Alicorns

The door flew open suddenly. A disapproving Luna stood looking tall and menacing.

"CELESTIA!" She shouted as loud as she could.

Now this caused a reaction. The older sibling had never heard such anger from Luna before. Not even when she was Nightmare Moon! Celestia tried to get up on her shaky hooves but fell to the ground. Luna's expression changed instantly as she ran over to the crumpled mess on the floor.

"Celestia," she whispered, "I'm sorry, but you can not just lie here and leave all those ponies waiting outside. They're beginning to worry!"

Celestia nodded, and Luna walked back out to inform the other ponies that they could come back in.

"What are you going to tell them?" Asked Twilight softly as she clung to Celestia like a foal would her favorite blanket.

The alicorn shook her head in response Twilight's friends walked cautiously back into the throne room. With the help of her student, she managed  to pull herself up into a dignified position just in time. Luna had just came back in looking sternly at Celestia.

"Don't worry my dear sister," said Luna, "I shall explain this situation.

The friends just stood patiently as they waited to finally be filled in on the situation. The suspense was obviously getting to them, Fluttershy was trembling, Rarity was subconsciously tapping her hoof, and Pinkie's eyes were zooming around while her eyelid twitched. The other two weren't faring too well either.

"Now, I'm sure this will come as a shock to you," began Luna nervously.

This was not an easy thing to do. Sure, Luna had much experience talking about difficult topics to her psychiatrist, but this was revealing her greatest weakness and secret. It was not something to be taken lightly.

"Celestia and I are not immortal. If our magic were not keeping us healthy, we would surely be on our deathbeds. We have an extremely large responsibility that we are unfairly passing onto you. It is up to you to take over Equestria."

The room was silent as this began to sink in. It stayed that way until Pinkie Pie bravely spoke.

"Does this mean you're leaving us? Forever?"

Luna sadly closed her eyes. She had seen far too much pain over her lifetime, and seeing the element of laughter cry to this degree would drain her like Celestia. Laughter had always been special to her, and was her favorite element of harmony. If she saw pain in the pink pony's eyes, it would most likely kill Luna before her power had the chance to be transferred.

"No," whispered Rarity, "You simply can not do this! I understand you're dying, but isn't there a spell to keep you alive longer. You must not abandon Equestria like this!"

"Rarity!" shouted Applejack angrily as tears streamed from her eyes. "Can't you see they don't have a choice!?"

For once, the two polar opposite ponies sought comfort from the other. After crying and hugging for a few moments, Pinkie and Fluttershy also found their way into the group of sad souls.

A sudden shout startled them out of their mourning. "UGH! I can't take this anymore!"

The rainbow maned pegasus that had been flying over the group suddenly flew faster than ever before to get out of the castle. The walls soon started to shake as a miniature earthquake began.

"Fluttershy!" Shouted Twilight to the calmest of the bunch. "Get everyone under something stable while this quake is going on. I need to go get Rainbow."

Luna was shocked. "I knew you cared for your friends, but to risk dying in such a foolish way!"

"I know, I'll be careful!" Shouted Twi as she ran as fast as her hooves could carry her.