The Sun Eater

A very special thanks to Huussii of Deviantart for allowing me to use the work "MLP - Celestial Nightmare" for this fanfic's cover image.

All characters, location names, etc. are the property of Hasbro. This is, however, an original work of fiction, and all appropriate laws and etiquette apply.

Thanks for reading,
Mannulus

The Sun Eater

Chapter 1

The Sun Eater Returns

“Kaelestia.” It was her name, pronounced in the old way, with a hard “C” and a slight, poetic elongation of the first syllable. She had not heard it thus spoken in aeons.

“Caelestia.” She recognized it now, and the word formed itself properly in her mind, though the hard “C” still remained. Where was she, and where was that voice coming from? Everything was black, but at the same time not, a swirling unreality somehow both substantial and incorporeal, where color, space, and time were as malleable as wet clay. Images flashed momentarily around her on all sides; old thoughts and ideas and imaginings, friends -- some so long-dead she scarce remembered their names, -- her favorite student, her sister, her mother, and finally, her father.

It was his voice.

“Caelestia.”

And it was not. There was another voice somehow buried behind and within that of the ancient alicorn; a whisper, cold and androgynous. Still, she could not resist the urge to answer.

“Pater?”

“Cenasolus revinere.” He came into focus as his words echoed about her. He stood before her, gleaming white. His eyes shone like twin suns, and his mane gleamed gold in the darkness. She strained to focus, but he seemed somehow to slip from reality, even as he became more defined.

In a daze, she realized that she was awakening from a dream. There was pain throughout her entire body. She felt cold, though she was drenched in sweat. Somehow, she rolled off her bed, and forced herself to stand. Where was her strength?

The next few minutes were a blur of moments that she could not perfectly link together.

There was the door to her chamber. She had never noticed how heavy it was before, but neither had she ever had to touch it to open it before; her magic was useless, even her most basic telekinesis. Her mind was too riven for her to focus it.

There was the hallway. It seemed longer than she remembered. Her hooves echoed a slow, uneven rhythm. She stumbled, and as the steel of her horseshoe slid across the stone floor, it cast a shower of sparks onto the wall.

She moved on.

There was a guard. Terrified, he merely backed into a corner, barely managing to stammer out the first syllable of “Princess.”

There were the stairs, and her wing hooked over the banister, which groaned as she leaned against it through her slow descent.

There was the great hall.

There was her sister.

Luna stood aghast at the sight of her kin. There was no crown, no jewelry, and no makeup. Celestia would never allow herself to be seen like this, and yet there she stood in front of Luna and her guards. It was only after the shock subsided that she took notice of Celestia's stilted gait and ragged countenance. Her mane was soaking wet, and clung to her back, neck, and face, strands of it even caught in the corner of her mouth. She swayed as she walked, and seemed to choose each individual step. Luna might have thought her sister was drunk, but for her whole body trembling violently, and for her eyes, wide and aware, though glazed and distant.

“Celestia?” She spoke her sister's name, her voice colored by concern and confusion.

Celestia spoke three tremulous words:

“Luna, non valeo.”

Luna's mind was slow to translate Celestia's words from their long-dead mother tongue, but as she perceived them, she felt the cold caress of a fear that she usually knew only in her blackest dreams.

“Luna, I am not well.”

Celestia's knees buckled, and she listed to her right. Though she tried for a moment to lower herself gently, her strength finally gave way. Her eyes rolled back, and her whole body seemed to go limp. The momentum of her fall rolled upward from her right flank to her head, and it was last to strike the stone floor, emitting a muted, hollow whack.

Luna galloped toward her sister. In moments she stood over the great, iridescent heap of Celestia's body, relieved to see that she stilll breathed, but horrified to see how deep and labored that breathing was. Blood was seeping from a laceration above her right eye. Luna knelt, and instinctively moved to lift her sisters face towards her own. She caught herself, however, and stepped back, nodding quickly at the fallen horse.

"Lift her head," she said to a guard who stood nearby. "Gently."

The guard, a bat pony, gulped at having been selected for such a task, but knelt nonetheless, and wedged a wing under Celestia's head, removing it from the widening pool.

Luna's bones seemed to freeze inside her as she gazed into the red mask that covered half of Celestia's face. Other guards had only now begun to crowd around, but in their horror, none had mustered the presence of mind to take action.

Luna's roar shook centuries-old dust from the ceiling and walls:

“ONE OF YOU FOOLS, CALL THE DOCTOR!!”

* * *

Twilight Sparkle knelt over a pile of open magic textbooks in the basement laboratory of Golden Oaks Library. Her horn was pointed, glimmering and unmoving, at a small, iron sphere which was levitating over a glowing, crystal spire in the center of the room. There was an empty wine bottle beside her on the floor, and a lit cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth. It was burned down almost to the filter, but obviously hadn't been ashed for over half its length. Twilight hadn't slept in two days, and it had been more than six hours since she had left this exact spot. Every muscle in her body was either cramped or numb.

“Twilight?” Spike's voice broke the slow, staccato throb of the laboratory's many machines.

“I told you, Spike, I'll be up later tonight. I'll eat then – and rest.” There was a mild edge of irritability in Twilight's voice, and she punctuated the sentence by inhaling deeply from her cigarette. Spike had been hassling her to take a break for the past day and a half, but this experiment represented the culmination of weeks of research into a magical principal that almost nopony had fully understood or mastered in thousands of years.

Smoke escaped from Twilight's mouth and nose as she mumbled, “There hasn't been a need.”

Spike looked confused. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, reaching up with her hoof to quickly flick the ash away from her cigarette.

“Look, I know you said not to interrupt you, but we got a letter.” Spike tapped her gently on the shoulder with the scroll, careful to let her hear his approaching footsteps, so as not to startle her.

“Put it on my desk. I'll read it later.” Twilight's tone softened as she replied. At least Spike had a decent reason for disturbing her, this time. "And bring me another pack of cigarettes, please."

“Well, just so you know, it's not from Celestia,” he said, as he began to walk back towards the stairs.

“What?” Twilight turned her head slightly, and the sphere began almost imperceptibly to tip. She quickly resumed her position, and the sphere righted itself.

“It has Princess Luna's seal.”

“It's the middle of the day – I think.” Twilight glanced quickly at the clock on the wall; yes, it was about noon. “Why is she even awake? She sleeps until late afternoon, usually. She slept through a battle, for gods' sake. How can she be awake? For that matter, why is she sending me a letter?”

“You want me to open it?”

“Yes," shrugged the unicorn. "Read it to me.”

“Celestia is very ill." Spike read, "Come to Canterlot immediately. Luna.”

The sphere tipped on its axis, and dropped out of the air. Twilight was on her hooves before it had reached the floor. It clanged loudly as its axial momentum rolled it into a corner, where it came to rest. Twilight hoisted Spike onto her back and was up the stairs in seconds.

“Whoa! Hold on! We've got to pack!” Spike had a lock of Twilight's mane wrapped around each forearm, and was holding on for dear life.

“Anything we need, we can get from the castle or my parents' house. We're going -- NOW!”

The front front door gleamed faint purple, and flung open. Twilight was through it in an instant, after which she promptly slammed into Applejack, who had apparently been standing on the doorstep. The two ponies and the dragon tumbled head-over-hooves-over-tails-over-scales into a garish, multicolored heap.

“Tarnation! What in all Hell, Twilight!?” Applejack wrenched her way out of the twisted mass of orange and purple that had formed in the wake of the impact.

“I'm sorry!” said Twilight, who had lost both Spike and her cigarette in the collision.

As quickly as she could, she got to her hooves, her purple cheeks lightening towards pink as she blushed.

“Oh, I'd apologize to Fluttershy, first, if'n I was you.” Applejack nodded towards the flower bed just left of the open door. Fluttershy was laying in it on her back, half-conscious. “You caught her pretty damn good 'cross the snout with that door.”

“Oh, Fluttershy, are you okay!?” Twilight dashed to her friend's side. Her eyes were half-crossed, and she was mumbling something about needing to feed the badgers.

“Fluttershy, can you hear me!?”

“I hear you just fine, Mr. Otter, and I must say your diction has improved noticeably since last we spoke.”

Twilight shoved her hooves under Fluttershy's forelegs, and lifted her to her haunches. Spike was back on his feet, now. Ever the pragmatist, he gave the pegasus a gentle slap on the cheek.

“Snap out of it!”

“Oh, hello, Spike!” The honey-blonde pegasus looked around, obviously a bit confused. “What am I doing at the Library?”

“We were coming to see if Twilight wanted to go get some lunch, remember?” Applejack picked a stray leaf out of Fluttershy's mane, and spat it on the ground.

“Oh, yes, I'd like some lunch, thanks,” Fluttershy responded.

“No, we were already going to lunch, but we were going to see if... Know what? It don't matter.” Applejack turned to Twilight.

“Where were you headed in such a rush, anyway?” she asked.

“I just got a letter from Princess Luna. Celestia is sick. I have to leave for Canterlot, right away!”

“Well, the train is the fastest way, and it don't even get here for another three hours. And incident'ly, you look like you lost a fight with a cider press.” Applejack pointed a hoof at the nearest window, and Twilight turned to see her reflection.

She was a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot and sunken from sleep deprivation, her mane was unkempt and ragged, and there was a tiny drop of blood on her lower lip, owing most likely to her recent impact with Applejack's rock-solid earth pony body. As she took in her own bedraggled visage, her stomach growled loudly.

“I suppose I could stand some food.” She gently licked the blood away from her lip. “And a shower.”

“I don't know when the next shower is,” said Fluttershy, rocking slowly side to side. “Ask one of the other Pegasi; I take care of the animals.”

Applejack pressed a hoof to her face.

“Spike,” she said out of the corner of her mouth.

“Yeah, AJ?” responded the dragon.

“Slap Fluttershy, again.”

* * *

“Okay, so the door is why my face hurts so much?” Fluttershy was still trying to comprehend exactly what had transpired outside the library, earlier.

“On one side, anyway,” said Spike, amused and only mildly ashamed.

The four friends were seated around a table outside of Sugar Cube Corner. After a quick lunch, Spike had suggested they come there for a little something to put some pep back into Twilight. It hadn’t worked.

“I feel awful,” Twilight mumbled.

“I told you to take a break,” said Spike.

“I’m taking a break," she grumbled. "This is a break.”

The unicorn laid her head gently on the table, next to a plate with a half-eaten piece of chocolate cake on it. She stared at her own teeth marks in the icing, and wondered when last she had been to the dentist.

“Not since I moved to Ponyville,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” asked Applejack.

“Nothing,” said Twilight, not lifting her head. “I was thinking about something else.”

Pinkie Pie emerged from the door of the bakery, a plate piled high with chocolate chip cookies clenched in her teeth. She placed it on the table, and immediately snatched up the largest.

“I deshided I’d chake my break sinks you kirls were here,” she said, her mouth still full of cookie. She swallowed, and then looked at Twilight, who had yet to lift her head or even acknowledge Pinkie’s presence.

“Is there something wrong with the cake, Twilight? I can get you something else,” said Pinkie.

“It’s fine, Pinkie,” said Twilight, half smiling and rolling her eyes towards the pink earth pony. “I’m just really, really tired.”

“Too tired for chocolate cake!?” Pinkie was obviously stunned.

“She’s near about too tired for anything,” said Applejack.

There was a strange, high-pitched, chittering sound, and Twilight rolled her eyes towards it. They found, of all things, a parasprite. They followed it until it landed next to her half-eaten cake, and began to sniff at it. It was yellow, cute, and, of course, horrifying, but it was still not enough to prompt Twilight to lift her head.

“Oh, gods, is there another infestation?” groaned the unicorn, still resting her weary head on the table.

“Oh, no,” said Pinkie. “We just get one or two of them around the bakery this time of year. Mrs. Cake showed me a better way to deal with them, though -- if you can catch it while there’s still just one.”

“What’s that?” asked Twilight, still staring at the parasprite, which was slowly opening its vicious, adorable maw.

Suddenly, a huge pink flyswatter slammed down into Twilight’s field of vision, and the parasprite was simply gone from her sight. She jerked upright in surprise.

“Holy mother of Luna, Pinkie!” she barked incredulously.

“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?” asked Pinkie as she peeled the flyswatter up from the table.

There was a pitiful, twittering sound as most of the parasprite pulled away from the table. Pinkie turned the flyswatter around and looked at it briefly. “Got ‘im good,” she said, then turned the flyswatter around for Twilight to see.

The parasprite, now oozing green goo in several places and lacking its left eye and several wings and legs, twitched and peeped in front of Twilight’s face for a couple of seconds. Finally, Pinkie extended the Flyswatter over a nearby waste basket and scraped it against its rim. There was a high-pitched, groaning squeak, which surprised Twilight, for she would not have previously believed that a groan could be intoned as a squeak, and the parasprite slid off the flyswatter’s surface into the basket.

Pinkie calmly put the flyswatter back into whatever pocket dimension in which she stored such things. Applejack and Spike both snickered at Fluttershy, who had her mouth covered with both hooves and her eyes spread wide in disbelief. Twilight looked down at her piece of cake. There was a green, multifaceted eye and a shattered wing lying next to it in a small splotch of green goo.

“Well, I’m not hungry, anymore,” she said. “I’m going to go get ready to go to Canterlot.”

“Oh, you’re going to Canterlot?” asked Pinkie. “What’s up?”

“Princess Luna sent me a letter saying Princess Celestia is sick. She wants me to come to Canterlot right away.”

“Princess Celestia sick, eh?” said Pinkie. “Well in that case, I’m going with you.”

“Pinkie Pie, you don’t have to do that,” said Twilight.

“Sure don’t,” said Pinkie. “I’ll go pack my bags.”

“No, you missed the whole point...” Pinkie Pie had already disappeared inside before Twilight could finish her sentence. She turned her head towards Applejack and Fluttershy.

“You’re coming, too, aren’t you?” she asked flatly.

“Right after we go get Rainbow Dash and Rarity,” said Applejack.

“Fine,” said Twilight, resigned to and secretly thankful for her friends’ involvement.

“I'm gonna run to the boutique and get Rarity,” said Applejack. “Fluttershy, go grab Rainbow Dash. It’s still early enough in the afternoon I doubt she’s out of bed.’

“Come to think of it, I better go let Granny and Big Macintosh know I’ll be gone a few days, and I’ll need to grab a thing or two from home. See y’all in a little bit.” With that, Applejack trotted away towards Carousel Boutique.

“I should go tell one of the earth ponies to feed the animals in case I don't get back by tonight,” said Fluttershy. ”I should probably kiss Angel Bunny bye, too. Oh, and I need to pack a few things... a toothbrush, at least.”

“And I need to clean myself up,” said Twilight. “Come on Spike.”

As Twilight had already paid their bill, they set off towards the Library. After a minute or so, Spike voiced a thought which had been troubling him ever since reading the letter.

“I don't think I've ever heard of Princess Celestia being sick, before.”

“Neither have I; that's why I'm so worried. What's worse, she's sick enough that Princess Luna had to write me in her stead, and it's serious enough that she thinks I should be there.”

“You don't think she's...” Spike's sentence trailed off into nothing.

“NO!" Twilight half shouted, stopping on the spot. Almost by instinct, Spike stopped as well, and Twilight lowered her head to look him straight in the eye.

"No," she said, and this time it was calm. "Don't even think that.”

Spike knew Twilight meant to be reassuring, but he sensed the mingled anger and fear in her voice as she continued. “She's still young. In a way, she's not much older than me, really. There's no way, okay? It's just impossible.”

“Yeah, you're right, Twilight." said Spike gulping slightly. "I'm just worrying about nothing. She's probably got a bad case of horn rash, and just needs you to tend to some of the magic stuff nopony else can do for her.”

“Like what?” Twilight raised her left eyebrow, inquisitively, and resumed her march towards Golden Oaks library, dragon in tow.

“Raising the sun," said Spike. "That is what you've been trying to figure out how to do, isn't it?”

Spike always knew what Twilight was up to, even when she would rather he didn't.

“Well, sort of. Nopony but Celestia or Luna has attempted to control the sun or moon's relationship to this planet – or vice versa, really – in thousands of years. Unicorns used to do it by a concerted effort of the best and brightest of our entire race, but Celestia and Luna were kind enough to assume the responsibility when they were crowned. A long time before that, there were other alicorns who did the same thing.”

“Why'd they stop?” asked Spike.

“I don't know. I read a little about it years ago, and asked Princess Celestia the same question. She said she'd rather not talk about it – that it was so long ago that she couldn't even remember it that well, anymore. In any case, it would take everything I had in me to control the sun or the moon for even a few moments, whereas Celestia and Luna exert constant control with almost no effort or thought whatsoever. I've actually been curious as to how much more magical power Celestia is free to exert now that she's only responsible for the sun, again.”

They were at the Library now, and Twilight opened the door.

“Pack anything you want to take, Spike, and leave a window open for that foul-tempered owl of mine. Oh, and check to make sure I don't fall asleep in the shower.”

* * *

Twilight hadn't fallen asleep in the shower. She couldn't fall asleep on the train, either. She just kept leaning her head against the window, catching glimpses at every curve of Canterlot's growing form in the distance. Her mind was a total blank, a true rarity.

“Darling, you really should rest,” came the voice of an entirely different Rarity. Twilight was startled from her reverie, and momentarily straightened in her seat.

“I, I, I, I.... resting.”

Rainbow Dash, sitting in the seat immediately in front of Twilight, didn't even look up from her book as she spoke.

“Tell me that wasn't supposed to be a sentence.”

Pinkie Pie, sitting next to her, somehow managed to bridge her body over the top of the seat so that her head hung upside down in front of the face of Rarity, who occupied the seat next to Twilight. She turned her head to look at the exhausted purple pony.

“I don't think so, Rainbow Dash. If it was, the subject and verb didn't agree at all. You'd need some form of “to be” to give it a tense and stuff.” At this, Rainbow Dash did pause from her reading, and turned to stare blankly at Pinkie's still-upturned belly. Rarity likewise gazed wordlessly at the earth pony, her head rolling gently to the left in bewilderment.

“I'd expect better from a bookworm like you, Twilight.” Pinkie normalized her posture, and Rainbow Dash shrugged before going back to her book.

“I'm... fine.” Twilight said, but the phrase was distant and directed at nopony in particular, as if meant as much to reassure herself as her friends.

Pinkie immediately returned to her strange posture.

“See, that's better. The way you contracted 'I' and 'am' makes it a logical statement that tells us your current state of being.” She righted herself, then immediately flipped backwards again to say “Also, you're lying.” Then, she was back to her seat, again.

“I agree with Pinkie Pie,” said Rarity. “You are not 'fine.' I can go and sit next to Spike. Why don't you lie down across the seat?”

“That sounds like a fantastic idea!” Spike was slightly more enthusiastic than Rarity's suggestion perhaps warranted, but Rarity nonetheless lifted herself from her seat.

“Okay,” mumbled Twilight, her words now utterly stuperous and undirected. She didn't turn her head from the window, even as Rarity stood and began to step across the aisle, and realizing this, the white unicorn turned to admonish her.

“Twilight," she said sternly, "the point of me moving is for you to lie down.” It was a tone of mixed frustration and concern that Rarity generally reserved for Sweetie Belle.

“I,I,I,.... I'm...” Twilight didn't even finish her sentence before she toppled, already asleep before her face hit the seat cushion.

Rarity Huffed, and turned towards Pinkie Pie.

“I thought that sedative you put in her coffee would never kick in.”

“It takes it a little while, sometimes,” said Pinkie Pie. “Especially if you're wired on sugar, caffeine, and... you know... stuff.”

Applejack peered over the back of Twilight's seat and marveled momentarily at the considerable pool of saliva which had already amassed beneath the unicorn's open mouth.

“Pardon, y'all, but is this, uh... legal?" she asked, skeptically. "You know... druggin' her up without her knowin' and all?”

Pinkie Pie craned her head backwards over the seat, and smiled at Applejack.

“Nopers!” she said happily, and the smile widened to a grin that barely restrained a giggle.

“Yeah, I figured. Guess it's for her own good, though. How far to Canterlot?”

“At least two more hours,” replied Spike.

Fluttershy chimed in from her seat next to Applejack.

“Maybe the rest of us should get some rest, too, if everyone else thinks that's a good idea, I mean.”

The car was soon silent but for the snoring of a baby dragon, the slow, regular breathing of five sleeping ponies, and the occasional, quiet rustle of the turning pages of a book.

* * *

Awareness without knowledge; that was how Twilight Sparkle would have described her state of being, had she been able. It was like being a newborn foal again, but with the developed, inquisitive mind of an adult. Slowly, ideas began to manifest themselves: a concept of self, a concept of others, love, hate, joy, sadness, enmity... and friendship.

With that one idea, she remembered.

“I am Twilight Sparkle," she said. "That is my name.”

It was only now that she became aware of Celestia.

“Yes, you are, and yes, it is.”

As she heard her teacher's words, Twilight's instinct was to look at her; only then did she realize that she could not feel her body, and had no understanding of where she was. At her desire to see the Princess, she simply and suddenly could, but with what eyes she did not know.

“Don't panic, Twilight," said Celestia. "You are in my dream, and I am in yours. For this to happen you must be close. Luna must have sent for you."

The image's lips moved, but their synchronization with Celestia's words was imperfect. Furthermore, Twilight was not certain that all – or any – of those words had actually been spoken, certain though she was that they had been said.

“Why is this happening, Princess?” Twilight heard her voice, though she did not feel herself speak.

“I cast this spell in hopes of contacting Luna,” spoke the image, “but I have not seen her, so I assume she hasn't slept since last night.”

“You cast a spell in your sleep? Every time I think I'm getting good you pull some crazy sh... You pull something like this on me.”

Even in her subconscious, Twilight managed to reign in her language in the presence of her teacher. She was beginning to feel, now, as well as see. Sensations of awe, respect, eagerness, and even love mingled and twisted in her being – the feelings which she most closely associated with the Princess. However, there were also hints of shame, fear, and confusion that laced their way through those larger sensations, born of memories of failure and inadequacy.

“You should be proud that you are able to share this dream with me in this way – I am.” Celestia's blurry, protean image smiled, and Twilight felt her teacher's pride as much as her own. The effigy of the princess seemed to fade, and she spoke again.

“I need you to see something.”

Celestia's faded form grew, and reshaped itself before solidifying into another being entirely. It was an alicorn stallion. He was enormous – the largest equine that Twilight had ever seen. Even though she could not sense her own body for comparison, the sheer physical mass of the winged unicorn before her caused her to perceive him as tremendous. His mane was gold, and his eyes glowed so brightly that if Twilight had seen him with physical eyes, she would have shut them at the sight. His cutie mark was identical to Celestia's.

“This was my father,” came Celestia's disembodied voice, wistful and sad. “His name was Sol.”

Twilight was in awe, and from her teacher she sensed a pang of longing mixed with warmth, keenest at the mention of her father's name. Celestia continued.

“He appeared to me last night in a dream, and gave me a message.”

The titanic alicorn's mouth opened, and words thundered forth with a force that would have deafened Twilight's waking ears:

“Celestia, Cenasolus revinere.” The image of Sol shrank and wavered, becoming once again an image of Celestia, and she spoke.

“If I do not awaken soon – and I may well not – you must give Luna this message. She will know what it means. Now, my faithful student, it's time for you to wake up.”

* * *

“Twilight! Wake your ass up, already!” Spike shook Twilight's shoulder. “How much of that stuff did you give her, Pinkie Pie?”

“The same dose I take when I can't sleep. It's just an old Pie family remedy for colds and insomnia. Granny Pie used to drink it every night.”

“What's in it?” asked Rainbow Dash, as she tucked the book she'd been reading into her saddlebag.

“A shot of peppermint schnapps, a spoonful of honey, a little bit of tryptophan, some codeine, and a powdered Valium, when you can get one.” said Pinkie, matter-of-factly.

“Could you get one?” asked Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie said, nodding once. “Rarity gave it to me.”

“I have a stash,” said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy all stared at the white unicorn with mixed looks of skepticism and disdain.

“Oh, don't even act like any of you are surprised,” she half-snapped. “Spike, is Twilight coming around, yet?”

“I think so. She's mumbling something in Latin. That's normal.”

Twilight sat up on her haunches and screamed something that sounded like “Ray win a ray!”

“Oh, good. You're awake!” Pinkie Pie bounced by happily. “Weeeeeeeeeeeeee're Heeeere!”

Twilight looked around, dazed. She laid back, and stared up at the ceiling, eyes still open.

"Cena... Cena? Ceno? Eat?" Revinere? Come back?"

She barely whispered the words, and after a few moments, she rolled, first onto her side, then onto her hooves, crouching low. At last she lifted herself up, and stood, rocking gently and slowly.

“Let's go to the castle. I need to speak to Princess Luna. Now.”

“Twilight, your eyes are so red. Did you sleep well?” came Fluttershy's gentle voice.

“No.” Twilight stepped forward, and as she did so, her knees buckled. She lay down on her belly, and drew three deep breaths, each one taking several seconds.

"I feel really, really sick," she said.

Nopony spoke. Twilight hoisted herself again to most of her full height, and slowly began to put one hoof in front of the other.

Applejack stepped to her side.

“If you start to go down, I gotcha, sugarcube."

The orange earth mare looked up from the unicorn's drooping head and quivering shoulders, and glared momentarily at Pinkie Pie, then at Rarity, never speaking a word.

Both of them returned awkward grins, though only Pinkie Pie bothered to add a shrug.

“Something terrible is happening," said Twilight. "I don't know everything, but I know it's bad.”

Twilight did not look up as she spoke, but stared still at her hooves, choosing the spot where she would place each step.

“I feel like I have a hangover,” she moaned, shifting her weight carefully to the next hoof.

Pinkie Pie began to dig in her saddle bag.

“I've got an old Pie family remedy for that!” she said.

Everypony turned their heads toward Pinkie in unison.

“NO!”

* * *

Celestia's chamber was empty, but for the two princesses, the elder of whom was unconscious in her bed, the younger seated close by, weary and puffy-eyed, the fur beneath the corners of her eyes stained and crusted with dried tears.

“Princess Luna?” The guard's voice was furtive and even slightly fearful, as well it should have been. Luna hadn't slept in two days, and she had developed a nasty habit of screaming in the face of anypony who entered the room -- other than the castle doctor -- at volumes that were quite literally deafening. Several unsolicited visitors had been telekinetically hurled out the door. More than one had impacted the opposite wall of the hallway, though nopony had sustained any serious injury from such treatment, as yet.

“What is it?” The princess' voice was sharp and short, but exhausted.

“Twilight Sparkle is here to see you.” His voice quivered.

“Let her in.” Luna did not look up.

“She is not alone. She is with...”

“I know who she is with,” said Luna. “I would have been disappointed were she alone. Let them in.”

“Very well,” said the guard, obviously relieved that Luna had not, in fact, been "disappointed."

The door to the chamber glowed and swung open. There stood six ponies, one of whom broke into an unsteady gallop that brought her to Celestia's bedside. Twilight Sparkle half collapsed as she reached the bed, and laid her head and neck over the chest of her ancient mentor.

A clock on the wall, rendered in the shape of a sun, ticked by the moments as the five other ponies stepped up to surround the bed in a semi-circle. Twilight's face washed over with a look of exhausted relief as she felt the rise and fall of her teacher's chest, and heard the slow, staccato rhythm of her heartbeat.

Finally, without raising her head, she spoke. “Cenasolus revinere. What does it mean, Princess Luna?”

Luna's eyes widened. Her mouth quivered.

“Roughly translated, it means...” Her words trailed off as she stood and walked towards the balcony. She gazed directly into the sun which she had for two days had to raise in her sister's stead, her eyes feeling no pain from its brilliance. “ It means... 'the Sun Eater returns.'”

“Now, what in the blue hell does that mean?” It was Applejack, the first other than Twilight to have courage enough to speak.

Luna said nothing for several seconds, then turned from the window.

“There is,” her voice faltered, “a power. I hesitate to call it an evil. It took our father's life, and in a way, our mother's as well. Father gave it a name. He called it Cenasolus.” Luna pronounced the word with a hard “C,” so that it sounded like “Kenasolus.”

“Cenasolus appeared aeons ago. I cannot begin to tell you all how long ago it must have been, but if it provides any perspective, Celestia was still a filly, and I was little more than a toddler. What little I remember is only because we age... differently.'

“In those days, Father raised the sun, mother the moon. I barely recall any of it, except that father grew ill, and was afflicted with horrid... dreams. Many mornings, he would be unable to awaken from them, but on the days when he did, he told us tales of the visions he had seen in the night."

She inhaled slowly, and shut her eyes.

“As I said," she continued, "I remember little of those days, but I remember what he told us of his dreams. He told of how the sun grew dim; of how the moon broke into pieces and crashed into the sea, raising a wave that drowned the world. After the sea receded, the sky grew dark of the sun's dying fire, and all the oceans froze into hard, black ice. Then, even the stars seemed to fade, until there was only blackness. He would wander this cold, darkened world for what seemed ages in his dreams, pointing his horn at the blackness and willing a sun to rise that simply was not there. Sometimes, it would seem to him that centuries had passed before he would awaken. At other times, his dream would seem to last for only seconds, but he would find that he had slept several days. It was as if his mind had lost its hold on time... or perhaps the other way around."

“Is Celestia trapped in dreams like that right now?” asked Twilight, lifting her head from her teacher's chest for the first time. Her eyes showed her horror and fear, but Luna would not lie.

“Dreams are not so simple," said the Princess. "Dreams are a unique creation of the mind -- the very nexus where it meets the heart. They represent each individual's unique hopes, dreams, memories, and fears. Celestia is enough like Father that her dreams may be similar, but to her, you must understand, they are far, far worse -- a unique, perfect, self-inflicted hell, like all nightmares," Luna spoke through gritted teeth, her eyes flashing.

"Nightmare" was not a word she used lightly – ever.

"When will she wake up?" asked Rarity.

"Maybe never," said Luna. "Father found his way out again and again, but..." She swallowed a lump, and it was audible to all present. "Celestia is strong, but Father was..." she smiled, and her eyelids quivered.

"He was magnificent," she said. "He and Mother, both," she continued. "Their eyes gleamed like starlight, moonlight, sunlight, and time, itself. They were the true god and goddess of this world, and older than even I can imagine. Neither Celestia nor I am even sure of how they were born."

“But you still haven't told us why this is happening,” said Twilight, her voice painted with desperation.

“I don't fully understand it, myself. Father said, in his final days, that he had begun to hear in the darkness of his dreams the voice of some entity speaking a language no tongue of this world could speak. He called it the Sun Eater -- Cenasolus -- because he said that it was this entity who ate the sun from the sky in his dreams. He seemed certain of it, though he never said how. Remember that my memories of this are dim. I was only a child.'

“Then, one day, a terrible thing happened. The sun began to change in the sky of the real world, growing larger and redder, as if aging rapidly. It was subtle, but to Mother's eyes it was obvious. When she pointed it out to Celestia and I, we could see it, too. Soon, it became so apparent that even others could tell. Worse yet, the world itself seemed to be afflicted by some strange... plague of time. Everything and everyone began to age more quickly, but it was curiously uneven. A tree might die and rot in seconds while the one next to it merely seemed to grow a bit taller. These peculiarities of entropy were not limited to plant life, either. The old died in droves from no apparent cause, and the young grew old in moments, their minds filled with the memories of lifetimes they had not even truly experienced. Cities fell into ruin around their inhabitants as if abandoned for centuries. There was panic the world over.'

"Father awoke that day, and said that when next he slept, he would never awaken. We were all horrified, but he would tell us no more, except that he hoped that what he meant to do when next mother brought forth the moon would spare us the horrors he had seen in his last dream.'

“I cried a great deal, and Celestia did as well. We all laid down next to Father, and he and mother sang my sister and I a lullaby. I think there must have been some magic in it, because I doubt that a mere song could have given our minds peace at such a time. Whatever the case, we fell asleep, and when we awoke, it was morning. The world was whole again, and father was gone.”

Luna's word's trailed off as she finished this last sentence, but every single pony in the room was listening so intently that not one syllable was lost to an ear.

Luna breathed slowly, and looked out the window into the sun, again, which now hung low on the horizon, painting the landscape with a rich palette of purples, reds, and oranges. She chewed on her jaw for a moment, then continued to speak.

“Mother took responsibility for both sun and moon for several thousand years after that, but her heart was utterly broken. For those few millenia, she grew sicker and more frail. She taught the unicorns to create night and day, and it is my belief that when she was satisfied in their ability to do so, she chose to die.” Luna drew a deep breath, and continued to gaze out of the window, as if concentrating on something in the distance. The sun sank beneath the horizon, and she turned back to the six ponies and the dragon.

“That was ages ago, before even Discord. Celestia and I had to grow older, wiser and stronger, and mother knew that. She held on as long as her heart would allow her, I think, and she left us a future. I bear her no resentment. I cannot imagine what it was like to lose one with whom she had endured so many ages, though I fear I shall soon discover that woe, myself.” Luna looked to her sister's limp, white body.

“Twilight Sparkle, you must tell me how it is that you came to know the name of Cenasolus.”