To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

Celestia stood still under the gazebo which had been tainted by the bloody ritual of the nights affairs.

She looked down to her hooves, which lay in a pool of blood. Not too far from the scene of carnage that was dominated by guts, melted flesh, and brain splattering of that which was left of the griffin emperor. Immeasurable feathers floated in the blood all around, moving slowly. The body had exploded violently from her blast, and had sent bits flying everywhere. They all had.

What was she going to do?

Bodies lay all around her, the emperor just being patient zero. All of them mutilated beyond measure in the mad dash Celestia had found herself in after starting all of this. Bodies imploded from being struck with too much volatile energy had simply died immediately, feeling no pain on their entire being being torn apart. A few others had been caught in the fiery waves she had conjured to take out the waves of them which had tried to attack her helplessly. They may as well have been ash now. Her inner solar power from the sun being released would always sunder and devastate any mortal.

There was no sound at all, only her thoughts left. The foul stench brought her immediately back to Riftly. It was happening all over again, only this time she had done it.

She had hunted down all of them to prevent this from leaking. She had done it without thinking for more than a second. She also had no idea if any of them escaped in her rampage. It was unlikely, but still possible. She didn't care much at the moment now.

Why?

Why did fate always seem to find a way to work against her. What had she done to piss off fate so much? It had worked its tendrils into finding every possible way to make her life hell. Even now, it dragged her further away from her sister. Every time she thought things would finally be improving, it continued to mock her. Celestia had lived a long life, but this rival of hers had never deigned to give her a chance, even after all this time.

That was what had started all of this after all. Every word, sentence and exchange, all she could think of was the graying texture of her sister, whose doom was impending and had little hope of making it through all of this. Her odds just kept plummeting. It had panicked her to her core tonight. Things had gotten out of control with the emperor in the end, and he had become too distrusting to listen to her. After he denied the final vestige of hope for Luna something inside of her had broken. This pathetic mortal had tried to get in her way of saving Luna. She had given him a fitting fate for such a sin.

Mortal.

It had become far more common for her to think this word. It horrified her. Is that what she thought of all of her ponies? What was she becoming?

Murderer. She had become a murderer. The realization sent her to her knees to soak in the blood further as she broke down.

What would Twilight think if she saw her right now? Or any pony at all? She had become the lowest of scum.

Luna meant everything to her. Truly. She hadn't realized it, but somehow she had allowed herself to become no different than Nightmare Moon in the journey to save her sister. The worst part was that she knew deep down, if it meant saving her sister, she would do it again.

Her lifeless gaze was slow to break its focus on the emperors body before her.

She didn't have all the time in the world, somepony would be coming sooner or later to check on things. She had to come up with something, anything...

At least there were no witnesses. It may have been an international disaster, but she was one of the most trusted beings on Equus. Her testimony would colour the resulting news.

She had invited the emperor here. Everyone knew that. While it was an emphatically awkward sell at best, and almost impossible at worst, she would claim that the griffin's had tried to assassinate her tonight. This had been self-defense.

It dawned on her that instead of the griffins simply delivering the Sanctuary to her, she would have to go there herself now, or someone she trusted. Take it by force. How much longer would that take? Suddenly, despite being covered in the remains of slaughter, all she wanted was to be by her sisters bedside again to see if she was okay. If it had gotten any worse.

Sighing, she made to finally leave and fly back to the capital. She would be ready to elucidate her planned story by then.

Jotted Page's heart pounded in his chest while he shivered in the small bedroom of his apartment on the east end of Canterlot.

All he had wanted to do was continue his research on what was going on with Celestia. He had even gotten a lengthy and thorough viewing of the castle from Twilight to that end. He had seen that there was a few off limit areas, even for Twilight.

He had made the mistake of his life tonight. It was past midnight now, but he couldn't dream of sleeping after what he had seen and heard tonight.

As Jotted Page lay hidden in a hedge nearby, he almost was able to hear what was being said between the emperor and Celestia. He had arrived here hours before anyone else, and none of the servants had checked his spot during the preparation, so he had maintained his vigil, despite being bored for the longest time until now.

The conversation took on a more emotional fervour, and what he heard next was blood curdling. Looking through the tiny gap in the wedge in which he had been peering through all night, he saw Celestia completely eviserate the emperor like he was some bug as the emperor made to leave.
He was unable to move an inch or peal his eyes away while the massacre began. Terror locked up his limbs, and he fought to be silent with all his willpower after Celestia had finished and began looking around.

Eventually, after a lifetime of sitting there she left, and he didnt gain the courage to move an inch until thirty minutes after she left. It had been the entire night, and yet it felt like no time at all.

It still terrified him. The kind and loving Celestia annihilating the griffins like they were bugs. His brain couldn't reconcile the two versions of her. Just how deep did this go?!

He knew deep down that he had to tell someone about this. He may have started this because of his personality to drive him into these kinds of stake outs, but this couldn't stay under wraps.

He would have to be careful about who he told. A few names he believed he could trust popped into his mind. He would explain what he saw even if no one believed him. He would get it off his chest, even if it would never get off his mind forever.

But for now, he whimpered like a foal while basically hiding under the blankets, as though imagining Celestia was hovering outside his place ready to bomb it and him, ready to eliminate the final shred of evidence.

Ponies would know the griffins died, but it was his job for them to know the truth of it. He would make sure of that. Even if they didn't believe him.