There was a saying in Canterlot that was almost as old as the city itself: ‘Rest easy not thee who sat on the throne’. Celestia could see why ponies would say something like that; she herself couldn’t really recall the last time she had slept well. Whether it was because of duty, some paperwork that needed to be done, or she just couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes, Celestia would usually spend most nights either working or wondering the castle.

But something else had been keeping the pony princess up for the past few nights and she didn’t particularly care for them whenever they ‘graced’ her sleeping patterns: horrible, horrible nightmares. This night was not an exception.

“NO!” She yelled, her eyes snapping open as she rose to a sitting position. Her wings were flared, ready to take her body through the air to save him from falling, but then she remembered where she was; which was a good thing too, last time she had woken up like this she had almost put a hole through the wall.

Trying to steady her breath, she closed her eyes. “It was just a dream,” she muttered, putting her head in her hooves. “It was just a dream…”

The last few days had been a little… off for the white alicorn… well more off than usual.

Ever since she had petrified Bob, a dull ache had made a home in her chest. It was an ache that had brought back the nightmares; it was an ache that had forced her to hide in her bathroom, crying her eyes out when she thought no one would miss her. And unfortunately it was an ache that she was all too familiar with: the ache of failure.

She had felt it when she had slowly watched Discord fall into madness and had been powerless to stop it, and she thought she was done with it when she and Luna had stopped him with the elements, but then she was forced to watch her own sister fall into the abyss because of her own failures.

Should I have spent more time with them? Did I not tell them I cared about them enough? Was there something, anything that I could have done to help them? With every perceived failure Celestia asked herself these questions, again and again and again and again, until she was ready to pull her feathers out, scream to the heavens, and throw her crown and smash it into a million pieces, she asked herself these questions.

Even when staring down what was left of an enemy she felt sorrow, which was why she forced herself to keep her failures out in the gardens. A ruler should never forget the evil she has to do to protect her people, which was why what she did to Bob felt like a dagger to the heart.

Bob wasn’t a necromancer hell-bent on destroying the world, nor was he some world-conquering god; he was simply a normal creature. He lived in her city, he paid taxes (usually), and he also happened to be her friend.

He didn’t care that she was a super powerful alicorn with thousands of years of experience, he didn’t care that she was the ruler of a whole country, he simply cared about who she was, even if he had an odd way of showing it. It was this reason why Discord had taken such a liking to him, as well as Luna, and even she found the trait refreshing after so many years of dealing with brownnosers and suck-ups. To Bob, they were simply Dizzy, Luna, and Celly, and to them he was just Bob, the alien that worked down the street at that seedy shipping company that probably also housed a fight club.

It was his simplicity, his normalness, that made her regret not just giving him a stern talking to. Did he deserve to be punished? Of course, he did start a riot, a riot which took hours to quell, but he didn’t deserve to face whatever hellish nightmares that she had forced upon him.

Seeing that she wasn’t going to get anymore sleep, and also seeing that it was almost time for her to raise the sun anyway, she rose from her bed and made her way toward her bathroom. There was nothing that I could do, she thought for what felt like the thousandth time, the nobles were in an uproar and Bob was being too stubborn.

With a spell she flicked on her bathroom light and looked at her mirror, a tired-looking and sad pony staring back at her. With a sigh, she levitated over her comb and started to untangle the mess that her mane had become.

I warned him what would happen if we used that spell on him. I may feel bad about it but he needed to be punished. She winced when she almost pulled a hunk of her mane out of her head form tugging a little too hard. There was truly nothing I could do…

You could have done something, a small part of her mind insisted. You should have just gone out with him in disguise like you usually do. The two of you would have gone to some bar, had too much to drink, and he would have had to carry you home like the last few times. Nothing would have happened, nopony would’ve gotten hurt; but no, he asked you and you—

Celestia opened the eyes she didn’t realize that she had closed and rolled her aching jaw; it felt like she had been grinding her teeth together. “I need to get a hold of myself,” she muttered, turning on her sink and splashing her face with water, “Today’s the day we release Bob. Twilight and the others are probably already out there, so all I need to do is raise the sun and we can set him free.”

Hopefully he’ll be the same Bob that you turned into stone.

“I know he will be. Even if he doesn’t want to admit it, Bob is stronger than he appears; he will be the same laughing young man that I know and… like.”

Discord wasn’t the same when he was released; he still won’t say what he experienced during—

Celestia ignored the voice, brushing her teeth, applying a little make-up to hide how haggard she actually was, and putting on her finery. Giving herself a final look-over in her mirror, the alicorn slowly made her way out into her balcony.

After rising the sun for almost longer than she could remember, she didn’t need to be told the time; her sun was an extension of herself after all this time, rising it was as natural as breathing. Rays of red and orange and yellow pierced the dull inky grey that was the night as her sun surfaced over the mountains to the east.

Celestia closed her eyes, letting her power flow through her. Inch by inch by inch the sun rose to its full glory in the sky, telling each and every creature in her kingdom that the darkness had been chased away and they all could go out and enjoy her day.

With what she promised as her final sigh of the day, Celestia opened her eyes to one of her favorite sights. Her sun, now slowly moving on its own accord, lit up the sky, turning the grey into blue, and with the rays of orange and yellow and red still shining throughout it was a sight that could not be described with words.

And, for some reason, it didn’t bring that usual burst of joy to her heart that it usually did.

They do say that a sunrise is best enjoyed with another, Celestia couldn’t help but muse, looking up at her sun for a moment longer before turning away and making her way toward the door.

Upon opening the door, she was greeted by an escort of day guards, two alert-looking stallions that had just switched shifts with the night watch if she had to guess. After a quiet good morning and a fake smile to the both of them, Celestia started down the hallway and toward the gardens with the guards in tow.

“Pardon my speaking, princess,” one of the guards said, “but the sun rise was lovely this morning.”

“It was, your highness,” the other agreed. “The sergeant and I saw it when we were making our way here.”

Celestia looked back at the two of them and smiled, genuinely this time. “I try my best, my little ponies,” she said, “and thank you for the
complement; it is more appreciated than you know.”

When was the last time I ever watched a sunset with someone? The princess couldn’t help but think as she turned the corner.
She would usually spend these early mornings with Luna, but that was work related; Luna would lower the moon, she would raise the sun, they’d say their goodbye’s, and she’d start her day. No, she wanted to remember when the last time she had just enjoyed the sun raise with someone else that wasn’t a family member or an ambassador or Discord.

“It’s been so long that I can’t remember,” she whispered, not knowing whether to be amused or saddened by the fact.
“What was that, princess?” one of her guards asked.

She waved him off. “I was just muttering to myself, sergeant, you need not concern yourself with it.” The guard nodded, leaving Celestia to her thoughts until they reached the gardens.

“The two of you stay here until I am finished with my business,” Celestia said, turning toward them. “The spell that we will be casting might be dangerous to those non-casters that are too close.”

The guards saluted. “As you will, highness,” one of them said while the both of them planted the butts of their spears into the ground. “We will also make sure that none enter the gardens.”

Thanking them, Celestia slowly made her way toward the gardens statues, eyeing every weathered face like it was an old friend, some of which could have been long ago. Now where was—

“Sister, over here!” A voice called from across a row of statues, making Celestia’s head perk up. Well, I guess that’s where he is, she thought, following her sister’s voice toward an empty section of the gardens, where she saw Bob, still as he was since she left him four days ago.

She couldn’t help but notice how small the man was on his knees, or how oddly peaceful he seemed. Maybe he actually wasn’t having the nightmares, she thought, daring to hope. Maybe he’s actually just dreaming happy dreams…That happy thought was immediately squashed when she remembered that the human had screamed when they petrified him, from pain or out of terror she dared not think about.

There were her fellow princesses, an eager Luna, a tired Cadence, who was leaning on an equally tired-looking Shining, and a disgruntled Twilight, who had a house-arrest beeper around her leg. Seeing that almost made her laugh but she stopped herself. While it was mildly amusing hearing about how her old student had been arrested, she was still upset with her for breaking and entering into someone else’s home for no better reason than to steal their underwear; at the very least she could have stolen his fridge, maybe valuables, but underwear?!

Shaking her silly thoughts from her head, she said, “Good morning everypony; are you all ready to cast the spell?”

Luna nodded eagerly. “Of course, sister,” she said, oddly the only one other than Celestia who looked truly awake at this ungodly hour. “Hopefully he’ll be no worse for wear when we are done.” She looked worried for a moment before she flashed Celestia a weak smile. “Though I’m sure that Bob will be fine, and even if he’s not I’m sure we can fix him.”

Celestia smiled back at her sister before eyeing Twilight, who flinched under her gaze. “And I’m sure there’s a certain pony here who would like to apologize to him when he wakes up,” she said with a small frown, “isn’t that right, Twilight?”

The purple alicorn huffed. “I will not apologize for trying to enlighten the world on Bobbacus Humgous!” The other three alicorn’s shared looks before looking back at Twilight. “That’s the scientific name I’m giving Bob’s species until he tells me his!” Twilight clarified with a growl. “All the great minds of the scientific world have had to break a few eggs to make the world better!”

“You broke into his house, Twilight,” Luna deadpanned.

“But—“

“You will be apologizing to him, Twilight,” Celestia added, amusement laced with sternness in her voice, “otherwise I will make sure that your community service hours will be put to cleaning out the sewers.”

“And I will make sure your hours are doubled,” Luna growled, Twilight opening her mouth before shutting it with a snap.

“…Yes princess,” she said her tail tucked in-between her legs while she looked down at the ground.

Seeing her ex-student sufficiently cowed, Celestia forced herself to look back at Bob. Swallow thickly, she said, “Alright, Shining, I would advise you to shield yourself while we do this. This particular spell is quite a bit more powerful than the spell we used to turn Bob into a statue.”

Nodding, Shining did as he was asked, giving his wife a nuzzle before taking a few steps backwards and magicking a shield around himself.

Checking to see if anypony was anywhere where they shouldn’t be, and finding that everyone was in place, Celestia looked at her fellow princesses before her horn lit up with magic. “Ready girls?” she asked calmly.

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“…Yes.”

“Then we will begin.” Taking a deep breath and clearing her mind, Celestia let her magic flow through her body. What she and her fellow princesses were about to accomplish was one of the most difficult things that a magic user could do: change something back to its original form.

While it was easy to change something into something else with magic—say, turning an apple into an orange—completely turning it back took far more magic and concentration than most could do. Just an iota less of magic could leave parts of Bob stone, and too much magic could tear his body apart before it could even be reformed.

This was magic that no had leeway; they either completed the spell to perfection or they failed and ended up seriously hurting or maiming Bob.

Thankfully—for Bob’s sake anyway—four of the most experienced and powerful casters on the planet were about to cast the spell on him, so he had nothing to worry about… probably.

Celestia’s magic hit the human’s chest as quick as an arrow, Luna’s following right behind to hit Bob’s lower body. Cadence and Twilight’s beams hit either of his arms, both of the younger princesses trying not to wince when they saw hunks of stone starting to fall off the human.

“Keep going,” Celestia calmly said over the sound of stone shattering, “Another minute and he’ll be free; just keep calm and let your magic do the work.”

Chunk after chunk of stone flew off the human’s body. After a minute, he starting to slowly take on a slight glow, and then more, and then more, until the combined might of the alicorn’s magic almost made Bob brighter than the sun.

A final crack was all the warning that Celestia knew she was going to get when the spell was supposed to end, so when she heard that sharp, ear-splitting booming sound, she acted quickly. “Enough,” she said, cutting off her magic.

Twilight, Cadence, and Luna quickly cut off their spells and waited for the dust to clear, each of them wondering if they did the spell alright. Even with their power there was still a chance that maybe they didn’t complete the spell to perfection, and that they maybe might have hurt the poor human… or even worse.

Too impatient to wait, Celestia raised a wing and flapped hard, breaking up the cloud of dust and revealing a hyperventilating, but obviously alive and completely intact, Bob still on his knees.

Bob looked at each of the princess, each of whom were staring just as intently back at him, before touching his chest with a hang. Grinning, he managed to rasp out, “Heh, I can move again,” before he slowly slumped to the side, too exhausted to keep himself up anymore.

As one the princesses gasped and charged toward the human, Celestia reaching him first in an almost terror-stricken state. Hoisting the man up and cradling him in her hooves, Celestia leaned in and very gently nuzzled the human’s cheek.

“Bob,” she whispered. “Bob, are you alright?”

Bob, who’s eyes were closed, cracked an eye open to look at her. “Well, Celly,” he rasped, patting her hoof with a tired hand. “After my little metamorphic I had a few days to get sedimentary about everything and I had an igneous revelation.”

Twilight snorted, the only one in the group able to get the joke.

“My revelation is that I, Bob the builder, the iceman, esquire, M.D., fucked up and I’m sorry…. Except for that last pun; I’m not sorry about that.” Before anyone of the princesses could say, or do, a thing, Bob the human's closed his eyes and fell into his back.