The Powers That Be

“The Powers That Be”

The alicorn is a pitied thing,

With powers of hoof and horn and wing;

Too great for a single life to possess—

The source of the alicorn’s distress.

No mark is seen upon their hide,

No destiny to walk beside.

The alicorn’s life is spent adrift,

Without the time to find their gift.

The Alicorn’s Lament - Master Misaki, 125 B.C.E.

(translated from ancient Neighponese)

“It’s another filly, sir!”

“Oh my stars…”

“Twins…  Alicorn twins…”

Both the unicorn healer and his assistant automatically kissed their hoof and touched their horn and heart in sequence.

“What does it mean?  Is something wrong?” the mother pled quietly.

“Nothing’s wrong, they’re both perfectly healthy.  It’s just—” the healer stalled as he turned to his assistant.  “Has this ever happened before?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

A mare lay on the makeshift bed, exhausted, confused, and distressed—until the village healer appeared in her vision and banished all other thoughts aside from her new foals.  He smiled warmly and placed a tiny bundle of cloth and fur in each of her hooves.  One was as white as snow with a pale pink tuft of a mane; the other was a deep midnight blue, her mane a pastel blue to match.  Both seemed to snuggle against their mother instinctively, making no noise as they sought familiarity and warmth.

“Congratulations, ma’am, sir,” he said to the parents in turn.

The father wiped tears of joy from his tired eyes, and stared at the tiny, soft horns on both of their foreheads.  “A-are they both alicorns?”

“Yes.  The first pair of alicorn twins born in Equestria, as far as I know.”

The father stood by, silent and pensive, watching his children and wife almost anxiously.  “It’s almost like a sign.  Do you think it means something?  Twins, I mean?”

The healer bit his lip, trying to be diplomatic to the new parents.  “Well,” came his hesitant reply, “they were born practically holding on to each other.  I think that if it does mean something, they’ll find out about it together.”  He looked down at them almost sympathetically.  “May Harmony be with them.”

Celestia gasped as she awoke, panting as if she had just run a mile.  She twisted until she was right side up, waiting for the world to swim into focus.  As expected, the soft brown walls of her bedroom came into view, and she clutched at her head, the remnants of a dream spinning inside.

There was a noise of movement.  Celestia felt a soft hoof on her back and a quiet voice asking her, “Sister, are you all right?”

She turned to look at her sibling.  “Of course, Luna.  It was just a dream.”

The dark alicorn’s frown was felt more than seen in the dim room.  “You have been troubled by dreams quite often of late,” Luna reminded her.  “In fact, almost every night this week.”

Celestia let out a deep breath and glanced outside at the still-darkened sky.  “And the same sort of dream each time, as much as I can recall.”  She shook her head to loosen the fog of sleep and climbed out of her bed.  “I can’t sleep anymore, Luna.  Would you walk with me?”  Luna nodded, and the twins crept carefully out of the house.

Outside, the two stopped to take a deep breath of the cool summer night air.  The moon was intensely bright in the box canyon, to the point of casting shadows.  Side by side, the sisters walked up the well-worn orchard paths, content in each other’s company as they made their way to the uphill end of the village.

The sisters came to the end of the path and stopped, turning back to look over the canyon that had housed them for twenty years.  The valley was roughly cut into the mountainside, like a great gash in the stone surface.  Along one side, the refugee ponies had planted orchards and fields in an effort to make the humble settlement self-sustaining.  Rainwater was channeled by the slope of the hill into a pond.  It was small enough that between rainy seasons, it barely held enough water for irrigation and living purposes.  Water rationing was often necessary, depending on how many clouds the pegasi had been able to sneak in that season.  Down the far side were homes—and meager ones at best.  The only wood that could be spared as construction material was when a tree died or fell, which wasn’t often.  Many of the homes were built from carved stone, pulled from the same rock walls that protected the village and sheltered it from sight.

Luna sighed sadly and turned, putting a hoof to the bare stone wall beside her.  “What do you think is really out there?” she asked, her gaze raising to the canyon’s rim, so far above.  “Do you think the stories are true?”  Celestia kept silent.  Luna continued, her voice low and longing.  “Do you think we’ll ever see it for ourselves?”

Celestia put a wing on her sister’s back.  “Maybe.”

Of course she knew what was out there.  Everypony knew what lay outside the valley.  The rare straggling refugee to come across the canyon told tale after tale, and the children in the village were brought up on the stories, trained to fear the world beyond the walls.

Outside was a land of death and misery.  Outside was a land of slavery and fear.  Outside the valley was the kingdom of Discord.

Luna grunted and strained against the harness, sweat rolling down her face as she doggedly pulled the plow through the dirt.  The furrow grew steadily behind her, mirroring the dozens alongside it.  Behind and beside her, various ponies dispensed seeds, packed the earth over, or organized the crop lines.  Luna sagged for a moment, letting the lines slack as she tried to get her breath back.

“Hey, alicorn, come on!” shouted an irritated voice.  Luna glanced up to see one of the village’s elder unicorns scowling at her.  “The pegasi are taking a big risk bringing back some clouds to water these crops tonight.  It would be really nice if they had a full field to water, you know.”

“That sounds really important,” she growled back.  “I don’t suppose you’d like to help in that case, would you?”

He sneered at her.  “Just do your job, alicorn,” he said as he wandered off.

Luna sighed with a mix of frustration, anger, and sadness.  She looked across the field to see Celestia also struggling under the weight of her own plow.  The white alicorn was determined, but she didn’t possess the same stubborn strength that Luna did, and the strain of the job was beginning to take a serious toll on her.  Celestia turned and caught her sister’s gaze, and the two looked at each other wistfully.

With a shrug of their wings that spoke volumes, they both set back to the plows.  There wasn’t much else they could do.  In the fall, they could buck the fruit trees, but their slower telekinetic abilities meant it was faster for everypony else to pick up the fruit and cart it away.  In the spring all they could do was plow; they didn't possess the dexterity to distribute seeds or the flight endurance to help with clouds and concealment.  The hooffull of earth ponies that were in the village were mostly in charge of the planting and tending to the crops, and even though the earth ponies could pull a plow as well, they preferred to force that task on the sisters instead.

It was the way life was, the way it had been, and the way it would be.

But Luna could still dream…

“But don’t you ever wonder?” Luna insisted to her father.  The grey-coated pegasus across the table sighed wearily.  Celestia concentrated on levitating her fork and pushing her food around her plate, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

“Luna, you know full well why we can’t leave the valley,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Do I?” she challenged, unwilling to let the issue rest.  “I’ve never seen outside.  I don’t think you have, either!”

“Do the stories the refugees bring with them not convince you anymore?” he retorted.

Luna snorted quietly.  “And how long has it been since the last ones joined us?  Eight years?  Nine?  For all we know, Discord is gone and the land is safe again.”

“Luna…” her father warned.

“The occupation could be over for years and we would never know it!”

“Luna,” he said again, his voice beginning to harden.

She completely ignored him, wings starting to unfurl in agitation as she spoke.  “Even if it’s not, there’s got to be someplace out there where he can’t reach.  Someplace where we aren’t constantly living in fear of him.”

“Luna!” he scolded, cutting off her further protests.  “What do you not understand?  We are the only place like that.  If you leave the valley and get discovered, how long do you think it would be before Discord comes here?  This isn’t about what you want.  There’s a few hundred lives here that matter, Luna.”

Luna dropped her head, cowed, but Celestia could still see a spark of resistance flickering in her eye.  Luna lifted a potato and took a bite, chewing disdainfully before spitting it back out and dropping the vegetable in disgust.  Celestia sidled away from her, knowing the argument was far from over.

“Is this really living without fear?” Luna muttered.  “We haven’t had a hot meal in over a year!  We can only cook, or forge, or do anything with fire when the clouds completely cover the mountain for fear of the smoke giving away our position.  Does that sound like a village with nothing to worry about?”

“Luna, please…” her mother reasoned, putting a gently restraining hoof on her shoulder as her husband grew steadily redder in the face.

The younger sister pulled away from her parent.  “What’s going to change if everything keeps on happening the same way?  Somepony has to stand up before Equestria fades away entir—”

Her father stood up, his wings at full spread.  “LUNA!  ENOUGH!  We are NOT having this discussion right now!”  The sisters fell into a matched, fearful silence.  He sighed, trying desperately to control himself, speaking through clenched teeth.  “You will go to your room, and you will think about everypony in this valley who depends on our way of life.  Now.”

Luna slunk away from the table in cowed silence, walking towards the bedroom with her ears flat against her bowed head.  Celestia silently moved to follow her with a nearly identical posture.

“Celestia, you don’t have to—” her father called as she disappeared through the doorway.  He sighed sadly and turned to his wife.

“As if you didn’t know they’d go together,” she chastened him gently.

“I guess I should just be glad the rebellious stage took so long to get here,” he muttered.  “I guess the healer was right.”

“Healer, dear?”

“When they were born.  They really are inseparable.”

“You know, little sister, Father does have a point…”

Luna let out a groan and threw herself onto her bed, bouncing on her back on the mattress.  “Thirty.  Seconds.  You’re only thirty seconds older than me, Tia.  And don’t tell me you’re going to start in, too.”

Celestia quietly climbed up onto her own bed and looked apologetically at her sister.  “I’m sorry, but he does.  Everypony in this valley depends on everypony else.  Even us.”

“Yeah, sure they do.  We’re just a convenient source of labor.  Not enough earth ponies to go around here,” she said derisively.

Celestia sighed, and closed her eyes, concentrating on the first magical spell the sisters had ever discovered.  Her horn began to take on a yellow sheen, and Luna’s horn lit in a dark blue glow in sympathy.  Luna closed her eyes and sighed, feeling the stress drain away as the sensation of a tender hug enveloped her.  “I love you, too, Tia.”

“Please don’t be so angry at Father,” Celestia pled as she let the spell fade away.

Luna rolled over to a sitting position.  “I’m not, really.  He’s stubborn, but I suppose I am also.”

“You suppose?”

Luna shot an irritated look at her sister, who merely giggled.  “Okay, I am,” Luna admitted testily, “but I’m right, too.  What’s going to change if nopony ever stands up to Discord?”

“Are you volunteering to sacrifice yourself needlessly, Luna?  Our magic isn’t all that strong, we don’t have much skill at flying with these huge wings—all we’ve got is above-average strength for an earth pony.”

The younger sibling shook her head, frustrated.  “I know, I know.  It’s just... I can’t stop thinking that maybe it would be worth it.  I mean, what good are we anyway?  We’re alicorns, Tia.  Everypony else thinks we’re worthless, and we practically are,” she spat, indicating their conspicuously blank flanks with the sweep of a wing.

Celestia wished she could find encouraging words, but none came to her.  Everypony knew it was the truth.

“I’m just so sick of everypony looking at us and talking about us like we’ve got some sort of terminal disease,” Luna snarled.  “‘Oh, look at the alicorns!  They’ll never get their cutie marks, they must be useless, right?  Can’t fly, and my ten-year-old could win a magic duel with them!’  As though we asked for this!  Every other pony gets a purpose but us.  You know what?  Maybe we are useless.”

Luna huffed, her frustration fading to dejected sadness as she spoke.  “I just don’t want to think about going through the rest of my life without meaning.  If I had the bravery to challenge Discord, everypony just might remember me differently.  Maybe... maybe it’s the only way I’ll ever be more than what I am right now,” Luna admitted, dropping her head into her hooves sadly.

Celestia went stock still as the line triggered a memory, pulling her back into the dream she had woken from so many nights so far.  More than what you are.  The sensation of dreaming broke, and she suddenly came back to the present to find Luna standing directly in front of her, the younger sister’s hoof knocking against her forehead.

“Celestia?  You in there?”

“I—ow, stoppit—I—what?  What’s wrong?”

Luna looked at her oddly.  “You went blank for a while there.  Something on your mind?”

“That line—what you said.  I remember it from my dream.”  She shied away from the expectant look on Luna’s face.  “I-I don’t remember much from the dream.  Mostly bright light and warmth, but you made me remember that part: ‘You will become more than what you are.’  I don’t know what it means, but it sounds nice.”

“Have you talked to anypony about the dream?”

“No, but—“

“What if it’s true?” Luna interrupted, jumping back onto her own bed and striking a dramatic pose.  “Have not the greatest ponies always been led by dreams?  Have not they?  Or... whatever.”  She flopped back down onto her belly.  “Silliness aside, you’ve had this dream over and over again.  Maybe it could be important?  It could be worth talking to somepony else about.”

“Maybe…” Celestia agreed weakly as Luna lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.  Celestia watched her sister fondly as the full memory of her dreams played through her head as vividly as if she were dreaming them for the first time.

Harmony is with you, Celestia.  You were born into weakness, but you will be raised up as Harmony’s Guardian, and you will become Equestria’s freedom.  You will become more than what you are, for the good of all.  Go where Harmony leads, and you shall become a symbol to generations—even a hundred generations shall be led by your hoof.

Celestia shook her head slightly, chasing the memory.  Oh, Luna, I feel awful hiding the truth from you, she thought as she watched her sister.  No matter what the cost, I could never leave you.

Celestia tried her best to block out the sounds of shouting coming from the living room.  For the fifth time in the last week, the voices of Luna and their father pitched back and forth, only barely muffled by the wood of the door.

“NO MORE!”

Celestia yelped, jumping as the bedroom door slammed against the wall, thrown aside by Luna’s furious magic.  “Luna, what—?”

Luna dropped to the floor and began to root under her bed.  “Father and I had a, uh, disagreement,” she muttered darkly.

Celestia went a bit red, remembering how easy it had been to overhear.  “Yes, I gathered that much.  What in Equestria is going on?”

Luna gave a satisfied grunt as she finally dug out her saddlebags, throwing them on the bed and rummaging through the storage chest at the foot of her bed, picking objects out with her magic and stuffing them into her bags.  “He refuses to understand so much.  He can’t seem to grasp that being stuck in this canyon is killing me…”  She trailed off, suddenly sad.  “And he doesn’t seem to realize that he can’t keep me here.”

Celestia got off the bed and rushed to her sister’s side.  “He what?  Wait, Lu.  Luna, stop!  Please tell me what you’re doing,” she begged, fear shining in her eyes.

Luna avoided her eyes.  “I’m leaving, Tia,” she whispered.

“What do you mean, ‘leaving’?”

“Just that.”  Luna looked up at her sister.  “Tia, I have to get out of here.  If I don’t, my whole life will be wasted.  I’m sick of just being a pack animal for ponies who are constantly afraid of the outside world.  I—” she faltered.  “I need to be something.”

A cold ball of fear was settling into Celestia’s gut.  “Luna, please don’t go.  Just—just wait until morning at least!  It’s the middle of the night,” she pled.

Luna had to force herself to stop looking at Celestia before she could respond.  “I have to, Tia.  I have to go now before I change my mind.”

Celestia took a step back, her lower lip trembling as Luna unlatched the window and pushed it open.  “Luna…”  She fought to think of something quickly.  “Could you at least promise that you won’t leave the valley until tomorrow?  Give me time to talk to our parents first.  For me?”

“For you, Tia.  I’ll wait for you.”  Luna slung her saddlebags over her back and was out the window with a small flap of her wings.

Celestia entered the main room, where she could just see her father’s back as he sat in his chair, his head bowed in thought.  She walked slowly across the room to his side.

“Father…” she said quietly, trying to find words to fit the situation.

He didn’t even look up at her.  “I’m sorry, Celestia.”

“I—you are?” she spluttered.

“I know you heard us arguing.  It probably seems to be just about all we do lately.”  Her father let out a long, sad sigh.  “I don’t know how to get her to see things from my point of view.”

“Can you see things from her point of view?”

He lifted his head and met her gaze, dejected.  “I can,” he admitted.  “I know there isn’t much of a future here for either of you.  But my point is that there is a future to be had.  Outside…”

Celestia closed the distance between them and rested a hoof on his as she looked into his face.  “Father, you’re going to lose Luna.”

“Yes, of course.  A little bit each day, it seems,” he said with a small, wry smile.

Celestia shook her head emphatically.  “No, Father.  You are losing her now.  She’s already gone.”

His face froze, and his expression began to slowly fade into stunned fearfulness.  “What?”

“Luna has left, Father.”

He pulled himself forward, almost out of the chair as he grabbed Celestia in both hooves.  “Where is she?  Where has she gone?” he begged.

His daughter flinched, surprised by the desperation in his voice.  “I-I won’t—I can’t tell you that!”

Her father dropped his hooves back under his body.  “But you know, don’t you.”

“In a way, I guess,” Celestia said, her voice starting to betray her nervousness and fear.  “She’s waiting for me.”

Her father simply dropped his head again, closing his eyes.  His face was lined with hurt.  “You’re going with her,” he said, unsurprised.

She nodded, more to convince herself than him.  “I am.”  She sat in front of him to get her head low enough to where she could see his face.  “There’s something else you should know, Father.”  He looked up to meet her eyes.  Celestia took a deep breath.

“For a few weeks now, I’ve been having dreams.  Or, more accurately, the same dream.”  She took a breath as she stalled, steeling herself for her admission.  “I’ve been visited by Harmony.”  Her father stared at her in amazement and disbelief.  “At least, I think I have been,” she amended, and the story began to rush out of her.

“I see bright light, and a voice of peace and power tells me that I have to leave.  It says my destiny is outside this canyon.  I’ve never even been able to think about doing it, though, because I couldn’t leave Luna, but now I think I have to go.”  Celestia put a hoof back on her father’s, pleading with him to understand.  “Whatever is out there, I think we’re meant to find out together.”

He was quiet for a long time, to the point that Celestia was beginning to worry.

“I know,” he said.  He stared into his daughter’s eyes, his gaze filled with sadness.  “Somehow, I think I’ve always known.  You two were meant for something more than this tiny hole in a mountain.  I’ve just been so scared of losing you, scared of what might be out there that—”  He stopped, choked up.  “I couldn’t bear the thought of letting you go, and now it turns out that everything I’ve tried to do to keep you close has driven Luna away, and you with her.”

“Father, please, at least say goodbye to Luna.”

“How?  And would she accept it after all the times we’ve fought?”

“She’s waiting for me.  We will meet in the morning.  Come with me.”

He hesitated.

“It could be the difference between Luna leaving and Luna running away, Father.”

His response died on his lips as he considered her words.  He nodded once, emphatically.  “You’re right, of course.”  He shook his mane with a laugh.  “You must have gotten your wisdom from your mother.”  He leaned down and gave Celestia a kiss on her forehead.

“Tomorrow, then?” Celestia asked.

“Tomorrow.”

Luna dropped from the early morning sky, fluttering slightly as she landed in front of her sister and father.  Her expression was locked in a scowl, and her stance was aggressive.  “I am not coming home, father.  You can’t just convince me to—”

“Luuuuna…”  Celestia grinned and patted the bulging saddlebags on her own back.

Luna stared at them both, confused.  “W-what does this mean...?”

Her father stepped forward.  “Luna, I know we haven’t seen eye to eye in a long time.  For my part, it was stubbornness, but born out of love.  I wanted to keep you close where I could be sure you would be safe, but I wasn’t willing to face the truth that your place isn’t here.”

Luna’s jaw hung slightly open.  “Father, I—”

He held up a hoof, barely managing to keep it from shaking.  “I’m not really happy about you going, but I know that your destiny is out there somewhere, so you’re going to go find it no matter what.  I couldn’t live with myself if I let you go on bad terms, much less without the chance to tell you how much I love you.”

He pulled both of his daughters into his hooves, tears threatening to run from all three ponies as they embraced.  “Be strong,” he whispered to them both, “be kind, and be brave.  I’m so proud of the mares you’ve both grown up to be.  Find your destiny, and at least come back to see us when you do.”

He released them and took a step back.  “I love you both.  May Harmony be with you.”