Transference

The sun was still nowhere to be seen when Twilight teleported herself right into the middle of the throne room.

She knew something must have happened as Spike had been unable to reach out to Princess Celestia. The letter addressed to her would always fall to the ground, no matter how many times the dragon tried sending it off with his fire.

As she was looking around in the dark, the stained glass windows around her suddenly lit up from the bottom upwards, slowly illuminating the throne room in colors.

The sun was finally coming up. A sight that reassured Twilight greatly.

In the half-lit room, somepony could be heard entering the throne room by the main entrance.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed while turning around, before realizing her mistake.

Luna had her horn still engulfed in magic, guiding the sun up to its dedicated point in the sky.

After a pause, Luna looked at Twilight for a moment, before turning her head to one of the glass-stained windows that depicted herself and her sister.

"Twilight," Luna began, still looking at the window. "I bring sad news".

"Where is the Princess?" Twilight asked, not hiding her concern.

Luna, now looking at Twilight. "Princess Celestia is dead. Murdered."

There was an eerie silence in the throne room.

Twilight slowly sat down, trembling, processing the information while her face became near white, her eyes unfocused.

She remained in that position for a while before she suddenly puked on the glossy floor and lay down, not paying attention to the mess she had made.

"The being we banished last night must have found a way to her, likely before our fight with it. I am to blame as well, for I could not sense the imminent danger we were all exposed to," Luna said in a monotonous tone.

"But... how?" Twilight cried, holding her face with her hooves. "This makes no sense. We were all there in your realm, we could have helped her!"

Luna sat next to her and let her cry. She made sure to have some distance between them, though.

"Can I see her? Twilight asked with tears still flowing and snot slowly dripping down.

"I'm afraid that is not possible, Twilight. My sister has left clear instructions on how to handle her possible demise," Luna said in an absolute manner.

Luna continued, "My sister wanted to be remembered by her subjects as she was when she was still alive. Nopony shall see her lifeless corpse. I ask you to respect her wish."

Tears still flowing, Twilight nodded, "I... I think I understand... Where is she now?"

"My sister didn't want a grave or tomb, but to be taken by phoenix fire and her ashes spread out in all of Equestria," Luna said while looking back to the stained glass windows. "Philomena provided that fire as a last tribute before being released back into the wild this morning."

Twilight held her tears while she was listening to Luna.

With a throbbing heart, Twilight looked in the same direction as Luna, noticing a moving light beyond one of the windows. It must have been close.

As she made the connection in her mind, she started smelling a faint trace of smoke in the air.

Twilight almost puked again but managed to hold it in. While holding her mouth, she continued to cry with closed eyes.

"This is terrible!" Twilight whispered into the throne room at no one in particular.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna addressed her in full. "You must focus, as there is more to my sister's last will than the conclusion of her dead body."

Looking up, visibly exhausted, Twilight tried focusing her attention on Luna with watery eyes. She didn't have the strength to talk anymore.

"You will take my sister's place beside me, and together we shall rule Equestria. Princess Celestia wanted it so," Luna announced.

Twilight just lay there, looking up at her, as if she had seen a monster.

Luna continued, not minding Twilight's gaze, "Starting tomorrow, you and your friends will make the recent events known while you scatter the remains of my sister around Equestria."

That was it. Twilight collapsed in her self-made puddle of sorrow and grief.

"You are back," I stated the obvious as Luna appeared next to me. "Must have been a long day."

With a tired face, Luna answered, "Indeed, but it was required of me. It took Twilight a while to compose herself and accept her future role."

"What about the other Elements?" I asked genuinely wondering.

"I'm sure they know by now, either by Twilight directly or by other means," Luna said, tiredness in her voice, "A week of mourning will follow as they spread the ashes all over Equestria."

"Mhm," I mumbled unsure of what to say.

Luna looked at me. "I hope you understand that I have no feelings for you. The kiss between us was a settlement for the pain I caused you."

"Sure, I get it, it's like a friendship with benefits kinda thing." I laughed.

"You mustn't worry, there will be a time and place for you to satisfy your worldly needs and desires", Luna specified after my last remark.

Despite being in the dreamscape, I couldn't muster to imagine my blushing away. Her looking at me while turning red didn't help either.

"Right... apart from that, you know..." I addressed her as a tomato. "The, ehm, disposal of your sister? Why?"

Luna gazed into her dream sky. "You must understand, I never hated my sister. Unfortunately, she was against anything that would have threatened her position of power."

I listened closely while I watched her rearrange the stars above to picture her story.

"Celestia was always of the opinion that her ponies were of a higher race, unicorns being a prime example of that belief, because of their magic."

The stars started depicting the slaughtering of what I believed were non-pony creatures, but some victims seemed to be earth ponies as well.

"Celestia made sure that the most gruesome acts committed by her loyal followers were lost in time. Ponies now only seem to know about my own past."

I just nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"Already thousands of years ago, I had tried to help all creatures equally, no matter their origin, no matter if they were a pony or not, much to my sister's dismay. She started spreading made-up stories about me behind my back, to lessen my influence all over Equestria."

The stars above depicted two sides. One side with Celestia and her ponies, and one side with Luna and a mix of different creatures standing against each other.

"Over the course of many years and generations, the masses started to shun me and my night. Celestia had an active part in forming me into the true nightmare I unfortunately became."

The stars now showed a picture of Nightmare Moon. There were ponies but also griffons, diamond dogs, and other creatures unknown to me who ran away from Luna.

"What I want you to understand is that there is no change possible with Celestia, she always tried to keep me small and would have continued to do so for all eternity. She lived long enough," Luna concluded her little story.

"So, you think Twilight will be different then?" I asked while looking at her.

Luna looked away from her stars and into my eyes. "Well, that also depends on you."