The sun was beginning to creep over the horizon, rising from its daily slumber by the summoning calls of the one who bid it to share the true radiance of its light with the globe beneath it, so that life might continue to grow and prosper.

Stood upon the balcony of the throne room, Celestia, Life-flame to the kingdom of Equestria, watched at the dawning rays of the astral body caressed the land, awakening the populace to another efficient, productive day of work. For thousands of years she had been charged with the duty of raising the sun, and for thousands of years she had stood sentinel and the approach of dawn, watching the world emerge from the darkness of her sisters night and into the brightness of her own day. Innumerable times she had witnessed the event, yet there wasn't a dawn that passed when Celestia didn't feel a sense of melancholy settle over her soul. Perhaps it was how the rising of the sun always brought to her mind the allegory of a new dawn washing clean one's sins, or perhaps it was simply because it was one of the few times in her ever hectic schedule that she was actually alone.

On the matter of sins, many were the digressions of the Solar Princess. From the moment of her birth, the nation of Equestria had been the number one priority, above even the satisfaction of her own needs and desires. For the safety of the ponies of her realm she had ordered wars, butchered her enemies, and even banished her own sister; a nation was only as strong as its ruler, and for Equestria to survive she had to be the strongest ruler of all. There was a reason that the ponies of Equestria awoke to a realm of happiness and prosperity each day, and that was because for their sake she committed deeds that would sicken the minds of others, things that in her realm were worthy of capital punishment.

But she was a princess, and it was her duty to sacrifice her own life for those of the populace.

Truthfully, when Nightmare Moon had first made contact, the thoughts of that cold entity filtering into her mind from the aether, the first instinct Celestia had felt had been the need to kill. A thousand years ago, the Luna Goddess had nearly brought an end to Equestria and her own life, and the return of such a cruel, dispassionate entity wasn't something she had been willing to risk. Even when Nightmare Moon had made her case she remained sceptical, never truly being able to place her trust in one who had tried to take her life, but the Night-terror had known which cords to pull, how to elicit sympathy from the Solar Princess, and in all honesty, Celestia would have been lying if she claimed not to sympathise.

The touch of a male was something that she hadn't experienced in millennia, and something that she longed for. Every day, she knew, couples awoke together in love and bliss, their two lives united by the bonds of love that drew them together and the instinctual drive of nation to divide and multiply, to procreate. Such pleasures had long been denied to Celestia, for that was the price of authority and power, and there had been more than a couple of times she had considered abandoning all her regal responsibilities to simply run wild and express her own needs, to pleasure a stallion and have a stallion pleasure her. Several times she'd actually come close to achieving the act, but inevitably her conscious would always realise how much damage her selfishness would cause, and force her to back down.

A flash from behind her heralded the final, safe return of her captain, as Nightmare Moon had promised. Giving the sun one final glance, Celestia turned from the balcony and re-entered her throne room, her eye swiftly settling on the white form that lay at the base of her throne. When Nightmare Moon had requested a stallion from her half-sister, Celestia had at first been incredulous. But after hearing the entity's pleas, sympathy had gotten the best of her, and she had selected her captain to serve as tribute. Truthfully, she had sent Shining Armour because if she were in the same position, he would have been her own personal choice. Strong in body and will, the unicorn had drawn the attentions of his ruler more than once, and though he was engaged to her niece Cadence, she had dreamt more than a few fantasies cantered around the solider and his muscular form.

The exhausted pony stirred in his slumber, his tail idly flicking slightly as he dreamt. Knowing that the activities of the night would have surely worn out his stamina, it was the simplest thing for the Solar Princess to teleport the captain down to his quarters. She would see to it that he was excused from duty for the next few days, and given plenty of time to rejuvenate himself before being brought back into active service. Sighing, Celestia climbed the staircase to her throne and took a seat, waiting for her courtiers to arrive and the monotonous daily ritual of government to commence. Glancing out one of the magnificent stained-glass windows to her right, she was just able to make out the dark mass of the Everfree in the distance, a flicker of jealousy dancing through her mind as she envisioned the satisfied Nightmare Moon withdrawing from the rising dawn to slumber and reminisce on her conquest. Making a face, Celestia shook her head and turned her mind to the itinerary of the approaching day, but not before a single thought made itself prominent in consciousness.

Lucky bitch.