Princess Celestia looked up towards the moon, now sporting the shadow of a mare and a painful reminder of her mistake. Tears rolling down her face, she whispered “I’m so sorry sister.”
Suddenly she heard a voice shout “Auntie, Where’s mummy?” Celestia turned to see a small, orange alicorn filly. Her heart broke upon seeing the filly.
Celestia didn’t know what to tell her so she said “Mummy, had to go on a very long holiday.”
“When will she come back?” She asked.
Celestia sniffled before saying “I don’t know, sweetie”
“Come on lets get you back to bed,” Celestia said, nudging her forward with her wing.
The filly however, was insistent “But I want Mummy,”
“Please Amethyst, you’re tired” Celestia pleaded.
Amethyst stomped her hoof before shouting “NO! Mummy said she was going to read me a bedtime story.”
“I can read you a story,” she said.
“No, it’s not the same,” she told the sun goddess.
Eventually after back and forth, the filly finally relented after releasing a giant yawn. Celestia scooped the filly up in her hooves before taking her to bed.
Celestia looked down at the sleeping filly. Stroking her messy, purple mane, she sighed thinking about Luna. She vowed to raise Amethyst as her if she was her own daughter, she didn’t want to make the same mistake as she did with Luna.
***
1000 years later
Celestia looked down at the ten year old filly. While she was ten years old in alicorn years, if she was a normal pony, she would be 1005 years old. This is because alicorns aged a lot slower than normal ponies. For every 100 years that pass an alicorn ages 1 year.
Currently Amethyst was sending the guards on a wild goose chase, while Celestia knew she should be displeased with the filly’s actions, she couldn’t help but smile at her antics.
Looking at the time, she realised that it was beginning to get late. Celestia teleported infront of the laughing filly, who was too busy, looking at the chasing guards to realise that she was about to crash into Celestia. Finally turning around her face of delight turned to a face of horror as she suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing her to trip and fall.
Rushing over to the filly I quickly examined her over for any injuries, fortunately there were none. Breathing a sigh of relief, she said in a disapproving tone “Amethyst, I hope that you wasn’t giving the guards the runaround”
Amethyst gave Celestia a look of innocence but not before flashing the guards an evil smile “No I was just giving them some much needed excersise.”
She held in her smile, she reminded her so much of her mother, it was scary. “Well unfortunately, ‘excersise time’ is over. You need to come inside for your tea.” She told the conniving filly. The guards looked relieved at this and quickly went back to their posts.
“Okay, auntie,” Amethyst said before bouncing towards the dining hall.
Celestia followed her to the dining table, where several butlers came in and placed their food on the table infront of their respective patrons.
Celestia smiled at the filly, as she quickly dug into the food. She started to remember all the good times that she had with her niece, from her first birthday to her learning how to perform magic. Celestia’s face fell into confusion as she also knew that while certain parts of Amethyst’s development had been quick such as her super strength and her learning how to perform magic, however other parts of her development had been slow such as that fact that she, still can’t fly and that she also doesn’t have her cutie mark, something that most alicorns gained before their first alicorn birthday.
I also realised that she was going to have to explain what had really happened to her mother. So far she had told her that her mother had gone away on holiday for a much needed break however, I knew that she was extremely suspicious about it. Eventually, she had stopped asking but I knew that deep down it hurt her.
“We have a busy week ahead of us,” Celestia told Amethyst, who had just moved onto dessert.
“Really?” She asked.
“Yes silly, it’s your birthday tomorrow and because you are growing up I think it’s time that you went on your first royal visit with me to do the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville.” Celestia explained. So far she had been keeping Amethyst far away from the public eye, so much that not many ponies knew that Amethyst even existed.
“Really? Yesss!” She shouted, her wings buzzing in excitement.
“Yes that is why, you need to have an early night, so let’s go give you a bath.” Celestia told her taking her to Celestia’s personal bathroom, where the bath was already filled with bubbles.
Amethyst shook her golden shoes of and took of her tiara, which was also gold but fitted with a gem made out of amethyst crystal.
She then jumped into the bath, splashing water everywhere. Amethyst loved baths it was one of her favourite parts of the day. She played with the rubber duck and the toy boat. While she was doing this, Celestia scrubbed her with a large, yellow sponge before, using the shower head to rinse the soap out of her mane.
She then took the filly out of the bath before getting a warm, fluffy towel and wrapping it around Amethyst. Drying the soaking filly of, which made her mane go fuzzy.
Celestia then dressed the now clean filly in a purple dressing gown, before taking her in her magic to her room. Her room was decorated with glow in the dark stars that stickered the cieling. Several posters of the wonderbolts adorned the walls. She also had a walk in closet and a dressing table. In the corner of the room sat a toy chest along with a bookshelf, which had hardly been touched.
Taking the young princess over to the bed, she tucked the filly in. Amethyst then asked the dreaded question that she always tried to avoid. “Auntie, when is mummy coming back?”
Celestia, closed her eyes trying to think of how to answer this question. Usually she lied and said that she was taking a break. She wanted to tell her the whole truth but every time she looked into those light, purple eyes, she could never bring herself to say it. “On holiday.”
This made Amethyst look down in sadness “You can tell me the truth. I already know it anyway.”
This made her stomach drop as she stammered “What do you mean?”
“ She hates me doesn’t she? That’s why she hasn’t come because she doesn’t want to see me.” She told her as tears began to roll down her cheeks. Celestia’s heart broke at hearing this.
“She doesn’t hate you. Why would you say something like that?” She asked.
“Its been a thousand years and she still hasn’t shown up!” She explained.
Celestia was silent as her own tears started to form “Yes you are right, I haven’t been truthful. Your mother isn’t on holiday she… I had to send her to the moon. She had been possessed by an evil entity called the nightmare. She tried to take over Equestria and bring about an eternal night. I tried to reason with her but in the end I was forced to banish her to the moon. I am so sorry.” She explained.
Amethyst was shocked, she didn’t know what to say. She felt betrayed and angry at both the fact that, her own aunt had both banished her mother and then lied about it to her face.
“Get out.”
“What.”
“GET OUT!” She shouted, throwing a pillow at Celestia as she backed out of the room, trying to hold back sobs.
Amethyst never wanted to see her aunt again, she jumped out of bed and quickly grabbed her saddlebags. She packed several snacks and drinks, before heading to the window. Opening the window, she realised that it was a long way down.
While Amethyst didn’t know how to fully fly, she did know how to glide and hover. Aiming for what appeared to be a small town in the distance, she quickly jumped out and instantly held her wings out. The wind started to carry her to her intended destination, however upon horrible realisation, she knew that she wouldn’t make it to the town.
After a while of gliding, she ended up crashing into large forest, hitting her head on a tree she was out for the count.
***
Celestia was stood in Amethyst empty bedroom, staring through the open window. Her niece was gone and it was all her fault. Leaving the room and heading into the lounge. Celestia broke down as she spotted the freshly wrapped presents that were intended to be opened by Amethyst.
Looking up to the sky she whispered “I’m so sorry sister, I have failed you.”
A guard entered the room and solemnly told the distraught princess “I’m sorry your highness, but we cannot find any trace of her”
Celestia sniffled “Thank you Shining Armour, you tried your best…”