Where Will You Run to When Your Goddesses Are Gone?

Chapters

Prologue
The Last Summer Sun Celebration
A Signal Headed for Out of This World
The Truth Nopony Wanted to Hear
The Fate of Equestria
The Visit
Uncertainty and Doubt

Prologue

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

~ Mark Twain

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2439 years previous, before Celestia's "Thousand Year Reign", before the Banishment of Nightmare Moon and her Rebellion, and before the First Defeat of the Demon Unicorn King Sombra...

It was a grim day.

Dark clouds began to roll in from the Equestrian horizon, slowly obscuring Celestia's warm sun from the ground below. The Pegasi had scheduled for it to rain today, a result of the recent drought and loss of food; unicorns and Earth ponies alike had enthusiastically welcomed the precipitation, though some had called such an arrangement a "hassle". Nevertheless, the weather was the weather and nothing could change that; not even the unicorns if they tried.

In Canterlot, however, the sight of clouds did nothing to help lighten the already bleak atmosphere. An economic deficit had begun to manifest itself as a direct result of the war; as a result, many of the aristocratic ponies in the capital, mostly unicorns and to a lesser extent, Earth ponies, had been on the edge, more wary now than before of whoever they talked to or shared personal details with. Tension was beginning to grow in the higher classes of society.

Inside Canterlot Castle, a less tense activity was taking place. Royalty and Regents of the Sun and Moon, Her Magesties, Respectively, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, were sitting down in the royal courts, listening to their subjects with bored enthusiasm. The elder sister sat down on a large throne with velvet throws and hoofrests for relaxation, with a mini-refrigerator full of refreshments not too far away from. A large red bowl of fruit, containing mostly apples, grapes, and bananas, stood atop the small mini-fridge. Her little sister sat down beside her at a lower level, listening to the petitioner less enthusiastically and more idly while she laid back and read a freshly printed newspaper.

The place was large, very large, in fact. A long red velvet carpet bisected the cathedral-ceilinged room, with rows of ceiling-height windows on each opposite wall shining Celestia's warm sun inside. Behind the throne, in fact, was one large window taking up almost all of the wall to a magnificent view of not only Canterlot below, but on clear days, the most amazing single palette of greenery to be seen from anywhere in Equestria. It wasn't much of a surprise, considering they were past the edge of a tall mountain, but it sure was astonishing.

Large columns supported the weight of the expansive division of the Royal Castle. Far above, connected to the sloped ceiling, were a few crystal chandeliers that hung down halfway to the ground (still a ways overhead thanks to the 60-foot-tall ceiling), illuminating the rooms at night with pleasant warm candlelight augmented by the crystals themselves.

But today was no time for warmth, or anything leisurely of that matter.

This stallion would be the Princess's last guest to entertain today. Though court usually stayed open until two o'clock (it wasn't even past noon yet), the Princesses had more pressing matters to attend to today. There was something the two had to administer to, and it definitely wasn't going to be pretty...

"And that is why I propose we should create a graduated income tax," the petitioner finished. He was a handsome stallion with a light brown coat, deep brown chocolate eyes, and moderate brown hair; in fact, he seemed quite the professional. His cutie mark was an expensive velvet red tie.

The Princess nodded idly, eventually able to soak up everything he had said. "Hmm... yes, we will consider your suggestion," she finally replied with a faraway voice after a minute or two of waiting. Waving off the stallion with a golden-shoed hoof, he took a deep bow before backing away and leaving the courts.

So that was that. The Princess of the Sun finally sat up straight on her throne and stretched her neck and back before attending to her limbs in turn. Her hair, a moderately hot pink, fading to a light cyan, and then a beautiful light green color, elegantly moved as if an invisible wind was pushing it to do so. That was one of the perks of natural magic given to Goddesses...

She turned to her sister, who gave a brief nod. Setting her newspaper down, She arched her back in a quick stretch before accompanying her elder to a walk down one of the darker and smaller halls in the castle. They exited the courts after most of the other spectators had left, as was their custom; however, what they did this time around wasn't what they normally did. Instead of turning a left down the hall to the kitchens to get a cup of coffee or tea, they made a right, and then another right. They went down a few flights of stairs until they were in the sub-ground hallways, much smaller, darker, and colder now.

"How do you think the Court will react to your message, big sister?" Princess Luna asked. "It isn't every day that the common folk receive this type of message..." The two made their way down the halls in complete silence except for their voices (their hooves, though adorned with very fine shoes of pure gold on the elder and pure silver and titanium on the younger, were silent thanks to their magic).

Outside and above them, the pitter-patter of rain pounding on the castle could be heard.

Princess Celestia breathed a sigh as they continued to move forwards. Her only response was a shake of the head, followed by more silence as the two ventured to the deepest parts of the castle. The Court would be waiting for them inside.

Descending a seemingly bottomless spiral staircase not unlike that found in the Crystal Citadel (albeit much, much farther down, even past ground level at the bottom of the mountain), the two ignored the frigid air and descended lower and lower until they reached the bottom. They turned a left and opened one of four doors on different sides of the circular "pit", venturing even farther down below the surface.

Once they reached their destination after quite a long walk, a dull white wall greeted them. With no openings or lines on the walls or indications of any of the sort, it seemed like a dead end. However, Princess Celestia reached out with a hoof and touched a particular part of the ground. To the untrained eye it seemed to be just another white brick, but to highly trained magicks, a disturbance could clearly be felt at that point.

Almost immediately, thin but very bright lines of pure yellow light shot out from the Princess's golden hoof, snaking down the ground and up the wall, where it divided into two lines, making a rectangle that extended from the ground to the ceiling. A few seconds later, eight lines, four from each corner, and four from the middles of each side, shot out from their places to meet at a single point in the very middle, before the rectangle in the wall became filled with light as bright as the sun, taking up the entire area of the rectangle.

Without waiting for anything more, the elder sister took the lead, barely squinting her eyes against the light. She took a few steps before relaxing herself and walking directly into the blinding rectangle, with her sister not too far behind her. Once they got to the other side (having seemed to walk through the wall), their eyes quickly adjusted to the darker room.

It was a large circular room, at least eight pony-lengths in diameter and many times more in height. Three torch chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and torch sconces lined the walls to provide adequate lighting for the meeting room.

In the middle was a decagonal table. The middle was an elevated circle, and a softly glowing white half-sphere no more than half a hoof-length wide was in the middle of that.

The two sisters took their seats amongst the eight other ponies, sitting on opposite side of each other. With another sigh, the solar Princess cleared her throat and began to speak.

"Mares and gentlecolts, Elders of the Council and Overseers of the Court, the eight of you have been called to... a rather important meeting," the Princess said in a powerful voice, one that demanded a pony's full and undivided attention. "We must attend to the financial deficit set in motion by the Great War up North, the potential rise of a tyrant king in the Crystal Empire, and the creation of new institutions of study. But before that, however, I would like to give you all a little tidbit about myself," she continued. Her mind began to wander a bit.

Truly, right now, she wanted to further her own agenda. She wanted the knowledge now! But at the same time didn't want to be selfish or anything like that, but...

However, being born an alicorn always made her different. When her and Luna's parents were still alive, she was always apart from other ponies, considered detached and not like others. It was like she was an alien to them, and they didn't seem to care.

She learned to cope with it, though. After that, she started to take up her own thing: learning as much as she could about everything around her. She attended school every single day and took the most advanced classes the school could offer her, learning everything she possibly could. She advanced at an amazing rate, given her kind, and she rose up higher and higher in the science and math classes. But one day she encountered a problem.

She had already learned everything there was to learn.

As a result, she gazed up at the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and started to think. Truly there was something more to the universe than just Equestria and an eternal cycle of sun and moon rotating around the planet, wasn't there? She tried to learn more and more, but she found herself at a loss, all just three years after graduating Valedictorian from Canterlot Academy. There was nothing more to learn. And ever since that day more than three hundred years ago she had always wondered what was beyond that purple evening sky.

But then, her parents' death by the claws of Discord changed everything. Luna and Celestia, two extremely gifted alicorns of Royalty, were completely alone. The nation was in chaos, and many ponies looked up to them two to solve everything, every problem every pony had. And to gain the people's trust, the two made a decision to proclaim themselves, in all their royalty and strength, as Goddesses, so they could defeat Discord and restore the nation back to its old, if not better, state. That would change the rest of their lives, especially Celestia's: she would not be able to learn more than everything she could if she didn't tell the truth... the truth that she and her sister were not Goddesses at all. And that plagued her for the rest of her life... until now.

The soft clearing of her sister's throat brought her back to reality, making her slowly drifting eyes snap back into place with the real world. The Great Princess Celestia cleared her throat and took a breath; it was now or never.

"Most of you know my sister and me as the Diarchy, the Two Goddesses, daughters of the King and the Queen Deities who perished three hundred years ago at the evil Discord's claws. The latter may be true, though I still grieve for our loved ones. However... the former is only a... let's just say it's a title we've put on for ourselves; something we believe is necessary."

All around, the ponies began to shuffle in their seats, and an air of uncertainty filled the room.

The Princess sensed the aura and closed her eyes, relaxing herself and her heart, which was inconveniently beating faster and faster. Moments later, she relaxed and took a deep breath.

"Had it not been for the Royal Proclamation, we would not be thought of as Goddesses. The truth, however, is quite... scathing, I must admit. Not to all ponies out there, however, but to us.

"We are not your Goddesses; we are but mortal ponies possessing superior magic and physical attributes. Now, there is a very specific reason why I called you here today to discuss this sensitive topic with, our most trusted of the Royal House. And that is because we trust you to keep our secret," she addressed them directly.

At this, even Princess Luna flinched a bit, hoping the words her sister spoke were the right ones.

Almost immediately, the atmosphere went from uncertainty to utter doubt and distrust. The eight members of the Council shifted more than they had before, with some beginning to chew on their pens and others shaking their nervous legs. One of them, a light grey Earth mare with a light brown mane and hazel eyes, was in a cold sweat.

"Wh-What other... things do we have to discuss, Your... Magesties...?" came a very soft, quivering voice from the mare. "You said we had to deal with creating... new institutions of study?"

The Princess nodded solemnly and took a seat on the larger chair, sitting upright and positioning herself comfortably. She stuck a hoof out and placed it flat on the table in front of her. A hologram of a sphere appeared, labeled 'Equestria' in a digitalized font on the bottom could be seen, making the aura of the room lighten and relax, if even just a bit. It seemed to be projected from the small semicircle embedded into the table, and the whole sphere easily filled the room as big as it could without being distorted.

Here, as Celestia took a seat and manipulated the controls with her magic, Princess Luna instead stood up from her chair and began to canter around as she spoke.

"As you all know, this is our planet, Equestria. Our humble country is but a small landmass compared to the rest of the world; that much can be said when comparing our nation to Dragon territory, which extends from the Badlands down to the Mons Vitreus down at the bottom of the globe," she said, motioning with a raised hoof to their country and its size before pointing to Dragon territory, which was easily six times the size of the pony nation.

"However... what you do not know is that Celestia's Sun..." the globe suddenly zoomed out drastically until it was no more than a thousandth of its size. The center of the view was now a large sphere, at least five hundred thousand times larger than their planet. The mere size of the star caused many in attendance to gasp in shock and surprise.

"...is the center of our solar system," Princess Luna continued. We have been holding that information from common folk and you for quite some time now. Such a fact has implications. This means that your Princess Celestia does not have control over the Sun, nor do I have control over the moon, but that there are greater forces at work in the universe, greater than pony magic alone.

"From our observations of the movements of the stars..." she continued as the hologram zoomed out tens of thousands of times more drastically than it had before, to a level where a majestic swirl could be seen, bright in the center, with sparse spirals radiating out from it; it was their galaxy. "... we have concluded that we are naught but a speck in a hostile universe; a universe that, according to our calculations, has a radius (with our planet as the center, mind you) of two hundred seventy sextillion, four hundred ten quintillion, nine hundred ninety-one quadrillion, two hundred forty trillion, nine hundred twenty-six billion, two hundred twenty-three million, seven hundred three thousand, six hundred sixty miles. This universe does not run solely on magic, but on other phenomena which we want YOU to research and discover."

The eight other ponies were still trying to understand exactly what the Lunar Princess had just bombarded them with through that mouth of hers.

"In other words," Princess Celestia sat up straighter in her seat. She took her hooves off the hologram control, to stand up beside her sister; the hologram continued to slowly rotate around the galaxy. "We would like you to set up new institutions devoted solely on the advancement of scientific knowledge. That is, we want you to delve deeper into mathematics and use your discoveries to analyze the universe around us... and give us access to places beyond this solar system," she told them.

"We would also very much appreciate it if you were to establish an Institute for Gifted Ponies, teaching them with the highest magnitude of knowledge possible. Along with that, a space program should be established... in secret, of course," the Lunar Princess stressed that part especially.

"And, once again... my sister and I urge you to keep the nature of this meeting a secret," Princess Celestia said firmly, able to wrap the meeting up.

Cautiously, the eight other ponies looked amongst each other, unable to understand the enormity of the situation they were in. Not only did they have to study the world around them and delve deeper into mathematics and science, but they also had to create a space program in secret (which was quite important since outer space was an aspect of life that was introduced to them just a minute or two ago) and digest the fact that the two Princesses were not goddesses, as well as keep that a secret from prying pony eyes.

They had quite a lot to worry about.

The Last Summer Sun Celebration

[WARNING: This chapter might be a bit too slow for some people, but I ask for your patience (it's to set things up). It gets much better at the end, I promise.]

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"In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond.

So hold the hand of the person whom you love rather than expecting them to hold yours."

~ Anonymous

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"SPIKE! It's time to wake up!!!"

The poor dragon let out one of his signature groans of annoyance, burying his face harder into his pillow. It was Monday again, and, knowing Twilight, today would be an extremely busy day.

Not only was it the first day of the week (which stressed the poor mare out badly), but three days from today would be the Summer Sun Celebration. So, as a resident of the Ponyville Library, it was natural to see Twilight in such a state of "Oh-my-goodness-where-did-my-pen-go?!?!?"

"Just a second Twilight...!" he groaned in a loud, slightly annoyed voice while throwing another pillow over his head. He could hear the clop-clop of her hooves on the wooden floorboards, which echoed all the way directly up to his ear. After all, his little basket was at the foot of the bigger, pony bed, on an uninsulated surface, which, according to Twilight herself, made for a convenient way to wake him up thanks to the unimpeded...

It hurt the little guy's head just to think about it.

"SPIKE!! Where are you?! I've been calling you for the past 20 minutes! We have to go NOW!" came the frantic sound of her hooves going up the stairs. The purple unicorn was in a cold sweat, her mane already all frayed and messy. Once Spike came into view she proceeded to spray him with another flurry of incomprehensible words mixed in with the occasional eye twitch or grinding of the teeth.

From Spike's point of view, she looked like she was in a mild state of her usual paranoia, which had, thankfully, had not been as severe as it was when she feared she would be tardy for Princess Celestia. Nevertheless, he was beginning to get nervous; he didn't want to go through any of that again. He knew a truly angry Twilight or a paranoid Twilight was never good for anypony, especially those within five pony-lengths of her.

"Okay, okay, sorry!" came the dragon's reply. He stretched and got out of his bed, fixing the bedding and blanket. He was about to walk over to the bathroom for a quick tinkle before a harsh telekinetic grasp took hold of his whole right arm, yanking him up. With a surprised yelp, he landed on Twilight's back, glaring at her. "Hey! I gotta go to the bathroom! Cut a little guy some slack, you know?!"

"There's just no time, Spike! If you had gotten up earlier maybe you would have been able to go, but it's too late now!" the librarian said without skipping a beat. She ran downstairs, making sure everything was turned off before looking into her saddlebags to make sure everything she needed was in place.

Spike only had a few minutes to reposition himself on her back before (while his body was facing sideways in relation to Twilight's orientation) the pony sprung forward, making the little dragon lose balance. He was only able to let out a small sound of surprise before he tumbled down to the ground rather humorously. "Darn it, Twilight, at least let a dragon have a bit of time!" he muttered a bit loudly, half expecting her to be there beside him, waiting.

As it turns out, when he looked up to face her, she was already gone, more than twenty pony-lengths away from where he was. His eyes widened and he scrambled up, dusting himself off; he quickly went to close the library door (which Twilight usually forgot when she was in one of her moods), before chasing after the lavender blur a distance away. "Hey, wait! Come back!!" he called out while going as fast as his legs could carry him.

Ponyville was rather calm today. Ponies were taking it easy: many were sleeping in, while others did a bit of grocery shopping or To Twilight, it was a surprise that nopony knew it was going to be the Summer Sun Celebration in a few days, which disturbed her (considering the mental state she was currently in). Thoughts moved through her head at blazing speeds. This would be the first year that the festival would not be celebrated the traditional way; for the original nature of the celebration was Princess Celestia's defeat of Nightmare Moon roughly a thousand years back. Now that Princess Luna was cured from the state of Nightmare Moon (hopefully) indefinitely, she herself wondered how it would be celebrated.

Her hurried hoofsteps turned into a moderate canter when she noticed she felt lighter. Glancing behind her, she noticed that Spike was panting and hurrying to catch up after her, having fallen behind (literally) a while back. She rolled her eyes and stopped where she was, bringing a hoof up to non-magically fix her mane up, if even just a little.

Spike arrived in front of her, panting. She rolled her eyes and watched him for a moment before saying, "Tired already? Come on then, hop on my back. Maybe you can get some sleep so you won't be tired later!!" she suddenly snapped in a critical tone.

At this, the dragon straightened up and used the last remaining bit of his energy to leap up onto her back. There, he yawned and buried his face into her mane with his eyes closed, hoping to be able to get some sleep. Her movements eventually made him fall asleep.

———

"Oh, you're awake. It's only been ten minutes or something. Go back to sleep, no rush."

The voice speaking such words surprised Spike to a great extent. He bolted up in his seat immediately, holding his head and looking around with a crazed expression. "What?! Where am I, what's going on?!" He could feel the seat underneath him moving, which freaked him out even more.

"Oh, Spike! We're on the Friendship Express heading towards Canterlot. It's going to stop by a few more smaller cities before we actually get there," Twilight replied, giving him a look that said, "What in Equestria is your problem?", though it was all with good intentions.

He began to relax, nodding a little bit. With a sigh, he turned his gaze out the window, watching the greenery go past in a blur. The faraway scenery was relaxing to watch: the mountains were snow-tipped out in the north, and it was good self-entertainment to guess how many trees were in his field of vision.

There must have been a lot, considering the lush grassland that expanded out in all directions around the train.

"So the Princess saved me a room on one of the towers of the Castle," Twilight began to speak to nobody in particular (though it would have been good to have at least Spike listening...) about what she planned to do when she got there. It was relieving to have an entire hour of silence broken. "The rest of our friends will be there already, so we'll have a really quick get-together celebration and then get to work. After all... isn't three days long enough to have a legitimate reason to have a quick session of bonding?" she asked, half to herself. She glanced up and saw Spike not listening to anything she said, something she constantly found him doing. She rolled her eyes and continued to speak of her plans anyways. "Setting up shouldn't take more than two days. Because we're in Canterlot we'll have enough materials... hmm, yes, materials... Spike, would you happen to remember any place, like a general store or something along those lines, where we could buy some fabric for ribbons? We have to make this big, bigger than anything we've ever done before! Even bigger than the Grand Galloping Gala!" the unicorn said boldly.

Spike blinked over at her sleepily. He hadn't been paying attention the whole time, and was utterly lost. "Well, I think—"

"Attention all passengers. We will be arriving in Canterlot in ten minutes," came the driver's voice over the speakers, interrupting Spike's reply. He lost his train of thought... no pun intended.

"Ah, never mind it, Twi. I forgot what I was about to say..." he muttered to himself, realizing he wasn't even in the mood to answer. He gave a huge gaping yawn, leaning against her; she was still deep in thought about what they would be doing the next couple of days and didn't really pay much attention to him.

A few minutes later, the two arrived in Canterlot. Even now, Twilight Sparkle was still pondering on what exactly they would be doing the next few days, making complicated schedules in her head that could only possibly be fulfilled if each was begun and finished on the dot; this was something everypony knew about her that made her such a difficult pony to deal with or handle sometimes.

Much to her relief, Canterlot was filled with much more energy compared to what she saw in Ponyville, and the aura was drastically different. All over the streets, ponies everywhere were carrying all sorts of things bought from exquisite shops all around, including velvet ribbons for decoration, statues very closely resembling Princess Celestia's solar cutie mark, and ingredients for food for parties. Even the buildings were decorated with yellow and orange ribbons, and the trees were too; everything seemed to be awaiting the rising of the sun the following day, and rightfully so; the Summer Sun Celebration was the most widely celebrated holiday in Equestria.

The lavender unicorn was smiling with glee when she noticed those small things, all while her faithful dragon slept obliviously on her back, standing still like a rock.

The duo cantered through the streets, with Spike continuing to sleep and Twilight grinning uncontrollably. She was getting excited with the prospect of participating in the Summer Sun Celebration, not only because it would be in Canterlot this year, but because it was the first time she would participate in helping set it up in Canterlot itself; it was the Capital of the Equestrian Empire, the place the Princessess themselves called home. They were Goddesses, and this was their city! What an honor it was!

"Well, Spike, here we are!" the unicorn declared with a bright voice, stopping in her tracks. They had been walking for the past twenty minutes just to get to the Castle, partly because Twilight was walking so slowly, but mainly because the city itself was so huge. She had noticed that it had expanded a lot compared to when she once called the place home: instead of just taking up a flatter part of the mountain and extending via pony engineering safely over the edge, some parts were now built into the rock face, and the entrance to the city was much lower down the mountain, thanks to the expansion downhill as well. The river was no longer the site of the entrance.

Once she had said his name he woke up and sighed. "I'm awake, I'm awake..." he mumbled half to himself before the two were courteously escorted to their room by two guards.

The six of them all had their rooms in the same tower, though on different levels of the single winding staircase that led all the way up to the top room, which was Twilight's. It was the very same room Rarity had stayed in a few years back. However, nopony seemed to be in any of their rooms, which made her even more excited. It meant that there were a lot of things to do in Canterlot today!

"Hmm. Well, at least they brought my stuff here for me," she shrugged her shoulders and stretched when Spike climbed off of her.

———

An hour or two after the dragon and the unicorn arrived in their room, Twilight was finally able to finish up with the organization and her personal decorations up on the walls (all six ponies and one dragon would be staying for a while). Spike had gone out by her word so he could go and look for their friends and help them out if needed. It was kind of relaxing to spend the time alone: she knew that.

When she tidied up the last bit of her desk by putting some fresh flowers in a vase, she sat down at the edge of her bed and began to think. The list of things to do that she had assembled while on the way to the castle were still fresh in her mind thanks to her unusually acute memory. So she decided to trot over to her working desk, pulling up a very long piece of parchment, a quill, and an inkwell the way she usually did when getting ready to write something.

Plans in Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration, July the Fourth, Year 1022, she wrote, using a more efficient dictation spell she had written herself. Rubbing the feathery part on her chin, she formulated her thoughts properly and began to write them down word for word just as her mind described it. Her handwriting was unusually very neat for a pony of her mental state.

Today is the Summer Sun Celebration, as was mentioned on the top of this... journal entry. The first thing I managed to do was send Spike on an errand to meet up with the rest of our friends, wherever they may be here in Canterlot. Oh, did I mention that I was in Canterlot and I'm the main coordinator for the setting up of the Celebration?!? Oh, shoot, I'm digressing. Calm down, Twilight, calm down... that's it... Okay.

So what I think we should first do is meet up, first of all. Afterwards we will survey the Grand Hall and decide what materials and the amounts we need, and after that we shall consult the Princess to see what her tastes are for the decoration, and then we will begin... oh, that doesn't sound too bad. I guess I'll have to make up some more things along the way! But that's fine! she was about to finish the letter up before she suddenly thought of something. Immediately she jammed her quill back on the parchment.

And one last thing — I'll meet the Princess personally and talk to her about a few things... hmm, maybe find out something else that I haven't learned yet, maybe! I guess I'll go and do that first... she then finished up and put the quill down, satisfied with her letter.

But wait. She blinked in slight surprise. It was one of the shorter letters she'd ever written in her life, and she had no idea that such complicated thoughts that were churning in her head back on the train could be expressed so simply. Either way, she gave a shrug. What was done was done.

She took a small ribbon and rolled the parchment up, tying the ribbon around it to give it a light physical seal. She went over to the nightstand beside the large bed and pulled up her saddlebags, putting the piece of parchment in it. It would be two o'clock in forty-five minutes, so she would be able to eat some lunch before venturing to the Castle right when the courts ended. She imagined there was still a large line of ponies waiting to be received, so going right up to the entrance wouldn't exactly be the best thing to do.

"I think I'll go get myself a daisy sandwich..." she said to herself before ambling out the door, closing and locking it behind her, and then proceeding down the long staircase down the 600-foot tall tower.

When she got down streetside, she looked up the nearest restaurant that met her needs nearby. She sighed a little when she saw that it was on the other side of town, and, after setting a destination spell, she began towards it with a bit of a hurried gait.

The restaurant was part of another larger building complex, which, to the left, was a fabric shop, and to the right, a quill and pen store. But those places weren't her destination: the restaurant and her daisy sandwich awaited within the doors directly in front of her.

It was a modest little bistro, offering many things, from garden salads to tofu sandwiches. On its two adjacent sides were huge windows giving customers a good look of the outside as everything passed, with lights hanging from the ceilings to illuminate the room at night. It was a mighty fine restaurant, much better than most ones anypony could find back in Ponyville, and as a result of the more exquisite Canterlot taste, the prices spiked up as well. But it was of no concern to the unicorn, who would only be ordering a snack.

After being seated down on the table, she opened up one of their menus, all fancy with an imitation leather cover that said "Canterlot Salads and Bakery". Finding the latter part a bit odd, she looked around to notice that there were small slices of cakes and cookies on display, warmed up behind curved glass like most Star's Bucks places a pony could find all around, but there were also much larger, whole cakes, from chocolate to vanilla, unlike most Star's Bucks cafés. Oh, so that's why it's called Canterlot Salads and Bakery. Duh!

Looking through the menu, she noticed that her choice was part of the Appetizers list. After a bit of pondering exactly why what she considered a heavy bit of food was on such a list, she shrugged and gave a soft sigh. The waitmare came by and took her order, and after a few smiles and a request for some extra hay fries, she was off.

From inside, everything looked so calm.

Such a feeling was augmented when her order swung by. She took a sip of her water before smiling wide, taking the sandwich, and biting into it tenderly. It truly was delicious.

She took her time at the restaurant, not noticing exactly how fast time was flying by. By the time she glanced up at the tall clock tower again, her eyes widened. It was just four minutes until the courts would close, and she obviously didn't want to be... tardy!!! Not after last time!

Having finished up most of her hay fries and three-quarters of her sandwich, she paid the fifteen bits price before bolting up and galloping out the door as quickly as possible. She earned some stares from ponies all around, most of them obviously being in the high class and not very keen on such behavior, especially from a relatively younger pony like her. Why didn't I just stick with a restaurant nearer to the Castle in this gosh-darn big city?! It would have made my day so much easier! she thought impatiently to herself while she ran down the street.

Above and to the left, the clock tower stood firm and proud. It was one of the tallest buildings in Canterlot, second only to the Castle, Home of Solar and Lunar Regents, Respectively, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Or at least that was what the long title called them. She didn't truly bother with the formalities anyway, but that was because the Princesses themselves didn't mind. She was Princess Celestia's most trusted student from the Royal Institute for Gifted Ponies, and that was definitely an important factor.

But time was of the essence, and the essence was slowly running out. She was halfway there when the loud "BONG! BONG!" of the bell could be heard, signaling the emergence of the Second Hour After Noon.

Upon hearing the sound, the lavender pony slowed down drastically, panting. Shoot! I'll never make it, and Princess Celestia's going to be busy in her own ROOM by the time I get there! I'm tardy!! Her mindset began to act up again, and she gave a large huff and a pound of her hoof on the ground, her sides still heaving. She never was truly in shape, but then again, she was a bookworm librarian: not really the best profession for someone who would want to aspire to become an athlete like Rainbow Dash in the first place.

The thought snapped her back into reality, and she wondered where Spike and the rest of their friends were. She thought about it for a moment, taking into account all the possibilities of the scenario before she gave up. It was alright; Spike would be back in their room at four o'clock, and hopefully the rest of them would be back in their rooms by tonight.

Up above, large clouds began to gather, coming from beyond the Equestrian horizon. They would be starting to cover Celestia's sun in about an hour or so, according to Twilight's calculations, but by then she would probably be back in her room. She huffed once more, sighing deeply while she continued to wander through the streets.

When she looked up after what felt like ten minutes, she noticed that she had wandered right to the mouth of Canterlot Castle. She looked up at it in surprise, catching a quick glance at the tower she stayed in, and pondered why she didn't just choose the café right in front to save the time.

Noticing the activity in front of the castle had subsided considerably, she picked up her hooves and trotted inside, eager to enter the castle after a long absence. The guards made no attempt to stop her, which made her gleeful; they valued her presence and knew she was the Princess's trusted protégé. When she was a filly she had always taken the privileges that came with it for granted, but now, as a mature young adult, she knew that it was a great honor to be revered as such.

The moment she went in, her eyes went wide. The castle seemed much larger than she had last seen it two and a half years back. The ceiling was a lot taller, and numerous crystal chandeliers hung low, lighting up the halls much more brightly than before. The walls themselves were still made of the castle's signature white bricks, but they gleamed now, as if they had been polished ten times over. The red velvet carpet underneath her hooves was soft and supple, and as she ambled through the entrance hall, with bright windows shining light inside to showcase statues of ponies and tapestries here and there, she found herself going down towards a narrower hallway with more halls branching off of it. If she recalled correctly, she was approaching the throne room where the Princess herself sat (with her sister beside her) when listening to court. When she looked over at the blindingly bright gilded throne with the plushy red throw pillows and hoofrests, she frowned in slight disappointment to see the Princess was not there.

Sighing a bit, she ambled over to one of the guards nearby. She wanted to know when the Princess would be in attendance so she could speak to her.

"Umm, excuse me, kind stallion. Would you know when the Princess will be available? I'd really like to speak to her regarding the Summer Sun Celebration decorations here in Canterlot Castle," she asked the nearest one.

He stood unmoving for a moment, but glanced down at her with a stolid gaze. "She will be back in ten to twenty minutes, Miss Twilight," the guard nodded to her. "I will personally inform her of your visit here."

Twilight Sparkle blinked in surprise; these guards knew her names? She smiled a little, but it was of little to no importance to her at the moment; she just wanted to speak to the Princess as soon as possible. She bid him a quick goodbye before dashing away, over towards the Royal Gardens. If the Princess would be back shortly, she might as well have a breath of fresh air outside where it was nice and cool.

The Royal Gardens were just that: a very classy, colorful, and ripe garden. There were a few greenhouses scattered here and there along the vast expanse hidden behind the castle gates, and there were fancy granite fountains in the places where the wide, winding paths paved through the grass met. Twilight strolled down one of the paths for a while until she was deep enough into the gardens that foliage began to surround her. She now faced one of those fountains, and she glanced over at a rather large plaque molded into the middle tier of the granite, just above eye level. It looked like it was a rather important sign, so she began to read it.

The Canterlot Gardens: Home of plants and animals to be found nowhere else.

She nodded a bit, smirking to herself. That was a bit interesting, but she glanced down at another, smaller note at the bottom.

This is a restricted area. Any ponies venturing inside will be apprehended and be tried for violating the law.

She flinched in surprise. This wasn't something she had ever seen before in all her life. Up until now, everything had been so happy-go-lucky, so carefree, with only a small amount of worries. But seeing this sort of scared and offended her. What could possibly be inside the Canterlot forests that would want to be hidden?

Now that she thought about it, how could there be forests in the grounds of a castle dangling over a three-mile drop straight to the ground? But she shrugged it off; that was just how it always was.

Narrowing her eyes at what lay ahead (deeper forest), she huffed. "Looks like I'll be the first pony to find out..." she smirked and began to venture inside.

Within just a few minutes of her wandering inside, the stone path already began to crumble away, as if it had been eroded by strong winds. She looked around for any sort of damage done to any tree trunks, but she couldn't find anything. The ground underneath her turned into darker, moist dirt, and she continued along for a few more minutes before she sliced the right side of her right hoof on something sharp. Something very, very sharp.

"Owch!!" she yelped aloud and lifted her hoof off the ground, biting her lower lip in pain. She sat down on the ground and winced while twisting her hoof to get a better look at the deep cut. When she saw it, she began to whimper a little. It was so deep that blood oozed out faintly with every quick heartbeat of hers, which made her gulp. Concentrating, she summoned her magic, her horn lighting up with a faint lavender-pink glow. A small cloth from one of her saddlebags floated out, surrounded by her magical aura, before it floated down to wipe the blood from the wound. She put pressure on it using just the cloth, but her wound was just a secondary worry for her.

Right now, she wanted to know what cut her. It couldn't have possibly been loose wood from a tree trunk, because, as she replayed the situation in her mind, she clearly remembered being at least six hoof-lengths from the right side and eight on the left side. It couldn't have been an animal either, or an insect, as she heard no sorts of sounds or sensed no hostility nearby. When she looked over at the scene, limping around because of her throbbing wound, she noticed something unnaturally thin jutting out of the ground, with an extremely sharp edge pointing towards the path; it was what she had hurt herself on. It was no wonder she hadn't noticed it, for it was in the shadow of the trees up above. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was embedded into the dirt firmly, with small, organized, parallel golden lines travelling through its green surface, which was unusually shiny, now that she gazed at it closely.

She bit her lip and placed the bloody cloth on the ground (her wound had begun to stop bleeding by now), before concentrating on the object. Her horn began to glow brightly, and she closed her eyes with the effort of pulling it from the ground. "Come on, come on...!!!" she strained. Suddenly, a few seconds later, the object withdrew from the ground, into the air where Twilight held it. It was extraordinarily thin, and more lines went along in seemingly random patterns.

The unicorn shuddered and brought it closer to her face. Now that it was out of the ground, she could perceive exactly how light it was: it was no more than a few grams, despite it appearing to have once been part of a large square made of the same material more than three hoof-widths by three hoof-widths in length. She quivered and brought it even closer. There was nothing in Equestria like it. It couldn't have been manufactured by normal pony hooves, nor by magicians if they wanted to. It was too intricate.

A rustle of bushes snapped her out of her thinking marathon. Debunking the noise as nothing more than a bunny hopping along or a bird flying away, she realized exactly what it was she had just discovered. She had to go to the Princess to report her findings! There was nopony else she could go to for help.

Grabbing her cloth from the dirt and shaking it, she placed the unknown object into an empty saddlebag, placing the cloth into the other one. She pulled out a fresh, new cloth, and glanced around briefly before wrapping it around her wound so it wouldn't be so obvious that she was bleeding. She took a breath, limping back towards the castle, hoping she would be able to make it back before her window of opportunity to speak with the Princess escaped her.

———

"Where's the Princess? I need to speak to her immediately!!" Twilight gasped for breath. She was frantically asking the pegasus guard in the doorway to the throne room where the Princess was, and there was no time to be dawdling.

The guard showed a slight surge of worry for the young mare and motioned up the stairs. "She is up in her office, Twilight," he said formally. He suddenly caught a small stain of red seeping through the otherwise clear white cloth, and he called it to her attention. "Do I need to direct you to the infirmary before you do so?"

The agitated mare was already limping towards the staircase, but she glanced over her shoulder to shake her head vigorously. "No! No, thanks, I'm fine! Sorry! Gotta go now though!" she said in her trademark panicky voice, before she went along upstairs.

Upstairs, Twilight was beside herself with nervousness. She leaned up with her left hoof, knocking on the solid, wooden door which led into her mentor's office (it was really her room but it was common practice to call it an office out of respect) a few times, with all of her weight on her bad hoof. To ease it, she quickly put her better hoof back down, lifting the other so as not to put weight on it.

Inside, a soft, smooth voice answered her knock. "Come in," it murmured welcomingly.

The lavender unicorn shuddered, pushing the door open. She trudged in and gazed up at her alicorn teacher. This time, she didn't seem to take notice of the large, magnificent room that stood before her, the very same room she had used to come into whenever she felt restless as a filly. A very large velvet bed stood beside an unlit fireplace, with a window a few pony-lengths behind. That wasn't her priority right now; what her priority was was finding out what exactly it was that she had found.

"Oh, Twilight! I've been expecting you," Princess Celestia's mane flowed gracefully through the air, as if a gentle breeze brought it up and sent ripples travelling down until the tips. Her patient, smiling face gradually turned into one full of worry and uncertainty when she noticed the state of her student. "Something seems to be wrong," she blinked. "Come, talk to me..." she cantered over to the big cushion and settled down, motioning her student to come close and do the same.

Twilight nodded and seated herself down on a smaller pillow her teacher had summoned up for her to sit on. Trembling just a little bit now, the unicorn pulled her saddlebags off and opened one, using her telekinetic magic to pull out the intricate flat piece of material she had found. She held it up to her teacher. "I don't know what this is, Princess. Please tell me you know!" she breathed and brought it closer.

The Princess took the object in her magical grasp, narrowing her eyes at it. It looked very familiar, and she summoned her memories to help her try to remember exactly what it was. Her brain filtered through hundreds of years, and she had to close her eyes to concentrate harder. She knew what it was, she just didn't know what—

And then she found it, along with all the events that led up to its creation.

The alicorn clenched her jaw rather nervously, glancing down at her student. She nearly dropped the sacred object her student had found, and when she opened her mouth to say something, no sound came out.

A Signal Headed for Out of This World

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."

~ George Washington

—————

"Princess?"

Her unicorn apprentice's voice snapped her back to reality, or, rather, freed her from her frozen solid state.

The alicorn goddess breathed in her first breath since what felt like an eternity ago, having been stuck in her illusory imagination: an imagination that made her feel like she was a pony nobody could trust, a pony who could not even trust herself with what she knew. She imagined her entire nation, all of Equestria, in fact, hating her because of what she'd said and the truth she'd told—

"Princess Celestia, are you okay??" came a more worried voice, breaking her again from her swirling thoughts.

Thankfully, Twilight Sparkle was always a nosy and concerned little mare. She gave a small, amused smile and shook her head vigorously. The Regent of the Sun then gave a soft sigh before glancing down at her student with deep magenta eyes. "Twilight Sparkle... I'm afraid I do not know what this is, nor what its purpose is..." came the carefully crafted reply. She reluctantly let go of the object, setting it down on the ground. There was no safe way she could make it seem like nothing was wrong without taking it for herself, but she knew something like this was bound to happen eventually. Her own student, the most gifted, talented, and intelligent pony in all of Equestria that she had seen thus far, would find out exactly what it was. She had to take some precautions...

Eyes widening and feeling extremely crestfallen, the unicorn let out a held breath and nodded, taking the incredibly advanced thing back in her magical grasp. She didn't notice the close gaze her teacher had while she opened up a saddlebag, placing it inside, and closing it securely. When she looked back up at her teacher, she smiled a little. "How have you been, Princess?"

The alicorn was very happy to have had the topic changed. Letting her body relax now, she settled more into her comfortable floor-bed thing and began to speak. "Oh, it's just been so frantic here in the Castle. Ponies everywhere are putting up decorations all over the place, and most conflict with so many others... it's almost like it's anarchy in here," she smiled while speaking, but her smile faltered with the mention of... that word. She didn't want that, not in her castle, nor definitely out there in her nation. She almost dove into another thinking marathon but thankfully she saved herself this time around.

Twilight, who was on a lower level below her, seemed to notice that something was wrong, but she seemed to shrug it off and continue on with the conversation as if she hadn't realized anything. She smiled awkwardly up at her teacher before exhaling. "Um, Princess?" she asked.

The mentor turned her head to face her better. She smiled genuinely to her protégé and asked, "Yes, Twilight? What is it?"

"I was thinking, for the Summer Sun Celebration..." the lavender unicorn began. "I wanted to know what kind of decorations you'd want us to put up. You know, since we—I don't exactly know what to put up. I was thinking we could use some sun-colored ribbons or something?" She glanced over at the alicorn's flank for a moment, behind her large, feathery wing. "Something that reminds ponies of your cutie mark..." she thought.

Listening intently, the Solar Monarch gave a rather soft "Hmm..." before speaking her answer. "I think that's a great idea, Twilight. And if you can, bring a few more decorations with you. I think a banner with... 'Welcome to the Annual Summer Sun Celebration' would do just fine. Oh, and some balloons," she chuckled. "I know your friend Pinkie can help you with that!" The Princess seemed back to her old self

"Thanks, Princess," Twilight smiled and couldn't help but let out a giggle herself. She felt much better now, and began to relax. She nuzzled her mentor's snowy white neck, closing her eyes in content. "I'm happy we get to organize the decorations for this Celebration," she smiled.

"It wouldn't be the same without you," the Princess murmured, resting her head atop the little pony's. She let her eyes close, and was immediately greeted by her worried thoughts once more, which came around and taunted her. Her eyelids twitched and she tried to clear them away, but couldn't.

You know you lied to her! Now you can't do anything about what will happen next! one of her thoughts jeered to her.

Twilight Sparkle will find out and she's going to tell the entire nation about your lies to expose you!! You wouldn't stand a chance against your entire nation, let alone the one pony you love!! another sneered.

N-No! You can't just say that, I... I'm a Princess! A Goddess who controls the sun! the almighty Sun Goddess trembled, whimpering inwardly. She couldn't let her thoughts overtake her like this; she had to take control of herself and the situation, and fast.

A few moments passed, which seemed like hours to the quivering deity, until her student below her pulled away, smiling up at her. The purple unicorn stood up and smiled in determination. "Don't worry Princess, we'll get everything done without a hitch!" she nearly saluted to her, but seemed to change her mind, instead dipping her head deeply in a respectful bow. "I promise."

Princess Celestia gave her a convinced nod, her lips curving into an amused twinkle. "Well then, there's no time to lose! As they say, time is of the essence," she finished up.

Twilight nodded and smiled cheerfully at her mentor before turning and leaving the room, leaving the Princess alone within.

She gave a quiet sigh. Still in a comfortable position on her floorbed, her face turned solid and she began to think to herself once more, feeling safer now that she was supposedly alone by herself. All around her, the room was quiet and was bathed in the afternoon sun's light, and the silence was relaxing... had it not been for the Princess's ever-growing problem.

The wise Princess knew for a fact that her student would find out exactly what that thing was. There was no doubt in her mind that letting her keep the remnants of one of the first failed experiments' circuitry was a bad idea, but would it have compared to her openly taking it from the grasp of the inquisitive pony? So many questions floated in her mind, possibilities that could have been and the possibilities of what the future held. She began to think deeply about what lay ahead.

She also knew that Twilight Sparkle would come back with more questions that she would not be able to simply wave off or ignore. An intrigued Twilight was always a dangerous Twilight, especially if somepony tried to lie blatantly to her face. She knew the ins and outs of pony psychology, and even as an... elevated being, the alicorn Princess was no exception.

Shaking her head, she summoned a telepathic spell within her, her horn beginning to glow. Within a few moments she directed a very important, encrypted message to her sister, Princess Luna, immediately. Relaxing when she felt the message was complete, her horn lost its yellow glow as the magic ended. She smiled to herself in slight amusement. When the Science Department invented a radio transmitter she felt she had to create a spell that did the same, and so she did. Though it was still very slow for even interplanetary messaging, it worked very well for sending messages immediately to ponies she needed to inform immediately.

But she had gotten around the problem of even interstellar communication; she had done it personally a hundred years ago.

The regal Princess stood up from her floorbed and stretched out her long legs, making sure there were no blemishes in her golden horseshoes, before she left her room, exiting into the hallway. She glanced around, her magical hair waving around elegantly along, and when she saw and felt nopony nearby, she proceeded towards the staircase that led directly down to the basement. After leaving the top floors of the castle she entered the underground threshold, which was marked by a significant change in temperature. Immediately below where the ground should have been, it grew quite cold, and continued to do so as the Princess took slow steps down, down, and down into what looked like a spiraling dark abyss. Within a minute or two she could see her breath, and she smiled to herself as her body effortlessly kept its warmth.

She longed to see the catacombs. Even to this day, she could still retrace her steps to the secret meeting place with her eyes closed, and even enter the magical password at the dead end in the same way. She had held so many meetings ever since the initial confession throughout so many generations that it had been ingrained into her mind so she could never forget. It could have been either for better or for worse, but though she tried to convince herself that scientific achievements were for the better, she knew she was withholding the truth from the rest of her nation; not exactly the best of tactics.

But when she was in here, however, her thoughts began to slow down, which relieved her greatly. She continued along, going down the dim, torchlit hallways. The white bricks still held steady despite her more-than-2500-year absence, but some of them began to grow all sorts of different mosses, causing small cracks to appear every now and then, causing cool, natural air to flow into the winding corridors.

In front of her, the familiar, seemingly bottomless hole yawned in front of her. It was huge in diameter, at least fifteen to twenty pony-lengths wide, and the staircase that led down was a gentle slope. It would be a long walk down to the base of the mountain down this ponymade cylinder that led directly to true ground level, and the air only got colder.

She reached the bottom and turned to the door she knew was the one she needed to go through to get to her destination. Opening it, she walked through and went down even deeper below the ground.

When she finally got to her destination, she relaxed when she noticed a dark shape up ahead. It had a sleek, strong body with black onyx horseshoes and hair of one of the deepest, darkest nights. Princess Celestia smiled, trotting casually up to her sister, and the two shared an affectionate nuzzle before the taller pulled away.

"Did I startle you when I sent you that message?" she asked her younger, nocturnal sister. Her moderate magenta eyes had a glint of playfulness in them.

Princess Luna blinked at her question, and suddenly realized exactly what she was doing when she had sent her message. A faint blush showed up on her deep midnight blue cheeks while looking away nervously. "My dear sister, you interrupted a quite... private time for me... and that is all I am going to say about that," she mumbled. "I do realize the convenience of the spell, but truly, you must at least not send it to me while I am... playing Halo!!" she seemed to shout in a hushed voice.

Her older sister smiled in amusement. "Oh, so I see you still play that..." she murmured before turning to the business at hand. Loosening up her muscles, she exhaled a deep breath before placing her hoof on where the familiar, soothing magical disturbance lay. Feeling satisfaction well up from within her, she smirked and kept her eyes wide open as the lines led up the wall directly in front of them, opening the portal that led to the meeting room isolated underground from the rest of the hallways completely, deeper under the earth. It was what she always did; she enjoyed keeping her eyes open so she could gaze into the blinding lights before walking in.

And so she walked in, her little sister not too far behind her. When her eyes got used to the darker room in comparison, she breathed a sigh of content.

The place was just as it always had been, only it hadn't been used in just over twenty years. She had called off the secret meetings ever since Twilight Sparkle had been born, if only to be her overseer. She had always sensed immense magical power within the unicorn, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

She was also very clingy, and a personality like that could mean potential trouble if the Princess wasn't careful. So, she decided to abandon the meetings altogether, as she knew the little filly could easily find out what was happening.

"Now to attend to business..." her sister's voice wrecked her train of thought. The younger alicorn strode over to the table and sighed quietly to herself. "I can't seem to recall how this infernal piece of technology worked..." she muttered, half to herself.

"I'll take care of that, little sister," she snapped back into action, taking her sister's place. She sat down on the cold stone chair, her flank feeling mighty cold. But the solar princess ignored the feelings while she took the gold-plated horseshoe off from her hoof. She gingerly placed it down against a particular spot on the table, which triggered the familiar yellow line to beam towards the middle of the table where the embedded part-sphere glowed to life.

The hologram flickered to life and operated normally, as if it had just been yesterday that it was used. The Princess of the Sun smiled in contentment and looked up at the bright image of Equestria, with all its beautiful oceans and landmasses, her kingdom only a small part of a huge planet.

She narrowed her eyes a little. Luna sat down beside her on a smaller stone chair previously reserved for a member of the court, watching her closely.

"Big sister... Celly... are you sure this is the correct decision to make under these particular circumstances?" she asked in that familiar tone of voice and choice of words. Her sister had told her of her plans to do such a thing, but now she was aching to know if she would truly go through with it. After all, it was a bit risky...

Celestia heard her old nickname and chuckled a little. "Oh, Looney..." she shook her head in amusement. "You're always doubting me, aren't you?" she said in good humor, before sighing seriously once more. "Yes, this is how it must be. We need reinforcements in case a full scale threat comes to our doorstep..."

Looney flinched a bit at the nickname her sister had always called her to annoy her, another blush coloring her cheeks. "S-Sister, I am not... no, I most definitely am not doubting your resolve!" she breathed, but she was cut off by another laugh from Celly, whom she glared at. "I understand..." she murmured softly, resting her head down on the cold table without being bothered in the least bit.

The older sister nodded and sighed to herself. Using her magic to manipulate the controls, she zoomed out of the solar system until there was just a huge overview of one quadrant of the galaxy, the Orion arm, at which, they lived near the edge. She then narrowed her eyes to see a small footnote at the other end of the galaxy, and she took a moment before remembering what it was.

"They seem to have progressed a great deal during all these years," her sister's voice murmured from beside hers, making her nod in agreement. "It is almost a shame that we were stuck here on this planet unlike them, who advanced more than any of us could ever imagine..."

"Well said, sister," Celestia replied and zoomed in on an alien solar system. In the middle was a white dwarf which, according to their scientists' calculations, had been such for more than 3 billion years. Three planets revolved around it in close proximity, and another small note floated above one certain planet which looked similar to Equestria. Ceylon, it said.

This was it. Manipulating the map, she brought up a sidebar which prompted commands from her. Entering /contact amdtrpny[Ceylon], a dialog box came up and asked her, Are you sure?.

In her peripheral vision, she saw Luna nod. Taking a breath, she answered Yes with her magic, and immediately, a blank square one pony-length by one-pony length was overlaid over the visualization of the alien solar system. Something that looked like a rotating and dynamic mass of bubbles popping represented the loading sequence as a connection was established.

Her little sister giggled a little beside her when she saw the bubbles. "I remember adding those in on the one hundred and sixty-seventh meeting," she said happily. "I loved bubbles back then..." she reminisced.

Her sister only nodded absently, much more concentrated on the task at hand. She kept her eyes trained on the empty box, hoping they would make contact.

Just a few moments later, a pony's face appeared. It seemed to be some sort of video chat, and behind him was what looked like a laboratory in which chemicals were being prepared and... pony scientists were working, carrying things around. They were predominantly unicorns, with a few Earth ponies as well. There were no pegasi to be seen.

Had it not been for the blue hues that the hologram could only provide, he would have been a much more colorful stallion. By subtracting colors and assuming the lighting was how she expected it to be, he would have been a light brown pegasus with yellow hair... an odd combination. But a combination that was the truth, no matter how odd it seemed. These ponies seemed to have evolved into a state stronger and much more efficient than the traditional Equestrians.

The two stared at each other, the alien end in utter disbelief, and the Equestrian end rather silent. She had a message to deliver, but she did not know if he would understand her predicament. Or her rank. After all, she hadn't kept any extrasolar colonies in check.

Suddenly the stallion breathed a deep breath, recognizing who she was. He bowed his head down low. "Ya ikha salvat, Puelga d'Selestiumún," he murmured as his head nearly touched the ground. He seemed to be praising her for her current presence there, and the mere fact that he was speaking to The Princess Celestia.

Her eyes widened. Of course: they spoke the very same language the entire nation had during and before their departure from Equestria. She missed the langauge, now that she realized it, and hearing them once more made her heart tingle with excitement and her mind long for those days past to come back. But she had to speak back to him in Old Caballan, not Modern Equish. She had to find her words before she replied.

"Orianse. Poyus'ite ikhaemien fym?" she asked what his name was.

The stallion straightened up as she had ordered, and focused on her. "Ya'site Cerrelunbbru," he replied his name to her. "Obe'site alvolopag ikha akwentyan," he continued on, commenting on how it was a pleasure to meet her. Apparently she was considered the hero of ponies all throughout the galaxy. After all, she had sent the mission to colonize other stars, and it had been a success, mostly because she helped in deciphering the science behind it.

Beside her, Luna was much more acquainted with the language, having used it to speak to herself during her not-so-cozy stay on the moon. "Cerrelunbbru. Sky Shadow..." she translated the name to herself in a soft murmur. She continued to gaze at the alien pony intently.

"Lata. Chedon... ad'ikha pusidd alik malla nunti," Celestia said.

The stallion nodded, his face growing serious with her mention of bad news. He wondered what it could be.

"Únalum, yaemien alum... vet kunbet sirke'velitulún. Yem sirke. Vel... vet nun kunbaga..." she related to him about Twilight Sparkle finding out about the spacecraft part and how she would potentially find out the truth very soon... which was as serious as it got. She knew for a fact that if her country was going to descend into anarchy, they would rebel against her, maybe even Twilight Sparkle would, too... She had nowhere close to the required amount of magic to keep them put down, but either way, she didn't want to harm her own ponies.

Sky Shadow's brow furrowed in concern. "Lata... the'site malla. Poyus zhatte faset da?" he asked her for guidance. He didn't know what they would do if the Princess were to fall by the hands of her own subjects.

That was something serious. Hard to believe. The Princess, Princess Celestia... falling from power and potentially being hurt or killed by her own ponies. But it was a serious concern: a concern that had to be acted on immediately and no later.

The Equestrian Sun Princess had her answer all ready. This was the moment. "Praepare únforton'st et únkaputelae. Hert ele simatke wadt..." she whispered.

The mere mention of readying the freighters and capital ships made Sky Shadow's blood run cold. But he bowed his head down low in deep rest. "Tha'esite ominu da?" he asked.

"Yes. Tha'esite ominu. Antil, Cerrelunbbru..." the Regent of the Sun finished. The stallion on the other side of the galaxy bowed his head down low and ended the stream, knowing that was all he needed to know—and do— to fulfill his job. The Princesses stayed at the table, sitting down in silence while the hologram slowly rotated the planet known as Ceylon in its view.

"Well. It is done then, big sister," Luna murmured softly as she glanced over at the alicorn with the sterling white coat. "There is no turning back now..."

Princess Celestia didn't register her words as being in Equish, but she nodded nevertheless. "I wonder... what will happen?" she asked softly, glancing up at the hologram which projected the alien planet live before their eyes.

After a few hours of blank staring, she thought she saw an entire fleet of ships leave the atmosphere before they disappeared into hyperspace.

———

Twilight Sparkle breathed a soft sigh as she slowly exited the castle, approaching the entrance to the tallest tower where her room was on top. She walked inside, giving a slight nod to the two guards on either side of the door before she began the long way up the winding staircase.

She was still wondering exactly what the complicated... thing was. She had decided that she would study it to the limit of what her observations could turn up, so she would obviously be working on it for a while.

Not only was she wondering what it was and how she would go about finding out what it was and made of, but she was also wondering exactly why the Princess acted the way she had. She seemed so faraway, very distant, which was a trait she had never exhibited before, especially a few days before the Summer Sun Celebration would be held in her very own castle, in her own city. Maybe she was just overwhelmed with all the petitions she was receiving through the courts? It wasn't her choice to say exactly what it was.

Getting up to her room, she closed and locked the door securely, making sure nopony could get in. Spike still wasn't back yet, so it was evident to her that he was still looking for them. Looking over at the clock, she sighed to herself. It was already five o'clock and Spike still wasn't back. Either he had lost his way in Canterlot (which was highly unlikely since they had lived there for quite a while) or he had found the rest of her friends and was staying with them for a while.

Either way, this provided her the best opportunity to get studying. Taking the burden off her back, she placed them on the bed and opened the bag which contained the strange piece. Now that the lighting was comparable to what she was used to back at the Ponyville Library, she could see the details on it much better.

It was a green, almost completely flat board of strange lines. Wondering if it was a sort of ancient language spoken prehistorically, she almost stood up to scan through her book of Medieval Equestrian Languages before she stopped. There was no possible way it could have been writing: it just looked too neatly organized to be hoof-or horn-written.

Resolving it to be a part of a machine, she called on her memories to aid her in her greatest time of need.

"Let's see. So the only thing I've ever seen that looks somewhat like this was the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy when I inspected it behind their backs, but the lines were less sparse and it was a lot thicker... and heavier..." she thought aloud to herself as she investigated the strange thing with her magic.

A few minutes passed, and the unicorn was still hard at work trying to figure out exactly what the thing was made of. Unfortunately, she didn't have all the necessary materials so she couldn't directly experiment with it, but at least now she found that it interacted and manipulated electricity somehow, which she was able to discover by supplying it with arcane-generated energy. She was just about to discover something huge when suddenly...

BAM!

The unicorn yelped loudly and jumped where she was, utterly startled. She glanced behind her, at the door which had just opened; Spike had thrown it open without knocking (like he usually did), but this time she was more startled than usual. Was it the thing she was experimenting with that put her on edge like that?

"Twilight! We're back!" Spike said rather loudly, which made the unicorn completely lose her focus on what she was working on. Standing up, she looked over at the baby dragon and the five other ponies who were behind her, and all her worries evaporated immediately.

"You're back!!" she half-squealed, galloping over to her friends, who gave her a group hug. She smiled happily, squeezing them tight in her arms. "I missed you all!! Where have you been??"

"Oh, Twilight! We were having such a marvelous time over at Pinkie Pie's place! You see, she was able to rent out a space to open another Sugarcube Corner just a few days ago, and we were there having a bit of coffee and the like, you see? You really should have come sooner, oh, it was fabulous!" Rarity exclaimed as she squeezed her friend.

"Yeah! And we were having lots of fun eating this new thing I invented called CHOCOLATE RAIN! It's when you take a bunch of milk and add a whole LOT of chocolate mix into it, and then you take a blender and you add in lots and LOTS of dark chocolate, and then you add in the milk again because I don't even know who would remotely WANT to drink something that thick, at least add some milk! oh yeah, and then we added confectioner's sugar and, OHMYGOSH! The cotton candy!! We made the cotton candy ourselves, we got our own machine and all that and we added it into the chocolate rain to make it REAL CHOCOLATE RAIN and it tasted AWESOME! I got the idea from Discord when he invaded Equestria because I reallyreallyreallyreallyREAALLYY liked those clouds and the rain because it tasted like the best thing ever and TWILIGHT I've missed you!!" Pinkie Pie blabbered all of that within twenty seconds as she squished Twilight in her arms.

The lavender unicorn smiled as she hugged them all. "Oh, girls! Do we have anything planned for tonight??" she asked, having completely forgotten about all her worries regarding the alien object.

"Ah'm not really sure Twi, but the girls and ah were thinkin' 'bout, maybe a sleepover of sorts?" Applejack shrugged, noticeably quivering at the mention of a sleepover. At least, the kind of sleepover she was thinking was an incredibly girly sleepover such as her stay with Rarity during Twilight's first ever such event.

She smiled at her friends and sat down on the rug at the foot of her bed. "Oh, alright, I guess we could. Besides, our rooms are so close together anyhow, so I think it'll be fine!" Her mind was made up now, and there was no turning back.

Meanwhile, Spike had gone over to Twilight's workspace to examine the strange object. He picked it up gingerly in his hands, gazing and examining it all over, trying to decipher what it was made of—essentially the same things Twilight was doing earlier before they had come, but he reached a conclusion much quicker.

His eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, crap... Twilight's going to freak if she finds out!" he said in a strained, hushed voice to himself. He glanced around and set it back down (he was very afraid of the implications of an object like that on the world, let alone the closest pony to him) while all the ponies weren't looking. Their excited voices echoed all around the room before they turned to leave, heading towards Rarity's chamber a few floors down. The door closed shut, leaving the baby dragon alone to his own devices.

He sat down on the big queen-sized bed and began to think. His two short legs dangled off the side, and he swung them alternately and idly while his mind raced.

Seeing as he was able to identify the part as a piece ejected from a circuit board, he began to wonder exactly how he was able to confirm what it was. When he was much younger, he recalled always walking around the castle whenever Twilight would fall asleep trying to catch up on her studying. He would exit the room silently and sneak downstairs, past pegasus and unicorn guards alike, and make his way down the winding halls that led all over the castle.

On one occasion he trod down a longer hall than usual. Feeling his skin underneath his scales grow cold, he remembered the temperature of the placed and actually shivered. He shook it off and closed his eyes tighter, for he had to remember.

There he was, standing before a gigantic door. It was no ordinary door, wooden and rather fragile like most doors he opened, but it was huge, seeming about ten pony-lengths wide and twice that in height. It was made of a dark grey metal, something the baby dragon had never seen in his entire life. It was gigantic, and he could see no way of opening it anywhere... except for a small button right up there.

The button was on a panel a distance above his head. It seemed to be taller than even ponies, and this frustrated him: he just had to see what was on the other side. He treaded over until it was above him, and he bunched up his muscles, summoning all his strength to jump up and reach it...

But it was too tall for him to even be able to touch the bottom of the panel. Growling to himself, he chose to look for something—anything to throw at the small red button. He began to scavenge all around, looking for something large enough to throw at it.

Finally, he found something. It was a part of a crumbled white brick about half the side of his head. It was light, too: it was perfect! So he went over in front of the dashboard and summoned all his strength once more, throwing it with unparalleled preciseness. Needless to say, it hit the button—and triggered something that made him jump.

A large noise and the radiating of rotating orange lights above him made him curl up into a ball. But the blaring noise of the alarm was only a one-shot, and he found the seemingly immovable door began to rise up, and up, and up... until it was fully open.

He walked inside this new, undiscovered room, and glanced around with wide eyes. All around him were carriages... no, they were gigantic carriage-looking things... no, they didn't look like carriages at all. They looked alien: sleek, colored silver and white and black and all sorts of monochromatic colors which were the only colors he could sense in the extremely dim atmosphere. These things were easily over fifteen pony-lengths tall, and were contained within a room that expanded in unbelievable distances in both all directions, including up. The ceiling was more than five stories tall, and more than ten times that in length and width.

The baby dragon was completely astounded. Unable to say anything, he only was able to decide to explore one of them, which he did. Scrambling over closer to the nearest one, he noticed a rusting metal ladder leading up to a sort of opening surrounded by glass near the tip of one of the sleeker ends, some sort of driver's seat. He climbed the ladder, and for a minute of panting and grunting, he finally reached the top and leaped into the rather cramped seating area.

There was barely any room for a pony within the "driver's seat", and what was in front of him made his eyes widen. All sorts of instruments, most of them circular with a needle-looking thing pointing to a certain number, with some which looked like screens which were turned off, were there, laying dormant on the console sitting before him. Above that was a perfect view of what was in front of him—if he was taller.

He stood up and began to crawl down into the lower area where a pony's hooves made contact with pedals of sorts down below. Poking them curiously, he elicited no response from the system as a whole, even when he pressed one down all the way. However, a small orange light dimly lit his surroundings underneath the dashboard of the craft, which made him notice something when he looked up...

Green. Green circuitry underneath a clear plastic encasement, which was connected directly to the controls he had seen directly in front of the seat at head level. Boy, it sure was complex...

Spike's eyes flew open. He was back in Twilight's room, and he was heaving for breath. The pieces began to fit together now. The alien thing he had examined and had drawn conclusions from, charred and torn of from the rest of its parts, was once a component of a much larger system of circuits that formed the basis of a control system on a flying aircraft. This one must have been from a failed experiment in which the craft did go up into the sky, but encountered a malfunction high up into the air and exploded. Burn marks...

The Princesses must have been quick to act if they wanted to hide something of this magnitude. They would have cleaned up every trace of the wreckage they could find, except for this one, which landed in the Canterlot Forest. They wouldn't have been able to find it at all, since the forest was so vast and so easy to get lost in...

The little dragon shivered, and not from the cold wafting in from the open window beside the large bed. His body was trembling from the realization, and he knew he was possibly the only common being in Equestria to have known such a fact.

What would he tell Twilight?

The Truth Nopony Wanted to Hear

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people."

~ Spencer Johnson

—————

All around, ponies everywhere were hard at work at their instruments. Bright lights illuminated the area, which appeared to be a large, circular room with a ceiling about two-and-a-half pony-lengths tall. Every instrument had at least one pony working on it, and all the instruments wrapped around the outer edge of the room, with bright, sleek lights and holographic displays presented a wealth of information regarding what was all around.

A long island sat in front of a huge window that took up one entire area of the room, with three ponies taking the controls that were provided there. They were separated equally from each other, with the middle Earth stallion as the helmsman, the unicorn mare on his right as the navigator, and the Earth pony mare on his left as the radar overseer.

Behind the stallions, a distance away, on the elevated middle of the large, circular room, was a rotating chair with all sorts of instruments encircling it. Hologram HUDs surrounded the upper area, easily able to be controlled with the flick of a hoof or by direct magic, while there were many different buttons and whatnot on the arm/hoofrests on either side.

To tell the truth, it looked exactly like the Starship Enterprise's control room. And yes, it was true that they were on a ship — a space-faring warship armed to the teeth with weapons unseen by the likes of any beings. They were that advanced. However, this was not Pony Trek or any sci-fi television series back in Equestria: this was real life.

A few moments later, the captain of the ship, a unicorn stallion with a dark blue coat, black hair, brown eyes, and a planet for his cutie mark, trotted into view. At his appearance all the ponies around saluted to him, and he smiled at them all, enjoying his position of power for a moment before relieving them all. They turned back to their duties, and he turned to his; he sat down on the rather spacy chair and relaxed, enjoying the cushioning underneath his rump that the exquisite magically altered clouds provided him. He smiled and pressed a few things on the hologram before straightening up, clearing his breath. He was about to issue a brief to the entire ship.

"Ekwae et ekwoe d'ployún. Zhatte heggfáthaga Equestria indo dy zhimer'st. Parkel, baranone praepet. Tha'site ominu," he informed them all. He ended the stream to the rest of the ship and sighed softly. He knew that the Equestrian Princess needed as much help as soon as she could, so it was no surprise that his commanding officer had requested three capital ships and five freighters (full of munitions and specially trained ponies) to arrive at Equestria as soon as possible, which was two days if their calculations were correct. He sighed softly to himself and nodded to the helmsman to enter hyperspace.

The Earth stallion bowed his head low before pressing a few buttons, making sure a things were properly functioning before he disengaged the singularity brake and pulled down on a lever. The front of the ship began to seem as if it was receding from them, and so did all of time and space itself, before suddenly the aperture in front of them was filled with a bright bluish-white. He then tweaked the controls so that they could stay on autopilot for a while before he relaxed in his seat.

The captain stallion, behind him, was busy. He had brought a hologram of Equestria up near his face, sighing, using his hooves to manipulate it and hold it curiously. He gazed over every area on the planet, focusing especially on the small empire of Equestria, which was only a small upper part of a large continent. The empire had slowly been shrinking over the past 2,500 years, and he knew the Princesses were slowly losing their power, especially after Luna's banishment to the moon. He had only learned his Equestrian history during his education back at Cyprus, but it was quite a formal and rigorous curriculum that taught him everything he had to know. There was a reason why he was elected as Captain of the Royal Fleet.

In the back of his mind, he knew that if the Princesses were to remain in power, that they would have to give them tremendous help. Stealth was not an option here.

He sighed again, placing the globe back down before it disappeared. His thoughts began to wander again, and he found himself gazing at the bluish white glow of hyperspace just ahead of them before relaxing completely.

———

Back in Equestria, a certain Royal Tower was finally devoid of any activity. All the candlelight had been extinguished, no voices could be heard, and crickets chirped all around.

If she was in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle would still be studying. But here, exhausted from everything she had gone through today, having finally met up with her friends in Canterlot, and having found an exotic piece of an enigmatic mystery (and studying it), she couldn't do anything else but sleep.

She was lying peacefully on her comfortable bed, a purple blanket with all sorts of stars and constellations knitted into it pulled up and covering her to keep her warm. A gentle, warm breeze wafted through the small, open window, keeping the room in equilibrium.

She was alone in the room with a sleeping Spike, while the rest of her friends were in separate rooms and floors by themselves below her. She had told them that she was too exhausted to continue partying (much to Pinkie Pie's dejectedness), and that she would go back upstairs to sleep. True to her word, she did exactly as she said she would do, and nothing else.

When she got back up, she had found that Spike was acting a little weird. It was as if he wanted to tell her something, but just couldn't decide whether or not he really wanted to or not. Of course, she had been through and observed that kind of thing with Spike many times over before, and they always ended up badly, but this time she sensed something... different. It was as if there was something big, something severe that he wanted to tell her, yet never got around to doing so. It worried her, and she had almost fallen asleep in a cold sweat because of it. She had seen him fall asleep, and he himself seemed uneasy.

So, as a result, her dreams were filled with such worries. Her anxieties and doubting feelings took precedence over nearly everything else she felt while she slept, and it was as if she was being betrayed.

Her doubts about the Princess didn't help at all, either. Her shocked gaze, her blank stare was replaying itself in her mind, over and over and over again, which made her heart race. She had never seen her mentor in that state before, and she knew for a fact that she was definitely hiding something behind that normally straight, regal face of hers. Perhaps it had to do with the object she had shown her? The very same object she was having trouble with?

She squirmed in bed, letting out an audible whimper. What if that was true? What if everything she had known was all a lie? What if her mentor wasn't as good as she seemed?

No, that wasn't true. That couldn't be true. She forced herself to bask in these reassuring thoughts, and eventually fell back into a peaceful sleep. It would be alright. Nothing would be different, and the world she knew would remain the same.

Beside her, Spike gave a slight shudder.

———

Princess Celestia surfaced from her dreams. She kept her eyes closed, but heaved a heavy, yet contented sigh, and stretched her limbs out in front of her. The golden horseshoes she usually wore were sitting on the desk beside her floorbed, and her crown encircled them neatly.

"Mmm... sweet morning..." she breathed, nuzzling her face deeply into the comfortable velvet cushion. Outside her window, the sun hadn't risen yet, reminding her of her nonexistent duty: to raise it.

The thought made her guilty every day. Every morning, she would be reminded of the sad truth she was forced to cover up for the sake of the nation. She usually weighed the consequences and wondered if it was worth it to lie to her subjects for the sake of peace. Most of the days she considered the past action a necessary deed, yet some of the days, such as this, she was reminded of the heavy burden she was forced to carry not only on her shoulders, but deep inside her heart. It pulled on her heartstrings and even impacted a good portion of her mind, tugging on her very soul.

"Sweet, sweet morning..." she murmured again, pushing the thoughts away. She closed her eyes tighter, pushing her muzzle deeper into the bed. Even as a little filly, she enjoyed sleeping in, burning daylight, especially when she was a teenager. It was quite odd to her, remembering that her sister, the supposed Goddess of the Night, woke up earlier than she did. But when their parents died, she realized that she had to do something to keep the country in shape and in peace. She and her sister—

Her thoughts were consuming her, much to her dismay. She raised her heavy head, quickly summoning the hidden holographic clock in her room to read the time. It was much earlier than usual: the time was 4:56, which was a whole two hours before she usually woke (the sun rose by itself, anyway). But she had to do something to get the distressing thoughts out of her head.

After a minute or two she rose up to her full height, her regal, almost magical mane and tail beginning to wave through the air. She took her crown in her magical hold and placed it carefully upon her head, aligning it and fixing it proper before she brought her golden horseshoes down, stepping into them neatly. She turned her head and fluffed up her bed, making sure it was completely neat before moving to the bathroom. She gazed at herself in the mirror, carefully checking every pose she could possibly make in front of an audience, then moved on to making faces to make sure there were no blemishes on her face. When that order of business was all done she took an intricate device from the drawer and placed it over her mouth, which then proceeded to clean her teeth and tongue while freshening her morning breath. After all, nopony would want to smell that at close proximity, would they?

Pulling it away when it finished up, she smacked her lips and licked her teeth, swallowing. Now all set, she left the bathroom, then opened the door to the wide hallway leading to her room. It was grand, with circular pillars lining every side all the way down up to a large double door that opened to the main castle. A wide red carpet lined the ground between either side, softening the floor below. On either side, in places unobscured by pillars, were large windows not unlike those in the courts. Outside, the Canterlot Garden could be seen, darkened by the lack of sunlight at the current hour.

The Princess arrived at the ceiling-height double doors and glanced around to see if anypony was watching her. Relaxing a bit when that was the case, she grabbed hold of a handle and slowly, very slowly pulled, opening the door just a smidge so she could walk through with minimal noise. When that was done, she closed the door and silently strode out of the castle through a side entrance, leaving through another pair of large doors in the same way. She trekked towards the Garden, wanting to breathe some fresh air.

The moon slowly began to set as time passed. The Princess glanced around her warily while she strolled through a path, enjoying the silence the foliage in the deeper parts of the forest offered her. The wind wafted through the leaves, the sound of soft rustling soothing her ears. She dove into deep thoughts, walking without thinking through the large forest.

It had been six hundred years since the Canterlot Royal Territory was re-formed. The garden out back was extended dramatically, with most of the existing forest planted on a huge extension of the mountain formed by piling sturdy rocks and stone until a ledge hanging off of the mountain was created. The undertaking of such a massive project entailed a few hundred unicorns, plus the two Princesses themselves.

They said it was just going to be a little touch-up.

Smiling because of her thoughts, the alicorn hadn't noticed how much time had passed, nor the distance she had walked. When she opened her eyes again, the sun was beginning to rise of its own accord, and she had been walking on an unmanaged path for as long as it extended. In front of her, the end of the crumbled-away walkway ended, and, along with the treeline dramatically decreasing at this point, a huge ledge showing the bottom of the mile-and-a-half-tall mountain unfolded below. The Princess stood on the very edge of the world, experimentally kicking a rock off with her front hoof to see how long it took until it hit something.

After a few minutes, and tired of waiting, she heaved a sigh and sat down. She crossed her front hooves in front of her and watched the sun slowly rise. In a bit, she would have to be back at the castle to eat some breakfast, then look over and fill out paperwork and contracts, then listen to court for a few hours. Her only reprieve during this time would be lunch break, but then again, it was always boring sitting on the table while sipping on some coffee.

It was during this time that the same dilemma she had been weighing invisibly between her two hooves for 2,900 years manifested itself. She shook her head impatiently, wishing the feeling of guilt would go away. Surely someday the truth had to come out? She had accepted that fact while she was considering lying to all her subjects, but she hadn't thought that that day would be coming soon.

Not to mention that the Summer Sun Celebration would be in a few days.

Having been irritated by her dilemma, she stood up before spreading her wings and jumping off of the 7,000 foot drop, catching air in her beautiful feathers before she soared up into the air, riding a warm current up the mountain. She turned towards the castle and narrowed her eyes at the small shape in the distance, more than three miles away from where she was. She tucked her wings tight to herself and began a quick descent down to solid ground. If she had travelled any faster she would have created something similar to a Sonic Rainboom.

Right now, all she wanted was to drink some coffee.

———

"Wake up, Spike! It isn't very polite to sleep when our friends are standing around," came an impatient voice.

The dragon groaned softly and rubbed his head as he sat up. Twilight Sparkle had prodded his temple rather harshly with her front hoof, and that didn't really help with encouraging him to get up. But knowing that Rarity was there, watching him, along with the rest of their friends, made him sit up and climb out of bed a little faster than usual.

"Morning, Rarity. Morning, everyone," the baby dragon yawned softly, closing his eyes. Even now, his dreams were fresh in his head, and replayed themselves every time he closed his eyes. Exo-atmospheric craft, advanced technology... it made him quiver and want to break down. The Princesses had been lying to them for centuries!

Twilight Sparkle noticed that her Number One Assistant was shaking, and his eyes were closed, his head hung low. She went over to him, bringing his head up with a hoof elevating his chin. When he opened his emerald green eyes, Twilight gazed softly into them and sighed, looking especially at the dragon-slitted pupils. "Spike, tell me, is something wrong?" she asked in the most soothing voice she possibly could.

Spike broke away after she asked, and he stifled a soft sniffle. "It's nothing, you guys... I'm fine! There's nothing wrong with this here dragon..." he muttered quietly, sighing a little.

The six friends looked between and amongst each other and shrugged. Spike had never been like this before, even when he was really sad. Something must have been wrong.

Rarity was about to address the situation before Spike glanced up at her, smiling. "It's fine, really..." his eyes were truthful; he had gotten over whatever was bothering him just a few moments previous.

The alabaster unicorn relaxed her shoulder and smiled. "Oh, poor Spikey-wikey..." she nuzzled his cheek for a brief moment. "If there's anything wrong at all, don't hesitate to tell us, alright?" she murmured gently, her voice much more soothing than Twilight's could ever be.

Spike nodded a bit, seeming entranced by her beauty, before jumping when Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground.

"Alright, girls! This is it! This is when we begin decorating the Royal Hall in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration! Rarity, you have the cloth and the extremely delicate fixtures! Pinkie Pie, you've got the balloons, banners, and ingredients for the food! Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, stretch your wings out because you're going to be doing a lot of work in places we flightless ponies can't reach! And AJ! You're gonna be doing some heavy lifting, so work those legs of yours!" the lavender mare said in an almost-drill-sergeant-like tone of voice. Everypony nodded when she addressed them, and Pinkie Pie almost brought out her party cannon before she gave her the evil eye. She smirked in content and nodded to each of them. "Are you girls ready?!"

"READY!!" erupted the loud cry from the five. Spike had to close his ears from the sheer volume.

"Then let's go!!" Twilight narrowed her eyes at the door before galloping out at full speed. She ran down the spiral staircase while the other five ran to their rooms to grab their materials for the duties they would be finishing. Rarity grabbed the large roll of cloth with her magic, while she put the rest of the "extremely delicate fixtures and decorations" carefully into her saddlebags, before proceeding downstairs. Pinkie Pie grabbed all the ingredients she needed to make a gigantic cake, confetti, balloons, streamers, and many other things before bouncing downstairs not too far behind Rarity. Rainbow Dash streaked downstairs, right through the spacious spiraling staircase, leaving her signature rainbow trail, while Fluttershy whimpered behind her, trying desperately to keep up — no, trying desperately to fly. And not too far behind the sensitive yellow pegasus ran Applejack, carrying many lengths of rope in her saddlebags, among other things, to help with lifting heavy objects up high.

The six of them were fully mobilized.

When they left the tower, they galloped as one to the main Castle, with Twilight's intention to meet the Princess once more, while the others were going straight to the Royal Hall to begin decorating for the upcoming monumental event. The lavender unicorn wanted to discuss a few more things with the Princess, and hopefully with her sister as well, before getting to work with the rest of her friends.

———

The five arrived at the Royal Hall. It looked just as it did during the Grand Galloping Gala: gigantic until a point at which it was almost claustrophobic, except now, it was bright; rich sunlight poured through the large windows, bathing the checkered white-and-blue tile ground and the large red carpet that ran through it in rich color. The five mares couldn't help but "Oooh" for a moment at the spectacle that greeted them.

The two unicorn guards on either side of the entrance to the Hall didn't seem to mind them, either.

Immediately, Pinkie Pie was in the center of the room not too far from the statue Rainbow Dash had toppled over a few years ago. She grinned a wide grin and busted out her party cannon. "If we're going to decorate, we better decorate... PINKIE PIE STYLE!!!" she squealed, and loud, rapid cannon fire exploded out from it. The four other ponies jumped, and now, even the guards were startled, peeking in to see exactly what was happening.

Pinkie spun the cannon around 360 degrees, shooting confetti and streamers everywhere rapidly in the process. When she was finished, she was panting, gazing around at the work she had done.

It was almost magical: balloons of all different colors were tied to all sorts of anchors, such as chairs, tables, and torch sconces. All sorts of cloth was hung everywhere, from the tops of pillars, to high parts of walls and the like. A huge banner that read, "Happy Summer Sun Celebration!!" was neatly placed in a visible area elevated over the entrance. The ground, however, could have fared better; there was confetti everywhere.

"Ta-daaaaa!!!" she turned to her friends, her smile wider than it ever had been the entire day. She had finally been able to use her party cannon to its full extent, something she had never been able to do. Rarity couldn't hope to create such an efficient technological advancement in ages, no matter how she tried!

"Well... that's Step One," Rainbow Dash shrugged and flew around, tidying up every part of the place that was kinked, or at an angle, or untidy in general. Fluttershy was close behind her, fixing everything the athletic blue Pegasus had fixed, and catching things that she accidentally tipped over and fixing them.

Within just a few seconds after Pinkie Pie's flurry of explosions, the entire hall was abuzz in conversation and activity. Pinkie was over at the kitchen, mixing up a batter for a cake; Rarity had begun to put up some of her finer, more extravagant pieces of furniture and fixtures in places she deemed needed a "lady's touch", fixing up tables with tablecloths and aligning chairs to their proper place; Rainbow Dash was helping Applejack move unneeded things out of the way, and Fluttershy was looking over and fixing every small detail to the best of her ability.

They would be done in no time at all.

———

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was trekking around the castle. She had heard the cannon fire and almost had a nervous breakdown, before hearing voices from the same direction, coming from her friends. She dismissed it as Pinkie Pie using the very thing she had explicitly restricted her from using, but it was too late now; she couldn't do anything about it.

The unicorn was approaching the throne room, in hopes of finding the Princess(es) there at an early hour, discussing a few things. It was too early for court; only eight thirty in the morning, but she decided to go anyways. Besides, it was a good way to get reacquainted with the castle she lived in as a filly for so long.

When she reached the large room after a few long minutes of walking, she opened the doors to find that there was nopony inside. Light streamed inside, giving the room a lovely warm glow, but that wasn't why she was there. Sighing, she turned around and closed the doors tightly, sitting down on the cold tile floor for a moment to think. It made her flank freeze, but she ignored it.

Her mind spun for a few moments before she resolved that the two alicorns were eating breakfast at the dining area. She stood up and dusted her flank off, straightening out her tail, before turning into a hallway leading to the large dining hall. The hallway had white walls with no windows, but portraits of the Princesses and a few other past monarchs lined it just over head height. The unicorn giggled a bit when she saw a portrait of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as little fillies making cute little faces, and she couldn't help but wonder how long ago that was painted. She couldn't think for long though, since she trotted straight into the wooden, heavy double-doors that separated the hall from the dining room.

The noise must have been loud, since, even though the two guards only glanced at her without turning their heads, she could hear a soothing, muffled voice from inside. "Come in, Twilight Sparkle. My sister and I are just drinking some coffee together here."

Instantly, the lavender unicorn reared back and shook her head, her heart pounding from excitement. The Royal Dining Hall? She wasn't even allowed there as a filly, even though she was Celestia's protégé.

She grabbed hold of one of the handles with her magic, yanking the double doors open with some difficulty. It was a six hundred-pound set of doors, after all. When she opened her eyes, letting go of her magic, her horn glow faded and she grinned, giddy and happily when she saw her mentor standing before her with a loving twinkle in her eyes.

"Princess Celestia!" she ran forward and gave her a hug, and was given a hug in return. Though she had known the Princess for more than ninety percent of her life, she was still excited at the prospect of talking to the Goddess of the Sun every time. It was almost a dream come true; she was so lucky.

"How are you, Twilight Sparkle?" the Princess asked her with a smile. She sat back down and lifted the cup to her face, drinking from it neatly.

"I'm doing very well, and you, Princess?" Twilight answered politely, but smiled, staying where she was. She glanced over at Princess Luna, who smiled gently and approvingly at her. She didn't dare move unless either pony told her to do so.

"Come, Twilight Sparkle. Take up a seat with us," the Regent of the Moon offered happily. It was odd; to Twilight, Princess Celestia's younger sister always seemed more mischievous and a little less "proper" in her own way, almost to a sly playfulness. It was a peculiar sensation, since she was always wondering whether or not the Lunar Princess would prank her everywhere she went, even after the events of her first Nightmare Night celebration.

But now, she had to obey. And obey she did; she took up a seat opposite of the two alicorns, settling down and glancing around. She shuffled a bit nervously; the two gazes seemed to burn into her, or so she thought, making her squirm a little. Imagine two sister Princesses giving you the stare-down!

Princess Celestia was first to break the silence. "What would you like to discuss with us today, Twilight?" the whiter-than-white alicorn asked her small student. "Maybe our preferences for the Summer Sun Celebration decorations and food?" she smiled lightheartedly.

The lavender little pony grinned sheepishly up at the two, focusing on the Solar Princess much more this time around. "Well... yes, among other things. Is there anything you would specifically prefer us to do in terms of decor?" she asked, desperate to get some feedback on the subject.

"Hmm..." the older sister thought for a moment, eyes up to gaze at her floating imagination. After a few seconds she answered, a smile on her face. "Personally, I would like for my statue — yes, the same one that your friend Rainbow Dash destroyed a few years ago — to be cleaned until it is shiny. I've seen it fade in luster for years and I would really like to see it back to the way it was originally crafted. Anyway... I believe that's all I really would like you to do for us, Twilight," she finished with a nod, grinning.

"Oh! I would like to suggest a few things that may be able to improve the atmosphere of partying!" the younger sister piped up immediately after her sister stopped speaking. "If it may be arranged, I would enjoy a finely crafted Solar Cake just for us two, my sister and I, made with the finest materials! I am sure you will be able to do such a thing?" she asked, her eyes big, almost puppy-dog-like.

Twilight blinked over at her, smiling softly. "Of course, Princess Luna, I would be honored to make that happen," she bowed her head low for a moment before straightening up.

"Oh— Would you like to have some coffee, Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked thoughtfully, offering her a cup she was about to pour some black coffee in. There were all sorts of different creamers in a bowl in the middle of the large table.

In fact, the Royal Dining Hall was massive: it was half as big as the Royal Hall where the Summer Sun Celebration party was to take place itself. The three ponies were, in fact, just sitting at the very tip of the long table which extended more than three hundred feet to the edge of the table to the wall where a window provided ample light to assist the torches and candles above.

The little pony thought for a moment before accepting the offer. "I could really use some coffee right now, Princess," she smiled, letting loose a huge yawn that told the Princess she had been partying with her friends all night. She had arrived late in Canterlot in any case, and a get-together party with her friends was much-needed, or, according to Pinkie Pie, it was.

She nodded and placed the cup in front of her student, pouring a generous amount of coffee in, almost until the tip, but making sure there was space for the coffee creamer. From there, the lavender unicorn took over, taking three tiny containers and opening them, pouring them simultaneously into her coffee. She took a silver spoon and stirred the coffee until it was uniform in color, and she took a sip, sighing in content when the warmth flowed into her stomach.

"So, Twilight. What else would you like to talk to us about?" Princess Celestia asked, smiling softly at her student. The incident last night was in the back of her mind, and she was open to any sorts of conversation without restrictions. Of course, this also meant that she was off guard.

"Well..." she sighed a bit and straightened up, her face turning serious. "Princess, I ran some tests on the object I found last night and came to no definite conclusion as to what it was. Don't you think that's a little odd?"

The Princess's eyes widened in shock, large enough for her student to see, but she quickly hid it, pretending as if nothing had happened. She hadn't seen it coming, and definitely decided inside to keep on guard. She took a sip of her coffee and sighed softly, placing it neatly back down on the small plate.

Even Princess Luna flinched visibly beside her sister, but was quicker to hide her shock at the mention of the subject.

"Well..." the Regent of the Sun began vigilantly. "There are a few things in this world, this Equestria, this nation, that ponies have yet to discover. It seems you may have a new material in your hooves that nopony has discovered yet," she smiled, trying to deviate the stream of conversation towards something scientific so as to distract the studious pony.

But Twilight Sparkle had noticed her mentor's reaction. Doubts manifested in her mind, much like the previous time, but this time, instead of dismissing them, she continued on, desperate to know something she probably wasn't supposed to. "What kind of material, Princess?" she began in a low voice, edgily.

The Princess glanced quickly over at her sister before back at her student. She gave a small, invisible quiver, and gave a soft sigh. She wouldn't hold out for long against an inquisitive pony of her caliber, so she would only have one last successful chance to derail the topic before she was forced to tell this unicorn, this beloved lavender unicorn of hers, this most faithful student and protégé of hers, the truth.

"Well, Twilight, you see, I think it's time that ponies began on the path to scientific and technological advancement, instead of staying in the dark ages like they have been for three thousand years. This is a responsibility I will personally head, as Princess of Equestria," she said firmly, gaze locked on the doubtful little pony in front of her. That was her last ditch effort to change the pony's thoughts, but at once she knew that it had been utterly unsuccessful.

"Princess..." Twilight herself gulped. Now, instead of her doubts subsiding, they transformed and manifested themselves as an act of open rebellion to her own teacher. There was something missing, something everypony should have known, yet didn't, and she was determined to find out what. "Princess Celestia, I know you're trying to make me change my mind so that you wouldn't be forced to tell me a lie. I know you..." she shuddered, sounding as if she was lecturing a pony younger than her. She glanced up at her mentor to see if she had become upset at what she had just said, yet she saw nothing except for the intent gaze of the Goddess — or was she? — on her.

"Please tell me the truth..."

At those words, the Princess knew the time had come. Her thoughts churned; she knew she had flinched and blanked out enough to give her student the notion that she was hiding something, which she was. If she were to tell a lie at this stage, the unicorn would be sure to pick it up, and the love that the two shared would most likely shatter in a single instant.

Yet, if she told the truth, something bad — no, something worse would happen. It was a difficult fight...

But eventually she made up her mind.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and formulated her words before opening them again to speak to her beloved student; her daughter, almost.

The lavender unicorn was still gazing up at her intently, with doubt creeping into her gaze.

"Twilight Sparkle..." she began. "I am... so, so sorry to have been lying to you all these years..."

Her student just continued to gaze at her motionlessly, absorbing every single word.

"I am also sorry for lying to all my subjects. You see... I am not a Goddess. I do not control the sun, nor my sister, the moon. We are but two gifted unicorn pegasi who were given the responsibility of upholding the nation, lest it boil down to chaos and discord. We had no choice— please understand..."

And yet, her student just continued to gaze at her beloved mentor, the doubt in her eyes mutating into blatant disgust and distrust.

Princess Celestia closed her eyes and looked away from her student, finally beginning to break under the pressure that was being applied to her for three thousand years.

The Fate of Equestria

"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."

~ George Orwell

—————

"Just give her some time..." Princess Luna whispered softly, gently nudging her sister's shoulder with a light prod.

Princess Celestia did not respond at all. Instead, she watched Twilight Sparkle with calculating eyes fixed on her, but she couldn't help but shiver in slight fear for what might happen next.

As a filly, Twilight was known to be one of the most destructive unicorns in terms of magical ability as well as emotional rage. She had, in fact, hurt the Princess in one of her temper tantrums just a few months after getting her cutie mark and being accepted into the Gifted Unicorns division of the Canterlot Academy. It had taken ten unicorn guards and the Princess herself to get the angry filly to calm down, but when she did, she was her old self once more.

But Celestia herself knew firsthand how dangerous of a pony Twilight could be. And she didn't want to risk anything, she didn't want to walk away from the traumatized unicorn during her time of need. She glanced over at her younger sister and shook her head firmly. "No," she whispered. "Sister, I have to stay here, for Twilight," she murmured softly. "I shouldn't just leave her..."

Twilight was still staring down at the table, her hooves threatening to fail her. She began to shake uncontrollably.

Luna glanced over at the quivering mare and settled back down, her eyes still fixed unwaveringly on her.

"Twilight Sparkle..." the elder sister began. "I don't want you to dislike me for this... for learning about the truth," she breathed, not daring to speak too loudly, or even use too strong of a voice lest the pony before her break even more. "I don't want you to... hate me..."

It had been three years since she had felt real fear, the last time being when she had been overpowered by pure magic might by the Queen of the Changelings. Then, she had begun to feel the beginnings of true fear, when there was a definite possibility of her being killed, but it wasn't anywhere close to the magnitude of fear she was beginning to feel now.

Loving another pony truly from the heart causes a nearly unbreakable relationship between two ponies, whether any gender, race, or philosophy. That was the Princess's case towards Twilight Sparkle: though she had been alive for almost three thousand years, when she found the gifted little lavender unicorn, her eyes were opened and she was able to find true, pure love for the first time towards another pony in millenia. It didn't matter that the relationship was only a little more than a decade old, but the Princess knew for a fact that they would be almost inseparable.

And now, it was hurting her infinitely more than she could imagine, knowing the bond between them was breaking slowly each passing second.

The unicorn slowly brought her face up, her pupils contracted and her mane already a mess. Drying tears ran down her cheeks, and she was shaking more than ever. "Hate?" she asked in an extremely low voice. It was almost a throaty, guttural growl, and her own mind was breaking along with it.

The Princess found herself moving back a little.

"Oh, Princess..." Twilight chuckled an eerie chuckle. It was almost insane, the tone of it. And yet, it was that tone that came out of her mouth. Her mouth was cracked in a crooked smile. "Princess, how could I hate a pony like you? You're smart, intelligent, crafty, witty, sly..."

Celestia's eyes slowly widened, feeling the split in her heart run down further and further as each quality Twilight was listing got worse and worse.

"...and most of all, you're a LIAR! A sick, sick, corrupt LIAR!!!" her voice built up until it grew to such an intensity that the Princess herself had to rear back and flatten her ears.

This unicorn was quite fearsome, indeed, despite her disposition.

"You will NEVER, EVER get your nation back! You deserve this for all your transgressions, you unprincipled, unethical, criminal HORSE!!" she screamed one last time before she panted, out of breath, staring down at the ground between the bench and the table.

The two pseudo-Goddesses only stared at the small pony with mouths agape and eyes wide. Even Princess Celestia Herself could not believe what had just happened before her eyes, that a small lavender unicorn had just insulted her— no, the entire diarchy itself more than any other pony had ever done so before; even more so than the scathing criticisms she received as Ruler of Equestria to help bring the nation together with Discord roaming about.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle continued to stare at the shiny marble floor underneath the long table. Her pupils were tiny, and she had begun to overheat, making her pant and sweat a little. Her heart was pounding, and she didn't know what she would do anymore, for the rest of what seemed to be her puny, insignificant little life. Her world had ended, and she could trust nopony in the entire world anymore; not the Princess, nor herself, not even her friends.

It was a sad spectacle, but for Twilight, it was the truth... and she didn't want to face it.

Without another word, she gingerly left the table and hobbled out of the Royal Dining Room to go and sulk in her room upstairs.

But the shaken Regent of the Sun didn't stop.

"Twilight Sparkle..." the Princess said her name aloud, wanting her to come back.

The lavender unicorn almost didn't hear her, but when she realized somepony had been calling her name, she stopped and looked around, her eyes unfocused and her field of vision contracting inwards. She saw nopony until she turned her gaze back towards the Dining Room door.

There, the regal Princess Celestia was cautiously approaching her, her body low and her attitude apprehensive. She wanted to say sorry to her protégé, to try to comfort her and use logical reasoning to help her recover, not for her own sake, but for her student's. At the present moment, she cared for nothing except the forgiveness of the closest pony she had ever held a relationship together with in her life. "Twilight, please, listen to me..."

The Princess was almost begging; from close behind, her younger sister followed, eyes wide as well. This was the first time in three thousand years she had ever seen her elder sister like this, the previous time being when she had been at the incident of their parents' death by Discord's doings. But now, she seemed even more shaky and scared, as her legs had begun to quiver, looking unstable.

But Twilight Sparkle didn't notice the begging that was coming from her mentor. Instead, her mind twisted what her eyes perceived and replaced it with the notion that the Princess was advancing towards her, wanting to kill her. Her breathing became heavy once more and she whimpered, slowly backing away from the towering alicorn before her. Her ears were down and her head was down low. "N-No, don't kill m-me...!" she began to hyperventilate. She had reached her true breaking point, at least a thousand times worse than what had triggered her tantrum as a young filly, and this time, there were no guards who could stop her, no two alicorns who could stand a chance against her.

She was the embodiment of the Element of Magic, after all — she was magic.

But the Princess seemed to put that thought on the back burner as she continued to advance towards her student, apprehensive yet determined to get her to think straight. "Twilight, I am not going to kill you. I just want you to hear my words and use reason to think about this, not your emotions!" she tried to think up of a sentence that would hopefully calm the unicorn down, but she couldn't find any such thing. She began to become more and more desperate, especially after seeing the terrified, distrustful gaze of her student a distance away. It broke her heart, but if she would have a chance to redeem herself later on, she might as well try now.

"NO! Go away, I don't want to talk to you or be anywhere near you EVER AGAIN!!" the unicorn shrieked, backing away faster and faster. She was thinking furiously, knowing that she would have to navigate through the large hallways until she would be able to get to the exit, and, given the current state of her mind, it would be very difficult for her to rationally navigate back. She would have to force herself to stay calm, lest she venture down the wrong hallway and end up deeper into the castle than she wanted to.

It could have been considered a miracle that the Royal Hall was all the way on the other end of the castle and a floor above.

The Princess knew her student's way of thinking, and she shivered a little at the possibilities she could have to keep the distraught unicorn in the castle. However, she knew that if she were to employ any of those possibilities, she would end up having numerous Royal Guards hurt or even killed. There was no way she would be willing to risk the lives of her servants when she knew that this entire situation was thanks to her.

Her horn flashed a glorious golden color akin to the sun, and she reappeared behind Twilight Sparkle, blocking the archway she was supposed to flee to to get out of the castle with a golden force field she stood safely behind. Her horn continued to glow a golden color.

"Twilight, I will not let you leave this castle until I get you thinking straight! Now, listen to me!" she gritted her teeth, her mind beginning to settle into that of a war-hardened commander instead of a gentle, understanding teacher. She almost gasped in shock at the realization, but held it in, knowing there was no going back.

The unicorn, in a horrible mental state, screamed when her teacher had disappeared in a flash of light. Looking around blindly, it took her mind a moment to realize that she had teleported, and immediately she whirled around to be greeted by a ceiling-high flickering golden force field, which the now-stern Regent of the Sun and her trembling sister hid behind. She reared back, her heart pounding even faster.

This... this was an open declaration of war. Not only had this fraudulent horse lied to her about everything she knew, everything in the history books she had read about, and every sort of love they shared, but now she dared to challenge her to a battle?!

She pieced her shattered mind back together, giving herself a new mindset and reason to be in the situation she was in, and immediately her gaze became emotionless and stern like her mentor's. Only, there was the small hint of a sly smirk on the edges of her lips, making the Princess on the other side of the boundary flinch.

"Do you really want to fight... me...?" Twilight's smirk became even more crazed and insane. Her mind became even more deranged, her deep longing to kill the Princess (which had been created upon hearing the lie) beginning to manifest itself clearly now. She wanted to get revenge for everything and everypony the Princess had lied to, and she would do it quickly and easily. After all, she was the Element of Magic, and she knew that this fight with the bogus Sun Goddess would be short, with her being the victor.

The Princess's gaze was unflinching, but deep inside she somehow knew that she was in grave danger. She glanced back at her sister for a moment, whispering, "Go..." before turning back without making sure her sister had left. She knew she had, however, as the powerful aura emanating from her sister disappeared from her side. She focused her mind and gaze back on the fuming unicorn before her, on the opposite side of her carefully constructed solar force field. It would take an extraordinary amount of magic to take it down; though she had lost her grasp of the Elements of Harmony a few millenia back, she still had shards of them within her, giving her more power than any other alicorn. She had a feeling that Twilight was underestimating her.

The lavender unicorn's gaze was unflinching as she glared rebelliously up at the teacher who had nursed her for so much of her life... and lied for a thousand times longer. She would regret everything she had done, and she would be the pony to make this dictator realize the gravity of what she had been doing for so long.

She made the first move, leaping forwards with her horn glowing a brilliant magenta. Her lips were still curved into that sinister smirk of hers, and she muttered to herself...

"Go."

—————

Princess Luna flew into the Royal Hall as fast as she could, panting. There, she could see that the five ponies were already almost done with the decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Happy laughter echoed throughout the hall, most loudly from Pinkie Pie, but to the Princess, who had arrived on the most urgent of urgent matters, had no time to attend to such simple things.

And so she addressed the situation with her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"Mares and gentlecolts! There is an extremely urgent situation taking place within this very castle. We have been called here to warn every pony of the danger that lies not but a few hundred pony-lengths away from this room," she spoke calmly, though inside she was on the verge of breaking. She only disguised it with one of the best poker faces known to ponykind, second only to her elder sister's.

All five ponies stopped what they were doing immediately and gave their full attention to the Lunar monarch who stood before them. Upon hearing her words, they broke into conversation amongst themselves, with Rarity being the first to speak up and ask a question.

"Princess, what exactly is the danger? And might I ask... where could Twilight Sparkle possibly be during a situation such as this??" the alabaster mare queried a bit nervously, glancing behind the taller pony in hopes of seeing Twilight Sparkle just behind her. Yet, she saw nothing.

Princess Luna shivered and didn't respond. Her gaze only hardened even more. "Once again, leave this castle at once, I say! We are in danger!" she called out in a louder Royal Canterlot Voice, making the five ponies flinch and gallop out of the Hall in doubtful panic, after the Princess, who had left out the front door already.

The five made it out a few seconds later, standing around near the alicorn. Up above, clouds were completely covering the sky, but it was evident by the lighting that the sun was almost about to dip below the horizon, making way for the moon above. Ironically, this Summer Sun Celebration coincided with a full moon once more (the other time being the day Nightmare Moon returned to Equestria), which made Luna's legs quiver. She wasn't a fervent believer in astrology, but she felt that it meant something bad, but she just couldn't put her hoof on exactly what it was.

Only one thing was for sure— something was going to happen very soon.

The prodding of a hoof woke the Princess up from her thoughts. She opened her eyes and turned her gaze to the pony, who happened to be Applejack. "Yes?" she asked. "What did you need?" Her eyes only made contact for a moment before they became transfixed on the entrance to the castle once more.

"Well, ahm... We didn't really get a reply from ya earlier, 'fore we left the Hall, so ahm... would y'please care to explain to us all what exactly is happ'ning inside?" the cowgirl spoke her mind, along with the four other ponies'.

Five pairs of eyes were fixed on her, but she took no notice. She began to murmur.

"Princess Celestia... Twilight Sparkle... war..." she whispered, her deep turquoise eyes still fixated on the entrance.

"What was that?" Pinkie Pie asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Um... I think she said something about..." Fluttershy gulped, before getting down low, her entire body quivering. "...w-war..."

"War? I don't believe so! Such a thing hasn't happened in Equestria for... ever!!" Rarity muttered disbelievingly. "You would all be foals to think that this 'war' is happening inside!"

"Oh, c'mon Rarity. Wouldn't it be awesome though?! Guns, explosions... ka-BOOM!! Right in the head!" Rainbow Dash nudged her shoulder with a smirk, before flying in a tight loop above the rest of the ponies. "I'd finally be able to put my amaaaaazing flying skills to good use!"

Underneath them, the ground began to quake, making the five reel backwards, with Rarity screaming, Pinkie Pie gasping, Fluttershy clinging to the ground and crying even more, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash turning their gazes to the castle.

"Obe'site heggínsipp... Difuv khatte eres auxilt..."

—————

Inside, Twilight Sparkle had broken through the solar barrier with a single lunge, her horn charged with pure magical energy reinforcing her body and using it as a ram, breaking through the solidified magic. It shattered like golden glass, raining down to the ground, where, instead of shattering, it melted and seemed to boil and evaporate into the air.

At this, the alicorn, Princess Celestia, reared back, eyes wide. She hadn't expected her barrier to be broken as if it was a wall of glass, as Twilight had done. She hadn't meant to provoke the poor unicorn. "T-Twilight! No! Stop!" she pleaded at this sudden display of power, but there was no hope for stopping this fight now. Her summoning of the force field as a means of defense had shoved the poor, broken unicorn off the edge, and there was no way she could fly down to save her — after all, the unicorn didn't want to be saved.

"There's no stopping now!!" the mare landed on her front hooves, panting, before lunging again. This time, she summoned a volley of magical energy within her, shooting four in rapid succession towards the alicorn, who was already a distance away from her.

The Princess had no time to reply with her rational mind. Her instincts kicked in and she brought another shield of arcane energy to life, absorbing the four bolts efficiently and effectively before she cast it away. She gritted her teeth, dodging away from the enraged unicorn into a smaller room that was the guards' sleeping area.

Luckily, Princess Luna had also evacuated the rest of the castle, and a multitude of guards stood tall and firm at the path leading out from the castle towards the city. They had cleared out the area, and Luna and the five friends stood safely behind the rows of guards blocking the path.

Back inside, the two ponies were fighting each other in a cramped space. Bunk beds lined the sides of the narrow, yet high-ceilinged room, and at this point, Twilight was hurling everything she could within magical reach at the alicorn who was once her teacher in an attempt to pierce her skin.

"You deserve every last bit of this, you deceitful perjurer!!" the raging Twilight shrieked, throwing an alarm clock and a paperweight at her before leaping forward, catching the dodging alicorn off guard. She clung to the unblemished, pure white back of her mentor, who yelped and tried to buck her off. But the smaller pony clung to her still, believing she had gotten her pinned, before she felt the first true physical agony she had ever felt in her entire life.

Up until now, she was convinced that Equestria was a happy place, a place filled with ponies working together for the common pursuit of happiness. Everything had been so happy and so easy, to say the least, but now her eyes were opened, and there was no forgetting what she was experiencing: pain, immobilizing pain that rendered her unable to do anything at all.

The alicorn had flown up at high speed right into the ceiling, causing a nearly spine-breaking blow to be administered to the unicorn's back. She streaked back down to the ground and landed neatly on her golden-shoed hooves, watching the falling Twilight with narrowed, merciless eyes. The unicorn fell helplessly to the ground, flailing her legs and screaming, a full forty feet from the ceiling, until the ground below unforgivingly "caught" her. Her body crumpled to the ground, her legs failing her the moment she landed, and her screaming was sickeningly cut short.

Princess Celestia flinched, her mind reeling back to its normal state when she heard her pupil's helpless screaming stop. She whimpered and galloped over to the lavender mess of a body which was lying on her side, prodding her ribcage with a hoof. "T-Twilight...?" her voice cracked.

For a few seconds, she seemed dead. But the unicorn's sides were heaving for breath, and a small glimmer of hope flared up within the Princess's heart, until...

The twisted smirk reappeared back on the once-librarian's face and her head turned to glare at the Princess. "Gotcha..." she rasped, suddenly blasting a concentrated bolt of pure, blunt energy straight into the Princess's chest.

With eyes wide in agony, the Sun Goddess careened through the air in a long arc, blazing through the door leading into the hallway before hitting a pillar. She bounced dully off of it and landed on the ground in a weak mess. Her eyes were unfocused and wide in pain, not only from the paralyzing hit from the pillar and the fall to the ground, but mostly the solid bolt of energy Twilight had shot into her chest, hitting her bluntly and rocking all her organs within. Her heart was pumping unsurely and irregularly now, and her head was swimming in pain she had never felt in a thousand years.

What she could see through her blurry vision terrified her. Just a silhouette against the bright lights within the sleeping area, Twilight Sparkle slowly advanced towards her with a distorted smile on her lips. Every step seemed to come in slow motion to the alicorn, and she tried to recover from the major blow she had received, which had shaken her to the core.

She could do nothing, and the unicorn glared down at her with disgusted, narrowed eyes. Her horn glowed magenta, illuminating the immediate area around the two. It enveloped her upper chest and lower neck, and the Princess found herself being pulled up by those places until she was level with Twilight, which made her breathing even more difficult.

"Look at you..." Twilight's pupils were contracted, and she gazed piercingly into her former mentor's dull, unfocused eyes. "You're supposed to be the great, mighty, all-powerful Goddess, Princess CELESTIA!!!" she spat mockingly. "Who are you now, huh? Beaten by a little twerp like me... don't make me laugh!"

"I'm sorry..." the Princess's voice was hoarse. She coughed, a small tear rolling off the corner of her eye and down her cheek. "I deserve this, for lying not only to all the ponies out there, but to you..."

Something inside Twilight softened, but she pushed it away, shaking her head vigorously to clear her mind. "Shut UP!" she shrieked in rage, dropping her to the ground. "Don't you even TRY to make me pity you, because I DON'T, do you understand?!" she huffed, her breaths becoming ragged and uneven once more.

The Princess closed her eyes to try to rest and recuperate. She could only hope that Twilight didn't kill her, but if that was what she was destined for, then so be it. She opened her mouth to speak. "I'm simply telling you the truth, not for the sake of gaining your mercy, Twilight Sparkle," she heaved, forcing her whole body to relax. Ancient thousand-year-old magic began its complicated works within her, healing her cells and melding together broken bones to heal her. In case she were to fight Twilight again, she needed to be at full strength to defend her life.

"You're a liar..." she growled in reply, watching every small movement of the alicorn before her. She could feel the spirit within her regenerating somehow, but she ignored it, keeping on guard. She would kill her eventually, and she would make it as slow and painful as possible. Her mind was still fixed on the belief that she needed to pay for her transgressions to the ponies of Equestria.

By now, she had stalled enough that she was almost in tip-top shape once more. She breathed a deep breath, feeling her lungs fully functional again, but she felt a tinge weaker: ancient magic did have its repercussions, especially a major healing spell like that. She was much farther from death at this point, however.

Now, she gingerly got up to stand, taking a breath. Twilight began to creep back, still glaring up at the tall alicorn standing in front of her. "I still hate you..." she growled up at the Princess.

She gazed sadly down at her student, whose mind was clouded with pain and agony— all because of her. She could have told the truth sooner at the expense of her nation's sanity, but she didn't fully want to weigh the consequences of each: either have had the whole nation hate her, or the current outcome that she was facing. She gulped and gazed out at the window to her beloved nation.

Outside, the sun was well below the horizon, and clouds obscured the stars and the moon from showing. It would have been pitch black had it not been for the lights of the city, and—

"Are you even listening to me?!" Twilight's angry voice shattered her thoughts. She growled, her horn glowing. "We aren't done here yet! That was just a little break..." she smirked.

The Princess didn't flinch, but she did tense her muscles, ready to counter in case Twilight tried anything more. She turned her gaze towards her and shook her head disapprovingly. "You really are the most stubborn mule..." she scoffed.

Twilight growled and leaped back, her horn glowing again. Though her insanity had eased off a little bit, she was still ready to use force to make Celestia realize what she had done wrong. There would be nothing anypony could do to stop her from achieving her goal.

—————

Outside, more ponies had gathered, many of them carrying lanterns to light up the dark night. A mass of townsfolk had heard the news of what was happening, and more than five hundred had begun to gather for the sake of quenching their thirst to see what the situation was.

There had been reports of shaky ground and flashing lights from within the dark castle. Many of the town's guards had come to the scene to keep things under control as well, and "DO NOT CROSS" tape was placed in front of the gate to discourage ponies from going in.

Inside the gate, standing on the paths, were the different divisions of Royal Guards, ranging from spellcasting unicorns to high-flying pegasi, each specialized in their own thing to make for a very effective fighting force. Behind the rows of guards were the five ponies and Princess Luna, who was overseeing the entire situation, including locking the area down and keeping the safety of the city ponies the top priority. There would be no injuries under her watch.

"I can only imagine what is going on within those walls," Rarity shivered. It had taken her a while, but reality was dawning on her, and she was beginning to accept the disappearance of Twilight Sparkle as a sign that she was in there, fighting the Princess herself.

Why? Why would she be doing such a thing? She was the caregiver to the entire Equestrian nation, the matriarch to all ponies to give their thanks to for every day. She couldn't even begin to comprehend the reasons behind Twilight's act of aggression towards her, which only Princess Luna, the Royal Guards, and the five friends knew about.

"Ah can't believe Twi would be doin' somethin' like this! We've got to reason or somethin' with her when she gets back!" Applejack narrowed her eyes in determination, but deep inside doubt was also beginning to take hold. If she gets back... she thought to herself.

Pinkie Pie was clinging to Fluttershy, both of them traumatized by the new information they deduced. "Oh my gosh, Twilight's going to DIE! She's gonna die, she's gonna die, she's GONNA DIE!!!" Pinkie's fast-paced whimpers turned into full-fledged wailing. This was no joke: Twilight was definitely on the verge of death, or so it seemed, in a battle against the Equestrian Princess.

Underneath her, Fluttershy had no more tears left to cry, so she was reduced to whimpering with her hooves shielding her face. "Oh, Twilight...!" her soft voice couldn't properly convey her anguish. "Please stop!"

Rainbow Dash was above the other ponies, hovering over the five below. She was seeing something, and her eyes were fixed on the entrance where she was seeing it.

Barely visible flashes of light began to emanate from the entrance. They seemed to unevenly alternate; first golden yellow, then three extremely rapid flashes of magenta, then one long glow of yellow, then suddenly, an extremely bright flash of magenta that lasted for several seconds and slowly faded away.

What greeted the ponies watching made many scream. The guards flinched but stood their ground. Princess Luna's heart skipped a few beats. What they saw was unbelievable.

The helpless form of Princess Celestia streaked through the air, smoke leaving a trail behind her as she tore across the yard, touching down and then skidding across a few times before she came to a complete stop a few pony-lengths in front of them. Numerous scratches, burns, missing areas of royal white, and visible bruisers covered the alicorn's visage and form.

"SISTER!" Luna shot forward, appearing by her elder's side immediately. She whimpered and tried to help her out, but was pushed back firmly by a hoof from her sister. Her eyes sparkled, and she smiled. "I'll be alright..." she wheezed for breath.

"No, she WON'T be!" a voice rasped before Luna could answer. She immediately stood up and stood in front of her sister in an attempt to stop her.

Twilight stopped advancing towards them when Princess Luna got in the way. She flinched a little, blinking over at her with a cocked head. "How is that supposed to help protect her?" she sneered.

Luna didn't reply, but waited until Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and finally Fluttershy were by her side. All five of Twilight's friends stared down at the Princess, and then up at her with mixed gazes of disbelief, anger, nervousness, and fear. Princess Luna's eyes, however, were clouded, as she stayed close beside her hurt sister.

Princess Celestia gazed up at Twilight helplessly, as if she was saying she couldn't take any more. She had two broken ribs and a bruised lung, which made it hard and quite painful to breathe. Her legs failed her, and this time, she didn't want to rely on her second ancient healing spell. She had given up all hope and lost all faith in herself, but still had a feeling that Twilight would give her a chance.

She flinched at her thought, pushing it away. No— she couldn't be that selfish. She didn't deserve a chance, and she would have considered herself justified if she were to be killed at Twilight's hooves. If not, then... she would do anything to make it up to the ponies of Equestria, with Twilight Sparkle herself on the top of that list.

Twilight gazed down at the Regent of the Sun and quivered a little. The crazed side of herself dissipated, leaving behind an ordinary lavender unicorn librarian, whose mane and tail was frazzled, whose coat was scratched and missing hair in some spots, and whose psyche was shattered and barely recognizable anymore.

She made eye contact with Princess Celestia, whose cheek paved the way for a tear rolling down until it detached from the surface, falling onto the pavement below. Her usually bright eyes were dull and full of pain now.

That, along with the gazes of the six other ponies, was enough to make her realize what she had done. Now, she began to openly cry in front of the other ponies, her legs buckling underneath her until she fell to the ground. She buried her face into the lawn she was laying down on, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. Her ears were down and tears streamed uncontrollably from her cheeks. Every now and then, she would gasp for breath between cries.

Princess Celestia gazed softly at her student, unable to help but inhale sobbingly. She had made Twilight Sparkle cry. How would the rest of the nation fare when she was forced to tell the truth, or if the truth began to spread? It wouldn't just be a simple bout of crying.

But she couldn't think of that now. Selfish thoughts aside, she felt her heart break, seeing her very own Twilight Sparkle sobbing in such a distressed manner. She knew that deep inside she still loved her, and that gave her a glimmer of hope, but that hope would have to be held back for a long time.

"I shouldn't be able to show my face here ever again," the lavender unicorn suddenly blurted out amidst her sobs. She sniffled and shivered, looking away. "Do something, Princess, please, banish me, punish me... kill me!!" she begged so heartbreakingly.

Princess Luna fixed her deep turquoise gaze on the poor unicorn, an emotion beginning to shine through: forgiveness. She knew for a fact that Twilight was truly sorry, and that if she did, she would do anything, anything to fix the situation. But she didn't want to weigh her down with any repayments, or at least, just yet. She seemed to have learned her lesson; that was the most important thing.

But Twilight seemed intent on punishing herself. Not receiving a reply, she whimpered and galloped back into the castle as fast as her hooves could carry her, through the side door and through to the Royal Canterlot Forest. She wanted to get away from everything, she wanted to jump off the mountain to kill herself, or alternatively, scale the dangerous cliff all the way down and live a life of seclusion and eternal anguish in the Everfree Forest. She would find out soon.

Princess Celestia was beginning to slip away into unconsciousness. Her younger sister and five other ponies had advised that she get some sleep, and after a bit of coercing, she finally gave up on resisting. Before she closed her eyes for a while, she whispered, just loud enough for the six immediate ponies surrounding her to hear, "Twilight Sparkle... I forgive you..."

Meanwhile, the five friends glanced amongst each other, most of them with dried tears on their cheeks. They wondered what would happen to their lavender friend, and where she had gone.

Without her, what would they do?

The Visit

"The heavens call to you, and circle about you, displaying to you their eternal splendors, and your eye gazes only to earth."

~ Dante Alighieri

—————

"Bring me to the infirmary," came the weak, pain-filled voice of the Ruler of the Sun. She was on her side, wheezing for breath, but kept her breaths slow and steady to calm her body down, trying her best to decrease the chances of any trauma from entering her body. "Please..."

Princess Luna took a moment to reply before she nodded. She occasionally glanced up at the entrance of the castle where Twilight Sparkle had left, unable to keep her curious eyes away. Her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts and what-if instances, but soon enough, she regained herself. "Of course, big sister," she replied solemnly. She summoned a group of unicorn guards, who lifted her up onto a weightless but infinitely strong stretcher made of arcane energy.

They carried her away into the infirmary, while the younger Princess stayed back with the other five ponies.

They were still whispering and talking amongst themselves. With the situation still unbeknownst to any of them, they began to rapidly think of various, sometimes crazy theories about what had happened and what had caused Twilight Sparkle to act the way she had.

After all, it had been so out-of-character, something like that coming from a mellow, introverted soul like hers. And even more intriguing, why had she chosen to attack Princess Celestia, of all ponies? She was her teacher, her idol; a Goddess. And why had she attacked a soul like that? It just didn't make sense.

"Oh, shush, dear, you probably don't even know half the story! None of us do!" Rarity shooed away a surprisingly radical hypothesis that Fluttershy had quietly brought forward.

The shy pegasus barely nodded, and kept her face plastered to the ground, her hooves covering herself.

"I guess we'll find out soon..." Pinkie Pie sniffled, her mane deflated and usually bright blue eyes, now somber and sad, staring at a single strand of grass she found more interesting than the millions of others in the expansive yard. She laid down and nosed it, keeping back the urge to sneeze when it went up her nostril.

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, seemed to stare fixedly at one point in the sky where five stars twinkled, while her dark magenta eyes were dull and unfocused.

—————

Princess Luna licked her lips nervously as she sat beside an occupied hospital bed. Her sister was connected to an EKG, and a mask was secured onto her face, supplying her oxygen from an almost silent converter built into the complicated bed itself.

Most of her deep cuts had healed, leaving only small red marks on what was bare on the tufts of her skin. Her once beautiful, royal white coat was now burned and blackened in some places, spotted brown from having been launched onto the lawn, and missing hair, as in the case of her scratches and scrapes. Her beautiful pink-to-green-to-blue hair had even lost a bit of its sparkle and shine.

She had fallen unconscious from the damage she had taken. The battle was intense and furious; there were numerous burn marks on the walls from where Twilight had shot her and missed, and from where she herself had shot and missed Twilight. Many velvet curtains had caught on fire, two chandeliers had fallen, seven rooms lay completely decimated, and two ponies were worse off mentally than physically because of the affair. After all, it wasn't the physical pain that bothered the Princess — it wasn't anything like that at all. Right now, she was truly just wondering whether or not her beloved student would ever come to accept her again, let alone her nation if they were ever to find out.

Her thoughts were cut short by a sudden bright light that filled her field of vision.

She gasped awake, but found herself, instead of on the hospital bed she expected to be lying down on, on a supple white sheet of infinitely thin material riding along the currents of time and space. All the galaxies of the universe were revealed before her eyes, which were wide and disbelieving. The entire universe seemed to be in her control.

The thin sheet bent along with the ripples of the four dimensions themselves, and suddenly she felt the instantaneous need, the urge, to stand up.

And so she did. Having expected her legs to feel weak and flimsy, they instead reacted responsively, steadying her in the blink of an eye. She glanced on either side of herself and extended her large wings wide, smiling in ecstasy as she felt the forces of the universe being gathered into her wings, her wings. Oh, the power she felt, the awe-inspiring power that she wished would last forever...

No.

She forced herself to stop. Shivering softly, she weighed her responsibilities as Princess of Equestria before basking in the powers of an unbridled, true deity like their mother and father before her. She knew she could never be like them: that was something she had accepted from the beginning.

Tucking her wings back into their rested position, Celestia blinked around the marvelous place. Why had she been brought here? Was she dreaming? Was she perceiving a vision that some alien force had relayed to her?

Ah, yes. The aliens... the ponies from Equestria she had given the green-light to advance technologically 2,439 years ago, and who had gone to colonize the galaxy from then on. She was just about to think deeper about the different possibilities when something else disturbed her thoughts; something physical. Something close.

Do you truly believe you are a deity? came a sneering chuckle that seemed to echo all around the universe and throughout her.

Princess Celestia shivered in slight fear, whirling around to find where the voice had come from. After scanning every possible direction she could, unable to find anything, she narrowed her eyes and responded, as if talking to a pony just in front of her, "I do not believe I am a deity, yet I do accept the duties and responsibilities of one," she responded truthfully. She still continued to glance around, wondering if the same thing, whatever it was, which was speaking, would reveal itself to her in physical form.

Hmmm. Wise words, as expected, from the great Princess Celestia, the voice replied. To the Princess, it felt as if the voice was smiling at her, intrigued and pleased by the work she had done her whole life. However, how am I to know that you are telling the truth? it asked.

The Princess stared down at the slowly waving sheet (the same motion as her hair) before letting out a breath. She didn't let her gaze move a single inch. "My ambition to become a deity died with our parents. I knew that I couldn't possibly ever be in a situation like that, with everypony coming to me just to steal my power, or take my place as Supreme Ruler, or anything like that. I stopped wanting to be a Princess when I finally faced the truth: the truth that the nation was in a horrible state and I had to provide for everything everypony needed... and yet, I was able to succeed."

But, you must have a problem, otherwise you would not be so troubled. Speak your mind, came the reply, much less sneering and more attentive and curious now.

She closed her eyes and sighed, laying down on the sheet of five-dimensional space. "One of my dearest students found out the truth about my lying. She doesn't yet truly understand why exactly I did such a thing, but she is upset and distressed beyond anything I've ever seen in my life. And it was all because of me; I did that to her three thousand years ago with my proclamation of being a Goddess for Equestria, for its sake. But yet she still does not understand; I must make her understand...!"

There was no reply for a minute, or an eternity, whichever made more sense. The voice still did not coalesce into a physical form, but the galaxies of the whole universe still surrounded themselves around the Princess, who gazed around in awe and curiosity.

Give her time. Time heals all wounds. She will learn when she is ready, the voice murmured, much softer now. Princess Celestia. Do not force change. Let things fall into place. You should not rush the forces of nature, lest you will ruin the cycle of harmony that exists between everything in this universe. So far, everything you have done is right. But this is but the beginning. You will endure many more tests before everything will return the way it used to be. Peace will only be achieved once you accept what it is you have not accepted yet.

The Princess flicked her ear and bowed her head down low, nodding solemnly and beginning to think about what it was about herself she had not accepted yet—

Wait, what was even happening? She had been in the oddest situation the whole time and yet didn't notice anything peculiar about it! Was she dreaming?

"Wha—"

———

She bolted up on her hospital head, almost hyperventilating. Her pupils were just tiny dots and her breathing was ragged. The EKG beside her began to beep rapidly, which woke Princess Luna up, who had dozed off beside her on a small chair.

The Princess of the Night bolted up as well, hurriedly turning to her sister to try to calm her down. The sudden occurrence had caused her to become quite nervous as well. "Big sister! Calm yourself down! It is me, Princess Luna!" she gritted her teeth, hoping her pleas of help would calm the despairing Solar Princess.

Slowly but surely, the elder sister's breathing slowed until it was back to a normal frequency. The pupils in her eyes and the muscles in her body relaxed, and her heart rate levelled out as well. She finally came back into reality, still breathing deeply. "What happened? Where am I...?" She was still quite confused.

Luna sighed and gently placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder. "Sister, you fell into a coma five days ago, after being nearly killed by Twilight Sparkle herself. She ran off somewhere into the Royal Canterlot Forest, but somehow she managed to escape the ledge down the mountain, as we were not able to find her," she filled her sister in on the details.

Celestia just nodded absently. She seemed to be completely focused on something else, something bothering her mind. "I need to ask you something," she said in a soft voice.

She leaned in, listening closely to her older sister. "Anything," she murmured.

The Solar Monarch slowly closed her eyes. "Luna of the Night... has the convoy arrived?" she said, in barely more than a whisper.

The question hung in the air for a moment before the younger sister leaned back. "Yes, they have. Three capital ships armed with nuclear and antimatter weaponry, accompanied by five freighters carrying munitions and provisions for the journey, are waiting in geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above our planet. They are standing by, waiting for orders from Your Majesty," she murmured.

Princess Celestia opened her eyes and let out a soft breath. She smiled gently at her sister. "I felt as if I was there forever..."

Luna looked uncertain. "Pardon?" she asked in confusion.

"In my mind. I felt as if I was in suspended animation for as long as time could exist," the elder sister continued. "And then... there was this bright light, and I was talking to this... this pony..." she whispered quietly. "It began to question me on so many different levels I've always found myself asking so much before, but never had the nerve to answer... but that time, I was able to answer somehow," she tried her best to explain, but knew that words could not explain what could have been going on in that plane of existence. It was simply impossible to do such a thing.

Princess Luna only stared for a minute or two, before finally speaking. "What shall we do?" she asked.

The snow-white pony gazed out the window, where the moon was full and high in the sky. She could see eight glinting dots of light shimmering a distance to the right of the moon from her perspective. She was thinking of what to say.

Luna continued to wait patiently.

Finally, Celestia answered.

"Luna, I'm giving you my full power as Regent of the Sun. Our diarchy will now be your monarchy, with every decision made as yours. I am afraid I can no longer fulfill my duty as Princess of Equestria; for I am too old and plagued and haunted by old decisions that have carried on to this day. I believe that the nation needs a young, fresh ruler like you to rejuvenate every pony. Every decision will be made by you," she finished, taking a deep breath and sighing.

Luna flinched, but before she could do anything, she felt a power overcome her. She could feel a magical force pulling her nocturnal crown off of her head, with a taller, wider, golden crown taking its place, wrapping in front of her ears instead of tucked behind; the gold itself melted into the color of the blackest night. Her chest-and-shoulder guards were taken off, replaced by a brilliant golden one with a brilliant amethyst jewel in front, before the whole thing changed color into the pitchest of pitch blacks, starting from the corners and growing into the middle like a fire spreading through a forest. The jewel disappeared and resurfaced as a brilliant golden-yellow color, before one quarter of the emblem was shaded black, much like a crescent moon: a quarter of the sun itself was shrouded in night's embracing darkness. Her onyx horseshoes changed, as well; they felt much lighter and more durable now, as if she could jump higher and fly faster than she ever could before.

When the transformation was complete, she opened her eyes and flinched a little.

Before her lay the great Princess Celestia, once a powerful goddess, now just, and always had been, a normal pony. Instead of the beautiful colors of emerald green, sapphire blue, dazzling turquoise, and cotton-candy pink emanating and swirling through her glorious mane, there was only the cotton-candy pink color left, albeit with a bit of a duller shade. Her eyes told a similar story in that the shade of magenta was now a lot less bright and mischievous as it used to be, and her almost-blinding white coat was now just a plain old snow-white color.

Princess Luna, however, had completely changed. It was as if Nightmare Moon had come back from exile, yet at the same time it was not. The little sister was now almost as tall as Celestia herself used to be, adorned with a gleaming, black crown, a pitch-dark chestpiece, and almost Hermes-powered horseshoes. Her horn had more vicious twists in it and was longer than before, and she felt as if she had almost double the wingspan she had possessed beforehand. She held the power of the sun and moon in her hooves— yet, not quite.

Her elder sister couldn't help but smile weakly, but proudly, at her younger sister. "I wouldn't have believed it if somepony told me you were going to be a Princess," she remarked in good humor. Sighing softly, the once-Goddess sat up and stared at the opposite wall of the room.

Luna did not know what to say. "B-But, big sister!" she stuttered. "H-How am I supposed to perform my duties? Your d-duties??" she queried nervously. She was overwhelmed by everything that had taken place, and it was as if she right now couldn't cope with the situation. "Why did you give your powers and responsibilities to me?"

Princess Celestia— no, Celestia, gave a soft sigh. She no longer had her royal chestpiece, horseshoes, or crown, and her hair was flowing much less now. She gazed over at her sister. "Because I trust that you will keep this nation intact. No matter what happens to you or any pony within its boundaries," she murmured.

Princess Luna stared at her, mouth agape. She finally managed to come to her senses a moment later. "What will happen to you, then?"

Celestia slid off the bed, getting wobbly to her hooves. She found her footing and stretched her limbs, gazing softly at Princess Luna, who was now of equal height to her. She had to think for a moment before speaking. "I'm going to go out for a long walk," she responded. "Don't try to follow me, or get any other pony to track me down," she chuckled gently. "I'll be fine."

And without another word, she left the hospital room and trotted down the hall. She disappeared.

The still-dumbfounded Princess Luna clenched her jaw. A tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

She didn't want to accept everything that had come, but she knew she would be forced to in the future. She would have to brave all the obstacles — and possibly more than — her sister had faced in the past, but it was a new generation, a new life. She would have to forge new ways to cope with the reality that had befallen her.

"Goodbye, big sister," she sniffled through gritted teeth, before leaving the infirmary. With one last glance towards the ruffled bed, she used her magic to straighten the sheets out and align everything nearby, before leaving the room.

———

22,236 miles above the surface, eight ships waited in standby. Many had been gazing in wonder at the planet below them since their arrival a few hours ago.

They had all heard of the grave news that the Equestrian Princess, Her Majesty, Celestia of the Sun, had almost been killed in action fighting a pony who was once her protégé, a unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle. Now considered an enemy, they all had their profile and knew everything about her: her height, weight, intellectual capabilities, degrees in education, and the like. She was declared as a shoot-on-sight, dead or alive target that had to be eliminated at all costs for the sake of the nation.

But that news was put on the back burner once they saw the planet once more.

Seas covered about 76 percent of the surface of the planet. Beautiful, wispy white clouds lined the sky in random places, while the landmasses that were exposed were of all sorts of color.

Not very surprisingly, Equestria, a 1.2 million square mile country taking a cross-section of a larger continent, was one of the greenest areas of the entire world. South of it, which the ponies knew as 'Dragon Territory', was a complete desert, golden-brown and even red in some areas. Their unorganized territory extended all the way south, just past the Tropic of Capricorn, and was about 7 million square miles.

Many ponies below had not dared to venture anywhere past their green pastures, but almost no pony acknowledged the existence of another continent on the other side of the world. A 26 million square mile landmass dominated the whole other side, with many patches of land of varying colors. Most lands north were white with snow, almost glistening, while many temperate zones were light green and green, and equatorial areas varying in color; it was just as diverse as the smaller continent on the other side of the planet.

And yet, both sides were ignorant to each other's existence.

Which made it the perfect place to strategically mobilize their troops.

Their game plan was set up from the beginning: they would stay there and build up their resources, build cities, and establish themselves as a world superpower without making their presence known to the Equestrians. It was the perfect land to build, thrive, and strike from afar: their bases would be superb and hold out indefinitely against the primitive ponies of Equestria in case civil war did break loose, and they did manage to find the other mass of land on the other side of the planet.

Eager thoughts and assumptions of the amazing world below coursed through the minds of the ponies who continued to gaze out the windows to the glowing blue planet. Before they could finish their thoughts, however, they were rudely interrupted by an extremely important, encrypted call waiting to be answered from Princess Luna.

The captain of the ship, still sitting on his captain's chair, blinked in confusion. If it had come from Equestria, it had to be Princess Celestia calling; wondering what the problem was, he answered the video call, with Princess Luna's face taking up the main window as a holographic display took its place as an overlay.

"Princess Celestia has stepped down and given me the power of the Diarchy. She has declared herself to be LIA: lost in action. I request that your eight ships land on the continent on the other side of this planet known as Abdvarsé. Set your troops and resources up and establish a presence there immediately," Princess Luna didn't waste a second explaining her orders to the ponies who were awaiting them. But when she got no reply, she realized why the faces who were looking back at her were so confused. She would have to say her orders once more.

They really needed to set up an automatic translation device on every pony communicating between tongues.

"Opou'te Puelga d'Selestiumún?" the captain asked the newly appointed Princess. He was wondering exactly why Celestia, the traditional ruler, wasn't there.

Princess Luna sighed and began to reiterate her orders, but began by answering the stallion's question. "Vet'te hert null. Iterum, ya bittel da ke eyev terre in'terrún d'Abdvarsé. Praepe ihyabbágey exetts'st et auxyue, et doeme meggal polei ad'gatisom ihyabbágey potens indo'tinplu'ún. Parkel, ihyabb auxilte... Ekwae et ekwoe, bonfortu," she saluted them with her last word, wishing them luck.

The screen faded out to reveal the glittering stars of space beyond.

On the chair, the stallion heaved a soft sigh. He narrowed his eyes at the large portion of land waiting below for them, and he thought for a moment, weighing the consequences of various decisions he could possibly make for his whole convoy. When he made amends and cleared everything else up, he smiled and relaxed.

"Ihyabb'te hert... Equestria..."

Uncertainty and Doubt

"The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things."

~ George Bernard Shaw

—————

Nighttime had come for all the ponies in Equestria. The sun sunk down low beyond the horizon, and what light was left was a brilliant pinkish purple that melded together with the dark indigo night sky. Up above, the moon cast a soft silvery white light that illuminated the ground just a bit. Beyond it, the stars gleamed and twinkled, with most of them concentrated in a milky white band of light that stretched overhead.

All but three ponies still believed that it was Princess Celestia who had brought the sun down, and Princess Luna who had brought the moon up. Everypony else lived their life in blissful ignorance. Mares tucked their fillies and colts into bed, reading them bedtime stories such as "The Great and Powerful Princess Celestia", and stallions retired to their own beds to sleep.

The bustling activity of the day in Canterlot had worn down completely. The streets were empty; carriages were nonexistent at this time of night, and there could only be two or three ponies seen trotting down the sidewalks along any given lane. Everypony had gone home to have a good night's rest, relaxing from a hard day's work, with many ponies having much more work than others.

The sun had gone on this side of the planet. However, on the other side, the first day of a new age was just beginning.

Here, the squirrels in the trees continued to live their own lives like it was just another day. The birds in the trees sang their beautiful songs, the bunnies on the ground conversed among themselves, and the nocturnal predators of the night were peacefully sleeping. Everything was in perfect harmony. There was no pain, no loss, and no suffering around these parts. Up in the sky, there were no clouds. The sun shone its bright, unbridled rays down to the ground, warming the plants and animals that lived in it.

A single grayish-black shape seemed to suddenly appear, high in the sky. It grew larger and larger, almost obscured by the sun, until it suddenly split off into eight shapes, three of which were larger than the others, and one particular one of the three much bigger than the rest combined. Those eight continued to grow bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until they cast a shadow on the forest below.

The squirrels sitting on the branches glanced up in confusion. The bunnies twitched their ears and flinched before scattering. The birds in the trees stopped singing completely, flying away into safer and more shadowed places, and even the predators sensed the disturbance and burrowed deeper into whatever homes they were sleeping in.

Now, the shadows had become visible and pronounced forms. They were descending to the ground slowly but surely, and they appeared to be technological marvels. The five smaller ones were all identical bulkier and seemed to be used mainly for transporting cargo, such as food or supplies. The two larger ones were identical as well, and, shockingly, were bristling with what looked like cannons of sorts. What looked like a control center sat atop the levitating spacecraft, as it slowly travelled along the ground, causing the air and ground to rumble.

But it was the largest ship that struck fear into all the animals that saw it.

Not only was it bristling with even more cannons and weaponry than the other two, but it was what was within the ship itself that made all the wildlife run for the hills.

Inside were what appeared to be ponies. The very same ponies that the wildlife, sixty thousand years ago, during the Great Migration and the Last Ice Age, fought to keep off their land. And now that they were returning, virtually infinitely more powerful than they were before, there was nothing they could do but wait for the inevitable.

—————

Inside the main ship, known as the Stargazer, the Ceylonian ponies inside were being briefed as to what their assignment was. Clearly, what they were tasked to do was gain as much land as possible in this huge continent, and take down any opposition there was. Their long-term goals, however, were a bit more surprising.

According to their briefing holograms (watch-like objects projecting holograms that fit over any pony's non-dominant foreleg just above the hoof), one such long-term goal was to set up strategic outposts that would have the advantage of attacking Equestria without warning.

One unicorn stallion seemed unsure of the plan and stood up to protest. His short golden hair contrasted with his gray coat, and his bright green eyes quivered.

"Giate ihyabb pusidd impeta da?" he asked, his voice quivering.

The unicorn with a dark blue coat, black hair, and brown eyes in front, the captain of the ship and the Royal Fleet who had been ordered to send this fleet to Equestria, paused in his slow pacing to shoot a harsh glance at the young stallion. There would be no questioning his orders here. "Fase sik'ikha dygaitet," he muttered.

But the stallion continued to stand up. He knew this was wrong, he knew that it was definitely a wrong move to attack and harm civilian ponies, no matter their political position to his advanced civilization's greater power. It was morally wrong to kill mares and their foals for no reason but to instill fear into the enemy. Even if that nation were to descend into discord and chaos, mindlessly killing without discrimination was still out of the question. There could be no other purpose for these such bases and forts except to counterattack if even a single bit of territory was threatened.

Their presence would rule like an iron fist. This simply wasn't something he could live with. He glared at the captain of the ship in contempt, his muscles twitching. It would either be total war and total indigenous subjugation, or peaceful relations. He would make the captain choose.

"Poyus ikha diggep da?! Paces? Vel bellen?!" he suddenly raised his voice at him. His neck outstretched in newly uncovered hatred, as the truth of this entire operation dawned on him. Would they want peace or war?

Around him, silence reigned as the ponies stared at him. Thoughts such as Why are you resisting him?! and Are you crazy? He's going to kill you if you say another word! were echoing silently throughout the room, all in response to what this pony was doing.

Clearly, the captain had had enough. He would give this rebellious pony one last chance to get back in line or get out. "Twiare ke ikha hedim..." he muttered. His horn glowed a dull gray color when he magically withdrew his pistol within the holster on his right hind leg. He took it off of safety and aimed it directly at him, with one eye closed and the other taking careful aim.

The young officer froze where he was, but thought of the consequences and sighed. He closed his eyes and murmured a few things, before glaring back up at his superior in open rebellion. He would rather die than follow these corrupt orders.

"Ya diggep null ad'sekitt thei'ord'st!" he cried out in defiance, directly into the face of the captain.

Suddenly, all he felt was a world of pain and agony. His nervous system could detect nothing except unbearable pain, pain that his own brain was unable to comprehend. He fell to the ground as a mass of gruesome flesh and bone, the blood from his body quickly draining onto the ground. Hundreds of holes punctured through his skin and organs, and what was the last recognizable part of any sort of body gave one last twitch before the life escaped it.

The captain's gun was smoking. He narrowed his eyes at the felled soldier that he felt needed no less of a punishment.

It was quite wonderful to him how effective a depleted uranium internal shotgun shell could be to a pony. The moment the bullet hit skin, it ejected hundreds of pieces of shrapnel that did nothing but rip throughout the body. It didn't even stop there by going out the other side; whenever it hit the outer epidermis it would simply bounce right back into a random direction back into the body, ricocheting amongst every organ it had the mind to savagely impale. Only when all of its energy had been used up would it finally stop within the victim's completely helpless body.

It caused all of this mortal damage within just a half of a second.

Reeling back to the task at hand, the captain placed his destructive pistol back in his holster. His horn finally stopped glowing that dull, almost sickening gray, and he narrowed his eyes at the body. It would have to be disposed of somehow.

"Vijekwoe. Purge únkorpe. Ya enanne the'thesi ad'esite pierg. Toras..." he growled lowly. Two guards immediately followed his orders, picking up the body and bringing it out of the room, much to the horror of the other ponies, while two more guards took the others' place to clean up the blood and guts from the ground.

While they continued to do so, the ship finally settled down on the ground, the touchdown barely felt by any ponies onboard. With a nod, the captain motioned for them to go, and they did so; off they went, grabbing their weapons and readying them. They all looked almost identical, save for a bit of their coats on their faces and their hair colors; the rest of their bodies were covered by nearly identical dark blue jumpsuits, different only in the markings of rank near each pony's collar. Information about their surroundings was relayed to them through the contact lenses they wore; they acted as holographic displays that showed information only for their eyes, undetectable and unreadable by any other ponies, even if they were to look at them directly in the eye.

They were all the same indeed, and their mission was the same: establish a presence on the planet and conquer as much of the larger continent as possible.

—————

Princess Luna sighed softly. She glanced around her office, which was once Princess Celestia's, noticing the lack of sunshiney colors. Major changes had been made, including, but not limited to the aesthetic differences in her office, such as the darker atmosphere that the new curtains over the large window behind the desk provided.

Court had been cancelled "until the government is in a better state". This meant that every pony with suggestions or reports would have to have an appointment directly with the newly installed monarch, and that the diarchy that Princess Luna and her sister had once shared was now only her monarchy.

However, despite all the changes, the government would continue to run as usual. No other changes regarding the public happened, and never would happen.

A knock snapped her out of her thoughts. She sat up straighter on the cushion, fixing up her starry mane. She cleared her throat and called out, "You may enter," in as regal a voice as she could.

She was surprised by who she saw entered. In front of her was Rainbow Dash, whose eyes looked bloodshot, as if she had been crying for a while. "Hi there... Princess Luna," she sniffled a little. Her voice sounded like it hadn't been used in quite a while.

Luna stood up immediately. She was nervous, as she hadn't seen a pony of this caliber of toughness act so sad in front of anypony, especially a princess, before. "Tell me, my child. What is your problem?" she asked. Her voice, by now, was much more mature and authoritative, yet she still remained with the same mind and attitude as before the transformation.

Rainbow Dash pressed closer to her. "We're going back to Ponyville now..." she whispered quietly, her face buried into the monarch's neck, just above her chestpiece. "We're sorry we couldn't celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration when it came by... and we're sorry that all of this had to happen..." she continued. "We don't blame you or anypony else, we don't even blame Twilight Sparkle for what she did... I'm sorry all of this had to happen...!" she quivered as she restated her previous sentence in a very pleading tone.

Princess Luna suddenly thought of what she had meant. Did she know about the secret? Did she know what Twilight Sparkle had found out that had enraged her so? Maybe Twilight had told them so that she could stage a second retaliation against the Princesses? What if it was true? What if the ponies out in Canterlot were staging a revolt right now and nopony in her administration could do anything about it?

But she forced herself to calm down, taking deep and quick audible breaths that Dash was able to pick up on quickly. She glanced up at the Princess of the Night. "Princess Luna, are you okay?" she asked, and suddenly noticed how tall and much more professional and regal she looked. She had never been this way before, had she? Her legs started to quiver but she quickly stopped them.

"It is nothing," Luna nodded down at the full-spectrumed Pegasus and smiled to reassure her. "I am sorry to see you go so soon, and yes, I do agree, it is a pity that we were not able to celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration as we should have. I should be sorry, as it was our fault, not your fault, that Twilight Sparkle had to leave. Perhaps you will see her again, won't you?" she suggested.

Rainbow shrugged. "I guess we might..." she muttered quietly, her voice cracking a bit. She bowed down low before paddling back towards the door, not once turning her flank to the Princess. "Thank you for your time, Princess. I hope we'll get to see you soon in the future..." she scooted out of the door and closed it gently with her teeth pulling the small rope on the handle.

The door closed shut, uttering a soft bump as it did so. Princess Luna was once more alone in the darker room, and she found herself beginning to think furiously. She had just realized, in spite of all the turmoil and chaos that had prevailed the past few days in her mind and the relative calmness of Canterlot and the rest of Equestria outside, that she had not seemed to mind the fact that one of the most celebrated holidays in Equestria, the Summer Sun Celebration, had not been celebrated at all. Instead, a few halls in the Canterlot Castle, including the Great Hall, had been completely wrecked as a direct result of Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia's battle.

She also began to think about the implications of the leader that millions once looked up to, leaving her post for an unknown span of time. Perhaps they thought that Princess Luna was an incompetent ruler? Perhaps she was looked down upon by members of her own administration? Perhaps, even, all the ponies of Canterlot were beginning to resent their new ruler, the very same pony that tried to overthrow their own Princess two thousand years ago? Perhaps.

Ever since Princess Celestia had left, the situation seemed more and more desperate. Luna needed help, yet she did not want to ask for guidance. She believed, she continuously told herself that she could handle it all, and yet she had begun to fall behind on her duties. She would have to step it up if she was to continue her sister's legacy.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a piercing noise coming from a small white ball sitting motionless in front of her where she was lying down. She breathed another sigh and fixed her appearance once more, before tapping on the ball with her onyx-horseshoed hoof.

The ball immediately came to life, glowing a deep electric blue before a hologram shot out from it, projected a convenient distance from the Princess's face. In it was a live holocall, and on the other side was the captain of the Royal Fleet of Celestia of Ceylon.

Upon seeing her, he bowed his head low. He reached forward, and pressed a button not in the frame of the call, and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Greetings, Newly Appointed Princess Luna of the Moon," he said in an unstable-sounding voice. "I am sorry if the quality of this translation is not as proper as it could be, as we have had problems gathering a usable amount of your language to translate. If need be, we may still converse with you in our traditional language. It is not a problem for us."

Luna shook her head. "That will not be necessary, Commander...?" she prompted for his name.

He bowed his head low. "My name is Arcane Thunder, Commander of the Royal Fleet," he replied in a very respectful tone of voice. He nodded to her response to his question. He proceeded to tell her the news she so rightfully needed to hear.

"We are within your atmosphere now, Milady. We have landed on the continent of Abdvarsé as you have commanded, and we are proceeding to establish a temporary colony to allow a base of operations to aid your country of Equestria if need be. We have thousands of ponies, all armed and ready to execute your orders," he finished.

Princess Luna nodded solemnly. She gazed intently at him. "So this is it, is it not?"

Arcane Thunder grunted in reply. "This seems to be it," he couldn't help but smile. "We have returned..."

Luna stared down at the ground in front of her. Had she just done something that would change the course of Equestrian history forever?

—————

"How long do you think it's gonna take the train to get here, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked sadly, sitting down sadly on her rump next to the Friendship Express's train tracks. She was rather close to the train, and she arched her head over towards the rail heading to Ponyville.

Applejack was leaning against a pillar. She heaved a soft sigh. "Don' know, don' care a darn bit. Now that Twi's gone, what're we all supposed to be doin'?" she muttered, half to her breath. She didn't want to seem unsure, but some of her personal feelings began to leak out, earning her her friends' attention.

Pinkie didn't look too swell, either. Her hair seemed to be on the edge of deflating, and her eyes were huge and watery when anypony looked at her. "T-Twilight's... g-g-gone!!" she whimpered, beginning to cry and sniffle sadly. "I... I can't b-believe it, that she... that she's... gone...!" she began to wail louder. "WHYYY-YYY??!"

Rarity flinched back at her friend's sudden outburst. She sighed and cautiously moved to give her a gentle hug. "Don't worry a bit, sweetheart, your friends are here for you, and nothing will change that! I'm here, for goodness sakes! You don't have to cry!" she tried her best to crack a smile but ended up failing, falling back into the sad mood with the rest of them.

For a while, the six of them remained silent. Spike leaned up against Applejack, eyes unfocused and breathing erratic.

Though it had already been three days since Twilight Sparkle exiled herself, the five ponies and baby dragon were still grieving for her loss. They had no idea where the rogue unicorn had gone, let alone what would happen next. Maybe they would just live their lives normally, like they always have?

But what would life be without the crazy, hypersensitive unicorn librarian living in Ponyville's oversized tree? What would life be without the scientific adventures they once had, the rescue of Spike from the teenage dragons, and the horribly-gone-wrong Grand Galloping Gala?

They didn't know, but they would have to live with such a reality now.

While they waited, which could have been anywhere from a few millenia to an hour, a fog had begun to descend upon the city of Canterlot and its outlying areas providing aid to foreign travellers. The air around the six friends began to grow colder and damper, seeming to hang on their shoulders like the weight of the world. It didn't help aid their already-dampened spirits.

Far away, they could hear the toot toot of the Friendship Express's horn. Rainbow Dash's eyes focused properly in the distance, and she could see a faint light illuminating the fog. With a sigh, she grabbed her sky-blue rainbow-decorated bag in her mouth, lifting it up and motioning to the others that the train had come. The rest followed suit, with Rarity waiting with legs crossed next to Rainbow Dash. Spike was carrying her excessive luggage.

The train coasted to a stop perfectly in front of them, and the doors opened on the sides of the colorful train cars. The ponies plodded inside one by one, with Spike following last, wobbling as a result of carrying Rarity's luggage. Once they were inside, they settled down and placed their baggage up above their heads, before taking comfortable seats.

The doors closed and the train lurched forward, continuing on back home. After all, nothing all that important had happened on this fateful day.

—————

Twilight Sparkle, please don't be angry at your friends for my transgressions. This is all my fault, and you know it. The only pony you have to blame is me.

Former Princess, Celestia of Canterlot, made her way through the dense overgrowth of the Everfree Forest. She was far away from Zecora's home, farther from Ponyville, and farther still from Canterlot. In fact, her impeccable sense of direction told her that she was at the westernmost edge of the forest itself, a hundred or so miles from Manehatten in contrast to the few hundred miles farther away that Ponyville was.

She hadn't eaten anything in five days, and her once regal frame was now slender. Her ribs had begun to show on her dirty chest, and her sides were covered in scratches that cut through her coat and pierced her skin, if only barely. The magic that had been bestowed upon her by the most brilliant of their arcane scientists had been given to her sister, and the rest used to protect the castle of Canterlot itself. She had given everything to make sure that her country would continue to prosper as it always did.

But she knew that that wasn't enough. She faced the much more apparent probability of her own empire crumbling along with her, and she couldn't bear something that strong. She sniffled a bit and blinked her tears away, continuing through the dense forest that scratched her skin and made her shiver in coldness.

Twilight Sparkle, where have you gone? Why won't you come back, at least even to your friends? I can understand the reasons why you hurt me and rejected me, but why have you rejected your friends as well? Even Luna, who had no choice but to go along with everything that had happened so far? Why, oh, my most faithful student, have you done this to them? They've done nothing to you. Please don't break your friendship with the others... that would be the beginning of the end for everything I've lived for and done...

Celestia suddenly collapsed in a tight clearing in the forest, the soil underneath her immediately staining her already smudged coat a deeper color of brown. A soft groan of pain escaped from her mouth, and she could do nothing but rest her head on the same ground that dirtied her.

Pain radiated from a small part of her left hind thigh. She bit her lip in pain and couldn't help but whimper. Her muscle pulsed in agony; she had overworked it as a result of walking tirelessly for so long and had pulled it. She leaned back and broke a pile of slender leaves off of a tree nearby with her still-brilliant yellow magic. She brought them close to her face and began to weave them together until they were nearly as strong as silk fabric. She then took the custom-made "cloth" mixture of cellulose and other fibres, wrapping them around her thigh just below the injury to help support her leg. Whatever she had to do, she just had to keep going. She had to at least to get to Manehatten if she were to have a chance of surviving.

What shall I do now?