1. Prologue - After That Perfect Wedding
There will be times where those bearing the world on their withers will falter,
Where those chosen to protect us
Will fall.
When Sun or Moon are in peril
Shadows will rise to guard –
Or end what others began.
~Last recorded vision of Blind Seer
At last, silence fell over Canterlot. The festivities of Cadance’s and Shining Armor’s wedding had continued long after nightfall, long after even Celestia and Luna had excused themselves due to exhaustion after the long and exciting day. At least the princesses appeared to be in high spirits as they left, Celestia seemingly having made a quick recovery from her battle with the Queen. Unfortunate however, most of the guests agreed, because the party was getting better and better with the hour.
As most things in life though, so this celebration had to end at some point. Now, under the silky white light of the late moon, Twilight and her wedding planner associates sat in the train back to Ponyville; the freshly wed couple was on their way to the honeymoon suite at Rainbow Waterfalls generously provided by Celestia; and the last of the more enduring party ponies stumbled away through the cobblestone streets of Canterlot – lightheaded from both mirth and the apple family’s special hard cider.
All seemed well, especially after the dreadful events of this day.
A tranquillity most unusual had befallen the otherwise ever so busy palace of Canterlot. Even at such a late hour of the night there usually would be servants, guards, and maids buzzing about the hallways. Granted, the night shift of the palace was significantly less well-staffed than its daytime counterpart, but still, one would run into them every so often. But this particular night, every single hallway was utterly devoid of life.
High up in one of the tallest spires, the princess of the moon enjoyed the seldom occurrence of what other ponies would describe only as mundane – free time. Due to the grand wedding, all courts and appointments had been postponed, and after the successfully repelled Changeling attack everypony had been glad to just return home in one piece. No need for a night court left the princess with some spare time she intended to spend in peace and quiet for a change.
Comfortably snuggled into the silken sheets of her vast bed, Luna gently levitated a book in front of her, the old tome encased in her signature cerulean aura. A History Of The Griffon Kingdom was truly a title that promised no entertainment whatsoever, but Luna was the last pony to judge a book by its cover. And given the Griffons’ rather competitive nature and an author who truly understood his work, Luna found herself thoroughly enraptured.
The alicorn sighed contently and without breaking her gaze she reached for a glass of white wine. A droplet of water ran down the chalice, the golden beverage within swirling lazily. She took a delicate sip, relishing the multitude of exquisite tastes that washed over her tongue.
In a corner of her room, the sand falling inside her eternal hourglass – an old present from her good friend, the dragon king - clicked lightly against the crystal, creating an unceasing whisper. The princess liked to imagine a summer rainfall or the gentle murmur of the sea – anything that was soothing her mind and soul.
“Indeed, I could get used to this…” Luna mumbled to nopony in particular.
The sound of hooves thundering against her onyx-clad chamber doors came as if on cue, and because of that, was most unwelcome. The incessant booming tore her away from her enjoyable read, ripping apart the fine cocoon of silence, simplicity and joy that had enshrouded her until then.
The princess of the night unwillingly got up, whispering more than slightly irritated, “May I have mercy with your poor soul. I thought I had made myself clear that I didn’t want to be disturbed under any circumstances…”
One knows nothing like the scorn of a disgruntled alicorn.
As Luna opened her chamber door, ready to use the Royal Canterlot Voice on whomever waited outside, she was greeted with the sight of Golden Quill, shivering like a dry leaf, his features contorted with fear and if possible, coloured even a whiter shade than pale. It was the first time ever for Luna to see the usually very composed and proper unicorn out of shape and it did nothing to douse the rising fire of panic and dread that had sparked within her. The personal attendant of Celestia banging frantically at her door at such an hour was as unusual as could be, but the sight of Quill on the verge of tears and breakdown alike was downright unthinkable, thus all the more alarming.
“Princess Luna, be quick, your sister, she…” the stallion managed to wheeze out breathlessly, but by then Luna had already stormed past him, headed for her sister’s private chambers, silent panic written all over her features.
A unicorn donned with the white uniform of the castle’s medical staff guarded the doors and refused to let her in, much to Luna’s dismay. True, she could have easily shoved her away, magically or otherwise, but she and her sister had agreed a long time ago to never use brute force against their servants. It would only undermine the basis of trust and dedication on which they all acted upon.
“What is going on? How is my sister?”
“We…” the jade coloured mare trailed off.
“Answer me!”
For a moment, the mare seemed to internally debate with herself. “May I speak freely, your highness?”
The dread filled alicorn inhaled slowly and deeply, bracing herself. “Continue.”
“Frankly, we have no clue. We were alarmed by one of the guards who heard pained sounds from the chamber and went in to check on Princess Celestia’s wellbeing. That was only mere minutes ago.” The other mare’s features took on a sympathetic look. “I am aware it is much I ask for, but please, remain outside. I know you only want to help your sister and the best way you can do that is to let the doctors do their work. Don’t worry, it’ll-“
“Band Aid”, a muffled but distressed sounding voice came from the other side of the golden portals, “get in here right now!”
The jade unicorn shot an apologetic smile at the princess before she slipped inside, allowing Luna to catch a glimpse of a sea of white uniforms swirling about the room. With a resounding thud, the door closed again.
Being alarmed in the middle of the night, rushed to her sister’s rooms and being told that her presence would be nothing but unnecessary – a great evening indeed.
The mistress of the night paced to and fro, radiating impatience. Five steps, stop, turn and again five steps back. The intensity and concentration with which she sat down her hooves on the carpet were almost intimidating.
She had no eyes for the rich tapestry that hung the walls, not the composure to admire the beautifully carved, golden portals she passed by with every round she completed.
Luna didn’t care but for one thing that very moment, and it surely was not for how unbefitting her behaviour was for a princess. Others, apparently, still did.
“Your majesty, please, mind y-“
A swift turn and a sharp glare were all it took to silence Golden Quill who sat across the dim hallway.
“I certainly will not! This is about my sister, by the heavens!” she hissed, far more agitatedly than she had intended to. “If you think that I will just sit here and do nothing, you are thoroughly mistaken. We lost each other for a thousand years”, she raised her voice, resumed her cantering and continued, “I will not let anything separate us ever again so easily. I will do what is necessary, I will –“
“Then tell me, your majesty”, Quill bluntly interrupted the blue alicorn who screeched to a sudden halt, utterly perplexed by the sheer audacity of his deed, “what are you going to do?”
Quill’s tone held no accusation, no irony, nothing whatsoever. A simple question, that was all. And yet, it made Luna reconsider her urge to bellow at the servant for his impudence.
Again he asked, “What can you do for her?”
It was not the slight edge of despair in his voice or the faint shimmer in his eyes that roused her attention. It was his wording.
Not Princess Celestia.
Not her majesty.
Not your sister.
Her.
This was a far more personal matter than Golden Quill would have ever let on, least of all openly confessed. His guise may have been near perfection, his mask thoroughly trained by his years of servitude but the way he chose to frame his question betrayed his inner turmoil; his dedication to the Sun’s Warden.
Luna gritted her teeth. She did not like the stallion right this moment – for he asked the very question she was most afraid of, forcing her to confront what she’d been trying to ignore until then.
The answer to his question she knew, and it was the first moment in a long time she seriously considered lying, if only for her own sake of a sane mind. But Luna knew that denial only meant blinding herself willingly to the facts and that, she already experienced, only led to wrong decisions.
A moment of silence dominated the hallway as Quill quietly waited for the princess to continue.
“Nothing”, Luna whispered at last with an air of finality, her head drooping in defeat and ears flat against her skull. “Nothing” she repeated, the word uttered hurt far more than the mere thought of it. Luna begrudgingly had to confess to herself that her actions up to this point had been nothing but a folly. Running about like a nervous schoolfilly did not contribute anything at all.
But she just could not stop, for the urge to do something, anything was simply overwhelming in a situation even she, the Warden of Night, was helpless.
She never had been one for the medical arts. Barely managing two of the most rudimentary healing spells, she would not dare to cast even those until facing the direst of situations. Celestia needed help far beyond Luna’s abilities.
Out of despair and the need to act the princess had assigned herself to the task of treading a dent into the carpet and the marble underneath. Somehow she had to gain control over the shadows of terror that loomed over her mind and the fear to lose her sister again after such a short time - she surely would not accomplish this by sitting around fidgeting with her hooves.
But that was literally all she could do. Sit around, wait - feel useless.
The sudden realisation, or rather, acknowledgement, of her inability to help left her bereft of any energy. Where the fire of blind determination had burned now only the flickering spark of a fool’s faith lingered in her heart. Knowing that she couldn’t do anything, she hoped that others could, may the chance be ever so small. Celestia was not a typical pony, that much was clear to all of them, but this situation wasn’t ordinary either. And that maybe was the most terrifying implication of this whole, bizarre situation.
Alicorns did not simply fall to ‘normal’ illnesses.
With a defeated sigh the princess of the night unceremoniously plopped down on a cushion besides Quill. Another servant must have brought them a while ago; she couldn’t remember it. For uncounted moments the both of them just lay there, Luna massaging her temples with closed eyes, Quill as stock still as ever. A silence most uncomfortable had befallen them.
A noise so faint it was nearly inaudible interrupted the dark mare’s thoughts. There, there it was again. It sounded so close, almost…
She opened her eyes, looked to her right and the first thing she saw was the glistening trail of silver down Quill’s eyes and cheeks. Illuminated by the magical torches of the hallway the tears fell down, sparkling on their way, before they vanished into the fabric of the cushion the unicorn stallion was lying on. Occasionally he sobbed ever so slightly.
The display of desperation and hopelessness tore Luna apart.
“Oh, dear…” she whispered.
The princess couldn’t deny that a particular awkwardness accompanied the whole situation. How was she supposed to act now? Send him away? Order him to stop? Inspire a new hope in him – even if she herself had no hope left? Luna was still uncertain how things worked in this day and age. At the end though, she decided to act on instinct, trying to imagine what the Element of Kindness would have done.
The alicorn scooted closer until she lay side to side with Quill and put a wing over his back, squeezing him lightly with the feathery appendage, her taller stature significantly aiding the protective aspect of the gesture.
“P-princess, wha-“, the stallion started to object, but was cut off.
“Shush now, it is all right. Tonight, we both are just ponies, both made equal by our worry for the one so dear to us. Fear not, little one. Everything will be all right”, Luna softly whispered with glistening eyes, not knowing if she tried to soothe him or herself. Quill hesitated, but finally he let himself sink into her embrace, his whole being radiating gratitude for her consolation, all the while continuing to cry silently. She rested her head atop of his.
After a while, when Quill had quieted down, he spoke up. “I never thought I would live to see this day.” Luna could feel the vibrations of his voice. “22 years, 11 months and 16 days I have been the personal attendant of Princess Celestia, and never ever did she falter.”
Luna’s face scrunched up at that unnoticed by the stallion, for the last words had rung a long forgotten bell. “Not even once, not a single moment of weakness she showed. Granted, I know better than most ponies that even she has her bad days, days when she needed a friend and not an attendant, so I have been that for her. I’ve seen her fuming, I’ve seen her being glum and I know that underneath that multitude of masks she wears that she is just another pony. And still, despite better knowledge, with time I came to believe she would be invincible, invulnerable. That she would always be there, for us, Equestria…for me, as I was for her. And now this…”
“I know. My sister always has been like this. It is another special talent of hers, one that does not need a cutie mark, but mastery accomplished over years. To hide her fears, overcome her pain in order to be strong for others. She always made it seem so easy and I envied and admired her for that when we were younger, honestly. But then…I came to know the cost of it, learned that she’d sacrificed so much for this achievement, and suddenly, all I felt was fear. I feared that all this would break her heart one day. Don’t tell anypony, but -regardless of what Tia appears like, she may be the most fragile of us all.
“Who knows, I might have contributed to that. A thousand years alone, because of-“
“No”, interrupted the stallion and leaned away a bit to look into Luna’s eyes, “don’t you ever think like that. You haven’t been yourself at that time, and there is nothing to blame you for. We all are happy to have you back, no matter how ponies might still react to you. And besides, have you taken a look at Celestia? Believe me, I’ve never seen her happier in all of my years, and that’s because she has her little sister back. Do not fret over dark things long passed, look forward instead to make your future shine ever so brightly – your sister herself once told me that.”
Luna contemplated that for a moment. She didn’t really want to talk about the Nightmare, albeit she had been the one to bring the topic up. She needed to stop spilling out her thoughts like that. Though, oddly enough, she felt quite comfortable to talk with Quill like that. A sudden notion hit her thoughts – maybe that was the reason he kept his position for so long.
“Thank you” she finally whispered.
“No, I thank you. You have to put up with so much. You bear the world on your shoulders, and now you have to deal with sappy, crying me, too. I should have more composure than that.”
Luna froze. There it was again. That distant memory, triggered by his words. It couldn’t be a coincidence. You bear the world on your shoulders. Where had she heard these words? It seemed so long ago…
“Princess, are you alright?”
She blinked. “Hmm? Oh yes, quite. My apologies, it just seem-“ Again, she stopped, petrified. She felt that something was not right. In fact, something seemed to be terribly, horrifyingly wrong. Her stomach churned and her mind raced, making her dizzy, while she felt the shadows began to draw closer around her – literally. In the corner of her eye, she could see the darkness balling up as if alive, slowly crawling over the lush carpet to the golden doors. Luna was terrified beyond reason. Shadows were her domain; she ruled over the night and all that came with it. The shadows were hers, a dark blanket she felt comfortable to be wrapped in.
But not these.
These were not her shadows.
The bulk of darkness waltzed through the portals, passing through the metal as if non-existent. “Did you see that?”
“Princess, what are you talking about? There is nothing here except the two of us.”
Falter…bearing the world…shadows that move on their own…
“No. Nononononono, that’s impossible. The wound couldn’t be so severe” Luna began to whisper frantically, completely oblivious to Quill right then. “This can’t be. They can’t come back. They mustn’t come back.” She abruptly rose and began to pace around – again – all the while muttering to herself. Only a few seconds passed, though, before she suddenly whirled around and barked “Quill!”
The stallion eeped quietly. “Yes, your highness?”
“Get Captain Shining Armour to his hooves instanter. I want at least a dozen of his best guards stationed at these doors twenty-four/seven. Palace patrols need to be tripled and tell him to call upon the Aerial Defence Reserve Unit. Airspace over the castle will be declared highly restricted and I want every trespasser to be locked up immediately. Emergency Security Protocols level Magenta apply from now on. Don’t give me that look; he will know what to do. Now, GO!”
Not waiting for a response, Luna turned to face the portals. “’Tis time.”
All the pent up emotion forced its way out of her in a mighty arcane blast, smashing the doors wide open. Luna wouldn’t admit it, but the unnecessarily brute action granted her some relief. Her sudden entrance froze the entirety of ponies present in her sister’s bedchambers, their eyes fixed on her in shock and a smidgen of fear as well. And indeed, Luna posed a sight most intimidating: her eyes glowed with an eerie light, her wings flared and tendrils of darkness emitting from her very form.
“Leave” was the only thing she whispered, yet it reached the ears of all, carrying with it such power there was no room left for objections, so all ponies rushed out of the room in such a hurry, it was a wonder nopony tripped over their hooves.
With a much more gentle approach she closed the doors again after the last medical staff had passed through. “Tia?” she softly asked, drawing closer to her sister’s bed but was stopped dead in her tracks when a pained groan left the heap of feathers and fur laying on it.
The view exceeded her fears.
Celesita’s once pristine coat now was of a sickly grey, matted with perspiration. The ethereal glow of her hair was gone; instead a lush pink mane plastered her neck. But the worst of all were her eyes. Those beautiful, radiant magenta eyes that always sparkled when she smiled, emitting that ever present air of serenity and benevolence, were glazed and dull, staring off into an abyss – the eyes of a pony that would soon pass through Thanatos’s gates.
The sight tore Luna’s heart into pieces - the adamant, everlasting Celestia collapsed and shattered to her hooves; her beloved sister on the brink of death, just so shortly after they had been reunited. And there was nothing she could do.
“Oh heavens, please no. Please, not again” she whimpered, no, pleaded to no one. “Why? Why bring us together, only to rip us apart anew? Is one mistake really enough to condemn the rest of our lives to misery? Is half a century in peace really so much to ask for?”
As tears began to fill her eyes, she could again sense this wrongness cowering in the darkness, as if it had only waited for this moment to make itself present again. And indeed, wait it did. Waiting for a decision that only one pony could make; a permission only an Eternal Sister could give.
“Go on then” Luna choked out, the water now running freely from her eyes. “Do what you must. Safe her. Just…safe her.”
And the shadows obeyed. Again, the velvety darkness gathered and crawled up the bedposts. Before the mare’s eyes it spread out into the form of a blanket and softly descended upon the downed regent of the sun, seeping into her. In an instant, Celestia’s laboured breathing calmed and a shiver ran through her whole body.
“Tia?”
Tense silence followed.
“Hey, Lulu.” Only a whisper, but it was more than Luna could ask for. Carefully, the younger alicorn stepped on the bed and lay down at her sister’s side, softly nuzzling her neck. Celestia noticeably relaxed at this and let out a long, relieved sigh, closing her eyes.
“I thought this time I would be gone for sure. Turns out raising the budget of the health care sector has been a good investment after all.” She chuckled half-heartedly, although the same moment she regretted it, for her face contorted in pain and a coughing fit gripped hold of her, shaking her violently.
“Sister, I’m sorry, so sorry. Please, forgive me. Please…” Luna sobbed into the coat of the sun goddess, dampening it further.
“Luna?” Celestia opened her left eye, her once again clear gaze fixing upon her sister in confusion.
“Please…” The pleadings of the night princess reverted to incoherent mumbles, only to be choked out by her tears. Horror replaced Celestia’s bewilderment as realisation dawned upon her.
“No. You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”
“What other choice did I have?” Luna suddenly yelled, despair reinvigorating her.
“You cou-“
“Besides letting you die! You know I couldn’t. And I never will.”
“Oh Luna…” The white alicorn’s sigh spoke worlds, the gratitude to be still alive and the grief this would cause above everything else.
Moments passed in silence for neither sister had to speak aloud of what they already were aware of. But one question nagged consistently at Luna’s conscience, the one thing she knew she would always be asking albeit her gut wrenching fear of it.
“Who do think they will choose?” She didn’t even try to hide the tremble in her voice.
“I think we both know” Celestia answered solemnly, her features edged with sorrow of ages long gone.
“Let us hope that, just this once, we are wrong.”
Author's Note
Yeah, so...first (published) fanfiction. *Insert usual 'first story, not-native English speaker and constructive criticism appreciated' gibberish here*.
