A crack of thunder woke Harmony up from her slumber.
The young princess had been forced to sleep by an alicorn’s spell after she refused to do so herself, so thunder loud enough to wake her must mean there was quite the storm happening.
Curious, Harmony looked out her window to see a cloudless and rainless thunderstorm outside.
This wasn’t uncommon during the night. Often certain alicorns of the royal city had to be sent off to shield villages that would be blown away without the help of magic.
And if it wasn’t for the fiery ponies, both civilian and guard, they would probably also have to combat the flames the lightning sometimes brought.
But it was always the royal city itself that was hit the hardest.
Harmony shivered nervously under her blankets. She knew that the castle and pretty much anything in the royal city were very well built and could handle the storms, but they still frightened her like they would any young filly.
Only any other filly would run off to a parent in their fear.
And by this point, Harmony was tired of not being any other filly.
She decided right there under her blankets that she would run right to her parents, not only to be near them which she desperately wanted, but to demand they tell her EXACTLY what was going on.
Because how was she really supposed to understand this chaos if the only information she had was that the sky was acting weird.
Carefully, and as quietly as she could manage, Harmony climbed out of her bed and opened her door a crack with her magic.
There was no guard by her door that was strange, but then again Harmony had never left her room at this hour before.
Suddenly she remembered what her mother had said just before her little breakdown.
Her mother wanted to discuss something to the guards. That must mean they were all in the throne room.
Galloping at full speed, Harmony headed to her destination, only slowing down around doorways to be sure she wasn’t caught and put back to bed.
But the castle was awfully quiet. Harmony wondered how long she had been asleep and if her mother was still talking to the guards.
She frowned, no they still had to be there. Why else was nopony by her door? They had guards on night shifts after all.
Before Harmony knew it, she was facing the doors to the throne room.
Harmony could hear the voices of guards, her mother and her father behind those doors. She wasn’t expecting her father to be there. As rare as seeing her mother was these days, her father was even harder to come across.
Another sudden crack of thunder nearly made Harmony shout out in fear, but she quickly covered her mouth. Part of her wanted to have her cry heard by her parents, but the princess in her knew she would have to wait for them to finish talking.
Opening the heavy doors a crack, Harmony peaked into the throne room, both to see her parents faces and to listen to what they were talking about.
Harmony wanted to know what was happening after all.
There was her mother, Majesty and her father, Starry Knight on their thrones, but the queen looked so sad, and most of the guards had their heads down.
What was everyone sad about?
“Forgive me my King… but is that the only way?” a guard said in a tone that sounded kind of sad
“I assure you all that through the research I have found, that the only way to protect our kingdom is through the great cosmos” The king replied
“But still isn’t it a little extreme? Our ancestors have fought centaurs before and succeeded. If we just send more ponies, perhaps we can beat him and stop this curse on the sky” another guard said
Centaur? Harmony hadn’t heard anything about a centaur… in fact all she knew about them is that they had been a threat to her country years back, but any hostility towards pony and centaur was just history now.
It was rare for there even ever to be talk about a centaur these days.
“No, that would be impossible.” The king spoke again “His power is not completely his own, somehow he has gained the power of the cosmos and altered the way the sun lights our sky, and as you can see this night, caused instability in the atmosphere.”
Harmony was learning more about the events this night than she had in the weeks since it started, and as such, was completely absorbed in the conversation.
But still, the sadness in the air worried her.
“It’s only truly affecting our land now,” her father continued “but I fear that already the sun may not be bringing true day to other lands too. This isn’t a threat on our country alone.”
Harmony was starting to get a little angry that no one had told her how severe things were.
“Through our research, if the centaur completes the curse on the sky worldwide, it will be nothing short of complete and utter destruction, and I am not talking about the storms that have been following the sky’s fragile state.” Harmony was stunned at this new information, but she still wanted to know more.
Harmony’s father looked to her mother who spoke next “I know it may be hard for all of you to accept, I couldn’t even tell my own daughter this evening, even though she will have to be made aware of this sacrifice.”
By now Harmony wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was going on… but if her mother said she was eventually going to hear in anyway, it was best she hear it now.
“So understand that for the good of our country, for all life, that my husband must leave this plane for good and become one with the cosmos.” The queen’s words shook Harmony to her core and tears began to run down her cheeks.
Harmony couldn’t stand this. Her father was leaving? All eyes were upon her as she swung the doors open but she didn’t care anymore. She didn’t even care if her parents were still talking to the guards.
She just ran towards them, ignoring any surprised mutterings.
“Father!” Harmony gasped, stricken by grief. “What does mother mean?! Where are you going?! Why are you going forever?!” The king and queen just looked to their daughter, shock in their eyes.
“Harmony, why aren’t you in bed?” The king said softly as his daughter rushed to his side.
“ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!! BOTH OF YOU!!!” Harmony shouted in a way she had never dared to before.
Especially to her parents, and they were both very surprised their daughter had raised her voice.
“Harmony, please understand this is the only way” the queen soothed, but Harmony’s tears and rage only grew.
“WHAT IS THE ONLY WAY?!!” Harmony screamed as a guard approached her.
“Shall I take the princess to her room, my King?” Harmony’s father just sighed and shook his head. “No leave her be. Her frustrations are just.”
The king looked to Harmony and then to the guards “You are all dismissed. Let my wife and I speak to our daughter alone.”
Harmony sniffled as the guards began to leave, but her anger was still there.
She understood why they wouldn’t tell a little filly about frightening things.
She understood they were keeping her feeling safe by not telling her of danger.
But Harmony could NOT forgive them for not telling her that she would never be seeing her father again.
“Harmony, my dear daughter. Please listen to us.” Harmony looked to her father, trying her best not to spill even more tears from her eyes.
“I’m listening father” Harmony replied. Her throat felt hoarse. She had never really screamed like that before. “I just want to know what is going on.”
The king and queen both nodded “And we will tell you” The queen said gently as she stroked her daughter’s pastel mane. “But how much did you hear?”
Harmony sighed “The first thing I heard was that the only way to protect our kingdom was through the great cosmos… and I also heard that it is a centaur that is causing all this.”
The king nodded “Did you hear what it was that your mother and I were going to do?” Harmony shook her head “All I heard was that you are going to leave forever and become part of the cosmos. But I don’t understand. What does that mean?”
The queen continued to stroke her daughter’s mane “The power that centaur is using is something from the cosmos itself, and your father was able to communicate a little with the cosmic guardians and discover this was never supposed to happen but there was nothing they could do unless your father made a sacrifice”
Harmony looked to her father “Are you going to… to?” The king shook his head, knowing what his daughter was trying to say “No Harmony. What I have to do is loose my physical self and become something new. I will still live and I will still be able to talk to you from time to time” He hugged his daughter and wife.
“But I will never be able to embrace you or your mother again” Harmony nuzzled into her fathers warm hold, still trying not to cry.
“Will doing this fix the sky?” Harmony asked, but her mother shook her head “No, but it will stop the centaur’s magic and seal him away for quite some time. The greatest reason for your father’s cosmic form is to allow me to receive something special from a very unique magic.”
Harmony pulled out of her father’s hold to see his face “You are giving something to mother?” The king smiled and nodded “Yes my dear daughter. You see the light of the sun is damaged beyond repair from this strange curse. Soon the sun’s light will no longer light the sky of our land and even when I seal away the centaur, it is not permanent”
The queen smiled “But we have found a way both to defeat the centaur and bring light back to the sun.”
Harmony was curious. Even more so for why her parents were smiling. “How?” she simply asked
“Through a child” The king said softly “ A child?” Harmony repeated, not quite sure she heard correctly.
“The great cosmos has unimaginable power, and the cosmic guardians are very limited to how much they can communicate to everything outside their plane.” The king explained “The have agreed to help save our world by changing me, and I will then allow your mother to have a child with some of the power of the cosmos and the ability to protect our sky and our world.”
Harmony was stunned “That means… I will?” The queen nodded “Yes my dear, you will be the child’s elder sister.” Harmony almost couldn’t believe it. “But although the child will physically be an alicorn, they will be very different. The child will have more magic than any normal alicorn, and although we are not certain, because it’s creation is aided by the cosmos, the child may live forever, to always protect the sky from harm.”
Harmony could only nod at this point as her father once again hugged her “So please understand my dear daughter, although I may be gone in body, I will still be there watching over you, and you must promise me to watch over the foal that will come.”
Harmony nodded as her tears finally broke loose “I promise father! I promise I will be the perfect elder sister!” Harmony just allowed her tears to flow freely now as she cried into her father’s warm embrace while the thunder still echoed outside.

Author's Note

Celestia next chapter!
And also a timeskip and less sadness for a while