Celestia, the great and benevolent ruler of the land full of colorful little equines and--to her unadulterated pride--many other species, was often pictured by her subjects as an unfailing, downright perfect creature of unimaginable beauty and might. She was the very symbol of grace and justice, her words soothed the most aggressive fighters and her will literally moved the sun.

So it came as no surprise that her loyal subjects viewed her as something more, as something to behold and worship.

Naturally, she hated every single moment of it.

A very exhausted and quite not-so-perfect mare came into the chambers of the so called sun goddess. A crown and regalia of the purest gold floated off her burdened form and she slipped out of shoes of the very same material. She did not bother to move them to their appropriate places and just moved on to the comfortable heaven that was her favorite seat cushion in front of a crackling fireplace.

The heat it radiated helped to relax her tired and sore body and coaxed a little sigh from her lips. But, instead of getting to enjoy the simple happiness of relaxation, she lit up her ivory horn in her usual yellow aura and closed her eyes, as she did not need them for what she intended to do.

A little oval crystal of the most mysterious shade of sea blue with literal and moving waves of white over its surface lifted itself out of its hiding place beneath a little tea table right next to the alabaster mare, and with a resounding click began to gently glow from its inner depths.

After a few seconds of silence a voice could be heard coming from seemingly within the crystal itself.

“Is this working?”

It was a very unassuming voice that could have belonged to any mare on this world. Sadly, the only mare present knew just too well who this voice belonged to. A rich and almost too low of a voice for a female but its tone and usage unmistakably so.

”Hi. My name is Sephiroth-” It said with forced calm but that changed immediately to a high pitched fangirlish screech.

”Can you believe it? They got spheroids! Okay, so not the actual ones from Final Fantasy ten, but still! This is so~ awesome!”

A little smile worked its way onto the tired features of the mare listening. A cough and clearing of a throat later, the voice continued more calmly, but undeniably happy.

”So how shall I go about this? Dear diary? No, that would be kinda dumb. Ah, fuck it. I’m going with my starting line from before.” Silence followed but did not remain for long. ”So, this is Sephiroth speaking. Yeah, I know. Sephiroth is supposed to be a guy; but, you see, I dressed up as a female version of him, and after being transported here--oh yeah, just so you know it, I’m in Equestria right now--I woke up as my costume.”

This was the part Celestia never understood, regardless of how often she listened to it. Regret flooded her heart over the fact that the one being she could ask to clarify it would never be able to speak again.

But, before she could dwell too much on it, the voice continued.

”Man, was I spacy after that trip. I actually considered if some jerk had drugged me and carried me all the way to some forest. But--get this--after the world decided that it had been spinning for long enough and I got the first good look of my surroundings, I saw an actual timberwolf! No kidding! It just sat there, at the edge of a clearing I seem to have landed in, and blinked at me! Can you believe it?! Obviously, it did not know if I was a meal or a danger.”

Again there was a pause. The voice got gradually more excited over the last few sentences. Now all that could be heard were a few deep breaths. A calming technique that was so basic that it worked for every living being. Even the ones that don’t actually needto breathe, such as herself.

Much calmer, the voice carried on.

”I know how foolish my next action might sound, but I just couldn’t stop myself. In the blink of an eye--and that is no exaggeration, cause I saw it blinking--I was in front of it and proceeded to cuddle the living hell out of the cute little pup.

“Okay, so it was not really that small, actually a little longer than I was tall, but it was so taken aback by my action that it just hung in my hug.”

Conflicting emotions of amusement and even more regret twisted the mare’s heart. If only she had found this ‘spheroids’ sooner. She would have--no, could have--acted differently. A lone tear rolled off her left eye and she caught it with her hoof. On former sessions of listening to the spheroids, centuries in the past, she would have bawled her eyes out over her biggest mistake.

Second only to the banishment of her own sister.

The voice sounded through the room, still. But Celestia had stopped listening.

She knew the tale by heart for more years than most of her subjects could ever hope to live. The thought that she had coaxed Sephiroth’s love to betray her made her sick.

She was not perfect, and would never be.

Full of regret and sorrow she declared the statue of the ‘One winged Angel’ to be the very symbol of love. It was a pitiful attempt at redemption and she knew it.
She never visited it herself because she felt like she did not deserve to be in its presence, even if Sephiroth herself would not notice it.

She was gone.

The tall and powerful alicorn felt her hooves tremble with sorrow, despair and self hatred. She had killed an innocent mare, ended a supposedly immortal life before it even reached one full lifespan. And she used her beloved one to do it!
She did not deserve the admiration of her little ponies, but they did not know any better. Once, only once, she tried to abdicate her crown. To go into exile like she deserved.

It not only caused an enormous uproar all over the world, but plunged her beloved ponies into a civil war. The common inhabitants of Equestria believed that the nobles somehow had forced the princess to step down only to seize her power as their own and thus invaded the homes of nobles all across the country.
Too much blood was shed on that day. Too many honest lives were lost.

And again… it was her fault.

So she did the only thing that she could do. Donning a mask of serenity and benevolence, she took her throne once more and led her ponies to an age of peace, prosperity and harmony.

But under her pristine outer appearance, her snow white hooves were soaked red in blood that she never could hope to ever wash off. Her calm and motherly smile was forced and warped into a wicked grimace that screamed for salvation, and her kind and loving eyes were dull and lifeless.

But she kept it up. For the sake of everypony, even her sister’s.

She would not fail because she must never fail.

Otherwise…

Her beloved subjects would pay for her sins...

Author's Notes:

Special thanks go to Golden Script, as he took the time to edit this chapter.