.

She managed to 'convince' the doctor that she was ready to leave the hospital.

After eventually arriving at the old room, she opened the door and entered. She sat down in the middle, watching both the mirror and statue.

"Good evening, Pulsar. I hope you are doing well, or at least as well as you could be. Forgive me if I repeat myself, but I need you to know how much I regret it all. I take responsibility for Daybreaker's actions, I regret them all and blame myself. You will hopefully be free very soon, just wait till Luna comes back. Your prison has a weakness to very strong Lunar magic, which means when Luna is freed, so shall you be. I hope you are able to forgive me, and then become a happy family" Celestia sighed.

Celestia glanced at the mirror, and her heart sank more. She had blamed Pulsar for her old student running away, but for the last few hundred years, she knew she had no one to blame but herself.

She stared at the statue for a while, until she noticed a faint crack in it. She smiled, she knew this meant the spell was weakening.

Her oldest niece will be back soon.

Cadance woke up and yawned. She glanced at the lavender pillow she slept on, and slowly began to realise it wasn't a pillow, it was a certain alicorn.

She just stared at Twilight, who was still asleep, and felt her heart drop. Twilight was crying. She didn't know what to do, should she wake her up or leave?

As she was thinking, Twilight woke up. Still crying, she quickly looked around the room until her eyes rested on Cadance and widened.

Before Cadance could ask anything, there was a flash of bright light and she found herself suddenly in the hallway. She quickly rushed back to the room, but stopped outside the door.

"Bury it.. Just Bury the stupid feelings... What is wrong with me, why can't I simply keep these stupid feelings buried..." She heard Twilight through the door. "No! I do not love Cadance! SHUT UP!"

Cadance winced slightly at the shout, and felt a pain in her chest. It wasn't physical pain, it was emotional.

"F-fine... Maybe I do... Maybe I want something good, something stable... Someone who won't use me as a puppet for their own gains... Then again, maybe she will. It's all anypony wants me for anyway... Maybe you are right, Midnight..."

Cadance continued to quietly listen, wanting to rush in and try and help, but knowing that it would be a breach of trust.

"Even if she won't use me, I would just bring her down with this stupid self hatred and depression I try to hide. I did it for 900 years, I can do it now" Twilight ended with a sigh.

Cadance knocked on the door, waiting for Twilight to let her in. She was feeling conflicting emotions and thoughts, some telling her to comfort and tell Twilight, while others telling her to keep quiet and help in a less obvious way.

"Come in" she heard Twilight say

She walked in, and decided what she should do.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I was worried about you so... I came back as soon as you teleported me..." she began

She saw Twilight's eyes widen slightly in a panic, and she got closer to the panicked mare.

"I heard what you said... I'm sorry for breaking your trust... But I want to help you, I want to. Please, let me help you" Cadance begged.

Twilight's ears went down and she looked away, suddenly finding interest in the bland white wall. She obviously hadn't noticed Cadance get closer, cause she flinched and tensed when Cadance hugged her.

Eventually Twilight relaxed and calmed.

"I.. I can trust you.. You don't have any bad motives..." Twilight quietly said before breaking down into tears and hugging Cadance back.

"It's ok. I'm here, I'm here to help you" Cadance cooed.

"I just... I feel like mom and aunt Celestia just use me for their own plans, like I'm just a puppet or a key to their victory. The council and nobility try the same thing... The only pony I know who doesn't is you" Twilight said through chokes and sobs. "It's made me hate myself, and it's made me think maybe you are just good at hiding the fact that you are using me... And I really hope you aren't because then that means... Well, it means I'm not worth anything to anypony"

"You are worth something to me, Twilight. You are worth a lot to me" Cadance whispered, loud enough for Twilight to hear.

Both of them stayed cuddled for a while, until eventually they seperated.

"We should go into Canterlot one day and I can give you a tour. It would be fun" Cadance smiled.

"Sure, maybe when I get out of here?" Twilight asked and smiled too when Cadance nodded.

Cadance was glad she could help Twilight with her problems, even if they seemed like it would take a long time to fully fix them.

A long, long time.

Twilight sat in front of her mirror, staring at herself. She was about to go on a tour with Cadance around Canterlot, and she was nervous.

Cadance knew. She had heard everything and knew. She knew of her self-loathing, her depression, but most importantly her love. Cadance knew Twilight loved her.

Then why didn't she feel scared? Or nervous? Why did she feel like she had a weight lifted off her shoulders?

She hasn't rejected me. That's why

Well duhhh, it's because she either loves you back, or wants to use your love for her own gains. Just like aunt. Just like mother. Hehehehahahaha wouldn't that be hilarious? Oh hey, we should kill the guards outside! Wouldn't that be Fun!?

Twilight winced at Midnight's musings. Would it hurt to maybe investigate to be sure she wasn't being used again?

No. No it wouldn't. If Cadance found out she would understand, hopefully. But what would Cadance use her for?

Twilight thought hard, trying to figure it out.

She was quite intelligent, maybe Cadance wanted information and knowledge. It would make sense, since she could possibly have lost information about history and magic.

She was also quite powerful, so could she be used as a weapon or a tool? Maybe even just a battery to fuel Cadance's magic, allowing her to take over Equestria and rule for thousands of years, killing Luna and Celestia?

Maybe Cadance was secretly working for a cult or organisation to bring Twilight and her mother down? Maybe Celestia was using Cadance to get information or power from Twilight?

What if Cadance actually just wanted her mother, and was going through Twilight to get to her? Maybe Cadance is just torturing her?

All these thoughts chipped away at Twilight's heart, as if they were a miner on an ore of coal. She was so deep in thought, she hadn't noticed her starting to cry, or the fact that she wasn't alone anymore.

After a while, she finally noticed that somepony was hugging her. She knew who it was by the pink hooves around her withers.

Maybe... Maybe she doesn't have an ulterior motive, and just likes me?

"Cadance?" Twilight whispered

"Yes, it's me Twilight, I was coming to pick you up for the tour but I saw you crying. I tried to talk to you but you were staring into space, not answering. I thought you might have needed a hug so... Yeah" Cadance explained.

Twilight stared at Cadance, then looked away and blushed a lot

"I... Uhh get lost in thought easily" Twilight nervously chuckled

Twilight looked back in the mirror and saw her mane dishevelled, with strands sticking out all over the place. She thought it was pretty impressive considering it was pretty impossible to do with an ethereal mane. She grabbed a brush in her magic and brushed it.

"Ready to go?" Cadance asked

Twilight nodded and her horn started glowing, and the glow surrounded her whole Body. Cadance looked towards her, slightly confused.

Eventually Twilight shrank slightly, and her mane and tail lost their ethereal touch. Her wings slowly dissipated, and her cutie mark slightly changed.

Once the spell was finished, Twilight noticed Cadance's look of shock.

"I have to disguise myself or we will be swarmed by ponies. Don't you have one?" Twilight questioned

"I don't. I didn't even know we could do that"

"Haven't you been taught it by Celestia during alicorn magic lessons?"

"I don't have 'Alicorn magic lessons'" Cadance revealed.

Twilight gawked and stared at Cadance.

"No magic lessons?! It's necessary for new alicorns according to mom! I went through a few hundred years of it! You must learn it!" Twilight exclaimed

"Maaaybe we should talk about that later and go on the tour now, Twilight" Cadance suggested

Twilight sighed and nodded, dispelling her disguise.

The two trotted out of the castle in silence, headed towards the main gates of the castle grounds.

As they walked, many ponies bowed and gawked at the two princesses. Cadance was very uncomfortable with the attention, but she was used to covering that up.

She glanced at Twilight, who was holding herself tall, straight and regal like. It was like she had been doing this her whole life. She looked like she was basking in the adoration, respect and attention ponies gave her.

Cadance could see Twilight glancing at the crowds, as if she was determining a winner for a contest.

Cadance didn't understand it at all, Twilight had seemed very introverted and the type of pony to hate crowds like this. The kind to hate too much attention, yet here she was, acting as if the attention was the best feeling ever.

There was something behind her grin, something in those eyes.

"Ah Lady Rarity, good to see you again"

Cadance snapped out of her musings when Twilight spoke, she hadn't seen the pony in front of them before Twilight had acknowledged her presence.

"Your majesty" Rarity bowed "What brings you into the city proper?"

"Oh, just Cadance here wanting to give me a tour of the city"

"Right. Yeah, then a meal after of course. You can discover something other than castle food" Cadance said

Cadance saw a glimmer in Rarity's eyes as she looked back and forth between the two alicorns. She didn't want to know what she was thinking.

"Woah! Awesome! You didn't tell us you were actually friends with the Princesses! I thought you were just a maid or something" a voice above them exclaimed.

Cadance and Twilight looked up to see a cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail.

"Uh sugarcube, ah don't think that's such a good idea to go flying fast towards the Princesses" A different voice with a heavy country accent remarked.

"Well duhhh, obviously you run up to them with a party cannon and give them cake!" Said a pink mare, bouncing up and down beside Rarity suddenly.

Twilight scowled. Cadance noticed. She smiled at the ponies in front of them.

"So will you introduce us to your friends, Rarity?" She said, ignoring Twilight's look of protest.

"Hmm? Oh yes of course! This is Rainbow dash" she pointed up at the rainbow maned Pegasus.

"Of course it is" Twilight grumbled to herself, unaware Cadance heard.

"Hey! You forgot my middle name, Danger!" Rainbow said, crossing her forelegs and rolling her eyes.

"And this is Applejack" Rarity pointed to the orange coated mare with a blond mane and tail. A stetson upon her head, which she lightly lifted up then down as a sign of hello. "Pinkie Pie" the pink mare smiled wide and waved. "And Fluttershy" she pointed to a pony hiding behind her.

"Nice to meet you all. Maybe all you can help Twilight here with something. You see, she doesn't have any friends, and you all look like great friends with each other. Maybe you can all come to the castle some day and become great friends with her" Cadance smirked slightly at the look of disbelief on Twilight's face. The smirk faltered when the disbelief seemed to turn into a hint of betrayal.

"Of course we can be her friends. Ohh! Let's celebrate this with a party! A we-are-friends-with-the-princess-party! I will also get the castle wedding decorations out!" Pinkie shouted, gaining attention from some other ponies walking around.

"Wedding decorations? I don't think there is any wedding planned for this month in the Castle?" Twilight asked, puzzled.

"Sorry, I went too far into the story plans" Pinkie said as she was suddenly right in front of Twilight

Twilight just blinked and stared, as confused as everyone else.

"Right, well, nice to meet you all. We will let you all go back to whatever it was you were doing. Cadance was just taking me on a tour of Canterlot"

In a sudden burst of magic, a small scroll with Celestia's royal seal appeared in front of Twilight. After taking it and reading it, Twilight frowned.

"Or not, sorry Cadance" Twilight apologised "but it seems a small army of everfree creatures are attacking a small village. It seems my duty calls once again. I will be back later today, if you want to continue this then"

"That's fine, I understand. Be safe" Cadance smiled, which was strained and not so obviously fake.

After Twilight flew off mumbling about the incompetence of the Royal Guard, Cadance noticed the group of ponies looking at her.

Rarity was giving her a look of empathy.

"Still haven't asked her yet?" She asked.

Cadance shook her head, which began to hang low.

"You know, dear, for the alicorn of Love you seem to be struggling with your own" Rarity not so helpfully pointed out.

Cadance just sighed and her wings drooped slightly. She could feel some sort of connection with the Alicorn most recently nicknamed 'The Warrior Princess', and there were a few signs she gave that Cadance knew meant Twilight felt something, but most of the time she just seemed so disinterested in relationships and love.

"It's just, I know she has some kind of feeling towards me, but she has made it clear about her disinterest in love and relationships. It's so many mixed signals, that I have no idea what she wants"

"Um, if you don't mind, could I help?"

Everypony looked down at the shy pegasus that spoke up, which caused her to squeak a little and cower down slightly.

"I, um, have worked with the Princess and the Royal Guard a few times with the animals"

"What?! Fluttershy they deal with monsters like manticores and hydras!" Rainbow dash shouted in disbelief.

"Oh, I don't help with hydras, but the manticores are very good big kitties" Fluttershy's eyes sparkled when talking about the animals. "But, um, a lot of the missions I was always at the Princesses side, being a citizen. After the first few, she began to talk to me, and I always listened"

"So, what did she talk to you about? It might help Princess Cadance woo her" Rarity suggested.

"Oh um, she mainly talked about her life on the moon. She didn't really want to talk to me about it at first, but she suddenly started to anyway. She has been visiting for the last few weeks" Fluttershy explained, trying to avoid telling the others what Twilight had told her in confidence.

"Perfect! If you tell us, we can understand her personality and why she seems to not like love and relationships! That can help Princess Cadance woo her!" Rarity practically bounced with excitement.

"Oh, um I don't think I should tell you. She trusted me with that and it would break her trust"

"That's how you lose a friend... Forrrrevvvveeerrrrr" Pinkie said, suddenly face to face with fluttershy.

"Fluttershy is right. I will wait for her to confide in me. I'm sure it will be soon" Cadance reassured, despite the fact that she felt like Twilight wouldn't at all. Only time can tell.

Twilight was exhausted, and surprisingly pretty injured. The amount of creatures that attacked was concerning, and fighting an Ursa major while simultaneously holding back a manticore is hard work.

She winced as Cadance cleaned out a gash on her back. Cadance was obviously mad at her, and to be fair she had a good reason.

"How could you be stupid enough to not wait for backup?! That was stupid and reckless!" Cadance chastised.

"It worked though, and I was the only injured pony. Well, the only injured after I stepped in anyway"

Cadance glared at Twilight, giving the new Warrior Princess a very good reason not to be so reckless next time. Both mares awkwardly sat there staring at each other for a minute or two, and they would probably be there longer if Twilight's stomach didn't basically roar at her.

"Since we couldn't do the tour, I want to at least go and have the planned dinner on the gazebo in the gardens" Cadance demanded

"That's fair, and once again I'm sorry" Twilight apologised again, for what she felt was the hundredth time.

Cadance nodded in satisfaction and walked out the room, most likely expecting Twilight to follow her. What Cadance didn't know was that Twilight was dreading this dinner. She knew Cadance would ask what everyone had tried to ask, and she also knew she would tell Cadance everything.

She slowly followed Cadance through the castle and into the gardens, which were absolutely beautiful in the light of twilight. Speaking of the twilight, she needed to start the raising of the stars soon. She could wait till she got to the gazebo.

Twilight froze as she saw the gazebo. It was lit up by candles, and a table with red cloth stood in the middle. Two plates with metal covers rested on the table along with two wine glasses and a bottle of wine. It looked almost romantic.

This caused Twilight to have an internal panic attack. She promised Cadance to attend this dinner here, but she couldn't stop thinking of how many possible ulterior motives this could bring. It scared her and slowly chipped away at her heart.

She created a quick emotional mask of happiness and followed Cadance through the entrance of the gazebo. She needed to try and recover from these thoughts before getting into a proper conversation.

"I quickly need to raise the stars, Cadance. I will be right back" She said quickly as she trotted over to the other side of the gazebo.

Her mask broke, and her smile faltered. All this was obviously done to make her comfortable, because Cadance had obviously planned to ask her about her past. She shuddered slightly and quickly raised the stars, painting the sky in various hues and contrasts.

She reapplied her mask and went to sit down opposite Cadance, who was watching her every move.

"It is a nice nigh-"

"You brought me here to discuss my past, didn't you?" Twilight asked while her mask broke once more, her smile fading.

"I... I had wanted to ask tonight, yes, but it wasn't the only reason. I enjoy spending time with you" Cadance said

She was telling the truth, but it didn't make sense. Why would such an amazing, beautiful mare that is so obviously a hero, feel that way about an old, monstrous villain like her? It made no logical sense in her mind.

"I will tell you about my past. I promise"

Why did she say that? Her mother would be so disapointed in her. The Nightmare would definitely punish her dreams tonight. She sighed.

"I was basically raised as a soldier and ruler. I had times with mother that were akin to a mother-daughter relationship. Unfortunately most of it was more of a teacher-student relationship. The Nightmare was to blame for this, of course. The punishments for failure were... Severe. There were no rewards for success, as it was expected of me. Mother taught me everything, from battle tactics to politics to... S-se... Nevermind... She basically raised me to be a tool for her rule. My final test is to secure her rule when she returns and help her take the throne"

Cadance seemed to be listening to every word, emotion after emotion flashing through her eyes.

"That's the gist of it all" Twilight finished

Pffft yeah right, that's all the mild stuff. Let's be honest, kiddo, you are screwed up in the head, and it's all that Nightmares fault

"C-can we enjoy a nice dinner now? I... Have said all I am comfortable in saying" Twilight eventually asked

Cadance gave the mare a hug and nodded.

They spent the night close, chatting about friends and good times underneath the stars. They were unaware of the third alicorn watching them, smiling and congratulating herself that her plans are finally moving along.

Author's Note

Another month, another chapter. Apologies it took so long. Motivation dry spots happen. Especially when it's driven by self doubt.

Onto the next chapter! Feel free to comment about the events of this chapter in the comments below!

Dreams

Twilight smiled happily as she snuggled up against Cadance, both of them laying in bed. She enjoyed the warmth of another pony surrounding her, and she loved the feeling it gave her.

This is what it's like to love, and she had to admit, it is the best feeling in the world.

"Tch Tch Tch, you disappoint me daughter. You seem to have forgotten one of your major lessons. Having a connection like this is a weakness, one you must leave behind" The figure of Nightmare Moon appeared in the doorway.

"Great. I'm dreaming. What do you want, mother? To take away my happiness?"

"You only think this is happiness, but it is only pain. I experienced it and I shall not let you experience it either"

The surroundings changed to that of where she slept when she was on the moon. Cadance started suffocating due to the lack of air, causing Twilight to panic and try to help.

"You disappoint a second time. She is an alicorn, she will adapt. Yet you still panicked as if she were dying, which is concerning. You are smarter than this, so why do you act so stupid? Celestia replaced you with her, and you decide to fall in love with your replacement?!" Nightmare growled.

"You are a terrible mother if you do not want me to find happiness. She makes me happy. Deal with it" Twilight defiantly retorted.

Nightmare stood, eyes wide and jaw agape.

"Now please leave my dream before I force you out, which would be bad for both of us. We both know what happens if somepony is forcefully removed like that"

"Very well daughter, but do not think this conversation is over"

Nightmare faded from existence, leaving Twilight alone with Dream Cadance. This dream was her comfort, it made her happy. She wouldn't dare question anything in it.

"She is gone for now, most likely to leave you alone for the rest of the night" A voice said

"I know mom, but I think right now all I want is to lay here with Cadance, in peace"

Luna nodded and she too faded from existence.

The warmth of Cadance by her side felt so real, so comforting.

She is such a coward. She could have this outside of the dreaming world, but she could never bring herself to ask. Cadance knows Twilight is interested in her like that, but Twilight has no idea whether Cadance is interested in her.

"Twily, I know you said you want to lay there in peace, but I feel like I must speak with you about your hesitance with Cadance" Luna laid down next to her daughter, resting a wing over her.

"Ok. Fine"

"Twilight, you need to take a chance. If you wait, something might happen to her or somepony will take her before you can, then you will live life in regret. When you wake up, get some flowers and go ask her out. You will be happy, trust me" Luna promised.

Twilight was scared, but nodded.

"You are right. Ok, I will do what you said when I wake up. I promise you"

"Good. Now I will leave you to your dream"

Twilight stared in her mirror. Sure, she was still dreaming, but it had changed. She had started thinking about her self-loathing.

She stared at her own eyes, that made her so different. The pupils that should be round like any other pony, were actually slitted similar to that of a reptiles. With them, she always looked intimidating, always looked evil.

Her teeth were no better, being sharp fangs that made her a predator.

Cadance was the one thing right now keeping her from doing anything bad.

She was the real hero, keeping the villain on a leash. Keeping the monster on a leash.

That is what I am, isn't it. A monster.

She growled and punched her mirror. Then again. Then again. She kept punching the shards until they were ground to dust.

She let out a primal roar of rage, one that could strike fear into even the greatest dragon.

Her vision blurred and turned red as she began destroying everything around her, whether it be soft or hard, sharp or blunt.

After her vision cleared, she gasped.

She was standing upon a pile of bodies. Directly under her lay Cadance, beaten and bloodied, barely breathing. She felt bile rise to her throat.

This is Twilight Sparkle. This is her true self. This is why she hated herself.

It took her a while to notice the other figure in the room, staring in shock and horror.

Her mother. Her real mother, Luna.

"Is this what she... I have done to you? I..." Luna vanished.

Right. Of course. When a villain shows their true selves, they lose everything.

"I have no good side. Just a smart side and a crazy side. What's the difference anymore" Twilight asked no one.

"The difference is we are still apart" Midnight said, stepping from the shadow.

"Right. What's the point of being apart now anyway, we are both as bad as each other. No. I'm worse. So much worse. I got clever with it. You just kill randomly, you don't think about it. I convince others to die. I convince them to give their lives for a meaningless cause. Why kill when I get others to kill themselves"

"Things might get better if we become one. We could be good" Midnight suggested.

"Oh it all makes sense now. I've never truly listened to you. I'm not Twilight, and you're not Midnight. No. I'm Midnight, and you're Twilight. I'm the bad side. The thoughts on killing were mine. You've always stopped me from acting on them. All while labelling you the bad one" The one who called herself Twilight realised.

"Forget about all that. Come, if we merge we will become whole, unfractured. We can be Twilight Andromeda Sparkle once more, no longer broken" The one who was called Midnight before offered.

"Yes. Whole. I accept"

The two identical mares glowed, slowly beginning to fuse into one. The dreamscape around them twisted and turned until it settled, becoming her bedroom.

There Twilight layed, her appearance slightly changed. Was she... Fluffier? Yes, yes she was. How odd. There was one more thing, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. Wait.

Her mind was clear, no alternate selves.

Luna cried. She cried more than she had ever. More than when she lost her husband, more than when she was banished.

She had failed raising her daughter. Nightmare must have gotten rid of the memories or something, and now that she realises it, she doesn't remember a full thousand years, only a few.

What had she made Twilight go through? What made her beautiful, amazing daughter become what she saw in that dream?

Suddenly, she thought of another daughter she had failed, and the tears came back anew.

"I'm a terrible mother. It's all my fault. It's the only explanation. I deserve to be stuck here on the moon. I deserve the pain"

Luna sat staring up at Equus, specifically at Canterlot. Her daughter was there. Somewhere, probably in a graveyard, was Pulsar who had been dead for centuries. Maybe she had a great life before she passed? Luna could only hope.

She decided to do something she hadn't done in a while, run. She used to run around the moon a few times every night. When she was old enough to face the dangers of the dark side, Twilight always joined her. At least she remembered what she did in certain years.

As she ran, she decided to think about her return. Would she be welcome back? Would she be hunted and killed? Would she be given her Princess status again?

Her thoughts changed. She loved the feeling of freedom when she was in control. Of course, thinking that caused Luna to wonder where exactly Nightmare Moon is.

"She is probably torturing Celestia with Nightmares again"

Luna sighed. She had been so used to having Twilight around that she forgot how lonely it could be on the moon.

Memories of little Twilight running around, giggling and playing. Listening to the stories Luna told her of the world below, always asking questions.

Now she was down there experiencing it, without being under the protection of her mother.

"I regret letting her go down by herself. I will see her outside the dreaming world again, after the Nightmare is gone"

Luna sighed and laid down in a small divot that fit her form perfectly. She had slept in the same spot for hundreds of years, and eventually it eroded the rock. A sampler divot was next to it, where her daughter would have slept.

Luna rested her hoof on the smaller divot, smiling. Her daughter had a bed, food and friends. She didn't need her mother anymore.

Her job was done.

Candace was enjoying a nice cup of tea with Twilight by her side. Two foals were playing on the other side of the room, making Cadance smile more.

"Mommy! Look! I'm levitating the toy!" one of the foals yelled.

"That's amazing, sweetie, you will be a powerful mage one day" Twilight said, her voice softer than Cadance had ever heard it before.

"Mommy, Blueblood said it's weird having two mommies, is that true?" the other foal asked

"Not at all, it's perfectly normal. Remember, love is love, no matter what gender" Cadance reminded, smiling wider.

"OK mommy. Can we go play with great aunt Celly and Grandma Lulu now?"

"Of course you can, go ahead"

"YAY" both foals shouted, running out of the room.

Twilight let out a content sigh, laying on the bed. She grabbed a book from a shelf and opened it up to start reading.

Cadance had other ideas. She got up on the bed and cuddled up to her wife. When Twilight didn't notice, she nuzzled her.

Twilight still didn't notice.

"Twiii notice meeee. I want cuddlesss"

Twilight didn't move.

"Twi?"

Suddenly Twilight's skin started melting, then her flesh, then her bones. It all melted into goop and stained the bed.

Cadance screamed. A few seconds after the scream, two foals ran in shouting. To Cadance's horror, they started melting too.

"NO....NOOO" She cried

She stared at the three puddles, sobbing. Her whole world gone, those she cared about dead. Her children were gone, her wife was gone.

"My my, what an interesting turn of events" a cold voice muttered from the darkness.

Nightmare Moon emerged from the shadows.

"So you are the one my daughter loves? How pathetic. You are weak and undeserving"

Cadence glanced over to Nightmare, her eyes full of tears.

"You.. You would murder your own daughter to prove that I'm unworthy of her? That's... Sick" Cadance sniffed

"I see you have yet to figure out this is a dream"

Cadance slowly looked around at her surroundings. It was all a dream. That made sense. She took deep breaths and calmed herself.

"Why do you get to decide who your daughter, who may I mention is an adult, loves? Why do you get to decide who is worthy for her?" Cadance demanded

"I am her mother, It is my duty"

"You have no control over her life anymore. You will always be her mother and she will always seek your approval, but she is an adult and can make her own decisions. Even if you disapprove of them"

"Yes yes whatever, I don't care. This is not the reason I came here" Nightmare growled

"Then why did you?"

"I believe she plans on courting you tomorrow, and I must stop it"

Cadance backed away, not liking where this was going. Nightmare pinned her down, her eyes changing slightly. Cadance's mind felt like it was clearing, as if someone was changing things.

"When Twilight tries to court you, you will do everything you can to break her heart"

Cadance felt the voice pierce her mind, slowly causing it to buzz. This was a command, and she could not disobey.

"I... I will break... Her heart..."

"Good. Now drift into a dreamless sleep"

The world around started crumbling, and soon everything was overtaken In darkness.

Cadance would not dream for the remainder of that night.

"Ugh, what's your problem? I could feel all those petty emotions from the dream realm" Nightmare asked

"Just thinking about my daughter" Luna replied, barely acknowledging Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare hated it when Luna ignored her, because it showed that her goody two shoes side could still take control at any point.

"Everything has been sorted with that pathetic excuse for an alicorn that she is interested in"

"What? What did you do?! TELL ME!" Luna demanded

"I simply set up another lesson for our daughter. One that I hope she learns"

Nightmare adored that look on Luna's face. Fear, concern. Oh, it was lovely. Maybe she will go visit Twilight again before she wakes. Yes, that sounded like a great plan.

"You will not be visiting any more dreams tonight, Luna, but I will go talk to Twilight. You will find out the lesson for her soon enough"

Nightmare left Luna's little dream, and headed to Twilight's. She was very surprised to see Twilight standing and staring into a mirror, looking slightly different.

"Mother. I thought you might visit me again tonight. I prepared your favorite tea, please make yourself at home"

Nightmare sat down on a cushion and poured herself a cup of tea. Her daughter did the same, in a very similar manner to her, which of course made her smirk.

Twilight always acted a lot like her, which made her smirk grow further.

"What is making you smirk, mother?" Twilight asked

"You are so much like me, in so many ways"

Nightmare watched as a small crack in her daughter's mask formed, revealing a few emotions. Surprise, and a small bit of disgust. Interesting.

"Anyway, I wanted to have a nice talk with you, Daughter. We barely talk anymore since you moved out. Oh how I miss your little attempts at privacy on the moon. You got pretty daring in your teen years"

Nightmare continued to watch for the emotions slipping past the mask. She was intent on breaking it. She had the perfect way to do so.

"It didn't help that my mother constantly spied on me" Twilight muttered.

"We have so many pleasant memories, do we not? Like the time you were so confused with feelings. Having a tiny crush on your mentor, but said mentor being your mother complicated things"

Regret. Fascinating how easily large emotions are slipping through her little star's mask.

"It was only small, and short. Like you said, I was confused"

Nightmare smirked. Emotional manipulation is the key in these situations. She needed to push her daughter into asking out Cadance, to then get her heart broken and realise the only one she can trust is her mother. She might as well go all in. She got a little closer to Twilight.

"Oh and all those years of training you. What was your favorite lesson?"

"The magic lessons, and the lessons on the stars too"

Nightmare had gotten pretty close to Twilight now, and she could just feel how uncomfortable her daughter was.

"Awww did little Twily not enjoy her seduction and intercourse lessons?" Nightmare teased.

Twilight shuddered and her mask broke. Nightmare smirked even more, after all she has always been the best at seduction and flirting. Twilight had been an apt pupil like usual, but could never get flirting right.

"That time is behind me now.. It was... Wrong.."

"Oh come on Twilight, you loved it back then. If you are concerned about being family, don't be. The mortals were absolutely fine with it when I was younger"

"There are laws now. It's not right"

Nightmare frowned. She knew it wasn't exactly the best thing, she did decide to go for somepony outside of the family to breed with. She knew her mother and father would be furious. They had always taught Celestia and Luna that it was always the best option to keep pure. It is how they had kept such power that led to the sisters ascending.

She had decided to raise Twilight into thinking the same thing, but she was always slightly against it.

"Oh come on Twilight, you may call me your mother, but we both know you only consider Luna to be your real mother. I think we already established that" Nightmare lied, leaning into Twilight.

Twilight pushed her away.

"I don't care. My heart belongs to Cadance. I never want to hear about that awful time ever again. Ever"

Nightmare may have been acting to try and manipulate Twilight, but that still hurt. The little foal should be grateful. Twilight had more skill in the bedroom than anypony else aside from her because of those lessons.

"I see. Well fine, but don't say I didn't warn you about that pathetic little alicorn. She will break your heart"

Uncertainty and doubt could be seen in Twilight's eyes.

"Can we just spend this night as a normal mother and daughter would? Either that or just leave" Twilight asked.

"Fine. But you have months of mother-daughter time to make up for, little star"

She tapped into her dream magic and Twilight's form changed until she was a little filly staring up at Nightmare.

"Oh how this old mare misses you like this. When you looked up to me, with wonder and love. No hatred, or disgust. Do you think you can let me have this?"

"Fine" Little Twilight agreed, rolling her eyes "I guess we can. Can we stargaze?"

"Of course, my little star, of course"

Nightmares plan failed, but now she was reliving some of the best times she had in the past. Her small daughter, only a filly, cuddling up to her and staring up at the stars in wonder. This is better. This is what she wished she had again.

Her mind slowly fought a battle. Would she give up nighttime eternal and her revenge just for her daughter to love her again? Or would she risk her daughter for her revenge?

Maybe Twilight could really free her from the confines of revenge and hatred that Luna condemned her to.

Maybe she could have a full family, with no jealousy.

Author's Note

Hey guys. I felt like this story needed more dark and mature aspects to it to fit the tags.

I needed to have some more Nightmare Moon screen time, and decided to add much more character than "Hahaha eternal night and revenge"

This will be the first and last time the whole "Keep royal bloodlines pure" Storyline will be in this story, but it may be explained more in the prequel and sequel.

This story will not contain actual incest, so don't worry about that. It was just a way of showing that Nightmare and Luna were from a thousand years in the past, back when such a thing was accepted.

I'm not really a big fan on some of this chapter, but I feel as though it is needed for the story. It's a bit shorter for this reason. I tried to just get it done so I could get to the next one.

Courtship and Cults

Twilight sighed, sinking down into the nice hot water. She absolutely loved the feeling of baths, and quickly made it her go-to way of relaxation. All her problems ignored her in the bliss of the steaming liquid.

"Twilight, we should talk about what you did," Celestia sternly said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. Of course, she wasn't used to sharing a bath, but at least the tub was big enough to fit ten Celestias. So much for her problems being ignored.

"Yes yes I understand that I accidentally used Lunar magic while asleep and murdered a whole village with a chunk of moonrock. It was a really rough dream" Twilight countered.

"Be that so, you still murdered hundreds and caused extreme damage to the land. It needs to be rectified"

"Well, fine, but they may find their family members a bit.. Eh what's the word? Oh yeah, undead. Bringing them back would require necromancy, which you made illegal"

"No, just fix the land and give ponies compensation for their losses. I've done such things before" Celestia admitted.

Twilight nodded and stood up, the cold air making her shiver as she left the warmth of the water. She stepped out onto the cold, hard marble floor, water dripping down from her body. She cast a small spell on herself, drying and heating her up.

"I will, now I am going to ask Cadance a question. Talk to you later, Celestia"

Twilight walked out of the room and headed towards Cadance's room. She spent some time making herself look good, then conjured up a bundle of flowers. Classic roses, as Cadance enjoys. When she got to the door of Cadance's room, she heard two voices in there.

"I will at once, your highness"

Twilight recognized the voice to be Captain Shining Armors. She found it weird that the captain would be inside Cadance's private bedroom, but shrugged it off. It was the perfect place for some secret assignment to be given to him.

The door opened and Twilight quickly hid the flowers, not wanting the captain to understand the situation yet.

"Greetings Captai-'' Twilight glanced at the pony, who was not wearing his armor and looked flustered.

She was slowly filled with fear and jealousy, but tried her best to explain that maybe they are friends and Cadance just did her teasing thing she likes to do. She quickly let the captain leave, and then knocked on the now open door.

Cadance turned to the door, mane a mess and was covered in sweat.

"Shiny did you forget you-oh. Hi Twilight" Cadance greeted, her voice faltering slightly.

Twilight looked around the room, the bed was a mess, Cadance's regalia was scattered on the floor. It was obvious what had happened here. As Twilight's mood dampened, the flowers she had turned invisible slowly faded into view.

"H-hey Cadance... I um.. I came here to ask you something, but I think I got the wrong... Idea" Twilight slowly spoke, doing her best to hide the hurt.

"Oh. Sorry Twilight. You are a good friend to me, a really good one. I just believe Shining Armor is the one for me" Cadance smiled, and if Twilight had looked into her eyes she would see the geas Nightmare put on her.

Twilight slowly started to back out of the room, placing the flowers on the desk.

"Y-yeah. Good friends.. I-if you excuse me, I have some duties to take care of..."

She closed Cadance's door, then ran. She ran down the corridors, straight to her room. She needed to be somewhere private, no one could see how much she was about to cry.

Cadance couldn't bear it. After ordering the captain to make the room look as if they had done certain things, then rejecting Twilight in the worst way possible, all she could do was cry.

Screw any duties. Screw being a princess.

She just needed to cry. Any thought to explain everything to Twilight was banished by the stupid geas.

Why would Nightmare do this to her Daughter? That was the question on Cadance's mind. What kind of mother would stop her child from being happy?

After hours of wallowing on her bed, she left to go to dinner. She didn't bother putting on her regalia, she didn't bother brushing her mane or wiping the tear tracts off her cheeks. She just left with her head hung low, slowly trotting to the dining area.

Upon arriving, she found nopony but a certain angry looking aunt sitting at the table. She sat down at the table, ready for Celestia to yell at her or worse.

"What did you do, Cadance? Why is Twilight in her room, which may I mention is next to mine, blasting rock music?" Celestia asked, surprisingly calm.

"Um... I-" Cadance tried to answer

"And would you please tell me why Twilight, the anti-social bookworm warrior, is currently draining the royal wine reserve and inviting multiple guards into her room, only for them to come out an hour later with a certain goofy grin on their face?" Celestia interrupted, soundly slightly annoyed.

Cadance winced. She knew it would do damage, but not this much. In some ways it flattered her, it meant Twilight loved her that much. But she was mostly horrified. She had turned Twilight into an alcoholic, alicorn whorse.

"I... I... I was visited by Nightmare, who did some weird magic on me to make me reject Twilight!" She screamed, the pain in her head hitting her like a boulder.

Slowly the pain subsided. Celestia must have realised she was under mind control and stopped it. She slowly looked up to see Celestia's disappointed frown.

"I see. You need to rectify this, as quickly as possible. If Twilight continues to act like this, she will be unable to perform her Royal duties. That is unacceptable"

"Yes auntie, I will. I promise"

Before either of them could say another word, the doors burst open revealing a group of guards and a weird looking pony in chains. She hadn't seen a pony that looked like that before.

"Your highnesses, we discovered this creature stalking in the shadows of the castle. We apprehended it and have brought it to you so you may decide what to do with it" One guard reported, saluting.

Celestia stood still, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Cadance quickly noticed a small, fractured bond between her aunt and the chained pony. She snapped out of her bond sense when Celestia said one word.

"Pulsar?..."

Twilight laid on the bed, multiple guards laying out of breath around her. Rock music blasting through some new speakers she summoned.

She quickly took a swig of the bottle in her magic.

"You may leave now, all except you captain. I don't want to be disturbed for another hour or two"

The guards got up and saluted, barely putting much energy into it and left. Twilight watched them leave, taking another swig from the bottle.

She sighed and stretched, her joints popping slightly.

"I really needed that. Ever since I fell from the moon it's been work and drama. I should have done this weeks ago. Some of you guards definitely needed it, didn't you?" Twilight purred, getting closer to the captain.

"Y-yes your majesty" Shining Armor responded.

"Mm so loyal, no wonder Cadance has you as her little pet. You are one hell of a stallion after all" Twilight winked at him and nipped his ear.

"Twilight!? What are you doing?!" shouted a familiar female voice from the door.

"Ugh. Of course. The fun has just begun and now she is here to stop it. Great" She quickly chugs the rest of the bottle in her magic and throws it onto a large pile in the corner of her room.

"Twilight, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, please. I lied, I do lo-"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT TO ME! DON'T GIVE ME HOPE JUST TO TEAR IT UP AGAIN!" Twilight growled, her eyes flashing with power.

Cadance cowered under the power display, a sight which made Twilight feel uncomfortable. Right now, however, she was too drunk to care how uncomfortable it made her feel.

"I have borrowed your little pet, you know, the one you love so much. Be aware, he might have a new type" Twilight teased, flicking her tail over Captain Armors muzzle.

Cadance had recovered from the little display of anger and power by the time Twilight had sat back down on her bed.

"In fact, all the guards that have visited probably have. Let's just say Moondancer from the intelligence agency is no longer straight. Or married. It's funny how much can happen in an afternoon"

"Twilight, this isn't the real you"

"Isn't it?! How would you know?! Maybe the little adorkable antisocial Twily you knew was just an act!" Twilight shouted.

"Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. But I know one thing for sure, no matter which it is, I love you"

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

Cadance crept closer to Twilight.

"I love you, Twilight"

"STOP!!"

Twilight didn't realise she was crying.

"Twilight.."

"Please.. Don't.."

Cadance hugged Twilight, who was still crying.

"I love you" She whispered into Twilight's ear

Celestia sipped her tea, savouring the taste before swallowing, the warmth of the liquid sliding down her throat. She hummed in approval at the tea, before casting her gaze back to the chained up pony that was unceremoniously dumped in front of her by the guards.

Pulsar was glaring at her, but didn't struggle to get out of the chains. Maybe she was still weak from being sealed in stone for a thousand years, or maybe she didn't want to break out.

"What would you like for us to do with this monster, Your Highness?" The guard standing to Pulsar's left asked.

"What makes her a monster?" Celestia calmly questioned.

"Uhhh well she... Has fangs and weird eyes" the guard answered hesitantly.

"Princess Twilight has the same eyes, and even more fangs, yet you do not call her a monster" Celestia countered.

"Ugh, I see your stupid guard hasn't changed, Celestia. Judging by the way I'm not dead or stone right now, you want me alive" Pulsar stated.

"Niece," Celestia sternly said, and the guard's eyes widened. "I apologise for everything that happened. I hope one day you can forgive me for everything I did. I was wrong. I would like to be a family, like we were supposed to be"

"I'm not going to just forgive you just like that, but we are biologically family so you get that wish. I'm guessing I won't be allowed back into the military?" Pulsar asked.

"You are correct, you cannot join them. You are now a princess and the role of Warrior Princess is taken"

Even though Pulsar hated her, Celestia was happy. She was so close to having her family back, and she will never lose them again. Of course, this meant finding a way to make Pulsar immortal and unkillable. That would be a challenge.

"Great. Please don't tell me I have to dress like one? That would suck. Oh am I going to have to learn stupid politics? Typical"

Despite the tension between them, Celestia chuckled.

"Don't worry, you can dress how you wish. You can be a princess in name only, although I would recommend you learn some so the nobles don't try and take advantage"

Pulsar sighed, still chained up. Celestia mentally facehoofed, she hadn't told the guards to take off Pulsar's bonds. She lit her horn and the chains disappeared. Pulsar stretched her wings, making the guards tense.

"Can I have some water or something to eat? It's been a few centuries since I last ate something" Pulsar asked.

Celestia nodded to one of the guards, who hesitated but left to go get food and water for Pulsar.

"So.. Were you-"

"I was conscious for some, yes, I was awake and asleep at different times. When I was awake, life was painful. When I was asleep, I had someone who kept me company and tried his best to make me happy. I could feel my skin as stone, I just felt cold. It felt terrible, but it honestly wasn't the worst thing to happen to me. I'm no stranger to extreme pain"

Celestia nodded and looked at the ground grimacing. Of course somepony who has gone through so much pain could endure more, but a thousand years of it is a long, long time.

"Pulsar, if you don't mind, but in a few days I want to take you somewhere. I've been working for centuries on a gift for Luna when she comes back, and I hoped you could help"

"I will not help you with anything that will put her back in banishment, Celestia" Pulsar sternly stated.

"I know, but this has nothing to do with that. Just come back here to my chambers in a few days, and then we will visit a place called Hollow Shades"

Pulsar stared at the statue in front of her. One she was very, very familiar with. Discord's statue. After her little talk with Celestia, she came here to try and talk to the draconequus again. She discovered, however, that Celestia had put a ward on the statue so he couldn't communicate with the outside world.

That upset her greatly, because she had gotten very close with the draconequus over the last couple of centuries. She sighed and decided to go for a short flight in the gardens.

When she heard some voices near her, however, she hesitated. Trying to locate the sources of the voices, she found a balcony with a partially opened door.

"Please tell me you used protection with those Guards?" one voice asked, sounding worried.

"You still have a lot to learn about Alicorn biology, Caddy. A Stallion would have to have alicorn level magic to reproduce with an alicorn. It's basically impossible" Another voice explained

Pfft yeah right, it's not impossible, after all Mom got pregnant.

Pulsar's ears went down after thinking of the younger sibling she could've had.

"Wait but I thoug-" the voice Pulsar guessed to be Cadance started

"My father technically ascended using a magical artefact that made him mad. He, at the time of my conception, had the right power level to get Mom pregnant"

Pulsar decided to slip into the shadows using some shadow magic and enter the room, to spy on the ponies having the conversation. She wasn't all surprised to see two alicorns, given the nature of their conversation.

She was extremely surprised, however, when the taller one seemed to glance straight at her and smirk as if she saw her.

"Oh, that makes sense I guess, but can you at least test, Twilight? The captain is the most powerful unicorn in Equestria right now, so if any non-alicorn was powerful enough, it would be him" Cadance begged.

"Fine. After I bring out the moon and stars though. Can't miss that" Twilight said.

This is the alicorn Celestia must've made to replace Mom. I bet Mom will be pissed when she finds out

"Hello, little pegasus. How interesting you can use shadow magic. I wasn't aware pegasi could do such a thing" A voice whispered to her.

She looked around in a panic, but saw no one. Twilight was on the balcony presumably bringing forth the night and Cadance was watching.

"Ah you must be confused. My name is Twilight, or I guess more accurately, part of her mind manifested as a shadow to talk to you. She can hear everything that is said"

"Um... Ok then" Pulsar said, slightly speechless.

"So, would you like to tell me why you are spying on me and Cadance? And how can a pegasus like you cast shadow magic?" The shadow questioned

"I was just outside having a fly after meeting with Celestia, and heard you talking about Alicorns so I wanted to investigate. I was taught shadow magic by the most powerful shadow mage" Pulsar blurted, unable to stop herself. She had tried to lie.

"Interesting. So, did you find the information you were looking for?"

"Partly. I found out that Celestia made you to replace Mom and that Mom will probably kill you when she is free from banishment"

She didn't notice that the shadow had disappeared after the first part of the sentence.

The room seemed to get colder, and in a blur she was tackled by something lavender and ripped from the shadows.

"How dare you! How dare you suggest that I was made by Celestia to be her puppet! I should kill you right here for such words!"

Pulsar panicked and tried her best to hit Twilight off of her. Twilight wasn't phased by her hits, but she kept trying.

"Twilight! Stop! Let her speak at least!" Cadance shouted from across the room.

Twilight's hold on Pulsar loosened slightly, allowing the pegasus to quickly slip away.

"Fine. You may explain, and choose your words very carefully"

Pulsar stood in a defensive stance, in case she was attacked again, and caught her breath.

"I assumed that when you were talking, you were talking about Celestia when you said 'Mom'. I also assumed you were my Mom's replacement because you brought out the night. I don't think that anymore, of course, because you hate Celestia as much as you love her"

Twilight stood there, wide eyed. She seemed to try and speak, but could not form any words.

"Wait. 'moms replacement'? Are you saying your mother is Princess Luna?!" Cadance gasped

Pulsar sighed. She was going to have to explain her story.

"Yes. Years ago, I was her student after she saved me from an abusive family. We fought in wars together, and after the war of the crystal empire, she adopted me and changed my DNA to make her my mother. Unfortunately, a few weeks later she was banished and I was sentenced to be imprisoned as a statue forever. I recently managed to break out of the statue and now Celestia had made me a stupid princess" Pulsar explained

Twilight mouthed a word but Pulsar couldn't tell what it was. Pulsar was just being stared at by Twilight and Cadance.

"Sister? Pulsar?" Twilight whispered

"Oh my God this is amazing! I wonder why Celestia didn't tell either of you" Cadance questioned

"Tell us what?" Pulsar asked, confused about this whole situation.

"I'm... I'm the daughter of Sombra and... Luna" Twilight spoke louder than before.

The pieces finally fell into place in Pulsar's mind.

"YOU SURVIVED THE BANISHMENT?! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE DIED WHEN MOM WAS SENT TO THE MOON!"

Twilight nodded, rubbing her ears with her hoof. Pulsar tackled her with a hug

"I can't believe you actually survived! I thought I had lost another sister... And you're an alicorn?! Amazing! Does this mean mom is back!?"

Twilight smiled sadly and hugged Pulsar back.

"She isn't. She will be back this year though. Still corrupted by her dark side" Twilight sighed

Pulsar wilted slightly in the hug.

"We can save her from it. Her and Celestia both. I will not let the past happen once more. We are supposed to be smarter than the old gods" Twilight broke off the hug and stared out the window to the moon.

"Uhh old gods? What are you talking about?" Cadance asked, clearly confused.

Twilight sighed and facehooved. Pulsar stood shocked.

"God damn Celestia and the way she shelters ponies from truth and history. She makes ponykind weak. Those who do not remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them" Twilight moaned.

"How much?" Pulsar asked, staring at Cadance. "How much has she erased?"

"Let's just say the ponies nowadays don't know any wars of the past, don't know about Discord or Sombra, and they certainly don't know about our mother. Well, most don't anyway"

"Poor Dissy, being erased in history while being a trophy in that garden" Pulsar sighed.

"Oh by the old gods. Are you serious?! Are you pining over Discord?!" Twilight shuddered. "I really don't think I can handle him as a brother-in-law"

Pulsar's face burst out in a ferocious blush, and her mouth opened and closed a few times utterly speechless.

"I am not pining over him!" She finally blurted.

"She didn't deny the obvious implication. I suddenly want to skip any future family reunions"

Twilight cast aside mental images of Discord doing things with her sister. She may have never met him, but her mother had painted a pretty vivid picture of him.

"Me and Discord aren't getting married!" Pulsar shouted

Despite the fact that the conversation was about Discord, Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the flustered Pegasus in front of her.

"Sooo we were talking about old gods?" Cadance asked, ending the silence that followed the giggle.

"Right yes, well, way before even Celestia and Luna's time, there were three main generations of gods. The Primordials, The Titans and The Olympians. Unfortunately, lest we be here all day, I cannot explain all of them. I will tell you of the main gods, and what happened to them, but that's it for now" Twilight slipped into her lecture tone.

Cadance and Pulsar sat in front of her, ready to listen carefully.

"The Primordials were born from Chaos. I will talk about the main Primordials for now. We have Tartarus, Gaia, Eros, Erebus and Nyx. Four of these five are still alive. Chaos also lives, although he likes to go by a different name now" Twilight quickly glanced at Pulsar. "While Tartarus technically lives, his body is rooted to the earth and cannot move. His body became a prison, one known in many legends. Erebus was banished to Tartarus, where he wandered the pit as pure darkness. Nyx was also banished to Tartarus, where she still resides to this day. Finally, Gaia became the earth. She is the earth, mother nature, etcetera. Understanding so far?"

Cadance and Pulsar both nodded.

"Good. Now, some of them had children, and eventually The Titans were born. They then had children and the Olympians were born. Unfortunately, the whole Olympian and Titan generation ended in a bloody war. All the Gods died in this war born of jealousy and hatred. The only ones to survive were the Primordials I told you about, Chaos and Harmony. Harmony would eventually go on to give her life so two certain ponies could contain Chaos. In doing so, they gained godhood. One took Nyx domain, which is the night and the other took a dead goddesses domain, the day" Twilight finished her little lecture and sighed happily.

"Sooo Celestia and Luna's domains are from dead or imprisoned gods?" Cadance asked

Twilight nodded

"So is mine from a dead god too?" Cadance questioned, attempting to understand.

"Yes, your domain once belonged to Aphrodite," Twilight answered.

"And what about yours?"

"I'm so glad you asked. I inherited the stars from my mother, but also got domain over magic. This means I got part of Hecate's domain. I say part, cause she had domain over the night and witchcraft. I do not wish to know if I got her domain over necromancy"

Cadance and Pulsar shuddered. Necromancy was always an uncomfortable topic for anyone, considering it was mostly about the raising of the dead or even becoming undead yourself. Of course, Twilight was curious about it. After all, she is all magic, light or dark.

"Right, anyway, I have somewhere I need to be. I will be back later Cadance" Twilight trotted to the balcony and took off.

She headed towards the cave underneath the city.

"Sir, she is back!"

Lord Fancypants turned to address the pony that ran into his study.

"What have I told you about interrupting my work, acolyte!" he scolded

"I'm sorry sir, but the student and first daughter to her holiness has returned!"

Fancypants' eyes widened.

"This is fantastic news, we must meet at the cavern at once! Our founder shall be welcomed back with open hooves to the order!"

After finding a hidden scrying spell in her room, Twilight was pissed. She thought it was Celestia trying to spy on her and use her for her little plans. When she found another one in Celestia's room, however, she decided to try and trace the connection.

That was when she discovered the little base built into a cavern by what seemed to be a cult.

After leaving Cadance and Pulsar to talk about what she had revealed to them, she headed straight down to confront the cult.

After landing next to the cave entrance, she dissolved into shadows. A little trick the shadow of her father taught her.

It seemed the cult was in an emergency meeting, which was perfect. She could capture the whole cult easier that way. Which she would do, after finding out what the cult was all about.

"Fellow followers of the night, praise Nightmare Moon, our true Queen!" the leader shouted

All the ponies were cloaked for now, so Twilight didn't recognize any pony.

Of course it's a cult for mother. Guess that means they won't try and harm me if I show myself. Well, if I'm going to, might as well give them a show

"GREETINGS, MORTALS! I HAVE DISCOVERED YOUR LITTLE FOLLOWING AND HAVE DECIDED PAY YOU A VISIT"

Twilight appeared before them on their table, sitting regally upon a throne. They all trembled in fear, except one. The leader. Twilight smirked, proud of herself for having such an effect on them.

"What an interesting little group here. All to worship the moon and her mistress. Of course, right now both belong to me. Tell me, why have you not contacted me, so that I may speak on behalf of my mother?" Twilight spoke with command, no waver in her voice.

"We believe you to be compromised. You and the sun tyrant have been seen working together" the hooded leader responded.

Twilight was impressed, the leader showed no fear towards her like the other ponies in the room. Unfortunately for said leader, that meant she could start uncovering who is under the hood.

She knew it was a stallion, and a tall one too. He is used to being around alicorns and maybe even her, suggesting it's somepony in nobility or working in the castle. Magic profile is light blue, and its thaumic hoof print suggests an astral and light profile.

She only knew of one stallion that fits under this criteria.

"I love my aunt, but, like mom, she is consumed by an evil part of her. I plan to rectify this. Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon shall be removed"

"So you are our enemy, if you truly would plan to be rid of the Goddess of the Moon"

Twilight smirked.

"Oh Fancypants, surely you know that 'Nightmare Moon' and 'Daybreaker' are both evil sides to Celestia and Luna? I plan to bring back Celestia and Luna" Twilight chuckled.

"How... Nevermind. So you are telling us that the mistress of the moon is possessed?" Fancypants asked

"Yep! But don't worry, I have a plan. It's foolproof. As long as none of you, and I mean none of you, get in my way" Twilight sternly commanded

All the ponies nodded fast, scared for their life.

Twilight picked up some notes on a piece of paper and read some of the plans.

"Ha! You managed to get auntie into bed, amazing. She trusts you and has no idea. That's diabolical"

As Twilight read more, she suddenly got mad. She had read the plans to seduce and sleep with Cadance for information.

"You will scrap these plans about Cadance" She ordered.

"I cannot do that. Cadance might know something, and getting her into my bed is the best way to find out. She is the Goddess of love, so I bet it would be a very pleasant experience"

The room began to hum, and slowly the heat rose. All eyes turned to the flaming alicorn in the centre, mane now made of violet flames.

"YOU WILL NOT LAY A HOOF ON MY MAREFRIEND OR I WILL TEAR YOU ALL APART AND SEND YOU TO YOUR MOTHER AS CUPCAKES WITH RAINBOW FROSTING

Everypony, even Fancypants, cowered down, shaking and some even crying.

Twilight growled and stomped her hoof, the fire in her mane instantly going out and the temperature of the room going back to normal.

"Glad we could come to a compromise. I am still a Goddess of the night so I will see this as a cult for mom and me. Include some more stars in the decorations. Do not disappoint me"

She disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the cults scrambling to find some paint.

Twilight sighed in bliss as she lowered into the hot, steaming water in the bath. After the day she has had, she really needed a relaxing bath.

"Mmm I can't believe I went hundreds of years without so many things here. Like coffee and baths"

She slowly drifted off to sleep, submerged in the relaxing water.

"Hello Daughter, we have to talk"

"Ugh, mother, I was trying to relax. What do you want?" Twilight groaned.

Nightmare frowned. She was obviously not happy.

"I heard you have courted the one Celestia replaced you with. I'm disappointed in you" Nightmare said bitterly.

"Not even you can control everything. I love Cadance and she loves me. I am happy with her"

"It is a lie! She is using you, for your power!"

"No she is not. The fact that you would say that proves to me that you don't know her at all"

"Daughter, please don't force me to use that spell. I have no idea what the side effects would be from trying to do it through your own mind" Nightmare pleaded.

"Then just don't, you have a choice. You aren't forced to use that, just let me be happy, please" Twilight begged.

Nightmare scowled before saying one word before everything went black.

"No"

Twilight's eyes flew open, and she quickly sat up gasping for air. She slowly began to be aware of the other mare in the room, blushing and staring at her with a worried frown.

"Cadance?" She blinked a few times, getting water out of her eyes. "I must have fallen asleep"

"You did. But you woke up as I was coming to see if you were OK. Are you OK?" Cadance asked, still concerned.

"I'm fine. I lived without air for my whole life. I'm used to it"

Cadance nodded and quickly handed her a towel.

"If we weren't late for dinner, I would've loved to join you. Auntie is kind of expecting us for a talk of some kind tonight"

Twilight groaned, somehow face planting the water in frustration.

"I know you don't like her that much, but maybe that's because you have barely spent any time with her unless you were asked by me or tricked into it" Cadance smiled. "But she did promise to leave us alone for the weekend. The only exception being if the world was ending"

"Finally, a long break. I thought I would be running a country, not listening to whiny rich ponies that are ungrateful for what they have"

"Well, come on, let's go. Apparently Auntie has a big surprise for us!" Cadance squealed, suddenly having a burst of excitement.

Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes, before kissing Cadance.

"Fine, let's go. I'm sure whatever surprise won't be that ba-"

Twilight's eyes go wide, as the whites of her eyes suddenly go blood red. She then collapsed, with only the feeling of extreme pain in her head and blood trickling out her ears and eyes.

Her last thought before she succumbed to blackness was

Mother... Actually did it...

Author's Note

How do you think Celestia plans on making Pulsar immortal?

Comment an idea

The Alicorn Pamphlet by Princess Twilight Sparkle

Alicorns. Those mysterious yet extremely powerful beings that rule over Equestria. What makes them so powerful? What makes them live so long?

This Pamphlet, which acts as an extension or part two of Dr Whoove's interview notes on Alicorns, explains the whats, how's and why's about Alicorns.

Introduction to Alicorns

The Species known as Alicornus equidae is a creature much larger than an average pony and has assets from all pony species. They have the horn of a unicorn, the wings of a pegasus, the strength of an earth pony, and a few more.

This Pamphlet will go deeper into each asset in its own section, as well as the difference between ascended alicorns and natural-born alicorns.

Alicorn assets

Horn

The horn of an alicorn is similar, yet different to a unicorn's. Visually, they only look longer and sharper, however the changes go much deeper than that.

The horn itself is significantly stronger physically, able to put a dent through even gold without damage to the horn itself, this does however hurt the alicorn.

It is also sharper, which along with its strength can pierce through many materials. It also allows finer spellcasting, gaining more control over power and accuracy.

Wings

An alicorn's wings are a lot different from pegasi wings, but most notable is their size. As an infant, an alicorn has wings the size of a grown pegasus pair, but the actual bone structure and membrane of the wings are very different.

The bone structure of an alicorn wing closely resembles an eagle's wing bone structure, while pegasi have a more similar structure to a pigeon.

An alicorn's wing is extremely sensitive, thrice that of a pegasus wing. This is why alicorns will lock themselves away from everypony when preening. The process is also different from pegasi preening therefore only an alicorn or somepony trained by an alicorn can preen an alicorn wing.

Strength and healing

Like earth ponies, alicorns have heightened natural strength and attunement to nature and farming. They also share an earth pony's faster healing rate. Like all other assets, these are also multiplied.

An alicorn's strength can vary based on how much they exercise and train their muscles, but even the laziest alicorns will be able to lift houses.

Their healing factor is slightly faster than an earth ponies, but they are able to heal from any injury due to their immortality.

Other assets

Some other assets alicorns have can vary. Some are unique based on their domain, for example, alicorns of the night can see perfectly in the dark and are naturally resistant to low temperatures. Alicorns of the day are resistant to high temperatures and can breathe fire similar to a dragon.

Alicorns can eat anything, including meat, gems, plants and even metal. Although gems are addicting for an alicorn, and are very, very difficult for them to stop eating them.

Similar to the original thestrals (or bat-ponies), alicorn coats get extremely Fluffy and are full of tufts, especially around winter.

An alicorn is always attuned with a Celestial system, and as long as this system still exists, so will the alicorn. An alicorn can be killed, but in doing so you risk destroying the Celestial system they represent. For example, if Celestia were to be killed, the sun has a chance of exploding and dying along with her. However if the sun reached the end of its life and died, Celestia would one hundred percent die alongside it.

Alicorns are so powerful because of their magic wellsprings are always oceans compared to the mug of water an average unicorn has as a wellspring. Their physical strength is mainly to do with the earth pony magic within them, which is also multiplied in strength just like their magical wellspring.

Ascension and Ascended alicorns

Ascended alicorns are the most common type of alicorn. They are attuned to one major Celestial system, and they link with that system upon their ascension.

Celestia, Cadance and Luna are all examples of ascended alicorns. Celestia was a unicorn before attuning to the Sun and ascending, while her sister, Luna, was a pegasus before attuning to the moon. Cadance was also a pegasus before attuning to Love.

Any species of pony can ascend, but ascension is an extremely rare occurrence.

Ascended alicorns are notably weaker than born alicorns, this is due to many factors that will be mentioned in the born alicorn section. However, ascended alicorns do have the experience of a normal childhood and even adulthood depending on age when ascending.

The ascension process is actually very interesting.

First, the original body is atomized while the host's consciousness is brought to another realm known as the plane of ascension.

The consciousness will then be guided by an existing alicorn through this plane, watching memories of their lives.

After the guide, the consciousness will leave the plane into a newly magically built alicorn body.

A few notes about this process is as this is a new body, this does mean that it is essentially brand new. Meaning physical virginity and other things will be returned if already lost before ascension.

One more thing to note, and this is more for alicorns in general, is genes. You are no longer related to your family by blood. You will now never be related by blood to any living creature apart from the Celestial system you represent. If you beat the odds and have a foal as an alicorn (like my mother, Luna), then genetically you are not related.

Born alicorns

Born alicorns are the rarest type of alicorns. After Discords rein, most information about any alicorns previous to Celestia and Luna have been lost.

From what we know, there has only ever been two confirmed recordings of natural born alicorns. The first, is the creator of Equus and ponykind itself, and the second, me (Twilight Sparkle).

The name of the first was lost, but the information left to us about natural born alicorns was not.

They are powerful. They have connections to a minimum of two Celestial systems.

For a natural born alicorn to exist, it's believed the odds are 1 in at least 1063 by my calculations. It requires two alicorns, explicitly male and female, no magical help or gender swaps, and extreme magic.

Genes in a natural born alicorn work the exact same way as an ascended alicorn.

Natural born alicorns are more powerful than ascended alicorns, in both physical and magical strength. I am unsure as to why right now, but it is most likely due to growing up as an alicorn and being tied to multiple Celestial systems.

I am attuned to the Celestial systems of Magic, Stars and knowledge.

It is thanks to that last one that I know most of which I have explained in this Pamphlet, and explains my fairly quick integration with society as a whole.

Thank you for reading this little Pamphlet of alicorns, and be sure to read Dr Whoove's interview notes to learn more about our immortality and other interesting facts.

Author's Note

Wanted to get a second small mini chapter about Alicorns in this story. Needed more lore about them honestly.

Also believed I needed to explain why Twilight is so powerful, and how she has managed to get so far into the government and Equestria's society.

After all, information is power.

The Date

Author's Note

Hey guys. Been a while hasn't it? I'm not dead don't worry.

I finally decided to finish this chapter after not writing for a while. Hopefully it won't take me as long to write the next one.

As a warning, this chapter contains brief topics of incest and abuse.

I'm slowly starting to fully preplan this story out. The entire one including the prequel.

I appreciate all the nice comments from you guys, really makes me happy and motivated.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

The Date

Twilight woke up, limbs entangled with something warm. Something was in bed with her and cuddling her. It took her a few moments to remember that she was actually in her fiancés bed, a feeling that was still new to her even after a few months.

Opening her eyes, she found herself muzzle to muzzle with Cadance. She smiled. Cadance was the first pony she saw upon landing, the pony who had stuck by her and been her rock in the flowing river of change.

Just looking at her erased any denial she had in her mind. She didn't care if they were being forced to marry, she didn't care if Nightmare Moon was returning, or Daybreaker was released. She only wanted to have Cadance by her side, and stick by her through all the tough times ahead.

"Morning" Cadance purred sleepily

"Morning" Twilight replied.

Twilight got up, much to Cadance's disappointment, stretching her limbs. Cadance tried to get up but groaned and collapsed back into bed.

"Looks like someone can barely walk after last night" Twilight chuckled

"How can you?! We went for like, 4 hours!"

"A warmup. If you had my training routine and full alicorn endurance, we would be going to at least a week minimum" Twilight shrugged.

Cadance just stared at Twilight.

"A whole week MINIMUM?! How do you know that? And how do you have so much experience?"

Twilight winced and froze. That was a question she really didn't want to be asked. Anxiety bubbled in her chest, and her breathing quickened. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened them and looked Cadance in the eyes.

"I was trained in it for hundreds of years, since I was eighteen. It was part of my education. It was needed for my mission here, which was to either get rid of Celestia, or seduce and turn her. I did neither"

"So you have hundreds of years of experience, I definitely knew that, but I thought the only two ponies on the moon were you and... Wait, Twilight are you saying..."

"Sometimes I was taught with magical constructs, but most of the time she taught me personally. If you excuse me, I need to go do my morning exercise routine"

Twilight unfurled her wings, then noticed the state her wings were in. Typical bed feather. She groaned and sat down again, getting ready to preen when she felt Cadance's hoofs on her back.

"Let me help, honey. Just lay down and relax"

"mm thanks babe" Twilight lied down and spread her wings, "Got word yesterday of a dragon circling a village near the border, I have been requested to check it out. What time are we having our date?"

"We have a dinner reservation at 6pm" Cadance said, massaging her lover's tense back.

"I will slay the mighty dragon, rescue the kingdom and be back for my beautiful princess by 4pm"

"I bet you will my brave Princess Charming"

Twilight giggled and then groaned when Cadance hit a really tense muscle. Unfortunately for them both, there is one other alicorn in the castle that no longer respects boundaries and privacy.

"Once you two have done whatever it is I'm interrupting, I would like a word with Twilight"

Cadance yelped and turned around with wide eyes, while Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.

"One fucking morning. That's all I asked. One morning with my fiancé and you decide to waltz in. What do you want, flame-butt?"

Daybreaker growled.

"Don't call me that"

Twilight got up, used magic in her wings instantly preening them while giving Cadance a silent apology, and approached Daybreaker.

"Hmmm nahhh I will call you what I want. You can't do anything about it. Cause even with that little helm, you can't even hope to beat me. Boop" Twilight poked Daybreaker on the nose, making Daybreaker growl again.

"No but I can definitely hurt your little helpless princess" Daybreaker teleported next to Cadance, and held a sword against her throat.

"If I see one drop of her blood spill, I will bring the gates of Tartarus down onto you personally"

Daybreaker smirked and put more pressure with the sword onto Cadance's neck, a single drop of blood forming and dripping onto the carpet.

"Ugh, and I just got that wine stain out too"

Twilight's mane and tail burst into magenta flame, her eyes alight with dark purple fire. She smirked and teleported Cadance to the side and tackled Daybreaker against the wall.

"Go on, Flame-butt, keep testing my patience. I promise that if you continue down this path, this sun will have a new owner by dusk" Twilight growled, pinning Daybreaker against the wall enough for it to crack slightly.

"Ugh, fine. But one day, you won't be able to overpower me and I will hurt you both"

"Hmm nah, the day that happens is the day I let Discord explore my rump"

Twilight turned and bucked Daybreaker through the wall and out into the gardens, making her land next to the statue of discord.

"AND STAY OUT OF OUR ROOM!"

Twilight fixed the wall with her magic and rushed over to Cadance checking her for wounds.

"I'm okay, Twilight, I'm okay. I just can't believe what just happened"

"Just remember Cadance, this if she tries to hurt you, you come find me or signal me through our mind or our bond"

Cadance nodded, shaking slightly. Twilight hugged and nuzzled her.

"Come on, let's get breakfast before I go fight that dragon"

The two lovebirds walked down the halls, with Twilight holding Cadance under a wing, making their way to the dining hall.

After entering the dining hall, they quickly sat down and told the servants what they wanted. Cadance wanted some simple pancakes and syrup, while Twilight had her usual slab of raw pork meat and gems.

"I never get how you eat that stuff. I wasn't aware ponies could eat it" Cadance stared at Twilight's plate.

"Ponies can't, but us alicorns are omnivores so we can. I just enjoy the texture and taste of raw meat. I studied it and I think it's because these teeth aren't for show, I'm a predator. I feel the thrill of the hunt and eat the spoils. This was last night's hunt, the chefs just cut it for me" Twilight shrugged, and tore into a piece of the slab of flesh.

"I mean, I kind of understand that I guess, I did learn about predators like manticores in school. But I thought only dragons could eat gems" Cadance asked

"Cadance, I'm going to warn you about gems. They are addicting. It's like a drug to alicorns. Do not eat one" Twilight warned as she shoved a gem in her mouth and her eyes rolled back slightly as she shuddered and moaned.

"Well ok, I promise. Wait, if you fight the dragon are you going to keep all its gems and eat them?"

"No, you don't need to worry about that"

Cadance visibly relaxed. "Oh good, I thou-"

"I will just add it to my hoard in Canterlot"

Cadance stared at Twilight. "What."

Twilight rolled her eyes, and chomped on another gem. She locked her lips and chewed on a bone from the meat. Eventually she looked back up at Cadance, who was glaring at her, and froze.

"Whaaaat? What are you glaring at me like that?"

"Sometimes I think that I'm marrying the dragon and not the princess Charming that rescued me"

Cadance stared up at the ceiling, the feeling of nervousness filling her chest.

"Okay, so I have the restaurant booked and notified about her preferences, I have the blanket and telescope ready at the peak of the mountain. The tickets to the movie are also booked. Everything will be fine"

Cadance's ears perked up at the sound of a knock at the door.

"Come in"

Daybreaker walked in, causing Cadance to back up slightly.

"Niece. I have come to check on how the wedding plans are going. I trust you are preparing them" Daybreaker asked.

"I-I am. The plans are a bit behind schedule but I can easily fix that" Cadance reported.

"Good. Now we must discuss the other plan, the one Twilight can't know about"

Cadance winced and her ears pinned to the back of her head, she stared at the floor with her eyes closed.

"Y-Yes... I know" She took a deep breath in. "Let myself get captured by Chryssy, allow her to take my place and... Hope that Twilight notices and stops her, saving me"

"Close enough. You remember what happens if you fail to comply to this plan"

Cadance sniffled and tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"You... Show Twilight the photos..."

"Correct, dear niece. Wouldn't want your bride to be seeing these pictures, would we? After all, she doesn't know the deal you have with Queen Chrysalis now, does she. Or should I say, the deal you have with yourself?"

Cadance's eyes went wide and she whimpered. How could she know?!

"You know?!"

Daybreaker smirked.

"It's cute that little Twily thinks the whole good side bad side thing is genetic. It's alicorns in general. With great power comes a great price. And that price is our mental stability. Of course, Twilight managed to merge with hers, but you did something different. You created a body for your bad side"

No no no no NO! She can't know!

"However, in doing so, you created a new species void of love. You created a species that consumes the love you freely create. Such a parasitic bond. Follow along with the plan, and I won't tell Twilight about the thousands of little bug children you have and about the little bi-monthly escapades you have with Queen"

Cadance was crying now.

"I... I promise I will stick to the plan.. She can't know.. She can never know.."

"Good"

Twilight landed on the balcony of her room, and rushed inside. She yanked open her walk-in closet door and quickly headed in, looking for something to wear for her date.

On one side of the room, we're dresses and a table with a mirror and tons of makeup, and on the other side were a bunch of suits. She sighed, unable to choose what to wear.

"Maybe a suit? They are much more comfortable than dresses, but would Cadance prefer me in a dress?"

She sighed. Deciding to try on some suits first, she didn't notice Cadance who had entered the room and was peeking in the closet.

"Ehh the blue suit doesn't really fit me, and the black suit is a bit basic. Why do I even have a pink suit?"

Twilight sighed again, holding up a bright pink suit.

"Awww you might look cute in pink though"

"Ahh! Cadance?! When did you get here?!"

"Weeellll not that long, just long enough to see you deciding on these suits. Worrying about what to wear for our date I see"

Twilight rubbed the back of her head with her hoof and nodded.

"How about we just go without any outfits? Just our regalia" Cadance suggested

"Are you sure? I mean aren't we going to a fancy restaurant?" Twilight asked, unsure

"We are, however, we are also royalty so turning up in our regalia is just as good"

"Well, alright then. We have a few hours before the time you said, and I have an idea on how to pass that time" Twilight suggested, quickly pulling Cadance into a passionate kiss and leading her towards the bed.

"Oh Twilight, I don't mind not waiting till after the date, guess we can blow off some steam" Cadance said slyly

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed, thrusting a hoof into the air. "I have the perfect book about how to act in fancy restaurants in my collection!"

Cadance stared at Twilight for a second, then started giggling, which turned into full on laughs.

"What? What did I say?"

"Oh Twilight, never change"

Approaching the restaurant, Twilight basked in the attention she was receiving by everypony in the area. Cadance still didn't understand why she enjoyed it so much, but she thought it might have something to do with her mother's history.

Cadance knew that she was staring at Twilight, and that Twilight most likely knew that she was. How else could she explain how Twilight slowly held herself higher, making the early-evening sun hit her in the most perfect way, framing the alicorn in a soft yellow-orange glow.

"Cadance, babe, you're staring" Twilight said, smirking slightly

Twilight's voice broke her from her little trance and she blushed.

"Uhh right. Uh we should be near the restaurant"

"I never said you had to stop staring. You had the same look in your eye that Celestia has when she sees cake. I'm sure public displays of affection are recommended, let's just keep it tame. I'm pretty sure public fornication is illegal"

Once they reached the restaurant, they were quickly seated after all the ponies in there dropped to the floor and bowed, much to the embarrassment of Cadance.

"What would you like for drinks, your highnesses?" The waiter asked, holding a notepad in his magic.

"I would like a glass of red wine please" Cadance said

"Of course, we have a selection of red wines, your majesty, do you have a preference?"

"Surprise me"

The waiter nodded and turned to Twilight. "And you, Your Highness?"

Cadance saw a glint of something in Twilight's eye, something that looked playful or amused.

"Hmmm I like the looks of some of the cocktails. Do you do a blow-job or a suck, bang and blow?"

The restaurant went quiet and the waiter went as red as a strawberry when it's in season. Multiple ponies spit out their drinks and one even started choking on theirs. Twilight sat there with a normal smile, patiently waiting for the waiter to confirm whether they did them or not. Cadance facehoofed.

After looking around, Twilight rolled her eyes.

"They are cocktail names, ponies, trust me I don't go asking random ponies to have sex with me. I don't need to, not while I have Cadance with me"

Cadance visibly paled, and a lot of ponies who weren't helping the poor pony that choked on his drink gasped. Cadance felt like she would possibly die of embarrassment right then and there.

"Uh.. Twilight, maybe we should, um, not say things like that?" Cadance timidly said, trying her best to ignore the stares.

"Fine. I will just have a glass of red wine too"

The waiter nodded and all but ran away from their table. Cadance took this opportunity to tell her fiancé off.

"Twilight!" Cadance whispered, "Why would you say something like that in public?! Who knows what the reporters are going to say!"

"I don't really care what the newspapers say, honestly. They all know not to spread slander about you, especially after the canterlot times tried to" Twilight shrugged.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, shortly after we got engaged, I found out some reporters tried to call you a succubus for power. The canterlot times building needed to rebuild half their building after that"

The waiter brought out their drinks and took their food orders. Twilight ordered a t-bone steak and gems, while Cadance ordered the tomato and daisy soup.

When their food came, they were deep in a conversation about Twilight's time on the moon.

"So all your experience comes from magical constructs your mother created?" Cadance asked

"Yes. That and mother herself. I swear sometimes I feel like she craves to be loved in that way a lot. Shame I can't just unbanish father and shove them two in a room for a few days" Twilight said, ears slightly lower

"If you don't want to talk about this then we don't have to"

"No. I want to. You deserve to know, and I put up these privacy wards for a reason" Twilight took a deep breath and sighed. "Cadance, my previous technical relationship lasted roughly 800 years, and it was with Nightmare Moon. After doing research, I confirmed it. Incest in alicorns doesn't exist. I absolutely hate that it's true because I feel wrong. I feel wrong because of that relationship, I feel wrong because I was obviously used for centuries. I may act all better mentally, after all I merged with my dark side, but I'm not. I'm still depressed, I'm still anxious. I just hide it because I have to. I have to save my mother, and aunt Celestia, I have to rule a country, I probably will have to deal with discord or father should they escape. Why? Because deep inside I know that all I'm good for is being used as either a tool or a weapon. Now, let's change the subject and not put any more downers on this lovely date"

Cadance nodded and looked down at her bowl, ears slightly back and promising to talk in depth to Twilight about this tomorrow.

"It's a little spicy, which surprises me" Cadance said

"Yeah, these gems have a kick to them. Weird, unless" Twilight licked one of the gems and sighed. "I believe the chef has put poison in our meals"

"WHAT!?"

Twilight rolled her eyes and called the waiter over.

"Please go and get the chef of these meals for me, I believe they have poisoned our meals. Oh and bring the poison too"

After a brief panic, the waiter rushed to the kitchen and came back out with a bottle of something and a chef.

"Ah, thank you waiter. So you tried to poison us, interesting. I'm assuming you used the strongest stuff you could get your hands on"

"That's pure botulinum, along with unicorns bane and cyanide! It will kill you within minutes"

"Tch Tch someone didn't do their research at all"

Twilight grabbed the bottle of poison and poured it over her steak. She took a big bite out of it.

"Mmm I love the spice of unicorns bane. I was unaware botulinum had such a kick too. The flavor doesn't really go well with the cyanide though. Eh, 6 out of 10 I'll rate it"

"B-but you should be dead! That much poison would kill a dragon!"

"Like I said, you didn't do your research. Alicorns are immortal, unkillable. Thanks for the meal, shame you used your skill in cooking for this"

"GLORY TO DAYBREAKER! SHE IS THE RIGHTFUL RULER AND PAID ME MONTHS AGO TO ASSASINA-"

The chef's head was engulfed in a magenta glow and his neck snapped as his head was forcefully rotated 180 degrees. Cadance couldn't watch anymore as the body hit the floor, so she stared at her bowl.

"Captain shade, please remove the body and let everypony know why he was given the death sentence, I want to go back to my date"

Cadance just stared at her bowl, ears pinned against her head as a pegasus soldier grabbed the body and carried it out the back. She didn't realize she was crying till Twilight spoke.

"Are you OK, Cadance?" Twilight asked

"I... I'm fine..." Cadance said, voice wavering

"Cadance please, you're crying, there must be something wrong. Please, I want to help" Twilight begged

"Y-you killed him..." Cadance stated

"I... Did, but he committed crimes that gave him the death sentence" Twilight said, sounding unremorseful.

"H-how can you just... Kill without regret? Why is it so easy for you? Would it be just as easy to kill me like some kind of a monster?!" Cadance shouted, then her eyes widened at what she said and how she said it.

Twilight flinched backwards, ears down. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes.

"Cadance, if that is what you think of me, then so be it. I love you, even if you say I'm a monster. I... Understand. So send me away or don't, because either way I will love you and I would never, ever intentionally hurt you"

Cadance felt horrible. She just basically called her fiancé, who has had problems with being called a monster for months, exactly that. She felt she could literally feel the crack in Twilight's heart that she just made. So, her mind apparently not being compliant, made her try to run away.

Twilight acted fast, grabbing her and wrapping her in her legs and wings. Cadance cried into Twilight's chest, sobbing and stuttering apologies. Twilight kept her comfortable and calmed her down.

"Cadance? Are you okay now?" Twilight asked quietly

Cadance sniffed and nodded slightly.

"I don't blame you, you are in shock. I understand, trust me. I'm here for you"

"I... I need to tell you something... And it might make you hate me..."

She felt Twilight tense slightly, whether it was the thought of hating her or being scared about what she was about to reveal, Cadance didn't know.

"You can tell me anything and I won't hate you"

"I...I had a bad side... Like you did. We separated... She created a race called the changelings and every month or two I have to go... Help her repopulate by letting her feed on me... I'm sorry! It involves us... Doing things to get the love out..."

"Ah. I see. When was the last time you did that?" Twilight asked, voice sounding calm

"Last week... Aunt Celestia seems to think she will invade our wedding, and used this information as a way to blackmail me into following a plan to defeat them which relies on you noticing that Chrysalis would take my place. I'm really trying to hold this in or lie but it's not working and now I'm so scared" Cadance blurted out.

"I'm sorry for that, Cadance, but I knew you were lying about something like this. I had to. Call me a stupid monster, but like I said, you could do anything to me and I would still love you. Even... Cheat... On me"

Cadance, of course, knew that, but she also could hear the hurt in Twilight's voice along with the noticeable pause when she said 'cheat'.

"I've hurt you... I know I have...twice"

"It... Ah... It would be a lie if I said you haven't. If going out and... Having sex with some other ponies while I'm busy makes you happy... Then it's fine.. I guess"

She could hear the struggle Twilight had saying that whole sentence. Cadance already knew what Twilight was doing. Twilight was sacrificing her happiness to try and make her happy.

"Cheat on me... Abuse me... Hate me... As long as you are happy, Cadance" Twilight whispered.

Cadance felt something liquid on her head. Twilight was crying. Enough was enough.

"No. I will stop. I have to stop, Chrysalis will have to find somewhere else to get love. I never want to cheat on you again, I will never abuse you. You are all I want, Twilight, you are all I need to be happy" Cadance grabbed Twilight and kissed her.

"You... Truly mean that?" Twilight asked after the kiss.

Cadance smirked.

"I do"

Twilight made a mental note to do some research on this Chrysalis and these so called changelings

After the whole fiasco at the restaurant made them miss the movie, they decided for a quick late evening walk around the city before heading up the hill.

Twilight felt a lot better after Cadance had promised not to cheat again.

"Hey Twilight!" Called a familiar voice.

Twilight turned around and saw Pulsar trotting up to them.

"Oh hey sis" Twilight greeted.

"How are you guys doing? I hope I'm not interrupting a date"

"We don't mind. Besides, it doesn't look like we are the only ones on a date. Who is the mare next to you?" Twilight asked

Both Pulsar and Cadance looked around, seemingly confused, before turning back to Twilight.

"Um, Twi, there is no mare next to me" Pulsar carefully said

Twilight stared at this mare standing next to her sister that both Pulsar and Cadance couldn't see.

This mare had gray fur, bright magenta slitted eyes, and a fiery mane and tail that seemed to have a cyan outline, with purple inside. It had another section in it just like fire, except it was two shades of magenta instead. It flowed calmly, despite being fire-like.

"Then who.."

The mare's eyes suddenly became fully black, and darkness surrounded Pulsar. Twilight watched this darkness seep into Pulsar's skin. She tried to stop it but couldn't move.

The strange mare, whose eyes now were leaking a black substance, shushed Twilight and disappeared in a vortex of darkness.

"Twilight? TWILIGHT!" Yelled Cadance

"Huh? What?" Twilight shook her head

"You OK sis? You are acting strange" Pulsar looked concerned.

"It's nothing. I think i just need some sleep after a tiring day" Twilight brushed off their concerns but still stared at the spot the mare was before.

"Come on Twilight, let's go home. We'll see you later Pulsar" Cadance wrapped a wing around Twilight and coaxed her to walk away.

Once they both got to their room in the castle, they both sat on the bed.

"Are you going to tell me what happened back there?" Cadance asked, slight authority in her voice that Twilight completely missed, staring at the door.

"How many alicorns do you know in Equestria or beyond?" Twilight asked, gaze not altering from the door.

"Four. You, me, Aunt Celestia and your mother. Chrysalis doesn't count because she isn't exactly a pony. Why do you-"

Twilight suddenly turned and looked into Cadance's eyes full of panic

"Then why did I just see another one that was able to freeze me without me detecting any magic and able to alter Pulsar's soul?"

Celestial Plans and The Wonderbolts

Celestia sat upon her throne, listening to the whining of her subjects that demanded petty stuff from her. She wasn't really listening, however, as her mind was more focused on her plans.

They weren't going so well. Her 'talk' that was supposed to happen with Cadance and Twilight didn't happen because Twilight was currently in the hospital. She somehow managed to be the first Alicorn in history to have a natural aneurysm, something that was thought impossible. Perhaps she shouldn't call it natural, as every single blood vessel in Twilight's brain was affected simultaneously.

Eventually everypony left the throne room and she was left alone with her thoughts, at least she thought she was. It seems being wrong is becoming quite common for her.

"Aunt Celestia. I need to talk with you" said a familiar voice in the shadows.

"Twilight? I thought you were still unconscious in the hospital?"

"That's not important right now. You need to stop planning to make Pulsar immortal" Twilight sternly commanded.

Celestia was shocked. Twilight didn't want her sister to be immortal? Why?

"What?! Why wouldn't you want to have her immortal?! She is your sister!"

"I know, but I have my reasons. Oh, I also heard that some ponies found some kind of burning crown in one of the vaults. You might want to do something about that" Twilight smirked then vanished in a flash of white magic.

Celestia sat dumbfounded over the whole conversation. Her plan to make Pulsar into an alicorn was almost complete and now she can't even use it?

She couldn't understand why Twilight wouldn't want her sister to be immortal? Why would she want to go through the pain of losing a loved one like that?

You are a massive fool, you are asking the wrong questions! Like how is she suddenly ok after what happened? Even alicorns don't heal that fast. And also, her usual teleport flash is the same hue as her magic, so why was it white this time?

Celestia barely had a chance to think on these questions when the doors to the throne room opened and Pulsar came walking in.

"Ah good, thank you for coming Pulsar" Celestia greeted

"Why did you call me here, Celestia? I was trying to catch up with modern customs" Pulsar said, rolling her eyes

"Back when you and Luna were banished, I decided to do some things and pull some strings to honour you both. I want to show you what I made for you" Celestia nodded to the guard at the door, who opened it letting in a few pegasi.

"Thank you for letting us come here, your highness" Spitfire said, bowing along with her fellow wonderbolts.

"And thank you, Spitfire, for coming on such short notice. I wanted to introduce you to somepony that I believe you would want to meet. Spitfire, Soarin, Thunderlane and Fleetfoot, may I introduce you to my niece, Selena Pulsar"

Pulsar, confused and slightly annoyed, gave them a small wave.

"Selena Pulsar? As in, the Pegasus that the Wonderbolts were formed because of? The original member? It's an honour!" Spitfire respectfully bowed slightly to Pulsar.

Pulsar stared at the ponies bowing to her, with a look of shock.

"The Wonder what's? Are you military ponies?" Pulsar asked

"We are an elite flying squadron, performing air shows all around Equestria . We are also a military branch, but very rarely are we sent on missions"

Pulsar stood dumbfounded at all the new information. She turned to Celestia, still in minor shock.

"You.... You made a whole military branch for me? A whole flying team?"

"Of course. I cared about you, Niece, despite my actions. It broke my heart to lose you and Luna"

"I-is it true... That you have a nightmare side like mom?" Pulsar asked

Celestia sighed.

"Yes. Yes it is. Now, I have a mission for you. You are to join the Wonderbolts to head to Ponyville, where you will gather supplies and head towards Hollow Shades. There you can inform the Batponies of my sisters return and hopefully convince them to not get involved with her return"

"Wait wait wait. Hold on. Why? Are you trying to get me to leave fully? This seems suspicious" Pulsar cautiously said.

Celestia smiled kindly.

"No tricks, I promise. I just don't want anypony, be it pony or bat pony, hurt or worse. I fear if they join the fight, I would be forced to send the royal guard to fight them. They could get in the way of being able to free Luna''

Pulsar seemed to focus on Celestia while she was speaking, as if analysing any signs of deceit.

"...fine, I will go"

Celestia nodded at Spitfire, who saluted and led Pulsar out. While they walked out, they both seemed to quietly converse with each other.

After they left, Celestia sighed. She had to reveal the main reasons why she was sending Pulsar to Hollow Shades, but she didn't reveal every reason. She couldn't, unless she wanted her niece to trust her less than she already did. Celestia smiled again, knowing her plan to have Pulsar make some friends was working. After all, what better place than Ponyville and Hollow Shades? One having the kindest, friendliest ponies, the other having other ponies of the night that have experience with being shunned just because they have an affinity for the night.

She stood up off her throne, and stretched her limbs and wings. She had an infirmary to visit, for two reasons. To make sure her niece was alright, and to figure out if the Twilight that visited her was actually Twilight. She didn't notice the three sets of familiar identical magenta eyes hidden in the shadows, watching her every move.

Pulsar glided slowly down to the path leading to Ponyville, the Wonderbolts not far behind her. Looking around, she thought the place looked a little familiar.

"So we got to visit a few stores for some supplies, and apparently a farm for some long lasting food" Spitfire said.

"Alright, we better go to the farm last then, since I believe I saw it on the fly down and it was on the other side of town. We might get more done if we split up into twos, each pair taking one shop" Pulsar suggested.

"Ohh my gosh! It's the Wonderbolts!" Squealed a mare behind them.

Pulsar and the Wonderbolts turned to see Rainbow Dash, staring at them in wonder perching on a cloud.

"Ah, you must be Rainbow Dash. Nice to finally meet you" Spitfire greeted.

"You know my name?!"

"Of course, how could we not know about the pony who performed a sonic rainboom to get her cutie mark? You are future Wonderbolt material"

Pulsar coughed to get the attention back on herself, trying to signal to them that they have a mission.

"I recognize you from somewhere" Rainbow flew around Pulsar getting a good look at her.

"You are looking at Princess Pulsar, also known as General Pulsar. She fought in a major war over a thousand years ago and is Princess Lu-"

"Luna's first daughter! I knew I recognized you! That means you must recognize this land!" Rainbow exclaimed

Pulsar nodded slightly, carefully looking around. Suddenly it hit her. This was the battlefield of the battle of shadows. Her vision suddenly blurred and any conversations around her drowned out. Flashes of corpses on the floor filled her vision, screams of injured soldiers and the roars of battle. She saw ponies cutting down other ponies. She saw a foal, no older than twelve, mutilated at her hoofs with her own blade bloodied.

"HEY! SNAP OUT OF IT SOLDIER"

The yell snapped her out of her flashbacks. She was hyperventilating, and sweating hard. Many ponies were looking at her, concerned and confused.

"Are you OK?" Rainbow asked

"Sorry... I just had some more flashbacks of the battle. Just give me a second, I can calm down"

She stared at the ground, slowly calming down. The images of that foal, the green eyes bearing deep into her soul. She heard murmurs about a princess. She yelped as she was swept up in giant wings, and turned to see her sister, Twilight, hugging her and calming her.

"Shhh it's ok. I promise it's ok" Twilight cooed

"S-sis? I thought you were in the hospital?" Pulsar asked

"I know, and I am. Don't worry about that right now. I want you to trust me. It will all get better"

Pulsar slowly calmed down fully, and eventually Twilight let her out of the hug.

"Thanks sis.."

"Anytime. Now listen carefully" She felt Twilight's hoof under her chin, pushing her head up to look in Twilight's eyes. "The General out of time will meet her fate, right outside the devil's gate. Through Darkness she will realise, it is then that she will rise. Remember this well, sis. Till next we meet, in those fields of green"

Pulsar gasped as Twilight disappeared in a flash of magenta. Till next we meet, in those fields of green?! But... That's what she used to say to me before she disappeared before the war!

"Uh hey, you ok? You seem a bit shaken" Rainbow asked.

"R-right. Sorry. Spitfire, we should probably get the supplies for the mission. Also, how did you know about my mother? I thought no one knew about her anymore unless they were military"

"Ha! We live in a town closest to the old castle. Of course we know about it all, we are the biggest celebrators of nightmare night. It's hard not to know the story when the mayor and librarian tell the historically accurate version, not some silly tale about eating ponies and stuff"

"Princess Cadance? We have some news" The doctor said

"Oh, please tell me she is OK!" Cadance begged.

"She is recovering fine for now, however we are concerned. We have managed to figure out her aneurysm was caused by magic placed on her brain. It's a build up of dark magic, and it seems to be a few years old"

Cadance gasped.

"Tell us what you can do to remove it, doctor" Cadance started when Celestia talked.

"There are a few options. We can either redirect her magic to cleanse the dark magic, but that would only work if her magic is untainted by dark magic. Or we can perform an operation to remove it. The final option is to just leave it in and hope it was a one time use" the doctor explained.

"How risky is this surgery? We need to know to make our decision" Celestia asked

"It's pretty risky, since we are operating on a recovering brain, but it can still work"

"Then logically it is the best option. Go ahead with the surgery, and use the extra strong anaesthetic"

The doctor nodded and walked out of the waiting room. Celestia sat down next to Cadance, resting a wing around her withers.

"Cadance, Twilight is strong. She will survive, we are alicorns remember? She only risks losing memories" Celestia tried to comfort Cadance.

Cadance stared at the floor, her ears back against her head. She was scared, she just got with Twilight, they barely had a week and now she might lose her. Maybe if she thought about possible future dates she could calm down.

Maybe romantic stargazing in the gardens? Cadance smiled slightly, Twilight loved stargazing. Maybe a trip to a bookstore? Twilight could be so adorkably addicted to books. Maybe a nice candle lit dinner, to treat Twilight like the royalty she is?

So many date ideas, but she still needed to distract herself. It's way too early for a wedding, but maybe make some future wedding plans? Would Twilight enjoy a traditional wedding? Or maybe something more old fashioned? She was, after all, taught by somepony who only knew things from a thousand years in the past.

Oh and the honeymoon. She still has that nice hut near the lake where her adoptive parents spent their honeymoon. That's perfect.

"Cadance, I know that look in your eyes. What are you planning?" Celestia asked

"Oh um just date plans. For me and Twilight. Once she is, you know, feeling better" Cadance replied, blushing slightly.

"Hmm, yes and how strong is your bond with her? I do recall you mentioning that you can see how strong bonds are in Relationships, correct?"

"I haven't looked. I'm too scared too, auntie"

Cadance heard Celestia hum in thought. Maybe she should check, of course it was going to be strong. There shouldn't be any doubt how strong it could be.

"Check. I am curious about something"

Cadance gulped, then nodded. She closed her eyes and opened her bond sense. Everywhere around her, strings of different sizes overlapped and crossed over each other. Each one connects to ponies all around. The blue strings represent a father-child bond, the purple represent a mother-child bond. The yellow bonds represent a sibling bond. The smaller grey bonds represent other bonds like uncles and grandparents.

Then there are the rainbow bonds. Friendship. They had their own plane of existence to the others, just like love did. Speaking of love, the strings of pink and red fire connecting ponies represents love. The larger the flame, the stronger the connection.

This was it, for the first time since she got with Twilight, she will view their bond. She had instantly hidden it as soon as they got together, but not anymore. As soon as the bond appeared, she had to instantly come out of the sight. She grunted and rubbed her eyes with her hoofs.

She felt like she just stared at the sun. Slowly, it dawned on her. Somehow, their bond was so strong it basically was a sun! She saw Celestia smirk next to her.

"Something wrong, Cadance?" Celestia asked, a bit too innocently

"It's... It's the strongest bond I've ever seen. How?" Cadance asked in awe

"Maybe you are both soul mates, destined for each other. Maybe it is because you are the alicorn of love? I wouldn't know, it's your domain after all" Celestia answered with a smirk

"But... What does this mean for us? This is... Unbreakable"

"Perfect. For the record, niece, I am so so sorry I had to do this, but allow me to explain to you why first"

Cadance didn't like where this was going, but found herself nodding slowly anyway.

"With Nightmare Moon escaping soon, and the tension in Saddle Arabia and Zebrica that could lead to a war, we need something to cheer our ponies up and make them see we aren't scared. It needed more than a gala so I arranged for something more special" Celestia explained

"Auntie what did you arrange?" Cadance cautiously asked

"A wedding. For you and Twilight. A week before Nightmare Moon's return"

Cadance stared at Celestia, mostly in disbelief. She had arranged a marriage and everything for her and Twilight already?

"And if I say no?" Cadance asked

"You can't say no. It's a royal order"

Cadance inwardly cursed, and tried to think of possible loopholes.

"Twilight can override that order, because she is part of the Diarchs! You have equal power!"

"It has to be a mutual override by both Diarchs"

"What?! So one diarch can make a royal order, but it takes both Diarchs to stop it?! That's ridiculous!"

"Actually, no. The solar regent can, but for the Lunar regent to make a royal order it requires the Solar regents permission" Celestia clarified.

"That's unfair! That just gives" Cadance's eyes widened. "Gives the Solar regent more power than the Lunar regent. Auntie! This is probably the kind of law that made Luna do what she did!"

Celestia winced. It was obvious that Celestia knew she was right. A cough startled them.

"Excuse me, your highnesses" Fancy pants interrupted, "There is an emergency meeting with the council going on, and we need Princess Celestia to be there"

Celestia nodded.

"Very well, I am once again sorry for what I had to do, but it's for the best. I hope you will see that soon enough. Let me know how she is when the surgery is done" Celestia left the room with Fancy Pants.

Cadance sighed. She needed some time to think about everything. She hadn't even been on a proper date with Twilight,now they were engaged? It made her feel giddy yet saddened inside.

Sure, she was marrying the one she loved, but they didn't choose when they got to get married. She didn't get to experience the feeling of watching her love bring out a ring and ask that important question. She didn't get to shout yes and hug her love, crying happy tears.

She knew she was thinking negatively, not considering any positives to this like how she has just proved her and her marefriend's love was strong. Not marefriend, fiancé

She blushed slightly, a hint of a smile seeping onto her face. She was going to marry the one she knew was her soul mate. Like a Princess, and her knight in shining armor. Ew, let's not think about the guard that did my fiancé hours before we got together

Cadance closed her eyes and thought about her wonderful fiancé, she couldn't wait to see her again. Before she knew it, a few hours passed of her just thinking about Twilight.

"Um, Princess Cadance? Are you alright?"

"Huh? What? Oh, doctor, sorry I was lost in my thoughts. How is she?" Cadance asked

"The operation went well, she has recovered well, and is still currently under the effects of heavy anaesthetic" The doctor reported.

"Caddddyyyy, they poked my braaaiinnn and now I feel funny. I demand cuddles for reward!" Twilight slurred as she waddled in clumsily.

"Ah, thank you doctor, I can take her from here"

The doctor nodded and quickly left. Twilight had made her way over to her and had already nuzzled Cadance.

"Come on Twilight, let's go back to my room. You have been through a lot"

Twilight, obviously liking that idea, quickly kissed her. Cadance thanked her alicorn strength as she picked up Twilight, depositing the high alicorn on her back and carrying her to her room. She tried her best to act natural as she passed castle staff, guards and nobles, but Twilight decided that she was going to cuddle Cadance and do her best to kiss her on the cheek.

"What do you mean?! This is unheard of! I have been running this country for millenia, I will not allow this to happen!" Celestia protested

"Your Highness, you are still keeping your royalty and your regency, however we are just shifting most of your political power to the Lunar regency because of a lack of faith vote in the Solar regency" Fancy Pants calmly stated.

"Lack of faith?! I have been doing all my duties and even more! For the last thousand years I was doing the duties for both regencies!"

"Yes, and we thank you for that, but since Princess Twilight became Lunar regent you have spent most of your time doing nothing but plotting and planning like a stereotypical fictional villain twisting their curly moustache and stroking a white cat! It's unacceptable! You have cancelled meetings with us, left court unattended, and stopped paying attention in military briefings! So now, the only duty you need to worry about is raising and lowering the sun" Fancy pants turned and walked out.

Celestia sat, stunned and gawking. Not only have they just rendered the solar throne powerless, a mere mortal had just said such things about her. She was no villain! She was the hero, she was trying to save all their pathetic little lives from the Nightmare and they were punishing her for it?!

How dare they! They can't abandon the Sun! It's the giver of life, the warmth of a mother! It guides their path!

They should pay for their treachery! All shall burn in righteous fire! All shall become one in flames!

No, they are just scared. They will come around, they can make their own decisions. This is just a small vacation.

No! You are weak, Celestia! No one loves you! Your whole family hates you because of your actions! You are forcing your nieces to marry when they only just got together! You trapped your other niece in stone for a thousand years! You sent your own sister to the moon! You are incapable of love, you only see them as pawns!

Celestia's mood dropped, her head hung low and her ears back against her head. Her wings drooped down, tears dropping from her muzzle.

They.. They do hate me don't they... Am I really incapable of love? Is that why? I...

Give me control, and I can make everyone love you again. One big, happy family.

Images of Luna, Celestia, Twilight, Cadance and Pulsar sitting around a fire enjoying some tea and laughing and chatting filled her mind. It was perfect. No hate, no plots or schemes. Just family and love.

I can have that? All of it?

Yes, all you need to do, is put on the crown

Celestia opened her eyes, and on a pedestal before her, was a helm like crown of red fire. Almost a thousand years of her mind being chipped at by Daybreaker finally paid their due, and the wall broke. She picked up the crown and put it on, the flames filling her mind.

Her mane and tail burst into flame, her eyes became dark and draconic. Her teeth sharpened. Armor formed around her, while her cutie mark slightly changed.

"Enjoy your little fantasies Celestia, it's time to show this world why you never mess with the undefeated Sun, the eternal flame, the real Queen of fire. DAYBREAKER!"

The halls of canterlot Castle were filled with maniacal laughs.