Little sister, I confess. I was the one who released Nightmare Moon. I was the one who cast the spell that unlocked Discord. I was the one who brought the Changelings to Canterlot and I was the one who dragged King Sombra and the Crystal Empire back from the aether. All this I did for Equestria. All this I did to save Equestria.
Three years ago I released Nightmare Moon. I planted the hints in Canterlot libraries some years prior. The plan almost failed: Nopony picked up on them until right before the due date, when your student found the supposed prophecy and was able to bring back the elements of Harmony and allow our sister to become her true self. I was impressed, sister, by how elegantly you took the surprise return in stride and gave everypony the idea that you saw it coming. More than impressed, in fact. I was proud of you. That was always your talent, Celestia. You didn't need to be a chessmaster. You could adapt to the unexpected on the fly, better than either Luna or I could. That skill will serve you well in what is to come.
Two years ago, I released Discord. You were more flustered this time, I recall. I don't blame you. I remember how things were between the two of you three millennia prior. Hundreds of years of love and hundreds of recriminations do not lend themselves to one keeping one's composure. Still, your student and her friends were able to rise to this challenge as well. And what is more, you have even managed to redeem him! Yes, I know that whatever moral facade you may have hidden the act with, you did it primarily in the hope of finding love again. But nonetheless, you redeemed him and got him back! And, if you will forgive my bawdiness, I daresay that with all those shape-shifting, size-changing, reality-warping abilities of his you are feeling rather less frustrated since his return.
One year ago, dearest sister, I was, I am ashamed to say, overcome with loneliness and weakness. I needed to see you again, even if only for a moment. I had, at the time, no more ancient villains to unlock. So I became one. I donned a glamour to imitate the gormless pink one you found after Luna's banishment. I cobbled together a little army of golems from tar, each with their own glamour. I quite deliberately let slip plans of attack. And then I had them invade.
It was foolish of me. I could have ruined everything! But we were lucky. You didn't recognise my ruined body when I dropped my glamour. You saw a monster rather than your sister. I am sorry for what I had to do to you then, Celestia. I so desperately wanted to drop the act, to come forward and tell you that it was I. That your big sister had come back, that she loved you and that she was going to look after you. But I couldn't. I had to play the villain. If I had not, all would have been lost.
To my surprise, that silly, spoiled mare and her mortal lover saved the day. There may be hope for her yet.
Six months ago, I found a way to return the Crystal Empire. I know you always considered losing the Empire to be your first great failure, so consider it my gift to you. Doing so, of course, also released that pathetic tinpot tyrant, Sombra. But by that stage I had no doubt that your student would dispatch him effortlessly. And so she did. I was glad to see that you and she were both willing to use stronger, darker magic when necessary. One can not protect a great nation like yours with friendship and diplomacy alone.
There, sister, is my confession. Four great threats to Equestria in three years, and I orchestrated them all. Now, you deserve to know why I did this.
I have watched you since my return from death. You finally achieved your dream, a nation of benevolence to all creatures in the land. But then, once Luna was gone, you stopped trying. You found the pink alicorn and nurtured her talents, but you never taught her to fight, to defend her nation. You became complacent, soft. It seemed as if the fire in your heart was going out, as if the great reformer, the defender of life I knew as my sister was vanishing. I do not blame you for this; having to banish your remaining sister must have been a terrible burden.
I refused to let this happen. I had to show you, as gently as I could, that Equestria could still be threatened. I had to remind you that you still needed to be there for them, to look after them. I think I succeeded. When we met a year ago, I saw it in your eyes when you attacked me. You were ready to kill if need be. I was so pleased to see that. Your recent actions, encouraging the pink alicorn and your student to weaponise their talents to defend Equestria, are further evidence of this. I think the old Celestia, the Celestia I knew is coming back.
Four years ago, you were the lone guardian of Equestria. Now Luna is by your side, the pink alicorn has become halfway competent, and your student has ascended to become an alicorn herself! You have the last draconequus as a lover and as an ally. You have recovered the Elements of Harmony. You have access to the power of the Crystal Heart. Now you have not only the will, but also the capacity, to defend Equestria properly. You will need both in what is to come.
Do you remember how we used to be, Celestia? Three beings, born young but fully formed from The Quiddity, each a century apart. I was all alone for a hundred years. At the time it felt like forever. Then you, little sister, came forth. It was only then that I understood fully my purpose, that I knew real love. And later, when Luna came to us, we both understood what it meant to be a guardian. How we frolicked! Three immortal sisters, hedonists and raconteurs, we ate and drank and sang and slept and fornicated and flew and played deity for over two thousand years. And when we met that last draconequus, Discord, older even than we were, you told Luna and I over a campfire, interspersed with giggles, that you were going to seduce him! On a whim, no less. We all laughed. Luna and I didn't believe you would, but you did! You found not only sex, but romance. I was painfully jealous, I must admit, but I was also incredibly happy for you.
Then came the night you saw the invasion of Hestheim. The pegasi came in while we were enjoying a brothel and began to slaughter everypony in the town indiscriminately. The three of us managed to repel the invaders soon after with ease, of course, but by then the damage was already done. We were all horrified, but you most of all, sister. I remember the fire in your eyes that night when you spoke, when you told us how you refused to sit by any longer while the mortals suffered. When you told us that you were going to adapt their ways, build an empire of compassion so that no mortal creature need live in fear or suffer again. Luna was easily swayed by your rhetoric; I was not. More fool me. I saw your plans crystallise, how elegantly you played nations against each other and manoeuvred yourself to the position of monarch of the inchoate nation of Equestria. How your omnibenevolence began to strain your relationship with Discord.
And then It ate me.
It was only by supreme effort that I managed pull myself back from the brink of nothingness and reassemble the oily scraps of flesh it left behind into something resembling my old body.
When you read this I need you to recall all that I have told you. Because you will need every scrap of will and every ally you have. Because It is coming to Equestria. It killed all but one of the draconequi and left the survivor unbalanced. It ate an alicorn. It is unlike anything you have known before. And It is on the move. Now.
When – if – you get to read this, you will already know. It will already have attacked. It knows you when you first learn of It; were I to simply waltz up and tell you about it now, It could pluck us both from where we stood and that would be the end of things. This way, It will have to announce Itself and lose that power. Between that and four alicorns, a draconequus, the Elements of Harmony, and the Crystal Heart, all lead by you, Equestria will have a fighting chance.
Before that happens, I have one last thing to do, something to weaken It. Doing so will cost me my life.
I want you to know, little sister, that I love you very much. That being able to just talk to you last year was the happiest day I have had in millennia. I would give anything to be able to stay, to see Luna and you again for just one day without having to play the villain, to frolic without worrying about mortal atrocities and malevolent nameless deities. But I can't.
I'm sorry for what I had to do to to get you active. Your dream is a noble one, Celestia. Fight for it, and take heart in the loved ones who surround you.
Signed,
~~Queen Chrysalis~~
Princess Renaissance, Alicorn of Rebirth
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Author's Note
Chrysalis is adorable, isn't she? Didja notice how she looks kinda like a really messed up alicorn? And that she's slightly taller than Celestia?
Here, have an angsty interpretation of her.
“Manehatten is gone,” said Luna.
Celestia silently looked at her sister for several seconds. “Gone?” she said quietly. “Meaning what?”
The two of them stood in Canterlot Castle's great hall, surrounded by scattered scrolls: Correspondence from guards stationed around Equestria.
Luna stared at the ground while she spoke. “We haven't had any reports from anypony within near the city for several hours. Our closest pegasus spotter reported back a few moments ago. He says he saw something happen, and that the city is gone, but he doesn't want to talk about it.”
When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes. “Two days, sister! The Scourge came out of the sea only two days ago and we've lost an entire city! And along with it we've lost...”
“Discord?” said Celestia. “Twilight? The Elements?”
Luna nodded.
The strength went from Celestia's knees and she sank to the floor. “All hope?” she said.
“Not now, sister, please!” said Luna. “We need to–“
Bip
There was now a scroll sitting directly in front of Celestia. She looked from the scroll to Luna and back again, and then, tentatively, lifted the scroll and unfurled it. As Celestia read it, her breathing became shallower. Luna waited. Celestia read and re-read the scroll. Eventually, she looked up at Luna and, passing her the scroll, voice cracking, said, “It's from... Our sister.”
Luna snatched the scroll up and read it. At the end, she followed Celestia's lead and sat down abruptly.
The princesses sat looking at each other, trying to process on top of everything else the contents of the letter.
Luna spoke first. “She was looking over us all this time. And now we finally find out, she's gone? I can't...”
Celestia looked at the scroll again. She didn't respond.
There was a frantic hammering at the door. Celestia still said nothing, so Luna bade the caller enter, and pulled open the door with her horn from across the hall, not bothering to stand up. A breathless pegasus was on the other side.
“Princess!” he said, “Discord. Has just checked in. He saved them. The Manehattenites. And the Elements. They're all here.”
Celestia broke out of her reverie and looked at the pegasus. “They're alive?”
He nodded. “They all appeared together a few minutes ago. On the outskirts of Canterlot. They say... Well, most of them are finding it difficult to talk of what happened, but those who do say that something attacked the Scourge and froze it long enough for Discord to start teleporting ponies away.”
Celestia stood up and took a deep breath, expression resolute. “Captain Mist, start preparations for evacuating Canterlot. The Scourge will be coming here next, and I don't want any innocents in the way. Discord, Luna, and I will start teleporting them away within the hour. I want Discord and the Elements up here immediately. And tell Twilight we're going to try a syncresis spell for the Elements and the Crystal Heart. She'll know what I mean. Go, now!”
Mist scampered out the room.
Celestia looked at Luna. “We are going to win this,” she said. “That thing took Discord's kin, it took our sister, and now it thinks it can come here and attack Equestria? Well, I won't let it. I am going to use every resource at my disposal, everything I can, down to my own horn and hooves and teeth to end that bastard. Are you with me, sister?”
Luna nodded.
*
Three alicorns sat around a conjured fire in the middle of a veldt. They had spent the day breaching the troposphere and diving at the continent below them. Now, quite exhausted, they were content to tell stories through the night.
“I promise you,” said Celestia, grinning. “Give it just two seasons. He'll be begging to get under my tail.” She burst into giggles.
“Oh, Celestia, you are incorrigible,” said Renaissance.
Luna tittered quietly and Renaissance shook her head, frowning and trying suppress a smirk until she, too, broke out into peals of cackling.
At length, their laughter died away and Renaissance adopted a serious look.
“Sisters,” she said, “Meeting Discord yesterday has given me some concerns. I have not seen a being older than I am for a very long time. I have not seen an immortal that was not my kin, ever. It may be that there are other things out there, other immortals, other spirits. It may be that we are not as safe as we think we are.”
Luna was silent, enraptured. Celestia, less so. She cocked her head and gave Renaissance a quizzical look.
“What are you trying to say, sister?”
Renaissance sighed. “That something may one day have the means and will to harm us as mortals harm one another. I hope that is not the case, but the possibility is there. So–” She teleported between Celestia and Luna and put her wings around them. “–I promise you both that should anything threaten either one of you, I will throw myself before it, do everything in my power to destroy it, even at the cost of my own life. And in return, I wish you both to promise me that, should I be lost in such a manner, you will both carry on and honor my existence by being the wonderful sisters that you always have been. Do you promise?”
“Sister! I–”
“Celestia! I will not brook disagreement on this matter. Do you promise?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes.”
“I promise too, sister,” said Luna softly.
Renaissance smiled. “Good. Then all is well.”
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Author's Note
Ye gods, it's hard to characterise Celestia and Luna properly when your only scenes have them as either under extreme stress or much younger than they are in the show.
Thank you, everyone who fave'd, liked, or commented this story. I was pretty amazed by the response. You're all awesome.
This was intended to be a oneshot, but since a few people wondered if there might be any more, and since I'm a hack, I came up with these little scenes today. I'm not too sure about them. They might detract from the story. Tell me if they do, so I can excise them.
As for further continuations: There is probably some mileage in telling what came after the Scourge's attack, and in telling the adventures of the three sisters before Renaissance was eaten. I don't have any plans to do either of those in the forseeable future, because they would be long, drawn out stories, and I don't trust my writing skills to start on a project of that size just yet. But I will keep the idea in mind.
