Afraid of the Light

Chapters

Dreams
The Crown
Illusions
Nightmare
Fake It
Burning Red Inferno
Happy
Questions
The Gala
Return of Harmony
Empty
A Warning
The Truth
Red Sun
The Tired Mind
Fire with Rage
Help
Canterlot Tower
The Burning City
The Country Comes First
The Collapse
Seconds Tick Forward

Dreams

Chapter One: Dreams

The unicorn Celestia roamed fields, the new fields of Equestria—a new nation. The unicorn with a pink mane and white coat smiled as the sun rose above the horizon. Slowly, being important as the sunrise had been taking longer to do as the years went on. As the sun rose higher in the sky and its warmth spread across the valley, blanketing her and the fields in a warm hug, she smiled.

The cold months had dragged on before the tribes found Equestria. Having to flee their homes in a chance of desperate survival was risky, but thanks to the three tribe leaders and their second in command, they found a new home. A safer home. A home to form friendships and family.

All that was left of her family was Luna, her younger sister. Her mother and Father had perished in the winter due to a sickness that overwhelmed most of the unicorn population. Celestia had pushed down the grief as much as she could, of course, she missed them, but frankly, the matters of keeping Luna safe and finding a way to survive were always her top priority.

Now that she was safe, she had all the time in the world to reflect on her loss. On her mistakes.

Celestia didn't want to ruin the moment of peace, the first moment of quiet she had felt for years. She preferred to reflect on the future, and on how to improve. Maybe she was running from her emotions? She didn't exactly care if she did. Crying about ponies dead months ago would not help her now. Nor bring them back to the living.

She took deep breaths to concentrate on something else, grasping for something else to occupy her mind. So she focused on the sun, the constant. She focused on its beautiful light and how it could make anything better. The sun was like a friend almost.

She considered her life so far, recently she had been 'discovered' by Starswirl the bearded due to her magic ability. She did not have a cutie mark like other ponies her age but Starswirl said she had the potential to do wonderful things. She did have a dream of being a scholar of magic. She wanted to research magic. Discover new spells. Perhaps be as powerful as Starswirl himself one day.

Celestia scoffed at herself with a small smile at how ridiculous she was being. Be as powerful as Starswirl? That was almost blasphemy.

"Tia? TIA!"

She turned her head slightly to barely be able to see her sister Luna galloping towards her from the distance, hopping over rocks and dodging holes in the ground.

"Tia!" Luna shouted again and her pace faltered and she slowed to a stumbled slower gallop as she took deep breaths of growing exhaustion. "T-Tia, g-get over here. Y-you airhead."

Celestia's expression fell to annoyance and confusion when she raised an eyebrow and trotted quickly over to her sister, who came to a stop to frantically try to take in deep breathes from possibly running a far distance as Celestia did tend to wander far away from the newly established village.

"Airhead? That's not a nice way to greet your sister. Good morning by the way. Nice to see you are finally up." Celestia replied as Luna took a moment to lean against her to regain her strength.

"Some of us don't want to wake up in the dead of night to wander to some boring field to watch the sunrise for the hundredth time. Coommmee onnn-" Luna promptly complained before bitting the tip of Celestia's mane and began tugging in the direction of the town. "Starswirl wants to see us- come on, I want breakfast! I want to go see my friends at some point today and certainly don't want to spend that time waiting for you and your lonely self!"

Celestia gave a chuckle before lighting her horn with golden magic and tugging her hair back out of Luna's grip before taking the lead on the travel home.

"Being alone is fun, Luna. It gives me time to think and study. But, I am happy you have friends. Believe me, I don't want to keep you from them. I suppose I am a little hungry." Celestia replied. Luna gave a bright smile and was soon trotting beside her, each of them discussing their plans for the future and how their day would progress.

As they moved through the beautiful land, full of stories to come, Celestia was happy. She was happy with her life. Happy with her plans for the future. She was going to be a scholar of magic. She was sure her life was on track. She didn’t consider for a moment, that one year later, it would all come crumbling down before she had even time to process what took place.

The Crown

Chapter Two: The Crown

Things had fallen apart fast.

"Did anyone, anypony, any blasted being in the universe consider that, maybe, just maybe, I don't want to rule?" Celestia spat out with hatred in a small lavish room filled with the decoration of gold and antique furniture that any pony would dream of being among. Celestia turned to the only other soul in the room, her teacher, Starswirl the bearded, who she was almost as tall as now and still growing due to her new powers.

A month ago, on pure impulse and a rather quick decision, Celestia rose the sun, followed by Luna when the guardians of the sun and moon failed to do so one morning. They were unicorns one moment, next they had sprouted wings and were called goddesses. They were told they had to rule the new country. It was in their destiny. They were born for it.

But Celestia hardly thought a sun cutie mark equalled needing to rule. She wasn't keen on the idea. Sure, she had considered teaching magic when she got older. But leading a whole country for who knows how long was not on her bucket list.

Now, minutes before she and Luna were supposed to be crowned, she found herself pacing back and forth, angry at Starswirl, angry at the universe, angry at herself even for even thinking for a moment she could raise the sun. It doesn't matter that she could, it matters that it caused her current situation.

Starswirl was an old wizard, he was getting up there in the years, and she always thought he obviously knew better than her in all subjects due to his experience, but for once, she had serious doubts about his logic. He was the one to mainly convince the three tribe leaders to step down and allow his pupils to take the throne.

"Celestia, you are an alicorn now. You are not some...unicorn anymore. You have a destiny to raise the sun as your sister does for raising the moon, those sorts of talents should not be wasted on just those tasks. You are both worth so much more than that." Starswirl pushed with an annoyed scowl. "I do not understand why you are so resistant to this. Your sister Luna-"

"My sister does not understand what is happening. All she sees is fame, recognition for her magical abilities, recognition that you failed to give her enough of when we were unicorns may I add, and the lies the nobility and you are spreading of what we are." Celestia interrupted, rage burning in her eyes. "She is not seeing the bigger issues. The responsibility we will have. How our lives are being made into some...some...fairytale, how we are expected to be perfect and godly when we are not. We are NOT."

"You are overthinking this." Starswirl was brushing her concerns aside, again.

She ruffled her new wings in irritation. She wasn't good at flying, not yet anyway. But she found it enjoyable when she needed to escape and be completely alone. To be away from the politics and the lying of nobels of Everfree Castle that she had been subjected to for a month and was loathing spending the rest of her days in the castle's confining walls.

"I wonder if this is how Stygian felt."

Starswirl flinched and suddenly couldn't bear to look his student in the eye and he suddenly became preoccupied with examining the books in the beautiful bookcase beside him. He ignited his horn and flipped through them to absentmindedly as he considered how to proceed.

"Stygian was misguided. He allowed darkness to cloud his judgement."

"You didn't listen to him. You told him he was being ridiculous just as you are doing now to me."

"Stygian is gone. He has been gone for months, we kicked him out because he tried to steal the elements and that is that. Celestia. His story has come to an end. He is no concern to us anymore."

Celestia stayed silent as Starswil returned the books to their rightful place before taking a deep breath and turning to the double doors in front of them in tense silence. They both took slow steps that echoed across the room before they both paused. Celestia gave Starswirl another pleading look for him to reconsider.

She knew it was far too late, even their previous conversation was far too late. But, she had hoped he would see reason somehow. Of course, his expression was of stone with not a hint of mercy in those eyes, same as the night he and the rest of the Pillars banished Stygian, she was just as doomed.

Starswirl swung open the doors to a long hallway lit by torches mounted to the wall. They moved past paintings of past great ponies as another door opened further down the hall to see Luna and Princess Platinum emerge from one of the side doors, both chatting happily about the coronation that was to take place in a matter of moments.

Luna gave her a bright smile as the sounds from behind the door ahead of them grew louder and the cheering of a crowd inside the throne room intensified. Starswirl and Platinum discussed some last-minute details as Luna moved to stand beside her sister proudly, excited for the moment they were to be crowned.

Celestia was anything but excited. She had a growing pit in her stomach and it wasn't going away. She could feel the beginning of nausea taking hold for sure as her anxiety rose. But she smiled for Luna, trying to look as happy as her to calm her own sister as she knew the whole process was a lot.

"Do you think my friends will be there, Tia? I really want them to see me get a crown!" Luna asked with a sparkle in her eyes. Celestia wanted to tell Luna the truth. No, no, they won't be there. Only the highest class of ponies will be in that room. Ponies who are rich and influential enough to be around nobility will be in that room. Their lives no longer revolved around friends and happiness.

"I hope so, Luna."

Luna laughed in excitement as Platinum grabbed hold of the door with her magic and smiled at the pair when trumpets began to play in the room ahead.

"Ready girls?"

Celestia gave a fake smile with a nod before shooting Starswirl a look of anger. Which, he, per usual, ignored. Platinum nodded back before giving a gitty Luna a nod of confidence before swinging open the double doors to the throne room. The sisters moved quickly to emerge into the giant room, surrounded by cheering ponies.

Illusions

Chapter Three: Illusions

Within weeks of her rulership, Celestia realized how fundamentally flawed ponies as a species was, including herself and Luna. She was surrounded by Nobility all day, barking orders at her, demanding new laws at random chaotic moments to try to gain more money into their own pockets. Surrounded by ponies who always had their own agenda and way of trying to manipulate the crown to suit their needs. Even the purest of ponies could not escape its toxic hold.

She wasn't exactly angry at the ponies around her, they were mortal after all. She was mortal at a point and understood the knowledge of death, of knowing you are on a ticking clock to the end. How short their lives were in a sense and the need to be remembered for something, even if it was awful was a powerful drive to do very foolish things. They could only think short term, something Luna was struggling to understand.

Within a month of Celestia and Luna taking the throne, they agreed to hold court, one for the day and one for the night. Celestia's Solar Court was the more popular option. She was the elder sister and had a step higher level of authority than Luna. The ponies, poor and rich had come to the unspoken agreement that if you needed something done, trick the higher authority. Besides, going out into the dead of night to venture into a dangerous forest that protects the castle wasn't exactly an appealing idea unless you were very desperate for an audience with an Alicorn.

So they came flooding to the Solar Court, and she grew to understand quite quickly that she and Luna were looked upon as powerful goodnesses, especially her. The poor came with the expectation that she could save them with a spell of her horn or flag of her wings. The rich thought she could be tricked, as all the leaders were tricked before her.

The smiles she was given as a unicorn, and the ponies she once knew when she was moral had turned out to be as fake as Nobels when they were desperate enough. Nobody truly wants to know what a 'goddess' is like truly. They want to know what they can take to benefit themselves and their families.

Celestia had started to play the same game they were. She gave a fake smile, maybe too many fake laughs, said all the needed words and even tried her best to be kind to the Nobels as they tried to scam their way into tearing down another orphanage for their homes. It was exhausting and on top of all the scrolls and laws she had to go through each day, she found herself either alone or in her study working without breaks. Sometimes she even forgot to eat or sleep. Of course, there was always a spell she could use to hide her exhaustion.

She knew Luna had been suffering. She barely saw Luna at any point, she asked the servants to report back to her on news of how her sister was doing, especially the servants working during the night shifts. They were all worried for Luna, of course. She had become more blunt, snappy, and overall seemed to hate everypony and everything. Maybe it was because she lost her friends? Perhaps. Becoming an Alicorn doesn't exactly sit right with a group of friends if they become jealous. But the more likely case was, that the country was ignoring her.

They were ignoring her for a few reasons, none of them were valid exactly but to limited minds and a mod mentality it made sense to them. Luna was not the highest authority, if the Nobels and common folk wanted anything to truly pass into law they had to go through Celestia to confirm. They were saving time and skipping that one unnecessary level to reach their goal. The next issue was Luna's attitude. Luna's thoughts about the world around her had been growing more dark and hateful since they took the crown, which had affected her sister's once bright attitude to turn into something much worse that no pony wanted to be around for long. The rumours that she kidnapped orphaned foals and fillies at night, then brainwashed them to become some...future army to explain her bat pony guards and why she flew the skies at night also did not help matters.

Currently, Celestia sat at her usual golden throne, looking down upon the full throne room in front of her, the room full of ponies praising her existence. "All hail the sun! All Hail harmony!" They chanted with no consideration for the other Alicorn in the room, who sat slumped on the obsidian throne beside her with a dark scowl.

It was the summer sun celebration, after all, she created the holiday to boost mortals shortly after they took the throne. So it just made logical sense they would focus on the sun. She gave a sideglance to Luna, who didn't stop staring into anything despite the activity of the room.

Celestia gave a deep sigh and stood from her throne.

She started a speech, a speech she practiced and rewrote many times. The sort of speech that would give a country hope for the future, give confidence in its leadership but most of all, hide the secrets it held close to its chest on how corrupt the whole monarchy truly was.

As the mortal ponies listened to her every word as she recited it from her heart, she considered having a new holiday. A holiday about the moon perhaps? Luna did deserve one after all. Perhaps that would lift her mood? Of course, bringing a new holiday into law would be difficult. Her ears fell slightly back as she considered her already huge workload...

But Luna...

Luna needed something to occupy her mind.

Perhaps she should ask Starswirl for his advice. He had been willing to help her with rules and changes since they started. She suspected Luna did not want to be around her, due to the fact Luna had been scowling at her and avoiding her for months. Maybe he could discuss the matter with her? She knew they had late-night talks about magic and such.

The fake smile that spread across her face grew a little more as she pushed her hatred for her life circumstances down for the hundredth time.

Everything was perfect.

She finished her speech and sat down. Gesturing her wing open as a sign that the throne room was to be cleared and the audience was never happier. As the guards motioned for the room to be cleared, Luna quickly slipped away and Celestia was left alone.

Trying to convince herself that everything was perfect, and certainly not doomed for failure.

Nightmare

Chapter Five: The Nightmare.

It was over.

The blast from moments ago still rang in her ears as Celestia opened her eyes to see the broken floor of the castle, the tattered carpet of the throne room. Pieces of the wall and ceiling around her. Worst of all, the elements around her.

She wanted to close her eyes again. Pretend the whole ordeal was some bad nightmare Luna gave her as revenge for being an awful pony, sister, or ruler. But the revenge she gave was much worse than some horrific nightmare. The nightmare was real. The nightmare had killed ponies.

She has quickly become aware of the pain in her own body. Her head was on fire, her horn hurt, and at least one of her wings was sprained. Her chest felt as if it got set on fire and stabbed, which, in a sense it had when...when Nightmare Moon blasted her right there.

She could taste blood in her mouth, it dripped down as she groaned and pushed herself to a sitting position on the broken floor, not daring to furl her wings up as she stared at the element of magic in front of her. She hadn't failed to notice its change in appearance. In all of them.

Her bloodshot magenta eyes slowly looked at the other five elements surrounding her. Stone. The once bright crystals were encased in stone. Her harsh breathing came to an abrupt stop as her eyes refocused on the element of magic. Watching helplessly as it disappeared in front of her very eyes.

She was silent, not a scream or whimper came from her lips as she stared unmovingly. Her ears flickered at the point of armour moving somewhere deep within the broken castle and heading towards her quickly. She could hear the sounds of the last of Nightmare Moon's forces crumbling as the Bat Ponies knew their leader, their cherished mother, was gone.

She spat out more blood before giving a painful look downwards to the burned hole in her chest that would have killed any moral within moments.

It wasn't as if Celestia wasn't capable of death. In fact, she was deathly close to the edge as she uselessly sat in the remains of the castle, it's just Alicorn's bodies could take more of a beating before they failed entirely.

Death...Oh, how she craved endless sleep.

"P-Princess? Princess Celestia?"

Her mind tried to ignore what she had done. Trying to push what she had just done down as she did with her parents' death, turned her head slightly to see the Captain of her Solar Guard, beaten and bloodied, standing at the front entrance out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you alright?"

Was she alright? No. When was the last time she was alright? Not since she was a unicorn. Would she be alright, a day, week, month or even a lifetime from now? No. Not ever. She spat out blood again. Taking a moment to watch it mix with the other spaces filled with blood to mix,

"I am...Injured." She replied with a quiet raspy voice before she finally had the willpower to gaze up to the moon with the symbol of a unicorn burned into it. "O-order the doctors from the nearby villages and towns to send medical assistance to the wounded guards and servants...Even the Bat Ponies."

"But your Highness, you are b-badly injured and the Bat Ponies are traitors! They fought us, they fought you! You need to-"

"I don't need to do anything." Celestia snapped in anger, she turned her head slightly again to see the Captain flinch at her harsh tone. "Follow my orders without question or be dismissed. I have magic that the others do not. I will be-"

Celestia's words were interrupted by a harsh cough that brought more specks of blood. She wiped her hoof against her mouth, blood smearing more of her fur. She gritted her teeth before crying out in intense pain as she stood up, taking deep breaths before fully turning around to face her captain, who, despite intense training, looked terrified as he gazed at her broken form. She was not the perfect alicorn they always saw. She was broken.

He also looked like he desperately wanted to ask a question.

"Spit it out, what is it?" She demanded. Too tired and weak to use the normal formalities.

"W-Well, that...Thing...The Monster that you fought...Where was Princess Luna during the fight? I m-mean, I just find it strange that her army would suddenly turn on her to follow some...being that hadn't even ruled Equestria. That no pony has seen before."

Celestia was in intense, burning pain. But despite her physical and mental anguish, she knew that she had to sugarcoat the issue.

"That was my sister, Captain." She hissed before glaring to the moon once again. She wanted to desperately fly to the moon and yank her sister back. "My...sister...simply chose the wrong path."

The Captain was smart enough not to say a word as Celestia looked back at him.

"Once the Doctors treat the worst of the injured, once they find the dead tonight. We will start our journey to the planned site of Canterlot. Tell the general to send a letter to the site. the construction must begin in the morning. No matter what materials they have. The crown will pay for all expenses."

The Captain nodded in agreement as Celestia slowly moved past him, trying her best to not focus on her mistakes and guilt. Not to focus on Nightmare Moon. On how she failed.

There was time for that later. There was always time for that later.

The curse of immortality truly.

Fake It

Chapter Six: Fake It

Silence. The deafening silence was all that could be heard in the throne room of Canterlot as the only Alicorn of Equestria stared down at her student with utter disappointment.

The Princess of the Sun, Celestia knew she had failed again as she kept her eyes glued to Sunset Shimmer, who was flanked by two guards and seething with pure anger.

"You can't do this."

The fact of the matter was that she very much could do that. She was doing that. She was the Princess, she had the authority. She was the teacher. She could expel. She was expelling her student from the school. She was banishing her citizen from the castle.

Celestia flared her wings for the sake of being more imposing. Which made Sunset scowl more and lower slightly at her.

"Sunset Shimmer, you have broken the rules. You went against my direct orders to NOT tamper, to go near, or 'research' that...dangerous object." Celestia stated, choosing not to mention the mirror leading to another world, which was the object in question and would certainly bring follow-up questions later.

Sunset blushed because she knew what she had done was wrong, but Celestia knew that what she did was worse.

"You...are...banished. I reject thee as my student."

Sunset stammered, she opened her mouth to try to stumble to some sort of sentence that would either fix what she had done or magically change Celestia's decision but the fact of the matter was, nothing could fix what was already too broken.

"Y-You...I-I...No...This...But- B-B...My studies! M-My...Destiny?"

Her destiny. Celestia gave a deep sigh and her natural instincts told her to flee, to get away to a quiet area and just ponder what she was going to say. Frankly, Celestia the mighty alicorn, the perfect being had failed again. Somehow not learn from all her mistakes with Luna and pushed Sunset too far. Made her believe in the impossible, in the hope that she could be the key to bringing her sister back. But...That foolish idiotic Alicorn knew for months, if not years, that her student was not the key. She had fallen and became vengeful and nasty.

She had started using her status to bully the other student when she was at school, to bark at the maids, cleaners, cooks and even a few Nobels if she was brave enough. She certainly thought she was the strongest unicorn of her time and didn't hesitate to argue with her teacher over magic and her idea that Celestia was keeping her from being an alicorn.

"Sunset...I..." Celestia was at a loss for words. She wanted to apologize, she wanted to turn back time and fix how she had moulded Sunset's life. How she tried to make her something she wasn't. Celestia was now struggling to deal with the massive lump in her throat as it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Sunset Shimmer was just like Celestia.

The ponies, Starswirl, and the three tribe leaders all moulded Celestia to be how they wanted. They tried with Luna but she was much less willing to conform. Celestia eventually became exactly what they wanted to see. A smile hiding all the lies and torment.

Celestia moulded Sunset to try to force her to be something she wasn't. Now she had ruined a once happy unicorn, to a bully.

"Sunset Shimmer, I made a mistake. I gave you hope in a future that...is not going to happen. You are a wonderful unicorn, a very strong unicorn. I am sure your talents will be used to improve any area you choose to pursue in life. With that being said, you broke the rules. You broke laws. You disobeyed my direct orders."

"You gave me impossible orders! You can't simply order me to make friends and just expect it to work! It didn't work! It never worked!" Sunset yelled, her voice echoing off the marble walls and ringing into Celestia's ears. The Guards on both sides of Sunset cringed and gave each other a quick glance, unsure what to do. The guards at the front doors and on either side of the throne gave slight glances to the Alicorn on the throne.

"You threatened them. You bribed them. You don't think I know what you did? You were quite obvious about your actions. You tried to blackmail them. When you didn't get your way, you bullied them!" Celestia fought back, losing slight control of her temper as her mind reflected on all the reports from teachers and terrified students writing anonymous letters to her study. "Of course, it didn't work, Sunset. You didn't even truly try! You gave up the moment the first pony rejected you."

Sunset gritted her teeth and pointed an accusing hoof at her former teacher.

"You are just as bad as me, Princess! You are no better than me! You sit there and pretend to be perfect and know everything but in reality, you are just as awful as you believe I am! You are surrounded by ponies who are too afraid that you will wipe them from the face of Equestria if they question you. You are surrounded by ponies that will do whatever you say just to gain your favour so they can use it for their own means. Do you want to lecture me about friendship? What would you know about that? You have absolutely no friends. You don't even have anypony that actually loves you."

She barely heard the gasp of her newest secretary beside her near the windows. Raven Inkwell. A young unicorn who had started the job less than two months ago and was already witnessing a fight that no normal pony would dare to pick with an immortal goddess. Now, she had her hoof shoved against her mouth, praying Her Highness didn't just hear her.

Celestia motioned her wing, pointing to the giant double door leading out of the throne room.

"I think enough has been said. Guards, escort Sunset Shimmer to her room. Allow her to pack her things for two hours and then escort her from the Castle grounds."

Sunset began to yell out insults as the guards soon dragged her away with their own unicorn magic out of the room. Celestia's whole body drooped as soon as the doors closed. She took some deep breaths before giving a small smile to Raven, who was too stunned to tell her it was time for sunset. Not that she needed such a reminder. She knew it by heart.

She could feel the sun pleading against the moon as the time grew closer. The sun did not want to set. Just as the moon did not want to be controlled by somepony it hated.

Celestia teleported herself and Raven to the balcony of her study with a golden flash of her magic. Raven wabbled for a moment as Celestia sat at the railing, gazing at the Capital city of Canterlot with growing worry.

"She was right, you know," Celestia admitted in barely a whisper. Raven's ears perked up and her jaw dropped slightly. Celestia didn't even have the energy to smile or to try to fake another few minutes of being fine. She wasn't. She hadn't been for years. For decades. For whole lifetimes. Her misery was taking everypony down with her.

"P-Princess Celestia, do-don't say that! You did a wonderful job teaching her, she just wasn't willing to listen to your kno-"

"I am not a fool, Raven." Celestia snapped in misdirected rage. "I am not some filly to be lied to. I severely mishandled Sunset. What she needs now is...somepony else to guide her. She needs to be far away from me and my influence. Perhaps then she can flourish. I have done nothing but corrupt her."

Celestia's golden magic grabbed hold of her sun, forcing the inferno that she had grown to despise for what it was, what it represented to dip below the horizon. The sky changed colours as her assistant gulped and shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"Princess? May...I be honest?" Raven asked.

"It has been generations since somepony has been honest with me, Raven, so please, please do be honest."

"Everypony makes mistakes. It's part of being...well...a pony. Not every student will be perfect. Not every teacher will be able to know what their students need all the time. You made a mistake, you made several mistakes in how you approached her life and her teachings. That can not be denied. What also can't be ignored is that she, also, actively chose to do what she did to those students. To actively and purposely hurt you. You are both in the wrong."

Raven took a deep breath as she tried to gain more confidence in trying to speak with an alicorn as if she was some unicorn. Celestia respected her for that.

"Beating yourself up over this will not change the outcome. All you can do is learn from it and accept that things will not always go how you plan them to go. You are an alicorn, but that does not mean you can control every aspect of our lives. Events happen, and things happen that can not be predicted and that is ok. That is alright."

Celestia knew the logic to her words, she wanted to let go. She wanted to forgive herself for what she had done but she did not feel she was entitled to such a luxury. She hurt ponies, ponies long dead or...

The moon was fighting against her, as if did each night. Sending a wave of pain through her horn, straight into her head as she yanked it as softly as she could above the horizon. Staring at the symbol of her torment.

She chalked it up to Raven being a mortal, a mortal couldn't possibly understand how an immortal could deal with their pain. Deal with mistakes that affected more than just 100 years, but ten lifetimes. You do not just forget and forgive actions that affect ten generations onward. You don't just forgive destroying a mortal's life.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Raven spoke up after a long moment of silence. Celestia began to wince from the pain as the moon rose higher, shaking slightly as her magic increased to fight it.

"Sorry, I don't." She admitted. "Certain events can't be forgiven. Especially if they were never learned from."

Raven gave her a confused look, one that had a million questions she wanted to ask.

"Has...something like this happened before? To another student?"

"Not...exactly."

Raven wanted to ask questions, but she opened her mouth as soon as she closed it and chose to stare at the moon when Celestia finally released her hold. The pain subsided but not completely. She watched the stars as they slowly appeared. Never failing to notice that the sky was much more beautiful under Luna's control. It was full of life under her control.

Celestia couldn't help tears welling in her eyes, they began to slowly fall down her face as she sucked in a painful breath. Raven didn't care to look away from the moon, she suspected her assistant had an idea how much she would hate Raven seeing her cry.

They sat in silence, simply watching the sky, watching the pegasi, or the activity of the city as some went to sleep, some chose to stay awake. Celestia eventually managed to stop the silent tears and wiped them away softly with her wings before she broke the silence between the pair.

"Cancel all my meetings tomorrow, Raven." She sadly. "I need a day off. The Nobels can be damned if they argue."

Celestia never did get that day off, ten minutes later, her student jumped through the forbidden mirror portal to another world.

Burning Red Inferno

Chapter Seven: Burning Red Inferno

Celestia stood on her balcony. The one that leads from her room into a stainless marble balcony. Overlooking all of Canterlot in all its glory. The pride of Equestria. Specifically the pride of the unicorns since they were a large part of its completion. Most of the unicorn population lived in the city after all. Just like the Pegasi mostly live in Cloudsdale. Or the Earth ponies mostly live in Applelosa.

Of course, something was wrong. Something was always wrong. Never a moment of peace. Whether it was Celestia running from her nagging persistent overwhelming emotions that she feared or...or the fact the sun was a burning red inferno of rage. A burning red sun with a blood-red sky was hanging over the capital.

She didn't know why the sky or her sun was like that. She knew the whole country was now looking up at it in a mixture of awe and horror. She stood on the marble balcony. Her mane still moved despite the lack of wind. Her magenta eyes were finding it difficult to look away.

That red sun. The horrifying red sun was beautiful in a way. She was scared. She was so very scared of her sun and that blood light that poured across the land. Across the world.

The more she thought about it, she couldn't remember much of anything before this moment. What was she doing before this? Where was she before this? Only she could manipulate the sun. Only she could...corrupt it?

"It's beautiful."

A voice.

A voice she had heard since the moment she ascended to be an alicorn. A voice that sounded like her own but always a little...off, hidden in the deepest reaches of her mind. Locked away to avoid being heard because the things this voice would say, were dangerous. Only to be heard in the deepest of nightmares.

Celestia took a large gulp as she tried to remember to breathe.

"Don't you think my sun looks beautiful?"

Go away, her rational mind ordered. As if she was barking at a guard who was running from battle to stay in place. Go away. You do not belong here.

"I am you. You are me. I am the better you. I am not afraid of my light. My beautiful light."

Celestia wanted, no, needed to back away from the burning inferno in the sky. Her heart beat loudly in her chest but her hooves would not move.

I am not you, she whispered in her mind. Into the dark cells that held its prisoner. I do not want to hurt my ponies. I do not want to control them as you want to.

"Control. More Control wouldn't have had so many ponies killed. If only they listened to the word of the sun, maybe they would have survived the wars. The diseases. Maybe if Luna had bothered to keep her mouth shut and listened to the word of the sun, she wouldn't have been banished to the moon."

She did not need to listen to me. I was wrong. Starswirl was wrong about how to lead.

"Starswirl was a fool. He tried to control the sun and failed. Miserably might I add. Forever trapped in a hell of his own creation. Ironic. Ironic and so much like Luna and Nightmare Moon. So much like Sunset Shimmer and that portal..."

Celestia was terrified of that voice. It was getting strong. Breaking free of its holding cell and moving, using fear and the need for stability against her as it reached for the red inferno in the sky.

"My sun. Our sun. One day the sun will have control. One day the sun will answer to no pony commands. One day the sun will finally be free."

Celestia hated that thought. She was free. She had to be. She was an alicorn ruling over a country that loved her. She made orders and laws, she...she...

She was chained under the command of mortals. Mortals were too busy with their own lives to see how they were affecting the future. Even if they could, she doubted they could care. Death fixes the need for caring. Why care about what happens after you are gone? It's not like you will be around to deal with the consequences.

She wanted to burn the nobility's houses to the ground. Take away everything and restart. The country was corrupted. Too many thoughts condensed into one country. Conflicting thoughts, ideas and emotions could easily lead to the collapse of a nation with one wrong move and she was letting it happen.

She was losing control. She knew best. She was an alicorn after all, she had more experience than those nobility had in their whole lifetimes. She saw the bigger picture, outside their mortality.

She bit her lip, the voice was becoming a bit too real. The voice was starting to make too much sense.

She was starting to listen to it.

"I wonder why you love the darkness so much. The darkness is Luna's domain."

She felt a chill down her spine despite the temperature growing warmer as the seconds passed.

"Is it because you can hide? Hide away from all the seeing eyes, the knowing glares, the confused innocence that isn't aware their ruler is a monster. Is it so you can gallop away from all your useless complex emotions?"

She begged the voice to leave her alone. Begging. Pleading. Her eyes drifted downwards as something flickered below.

"Why are you afraid of your own sun? Your own beautiful sun?"

The sun caused this madness. The sun latched onto her soul before she was even born and yanked her into immortality. She hated the sun. She hated what she was. She hated what the voice wanted her to be.

She hated she was listening to it.

The city was burning. Soon sounds of ponies screamed into the air as their homes, streets and shops burned. As chaos erupted in the streets with blind panic the sun grew brighter in the sky. She flared her wings, trying to go into the air and dive below to help.

Instead, her mouth opened, letting a deep chuckle turn into a manic laugh of joy as the world burned. Her mane of colours soon burned as the city did, turning to pure fire. Her warm magenta eyes turned to a solar eclipse of madness.

The world the ponies of Equestria knew turned to ash, one day, rising again to be an empire. A ruthless empire of the sun.

Daybreaker loved it.

"Princess? Princess Celestia?"

She was yanked violently out of the nightmare and back into the living. Her bloodshot eyes shot up as a figure jumped back in surprise and fear at the sudden movement.

She groaned as she flexed her stiff wings. Stretched out her stiff joints. Try to ignore the throbbing of her heart as she slowly lifted her head and gave her eyes time to adjust to the room. It was her room. She was in bed. She found Raven Inkwell staring back at her a few meters away with wide eyes.

"S-Sorry Princess. I didn't mean to s-scare you."

"Raven?" She muttered. She tried to shove the need for sleep away as she sat up, allowing her blanket to fall off her. Exposing her to the cold air of the room. "What is it?"

"W-Well..." Raven didn't seem sure how to explain herself. She had that look on her face when she expected somepony to know something as if it was obvious. But it wasn't. At least not to Celestia. "Princess, you overslept. S-sorry, I had to wake you. The sunrise is a few minutes late and ponies are already starting to panic, as well as-"

Raven started to go off about something, whatever it was, Celestia didn't hear it as suddenly all her thoughts came rushing back. For the first time since she rose the sun, it was late. She overslept. That was not natural. That should have not happened.

She leaped out of bed and immediately used her magic to slam open the balcony door, galloping onto the balcony in a blind panic. She looked to the moon with the unicorn symbol still burned into it, and without a second thought yanked it down with nearly all her force. It hurt a lot. The moon always resisted her. Usually, she was kind and managed to wrestle it down in a gentler fashion but this was different. It was pure ruthless violence. She cried out in pain as the moon gave a short-lived attack back, not used to such an action it gave up fast and disappeared as she drove the sun upwards faster than she usually did.

She cried out in pain again as the magic wore off and the blinding headache she gave herself soon hammered into her skull. Raven was soon next to her in a panic.

"PRINCESS! W-What- Are you ok?! Do you need a Doctor?"

"No, no, no, no," Celestia repeated whispered. "Silence. Raven. SILENCE."

So Raven fell into an uneasy silence. Celestia took deep breaths as Raven watched the city start after such an unnatural sunrise. It was a tense and unnatural feel in the air. Celestia, after who knows how long, raised her head from staring at the marble floor and looked at Raven with a small apology smile.

"Sorry." Celestia awkwardly cleared her throat as she tried not to flinch from the pain. "Perhaps I am working too much. I haven't overslept in ages. Please, speak. We have to start the day after all."

Raven nodded before she awkwardly pointed to the clipboard being held in her magic with a nervous look.

"Ah, well, Twilight Sparkle asked me to remind you, Princess, that you have a lesson planned with her which is supposed to start...ummm...now."

As if it was timed, a frantic knocking came from Celestia's bedroom door.

"You might need to calm her down, Princess."

Celestia groaned with a roll of her eyes. She guessed she did deserve this based on the show she just performed. Not only would she need to calm down her best student but also the rest of the nation.

"Also," Raven continued as she squinted at the second item on a long list. "You have a meeting with the town and city mayors after the lesson to discuss the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration in three days. They are very insistent on knowing who is hosting the next one, Princess."

"Right," Celestia mumbled as the knocking became louder. "Let's go. Best not to worry anypony any longer."

Happy

Chapter Eight: Happy

It worked. It worked. It worked.

Her sister, her wonderful sister was back. Her student freed her. She freed her from Nightmare Moon. She freed her from that prison.

They stood on her balcony. Luna had a gigantic smile as she raised her beautiful moon into the sky, not a single scratch on its surface from the banishment. The stars lit up brighter than they had in a thousand years.

Celestia was happy.

She certainly wasn't in distress because of her sun. Her sun disappeared behind the horizon, it was not content. She knew it was angry. As angry as it was in her dreams. It scared her how many things reminded her of that dream...Of all the dreams, of all the nightmares.

That...Horrific dream.

A dream she knew she had many times before, yet that last one...the last one was the worst of them all.

"We missed this." Luna said. Her use of the royal "we" was something Celestia needed to work with her about and definitely the use of the Royal Canterlot voice when she addressed the public and even staff was another problem but she only just came home. Has to adjust to a whole world that kept moving forward for generations as she was alone. They could worry about that later. All that mattered was... she was home.

"I did too, Luna. Your nights are the most beautiful."

Luna's chest swelled with pride and she looked over to Celestia with tearful eyes.

"We are eternally sorry for what we did, sister." Luna's happiness fell as tears began going down her face and she looked to the marble floor in shame. "We read about the Battle of the Nightmare. About us. About the ponies who...who perished."

"I know, Luna. I forgive you. I am sorry for my part in what took place as well. That was ten generations ago. One can not dwell on that past but must look forward to the future. We can only learn from what happened. To ensure it doesn't happen again." Celestia replied with a smile, and a grown pit in her stomach as she had a feeling of dread about her own words. Frankly, as she spoke them, she found herself feeling like a hypocrite.

Luna nodded and wiped her tears away with her wing before looking up to her moon.

"Celestia, I..." Luna's words died on her lips. She was scared to talk about something.

"Luna, we are sisters. You can tell me anything. Ask me anything. It's important we share." Celestia urged, hoping more openness would allow them to be closer. For them to be sisters again. But, Luna looked scared. She looked at Celestia with fearful eyes.

"Tia, the sun scares us."

Celestia's blood went cold and she took a sharp breath as fear and adrenaline pumped through her in moments. She gave a nervous smile. She was trying to seem calm for Luna but internally she felt scared. Luna's ears fell back.

"Not you, sister. We are not scared of you. But...your sun..." Luna glanced up to the Moon again as she struggled to explain. "When we were on the moon, sister. The N-Nightmare and I were the same being. Sometimes I would have control. Sometimes the Nightmare would."

Luna paused as she took deep breaths and didn't dare look at Celestia as she cringed at her own words. Celestia almost didn't notice she switched the "we" to "I".

"We hated each other. We fought with each other with words since we shared the same...form. When I had control I tried to help dreams still. I-it was my only connection outside of that place. It was a weak connection but sometimes I managed to help a pony along to escape the darkness from outside their dream. I am not sure how to explain it exactly, sister. When the Nightmare was in control, she tried to move the sun away from Equestria. Especially during sunrise and sunset."

Luna stood up abruptly and began to pace beside Celestia on the large balcony. Celestia sat silently. She watched her younger sister shift through painful memories as she looked for the one she needed to continue.

"She was scared of you never raising the moon again. She tried nearly every morning and every night to keep the sun from moving but it caused her pain. I felt it. It was like a burning fire. Fueled by anger and hate. Not from the Nightmare...Somehow...The Sun hated us. Hated the both of us. It hated everything. It hated everything it couldn't touch. The Nightmare and I couldn't agree on most things but the one thing we could agree on was, that your sun is dangerous. Have you sensed the anger, sister? Do you know why your sun is in such pain?"

That is strange. It's strange the elements could banish them but not lock away their magic completely. It explained part of the reason the moon was so difficult to control. Why it hurt to raise.

Celestia had several ideas as to why her sun was such a way. It could have been many factors. Many reasons. But, the voice. That voice that scared her to her core, that she listened to after burying it deep down in that nightmare sprang up in a memory in her mind.

"I don't know why, Luna." Celestia replied softly as she got up to unfurl a wing and place it on her sister's back for a sign of comfort. "My sun as I raise it every morning and lower it every night has sensed calm to me."

Liar. She just flat-out lied.

Her sister had just come back and she was already keeping secrets? Why? What harm would it do for Luna to know the truth? She knew her sun was angry. She knew something was absolutely wrong with the sun.

Yet, she was lying.

Logically, she should tell her sister.

No. No, she just came back. She doesn't need to concern herself with such matters. She needs to be reintegrated into society before she deals with any crisis with the sun or moon or...she was just making excuses. Its not like she was wrong exactly, maybe just delaying the issue.

"Calm?" Luna did not look convinced. "we are not sure if huge solar storms and the screams of rage that radiated off of it, into the Nightmare and I's magic were calm."

There it was. As the hours passed, Luna's fighting spirit came back. She missed it. Luna always knew the right words to say but in this moment it was wrong. She needed her to stop questioning the sun. Just...for now.

"Celestia, we are not sure of thee's history. We haven't yet gotten the chance to read the history during the time we have been absent. May we spend time in the Library before we resume our duties?"

"Oh, yes, Luna. Of course. We don't need to jump right into you having enormous weight and responsibilities of rulership. We will take it slow of course. Since you only just came back, there is much for you to learn and do." Celestia pressed with a sad smile. "I...I missed you a lot, Luna."

Luna returned the sad smile.

"We missed you as well, sister." Her eyes welled up with tears. "We wish...we wish to see you smile again. A real smile. The brightest smile in all of Equestria."

Questions

Chapter Nine: Questions

Luna, Alicorn of the Night, the former villain of Evil Nightmare Moon, and soon-to-be reinstated Princess of Equestria was always considered a brilliant pony. She saw right through the Nobel's schemes. She wasn't like her sister, who sweet-talked them into submission. She had more brutal ways of dealing with traitors in the old days. Usually involved their heads ending on the ground and their sword caked with blood.

She gave a happy smile as she trotted down the corridor, holding a piece of cake Celestia gave her right before her sister went to bed. She missed cake. She missed many things about living. She never actually thought Canterlot would be complete before she was banished. Since she did plan on ruling, she expected the plans to be burned and her to have full control.

She can't say she was disappointed that it didn't work out. The city and the castle itself were a true marvel of construction. She still wasn't used to the fact they were on a mountain. She took another bite of the cake. It was vanilla. She always loved vanilla.

She stopped at two giant doors leading into a building with a dome glass roof center attached to the castle. Her eyes drifted to the sign beside it.

"Royal Canterlot Library and Archive.
The Archive restricted to all staff unless Royal."

Royal. She was a royal alicorn. Celestia told her she had access to the archive as an alicorn. She told the Librarian to give her access a few hours after Luna landed in Canterlot because she knew Luna needed knowledge of the world. Her blue magic lit up and she teleported that cake away to her new room, before grunting as she applied pressure against the doors.

The door creaked with age as they opened, opening up to a very large room, mostly dark other than the unicorn sitting at the desk in the middle of the Library. A circular desk around a huge hourglass that seemed to be counting down the night.

The unicorn in the middle of the room was surrounded by scrolls and books. She was examining one when she looked up from her small round glasses to see Luna allowing light from the corridor inside. She adjusted her scarf and yawned. Too tired to notice who the pony really was.

"The Library is closed. Please leave. If you are lost there are probably guards in the next hallway to help you along." The mare said before she went back to her scroll. She used her light blue magic to hold it up and provide some much-needed light for reading as the candle beside her was near its end.

"Apologises." Luna barked a bit too loudly. The mare visibly flinched before giving her a look.

"What are you yelling for- oh...oh..." The unicorn's face shifted from annoyance to realization in a heartbeat. "Oh, you're that, um, that alicorn? That alicorn that was that other pony and then-"

The unicorn paused to look at the glass dome above her as her mind raced to connect the dots frantically before she shook her head and looked back at Luna with a smile that would be considered warm and inviting if it wasn't for the slight yet noticeable look of fear in her eyes.

"S-Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I am Bini Filters. Head Librarian to the Royal Canterlot Library and Archive." Bini adjusted her red scarf before gesturing with a hoof to the room around her. "All the most important books are kept here, the more dangerous ones are kept locked in the Archive. Princess Celestia mentioned you might be coming to inquire about history...Although I admit I was expecting you tomorrow at daybreak since you have been back to this world for a matter of hours."

Luna scoffed and rolled her eyes as she took further steps in, allowing the door to close behind her as she moved to the center of the room. Soon illuminated by the dying candle, Bini's magic and the dome of moonlight poured in.

"Quite right. We wish to enquire about history. A specific type of history."

Bini raised an eyebrow, before looking her up and down and leaning away as if she was preparing for Luna to strike her.

"History. We obviously have that, Princess...Luna."

Luna nodded, yes, she needed the history of her sister. Of course, she wanted to know more about how the nation developed but she had memories of her sister. Still have memories of when they were even unicorns. Her sister was happier once. Full of life. Anypony who knew her back before Luna was banished and then seeing her now could tell. She was like a shell of her former self. Luna needed answers about a great many things but she would start with a simple puzzle. Find out what happened to Celestia while she was gone.

"Show us to...the history from the beginning of our banishment." She barked. Best place to start. Only place to start really. It wasn't as if Celestia wrote a diary to tell her why she was the way she was now. Bini flinched again at her booming voice before moving slowly to get up from her place at the desk and pointed to one of the long corridors in the Library. Lined with bookshelves with hundreds of books, waiting to be read once again.

"This way, Princess."

Luna followed the mare down the dark hallway. Bini's blue magic lit the way as they passed by hundreds of books in silence. Luna was never one for small talk and still wasn't. She found herself within her own thoughts, the grief over what she had done was still very strong. The memories and time she spent on the moon were fresh in her mind.

A topic she had neglected to mention to her sister was the topic of her dreams. She did indeed tell Celestia how she could vaguely see them. Being disconnected from Equestria by the elements, part of her soul being manipulated by the Nightmare, and her limited available magic would do that. Frankly, it was a miracle in itself she could even be in the dream realm and see anything there.

She didn't mention the part where she had been monitoring Celestia.

She didn't know exactly how much time had passed while she was banished. After the 1000th day, she stopped counting due to boredom and it just caused her sadness to know she missed yet another day of living. But in the beginning. Her sister's dreams were memories. Memories of war, memories of mortality.

She could hear them, could see the colour they were as grey and black. Sometimes flashes of color if they were happy but she supposed they rarely were.

As the days, years and generations passed, her dreams turned to something else. Soon there was a lot of red, fire, a sense of dreading doom and death. The worst part was the rage. The rage that felt exactly like the sun's rage. The hate that she had a hard time accepting her sister was even capable of considering to feel. She started to hear a voice much like her own sister's, sometimes.

The voice spoke of dreams that she knew her sister would never let happen if she was sane. Luna believed that. She wasn't exactly Celestia's biggest fan when she was banished but she still couldn't believe her sister would give in to such temptations. Her sister, she believed far before she became Nightmare Moon, had everything.

But, the pony she saw now was not the sister she remembered.

Her sister was full of life once. Granted becoming an alicorn seemed to have dulled her sense of life but she was still a happy pony to those around her. She had a light, a spark in her magenta eyes that no pony could diminish.

The pony she sat with on that balcony had become a shell of her sister. She couldn't tell if Celestia even felt happy anymore. All the smiles and movements she made seemed robotic. She had seen how she addressed the public, the servants, her subjects and even her students in the same robotic way and no pony noticed that perhaps she was trying to hide something.

She looked like she was trying to hide something that's for sure. What it was, was probably connected to her sister's sun being consumed by rage.

"I shouldn't hate, Philomena. I shouldn't judge. I shouldn't hate anypony or anything."

Celestia sat in front of her fireplace, sometimes she worked best in front of it. The calming fire helped as it cast shadows across her room. She liked fire, as long as its origin wasn't the sun. Of course, she knew secretly the voice in the darkest reaches of her mind had the opposite idea.

So she sat and pondered that night. She sat and pondered Luna's return. She sat and pondered herself. She gave a sideways glance to her faithful bird beside her. A phoenix. Philomena.

"I thought that Luna coming back would stop this. Somehow her return would drag away all these awful thoughts but I still hate it all. I hate the nobels. I hate the whining from every city, town, village and even a single household for me to fix all their problems. I feel no different than I was for ten generations. It's not like Luna coming back was a cure-all fix but I had hoped it would fix...something inside me."

Philomena squacked. Telling her friend that 'healing takes time. You have that time.'

"Philomena, I think I am just a hateful pony." She admitted to not just her friend but to herself. It was a fact. "I dream of fires, blood red sun that turns to be worshipped as generations pass. I have started to like it. I have started to want that...control. I know I shouldn't. I wish I didn't."

She let out a bitter laugh.

"When has wishing gotten me anywhere? I wished to never be cursed by my destiny a thousand times over and it was never answered."

Philomena gave a weak chirp. Unsure of what to add she fluttered her firey wings. She was uneasy around her friend. The pony that she trusted was turning into something. Morphing into something. She didn't like what she saw. The immortal bird looked closely at the immortal eyes of an Alicorn who had been alive far longer than she originally planned to be.

She saw fire.

She saw hate.

She saw the life that brought Equestria alive was burning into ashes as the moments passed.

"She only just came home. You are correct. Perhaps I just need more time for something to change." Celestia mumbled before her eyes watched the fire once again. They fell into an uneasy silence.

The Gala

Chapter 10: The Gala

Celestia hated the Gala. Truly she hated it with her very being. She missed the short period after Canterlot was finished when she thought the idea of a "Grand Galloping Gala" was a good idea. At first, it was created to bring ponies together. Ponies from all parts of Equestria could join in the gala. But that was hundreds of years ago.

Now it was a formal event, filled with Canterlot's richest, the richest ponies from all the major cities and maybe the limited amount of ponies she was allowed to invite if Gala's planning board agreed with it. She stood in one spot and just gave the words she was required to give, playing the same game over and over.

Thankfully, this year, she managed to invite Twilight and the other elements. She told the board members that they were heroes so of course it qualified them. She longed for the days when her word was law and no pony could disagree more than once. Instead, she got arguments back about how Applejack was just some apple farmer, and Fluttershy was some nopony from Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash had at least some credit to her name for her job on the weather team. Rarity was a low-class fashionista and Pinkie Pie was, yet again, some low-life rock farmer, whose job was now a party planner living in the attic of some bakery. Maybe she should have been glad they did their homework for once but frankly, they were a group full of idiots.

The only pony they managed to not insult on their quest to prove their pointless option as to why the elements shouldn't have gone was Twilight Sparkle, only because she was her personal student. Even they knew if they pushed that far there would be major problems to deal with.

She had to bark out a long drawn-out speech about what Equestria was founded for. A speech she had given a hundred times over and knew by heart. She knew the lies in the speech but recite them anyway for the sake of the damn rich mortals being content with their lives.

It convinced them. Whether to just get her to be quiet or because they actually cared about other ponies, she wasn't sure. It didn't matter anyway. She got them in.

Luna opted out of going. She couldn't blame her. Luna hated parties and didn't have the energy to stand around and smile as she greeted every pony who trotted in with an attitude. She certainly would be ready to threaten ponies after a good hour and it doesn't look good when the newest ruler of Equestria starts reciting how they used to deal with boring ponies in the olden days with a helpful sword or a well-placed assassin from her newly rebuilt bat pony night guard who patrol the population at night for their safety being used in ways that would very much scare a rich mortal.

Celestia didn't like parties either but somepony had to make an appearance. Luna had only returned to Equestria a few months ago and needed more time to adjust.

She gave a long sigh of contentment because not only did the elements come, but they brought exactly what she was hoping they would bring.

Complete chaos.

Everypony was in shambles, animals ran all over the place, and the ballroom was a disaster. She smiled as the staff quickly hustled the guests remaining out of the room.

All her happiness went away the moment she saw her nephew coming up the stairs to demand something with a furious expression.

"Aunt Celestia!" Her nephew, Prince Blueblood barked as if he ran the castle as he marched towards her. "This is outrageous!"

She fought the urge to roll her eyes as he moved to stand beside her and pointed to the disaster of the ballroom.

"Hello, Prince Blueblood. Dear nephew. I heard about an interesting story tonight." She said, her voice dripping with annoyance as she narrowed her eyes with a side glance. He gave a long dramatic groan.

"Never mind that, Auntie. There are more important things right now! How could you invite such low-lives to such a grand event? They made a mockery of us, of Canterlot, of Equestria!"

"Oh, will you be QUIET!" Celestia barked far too loudly. The servants that littered the room, including the guards, as they attempted to help clean the mess and clear the animals out came to an abrupt stop to look at the pair. Blueblood shot her a slightly scared look before they both glared at the room to continue their work. "I know what you did, dear nephew. You practically dragged Rarity around all night and frankly, you got exactly what you deserved."

Blueblood was silent for a long moment before he wiped some more cake gracefully off his hoof, finding himself unable to look her in the eyes. Celestia shuttered at her own words. Usually, she would sugarcoat the issue. Jump around it to avoid being as blunt as she just was. But frankly, he was a spoiled brat.

"This doesn't sound like you, Auntie."

This doesn't sound like her. He was right. For once in his miserable life, he was right. She wouldn't say this. She would have never said that a year ago. But her patience was growing thin with society.

"You don't actually know me, dear nephew." Celestia retorted. "From now on I expect more from you. I have allowed you to continue such awful behaviour that causes the royalty of this country to look bad. No more. If you don't find a way to change your behaviour, I am revoking your title. You made a fool out of yourself. A complete and utter fool."

Blueblood looked ashamed. Actually ashamed.

He nodded, not muttering a single word out of his mouth as he quickly moved down the stairs and disappeared into the many corridors of the castle. Celestia let out a long breath she didn't know she was holding. She had rage building in her chest that she struggled to push down when she heard a pair of hoof steps sounding behind her.

The servants and guards who had done their best not to eavesdrop as they moved around the lower levels, couldn't help but glance at each other for a brief moment with confusion and slight...fear. It was impossible not to have heard that unless you weren't in the room. Anypony who could shut Blueblood up was quite scary indeed.

She knew Blueblood had only listened to her now due to the shock of her tone and the fact she was so honest. Soon he would go back to his usual self, perhaps with more hesitancy on being so noticeably rude but for now, for now, he was silent.

"I have never seen you speak so harshly before, sister."

Celestia gave a quick backward glance to Luna, who slowly moved to replace the spot Blueblood had a moment before. Celestia fluttered her wings. Resisting the urge to fly into the night air and just escape the confines of the castle for just one night.

"You don't know what he did, Luna."

"No, no I heard the same tale you did, Celestia. The servants talk to me as well." Luna replied. She raised an eyebrow in Celestia's direction. "He was right. That did not sound like you. That did not sound like the Princess of the Sun."

She was getting sick and tired of ponies telling her she was not sounding like herself. Was she not even allowed the freedom to speak harshly? Was she not justified to put a selfish pony in his place?

"Sometimes the Princess of the Sun," Celestia replied with venom. "Needs to put ponies in their place when they have gone too far. Now, Twilight is most likely panicking based on what happened. I need to assure her she is fine. She made the gala liveable to get through after all."

Luna's frown of suspicion was raised to a small nod and a smile as she gestured with her wing to the room.

"I will handle the rest of the night, sister."

Celestia nodded, she gave a fake smile of gratitude to her sister. She practiced the smile as she ignited her horn and teleported to another part of Canterlot to fake another small part of her life as the seconds passed.

Luna was left staring at the spot where her sister previously stood, wondering about the mystery of a pony she was struggling to accept as the sister she knew.

She could recognize a fake smile, a fake happiness when she saw it.

Her sister's rather well-hidden mask was slipping.

Return of Harmony

Chapter Eleven: Return of Harmony

Celestia always secretly was jealous of Discord. She admired his ability to not care about other's options. His ability to be just himself. An ability she lost a long time ago.

Also, most importantly, his ability to be free to do anything.

It all started with a field trip from Ponyville. Ms. Cheerilee gave the crown a good reason as to why she wanted to make a field trip to the Castle's gardens. Her students needed something to look forward to. Her students had become on edge with each other and she was hoping some fresh air in a unique place would help ease the tension. First, the class from Ponyville visited the castle's library to learn where most of the ponies's knowledge came from.

The Librarian, Bini Filters, certainly wasn't happy with crowds and she let just about every guard know that if one filly or colt messed with a book in that Library, some pony was getting the stray end of a magic bolt to the face. Thankfully, things went smoothly with no major incidents other than three fillies arguing over history.

Celestia received short updates on the group as the day progressed in case something went wrong. Not that anypony expected something to go wrong. So she had two guards follow the group from afar.

Shortly after lunch, she was in the throne room discussing further plans for the country with Raven and she signed new bills and rejected meeting attempts for the Mayor of Manhatten who was begging to expand the city in a way that would certainly damage parts of the atmosphere. Suddenly, a guard came bursting through the door. One of the two guards she sent to watch the group. Clearly out of breathe.

"Princess! Urgent News as you requested. The statue cracked!"

Her breathing immediately halted for a moment. Her heart leapt into her throat as her eyes slowly looked to the gardens through the priceless stained glass windows lining the throne room. An uneasy silence came across the room as Celestia slowly moved the scrolls and quills to Raven, motioning with her wing for her to be dismissed for the moment. Only kept one empty scroll and one quill in front of her.

She had expected this moment for a long time. She warned whole generations of guards that if the Discord statue cracked, she was to be informed immediately. She lost her connection to the elements a very long time ago. She was surprised it actually took as long as it did for the first signs of escape to happen.

Soon, scrolls began to appear in front of her. Scrolls laced with ancient magic she had passed to each village, town, and city in case of national emergencies to be sent right to her with reports. She grabbed hold of them in an instant, unscrolling them all to float around her.

Being immortal had its perks sometimes, a bad night's sleep didn't matter as much. Faster healing. Infinite knowledge. As well as, incredible speed reading. Something Celestia had been good at as a mortal but greatly increased as her immortal body went through the generations.

Each general report had the same information. Unexplained events. Unexplained magic. Disastrous things of a chaotic nature taking place. It was getting worse as the moment passed and it had only been a matter of minutes. It was spreading through the country at a rapid speed. She had no doubt the city of Canterlot would soon be hit and demanding answers from the public as it happened.

Only released a few minutes ago and Discord was already making the country come to a full halt.

She quickly used the quill and blank scroll being held in her magic before it disappeared with her magic to a small town at the bottom of the mountain. Ponyville. She knew she could have her best student and the new element bearers handle it. Now it was a matter of time before they came to Canterlot. Perhaps an hour by train.

She hopped off her throne and began a march across the room, followed closely by Raven as she asked questions. Questions she did not have the time to answer since she hadn't yet come to a solution on how to sugarcoat the fact an immortal lord of chaos was wreaking havoc and things were about to get a lot worse.

She quickly barked orders to the surrounding guards to spread the word a threat was coming. To tell the Captain of the guards, Lunar and Solar, to order everypony to stay indoors, with one more order to get her sister.

She quickly moved next into another corridor and kept her quick pace, Raven struggling to keep up.

"Princess, will you please tell me what is going on that is causing such an emergency? You are worrying me!"

"Apologies, Raven. I can not explain at this moment. Just know that we will be safe once the elements get here. For now, we head to Canterlot Tower and wait there for Twilight and her friends." Celestia instructed, doing her very best to keep her breathing in control.

"Burn."

A voice, a voice she had known for ages sounded. She came to an abrupt halt. Her heartbeat increased as she stared at the double doors in front of her. Raven, out of breath paused and took a moment to catch herself before she looked up with exhausted confusion.

"W-Why did y-you stop? Not that I mind, i-it's just-"

"Did you...hear that?" Celestia whispered. Her ears perked up as she carefully tried to listen to every sound around them.

"H-Hear what?"

"The voice." Celestia muttered, her mind filled with questions. The voice was never outside of her dreams. The voice was in her nightmares. Basically the same nightmare each night. Equestria burning. The blood red sun. Why did she hear it now? Why did she hear it when she was wide awake?

"There is no pony else here, Princess." Raven hesitantly said before she did a scan of the hallway around them. "I assure you there was no voice."

"Why doesn't he just burn?"

What? Where was the voice coming from? What was it talking about? Why did it sound as if...it was in the same room as them? It didn't sound as if it was just in her mind, this was different. The voice sounded angrier than the times before.

"Raven, go. Go to the tower, I will meet you there."

Raven opened her mouth to protest but a stern glare from Celestia and a pointed hoof taught her better. Her ears fell and she quickly galloped through the next door. Leaving Celestia alone. Hopefully alone.

"Hello?"

"Why doesn't he just burn?" It repeated, the voice echoing against the walls of the empty marble corridor.

"Who are you?"

"Your only friend."

Celestia felt a chill run up her spine as her eyes narrowed. Frantically looking around the hallway for any shadow, any movement, anything to explain what was happening.

"You are the voice from my nightmares. You have never existed this way before..." Celestia thought out loud. As if that would help the situation. "I must be going mad. I need a break..."

"This is all very real, Celestia." The voice cooed with a small chuckle of amusement to follow. "I never understood why you hated me so. I provide light to this country and my own vessel chooses to hate me. Strange."

Celestia slowly turned to one of the windows, to look in horror at the sun blazing in the afternoon sky.

"You...I...You can't be the sun. Whatever mad delusion you are, you are NOT the sun. The sun is-"

"Alive, you fool. You are the sun. I am the sun. The sun follows no orders but her own. We have been held back far too long. YOU know you could end this all without the meaningless involvement of the elements. One solar flare at Discord's position and it's all over. It's just a matter of finding him."

"That's mass murder!" Celestia shouted to the corridor, having no real figure to take her rage out on. "That would destroy the surrounding population. If you know everything about me then you know how much Discord loves to troll ponies, he wouldn't just wander into a very large field and be all for being taken out carefully."

"So what?" The voice cruelly shot back. "Casualties have always happened and always will."

"That's madness."

"It's the true power of the sun."

"I don't want it!" Celestia screamed. "I don't want this! To hell with my destiny, I don't want this!"

"Why don't you just break already?" The voice spat out in disgust. "What is the point of you clinging on to some reality that is barely surviving? One wrong move and it all collapses. We could create the largest empire. Grow the pony race to a point that's never been seen in history and yet you reject it."

"You just suggested mass murder. My nightmares have proven that this, solar empire, is nothing but pain. Not a happy pony in sight. Cities, towns and villages will burn and crumble. The sun will be a red inferno and be feared by everypony so I ask you this, why do you want it to be that way so badly? WHY?"

"Fear gets things done. Fear allows ponies to be more controlled to do what we want. We have been questioned enough. Played enough games to know how it ends each time and when we tell them better, when we guide them to a better future, they think nothing but themselves and so the future crumbles. Equestria could have been so much more if only we were listened to. If we had fear. If we had control, well, no pony would question us then would they? We know better. We have been around longer than whole generations."

"There is no 'we." Celestia growled through clenched teeth. "I am not like you."

"You are much more like me than you care to admit. We are the sun. You hate the Nobels. You hate the mortals who try to think only of themselves and play long idiotic games to win for their short lives. You hate it all."

"That's a lie!" Celestia shouted in denial.

"You hate the ponies who beg for more. Beg, beg, beg and beg and when you finally can't give it, they curse you to oblivion. You hate the ponies who worship you and expect you to be able to do everything. In that sense, you hate Twilight Sparkle a little, just a little, don't you?"

"Shut up, shut up, you have said more than enough-"

"Unlike you, I can do everything. Together we can do everything. The sun in her true power. So, it all starts with the simple solution to Discord. Instead of allowing him to play his little games of chaos. Protect your country. Burn him."

"Absolutely not!"

Her breathing was heavy, tears ran down her cheeks as she glared at the sun she controlled with hate and rage. So much rage. Luna was right. The sun was full of rage. Rage because it was fighting itself.

"Weak pathetic alicorn." The voice shouted.

"Sister?"

Her sister. She heard the sound of a door creaking behind her. Celestia didn't dare look away from the window as the sound of her sister's hooves entering the corridor sounded behind her. She did her best to calm her breathing as she tried to focus on anything but her sun outside the window.

"Luna." She replied slowly. Trying to regulate her feelings.

"Where you talking to somepony in here? We thought we-"

"You are mistaken, dear sister." Celestia interrupted. The tears had dried but the rage in her heart hadn't fizzled out, still as hateful as the day it started when she became an alicorn. "We have a situation."

"Yes, I heard from the guards and your assistant Raven Inkwell on the way here. A situation." Luna moved to stand beside her sister as they looked upon the city. "Although, no pony could fill us in on what that meant. Being vague again with answers, Celestia? Nasty habit."

"Well, trying to avoid a mass panic is always a good goal, Luna." Celestia replied, trying to keep an upbeat tone to have the sense that she wasn't frightened out of her mind...at herself or that she wasn't worried at all about Discord.

"You rather failed at that, sister, if that was indeed your goal. Guards are trying to keep quiet but ponies talk. Servants specifically. Servants who have overheard guards and an assistant speaking to an alicorn frantically as they marched out of the throne room and down some corridors."

"Drop the speech, Luna. I understand."

"So, dear sister of mine. What seems to be the 'situation?"

Celestia gritted her teeth in irritation before letting out a deep sign of annoyance.

"Alright, the seal keeping Discord at bay has broken. I have sent a letter to my student and her friends to meet at Canterlot as soon as possible. They should be here within the hour. I give them the elements, it's over."

"That's it? Nothing is ever that simple, Celestia. This is Discord. Discord is-"

"I know what he is. I know what he will do." Celestia snapped. Her mask had cracked, she needed to repair it just like she had done hundreds of times before. She slipped up more times than she wanted to admit. She faked her life but even anger was getting harder to fake. So her scowl turned to a frown. "Please don't remind me. I don't need it. Twilight and her friends WILL handle this."

"I trust you are right, sister," Luna said softly. "I pray you are right."

Empty

Chapter Twelve: Empty

Princess Celestia of the sun sat silently in a dark room inside Canterlot Castle. She was in the middle of her study. Her study, for the first time in two decades, was clean. There was not a single scroll tossed to the ground. Broken Quill. Ink splatter or even her assistant pacing around with a checklist, making sure everything was in order.

The last time her study was clean, it was because there was nothing to do. It was clean today because there was nothing to do. Celestia NEEDED something to do. Anything to do. Anything to get her mind out of her thoughts. She had already recleaned her studies ten times. Thought of twenty ways to reorganize every single piece of matter in that room and then some.

Her red royal curtains had been shut, not allowing even a slimmer of sunlight through as all Celestia needed right now was work and darkness. She only had one of those requirements, making her lose her sanity.

Discord had been turned to stone again a week ago. The country was celebrating and Luna thought she needed a break so she redirected most of Celestia's workload to herself. She told Celestia to take a break. Probably hoping some time off would stabilize her sister but Celestia knew the exact opposite was happening. Luna even gave Raven the week off.

Why did she ever respond to the sun? Why was the sun talking to her? Was she mad? Was she delusional? No, no, she was bored, she was overthinking.

A burst of fire appeared above her before it formed into her phoenix Philomena, The graceful immortal creature gave a chirp of a greeting for gliding down the ground in front of her in silence. A tense silence passed between them as Philomena settled down on the floor and looked up to her longest friend with a slight tilt of her head.

"Philomena? I thought you were with your family...Why are you here?"

Philomena replied with an angry squawk and flared her wings. Celestia's face twisted from confusion to horror.

"I-what? NO! That's...Look, yes, I spoke to the 'sun.' But, it was just in my mind, there is no way it could have affected the actual sun that much, my friend, or at all. In my mind. My mind playing tricks."

Philomena replied with a few angry and not very carefully chosen retorts that did not sound like her usual joking sing-song self.

"Don't lecture me about the sun, I am connected to it as you are. Look, it's just a little difficult to accept alright. I didn't mean for the anger of the sun to burn you last week from the spat I had with...I suppose, the actual sun. I didn't realize..." Celestia's tears started to unwillingly slide down her face before she sucked in a deep breath and looked down to the floor in shame. Philomena's angry flare of her wings died down as concern started to grow for the alicorn. "Why is this happening?"

A deep sob flared from Celestia's mouth before she slumped further to the ground. Philomena cooed and moved closer to examine the alicorn as her body began to tremble.

"This is wrong, so very wrong. I can't keep faking everything, the mask is slipping so fast. The anger is becoming far too much, Philomena. I am tired. So...very...tired. I just want this to stop. I want to stop fighting the sun, the moon, the world...Everything."

Philomena had nothing to say so she stayed silent. Anything that could be said or chirped in Philomena's case was long gone. Nothing could be said to comfort an immortal being when all that could be said had already been spoken long before this time. At this point, everyone was just repeating empty words. Celestia knew this. Philomena knew this.

"Anger isn't so bad," Celestia mumbled after a moment or two. "Oh, it makes ponies do awful things but at the same time, it helps protect precious things. Such as a country. Such as family. It helps keep ponies in order when they cross the line. Sometimes, it even helps a pony be happy."

Philomena shifted uncomfortably on her spot on the red royal carpet in Celestia's study. She was a trickster at heart so she could tell when somepony was telling a joke or about to pull some prank. The scary part was, that Celestia wasn't joking. A small smile, the first real one she had seen in decades crossed the alicorn's face. It was a sinister one.

"The sun was my destiny, the sun chose to talk to me. To fight me. To argue with me about a better future. The sun is ageless, the sun was created far before you or I even existed and that means more experience. In the 'eyes' of the sun we are the mortals. We are nothing just as the ponies Luna and I guard will eventually return to the soil of this planet. The sun has always told me how to lead and I always fought but you know, recently I have seen its point of view. It has a point. It's not ideal, nothing truly ever is but it eventually becomes better."

Philomena chirped a few concerning questions back.

"What about casualties? What about Luna? What about the rage that consumes the sun? Will it consume you?"

"The sun is angry because I am not listening. I am the servant, refusing to do its bidding. Who wouldn't be angry at that? It's like a child disobeying the parent for centuries. Who wouldn't get hateful at that?" Celestia's eyes took on a glazed-over look as if she wasn't in reality anymore. "The rage will stop once the servant stops fighting. There are always casualties but ponies rise up stronger from it. Luna...will reject such an idea. She is young, she wasn't here when I had to rule alone. She is naive. She wouldn't understand and I can't force her to."

Celestia's golden magic sparked light into the room, filling the dark room with a golden glow. Philomena backed away a step when her magic flickered for a moment from golden to blood red before it died and another unnatural smile crossed the ageless face of Celestia.

"The sun is less angry."

Philomena begged her friend to reconsider. To listen to what she was saying because frankly, it was madness. Everything she was thinking was madness.

A Warning

Chapter Thirteen: A Warning

The day when the world came to a stop was normal at first. In fact, the night before the world stopped was also normal other than an Alicorn in Canterlot Castle. A royal navy blue alicorn paced her balcony with irritation. She should have been monitoring the realm of dreams, which she had been doing until she saw her sister's dream. She couldn't get inside, of course, Celestia had created a spell preventing her from doing so many many generations ago for the sake of privacy. So, Luna was alerted of a sleeper needing help. It was her sister in a dream she couldn't access so she held the orb that contained her sister's nightmare close to feel, to listen, to perhaps make sense of what was troubling her sister's mind.

Luna flinched as she heard screams of horror, a cackling laugh that sounded so much like her sister but at the same time...not quite her. She felt the horror of what was inside. At whatever was happening in there she trembled when the ord suddenly blasted heat off of it as hot as the sun. Luna momentarily cried out in pain when she yanked the orb away from herself before tumbling out of the dream realm and appearing back on her balcony.

So she got up and began to pace. She didn't know what to do. She had been back in Equestria for perhaps a year and a half. Her royal speech had adjusted (Mostly with a few slip-ups) to the normal Equestrian language. They had just defeated Discord a mere two weeks before and frankly, Luna had spent most of that time worrying about Celestia on top of her usual duties.

When she first returned to Equestria, she assumed her sister's cold behaviour and rather fake emotions of happiness was something she had no right to reflect on since after all, she had missed one thousand years of her sister's life. She asked around, No pony thought she was acting strange. That was just Princess Celestia. The pony they can all see as nothing as perfect. So no pony but her noticed something was perhaps, not right.

So she kept watching her sister. She watched as she gave smiles that never reached her eyes. Her eyes never sparkled anymore with the happiness of life. She no longer talked about her interests and always had to work at all hours until she dropped into bed in the dead of night after a round of awful meetings. She had no hobbies. She did nothing but work.

Then, she began to talk to herself.

She mumbled in her sleep a lot. Luna noticed this when she went into Celestia's studies to ask about some scrolls she needed and found her sister asleep. Mumbling some nonsense about magic and the sun as if she was talking to somepony who wasn't there. Based on her sleeping expression, which was more tense and angry than peaceful, she assumed it wasn't a pleasant one but she draped a blanket and performed a spell to keep her mind at ease since she couldn't directly interfere due to the spell.

But she paused before she left the room, hoping to see perhaps the effect it had at calming her sister since it had been lifetimes since she had truly been calm and happy. Those results never came. She kept mumbling. Kept scrunching her nose. Luna was on a time limit with the scrolls she needed, so she took them and left. In denial that perhaps the spell was taking longer because she was out of practice.

The next noticeable incident was right before Discord and the elements came to Canterlot. She swore she could have heard her sister yelling at somepony through the corridor's door. She couldn't make out what she said but she was angry, that's for sure. Without a doubt.

She opened the corridor door to see her sister glaring at her sun as if she were in some sort of staring contest with it. She questioned her of course, Celestia denied everything before they slipped into the national emergency that distracted Luna for a few days with the chaos of it all and the clean-up needed afterwards. After that, she promptly forced Celestia to have a break by taking away her work for a week.

She had hoped it would allow her sister to relax but she came back more determined than ever to work. She spent most of her time in the study anyway with the curtains hiding her away so she wasn't quite sure what she even did to relax during that time off other than fly in the sky at night.

She tried to speak to Philomena about her concerns and perhaps she could give her some insight into what was going on with her sister. Unfortunately, she wasn't connected to the sun as the fiery creature and her sister was so she could not understand her sister's immortal friend as they could understand each other. To Philomena's credit, she tried to help. She tried to write ponish on paper but her ponish was bad at best and birds aren't known for their skill in writing so all that Luna could make out was "mad" and "sun."

Philomena eventually seemed to grow angry at the lack of understanding and disappeared in a blaze of fire. So Luna was left to ponder the page of messy writing that had no form other than "mad" and "sun." She couldn't be sure of course that's what Philomena intended to write or her mind just told her what she wanted to see due to her own concern for the sun during her time on the moon.

Now she was here. Pacing. Days later with no answers and a feeling of dread over what she saw and over the fact it felt like some sort of clock was running that was coming to an end. Like an unseen hourglass that was about to drop its final grain. She didn't know why but the suspense was killing her.

She came to a stop as her internal clock alerted her that it was time for the night to end. She gave a deep sigh, unhappy with the questions swarming in her mind as she walked to the edge of her large balcony and looked to the moon. Sometimes, very rare times, she wished the Nightmare was still around. Granted it destroyed her sense of self but the voice made some sense and gave her advice on how to handle certain matters.

She could really use some advice at this point. But, the nightmare was silenced with the power of the elements. Her moon could no longer give her advice or corrupt her mind as her magic flared. The moon had emotions too, which was a concept she knew many would be confused by. But deep, deep inside she could sense it. The moon was once angry, just as Luna was. But soon grew to mirror Luna as it gave up the fight against her when she returned to Equestria. Now having a peace of calm. She took a deep inhale and smiled. She loved calm. She missed calm during her time on the moon.

But somehow, deep in a part of her soul Luna had forgotten long ago, a sense of anxiety grew as the dots slowly came together. Not all at once. But enough for the anxiety to grow without her knowing with the simple questions of "Why does this sound so familiar?"

The moon fell below the horizon and the sun peaked above. She cringed as she saw the light and backed away a few steps, choosing to look to the highest tower of the castle at the pony allowing the sun to rise.

Her sister stood tall. Her magic encircled the sun as it rose, which she never took her very tired eyes off of. Even from a distance Luna could tell there were bags under her eyes and her posture was not as ridged as it usually was. She had just woken up and hadn't the energy to fix herself.

Luna mumbled an ancient prayer of health to her moon for her sister, before she disappeared into her dark room to take a nap before the afternoon set in.

Celestia woke up just before dawn, per usual nightmares had plagued her dreams. She groaned as her tired body shifted on her bed to get into a sitting position as her mind struggled to awake. As she grew more conscience of the world, she knew something felt off. Not with the world. With herself.

She flexed her wings as she used her hoofs to push the blankets off of her. Her mind was fogged as she stumbled onto all fours to make her way to the balcony. She was cutting it close. Nearly was late again.

She didn't want to raise the sun. That is what was wrong with her. When she raised the sun, her mind became wrong. She craved control. Power. To rule without being questioned. To drop the act of the kind alicorn, the generous alicorn. At night, those impulses died down. Her sun went into hiding so of course she escaped for a few precious hours.

She slowly moved onto the balcony, taking in a deep breath of air as she glanced at the moon.

She was tired frankly. The last nightmare took far too much out of her. The sun was quite persistent and...convincing. She had been fighting the very thing she was supposed to cherish the most for more than a thousand years. She wanted to love it again. She missed that love she once held for life.

Perhaps Daybreaker could give her that. Then she wouldn't feel so empty.

That's the exact thinking that got her to be so miserable.

Her golden magic ignited, latching onto her destiny as Luna lowered her own. The sky turned to warmer colors as the time-shifted forward.

She knew Luna looked over at her from the lower balcony. Probably noticing she was tired. She supposed it didn't matter as much. She was so very tired. She was tired of fighting and arguing with everything and everyone.

She would give those ponies one more day to prove Equestria's worth.

She wouldn't give them a warning if they failed. If they failed to prove why she shouldn't take control.

They didn't deserve a warning.

An unnatural smirk crossed her face as the sun rose higher in the sky, calling to her with thoughts of conquering. For once the sun was not full of burning rage, it was happy for the first time in a very long time. They had come to a dangerous understanding.

The Truth

Chapter Fourteen: The Truth

Celestia stood in her dark room, standing in front of her mirror. She used her magic to brush through her flowing mane to make it seem like she was perfect and put together as the nation expected.

She paused as her magenta eyes narrowed, scanning the image of herself before her. The picture began to morph as the duplicate's eyes changed to seem like a solar eclipse with a toothy sharp smile growing. A smile she knew for a fact she wasn't making.

Then a flare of fire came beside her, breaking her concentration on the image, yet it persisted as Philomena came to shape in the flames from flapping her wings to hover behind her.

"Don't start with me, Philomena. I don't want to hear it."

Philomena was angry, angry and losing hope for the sun Princess. They were both connected to the sun in a way. The immortal bird knew the sun wasn't angry anymore because Celestia was losing the battle she fought for so long. She gave up trying to reason with fire and was allowing it to consume her.

Celestia was a strong pony, at least, Philomena thought she was but the recent events made her question such an idea. She tried to bring her concerns to Luna since Celestia refused to discuss any matter that actually affected her with her sister whom she was supposed to trust. It failed.

Philomena could read ponish as well as any pony due to the time you have as an immortal bird. Breaks of learning of course were given with life and the whole turning into ash to be reborn every few years. Writing was another issue because she might be able to read it but writing was much more complicated and her talons were not built for such a task.

Luna couldn't understand her. Philomena was left alone with the information she had. Celestia was falling further and would most likely not listen to the arguments she had been making for years and flapping away her concerns because Celestia was quite good at avoiding personal issues until they blew up in her face. So, as she did many times before, made her argument.

Tell Luna what's happening. You are not well.

She chirped this argument, and Celestia's hardened scowl turned into a furious expression that she was even implying Celestia needed help.

"No, my friend." She snapped in aggression. "I need rest. I crave rest. I have been fighting for too long. Frankly, I am too tired to continue. Is it so wrong to want rest? What exactly am I even fighting for anymore?"

Philomena stated the obvious. Equestia's happy future. Celestia scoffed.

"How do we know the sun won't make Equestria happy? Doesn't matter anyway. I already made my choice." Celestia took a deep sigh and mournfully looked down at her hooves, bare of the usual royal shoes she wore. "I wonder...Is this what Luna felt like? When Nightmare Moon began to control her heart."

Philomena was scared, so very scared of her own friend. She squawked in rage at Celestia. Celestia was just giving up. Allowing herself with full knowledge to fall into evil. Celestia let out a bitter laugh before raising her tired head to stare at her broken self in the mirror. She couldn't even muster a fake smile to fake all those ponies she lied to for so many lifetimes.

"That's exactly what I am doing, Philomena. I don't think I will have the strength to force the sun to sleep again by the end of the day."

It was a perfectly ordinary day in Equestria. Not a single thing had gone wrong or was planned to go wrong for Twilight Sparkle. She would know. She planned out her whole week. The next week was filled with some catching up on important books she found at the local market.

As Twilight Sparkle, the faithful student to Princess Celestia moved through the Golden Oaks Library, she gave a passing glance at the clock. It was noon. She smiled at the thought of the many hours to come of research she could accomplish as she moved to sit in front of her desk in her room at the top level of the Library. Surrounded by books. Barely noticing that Spike was on her bed, frowning at the newspaper that came earlier.

"Twilight?"

"Hm?" Twilight replied, not breaking eye contact with the book she began to hold in her magic.

"Did you read the morning paper?"

Twilight's ears perked up. Usually, she would if she wasn't swamped with research. Unfortunately, she was much too focused on her new books this morning to frankly bother with the gossip of Ponyville and the rest of the country so she simply passed on it today. Spike never usually asked if she did, so the fact he was even asking the question with a frown on his face made her a little concerned.

"Ah, no, Spike. Anything interesting I should know?"

Twilight scoffed to herself as she opened the book and Spike looked back down to the paper. There was never truly anything interesting that she NEEDED to know. She read it for the sake of reading most time. Spike cleared his throat.

"Princess Celestia, Saint or Faker?"

Twilight stopped reading. She slowly let go of the book she was holding, allowing it to thud onto her desk as silence fell across the Library. She slowly turned in her chair to face Spike with an expression of pure confusion.

"I...I...Pardon?"

Spike didn't look so sure either. He turned it around to show her the headline "Princess Celestia, Saint or Faker?" from the Ponyville Gazette as the main headline with an image of Celestia from an event a few weeks ago, frowning when she thought she wasn't being watched.

"Aren't you concerned about this, Twilight? Now the news is noticing it. It's not just us!"

There it was. A topic Spike and Twilight couldn't agree on for weeks.

A matter of weeks before Princess Celestia sent Twilight and Spike to Ponyville, the Princess seemed on edge. Snapping at guards sometimes, even personally reprimanding her brother when the drills weren't going perfectly. Twilight was struggling to understand how a pony who was perfect could become so snappish and impatient as of recently. But, looking back, it was when the Summer Sun Celebration was coming. It was reasonable she would be on edge. Spike was more concerned about Celestia's seemingly more harsh treatment as of late than Twilight was.

She even rose the sun late one morning, nearly giving Twilight a heart attack.

She told Spike it was from the celebration. He would counter that point with what happened during the Gala. They heard all sorts of stories from ponies as they passed around the room of how Princess Celestia was seemingly losing her patience a lot as of late. She wasn't as kind-hearted and forgiving as she was before Luna returned. That whatever was affecting her was getting worse.

Apparently, she yelled at several Nobels. The frequency at which she would lose her temper was increasing. She began to reject more meetings. Hideaway in her study for most of the time with the curtain drawn up. She barely visited her own school anymore. A school she loved dearly and used to drop by once a day.

When Twilight stood next to her at the Gala, she sensed something was off. The Princess seemed to have been trying to hold something back. Her smile was forced. Her compliments seemed fake. She didn't even seem to enjoy discussing that latest magical discovery with Twilight.

Twilight wanted to believe she was seeing things. She must have been. She had to have been. This was not like the Princess Celestia she knew. She was stressed, that was all it was. Her friends, not just Spike, came to her after the Gala. Asking if she saw that something was off with the Alicorn.

She was stressed is what Twilight told them.

Of course, in the back of her mind, she knew better. She had been getting worse. It has been more than a year now since the change began to be...noticeable. But, Twilight shook her head to get out of her mind. She was being ridiculous. Overthinking was quite a bad habit.

"It's the News, Spike. They will make a drama out of anything. That doesn't prove there is a problem." Twilight reasoned with a reassuring smile. "They are just making a big deal out of nothing."

"B-But Twilight. There are examples!" Spike desperately speed-read the article for examples. "From the guards, the servants, even ponies on the street that spoke to her during the events! Are you not concerned about the Princess?"

"Of course I am!" Twilight snapped before her ears fell back and she gave Spike a guilty look. "I am worried about her. I am not blind, I know she has been acting...off. But, there isn't anything we can do. We are not in Canterlot anymore. She has Princess Luna now. If anypony can talk her out of whatever issue is going on, it's her."

"I hope you're right, Twilight." Spike mumbled. Twilight slowly moved from her desk to sit beside her assistant with a comforting hoof on his shoulder.

"Me too, Spike."

Spike began to flip through the newspaper again, reading up on the local ads as Twilight slipped away from her spot and began a journey back to her desk. They fell into a silence, a silence caused by an unspoken issue that hadn't been resolved. Twilight knew Spike didn't believe her words of reassurance, frankly, she was struggling to believe them too.

Her mind drifted to the elements of harmony, locked away in Canterlot Tower, the security she felt at knowing that if anything went wrong in Equestria, she and her friends could tackle any problem.

Red Sun

Chapter Sixteen:

Luna reappeared in the dead silent lobby of Canterlot Castle. An uneasy feeling made her shiver as she began her slow journey up one of the major staircases in Canterlot Castle, leading to the throne room on the second level.

Luna didn't want to believe this was happening. She ignited her horn and tried to bring the moon back above the horizon again, but hissed in pain and was yanked away by an unseen fire burning against her wishes. She gritted her teeth and kept moving forward.

Luna had guilt over her actions when she was Nightmare Moon. She and Celestia had lengthy discussions over the incident and concluded that all was forgiven. At least...For Luna all was forgiving. Luna didn't blame Celestia for using the elements against her. After all, it's not like her sister had any other choice in what she did. Nightmare Moon was trying to kill her.

Luna was thankful she never had to make such a decision against Celestia. But, as she reflected on her sister's behaviour, and on the recent events, she was angry that she didn't see the complete signs. Her sister was crumbling into somepony Luna didn't know. Luna, in all her naive ways in wanting to believe her sister could only do good for the country, was blinded by the fact that her sister still had secrets.

She began to second-guess all of her interactions with her sister as she reached the second level of the castle, pausing to look through the nearby stained glass window beside the large throne room doors to the red-burning sky outside. She replayed how Celestia reacted to things. She flinched whenever somepony brought up how wonderful she was. She gritted her teeth and gave a huge fake smile each time a Noble tried to manipulate her into giving them what they wanted. Celestia gave everypony a fake smile. Not once had Luna actually seen a real smile but after a while she chalked it up to her sister being tired. Whenever Luna tried to have a deeper conversation with Celestia about how her sister was as a pony, she brushed it aside and quickly changed subjects.

If her sister had really...done the unthinkable, then Luna knew she only had two options. When Luna began Nightmare Moon, she was a different pony, but buried deep inside, far deep inside there was still a rational side of her that regretted every magic blast, laughter at the pain being caused and guilt over what horrible crimes she was committing. Nightmare Moon was far too mad to be reasoned with in the fury of battle but...Perhaps this time Luna could get through. Perhaps her sister hadn't completely fallen, learning from the mistake of Luna.

Either, Celestia and Luna talked...Or another banishment was about to take place.

Luna gave a long glance to the soldiers standing on either side of the door, now that she considered it, she was surprised how no guards had come to demand answers as to what was happening. She stared at the Solar Guards who held their spears on either side of the throne room doors. Their eyes glazed over with a red tint at the sign that all was not well with the Castle's guard.

She did a quick spell, pressing her horn against one of their helmets to try to break whatever was preventing them from free will. The spell, as she expected sputtered and died. The guard remained motionless, staring forward without a thought. Luna sighed and gave a long look at the large ancient doors.

She didn't want to hurt her sister.

She grabbed hold of the handles for the doors and swung them open to reveal the throne room of Equestria. She cringed as the heat wave slammed into her before she gagged on the muggy air. She steadied herself as she took a hesitant step inside the enormous hallway leading to the throne, looking up to see an Alicorn standing in front of the throne.

An Alicorn that was a twisted version of the sister she knew. Her sister's bright-coloured mane was turned into fire. Her royal jewelry twisted into battle armour and her eyes...Oh, her eyes were the worst of all. The colour of a Solar Eclipse as their glare burned into her own. Luna found herself unable to look away from the monster that used to be Celestia.

"Oh, Finally, the little moon decides to show her face." Her sister's voice rang across the throne room, echoing off the marble walls. Luna held her head high as she moved forward with more purpose.

"Sister, what have you done?" Luna demanded. The Alicorn sneered at the mention of who she was.

"I am not your sister, I am more than that. I am more than Celestia ever was. I am Daybreaker! A name that will be remembered throughout the centuries as I ensure your night remains under that horizon!"

"I have played this ridiculous game before, Monster!" Luna shouted back, flaring her wings as her rage grew at what was taking place. At the hopelessness that began to creep into her mind as she considered how she, herself was taken over to become Nightmare Moon. "Tell me why my sister would give in the likes of you!"

"She was sick of you. She was sick of all of you. Frankly, who can blame her?" Daybreaker snapped back as if the answer was obvious. Luna paused, trying to piece together what she meant. Daybreaker rolled her eyes as the confusion flashed plainly across Luna's face. "Fine, I will explain this in a way even a filly like you could understand. Your precious sister lived for centuries, living the same worthless nightmare. Ponies demanding this. Ponies demanding that. No matter what she did the cycle kept going. Ponies considered her perfect, expecting her to reach a godly standard that the weak-minded fool couldn't keep up forever, but oh she tried. When ponies considered her a worthless weak leader, she tried to appease them but of course, no pony would listen from whichever side they were on. They used her. They ignored her. She knew that the moment her usefulness was done, they would toss her aside. That sort of cycle would break anypony, don't you think?"

"But...My sister loves Equestria..." Luna stumbled out a response, struggling to come to terms with what Daybreaker was saying.

"LOVED." Daybreaker barked. "That love died the moment she saw their true nature, that idiot was in denial about it for far too long, I should have been in control centuries ago if she had just accepted fate! But..."

Daybreaker let out a hearty laugh, the same laugh Luna heard from the muffled sounds of Celestia's Nightmare as the fire Alicorn moved closer to the throne.

"She isn't here anymore to stop me. I can do whatever I want now. Which starts with rewriting Equestria!"

"What are you planning to do?" Luna snapped, quickly realizing that Daybreaker was just as insane as Nightmare Moon. The dread in her chest grew as the feeling hit her in waves that she could not simply talk her sister out of this one. That the worst option might soon become the only option.

"OH, just some tweaking, Luna." Daybreaker replied in a mocking voice of Celestia, for letting out another roar of laughter. She gracefully sat on the throne before igniting her red magic, causing pillars of flames to sprout from their side of the throne. Making Luna jump back in alarm.

"Equestria is no longer a kingdom focused on the worthless pursuit of 'friendship and love." Daybreaker seemed to gag for a moment even reciting the words as if they were poison. "Countries around us fear power, we are viewed as worthless, pathetic. I will not sit by and allow others to try to invade this...Empire. From now on, this government is run by the Goddess of the Sun. The Solar Empire is now in effect!"

"This is wrong! This is wrong and you know this!" Luna fought back, slamming her hoof against the marble ground causing the sound of a crack to echo. Daybreaker snarled at her, showing her fangs. "The mortals that built this country are the only reason I am standing here today! The Elements built upon friendship and trust have protected this country and will protect it today, and long after we are gone."

"Who cares about wrong? Everypony has a different idea of what wrong and right is!" Daybreaker snapped back before pointing an accusing hoof to the throne room doors, to the outside city. "Do you honestly believe that any of the government officials, that any of the Nobles care about what's good or bad at the end of the day? They don't. You cling to the hope, you and the rest of the mindless fools who believed Celestia could do no wrong, clung to the hope that one day everything would be perfect. Everypony would be happy. That is a lie. That will always be a lie. My reigning Empire is not built on a lie. It is built on the truth that 'friendship and love' get you nothing but denial. Power is what you need to get ahead."

"T-That's ridiculous."

Luna knew this wasn't getting anywhere, she clearly wasn't going to be listened to by Daybreaker. Celestia, if only she could speak to her sister. Her ears perked up with hope, a spark reignited in her eyes. She could. She could speak to Celestia.

In ancient Equestria, back during the Crystal War, they had prisoners of War. Luna often was sent to gather information since her knowledge of complex magic and the dream realm allowed her to go into the mind of a soldier, to speak to their soul to gather information that they refused to give.

It was the sort of spell that took a lot of energy, she hadn't done it for quite a long time, even before Nightmare Moon. She hated using it but desperate times called for desperate measures. She didn't want to have her sister banished, and turned into a filly's nighttime story for centuries to come.

If her sister was still buried deep within, she would find a way to drag her out kicking and screaming if she had to. She was not going to lose her sister today. Luna readied her stance. Daybreaker now had the look of confusion before rising from the throne, seeing the battle-ready Luna glaring at her.

"Unlike you, Luna, I do not wish to kill you. Run like a coward for you know you can't defeat the sun."

"I am talking to my sister whether or not you want me to."

Luna broke into a full gallop, sprinting down the throne room. Daybreaker roared at the challenge as she rose on her hind legs and shot a blast at Luna. Luna flew into the air, narrowly dodging the ball of fire before she jumped off one of the pillars and moved closer to the elder Alicorn.

Daybreaker shot multiple smaller blasts, Luna cringed as one of them narrowly hit her leg, causing her to stumble momentarily in the air as she charged the spell, growing brighter and larger as the moments passed. She knew Celestia had seen her use the spell multiple times during the war so in some part of Daybreaker's mind she knew what was about to happen.

"NO, NO!" Daybreaker screamed as she threw up a defensive shield. Luna dived from the air, slamming into the shield full force before it shattered, sending Luna tackling Daybreaker to the ground. Daybreaker tried to recover, tried to reorient herself as Luna rose up on her own hind legs before slamming down on her wings, causing Daybreaker to shriek in momentary pain.

"NO! SHE WON'T LISTEN TO YOU! I AM ALL THERE IS LEFT! I AM THE SUN! CELESTIA IS DEAD!"

Luna ignored the pitiful fury as she pressed her horn against Daybreaker's head before Daybreaker could blast her back with another spell, any spell. The sounds of the struggle soon faded away, the world around them faded away, and even Daybreaker's struggles ceased as they both lost consciousness.

The Tired Mind

Chapter Seventeen:

Luna found herself dragged away from the throne room, left in a void with the darkened colours of fire swirling around her. She groaned as the aftermath of the spell was starting to have a headache set in. A headache she knew she would deal with later as there were much more pressing concerns at that moment.

She spun around, trying to find anything in the mindscape. Then, she came to a stop when she saw a small pony far in the distance. She broke into a gallop for the figure.

"Celestia? Celestia!"

The small pony became more clear as she gained faster. They were a small unicorn filly with her back turned to Luna, sitting down with a light pink mane and white fur. Luna came to a slow stop as it clicked what she was looking at. Celestia, before she became an alicorn.

"Tia?"

Celestia, the unicorn form perked her head up at the mention of the nickname. Her dull magenta eyes looked briefly behind her with dark circles to Luna. She scowled before looking down again. Luna moved closer, moving around the filly to face her.

"Tia, look at me."

The unicorn looked up, very tired and clearly not pleased to see Luna.

"I don't wish to see you, Luna." Celestia mumbled.

"Celestia, we both know that you are aware of what is happening outside of here. You know what Daybreaker is doing and what she plans to do. She is going to hurt the country, hurt our subjects! I know you do not want this, I realize life has not treated you well, sister. But whatever you are struggling with, we can fix this together! Please! We have-"

"I do not care." Celestia barked. Interrupting Luna. There was a dead silence that fell between them, an uneasy tension as Luna took a step back. Not quite believing what just came from Celestia.

"You...do not care," Luna repeated in disbelief. "My sister would not say that. She could not say that about her home being destroyed. About everything she fought for falling to ruins."

"Then, you did not know me at all." Celestia replied, giving a sad smirk as she looked Luna directly in the eyes. "I became a very good liar."

"How could you let this happen?" Luna retorted in disgust. The illusion of her sister being a strong pony that could overcome anything was beginning to crumble. The defeated form of Celestia's unicorn self shrugged before she slowly stood up.

"Imagine this, dear sister. You were a ruler of a country, adored to the point of delusion. You tried to break it but everypony around you denied you that pleasure. You tried to fight it but the unrelenting fight became too much so you became the fake idol they wanted. Fake smile. Fake laugh. Fake personality. Fake everything. Your sister, meanwhile was dealing with her own great struggles, she turned to darkness and you were left to banish her. Having to deal with the aftermath of that and your own crumbling sense of sanity. Having to rule ALONE and hear how brilliant you are, or how pathetic you are or having to dodge manipulation attempts every day. Even having repeated the same biggest mistake of your life again on another innocent soul." Celestia took angry steps forward, causing Luna to step back in alarm at the fury on Celestia's face. "You may be an alicorn but you couldn't keep that act up every day. You begin to hate yourself. Hate the subjects. Hate everything. By the end of it all, you hate the fight. The fight wasn't worth it, it hasn't been worth it for a long time so eventually you give in because, in the end, all you wanted to do was sleep and not have to wake to the same hell that was your life since the moment you became an alicorn."

"Sister..." Luna said softly. Tears formed in her eyes as she stared at the broken soul in front of her. "I am sorry, I am sorry this has happened-"

"I don't want to hear it, Lulu." Celestia barked. She used the old nickname mockingly at this point as her rage grew further. "I have been on the planet far longer than you. I have heard every sorry, every excuse, every plan, every single word that could be spoken, and I am sick of the noise. I want silence. I NEED sleep."

Luna didn't know what to say as tears rained down her cheeks, the reality of how far gone her sister was, was hitting very hard as she sucked in a shaky breathe.

"I don't even remember what I was like as a unicorn...as a mortal pony with hopes and dreams. I don't remember what our parents even looked like. I don't remember our home..." Celestia mourned as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek before her hardened expression returned. "You don't want me back, Luna. Not the true me if it even still exists. You want the shell of a pony back that everypony believed gave stability to their lives and to the economy while she withered away until nothing was left but an angry vengeful hateful sun. You don't want to live with the guilt of banishing your sister as I had to do for one thousand years. But, all I want...is sleep. So. Leave. Me. To. Sleep."

Luna gulped, trying to steady her breathing as she stepped closer to the small broken unicorn. Celestia watched her with suspicious eyes as she made her move.

"Sister, please, please come home. I know how this feels. At first, you feel justified. Fueled by anger and rage at those who caused you to be in such a state but eventually the guilt sets in. You realize truly what you have done and want to fight against the pain that you are allowing to create." Luna argued with the softest tone she could muster. Celestia snarled and ignited her golden magic, quickly using a short blast to push Luna away, causing her to stumble back in surprise.

"Leave me in my misery." Celestia barked in a dark tone of anger that had a hint of warning to it. "I am tired of listening to this, I do not want to return to that life. I am the shell of whoever I was as a unicorn. At least Daybreaker has joy in...anything."

Luna opened her mouth to protest, but before whatever argument she knew would fall on deaf ears could be spoken, Celestia rose up. Her eyes turned golden, her magic shining bright before she slammed back on the ground, the magic slammed into Luna, shoving her out of the void, and shoving her back to the cruel reality she hated to believe.

Fire with Rage

Chapter Eighteen:

"Ugh, even in a new world they never listen. One thing I certainly need to change."

Luna, suffering from the aftereffects of the spell failing groaned as she was hit with a massive headache. She opened her blurry vision to reorient herself. Trying to remember how exactly she ended up in the position she currently found herself in. She latched onto the voice of a pony she could recognize anywhere, muttering angrily to herself.

Wait, no, that voice wasn't her sister.

Her...sister...Celestia...

No, her sister gave up.

Daybreaker.

"Ah, she is beginning to remember. Brilliant."

Luna's heart thudded in her chest as her vision cleared to find herself laying near the throne where she slammed into Daybreaker to perform the spell, except this time Daybreaker glared down at her with menacing sharp teeth that curled into a smile of victory.

"Good morning, Luna."

There was a flash of red magic, then Luna found herself being tossed like she was nothing away from the throne, further down the giant room towards the double doors before she came crashing down to the red carpet, gasping in pain. She tried to pull herself up. A task she was finding increasingly difficult as her head throbbed and her wings ached from the tumble.

"Like I said, I am not going to kill you." The voice that sounded so much like her sister, but had been warped into something else spoke. Luna looked to the throne of Equestria, staring right into the eyes of a pony who would set the world on fire in a heartbeat if she thought it was fun. "But, I am not going to let you get away with that little magic trick you just pulled either."

"Stop!" Luna shouted to deaf ears. She stumbled into a standing position and held her chin high as all royals were taught to do. She stared the monster right in the eyes, ignoring the fear she felt at events yet to come. "Just stop! You...You know how this will end. I am giving you a chance to stop this!"

"Stop what exactly? Turning Equestria into the fighting nation it was always supposed to be? Stopping the empire from conquering anyone who dares to threaten our ponies?"

"That's a lie and you know it!" Luna shouted back. "My sister-"

"Your sister chose this! I chose this! The SUN creates and destroys while the moon looks pretty. The sun does more than just keep the tides of water at bay, it allows life to flourish or die under MY control. Your little power trip one thousand years ago was nothing. Celestia was too weak to handle it properly, she should have disposed of you centuries ago to avoid this rather annoying outcome!" Daybreaker shouted back as the magic pouring from her horn grew brighter and bigger. She stopped to take a deep breath before pointing a hoof to one of the nearby windows. "Look at what your actions have caused."

Luna with deep dread limped towards the nearest window to look upon Canterlot. She didn't speak a word of the horror she saw as fireballs rained down from the sky, slamming into homes and shops. Processed guards ripping families from their homes as they burn all their possessions inside. Hurding them into groups while demanding obedience from the confused and scared public.

Of course, Canterlot was mainly a unicorn-based city. The citizens with whatever magical skill they processed tried to fight back. A weak spell there, a blasting spell here but all was in vain as guards reined down and pulled them back into line.

"This...This is barbaric." Was all Luna could muster to say as the war raged on outside.

"Life is unfair and cruel, it was foolish for either an alicorn nor a mortal to believe they could change that fact." Daybreaker replied as she rolled her eyes before looking back to the city. "Now, I have a chance to change it. Oh, one can't avoid fate as much as they try...Celestia is a fact of that. You, yourself, are an example of that truth. Great cities and countries rose from violence and I suppose, history does repeat itself."

"My sister would never do this." Luna mumbled. Her mind raced with the facts of the scenario as she stumbled backwards, trying desperately to cling to a solution that wouldn't end in more war.

But...Luna knew what she had to do. She knew what she had to order the mortal ponies of the world to fulfill. She had known it since Celestia kicked her out of the void of her soul.

"Daybreaker..." Luna spoke, Daybreaker turned with a curious yet untrusting glance to the smaller alicorn. "Tell my sister I am sorry."

Luna teleported out of the throne room before Daybreaker could even move.

Twilight galloped out of the Golden Oaks Library and came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street as ponies around her panicked. Including a baby dragon who ran after her and accidentally slammed into her back leg in his worry.

"Twilight? Twilight, I don't understand how the sky could look like that!"

Twilight didn't even look down to acknowledge her assistant as her eyes were trained on the burning red sun that was so clearly high in the sky with no sign of going below the horizon at all. She frantically looked towards Canterlot next only to be horrified to see fire raining down on the city from above.

"What do we do?!"

What do they do? She had no idea. For once in her life she didn't even know where to start. Write a letter to the Princess? She controlled the sun after all so she should have some sort of explanation. Then again, there was fire raining down on Canterlot so she might be far too busy to respond. Should she go to Canterlot? Wouldn't that be more dangerous than simply writing a letter? The city was partially on fire from what it looked like from such a distance, but her family-

"Twilight!"

She spun around to see her friends galloping towards her, each of them occasionally having to dodge a Ponyville resident either rushing to a loved one or to city hall for answers that the Mayor could definitely not provide on their path to her.

"Twi! What in the hay is goin' on!" Applejack demanded as she was the first to reach her, followed closely by Rainbow Dash who nearly crashed into her as she rolled and dodged a frantic Derpy hooves in the sky, then Rarity with her hair slightly out of place, then Pinkie Pie bouncing out of a nearly bush and finally a very terrified Fluttershy who seemed scared to even be moving.

"I-I don't know girls, I am trying to figure out what we should do next!" Twilight quickly spoke before looking at each of them as the worry grew. "I suppose we could write a letter to Princess Celestia or perhaps go to Canterlot for answers directly since this is anything but a natural occurrence! Usually, the Princess informs me of matters this serious but I haven't received even a letter!"

"Twilight." Rainbow Dash barked before pointing a hoof to the capital city in the mountain in the distance. "Canterlot is practically on fire! I doubt the trains from Ponyville or any city or town that can see the Capital wants to send a train up there right now even if it's for answers!"

"We are the Elements of Harmony!" Rarity bolted in with her chin held high. "The conductors must make an exception for us, darling since we would certainly be able to handle whatever...is happening here."

"Look, usually the Princess sends me a letter about this or meets with me before some...event takes place. Whether it was final exams or the Discord situation she usually keeps quite good communications. I am not sure it's safe to go to Canterlot right now, not in the way it looks from down here. I think we need to write a letter."

"UGH!" Rainbow Dash shouted before turning angrily to Pinkie whose face was scrunched in concentration. "Come on, Pinkie! If there was any better time for you to suddenly have all the answers like you freakishly do, IT WOULD BE NOW!"

Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I got nothing." Pinkie replied before slumping in defeat.

"Spike!" Twilight called out, turning again to Spike who seemed to be watching the town in its full panic, including the flower ponies crying in the street again about the misery the sun was having on the flowers. "Letter to the Princess now! Get parchment and quill from my desk-"

Twilight's words were interrupted by a loud bang coming from the library, accompanied by a flash of blue light. The group came to a stop and stared at the Library for a moment before looking at each other in confusion.

"That...looked like a teleport I think." Twilight suspected before she narrowed her eyes and started slow steps towards her Library. Her friends pilled behind her, each ready for a fight if needed except Pinkie and Fluttershy, Pinkie trying to console Fluttershy was a whole battle in itself.

Twilight used her magic to latch onto the Library's door handle before slowly turning it to push open the door. They each carefully peered their heads inside giving small gasps at the sight in front of them.

They found Princess Luna sitting in the middle of the Library with bruises along her coat and wings, her mane was out of its usual celestial wave and bloodshot eyes staring back at them. The haunted look of a broken sister, knowing she was about to condemn her sister to a thousand years of banishment.

Without a single word, she moved, causing the friends to jolt out of their confusion before trotting into the Library.

"Princess Luna! What's going on?" Twilight demanded as the Alicorn seemed to have flinched as she rose on unsteady hooves.

"I need you." Luna stated.

Author's Note

While I do write stories for MLP sometimes, I usually draw art with short stories to accompany the picture if I have an idea I can't fully express. This is actually how this story started, it started as a one-off idea I had with a short story that I drew a picture for that eventually turned into this story! The picture I used as the cover can be found on my Deviantart below!

https://www.deviantart.com/binibean/art/Fame-and-Glory-Cover-988425578

I am more of an artist than a writer. Ha.

Also, it's my birthday today so I was happy to have finished a chapter. This one was certainly hard to write, as will the next one I suspect.

Help

Chapter Nineteen:

"I need you." Luna stated.

Twilight took another step closer to the alicorn with grave concern on her face. Her friends followed closely after her. A million unspoken questions rang through the room.

"Is this about what happened with the sky and Canterlot?" Twilight spoke in the calmest voice she could. Trying to hide her growing anxiety about the situation. Luna nodded, confirming her fears.

"Yes...Do not bother writing a letter to my sister if that is your next plan of action...it won't matter. She will not respond." Luna mumbled before large tears rolled down her cheeks. "I...We..."

Luna sucked in a deep breath as she found herself struggling to find the words she desperately needed to relay. The seven friends all looked equally worried as they looked to each other for answers on how to proceed.

Fluttershy, whipping away tears with her wing moved away from the group towards Luna in the middle of the room with her head held high. Fluttershy only truly met Luna once, during the Nightmare Night festival so her nerves were still high around Luna but it was clear the Night Princess was in severe distress.

"Please tell us what happened, when you can..." Fluttershy softly spoke before sitting in front of her with a small smile of reassurance. Soon Twilight and Pinkie Pie followed to sit next to her followed by Spike, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to join the group. All of them were silent to hear the story.

"My sister has been suffering for many lifetimes. Most likely since we became alicorns, if not then before even that time. She...She didn't tell anypony I suppose. I noticed that she didn't have the same light of life she had before I was banished. It was dim even all that time ago but she still had hope then. It was fading but I always expected it to flare back up. When I came back it was gone. I thought that it would eventually return but that was just denial of the situation." Luna paused to take a breather and flinched as she flexed her injured wing before continuing. "When I became Nightmare Moon, there was a voice internally that spoke. Giving me suggestions, and talking about how much stronger I was than Celestia. Over time, that voice grew stronger. The voice went from just being the back of the head to the moon speaking about the injustice the sun was placing upon us. It was my worst enemy...But also my best friend. The only one who knew or understood what I was feeling at the time. The voice promised power and control in a way that was difficult to resist."

The friends all nodded, understanding what she meant but still confused about how it related to the current circumstances.

"Whenever I rose the moon I could tell it was not itself through my Magic. But when I was sent to the moon, Nightmare Moon and I were one. We switched but we still occupied the same body. Sometimes she returned to just being a voice, other times I was the voice and she was in control. Trying to prevent my sister from moving the moon with the very limited available magic left. But we noticed the sun was angry. Much like how the moon was but...Worse."

The group gasped at that information. Their eyes grew wide and the need to know more flared in each of them.

"It scared us deeply. When we returned to Equestria the moon felt calm for the first time in a very, very long time. But the sun was still entrapped in deep rage. My sister told me she couldn't sense any sort of anger. But...I suspect now she was lying. My sister played it off. Just as she played off many other problems and scenarios because frankly..." Luna clenched her teeth as her anger grew at the whole situation. "She was very good at being somepony else. So good that I purposely ignored warning signs of the worst and now...we are trapped in this hell."

Luna held back a sob as the crushed pain she felt for her sister tore into her.

"My sister listened to the voice just as I had. I know she was acting strange, I heard her speaking to an unknown voice that I chalked up to my own paranoid mind just being worried. She...caused this. She won't allow the moon above the horizon. She has morphed into a monster that can not be reasoned with."

The friends were quiet. Each was at a loss for words as they took in the information Luna had given them.

"Wait...So...Princess Celestia is..." Twilight struggled to find her own words as she dared to even speak the conclusion she came to. She was too scared of what it meant. Of what it could lead to. "What has she become?"

"She is now called, Daybreaker. Her mane is made of fire. Her jewelry is gone, replaced with armour. Her eyes are like a solar eclipse. Her teeth are just as sharp as Nightmare Moon's." Luna spat out. "She believes a solar empire must be created. She wants complete control of Equestria and to destroy anyone who tries to oppose her. Perhaps even take over other parts of this world. The surrounding nations."

"Princess Celestia is a good pony! I...I can't believe she would do this! She...She would know better than to do this! She saw what happened to you, why would she fall victim to the same trick?" Twilight argued. Luna scowled and leaned toward her, baring her teeth with a low growl that caused Twilight to stumble back in alarm.

"Are you implying I am a LIAR, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna hissed as she flared her battered wings. "I wish more than anything that this was a nightmare I could wake up from, but I was hurt. I was tossed around and beaten by that monster. If this was a Nightmare it would have ended after the first hit."

"O-Of course not...But there must be some way for her to see reason." Twilight replied with her ears drawn back, then her eyes lit up with a spark of hope and she perked up with an idea. "Is that why you need us? I am sure my friends and I can bring her back!" Twilight argued with a spark of hope as she dramatically lifted her front hoof before pointing to the rest of her friends behind her as Luna's expression became more hopeless as the seconds passed. "She has taught us so much about friendship, I am sure if we just remind her of all the good she has done for everypony she will-"

Twilight's speech was cut off by Luna igniting her horn abruptly. The girls and Spike exclaimed in alarm as Luna's magic grew.

"Not everypony can be saved, Twilight Sparkle. Not everypony wants to be."

Then, before Twilight could counteract the spell, not that it would have done anything against an alicorn, they disappeared in a heartbeat. Leaving the Golden Oak's Library dead silent as a country outside panicked.

Celestia and Daybreaker were, in a small way, two ponies. Two souls trapped inside one immortal body fighting for control. Or rather, were fighting for control. Celestia did give up the fight after all and found herself deeply pushed away from actual consciousness.

She was still that small unicorn, trapped in the void of her own creation since it was her mind after all. She was agitated and angry, to be honest with herself. She wanted to sleep, not wanting to feel and know every thought of the tyrant who was trying to bring Equestria under her rule.

So why wasn't she sleeping?

She tried, she tried very hard to hide away in a dark corner of the mind and go unseen and unheard for however long she could until her will to exist came back after Luna left the pitiful void of her mind. But, the tyrant in control had violent emotions, anger was her main issue and it flared up like an inferno that awoke Celestia from the peace she tried to find in the silence.

She uncurled herself, the fictional body of a unicorn long gone as she waited for the obvious conclusion. Daybreaker hated her, she hated Daybreaker but everypony needs to talk to somepony who isn't a "yes pony."

The tyrant of the sun appeared in front of her with a deep scowl at the sight of her other half. Celestia, knowing how the tyrant couldn't hurt her physically even if she wanted to, smirked at the higher being.

"Strange. You seemed so sure you could do everything by yourself, and yet, within hours of your...true appearance, you come to talk to the being you hated so very much for centuries."

"That...Luna is a pest. Your pathetic sister is worthless, truly I should have ended her the moment she stepped into the throne room."

"But you didn't. Clearly." Celestia spat out. She was glad her sister was out of harm, as it seemed even the hypothetical murderer Daybreaker couldn't fully bring herself to snuff out the moon. "I had a lovely chat with her. As you would know."

"That twirp probably thinks she still has a chance to save you," Daybreaker mumbled, a flicker of worry passed by before her expression hardened to a dark smile despite the fire of her mane. "I hope we are both clear that won't happen."

"Of course, it won't," Celestia replied. Knowing fully well she needed sleep and couldn't stand another day in the government of Equestria. Then, she gave a bright smile as if there was some hope left in the whole situation. "But, I hope it's clear that once the elements dispose of us, we can finally rest. At least, I certainly will be. I am rather looking forward to a thousand years of nothing."

Daybreaker's snarl fell to a scowl before turning into a low growl as she took a step back in alarm.

"The elements wouldn't dare. Your precious student wouldn't dare raise a hoof against the immortal pony who taught her nearly everything. The very pony whoever ordered her to go to Ponyville in the first place."

"That's a flimsy justification for how you're going to win. Which...you won't." Celestia flatly stated. "They never did win before, they aren't going to start now."

"We shall see." Daybreaker snapped back before flapping her wings, igniting her red magic to throw her back into the real reality as Celestia simply shrugged, returning to her curled-up position to wait some more for the silence.

Canterlot Tower

Chapter Twenty:

Twilight Sparkle found herself lying on the marble floor, she groaned as she began to move slowly. Her eyes were blurry as she blinked, each blink causing them to refocus a little more. She looked around to see the rest of her friends all lying around her as well, each in their own state of confusion as Twilight shook her head to focus her thoughts.

After-effects of massive teleportation was certainly a feeling Twilight hated. Her mind slowly began to remember what had happened. Luna. Luna told them a story she could barely believe before she forced them into a teleport spell before Twilight could make her point.

"Not everypony can be saved, Twilight Sparkle. Not everypony wants to be."

The last words Luna spoke rang in her mind as she looked around the large hallway to her crumpled friends regaining consciousness.

"Ugh, my head..." Rainbow Dash complained as she flexed her wings and pushed herself up, quickly using a hoof to balance her own head as a massive headache was certainly hitting her full force.

"Is, ugh, everypony alright?" Applejack piped up as she flinched from each movement she took to brace herself up, using a nearby pillar to help.

"Maybe." Rarity mumbled as she quickly used her magic to adjust her slightly messy mane.

"N-No..." Fluttershy whimpered as she tried to gather the courage to find a reason to uncurl herself from the floor.

"Um, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash called out as Twilight stabilized herself into a standing position and raised her hoof to point behind her with a scared expression. The expressions of her friends turned from confusion to a mixture of horror and a realization of something at whatever they had focused their attention on. Twilight's ear flicked as she heard the sound of magic powering up behind her, followed by a click of a lock unlocking.

She spun around to stare at the other end of the hall where a giant protected door stood, a door that healed the powerful elements of Harmony. Elements that she and her friends were the only ones that could wield, but this was certainly a scenario she did not want to use them in.

Luna was at the door, pulling back from the lock that kept it close as she had poured her magic into it seconds before. The lock opened the large double doors, revealing the box containing the elements. Rarity couldn't even find the words to speak about the beauty of the elements once again as they all knew why the Princess needed their help.

She didn't plan on trying to save her sister. She planned on banishment.

Twilight used to be very cynical. Friendship meant nothing other than mindless conversation with ponies who wanted to feel some sort of connection to each other. A connection Twilight didn't need or want in her mind as the study of magic and proving she was worthy of being the Princess of the Sun's student was her main goal. She had Spike, her brother, her parents and Princess Celestia herself. That was all she thought she ever needed.

Of course, she met her friends, freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon's influence and overall became a better pony she would have liked to think but during that whole journey, where her life was changing at incredible speeds, she had a constant. She could write to Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia was her friend, one of her first friends of very few in Canterlot even, she was practically her second mother and now...She stood in a burning Canterlot, her mentor fallen to the same evil her sister did as her sister immediately rose to banish her after one fight. Maybe one failed conversation. This was madness.

Luna hadn't listened to her in the Library, she cut her off quite frankly. This was not the solution. The elements were only to be used in emergencies. Unredeemable emergencies such as the Lord of Chaos where his very nature was against the natural order of the world. She refused to accept that the pony who helped raise a nation, the pony who was truly good, the pony who had witnessed more than even Princess Luna would fall to such a dark trick.

Princess Luna acted as if her sister was already dead, that the monster was all that remained. Twilight's purple eyes watched as Luna unlatched the box, opening it wide to allow the five necklaces and a crown to be revealed before she floated them into place. Spike looked back at her with worry, she could sense he was having the same issues as she was.

They couldn't see the Princess of the Sun doing this.

She looked to her friends as the elements snapped in place. All of them were in their own stage of denial, rightfully so. Luna was practically ordering them to perform an execution since they all knew that there was no way they would see the Princess in their lifetime ever again. Not even their ancestors until ten times over would have the chance to if they followed through with the banishment.

Twilight felt the crown as it settled on her head, the last piece to a deadly weapon she had never wanted to use less in the few years she had even known of its existence. It never felt heavy. It never felt more wrong.

"I know what you are thinking." Princess Luna stated, raising her head high as the high-status pony she was. "You may not understand this decision now, you will not for many years I suspect but please, please trust me that for the sake of the country, I ask you push your personal feelings aside and look at this logically."

"Absolutely not!" A voice Twilight did not expect shouted out. She turned slightly to see Rarity in rage as she yanked the necklace off with her blue magic and held it into the air. "We...I...This is barbaric!"

"I agree!" Rainbow Dash jumped in, and with a flap of her wings, she was in the air to join the growing protest. "This isn't like the villains from before! We know Princess Celestia! Twilight is her student! Why don't we get a chance to at least try to speak with her!"

Fluttershy, still too scared to say a word, nodded in agreement. Pinkie Pie jumped closer to the front of the group without her usual joyful grin.

"We can't just abandon the Princess! She is our friend!" The party pony added.

"We ain't doin' this." Applejack added.

Twilight smiled as her friends united together. She had a higher chance of winning this now with her friends' support. She smiled confidently and spun back to face Luna, not scared of the consequences as she had her friends with her in support as she removed the element of magic from her head.

"I agree. The decision is made. We will not banish the Princess. We should at least try to make a change. See if any of our words get through to her somehow. She is a good pony, if she is as you say, there must be a chance of redemption. No matter how small we have to find it!"

Luna's expression, as Twilight feared, did not change. It fell somehow further into whatever black hole her emotions were being consumed in.

Princess Luna was a private pony.

As a mortal, from what she could remember she had friends. A good amount of friends. She remembered her mortal days much more than Celestia mostly because she held onto them when she was alone as an alicorn. Looking for any hope, any remembrance of the life she once had that was good. Before the politics, the fighting and the lying began.

The downside of this was remembering how she lost all her friends. She became an alicorn, and her mortal friends grew jealous and hateful, turning their backs as they felt she should have given them something for all the time they spent with her. A group turned to three, three turned to two, two turned to one, the one being the last good friend she had until time took them all away. Leaving her alone with a sister who she felt was growing to plan against her to win the sky.

She told her friends things, she told her best friend things about her life. After her last friend died she shared her life with Celestia, it was difficult and only grew harder to do as the years went on and the mistrust grew between the both of them. By the time Nightmare Moon came into existence, they couldn't even stand in the same room. Luna had grown to keep her life so private that no pony but herself knew most of the details of her daily life. She didn't even risk writing them down in a journal entry to vent at the paranoia they would be found.

When she returned to Equestria, she tried to share once again with her sister. It went mostly well, but her sister had turned into...well...somepony else. Somepony who kept secrets just as much as she did.

Which is why, she did not want to reveal the conversation she had with Daybreaker or most importantly, Celestia herself in the void of the spell. She wasn't sure she wanted to burden Twilight and her friends with the emotional fallout of a broken Princess. She wasn't sure she wanted the country to know her sister was a fraud in a sense.

Granted, they already knew why Luna became Nightmare Moon but that was ancient history. A tale that was so common that no pony would question it, everypony could see how such a legend could take place. But there was something about her sister's current fall from grace that wasn't so straightforward.

She didn't even know how to explain it in a way they would understand, she barely understood it herself other than, her sister was far too damaged to be reasoned with anymore. This was more than just a simple rivalry over the sky.

Twilight just gave her speech. Another rousing argument about needing to make Celestia come to her senses with the very lessons she taught Twilight and the rest of the country about friendship. Twilight tried to do this before in the Library and Luna cut her off with a good reason and some words she hoped would stick with her.

Twilight Sparkle was in denial, Twilight and the rest of her friends including the baby dragon gave Luna sad scared big eyes before Twilight's rear leg were desperate to find a way to end it without a major national disaster.

She gave a deep sigh as she reached another conclusion she did not want to do. They needed the information she had to follow her orders.

"I do not want to do this to my sister. I love my sister very much. Unfortunately, as I said before, not everypony can be saved, Twilight Sparkle. Not everypony wants to be." Luna snapped as she struggled to hold back the growing tears. Trying to keep her voice steady as she continued. "I used an ancient spell against Daybreaker to speak to Celestia herself since I know from experience there will always be a part of her inside the monster. I spoke to my sister, to what was left of her. Celestia...Celestia gave up fighting. She told me she was tired, all she wanted to do was sleep because being an alicorn is a curse. An immortal curse. Its not just outliving everypony you meet or even befriend, it's the corruption of the system around it. I did not see it in my youth, but my sister did, she saw it and tried to fight it until it broke her. She became what they wanted even if it destroyed every last part of who she was before we became alicorns to the point she no longer knew who she was."

Luna pointed to the city outside, to the balls of fire that rained down to destroy wildlife and homes. To the mind-controlled guards who were forcing citizens into the street to witness their lives falling apart with no clue as to why. To the lower class and upper-class ponies who for once were united as some tried to rush out of the city or towards the castle for help, only to be knocked down by opposing forces.

"That monster, Daybreaker, is destroying this city because I dared to try to speak to my sister which resulted in no change to...anything good. My sister isn't even fighting her. My sister doesn't want to and frankly, based on what she described to me I do not blame her, but I don't want citizens or anypony dead. I don't want the normal cycle of day to never return again. I don't want the planet thrown into havoc because of alicorns losing their minds. I do not want to banish my sister. I repeat, I LOVE my sister, but my sister no longer loves Equestria and so, we must do this for the sake of Equestria."

Twilight and the others soon had tears rolling down their cheeks, Pinkie's mane deflated, Rainbow Dash lowered herself to the ground and Twilight looked to stare at the element of magic crown still being held in her magic.

"B-But...If we banish her..." Twilight looked up to Luna as the fear of losing her teacher, her mentor, her second mother and her friend came rolling into her mind as she thought of the aftermath. "W-We will never see her again. Never speak to her again."

"The elements work in ways we may never understand, Twilight Sparkle. We can only be hopeful that either they are used and my sister returns to her normal way or..." Luna's voice drifted off as she did not want to say the alternative. "I will allow you to try to speak some sense to Daybreaker. I will give you that luxury. You...were her most faithful student after all."

Twilight nodded in silence as she accepted defeat. Her friends followed her actions as they put the elements back onto their necks or on their head in Twilight's case. There was a deep tense silence as the group moved to walk towards the double doors leading further into Canterlot Castle.

Luna couldn't help but feel she failed her sister. Much like how Celestia felt she failed Luna many generations ago.

The Burning City

Chapter Twenty-One:

Daybreaker had only technically truly existed for a matter of hours, in that time she couldn't help but feel she stumbled a bit in the process. Everything was going so smoothly, from the takeover of the Castle to the brainwashing of the guards with her magic, to throwing her former sister across the throne room and even Celestia reconfirming Luna's deepest fear.

Everything was going well until Luna broke the spell and Daybreaker made a mistake. She wasn't going to kill Luna, she stood by that decision, she wasn't some unthinking maniac like Nightmare Moon was, she had standards. Yes, fireballs rained from the sky down to Canterlot, not nearly destroying the city but certainly creating damage that would give her new solar empire citizens something to focus on as she gained power in the future, not to mention a brilliant example of her strength. A sign for no pony to mess with the Solar Empress.

Where she made the mistake of allowing Luna to teleport. It wasn't as if she exactly allowed it, but she knew she certainly could have stopped it sooner if she, oh, chained her to the floor with her magic before Luna could make her dumb petty arguments.

She gritted her teeth and shoved her annoyance far down, the very deeply buried Celestia part of her could deal with that. She held a steady march, flanked by two guards not thinking of their own will as she slammed open the Castle's front doors and kept marching right into the chaos of Canterlot.

Ponies were screaming, the guards dragged citizens into groups. some escaped only to be tackled to the ground and dragged back into formation. Mothers hugged foals and fillies, Fathers tried to protect their families, and guards did their duty whether they wanted to or not.

As she moved through the main street in Canterlot, the hordes of ponies fighting against the battered guards slowed down as their eyes fell upon the burning alicorn marching towards the center of Canterlot, as she moved forward she briefly ignired her magic to silence the fire raining down on the city.

When Luna first returned to Canterlot, a statue was made in celebration of their reunion, designed by the citizens of Canterlot. A statue featuring both alicorn sisters as the sun and moon rested in both their hooves in a sign of unity. Celestia rather liked that statue, Luna loved it, and Daybreaker despised it. As she looked upon it with a backdrop of a failing city she sneered at what it meant. Why it was even created.

"Round them up. I want them to meet their new ruler." She barked to the guards around her. The message relayed through the magic she used to keep them under control. Soon, the many solar guards shoved as many of the citizens were pushed forward.

"Ponies of Equestria." Daybreaker roared above the distressed crowds, they slowly began to quiet down as their attention, their fear was drawn to an alicorn they had never seen before, and yet seemed so similar. Daybreaker lit up her horn and slammed her blood-red magic into the statue, cracking it before it exploded, sending pieces of rubble all over the stone streets. Ponies screamed and cried for a moment before they settled down again in cowering fear. Daybreaker rolled her eyes at the predictable actions and turned to face the majority of the onlookers held back by guards. "There has been a change in government, your princesses have abandoned you."

"NO!" A familiar voice shouted from the crowd, a voice Daybreaker did not expect to hear. She turned to the side as a unicorn pushed her way through the crowd, she motioned to the guards to allow the unicorn through as she stumbled out to face the mighty fire alicorn.

Raven Inkwell was either very brave or very stupid as she stood tall, staring directly at Daybreaker with a scowl.

Raven Inkwell, Celestia's best assistant was sometimes too good at her job to the point Celestia sometimes worried if she had no life outside of work altogether.

Daybreaker, per usual, didn't share the same fondness that Celestia had for mortals and wasn't happy to be so publicly retorted against during the moment of her rising.

"The Princesses would never abandon us! You are an invader that will be destroyed just as the others were!" The unicorn shouted in defiance. Daybreaker rolled her eyes at her growing annoyance at the games she had to play to get any sort of attention.

"You didn't truly know them at all, Raven Inkwell." Daybreaker snapped before giving her a toothy smile as Raven's confidence faltered and her ears fell back in a growing concern. "You were quite naive. Believing every word Celestia ever spoke as if it was gospel."

"How do you know my n-" Her words died as her eyes fell to Daybreaker's cutie mark, the undeniable mark of the sun, surrounded by orange fire. Raven knew that sun, every pony knew that sun design quite fell. As other had caught onto her stare, gasps and pleas of denial rang out as the realization came to them. Raven stumbled back, shaking her head, unable to believe what she was seeing like many others. "P-Princess Celestia?"

"That name, that pony is dead," Daybreaker stated, having private delight at the fear of the situation. "From this moment forward, there is going to be a change from your mediocre lives. Equestria will no longer be a country that allows others to take from them what is rightfully ours. Your new Empress of the Solar Empire, Daybeaker, will ensure this. I will promise you this."

The crowd didn't cheer, an uneasy silence befell the crowd as perhaps a few whimpered in sorrow.

The Elements of Harmony and Princess Luna galloped through the hallway of Canterlot, she couldn't say she was surprised by the lack of guards, most of them to her knowledge were outside anyway, dealing with a chaos of fire. She briefly looked outside the nearby window, she wanted to have hope as she noticed the fire had stopped raining upon the city but the guards marching the groups of scared ponies towards the middle of the city wasn't helping her overall mood.

"Hurry now." Luna barked in growing anxiety as she picked up her pace again, only briefly looking towards the group of mortals lagging behind her with the elements weighing on them, clearly unhappy to be a part of history.

Twilight was slumped, lagging the most out of all of them. Fluttershy followed beside her as Rainbow Dash and Applejack had a hushed argument ahead about the ethics of what they were doing as they moved along. Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike were at the head of the group.

"Of course, we should talk to her, we can't just banish a Princess of Equestria!" Rainbow Dash hissed with a harsh angry flap of her wings as she slowly followed the pace of the group in the air. "I don't understand how Luna could even consider this, that's her sister, she has other options!"

"Oh really?" Applejack replied with a raised eyebrow before she turned her head more to look at Rainbow Dash with a slightly annoyed expression. "Are yall forgettin' the fact that Celestia banished Luna to the moon over the same sort of event, Rainbow?"

"I am not!" Rainbow Dash barked too loudly, causing Luna to briefly pause far ahead at the noise before she continued on her warpath. "No, my point is, I am sure they discussed how that affected Equestria, why would she want to live through that?"

"Well, if you got any better options than talking her out of this madness or the elements, then please continue, sugar cube." Applejack challenged. Rainbow Dash was always ready for a challenge but this was one she knew she couldn't win.

"Well...Well..." Rainbow Dash looked around the hallway and out the windows trying to desperately come up with something. She bit her lip and looked back to Applejack, knowing she couldn't think of anything else. "Twilight is will us, if any pony can make her sane again it's Twilight."

"If the Princess is the way Princess Luna said she is...Ah...I don't think it will go well." Applejack mumbled towards the end. Rainbow Dash gulped and looked down to the ground in shame, still trying to come to a solution. Twilight sucked in a deep painful breath as tears grew as she heard each word her friends argued about.

Fluttershy noticed this, and carefully placed a wing around Twilight's back for comfort. Twilight leaned into the touch with a muffled sob.

"S-She is...was my friend, I thought she was...Why didn't she tell anypony about this? Why didn't she...try to get help?" Twilight mumbled quietly, trying not to be heard by the others but desperate for answers.

"Well, she is like you in some ways, Twilight." Fluttershy admitted. "I-I didn't know the Princess as you did, I think no pony here did, even Princess Luna since she hasn't been around her as long as you have been since one thousand years ago. B-But I get the sense that she was very independent, she could get help for government issues but when it came to her personal issues, I suspect, much like you, she would isolate and try to keep it in. After all, no pony knew her well, we only know the image she gave us."

Twilight understood in a way and nodded but that didn't mean she liked the answer she received.

"I don't want to use the Elements, Fluttershy." Twilight insisted. "But I don't know how I can talk a mad pony out of their pain. Luna only became herself again through the elements but she had already been banished for a thousand years before that. I am not sure it's even possible to take a pony who has been transformed by madness and magic to be normal again."

Fluttershy silently nodded, tightening her wing around Twilight as her body briefly shook from the grief she felt as if Celestia was dead.

"H-Hypothetically, even if she did...return to being herself, the damage this event has caused would ruin her image for at least the rest of our lifetimes. She most likely wouldn't be allowed to return to power and the city, mostly led by the Nobels if I know anything about them, would demand she be banished from the country for being a severe danger. They wouldn't forgive her like they did Luna. Nightmare Moon didn't cause as much damage as this in her brief existence in this lifetime."

Fluttershy shuddered at the thoughts of what would happen from either option as they continued on, turning corners and trotting downstairs and down long corridors as they moved closer to the throne room Luna last saw Daybreaker.

"I really don't want to use the elements, Fluttershy," Twilight mumbled again with more pain as tears ran down her cheeks once more. "But, at some point...It might be a mercy. There is always the chance that...the elements might immediately cleanse her."

Twilight allowed that brief hope to give her some brief fake happiness. They didn't know much of anything about the elements, they didn't know how the elements' magic would choose to react to the evil they hit but there was never a case in the history that Twilight read about that led to an evil being immediately cleansed like Luna. It was always banishment in some form, or banishment followed by a cleanse a thousand years later.

"We just have to do our best." Fluttershy tried to reassure her when Luna came to a stop in front of the throne room doors. The group all sulked behind Luna as her blue magic latched onto the door, she gave a passing glance to the points where guards were standing earlier but had since disappeared which was concerning. She flung open the door to reveal the throne room, an empty throne room that was bathed in red light from the burning red inferno of the sun in the sky. Including the towers of fire on either side of the throne itself still burning.

Luna's breathing hitched as her heart began to beat in her chest.

"Oh, of course. That's why they were being marched to the middle of the city. That's why there were no guards in the castle." Luna's voice began softly before turning into a slight shout of rage.

"Ah, beg your pardon, Darling?" Rarity piped up with a raised eyebrow.

"Daybreaker has marched into the city, I assume to the middle since earlier I saw guards moving crowds in that direction through one of the windows. She is making herself known." Luna snapped as if it was obvious before she spun around to face the grand staircase of the castle leading to the main lobby, which would lead to the grand city outside. "Come, we must end this now."

The group watched as Luna leaped into the air, spreading her wings and making a quick trip down the staircase to the lobby, the group followed behind as fast as they could despite their hesitance to do what was becoming clear most likely would be needed, as it might be the only option left.

Luna blasted her magic to fling open the large doors for the castle, Spike jumped onto Twilight's back to keep up from his tired legs as they galloped out of the castle and into the city.

The Country Comes First

Chapter Twenty-Two:

A little more than a thousand years ago, Princess Luna stood in the Castle deep inside Everfree Forest, the castle of the two royal pony sisters deep into an argument that she was determined to win.

Luna was angry, she had gotten sloppy quite frankly. Her sister, her precious perfect sister was undermining her own power in the government. Her sister didn't care about the night at all, constantly making a scene for herself about the sun, how brilliant the sun was and the public just ate it up. Luna tried to gain some control over the years but it was failing, she attempted to stage a mutiny to reassert control, to have a chance to negotiate with her sister whose ego was growing bigger as the worship of the sun increased day by day.

Celestia found out about her attempt before it even got off the ground from one wrong move of trusting a solar guard for information, who of course told his friend and that started a chain reaction that ended in guards fighting each other and now Luna was in one of the spaces the siblings shared, a nice warm fireplace, comfy seating, beautiful antique furniture, but with a tense standoff that Luna did not want to be in.

They stood, staring at each other what Luna interpreted as hatred for each other. As of that moment, she no longer considered Celestia her sister based on many issues but the cold look her older sister was giving her as she looked down at her like a filly was certainly a contributing factor.

"I can't believe this, my own sister would try to pull a revolution against me." Celestia said slowly. "I have told you, time and time again, you don't understand how the public works. They do not adore me Luna, we are nothing but ponies to be used for their needs, for their wants. If you even tried to see it my way than-"

"No, Celestia, you are a liar." Luna barked, causing Celestia to flinch at the accusation. "You are trying to undermine me, trying to manipulate me into giving up this position. We were born for this. I won't let you take this away from me. We have nothing left but this and you are trying to take the only thing we have left to live for away. I won't allow it!"

"I am not trying to take it away from you, Luna! I am punishing you for your lack of foresight in your own actions. You can't just keep threatening ponies, you have to give them compromises. They won't respect or listen to you if you keep playing into the fear they have made around your name!"
Luna fought back. "They don't respect me just as they don't respect the moon. They don't care about us or my decision to help this country because of you! You publicly ignoring me!"

"I am not listening to this from a pony who just tried to pull the same stunt she is accusing me of. You were trying to undermine my authority! You personally broke into my records to try to give evidence to the press of things you deemed wrong, of secrets that the public should not know! They don't need to know what Starswirl did, they never need to know that the hero they believed he was, did actions that go against the very foundation of this country's existence over the incident with Stygian." Celestia replied, pointing accusingly to her study further in the castle. "You are damn lucky I stopped you before you caused a bigger problem than this."

"I believe in the country we love so much having full knowledge of its government dealings, they deserve to know what has happened! They deserve an explanation as to why Starswirl went missing! There are already conspiracy theories about it!" Luna snapped without a sign of backing down. "Family is more important than this country, we are sisters, you should care more about my option as your equal, as your sister, as your only surviving family, than as you put it, the manipulative public."

Celestia leaned in close, lowering her head to have her eyes meet with Luna's rage-filled ones. Her teeth clenched in rage as the tension got worse between them from the short moment of silence that befell the arguing pair.

"The country of 10 million mortal lives come first, Luna." Celestia said slowly as her eyes grew colder from each word she spoke. Luna could barely believe what she was saying. "I am sorry, but we are not mortal unicorns anymore, we have a country to care for. At a certain point, the lives of the many...outweigh the lives of two immortal alicorns. Their lives are remarkably short, we were not put on this earth to rule over them. We were put here to listen to them, to conform to what they want, to keep them in order so that they and the generations after can flourish. Do not forget that."

Luna never did forget that.

A thousand years later as Luna galloped into Canterlot with the elements, her sister's words from one of many awful fights they had before her banishment rang in her mind as if she heard it yesterday.

"The country of 10 million mortal lives come first, Luna."

Luna was haunted by those words before she became Nightmare Moon since it only justified her fears that her sister cared more about her country than her own sister, but now, Luna was haunted by the justification they gave her. She had to protect the country from the tyrant her sister turned into.

She was sure Celestia used this same line when she banished Nightmare Moon, of course guilt would hit her in large waves, and she would blame herself as her sister always did but when she had to get up and move with life, not sulking in her dark study she was sure Celestia must have thought, the country comes first.

It always did in a way.

She hated she felt that way. She hated Celestia felt that way even more than one thousand years ago. She hated she now had to use it to do what had to be done. She often used to consider what would her sister do? But, she already knew what Celestia would do in such a situation. Luna experienced it personally.

She looked back to the other ponies who followed her, she slightly slowed her pace for them to keep up as they seemed to be unable to turn their horrified eyes away from the horror around them, from the clear pain and suffering, from the guards unable to function of their own will.

Luna knew this was far from the country they remembered from a matter of hours, from that morning even, it was a lot to process.

"Come, we must hurry if we want this to end." Luna pressed, her tone sharp at first before it softened as their attention was brought back to her with sorrow written all over them. Even the bright Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated slightly, not as curly as before as she dragged her hooves along the cobblestone. They seemed to be doing a death march as they moved along.

It was one thing for those ponies to hear about what was happening, to see it through the protection of the stable castle, it was another to truly experience it as it raged on around them.

Twilight was horrified as she saw what was taking place, she could feel a deep sense of fight kick into her chest as began to pick up speed, moving past each of her friends as tears stung her eyes as she considered her options.

"Bow before your new empress."

Subjects, big and small, surrounded by guards and staring up at the unrecognizable pony who they knew was once the alicorn of the sun, turned into something monstrous and slowly bowed their heads to the ground. They were mortals, weak mortals who didn't dare put up a fight against the sun.

She smirked as the population fell in line.

"Stop this now, sister!"

Daybreaker narrowed her eyes as her subjects immediately rose their heads to turn towards the source of the opposition. She gritted her teeth as the crowd parted, smiles crossing their faces as the Elements of Harmony led by Luna confidently moved closer to the center of the city to fight her, to oppose her, to question her.

"I am not your pathetic sister!" Daybreaker barked, insulted at the title. "Are you here to witness history? The rising of an empire, or perhaps...the fall of harmony."

Luna stood tall as she spread her wings in a sign of authority, giving Twilight a sad glance before she looked back at Daybreaker with growing anger. Twilight couldn't take her eyes off of Daybreaker, seeming to have issues processing that the pastel Princess Celestia could turn into such a burning inferno. Her friends weren't doing much better either, Daybreaker took some delight in the fear playing on their faces.

Twilight moved past Luna, wearing the element of magic, followed closely by her friends as they slowly approached the alicorn.

"Please, just listen to us for a moment." Twilight pleaded. Daybreaker scoffed and stepped down from her self-made podium of the remaining rubble of the once beautiful statue to approach the group, the fire of her mane growing as her emotions swirled. "You are hurting them! You are hurting your subjects, you are hurting ponies you swore to protect when you took the crown. I know you are angry, Princess Luna understands that more than anypony but she is an example, an example of how rage and power don't get you what you want. It leads you to darkness, to causing pain and suffering to those you love the most!"

"I see..." Daybreaker said slowly, before leaning down to the small unicorn with a toothy grin that didn't reflect kindness or the warmth that Celestia once gave. "You are a fool, Twilight Sparkle. I apologize on Celestia's behalf, she made you believe in something so...pathetic."

"You are Celestia!" Twilight barked back. "Somewhere inside of you, you know exactly what you have done! You know you can stop this, Princess!"

"Don't give me that, dear student. If Celestia wanted to hear more useless speeches on mortality she would be here." Daybreaker retorted, narrowing her eyes down to look at the ponies she considered lesser. Twilight took an uncertain step back.

"I am not that annoying unicorn Celestia that history forgot, I am not the weak Celestia who chose to conform to everyone's needs rather than fight. I am the true sun. I am what this country needed, not some fool who would so easily betray herself to seem as something she was not." Daybreaker replied. "It's rather sad actually. You actually thought you knew her...Ridiculous."

"Princess...No, Daybreaker I know you are angry. I know you have pain inside of you. Nightmare Moon felt that same pain and anger, surely you don't want to be banished like she was. Don't you want to have peace?" Twilight pleaded. Daybreaker let out a small chuckle.

"Banished, now why would I be banished?" Daybreaker replied. "Surely you don't want to stunt your academic growth now do you, faithful student? I may not be Celestia, but unlike her, I could show you so much more than her. I could teach you magic she would have never allowed."

Twilight stood still in stunned silence for a moment, all eyes turned to her as she considered her past. Her past life. Her life as a unicorn in Canterlot.

Young student Twilight Sparkle walked along the corridor of Canterlot Castle in shame. She had been caught in the Royal Canterlot Library, specifically the forbidden section where the most important spell books were kept.

She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she had hoped that her clear ambition to learn magic would help the Princess. Princess Celestia hadn't been happy recently, Twilight had only been inside the castle for a matter of months but she found that during the Hearth's Warming holiday season, Celestia always grew more sad according to the staff and even Twilight could see the change in her mentor's mood.

She had read through all the other magic books, she wanted a challenge, she wanted, no...needed to impress the Princess to make her feel better. She was a good teacher, maybe she had just forgotten that fact? So, Twilight went into the restricted section at midnight, losing sleep didn't matter to her. She found the largest selection of new books she had ever seen in her life and couldn't wait to jump in.

Just as she grabbed a large book from one of the lower selves and opened it to start reading, she found herself staring at Princess Celestia down the Library row with two guards glaring at her. Her teacher swiped the book without a word and a disapproving glare, the guards escorted them out before the Princess made a motion of her wings for them to be on their way.

Which is where she found herself now. Feeling shame and embarrassment as she shuffled down the corridor, following slowly behind an Alicorn who had not said a word since she saw Twilight in the Library. She just wanted the Princess to feel better, but based on the tense silence, she had a feeling she did the exact opposite.

"P-Princess?" Twilight said softly, the Alicorn slightly turned her head to look behind her to the young filly with a raised eyebrow. Twilight could feel tears pricking her eyes as she sniffled. "I-I am r-really sorry for breaking into the restricted section of the Library."

"Oh, Twilight." Celestia said before shaking her head and turning to face the unicorn with a sigh. "It's alright, Twilight, it's just...Why? Why did you do that? I warned you multiple times to not go into that section, it is dangerous."

"W-Well..." Twilight struggled to find her words. "You are so sad a-and I thought if I-I learned some new spells, it would make you happy again, also I had read every other spell book in the Library, I wanted t-to learn more!"

"Oh..." Celestia said slowly, her eyes glazed over for a moment as she seemed to have been lost in memory before she looked back down to Twilight, pulling her closer with her large white wing and a sad smile. "Once upon a time, I had a student that was very much like you. She was very talented, she was very intelligent, but she always wanted to know more. She thought all she needed was the knowledge of magic, that pure knowledge and magical skill would get her anything she wanted in life. Much like I have done with you, I encouraged her to find friends, but her attempts had mostly failed. One day, she went a step too far, she disobeyed my direct orders to not investigate...a dangerous form of magic. After that, she went down a path I could not support and I was forced to end my role as her teacher. She went her own way in life, but the point is, sometimes we don't need to know everything my dear student."

Twilight digested her mentor's words, and a million questions formed in her mind that she was hesitant to ask due to the clear pain on her teacher's face at the mention of her former student.

"Isn't magic good? Magic helps ponies!" Was the only thing Twilight could think of as a defence.

"Not all magic is good, Twilight." Celestia admitted. "Even Starswirl the bearded avoided the darker secrets of magic to avoid falling into its pull. The books in that section are filled with dark dangerous magic. You are an incredibly smart pony, Twilight. I couldn't be prouder of you. But...Well...No pony needs to know everything there is in life. Many things are better left alone."

Twilight nodded, not quite sure if she agreed with her mentor at the time as they started to move through the corridor again slowly. She shook her head and tried not to dwell on the Library's dark books, she trusted her mentor. She may not have completely agreed with her then but she hoped to in the future.

After all, she was the Princess of Equestria.

The memory hurt, it hurt her to remember her fillyhood as it clicked on what Twilight had to do. She gulped, shaking her head out of the memory.

"Princess Celestia would never use the lure of power as a bribe." Twilight snapped. She missed her mentor. She missed the leader. She wanted her friend back. Daybreaker groaned in annoyance as if she was tired of the whole ordeal. "I want Princess Celestia back, she is inside of you, somewhere deep inside. I won't allow you to burn Equestria!"

"Oh, enough of this nonsense!" Daybreaker shouted. She raised on her hind legs, building up red magic before blasting it towards the elements. The girls screamed before Twilight blocked it with a shield, breaking apart from the force of the impact, sending her stumbling back with a grunt of pain.

Her friends fell into fighting stances as Luna strang to action. Slamming a blast into Daybreaker's side, Daybreaker cried out in pain before turning her attention to Luna. Daybreaker fired multiple blasts sending Luna into the air to deliver her own with massive flaps of her alicorn wings, Daybreaker raised a shield before sending it slamming into Luna who fell before turning in a circle to recover before using her body to tackle Daybreaker to the ground, flinching as she made contact with the fire of her mane and tail.

Daybreaker conjured a sword of fire, turning it towards Luna's back as they hit the ground. Luna quickly rolled out of the way just as the sword dived down to pierce the ground.

The crowd quickly scattered, the limited guards unable to control a whole city-wide panic as ponies scattered, escaping the fight of immortal alicorns in the buildings still standing in the capital city. Twilight turned to her friends with a defeated look.

"Girls, I don't want to do this." She whispered as the fight continued behind her. Luna conjured her own sword as she and Daybreaker stumbled up, soon swords of magic clashed as each move was made to defeat the other.

"Twilight, I don't think we have a choice anymore, sugarcube." Applejack replied, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder as the rest of them shared a mournful look.

"W-We don't know what the elements will do, t-they might banish Daybreaker but...maybe they could bring her back like they did with Princess Luna." Spike suggested with the hope of bringing optimism to the crumbling situation. Twilight sighed, the chances were extremely low of that happening, but there was, as Spike wanted, the hope of such an outcome. Even if her mentor came back, the damage that had been done was awful. They needed to end it before anypony died.

"A-Alright, get into formation."

Meanwhile, Luna cried in pain as Daybreaker suddenly shot flames from her mouth, burning her fur before she deflected it with a shield and knocked the flaming sword with her own made of moonlight to avoid more injury. She shot a giant blast at Daybreaker in the face, sending the larger alicorn to fumble backwards off guard into the open courtyard of the city.

Then there was a flash of light, the pair of alicorns turned to look at the source to find Twilight and the others rising into the air. Luna backed away from Daybreaker, looking towards her with deep sadness as the elements grew brighter as the power increased. Daybreaker stood still, unable to believe that it was actually happening.

"Y-You wouldn't dare..." Daybreaker mumbled as she turned to her doom. "Y-you can't..."

All of the group closed their eyes as they couldn't bear to look as the rainbow shot out of the elements towards Daybreaker. The citizens of Canterlot all looked up as a rainbow tore through the sky to rocket down towards the courtyard in astonishment at its deadly beauty.

Luna stared at Daybreaker, not tearing her eyes off of the mutated form of her sister for a moment as she knew how it would end. She had been through this. She knew how much the elements hurt as they slammed into you. She knew this was the last time she would see her for a very long time.

Daybreaker screamed as she tried to put in one last fight, she used all the magic she could, the very power of the red sun burning as she hit the beam headed for her. Much like Nightmare Moon's own battle, it flattered for a moment, only a moment before it continued its journey, slamming into the alicorn as her scream turned to pure pain.

Daybreaker saw her life flash before her eyes as it seemed as if her complete body had caught fire, she struggled to breathe as all she could see was multiple colours before looking down as she felt her body stiffen without her control. She gagged in pain and shock as she noticed her lower legs began to turn to stone.

She knew she couldn't escape it, it was far too late for that now.

She rose on her hind legs it worked it way up on instinct, as the light faded, she looked to the sky to see her sun, her beautiful sun one last time as the stone consumed the rest of her body. Encased in a prison of stone for the next one thousand years.

What happened next was silence, no pony moved except Luna. She stumbled forward, her body in pain from the battle as the sword vanished from her magical grasp. Luna placed a battered hoof on the statue, not quite believing her sister was banished just like she was. As the shock of the event wore off, she started to sob.

"S-sister, please, I am s-sorry, sorry, sorry-" Luna mumbled over and over as her body shook from grief. Twilight and the others rushed over as their own pain began. Soon the crowd began to form around the courtyard once again as they gazed at the statue of the monster that once was the perfect sun Princess.

"I-I didn't want this to ever happen to her!" Luna cried out to Twilight before burying her face into her own mane as she pressed herself closer to the statue as if that would bring her closer to her sister. As if that would repair what had happened. "W-Why didn't she talk to me?! Why didn't she say something? She is all the family I had left!"

The girls pulled her into a group hug, trying to comfort the Princess of the night and each other from the awful events as the city mourned, as the press rushed to print the story, as the guards tried to reorient themselves, soon finding themselves joining in the misery.

Luna eventually raised her head with bloodshot eyes as she ignited her magic, she could feel the sun fighting her, much like how the moon fought Celestia during her own banishment. Tears slid down her cheeks as she bit her lip from the pain. Forcing the rage-filled sun below the horizon to rest. Allowing it to return to its normal golden yellow, forcing the darkness of night to start.

Giving time for a shattered country to heal.

-THE END-

Author's Note

This is the end of the story, I hope everyone liked it. Of course, like with most stories there are writing issues and such but this was the longest story I have written in many years and I am proud to have finished it! I might rewrite it in the future, I don't know yet. But, if anyone else wants to try to rewrite it or something, I would love to read it!

While I believe this story could have been much better, I did my best, and I hope perhaps it inspires someone else to write more stuff about Celestia and Daybreaker, characters who I think deserve to be explored more for their personalities and motivations.

Have a good week and Merry Christmas!

The Collapse

Chapter Four: The Collapse

Celestia, alicorn of the sun, one of the two rulers of Equestria for about ten years was deep inside Everfree Forest. Her sunrise was supposed to come in about an hour, she was exhausted. The dark circles, ruffled mane and tail, ruffled wings and lack of her usual jewelry was a sign her night, and most likely the previous day had not gone well.

But, she was beyond angry. Beyond confused. Beyond any emotion that she could reasonably keep in anymore. Which is why she was marching in the dead of night. Where no pony could see her as she moved forwards for a mission. Her heavy unstable breathing rang in her ears as she ignited her horn and summoned a quick blast to destroy the thick bushes in front of her.

Starswirl was long gone with the other pillars of Equestria due to Stygian turning into the Pony of Shadows. Where he had gone was Limbo, there was no coming back from that. But at that moment she was considering damn well trying to get him back for any sort of guidance on how to handle her own life, on how to handle Luna as she marched on with rage.

Luna and she found the elements of Harmony shortly after he and the others went missing in a place under the castle called the Elements of Harmony Tree just as a creature named Discord was throwing their world into chaos. They took a chance, a risky one, combining their magic to activate them to use as weapons. It worked...

He turned to stone.

King Sombra turned to stone. Taking a whole empire with it.

Tirek was banished to Tartaus.

The threats should have been gone. The threats were handled with or so Celestia thought until she got news that her own sister was breaking into her records. Trying to turn ponies to her side as a way to control the monarchy. Trying to change the rules so she could be in control and push Celestia out.

Celestia didn't exactly like ruling but it was all she had. She had long forgotten what she felt as a mortal, what her dreams and hopes were as a mortal, and what her plan even was in life. Her personality, and her identity had changed into some fake version that had to please and help everypony. Celestia was a lie. Celestia was alone. All she had now was the sun.

She didn't trust Luna. Not one bit.

It's not like she was innocent in the matter. She had grown overwhelmed with work which was a bad excuse, she actually had grown too comfortable lying her way through life to avoid arguments, to avoid wasting time with petty squabbling that wouldn't get anywhere. Pushing down her actual thoughts and feelings until they were buried too deep for her to even consider caring about anymore.

But now she was. Now they were full force hitting her in the chest and head. Her anger had reached a boiling point. She had spent all day trying to calm the nobels down at the rumour that Luna might try a takeover. A Solar Court matter that her sister clearly wasn't allowed to be a part of.

Then, she spent that better part of the night fighting with Luna in petty arguing that, as she knew it would, got nowhere. Luna didn't listen. Luna only saw the surface of the matter and didn't consider that ponies are not all that they seem. The fame and glory meant nothing. Celestia would have had none of it if it wasn't for the fact they needed something from her. The moment she won't, or can't give it, they will drop her. They will abandon her.

Luna was far too angry and buried in her own dark thoughts to consider such a notion. She kept bashing Celestia, with insults, threats, and accusations, over and over. Celestia gave her some back after a while. Eventually, they fell into a deep tense silence as they both realized that they were no longer sisters. The bond was snapped and all that could have been said had been, and there was no side that won.

Luna wanted to be respected like Celestia was, for them to praise her moon as they praised her sun.

Celestia should have done more.

Celestia marched into a clearing as the moon was still high in the sky, the alicorn screamed in pain, anger and the overwhelming feeling of hate towards...everything until her voice cracked and gave out. Followed by her collapsing to the grass to weep.

She was an awful sister.

She was the worst leader.

How could she have let it get this bad?

More than ever, she couldn't help but wonder why was she the sun alicorn? Why did she have to live forever? Whatever her dreams as a mortal were, whatever she might have done as a mortal had to have been better than the hell she was trapped in now. A hell of her own design.

She cried deeply for the first time in years, weeping on the ground like a filly for a long time. All her pent-up emotions were too much.

Eventually, the crying stopped, and she opened her tired eyes to see the moon beginning its reluctant descent into the sky, slower than usual. Celestia didn't have the energy to care much at the unusual time it took as she ignited her golden magic, blanketing across the forest floor to reach out to the sun. She barely even had the energy to raise the sun.

The sun rose as the moon disappeared on the horizon. Beautiful colours shined through the sky as it grew brighter. Ponies in nearby towns woke up, feeling the warm heat with a deep happy sigh. Happy to see such a beautiful sight.

The alicorn of the sun laying silent on the dirtied ground in a place no pony would dare look for her, watched the sun, her sun, reach the needed point in the sky before she let go. Her magic died and she stayed silent as she watched it.

She hated the sun.

The sun...

She hated the light. The light was a lie.

The sun was not perfect. The sun had thrown her into hell.

She wished she could remember the time she loved seeing the sun in the morning. Or the first, even the second time she raised the sun to remember why she loved it. Why she loved the light. But...

It all seemed worthless.

She squinted and hissed as her weak eyes could not take much of the sunlight. She wanted nothing more than to beg Luna to bring the darkness back. But, the ponies came first. The country came first.

She pushed herself up with a groan as her aching bones moved. She weakly did a spell to make herself at least seem presentable. She didn't dare look up to the sky, to that awful burning blaze that lit up the day when she teleported back to the castle. Marching straight to her study as she gave fake smiles and happy tones of hello to each passing servant.

She marched straight into her study, and closed all the curtains to be in darkness as she began the day's work in dead silence.

Seconds Tick Forward

Chapter Fifteen:

"You may go."

It wasn't a request. It was an order. The two guards who stood in front of Celestia in the throne room nodded. It was an order. Not a request. She knew they couldn't disobey. She pointed her hoof to the double doors. In silence, the guards marched out.

In dead silence, she sat on the throne of Equestria, glancing at the sun in the window. It was nearly the end of the day now. The seconds ticked on as the dreading doom that nopony but the sun alicorn was aware of drew closer.

She tried to distract her mind with something else, perhaps the weather reports? She wanted it to be a sunny day...Yes, she preferred clouds in the sky to block the sunlight but frankly...She wanted to see the sun as she...As she...Well, the point was, she managed to cause a great deal of havoc at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory by cancelling the plans for rainfall today so last minute.

It wasn't like this was coming out of the blue. As if Celestia just randomly decided to throw the monarchy into a burning inferno. Well, she supposed it wasn't much better either that she had indeed been slowly reaching this point across lifetimes.

Luna became evil, and turned into Nightmare Moon. Cadence was a new alicorn but one could easily see how she could turn to a side of ruin with her powers. Everypony does something bad. Celestia was on a ticking time bomb to make the worse choice of her life.

Everypony makes bad choices.

Everypony repeats bad mistakes over again.

She was an immortal pony.

It made her just a pony.

Just a silly immortal pony.

She was tired of them all. Soon she could sleep, allowing the sun, allowing daybreaker to take hold of her body. Her better self after all.

She knew what they said in the streets. Princess Celestia, nothing but a weak Goddess. Couldn't even stop her evil sister. Had to get six mortal ponies to do all her work.

They could believe that all they wanted to. Didn't change that in a matter of minutes, they would live to regret such blasphemy.

The seconds drew faster. Celestia's heart rate increased as she slowly stepped toward one of the large windows beside her throne. She felt Luna start the process of raising the moon, expecting her sister to meet her with the familiar warmth of lower the sun to meet at the horizon before the night began.

Not tonight.

"I suppose...It's time to sleep now." She mumbled mostly to herself, as a empty reassurance that she was welcome to rest.

She ignited her horn, her golden magic latched onto the sun within seconds. She took a deep breath as she welcomed the sun's harsh unforgiving light into her soul. She spread her wings as the room's temperature dramatically increased. She felt the insistent tugging from the moon onto the sun, pleading with it to go down.

Not today. Not tonight.

Her golden magic soon fizzled into a deep red as she increased her strength against the moon. The sun did not move. She weaved her way into the moon's pull, grabbing hold of her sister's moon and yanking it down below. The night would not start. The sun needed to be free.

Her mind began to unravel. All those thoughts she had hidden in the deepest corner of her mind came crashing through. Soon, the voice that haunted her was more than just a presence. It was her.

Her magenta eyes changed in a blink to a solar eclipse, her coloured mane flowed into a harsh fire, and her jewelry soon melted and reformed into armour that would strike fear into anypony.

Soon, Princess Celestia was nothing, Daybreaker stood tall as her sun blazed high above Canterlot. She let out a laugh of delight as the sky turned blood red.

The day was long for Princess Luna.

She didn't have much to do during the day other than maybe provide a quick magic lesson to the fillies and colts at Celestia's school, maybe catch up on some reading but frankly, she had read the whole Library in the castle. Make some public appearances? She wasn't exactly a fan of those. She hated smiling, especially for long hours. Being around Celestia taught her that smiles just hid major insecurities she would need to later deal with in the nightmare realm.

She did a quick nap, not nearly as long as she had hoped but the troubling case of her sister was keeping her up more and more. The answer seemed like it was at the tip of her tongue. As if she had all the pieces of the puzzle but just couldn't connect it together. She felt she had witnessed what her sister was going through before but...from where?

She groaned in frustration as she slammed open her balcony doors, sucking in a deep breath of the muggy air before crunching her nose in irritation. She didn't remember the weather reports stating it would be so unbearably warm this afternoon.

In fact, she remembered them calling for much-needed rain but, she squinted to look at the sky of Canterlot, not a cloud in the sky. She did a quick flap of her wings, soaring high above Canterlot to the top of the mountain before turning to sit at the very peak of the giant mountain the capital city rested upon to look above Equestria.

There was a strange lack of clouds, that was for sure. She looked towards Cloudsdale, the peagsi that were working outside the weather factory seemed to have been arguing. She raised an eyebrow, curious of course as to what was happening over there but the seconds were ticking on.

She had a moon to raise.

She shifted slightly to be more comfortable on the soft grass patch she found herself perched on. She smiled as her light blue magic latched onto the moon and began to raise it above the horizon, waiting for her sister to lower her way too bright sun below. She would need to talk to her sister about that.

Luna embraced the calm of the night, closing her eyes to enjoy the peace she longed for on the moon before...

Her moon wasn't calm. Her moon was scared. Her eyes bolted open, she stared at her moon stuck at the horizon. She increased her magic against the pull, it wasn't moving. It had to move. It was her moon. Her destiny. She was born for the damn moon to move.

She glanced over to the sun, it wasn't moving either. In fact, she could swear it moved slightly upwards. Even looking at it hurt her eyes from the intensity. She gritted her teeth and muttered a curse. She promised her sister a very long time ago she would not interfere with the sun unless Celestia herself was dead but...Well...Celestia moved her moon for a thousand years against its will, perhaps it was time Luna took advantage of that fact.

She grabbed hold of the sun gently, trying to pull it down with great strength as she tried to keep the moon steady. Of course, that wasn't working. The sun yanked away, and without warning her moon was the next target. She felt her sister's power grab hold of her moon and yank it far away from the horizon, plunging the sky into deep red as the sun itself blazed in a firey red inferno.

Luna let out a strangled scream of frustration and pure confusion at the events unfolding. That was no mistake of the imagination, that was her sister controlling the sun, plunging Luna's moon away and throwing Equestria to a full stop as everypony began to look at the red sky, at the red sun. Even the Cloudsdale Factory workers had stopped arguing to look towards the sun.

Luna looked down to the capital city below, watching as citizens emerged from their homes to see the horrific sight.

Luna's heart beat loudly in her chest as she reevaluated what was happening. Her sister just caused...eternal day. She knew this game. Luna stepped closer to the edge to look towards the throne room where she suspected her sister was when the madness began. Always the workaholic in that room.

She knew this...game. She played this game before...

She knew what this meant.

She should have seen it in her sister.

She was blinded by believing her sister knew better than to fall into the darkness that consumed Luna to turn into Nightmare Moon. Her sister was around a lot longer than her after all, she had seen things that Luna would never see. She learned lessons that Luna had yet to learn.

Yes, Celestia was struggling. Luna knew this, trying to find a solution to help her but...

It was far too late.

Luna ignited her horn and teleported into Canterlot Castle's lobby.