Hooves thundered against the stone. The two mares, indigo and white, raced hard against each other through the echoing early dawn corridors. Laughter rang through the firelit walls. The white mare gave her younger sister a mischievous smile and put on a burst of speed, lowering her head and flaring her wings. Her younger sister tried to keep up, but her smaller legs caused her to lag behind.

Princess Celestia whipped around a corner and hid behind one of the paintings, tucking her enormous body behind the ceiling-to-floor creation. Princess Luna rushed past. She cantered to a stop, ears perked as she no longer heard her sister’s hooves, and then tense as she stood on alert. Her big cyan eyes took in their stone-darkened surroundings. Her glimmering blue mane and tail trailed over the tiles as she stalked, her shoes barely making a noise.

She froze.

Princess Luna dipped her head and narrowed her eyes at a point just past the painting. One step… two steps…

Princess Celestia jumped out, fluttering her wings. “Boo!”

Princess Luna squealed and teleported back, wings up and reared back.

Princess Celestia burst into laughter. “Gotcha!”

Her little sister scoffed and whipped her head back. “Only because you got ahead of me! I saw your tail under the painting!” She stamped her hoof and looked back at the hall. Her ears perked and she looked back. A wide grin bared her teeth. “You cannot get me again.” With that, she spun around and took off.

“We’ll see!” Princess Celestia called back, her hooves carrying her into a chase before her mind could make up the thought to do so.

Princess Luna ran with her wings tucked to her side and her head down. Just as Princess Celestia got close, her younger sister threw herself into one of the hollow suits of armor and down one of the trapdoor slides. Her loud, cackling laughter vanished into the darkness, cut off as the trapdoor shut.

Princess Celestia skidded to a stop, laughed, and then continued running down another hall. “Oh, you clever mare!”

She had to slow her run to a walk. Luna knew these passages well! We both do; this is our home. Her hooves approached the throne room. Midmorning sunlight warmed her flank from a passing window.

“Not another step.” The gravity in Princess Luna’s tone forced Princess Celestia to a halt. Even in the shadow of the throne room’s entrance, her brilliant flank all but glowed. There was no hiding her presence. Princess Luna, however, melted from the shadow of her throne as if she had been constructed from them. She walked forward and stood before her throne just above the steps, on the precipice. “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?” She moved, stepping up to the balcony at which Princess Celestia often spoke. “There can only be one princess in Equestria.” She flared her indigo wings and reared up. “And that princess will be me!” She slammed her hooves down, breaking the stony half wall around the balcony. Her eyes flashed in hot blue light.

Princess Celestia’s heart plummeted. She wanted to move, but her muscles locked in place, frozen by the same ice that chilled her veins. No, Sister. Don’t do this.

Shadows crept up the wall. Cracks formed by the break in the balcony continued to split the wall behind her, creeping up to the stained glass that spilled sunlight over the thrones of the two sisters. The glass fractured faster than the stone until finally it and an entire portion of the wall shattered, revealing the midmorning sun.

Princess Celestia’s ears pinned back, and she squinted, flinching from the full brilliance of the sun. Luna flapped her wings. Her horn glowed. The moon rose behind her.

Then, it all went dark.

The animals outside chirped and hooted and buzzed, confused. Were they to sleep? To wake? The stars were out. The moon was in the sky. But the sun had not set. It had eclipsed.

Light returned, harsh and red in a cocoon of energy. Some perverted version of a transformation unfolded before her.

Princess Luna landed on the broken stone, her fur darker and pupils thin and elongated like a cat’s. She cackled and reared her head back, flaring her sharp wings, showing off sharp teeth and her larger size, a size to rival her older sister’s, before losing the faux mirth.

Her horn glowed in cyan light, and she pointed at a statue of Princess Celestia above the hall. Her laser obliterated it and then tore through the arched ceiling as she dragged a harsh line across it.

Princess Celestia’s ears flicked forward, and resolve broke the tension inside of her. She walked forward and stopped in the middle of the hall to look down upon a shattered statue of herself. It’s… not too late.

Hoofsteps.

She turned her head up again. Her little sister stepped through the clearing dust cloud, eyes cold and hard as the northern ice.

Princess Celestia launched herself into the air. Any words she tried to speak died in her throat as the black-furred alicorn shot at her with a laser. She dove out of the way. The ceiling exploded above her, revealing the moon and stars. She deigned to land.

Princess Luna calmed, standing straight and tall, eyes narrowed.

Princess Celestia tucked in her wings. She met her harsh gaze steadily. “Luna, I will not fight you. You must lower the moon! It is your duty!” she impressed upon her.

Princess Luna asked, “Luna? I am Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now:”–Her horn glowed and she flared her wings–“to destroy you!”

Princess Celestia leaped into the air, flapping her wings hard to dodge the wildly projected laser. It scorched the floor where she stood.

“And where do you think you’re going?” her little sister taunted, finally taking flight as well.

Princess Celestia flew into the mid-morning night. Another laser shot past toward the moon, and then one struck the tower. I need to keep her away from anything that might get hurt, stop her from doing something she will regret. Celestia flew over and around a bridge, which exploded and collapsed behind her, and then dove and leveled with the ground. Two more shots scorched the trampled earth.

She twirled up, flying over the throne room. Her sister was getting close. She had gotten surprisingly fast. The sudden size change helped with that.

A laser found its mark in her ribs.

The white alicorn screamed. She dropped from the sky like a shooting star, falling through the open roof of the throne room. Her little sister’s cackling faded with distance.

The explosive shot burned through her bones and flesh. Whatever the stone-rending shot didn’t do, the multistory drop straight onto merciless stone finished. Princess Celestia lay crumpled on the floor.

Princess Celestia was no longer a unicorn. She was an ancient being older than Equestria itself with the power to raise the sun single-hoofed. She was an alicorn and Equestria’s immortal ruler. She had a royal duty to lead Equestria, to defend Equestria. Now, Equestria needed her to defend it.

Stars swam beneath her eyelids. A pained wheeze dragged itself into her lungs. She opened her eyes. Across the room, her shattered statue stared back at her. She meant it. Pain racked her chest, and her right foreleg was at least fractured from the impact. She pulled her wings up above her and steadily forced herself to her hooves. She raised her head, resolve hardening her gaze. The pain would ease in time. She needed her wings.

“Oh, dear sister.” She turned back to where their secret weapons lay hidden beneath the floor. “You have given me no choice but to use these.” Her horn glowed in golden light as she activated the trapdoor. A mechanism switched and a section of the floor rose. A bulbous stone contraption with five arms, each holding a different colored gem, raised from the ground and presented itself to the sky. She flew up, biting back a wince of pain from her fractured–if not broken–ribs. She stopped at a hover before the Elements and carefully took them from their place with her magic. Kindness, Generosity, Laughter… Honesty…

…Loyalty…

And the sixth one was revealed. Magic.

Half of the Elements responded immediately to her magic. The other three weren’t so quick to respond, but did so, anyway. Her little sister wielded them against Discord. Of course, if artifacts could feel, they would feel loyalty to a previous wielder.

They spun around her faster and faster until she was encased in a rainbow halo. Her pelt glowed with its radiance. The pain of her wounds leaked away. She flapped her wings, lifting her up to meet her little sister.

The black-furred alicorn spotted her. She bared her teeth and her eyes glowed white as she prepared her laser again.

The pain in her chest came back. It came back hard. Tears misted her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. Princess Celestia took hold of the Element of Magic and focused it on the monster that she created. The rest of the Elements twirled around it, creating a shifting, shimmering bubbling around her.

The black alicorn struck. The Elements struck back, harder. They overwhelmed her nearly immediately. Her shriek rang over the dark landscape as the Elements of Harmony vaporized the alicorn and imprinted her into the moon.

The light faded. The mid-morning night faded back into an uneasy stillness. Princess Celestia, the Elements of Harmony warm in her magical grasp, stared at the place her baby sister once occupied. Her last word filled her ears, drowning out the confused and terrified world.
Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground, set the Elements in their respective places, and hid them again. Then, she lowered the moon, revealing the brilliant sun once more and putting the rest of the world at ease.

Author's Note

I choose to believe Celestia has always been a bit of a jokester. In the "Journal of Two Sisters", she claims to like hiding behind the paintings, while Luna liked the trapdoor slides. (Princess Twilight reads this in Season 4, Episode 3: "Castle-Mania", literally the episode after the Luna Banishment)

Speaking of which, alicorns are immortal. Celestia has to keep going, as long Equestria needs her. That's the logic I'm going off of. Considering Luna is also a ruler of Equestria, she's technically under that protection as well despite being literally vaporized. (That's Canon-Typical Violence, she was blasted to smithereens) I wanted to sprinkle in a little bit of "Warrior Cats 9 lives" logic, too; if she dies, her immediate life-ending wound is magically healed and then everything else is just "Lmao frick you heal on your own". If the Elements can turn a draconequus to stone or send an alicorn to space, I'm sure they can fix a few broken ribs, too.

Oh, and this chapter was inspired by Ghost in the Sun by PrinceWhateverer. Definitely check it out! It's an amazing song! I've been wanting to make a Celestia-centric fic for God knows how long, and this kinda just jumpstarted it. <3 Next batter up to pitch: phoenix girl!