Celestia lay on her throne, stretching her consciousness, looking at the land of Equestria. The land was wartorn, but a modicum of peace seemed to be coming, if only because her troops were almost gone and the camps had rebelled. She couldn't say she was upset, she had hoped this would happen. Hoped her little ponies would try to defeat her...possibly kill her. Celestia held no illusions about her moral highground, she no longer had any. All she could wish for was that someone would come along, someone stronger than her, and destroy the constricting hold of the one who had slaughtered Luna like common cattle. Celestia, last of the great alicorn princesses, sitting inside a mountain while her kingdom rotted. What a failure. She looked up slightly as the ceiling of her throne room collapsed, admitting the famed "Scootabelle" that had apparently destroyed her armada.

"You're here. I must say, I am impressed you made it this far" Celestia sighed, opening her eyes and looking at her foes morosely. She was tired, so tired of all the pain. Before Sweetie could say anything, a brown shape shot out of the ground in front of them, cackling madly.

"Good, I didn't want the party to end so soon" Discord snickered, landing lightly. "Celestia dug up some presents for me! I have absorbed the power of the Plunderseeds ol' Twilight sent into hibernation! It'll finish you!" the draconequus hissed, slashing wildly with a candy cane at Scootabelle, only to have his blows nonchalantly blocked before being slapped away like a rag doll.

"Stay down, Discord" Celestia ordered, standing up. "The power of the Plunderseeds isn't enough for you to defeat them. I granted it so that you could survive the beating you had been dealt" Celestia explained to the shocked draconequus, his ears drooping as he heard the news. "I shall defeat them myself" Celestia grumbled, tossing off her crown and ornamental shoes and letting her mane ignite. She paused as she saw a small rip appear in the top of Scootabelle. Somepony was trying to parley.

"It's been a long time, mother" Neos said, bowing slightly out of respect. Celestia's flaming mane sputtered as she stared at her finest creation, the latest in the list of alicorns she had created. So many failed attempts...Neos had been the first to not have a ticking clock on their life the instant they were born. But then he began to grow sentience. Celestia would not, could not, allow someone who trusted her so implicitly to learn the truth behind the facade. Death was a better fate. Obviously, she had messed up the job.

"Neos...you're looking well. I am happy to see you" Celestia responded, nodding her head.

"Why are you doing this, mother?" Neos asked, eyes narrow. "You commit horrid atrocities on the denizens of Equestria, hurting them, separating them. So tell me, what's your goal?"

"You don't know anything about the truth. Everything I have done, I have done to save the lives of my citizens. Even yours" Celestia said, crestfallen from the accusation.

"What are you saying? You're killing the ones you're trying to protect?" Sweetie questioned, popping out as well to support Neos.

"There was nothing more I could do! You will draw the ire of the Power Above! For this, I must dispose of you!" Celestia cried out, eyes exploding into flames as she fired a bolt of yellow magic. Were it not for the heat of her body, they would have seen tears on her face. The blast was blocked by a raised fore hoof, the mere shockwave knocking Neos and Sweetie back into the safety of their avatar.

"You want to fight?!" Sweetie hissed, their avatar's horn sparking.

"You are indeed powerful, the bonds you have forged truly do prove the strength of Magic. However, you have two Elements..." Celestia started, 4 gems floating around her before attaching to her body, turning her glow into a blinding light, powerful as the Sun. "I have 4!"

"That's why we could never find the other Elements!" Appebloom declared, gobsmacked at the power Celestia was radiating.

"Neos, we have to fight him" Sweetie said quietly to her partner inside Scootabelle's head. The prince nodded in agreement, eyes hardening. The avatar leaped back, dodging savage punch from Celestia that shattered the ground. While Celestia was smaller, it was clear she was the stronger of the two. Before Scootabelle could regain its footing, Celestia rammed her body into the avatar's chest before firing a burst of concussive power at its jaw, staggering the mauve construct backwards. Celestia was offering no mercy, savagely kicking the stunned avatar away, jostling its screaming pilots.

"Enough!" Applebloom snapped, moving their wing up to block a hook from Celestia. Scootabelle reared up, using its size to its advantage, before slamming down on Celestia. Celestia merely snorted, forming a golden barrier to protect her from the slam.

"Once I fought like you..." Celestia murmured, nostalgia overpowering for a split second and letting her shield pop. Even so, the Solar Queen was swift enough to move out of the way of the massive hooves.

"What are you talking about?!" Sweetie sputtered, completely confounded at the way Celestia spoke in riddles.

"Nothing you need to know about" Celestia replied, making a thermal wave to push Scootabelle into the wall of the cavern. She followed up with a barrage of yellow beams, trying to avoid dodging. Scootabelle recognized this and so chose to deflect them instead by slapping the blasts away. Celestia growled and tried again, but just as her her horn lit up, Discord's horns slammed into her, winding her slightly and pinning her arms, just as had been done to Tirek and Trixie.

"GIGA DRILL BREAK!" Sweetie bellowed, launching their avatar forward, horn rapidly growing and spinning. There was a sickening squeal, like metal being grinded.

"H-how?.." Applebloom stammered as she saw the source of it. Celestia had somehow managed to lean her horn down to block the drill, the alicorn gritting her teeth as her horn saved her body from being pureed by the horn. Celestia thrust her head upward, snapping the drill in half with an audible "crack!" before wrenching her limbs free of the horns.

"My turn" Celestia snarled, eyes turning pure white as an orb of heat surrounded Scootabelle, pummeling the avatar with bursts of flame before fading away, letting the avatar fall to its knees.

"How are we supposed to beat her when she's got more Elements?" Applebloo groaned, rubbing her slightly blistered flank.

"Numbers don't matter, it's the heart behind them" Sweetie responded, shaking off a few small burns. With that, Scootabelle began to slowly get back up.

"Stop resisting! You're only making this harder!" Celestia growled, launching herself forward at Scootabelle.

"Says the mare trying to stab us!" Sweetie snapped, craning their avatar up and launching their own counter punch, slamming into Celestia's chest and knocking her up slightly. From the alicorns chest bled some golden ichor, the Element of Kindness(an irony Celestia had recognized) having bitten into her flesh from the force of the punch. The alicorn looked herself over before giving a small smile. Had somepony strong enough to take over in her place come along? She shrugged off the thoughts and her smile faded. No need for false hope.

"Enough" she rumbled, flinging a golden sword straight through Scootabelle, right where Applebloom was.

"Applebloom?!" Sweetie cried out, fearing the worst.

"I'm fine, but my avatar isn't moving. You have to detatch" Applebloom said with a shudder, feeling a sting in her shoulder where the sword had nicked her. Sweetie and Neos nodded, the head detaching from the main body.

"Stay down" Celestia murmured, slapping Applebloom to the ground, the earth pony's avatar failing as she was knocked out. Not missing a beat, she turned so that the purple sphere of Magic didn't hit her horn, albeit bruising her side. "I can see it was no fluke you made it this far, still, you have no chance"

"Everyone else said that too, they were also wrong" Sweetie retorted, purple aura exploding to life around the shield bubble.

"Spare me your ranting! I'll show you the true power of the Sun!" Celestia cried out, a massive wave of power shooting from her body as she turned blue, the color of the hottest stars. Everyone for miles saw the Sun flash as a massive solar flare erupted, sending a wave of radiation down at Equestria, focusing energy on a single target. "Survive this!" Celestia challenged, firing her absorbed power in a massive beam of fiery radiation. The ray exploded against the shield, trying to burn through it and annihilate those within. But the more it tried, the stronger the purple shield grew, the ponies within grasping each other firmly, their friendship flowing strong. Slowly, but surely, the pair actually moved through the beam and towards Celestia. The alicorn gritted her teeth, sweat flowing from her brow. This madness had gone on long enough! She stopped firing her beam and punched the orb with all her might, shattering the shield. Normally, it would have held, but with the two exhausted from fighting the beam, it was easy. Neos was sent flying to the left while Sweetie was sent to the right.

"Over here, Sun-Butt" Sweetie panted, trying to draw Celestia's attention to Neos could escape. Celestia calmly turned around to look at the battered and burned unicorn before stepping towards her.

"You put up a great battle. You would make a fine second in command" Celestia mused, lifting Sweetie by the scruff of the neck. Before the alicorn could muse further, she howled in pain, whipping around to see Neos's horn smoking, the alicorn having shot her from behind. While nowhere near a serious injury, being offguard meant the blast had stung. And with her distraction broken, Sweetie Belle mashed her crown against Celestia's horn, the purple magic covering the alicorn. Celestia screamed in primal rage as the Elements were torn from her body, responding to someone who better embodied them. The gems clattered harmlessly to the ground and the alicorn fell to her knees, too weak to continue the fight. "So...your control over the Elements is greater than my own. I cannot fight you any longer, it would only lead to failure. Therefore...I submit" Celestia sighed, bowing her head in shame. She had failed to protect her little ponies, the Power Above would be coming for them. No one would believe her tales about the purple goddess who had destroyed Luna and Cadence. Still, if somepony more powerful than her was leading them...perhaps they had a chance. No, she was fooling herself. The Power Above was omnipotent.

"You did it" Neos panted, stumbling over to his smaller friend and hugging her.

"We did it" Sweetie corrected, smiling at the rising Sun, standing still in the sky without Celestia's magic manipulating it.

Far in space, beyond galaxies and star clusters, a purple eye opened.

"So, Celestia failed? Nah, she'd never let me down...still, those power readings are freaky. I'll give her 3 years, 3 years to prepare. Note to self, have to delay Andromeda program to check on Celestia. Hehehehe" Next Chapter: Continuation Estimated time remaining: 38 Minutes