Before the Sun

~~~

Celestia grunted in effort as she lifted.

It had been nine years since Luna had been born...

And once more Celestia's family had grown smaller.

Nebula Glow was dead.

The young Unicorn that was named Celestia didn't know how to feel. She had so many conflicting emotions it was hard to keep track of everything inside her head.

She had lost family before, nearly ten years ago before Luna was even born. She knew the sharp tongued stallion she had known was likely dead, laying undiscovered in a ditch somewhere... But emotionally she had always held onto hope that one day the stallion would come through the doors back into her life.

So she had never really mourned his passing.

Nebula Glow... Mom, was a different story.

She was dead. Dead and gone. There could be no mistaking that.

The Hydra's acid was much too powerful.

Which led to Celestia's final conflict.

Luna.

Emotionally Celestia was frustrated with the blue filly.

Why hadn't she been faster?!

Why wasn't she crying?!

Didn't she care?!

Intellectually however Celestia knew that Luna was still dazed from her ordeal with the Hydra. But there was nary a tear welling in the corner of the filly's eyes.

Additionally, if Luna hadn't done what she did when she did, they all would've died.

Celestia still wasn’t sure how Luna had slain the beast…

All Celestia knew was Luna had been standing alone and still as the Hydra approached. The next moment, the Hydra was dead, and Luna was covered in its blood.

Celestia heaved, dropping the body of Warm Hovel into the fire.

Poor mare didn’t deserve this.

But then again, who did?

Celestia turned away from the roaring blaze, content to let Torchwood do his grim work while she did hers. Luna plodded after her.

Luna was helping… As much as a filly of nine - whose magic was tenuous at best - could anyway. She would mindlessly follow Celestia, helping hold a limp off the ground while Celestia held the brunt of the weight.

It was when the two got to the half melted body of Mom did Luna finally react.

But instead of hysterical crying or sobbing - which Celestia herself could not stop - Luna merely averted her gaze. She stared wide eyed at the trees, the trampled grass, even other bodies if they happened to cross her vision.

But never once did she look at Mom.

Finally, Celestia heaved, tossing the melted form of the mare who raised her into the fire. Luna vanished in a small puff of ash as she ran away. Celestia could only stand at the edge of the fire and sob.

A hoof wrapped around her withers.

Celestia looked with blurry eyes to see the shape and colors of Firelight.

“We’ll be alright…” the older mare stated.

“I don’t see how.” Celestia managed. “Us twelve are all that’s left, and three of us are fillies.”

“One of those fillies brought the beast down.” Firelight reminded.

Celestia snorted.

“Look at her Firelight, she doesn’t care. She acts nice but there are times I’m not sure she has a heart.”

“Is that what has you upset?” Firelight asked, surprise creeping into her voice.

“Look at her!” Celestia whispered. “She’s not shedding one tear!”

“Oh is that all?” Firelight asked.

Celestia sputtered in outrage.

“How dare-“

“Take a look at her again Tia.” Firelight nodded towards the blue filly. “She’s not standing around like Emerald and Sapphire, she’s throwing herself into the job and doing what she can.”

Celestia cocked her ear in confusion, but took another look at her young sister.

Luna walked right past the other two fillies, who watched the fire with equally dazed expressions, their mouths hanging slightly open.

Luna’s expression was of hard determination, her eyes boring into the ground.

“She’s trying not to show weakness.” Firelight nodded at Celestia’s side. “Some Ponies are just like that. Look at my Dad for example, he’s the doing the same thing.” She pointed toward Torchwood, who’s face was stone like as he tended to the fire.

“… Why aren’t you more sad about this?” Celesta accused.

“I am.” Firelight nodded. “But this isn’t my first. There used to be four other foals my age when I was around their age.” She pointed towards the three young fillies, two of whom were slowly backing away from the third.

“… What happened?” Celestia asked.

“Timberwolf attack. We were playing in the woods nearby… I was the only survivor.” The mare pulled back digging through the fur on her right foreleg. “Bastards gave me this.” She continued, showing a vicious looking scar that looked like irregular teeth marks. “Thankfully, there were some older Ponies nearby who heard us screaming and drove them off.”

“That’s awful…”

“Yeah.” Firelight nodded solemnly. “I won’t say that fucker wasn’t bad-“ She pointed at a nearby head of the Hydra that wasn’t burned yet. “But there isn’t much that compare to seeing your friends being torn to shreds and getting close and personal with their wooden jaws… At least with the Hydra you get swallowed quickly or get melted so there isn’t much blood.”

“But there’s so many…” Celestia argued.

“And we shouldn’t forget that.” Firelight nodded. “But we’re only peasants. Only Hoarfrost is a trained guard and he’s a frosty jerk who won’t teach us anything meaningful… Like it or not this is our lot in life. We die, we mourn, we move on. That’s just the way things are.” She jerked her head towards Luna. "Your sister, if she realizes it or not, at least understands that. Probably thanks to Emerald and Sapphire."

“It shouldn’t be…” Celestia muttered.

“Well, until somepony comes along and changes that, we’re stuck with what we have. And good luck getting anyone with any amount of power to change that.”

Celestia didn’t say anything, but the visage of a pink maned Unicorn wearing a gleaming and polished crown swam in her vision.

Her gaze wandered back to Luna, who was gathering the crude spears that had been abandoned and putting them into a neat pile.

The shadow was going to bring about that Queen of Light…

‘How could darkness bring about light?” Celestia thought to herself.

“You’ve made your point Firelight…” Celestia said finally, getting up to leave. “I’ve… I’ve got a lot to think about…”