1.0: Shadows of the Past

Celestia smiled softly at the radiant light streaming out from the north, proof that her pupil had succeeded.  To anypony looking on, it would seem she had been expecting the result, and that she was pleased with it.  To be fair, that was mostly true.

But it was the pain hidden behind her eyes that made Luna turn, inclining her head to rub her horn lightly against Celestia’s in a gentle nuzzle.

Will you be all right, sister?  Luna asked silently across the bond forged by the contact.  I felt it as well, you need not try to protect me from this.

In time, little sister, Celestia promised, standing straight and tall and looking over at a golden-furred, white-maned unicorn with a tied scroll on her flank.

“Furled Scroll, please prepare a statement that Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor will be returning from the Crystal Empire, accompanied by the Elements of Harmony.  A celebration in honor of their return will be held, et cetera, et cetera.  If you would please take our Guard out with you… I wish some time alone with my sister.”

“Of course, your Majesty,” the seneschal bowed graciously, backing out of the royal chamber, swiftly followed by the gold-clad pegasus guards.  Once they were sure they were alone, the two alicorns stepped apart, and Celestia looked out at the radiant sky again.

“So few of us are left,” she murmured.  “I knew this could happen, but it always hurts to lose another.  Even one as mad as Sombra had become.”

“You should have sent me instead,” Luna murmured, nuzzling her sister tenderly.  “I may have been able to reason with him, or at least find the Heart sooner.  I would have known what to look for, after all.”

“And when you had?”  Celestia asked gently.  “How would you have restored its power, replaced the barrier surrounding the Empire, without Twilight’s friends having restored the Crystal Ponies faith and love of life?  It would have ended with a battle either way, Luna.  Besides, you and I both know that we have far, far darker fears to be drawn into by Sombra’s magic.”

“Fears that we have faced, 'Tia!”  Luna objected with a frown.  “Nightmare… that’s it, isn’t it?  You feared that Sombra might bring the Nightmare back to the surface with his magic?”  Celestia recoiled from the thought, turning to look at Luna in shock.

“Never!”  She exclaimed, shifting uneasily.  “Luna, please, I know that she is… well bridled.  I trust you, and have faith in your ability to control her.  Please, do not think that I mistrust you in any way.”

“Why then?”  Luna scowled.  “Why send Twilight Sparkle as the one who had been intended to face Sombra?  You could have sent her with her friends to restart the Crystal Faire while I found the Heart.  You could have done any of a thousand things, and yet you chose to send Twilight, and to frame it as a test no less!”  Understanding clearly dawned in Luna’s eyes, and Celestia turned away when she saw it, lowering her head shamefully.

“You didn’t just know that this *could* happen,” Luna murmured.  “You knew that it would, if you sent Twilight, didn’t you?  You knew that she was the least equipped to end this peacefully, particularly when you had presented it to her as some sort of grand academic exercise.”

“I knew… that it was more probable,” Celestia admitted softly.  “Luna… what would have happened if we had restored the barrier?  Sombra would have been free.  The crystal ponies, the Crystal Empire, would have existed in a state of unending siege, assuming that Sombra didn’t find some other way to spread his darkness before returning!  He isn't… he wasn’t one of us, any longer.”

“But why send Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, to be your left hoof?  Your assassin?”  Luna asked in a quiet, almost accusatory whisper.

“Because Twilight will never know that is what she was, Luna,” Celestia said softly, looking out at the light again.  “Even if she had seen Sombra disintegrated by the pulse… she lacks the capacity to understand exactly what she did.  She doesn’t know what he was, didn’t even know he existed before I sent her to the Crystal Empire.  All he ever has been to her is a creature out of myth... likely, she thinks him banished back to his frozen prison forevermore.  Even in her darkest fantasies regarding me, and she has seen me angry before, she can conceive of nothing that I might do worse than what I did to Nightmare Moon.  She… all of our little ponies… they are so like children, that they cannot comprehend such a thing.  We have worked so hard to secure that innocence.”

“Perhaps it would be better if, some day soon, our little ponies were to grow up,” Luna suggested.  “Then… at least then, sister, we would not be alone in bearing that burden, with so very many others already upon our shoulders.”

“I would rather bear a burden by choice, for those I love, than bear the burden of their suffering at the whims of fate,” Celestia countered.  She turned towards her little sister, a pained smile upon her face.  “Please, Luna.  For now… no more.  Twilight Sparkle will return with no greater worry than whether or not she passed the test I set before her.  Sombra has been freed from the torment that drove him to enslave an empire.  The Crystal Empire has returned, and can spread its peace and love throughout Equestria once more.  This… this is a day for celebration, Luna.  Don’t you think?”

Luna stepped closer, resting her head gently against Celestia’s long neck, nuzzling her tenderly.

“Promise me one thing, sister.  That when you retire after your celebration… allow yourself to grieve as well.”

“I will, Luna,” Celestia whispered.  “I doubt that I will have any choice in the matter.  At least this should be the last of our old legacies to come back and haunt us.”

This time, it was Luna’s turn to be silent.  While Celestia took it as quiet agreement, the indigo-maned alicorn had not the heart to disagree.  But she had studied the stars in silence for a thousand years, with little else to occupy her mind.  And she had seen what would soon appear on the horizons of her dear world.

A dark star was rising, and the return of King Sombra had been merely the first of the long forgotten shadows it would cast.