The Chains before the Shackles

Slowly the Moon rose over the lands of Equestria, and like the last few nights, the sky seemed even more beautiful than any pony alive had seen in all their years.

Though not everypony knew it, this was due to the return of Princess Luna, who now descended from the sky to land on a balcony looking out from Canterlot Castle.

The renewed Princess had gone through some changes since she had been first been freed from Nightmare Moon’s influence. Her once small stature had returned to one of full size, and her mane, once a soft blue, now mirrored the stars and radiance of her glorious night.

An Alicorn grew in size as their power built up, and the truly powerful, such as Celestia and Luna, had manes and tails made seemingly of some form of energy.

It was a strange and difficult phenomena to explain, especially since so few Alicorns existed throughout history, let alone at the present time.

But these were not the thoughts on Luna’s mind as she entered the tower which served as her own private chambers.
Her sister has been avoiding their ‘talk.’

Ever since they got back to Canterlot, Celestia has claimed that she would explain just what in Tartarus was going on.

Slaves.

Just the thought confounded the younger Princess.

Just what could have possessed her Sister to take such an action?

It couldn’t be that Humans were wicked; the one that she had the fortune of meeting seemed incredibly noble.

And what was this talk of a Noble’s Council?

The Princess of the Night let out a frustrated sigh. Enough was enough.

Luna exited her room through hall doors, her newly reformed Lunar Guard stood at attention as she exited and headed towards her Sister’s room just down the hall.

“At ease,” she told the bat ponies.

She would not need them. This was not a coup.

Yet.

Celestia’s own guards stood at attention, as Luna knocked on her sister’s chamber door.

…………

Celestia was reading Twilight’s most recent letter over, a cup of warm tea nearby, as she heard the knocking on her door.

She sighed, knowing who it was. She was actually surprised that she hadn’t come sooner.

Celestia had indeed been dodging the subject long enough. “Come in Luna,” she called.

Her sister entered with the same grace she had a thousand years ago. And though The Canterlot Guard moved behind her, she seemed not a bit deterred.

Celestia held her hoof up, “you two may leave, my sister and I need to speak in private,” she told them.

They saluted, and closed the door behind the Princess of the Night, whose gaze never left her older sister. “You’ve been holding your explanation for too long, Sister,” she said.

Celestia looked down, “yes I know,” she admitted, folding up Twilight’s letter and setting it aside, “I just wasn’t sure how to word things exactly, but I suppose there is no making this seem any better.”

“I should hope not,” Luna said, her eyes narrowing. “Nightmare Moon found some amusement from it, but I do not.” Her voice was becoming irate. “Slavery Celestia! Of all things!”

“Please, Luna, sit and let me speak, it’s a long story, and it really starts right after Nightmare Moon took hold in you,” she started.

Luna’s eyes didn’t leave her sister’s, but she resigned herself to hear her sister out, and laid herself down on a nearby cushion.

“First off,” Celestia began, “neither of us was ever meant to rule alone, and certainly not while commanding both day and night,” she said.

Luna raised an eyebrow.

“I tried, for two hundred years straight, I tried my best to rule over Equestria and keep Night and Day balanced, and it was…… draining,” Celestia’s voice seemed tired just from remembering it.

“It nearly destroyed me, so I resorted to an alternative form of government, one with a high council of both nobles and representatives from across Equestria, it was a form of government conceived by the Pegasi, if you remember,” she continued.

“It was working out fine, while I was more of a figure head, I had less responsibility in ruling and I was able to get some rest, and continue to maintain the balance of Night and Day.”

Celestia sighed, and took a sip of her tea. “Until five hundred years ago, a young Noble grew wise to just how powerless I was. He was brilliant, I’ll admit, a match for Starswirl in his younger years I’m sure, but he was also ambitious. He wanted power, and he knew who could give it to him.”

“I’ll tell you now; this was the first of my most grave errors. I had grown complacent and careless, and I accepted his proposal of making a ‘Head of Council,’ position, and appointing him at such a position.”

“With it, he had final say in all things that went on in the council, and while I’ll admit the Stallion was a little Tyrant in the making, he was also very aware of one fact, if Equestria suffered, he lost power, so he made sure even the lowest rungs of Equestrian society was well taken care of.”

“I’m ashamed to admit it, but had he asked it of me, I would have gladly appointed him Ruler of all Equestria in my stead, though it really would have just made his title match his position. He may as well have been King, especially when he paid off key members of the council to vote that ‘Head of Council’ would be a hereditary succession.”

Celestia took another sip of her tea, as Luna interjected.

“Are you going to tell me that all the blame lies with some Nobles?” she asked, her gaze accusing and intense.

“No,” Celestia said flatly, “I’m just explaining to you events which happened in the past that led to the way things are now.” Celestia, despite withering slightly under the increasingly angry glare of her sister, was keeping calm.

"So you let the ponies govern themselves through representation to a council of aristocrats,” Luna summed up, thinking on it, “and consented to an ambitious stallion taking direct rule over it, and agreeing to his family being the exclusive holders of such a title.”

Celestia sighed once more, “I know, due to my foolishness and aloofness, I’ve set the nation up to be ruled by an ambitious family and an ever increasingly corrupt group of politicians,” the older sister gazed out her window into the night, obviously wishing she could run from this. But she knew it was something her sister needed to know.

“That’s only part of what’s wrong Tia,” Luna pressed. “I think it’s high passed time you told me why you enslaved the humans.”

Celestia closed her eyes, and finished drinking her tea, and set the cup down. “First, let me tell you of the Human Prince,” she started. “When we had first made contact with the humans, he came himself to Canterlot, as a sign of good will and trust, for the heir of the Kingdom to act as emissary, it was a powerful show.”

She grew quiet once more and stared at the floor while contemplating, “But that’s how Taelon was. He wouldn’t trust anything to someone else if he saw it as important, and he knew that The Azure Dawn’s relationship with Equestria was going to be of the utmost importance.”

Celestia looked Luna in the eye again, “The humans had migrated en mass into Equestria’s frontier border, before they even knew about us,” she explained. “When I asked Taelon about where they’re from, he explained that they all used to live together in once magnificent city, before a great calamity destroyed it, and forced what remained of his people to flee to lands unknown.”

“He admitted that he wasn’t even born yet when it happened, so he doesn’t know what exactly it was, only that the elders who had seen it explained that it was like a storm of fire.” Celestia shook her head, to get herself back on track.

“Anyways, the refugees had travelled for decades, finding no suitable land, as the Calamity had destroyed much of the land around them. They lost many along the way, before the first few groups reached Equestria. At the time, the land they came to was uninhabited, we never built settlements in that region, so only a routine border patrol stumbled on them.

“We sent ponies to observe them, to learn if they were a threat or not. Once we decided we could engage in diplomacy, we sent our own emissaries first, and then a few weeks later, Taelon came to Canterlot.”

Celestia looked to the ceiling wistfully, “we hit it off right away, and set immediately to better understand one another, our languages, our customs, even our beliefs,” Celestia sighed. “I introduced him to the council, who were wary of him at first. This was understandable, Humans were observed to be omnivorous, and Ponies tend to regard creatures which could, and possibly would, eat them with at least a small bit of caution.

“That could even be how all this started,” she sighed as she continued to recall the past.

“Allow me to interject, sister,” Luna spoke up, the older sibling’s ears twitched as she listened. “But if the humans are omnivorous, what have they been fed?” She asked, a part of her almost scared of what the answer may be.

As if picking up on her fears, Celestia gave her a comforting smile. “Nothing as gruesome as what you might think, though it was a worry at first, but we found that beans and nuts in sufficient quantities provided the protein they needed to survive.”

Luna nodded, and Celestia continued talking.

“Things started off well enough between our races. We traded goods, ideas, and until one day, a pony was attacked and…. Eaten by a group of humans. There was already plenty of tension, but that act nearly pushed everything over the edge in a mere instant.”

“The perpetrators were dealt a harsh justice by the human courts, who counted it as murder, and had them executed, and to sooth Prince Taelon’s worries, I promised him, that I wouldn’t let it come to war between our peoples.”

Her gaze grew sadder as it fell to the floor. “But fear remained in the hearts of everypony, from the common peasants, to even the Head of Council himself, Purpleborn IV, the fifth Head of Council.”

…………

277 years ago

A rather elderly pony, with a gray mane and a set of somewhat regal trappings, paced back and forth in anticipation around the council chambers. The rest of the members of the high council sat in their seats, waiting with him. Each of the four of them controlled some aspect of their nation directly, but as of late they have been discussing a certain issue amongst themselves.

Soon enough, the pony they had been waiting for arrived, as the doors to the chamber opened and Princess Celestia walked in with all the poise and grace befitting one of her title. She had two guards accompany her.

The head of the council looked at them, and then to her.

She nodded and dismissed them.

Once the doors closed behind them, he spoke, skipping all formality, “We have a problem, your highness,” he said, going to his own seat, which sat higher than the other council seats.

“I can guess as to what,” Celestia said as she remained standing. While she was mostly a figure head, the council, for the most part, respected her for her wisdom.

The head of council nodded, “the humans must be destroyed before they become a menace,” he stated coldly.

Even though the Alicorn expected that this had something to do with the humans, she wasn’t prepared for a move towards extermination. “That ludicrous,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Purpleborn. “The actions of a few of them should not determine the fate of their whole race.”

The head of council glowered, “I understand it is a harsh decision, but it is one that must be made if the stability of the realm is to remain. To have such vicious creatures as neighbors puts many of the citizens of your Kingdom at unease,” he argued. “It’s bad enough that we have the Griffons threatening war every time they have a new King crowned, but these newcomers are too dangerous.”

He too stood now, daring to make himself seem the equal of the Princess of the Sun, “I’ve read the reports of the observers, I know how fierce they can be in war, and unless we take them by surprise and crush them quickly, any one of our more hostile neighbors may take it as an opportunity to attack.”

“You assume that they would attack us!” Celestia’s tone grew louder as she stared down the Head of Council.

“As far as I am concerned, the first blow was theirs when that trades pony was murdered!” He shouted back.

The rest of the council seemed to grow nervous as they watched the argument build.

“That was two humans, who were punished by their own kingdom for their crimes,” Celestia stated, her eyes narrowed at Purpleborn. “You’re demanding their destruction due to an isolated incident.”

“Yes, but how long before it isn’t an isolated incident?” asked the old stallion. “When will you put your own ponies ahead of others?”

“When will you put others ahead of yourself?!” Celestia nearly screamed.

There was a moment of silence. “We’ve already agreed that this should happen,” he told her quietly. “We asked you to come here to officially declare war.”

Celestia’s eyes widened and she looked to the other councilors who all looked away, unable to look her in the eyes. After collecting herself again, she looked back to the Head of Council, “I refuse,” she said.

“We will march on them whether you agree or not,” he replied. “If it is war or an act of the Council, it does not matter, what matters is these monsters be dealt with before they become a problem to us.”

Celestia was once again taken aback, “They are not monsters,” she argued.

“Perhaps your judgment is clouded due to your friendship with the human Prince,” Purpleborn said. “I know it’s hard, Celestia, but this is for the good of us all,” he said, turning to go back to his seat.

“Wait,” Celestia said quietly, “you can’t destroy them all,” she was almost pleading now.

It pained her to do it, and seven hundred years prior, she would have blasted him to oblivion for being so insolent. But that was a much younger, rasher monarch.

Even if she couldn’t stand it, she had given power to the council, if she just took it away because she didn’t like what they did, that would make the whole point of it meaningless.

The Head of Council looked at her as he took his seat, and sighed, looking down, as if remembering a bit of his compassion which was worn down from so many years in power.

“What would you have me do?” he asked her. “The humans are unlike any race we’ve had to deal with. If not for their few number, they could easily take control of the region by force.”

Celestia knew this was true. The humans were nearly perfect predators, and skilled soldiers when the need arose.

Ponies weren’t pushovers, as they’ve proven time and time again against Griffons and Diamond Dogs and other races that had come to take land or resources from Equestria.

But humans were a force to be reckoned with. Even though she trusted Taelon, she couldn’t be sure she could trust any future human king from allying with one of Equestria’s enemies, which at the time were numerous enough. And having an enemy almost literally within their borders was a frightening concept.

“We could subjugate them,” she finally said. “Keeping them under our control and ensuring that their population never gets out of hand.”

The Council was dead silent as the weight of her suggestion settled in, when Checkerboard, the Councilor of the Interior rose from his seat, “Princess Celestia, not since the time of Sombra has ponykind practiced Slavery,” he said.

Celestia nodded, “I know, but we have never practiced Genocide, and I refuse to let things go to that,” she said, earning at least a moment of silence from the Council.

Taking a deep breath she continued to outline the plan, “humans have no latent ability to pick up on magical signatures, or manipulate magic themselves, so we could sneak unicorns in under invisibility spells, and catch them by surprise.” She fought for the strength to say the next part, “P-prince Taelon is coming to Canterlot next month for an extended stay, if we capture him….”

“They’ll lose their most honored hero and talented commander,” said the Military Councilor. “We could win before the battle even begins.”

“We’ll keep this secret until preparations are completed, if anypony lets slip, this will become a much more difficult fight.”

The High Council began to debate the fine points of the new plan to bring the humans under hoof.

Celestia mostly tuned them out, and soon she was walking out of the council chamber, bracing herself from the days ahead.

………..

The Present

“So it was your idea in the beginning,” Luna said with a disappointed glare.

“Yes, but please understand Luna,” Celestia started, trying to explain.

“I understand perfectly well Sister,” Luna cut her off, “You bargained for an equally detestable middle ground because you were too weak to do what needed to be done at the time,” she growled.

Celestia looked down in shame, “Yes, I was afraid that if I acted in any way that was forceful, I would end up walking the path of a Tyrant, and I let my own fear of the humans potential push it to an extreme, where I suggested humans be enslaved for the sake of Ponykind,” she said, admitting to her crimes.

Luna stared at her, calming somewhat as she saw her sister going through the turmoil of guilt, but there was still one more question she needed to ask, “What about the human Prince?” she asked her. “I doubt he was keen to the idea of being enslaved.”

She noticed as he sister visibly winced, and wondered if she had struck a nerve.

“He wasn’t,” was her reply before she explained what happened.

………..

The Day of Subjugation

Princess Celestia moved swiftly through her castle corridors towards the guest quarters, where Prince Taelon was residing for his stay.

She had been avoiding him as much as possible, the guilt of what was going to happen weighing heavy on her.

She had sent guards to capture him, to bring him peacefully if they could.

But she knew things weren’t going right.

It was taking too long, and as she came closer, the sound of weapons clashing certainly didn’t dissuade her fears of the worst happening.

They stopped before her magic forced the door open, to see Prince Taelon in the center of the room, facing three ponies in front of him, each armed with a spear as he kept them at bay with a sword of bronze, one which he always brought with him on his visits.

Nearby, a wounded pony writhed in pain while holding his wounded side.

All the combatants were panting heavily.

Taelon saw Celestia burst in, “Celestia!” he said, sounding somewhat relieved. “Whats going on?” he asked. “Your guards demanded I come with them to see you, and tried to place a collar on me,” his tone was harsher than normal as he stared at her with his mismatched eyes, pleading for an answer from his friend.

Celestia looked him in the eye, finding it difficult to do so as she spoke calmly, “Taelon, please, put down your weapon and come quietly,” she said.

He gripped his weapon tighter as he looked at her with wide eyes. “What’s going on?” he demanded again.

“As of now,” Celestia started, “Equestria is taking control of all human towns and settlements, with the express order to take all humans alive if possible,” she said, choking out the last few words. “The enslavement of the human race is to bring stability to the realm and safeguard us from future dangers.” Her normal kind tone was gone as she droned out these words, as if trying to detach from the situation.

Taelon stared at her as she spoke, fear gripping him as he realized what she said. “Celestia, you….. you approve of this?” he asked, visibly shaken.

The Princess of the Sun just remained stone faced, “please, put down your weapon and give yourself up,” she pleaded.

The Prince trembled, and after a moment, he dropped his sword, which rang loudly on the floor with a clatter, and was followed by hoof steps which drew closer to him, if only cautiously.

The human stared at the floor, and before the guards reached him, he turned and sprinted to the balcony.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she pursued with her guards as the human Prince reached the railing.

She prepared her magic as he turned to give her one last look, before throwing himself over.

Celestia stopped in her tracks as she realized what had happened. Her spell forgotten as he heard the thud from several stories below.

She ran to the railing and looked down to the hard ground of the Palace Garden, to see the broken body of a human prince that she once had the nerve to call a Friend. One whom she betrayed. One whom died because of her.

…………

The Present

“He’d rather die than be made a slave,” Luna said somberly once Celestia had finished.

The older of the Alicorns nodded, “as did many other humans when they got the chance,” she said.

The Moon Princess sighed. Part of her wanted to sympathize for her sister, but the disgust at what she had done was still too near.

“Luna, please, I need your help,” Celestia spoke up again, getting her sister’s attention. “I want your help to bring things to how they should be, with humans free,” she said.

Luna looked at her, somewhat surprised, but thinking on it, she could understand why. Celestia seemed to regret what happened greatly. “Why don’t you just force the council to do as you command?” she asked her sister.

Celestia shook her head, “that would not solve the problem. Ponies have had humans as slaves for centuries, to just force them to give it up would be difficult, these things will take time, but……”

Luna cut her off once more, “you say you want to set things right, but you’re not willing to do so in the quickest and simplest way?” the younger sister was growing more irate.

“Luna, it isn’t so simple,” Celestia tried to argue.

The Princess of the Moon grumbled, “I fail to see how they would not give in to a demand by their Princess.” She sighed and stood up, “I’ve heard enough,” she said, “I must retire to my chambers now sister,” she said. “I have…. Much to reflect on.”

Celestia was about to say something, but stopped and nodded, “I understand,” she said, “have a good night, Luna.”

Luna waited a moment and nodded in return, “you as well, Celestia,” she said, opening the door with her magic, and going to her room.

She dismissed her guards for the night, and went inside to lay and get some rest and reflect on what her sister had told her before returning to her nightly duties.

It was sometime later, that she heard a sound at her door.

Looking over, she saw that there a piece of paper was slipped into her room.

Going to the door, she opened it and looked out. Seeing nopony in either direction of the hall, she lifted the note with her magic, and read what was written.

To Our Princess of the Night,

We invite you to meet us so we may remove the Tyrant Sun and place you in your rightful spot. We will meet you in the South Fields of Canterlot on the next full moon. We hope you accept our humble service.

Signed, The Servants of the Night.

Down with the Sun!

The contents of the note surprised Luna, and she looked around one more time for whoever left it.

She retreated back into her room, and closed the door, looking at the note once more.

What could this mean? She wondered.

Could Celestia truly be a Tyrant?

There seemed to be a resistance forming against her, in some form or another.

Was all Celestia told her a lie?

Luna looked out into her night, and noted the phase of the moon.

The next Full Moon wouldn’t be until next week.

She went to her fireplace, and threw the note into it, letting it burn away, not sure what to hope for when she would meet these ponies.

Author's Note

A/N Start of a new arc which will be significantly shorter than the Nightmare Moon one.