Where Will You Run to When Your Goddesses Are Gone?

"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..."