"Princess Celestia!...Princess Celestia!...please you must come quick."

Celestia groaned as she heard her being beckoned by one of her ponies. Celestia scrunched her nose and said, "Not now Moon Dancer, there is still a few hours left before I raise the sun."

The hours of the day and night were different during the different seasons and Celestia had the Celestial Time Schedule memorized and down to the letter. Celestia had exactly three hours, twenty six minutes and forty seven seconds until she would need to wake up to raise the sun. If this pony was trying to do some sort of joke, Celestia was not laughing.

Though the pony did have a tone of urgency which bade Celestia to sit up in her bed. She wiped the crust from her eyes and asked, "What is it?"

Celestia tossed away her comforter and sat at the edge of her bed, stretching out her hooves and wings. As expected, Celestia was the exact definition of a morning pony. Never was there a morning where she was particularly snippy or short with anypony. That was for diplomatic arguments and arguing with her sister. And to lecture Twilight, though it was not very often. Celestia looked over to the white earth pony mare and she seemed mortified to say the least. She replied, "It's Princess Luna! Please you must come quick!"

Her ears shot up and worry spread over her face, now standing at full attention at the mention of her sister's name. Lulu was in trouble? What did she do that she did not know about or that the night guards did not report. What did her foal of a sister do this time? Celestia rushed to her hooves and shouted, "What, what's wrong!?"

They practically sprinted out of Celestia's bedchambers and sped walked down the hall. Moon Dancer replied, "She awoke with third degree burns all over her!"

Celestia knew that her sister was prone to getting herself in trouble, she seemed to excel at it. When they were just foals Luna would constantly get her in trouble. It just followed her wherever she went, it was a curse but Celestia still loved her little sister. But what could she have done that caused her third degree burns? She was a goddess, she was immune to natural fire. Whatever this was, it was magical. Which translated into Luna getting in a fight and perhaps even killing her adversary. Luna was very prone to getting overly excited when she engaged in battle, often taking things way too far. Which is why she feared what happened to her during their fight with Sombra. So far he was the only one to actually set her off in a fight.

They rounded a corner, passing familiar grandeur of a castle that Luna and herself built with her barehooves, and Celestia mumbled to herself, "What have you done Luna..."

Finally they rushed into the castle infirmary. The doors bursting open, Celestia and Moon Dancer ushering into the room. Celestia watched in horror ad her hooves were being wound tight in medical tape. Luna seemed to have a distant look in her eye. Celestia stormed through the entrance and said, "By the stars Luna what have you-"

"Don't swear by the stars anymore," Luna said looking out of the nearby window, watching the ponies beneath, "They are all gone...dead...it is useless..."

Celestia seemed shocked at the news and wanted to know that everything was just fine and that she was just kidding. But with the look Luna gave, she was serious. Luna moved her hoof as the doctor finished wrapping her in tape and she said, "Leave us. I wish to speak with my sister alone."

Celestia watched as the other two ponies left without sharing a word with anything or anypony. The mood seemed darker than usual and that did not bode well with Celestia. Luna was covered in medical tape. Covering her forehooves, her thighs, her mid riff, and her chest. A few scarred marks on her cheeks but nothing that cannot slowly heal over time. Luna stood up, seemingly enough with only limited ease. Celestia said joining her sister's side by the window, Luna standing tall and straight, "What do you mean they are gone?"

Luna's expression never moved from her distant and dark look. Luna replied not making any eye contact, "I meant they are gone...destroyed...killed."

Seeing as the current situation warranted unhappy feelings, Celestia changed topics she said, "Where did you get those scorch marks?"

Luna's face went sullen as she replied, "The same mare that killed the stars."

Celestia had enough of her avoiding her questions and said, "Lulu...who did this?"

Luna looked over and said only one name but it was all she needed to say, "Ailana."

Celestia gave herself time to let the news sink in, it was not easy considering that an age old villain from their own past was now coming back to haunt them. The younger Celestia from that age would have shown no mercy upon Ailana and if Celestia went through those events again, she would not hesitate taking off Ailana's head. Usually such thoughts would never even see the light of day in Celestia's head, but Ailana was a rare occasion. Usually a being of pure chaotic fire could bend the usual rules of a complex system of morals. There was a reason that Celestia had left all of the villains most recently appearing, alive, and that is because Celestia wanted to appease the stars. The council so to speak made up of pony heroes of old.

If Celestia knew Ailana, and she did, she guessed that the corrupted alicorn would likely make her first move at killing the opposition. Meaning that she would have to kill Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis. The easiest move to predict. But what Celestia feared was this fact. While Ailana was headstrong and impulsive sometimes, she was a master tactician and strategist, which scared Celestia. It took a third contingency plan and both Luna and herself to defeat Ailana, though the fight went similar than that of Sombra. One of the sisters going unconscious and left the other to defeat their common enemy.

Moving out of her thoughts briefly Celestia shook her head and said, "No, Luna that's-"

"Impossible," Luna finished for her, "That is exactly what I said, then I saw her standing in front of my eyes. Do not worry, she cannot manifest herself physically in this plane yet."

"She likely won't," Celestia added, crossing her hoof over her chest and resting her elbow of the opposite hoof on the crook of her forehoof. Ailana did not use the usual way of possession, rather than overtaking the mind completely Ailana manipulated it. Twisted it, so that it changed the person she was harboring. Corrupting with half truths and with partial lies, perhaps the smartest way of possession. Celestia finished her thought, "At least not until the very end."

Celestia looked over at Luna, whom she noticed did not have her usual ethereal mane made of stars but long deep shade of purple. Celestia swallowed hard at this, if Ailana was powerful enough to strip Luna of her godlike state then facing her in battle was no way to defeat her. Would be suicide. But since she needs a vessel to manifest in this plane then physical attributes would be tipped slightly in their favor. Her gaze stayed on her younger sister, proud of the mare that stood before her now. After a thousand years of imprisonment, Luna had shown that she matured and atoned for her misgivings and faults in the past. She had conformed to modern society rather well, despite some minor difficulties.

Her throat felt rough and stressed but she needed to know the answer to this question if they were to continue, "Luna. Who is her vessel?"

Luna's face went dark with sadness and she seemed dissatisfied to answer her older sister, the taste sour on her tongue as she choked out, "...Twilight Sparkle."

Luna's hooves were crossed over her chest and she stared out of the window, after she answered she closed her eyes as if asking an unseen deity forgiveness. Celestia felt sick to her stomach as the news sunk in. Her most faithful student. The one pony that Celestia treated like her own daughter, was now the pariah. Celestia swallowed hard, her stomach still stinging from the news, and asked, "What does the Pool say?"

Luna turned to face her sister with an agitated look and asked, "Your student is supposed to be corrupted and you seem as though this doesn't even surprise you? Explain, because there is clearly something that I missed."

Celestia bit her lip before she repeated, "What does the Pool say?"

Luna seemed more angered and she said, "Really? After everything that transpired between us you still want to keep secrets?"

Celestia huffed, "I'm sure that you have secrets of your own, Lulu."

"Yes but they do not end with harming you." Luna answered snidely, "Be sure that you can send that secret to your grave."

"I do not fear what events are to come pass," Celestia growled, "But what I do fear is the one that brings the future."

Luna continued to have her hooves crossed over her chest and the look that she bore did not settle Celestia's already restless feelings. Luna said, "So you have no faith that your student will do everything in her power to fight Ailana's influence?"

Celestia choked back a lump and said, "It's not that I don't have faith in her, it's just that Ailana will bring things back that I tried to bury beneath her."

Luna grunted, "Gods, Celestia. I thought you would have learned from Sunset Shimmer?"

Celestia's gaze grew dark as she said, "There comes a day where the student must overtake the master."

Luna stepped close to Celestia and rested a hoof on her shoulder and said, "I won't let you kill yourself from your own sins. You did not offer the same fate to me so it is only fair as your sister...that I protect you."

Silence filled the air in between them. It was not uncomfortable, but it had weight behind it. A heavy burden, Celestia looked at her sister and looking at the scars around her body. They would never heal, at least not in this century. Celestia had taken burns from Ailana, fires so vengeful that they carried for nine thousand years. Celestia scratched her forehoof knowing the familiar weakness of those scorch marks she had held for so long.

They were falling on ill times. Equestria is getting sick and they need to find the remedy quickly before the wounds get infected. Celestia was left with a lot to think about. All of this, this was never foretold in the Pool. The Pool of Eternia. The source of Equestrian magic itself and the only reason that Celestia and Luna were alive, waters so pure that they can cleanse the darkest of sins. The very lifeblood of Equestria and the reason behind its peaceful ways. Ponies are vengeful and warmongering by nature, Celestia should know she started most of the wars in Old Equestrian times. She did not want to rule a country of fear loving monsters. Never again. Celestia asked Luna because she bathed in the waters of the Pool, giving her the ability to read the future like the Pool.

Celestia waited for her answer and it soon came as Luna repeated the lines in her head aloud,

"In days of peace and no war,
When kings and queens exist no more.
The fallen star shall return,
When a sister sees the falling sky.

She shall bring the end of days on her immortal wings,
When fire spurts and metal once again sings.
Only the bearer of diamonds can save the country,
To kill her sister and wield the elements of harmony."

Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she said, "I can see nothing else."

Celestia muttered a line to herself begging to know the meaning, "When a sister sees the falling sky...it does not mean us again does it?"

Luna shook her head, "No, I know that for sure...it must mean somepony else...perhaps it does not mean a blood sister at all..."

Celestia said sitting down slowly in an empty chair, "It's one of the Spirits of Harmony...not Twilight."

Luna thought deeply, looking back out the window staring out at the countryside, forlorn in her gaze, "We need the elements here. Now, where it is safe."

Celestia ignored her sister, getting chills as the lines of the prophecy repeat once more in her head. She always thought that Twilight would be the one to wield the elements of harmony, alone. She was a powerful being there was no doubt about that, and she knew exactly how to wield them. She would have made a great ruler in Celestia and Luna's absence, for there would come a day where they both would taste death and live in peace in their sources of mana. Celestia had a sneaking feeling that her time would come soon, leaving Luna by herself.

Centuries upon centuries and they are still endangering the lives of their ponies. Misery loves company, and it would seem that it is in abundance with the alicorn sisters. Even when the Alicorns ran rampant and free with their own empire. They always put the lives of themselves before their ponies. Celestia broke her thoughts as she said, "There is no place on this planet that can be safe from Ailana's fires. All we can do now is wait for her to show her face and defeat her when she rears her ugly head. Send a letter to the elements and tell them to get here, we must explain this to them. I will send a letter to Cadence, we will need all of the alicorns we can get to try and stand out ground."

Luna nodded and walked out of the room with heavy steps, she always had a heavy gait when there was immense stress. Perhaps one of the many cute little quirks that Luna had. Celestia would miss that, her gaze went to the sky and she stared at the sun. Her eyes not hindered by its rays, she said, "I will see you soon, mother and father."

With that she summoned a parchement and quill, scatching on the paper with neat calligraphy,

To my niece,

I know that you have much in your hooves with running the crystal empire, but I request your attention with post haste. For we have fallen on dark times and this planet requires your attention. Everything will be explained when you arrive.

See you soon,
Auntie Tia

She rolled up the letter and blew on it, casting a spell on it. The paper dissolving into ashes and disappearing out the open window. Soon it will materialize into the princess of love's lap. With her deed done she continued her stare out the window, her voice lowered and raspy as she said, "You better hope that this time you swing to kill, Ailana."