"Twilight? Twilight get up!"

Twilight Sparkle slowly opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Spike's green eyes staring into hers.

"Uuuhng, what is it, Spike? It's still dark out." She asked, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes.

"There's a bunch of Royal Guards at the town square, they're gathering everyone in town for some kind of meeting," Spike said.

Twilight got herself out of bed, feeling a little more awake after Spike explained why he had awoken her. She put on a coat and scarf as she left her bedroom and down the stairs of the Library, Spike following behind her. Twilight opened the door to her library, a cold breeze flowing inside as the two walked out of their home.

"Why would Royal Guards be calling a meeting? That doesn't make sense. If something was wrong I would have gotten a letter from Princess Celestia by now," Twilight said as she and Spike walked through the snowy, dimly lit streets.

After traversing a frozen river via a curved stone bridge, Twilight caught a glimpse of the crowd gathered at the town square. It looked like every single pony in the town was there.

"Twilight! Over here!" A familiar female voice called, Twilight looking up to see Rainbow Dash hovering above the crowd.

Twilight pushed her way through the sea of ponies to where Rainbow was hovering, below her was the rest of Twilight's friends, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

"Twilight, do you know what's going on?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"Yeah, why did the Guards wake everypony up?" Pinkie Pie added, a concerned look on her face.

"I have no idea, but... something's wrong."

"Alright, is that everypony!?" A dark gray Pegasus guard called, hovering in the air above the crowd. Twilight recognized him as Admiral Cloud Drop, Celestia's personal guard and, from what she understood, military tactician and adviser.

There was a collective 'I don't know' murmur from the crowd.

"Well, it looks like everypony. It'll do."

"Why did you have to wake us all up? Couldn't it wait till morning?" An aggravated female voice called out, a collective agreement sounding from the crowd.

"No, it couldn't. We... we've got some bad news."

Twilight felt her stomach began to turn.

"Last evening, Princess Celestia left from Canterlot Castle at 1500 hours on a flight to Stalliongrad. Halfway through the flight, her aircraft encountered a blizzard, the same one that hit yesterday. We still don't know how it happened... but the aircraft impacted the side of a hill, and... Princess Celestia, including the two pilots... didn't survive."

There was a cry of horror and sorrow from the crowd. Twilight felt her heart sink, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Her mind reeled, doubt and shock taking over any thought she previously had.

"The funeral will be in four days. You are all invited." Cloud Drop said loudly before he and the five guards that accompanied him left the town.

The crowd began dispersing a bit, a quiet chatter of dismay hung in the air.

"Celestia can't be gone, this isn't happening, Twilight, this isn't real, is it?" Rainbow asked, looking over at Twilight.

"Y-yes, it's real. It... it doesn't seem real..." The crying Alicorn choked.

"I can only imagine how hurt Princess Luna is." Rarity said quietly, tears of her own began to roll down her cheeks.

Twilight shut her eyes tightly, tears falling from her cheeks to the snow-covered pavement.

Celestia's eyes slowly opened as she woke up, the feeling of burning pain slowly coming back to her left wing. She realized that she was sitting on some sort of bench and her neck and front legs were restrained by something, she tried to pull her front legs free from whatever was holding them, the sound of chains clanking filled the small, dark, cold room she was in.

There was a small candle in the corner, barely providing enough light for her to see the chains that were restraining her and after a moment her Royal shoes and breast plate laying in the corner of the room next to the candle. Celestia's horn began to glow, but immediately was cut short, throbbing pain shooting from her horn and causing her to yell out. There was something blocking her magic, it felt like there was some sort of ring tightly fixed at the base of her horn.

Fear began to set in. Why had somepony she had known for 35 years shot her down and locked her in this little room? Did Twilight know? For that matter, did anypony know? There was the sound of a doorknob being turned, followed by hoof steps. She could see movement through the barred door of the room she was in, the door opened and several ponies, all with the same eerie, glowing eyes as Nightmare Moon, stepped inside.

Celestia was met by a group of four stallions, at the group's center stood Star Yield. To his right were two other Stallion's, the first had a light blue coat and dark blue mane, and the second, a had a sleek, white coat and a mane almost identical in color to the first's. To Star's left was a shorter Stallion, he had a red coat of fur and a white mane, and unlike the other three, he wore a pair of square reading glasses. Celestia's eyes went back to Star as he stepped away from the group and towards Celestia.

"Starry? W-why am I here?" Celestia asked, still not fully woken up.

Star Yield raised his hoof, slamming it across her face, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Don't call me Starry." He snarled, staring into Celestia's fearful eyes.

"W-why did you hit me? Please, Starry, tell me what's going on." She said, choking back tears.

Star Yield brought up his hoof again, hitting Celestia across her left eye, the impact of his hoof leaving a deep, painful gash, blood beginning to drip from the cut and down her cheek

"Didn't I just say not to call me Starry? You're here because you are the one that caused the true leader of Equestria so much pain and had your little pet project rip away and destroy our glorious Mother." Star Yield responded.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon, I don't see how you couldn't have caught on by now. You've brought enough pain to Princess Luna, and we think it's time for that to end. As for Twilight Sparkle, we'll let Nightmare Moon decide her fate."

"B-but, Nightmare Moon is gone!"

"That's where you come it. Once we've made you feel every ounce of pain our mother and Princess Luna felt and destroyed your psyche, your body will serve as a host for our glorious mother to be re-born into!"

Celestia gave a light chuckle.

"Didn't it ever occur to you that Twilight, my sister and the rest of Equestria will wonder why I disappeared all of a sudden?"
She spoke.

A thought popped into Star Yield's mind. An extra layer of torture.

"Twilight and Equestria might worry, but you're sister won't."
He spoke with a grin.

Celestia's face went to a look of disbelief. She could feel her blood run cold.

"W-What do you mean, my sister won't worry...?" Asked her hollow voice.

"Who do you think is orchestrating all of this? Princess Luna has been planning this since her return. I'm surprised you hadn't pieced it together. The Aura I and the rest of my brothers and sisters have was bestowed upon us by her, and we get stronger each day. This is bigger than you, much bigger, and no one, no one at all, suspects a thing." Star finished, the corners of his mouth stretched in a horrible grin.

Indeed, Luna had created the Aura, many years ago, but she had never been able to use it. Celestia and Twilight had brought a stop to a lot of the plans she had before she was turned back into herself from Nightmare moon. The only thing Star had lied about was Luna being behind everything, in fact, Luna had no idea any of the massive scheme behind Celestia's 'death' existed.

"Y-you're lying... You are lying! My sister would never do this! Nightmare Moon was torn from her and took every piece of evil with it. We made her good again!!" She screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"'We made her good again!?' Hah! Hardly."

Celestia didn't respond, angered tears turning to heaving cries of horror and disbelief. Star stepped up to Celestia and swiftly swatted the golden bejeweled crown from her head.

"You won't be needing that anymore."

He and the three ponies finally left the cell, leaving the broken hearted Celestia to weep in her new cell.

"Why did you lie to her about Luna?" The White Stallion in the group asked.

"Well... I think it might make things worse for her. She was extremely upset by it, wasn't she?"
Star said.

"She was. I'll make sure to keep this going."

"Good, now I have a request to make." Star Yield stated to the trio.

"Yes, sir?"
The light blue pony said.

"I want Celestia to be under full-time watch so that she doesn't try and escape, that's why I want the three of you to stay here in this house until we drag her out of that cell and bring back our glorious mother of the Night. I hope it's not too much trouble for the three of you."

"Not at all, sir. We'll do anything to make sure she stays in that cell." The pony with glasses commented.

"Good. And as for your absence from the castle, I'll have Cloud Drop mark you all as 'on vacation'." Star Yield continued, levitating his coat off of the couch and putting it on, heading for the door.

"Oh, one more thing. Don't kill her. And no dismemberment, our mother's magic is powerful enough to heal simple wounds and broken bones, but not missing limbs."

"Copy that, sir." The light blue pony replied, saluting Star Yield as he exited out the wooden door of the small house.

"I think we should go talk to Twilight. She must be so sad after getting the news," Fluttershy said, addressing the four ponies in front of her.

"I think we should ask her why it's 10 in the morning and the sun hasn't come up," Rainbow Dash moaned, a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"RAINBOW DASH! How on earth could you be so cruel!? Princess Luna just lost her sister, I'm not surprised she hasn't risen the sun!" Exclaimed Rarity, an angry expression on her face.

Rainbow didn't say anything in return.

"Can you even imagine what it's like? She's been through so much, and now this," Said Pinkie Pie, a sad look on her normally happy face. She was holding her head in her hooves.

"Fluttershy, you're right, we should go talk to Twilight. She's always said that talking about things can make you feel better," Rainbow said after a moment, standing up from her seat at the table.

The rest of the group agreed, standing up and walking out of the doors of Sugar Cube Corner, where the group of friends had been talking. The streets of Ponyville were strangely quiet, no shop-keeps yelling out the special sale of the day, no happy ponies chatting over a meat, just a sad, cold silence. Any pony the group passed looked depressed, their heads hung low as they silently mourned the loss of the Princess. The group reached Twilight's home, Fluttershy knocking softly on the door. After a minute passed, no pony came to the door.

"I don't think you knocked hard enough," Rainbow Dash said, stepping over to the door and knocking a little louder.

Seconds later the door opened, a depressed looking Spike standing inside the doorway.

"Hey, Spike. Is Twilight here?" Pinkie Pie asked, poking her head in over Rainbow's shoulder.

"She's in her room. Hasn't been out since we got the news."

Spike stepped aside, allowing the group to enter.

"I'll go talk with her." Fluttershy said quietly, walking away from the group and up the stairs.

After reaching the top of the stairs Fluttershy knocked on the door to Twilight's room. The door opened, revealing a down-trodden purple Alicorn that barely resembled Twilight Sparkle.

"What do you want Flu---"

Twilight's sentence was cut short as Fluttershy hugged her, wrapping her front legs around Twilight's neck. Twilight started to tear up, all of the emotional pain of loss welling back up in her chest. Twilight's head fell across Fluttershy's shoulders as she began to cry.

"S-she was my friend... and I-I... I never got so say goodbye!" Twilight yelled as she sobbed loudly.

"Shhh. It's okay, it's okay." Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight continued to snivel, tears falling from her cheeks and landing on Fluttershy's back. After a few moments, Twilight lifted her head up as she pushed herself away from Fluttershy, tears still rolling down her wet cheeks. She looked away from the yellow Pegasus momentarily as she noticed the rest of her friends near the door of the library.

"You guys shouldn't have come by. I'm fine." She lied, walking past Fluttershy and down the stairs.

"You're fine? Right." Rainbow Dash said in a sarcastic tone.

Twilight levitated a box of tissues off of a table in the main room of the library, pulling one of the small paper rectangles out of the box, using it to dry off her cheeks and blow her nose.

"It... it just hurts so much. I've never lost somepony close to me." She said as she walked into the living room adjacent to the library's main room.

Twilight sat herself down in a red, fabric covered reading chair, her friends all sitting down on a large couch. Twilight rested her head on her hoof, looking at a picture of Princess Celestia. Seconds later she used her magic to flip the picture down, making it no longer visible.

"I don't believe it," She said, her voice a different tone than before.

"Ah can't believe it either, it just don't seem possible," Applejack replied.

"No, I mean I don't believe that she's gone. There's something going on, I don't know what, but I don't believe that my friend is dead," Twilight clarified, a single tear falling from her blood-shot eyes.

"Do... do you think that... never mind." Started Rainbow Dash, cutting herself off.

"Think what, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"Do you think that Princess Luna had anything to do with this? I mean... she has a history of, well... not liking Celestia."

"I don't know. It doesn't seem like it, though. The last few times I was with Celestia and Luna they both seemed extremely happy, especially Luna. Anything is possible at this point, but I need to find out more about this. Something that struck me as odd was the way Cloud Drop informed everyone about this," Twilight said.

"Who's Cloud Drop?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"He is... was, Celestia's personal guard and military advisor. He's an Admiral, which means he's only a rank below my brother. When he told everyone, he seemed so calm, He's known her for years. I just have a hard time believing that he could be so calm and well-composed after what happen."

"Do you think he had anything to do with it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Maybe... Right now we don't have any right to suspect anyone of being involved in all this, maybe no pony is involved in it, and I'm just being paranoid."

Author's Notes:

I've spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to fix any grammar and spelling errors in this long story... but I know there still are some. If you spot one, please notify me