Princess Celestia woke up and looked over to her dresser. She saw that her clock read 5 am. Knowing she didn’t need to lower the moon and raise the sun for another hour, she got up, stretched, and looked through the piles of paperwork she brought into her room the previous night.

A few hours later, after she raised the sun and finally read the last document, a report on trade with the kingdom of Saddle Arabia, she once more stretched the aching muscles in her neck and headed out of her bedchamber. One of her many guards greeted her with a salute and a smile. She didn’t return the gesture. Keeping her head low, she let out a soft sigh.

It had been nine hundred years since Celestia had banished her sister to the moon with the use of the Elements of Magic. Once, she loved to raise the sun and watch her sister lower the moon, but now, doing both only served to bring back painful memories of what happened to her sister.

Celestia was just making her way around the hallway corner leading from her bedchamber to her throne room when the guard who had saluted her called out to her, “Yer Highness, I need to inform you that you will have a special guest today. She will be here in a few hours.” Again, Celestia ignored him.

Star Swirl the Bearded was also just coming out of his own bedchamber. Seeing the hurt look on her face, he, too, tried to get her attention. “Your Highness, if ye please, we need ta talk.” Princess Celestia walked right on by without a single word to the bearded pony, causing him to yell out to her bitterly, “Celestia! Listen ta me!”

Hearing these words from her most trusted adviser caused the princess of the sun to stop in her tracks. Her ears flexed upwards, and her tail flicked a few times as she slowly turned around to face the one that had commanded her so. Her eyes burning with rage, she stared bitterly back at him. Never had any one of her subjects dared to address her by her name before. Celestia was about to speak when Star Swirl quickly seized the moment and promptly cut her off. “Ah, good. Now tha' Ah have yer attention, Yer Highness, it’s high time we had ourselves a wee chat. Ye've bin mopin' aboot the castle fer far too long, an' it's time tha' ye had some fun in yer life.”

“Just what am I supposed to do, Star Swirl? Do you honestly expect me to just drop everything and go running off into the wild to have this,” Celestia looked down, lowering her ears flat against the side of her head, “fun that you speak of?”

The silver-bearded pony smiled warmly to her. Placing a gentle hoof to her shoulder, he said, “Aye, in a mannor o' speaking, Ah do expect ye ta do that, Yer Highness. An' Ah've got just the idea fer ye to do tha', as well.”

Before Princess Celestia could protest any further, Star Swirl used his magic, teleporting himself and her outside. Looking around, she saw that she was in front of the castle. To her right stood two guards, each wearing his normal golden armor emblazoned with Celestia’s cutie mark. To her left was the wide open area of Canterlot, filled with the bustling of ponies of many walks of life coming and going as they all worked together to build the city of Canterlot. Looking angrily back at Star Swirl, Celestia vehemently snarled out, “How dare you use magic on me without--”

“Now, now,” Star Swirl interrupted, flashing a big smile on his face. “Ye’ll thank me once ye git back.” He raised his hoof, shaking it towards her with an ever-proud smile on his aging face. “Shoo. Go 'ave yerself a good time.”

Celestia, realizing she was all but defeated in her argument, simply grumbled to herself. She didn’t want to take any time for herself, let alone take any time to have fun. Just as she was beginning to make her way down the long, dirt path leading towards a small town far in the distance, she stopped in her tracks. Looking back at Star Swirl, she said, “Wait, I can’t leave. I have an important visitor that's supposed to be seeing me today!”

“Ah, aye, Yer Highness. Don't ye worry aboot her none. Ah'm the one who sent fer her. Ah think the two o' ye will become good friends. An' a friend is what yer sorely needing right now. So, yer ta go out an' 'ave some fun; the fresh air'll do ye some good. Ah'll entertain th' guest until ye return.”

Celestia almost shook with anger towards her friend and mentor, but seeing a slight glint of amusement in his eyes, she finally relented, allowing herself to take in the beautiful day and the fresh summer breeze that was now blowing. Letting out a sigh of both annoyance and slight submission, Celestia began to walk down the road leading to a quaint village.

Star Swirl smiled to himself, thinking as he watched her go, “Ah, good. Now tha' she's gone, my final task can be done without hindrance.”
Turning to head back inside the castle, the magical prodigy began to cough badly. Seeing how sickly Star Swirl was, one of the guards ran to his aid. As the guard helped him back inside the castle and to his bedchamber, Star Swril said to the guard softly while trying to hard to fight back his coughing, “Mah colt, Ah'm in need o' yer services. Ah need ye ta take something fer me an' nae ta tell Her Highness aboot it.”

As Star Swirl was laid on his bed, he used his magic to bring out a wooden box made out of dark cocobolo wood from a hidden cabinet under his bed. Floating it over to the guard, who took the box in his own magic, Star Swirl said, wheezing badly, “Yer ta take this case an' bury it deep wi'in th' Everfree Forest. Do nae allow yerself to peek wi'in the case, fer ye, too, will be tempted ta use this dark magic fer good. But no good will come of it. Tell nopony other than yer eldest colt, an' do nae tell Her Highness Princess Celestia aboot this. Now, go on. Hurry.”

The gaurd looked at Star Swirl with concern in his eyes. Saying nothing to him, he did as he was ordered to do. Taking the box from him, he bowed to Star Swirl and left the castle, heading deep within the Everfree Forest.

---

Celestia was well on her way towards the small village when she came across a butter-colored pony sitting under a tree, resting in its shade and reading a book. The pony had deep blue eyes, orange fur, and transparent, purple wings that glistened like gemstones in the hot, afternoon sun. Looking at her with slight curiosity, Princess Celestia walked up to her, offering her most pleasant smile to her, saying as she looked at the strange-looking pony in front of her, “Uh, hello. How are you doing today?”

The pony looked up from her book, smiled warmly to Celestia, saying as she let her magic close her book, “I am doing well, Your Highness. And how are you doing today?”

“Uh, I am doing well as, uh, well.”

Getting a closer look at the strange pony, Princess Celestia saw what appeared to be a crown on her head that was made up entirely of flowers. Looking a bit closer, Celestia could see that the crown was actually growing out of the pony's head. “Do you like my crown, Your Highness?” came the words from the pony in front of her, snapping the princess of the sun out of her almost trance-like state.

“Huh?” Princess Celestia blinked a couple of times, trying to form her words. “Uh, yes. It is very beautiful. If I may ask, who are you?”

“Oh, how completely rude of me!” The butter-colored pony exclaimed, placing both her front hooves to her cheeks. “Where are my manners?” She got up and bowed deeply to Princess Celestia, continuing, “I am Queen Chrysalis, Your Highness. It is a very high honor to meet you.”

“QUEEN!” Celestia exclaimed back. When she realised her own mistake, she, too, very quickly bowed, continuing, “I am so very sorry, Your Majesty, I never meant to insult you by--”

“Oh, think nothing of it, Your Highness.” Chrysalis giggled slightly. “I actually rather enjoyed this unexpected meeting. And the shocked look on your face was well worth it.” She raised her head up and smiled warmly to Celestia, who also raised her head, only showing a slightly embarrassed look in return. “It was a pleasure meeting you, although I would have preferred to meet you in your castle. But being out here among the trees, animals, wind, and sweet-smelling flowers does wonders for me, and I do enjoy a walk among all those that are living.”

Looking down as her ears slightly tilted against her head, Princess Celestia said with a half-sad look on her face, “I am sorry to be rude to you, Your Majesty, but I was told by one of my guards that I was to--”

“--meet a special guest today,” Chrysalis interrupted with slight glee showing on her royal face. “I am the one that should be apologizing to you, Your Highness.”

“Why?”

“You see, this meeting between us here was not by accident. A pony called Star Swirl the Bearded set it up. He contacted me a few weeks ago and asked that I come out here to meet with you. I think he wanted to--Oh, how did he put it?--‘make sure her highness has a good time and doesn’t spend her time moping about, thinking about the past.’ Or something to that effect, anyway. Anyways, I was asked here to get you out of that stuffy castle and help you along the road to recovery.”

Princess Celestia looked back at Queen Chrysalis with an irritated look on her face. Chrysalis only grinned happily. Stepping forward, Crysalis said, smiling pleasantly to Celestia, “I should warn you now that I do not intend to let you go without making sure you have had at least a little fun.”

“I am not at all amused by this, Your Majesty. I have no reason to have any fun at all.”

“Really? And why is that, Your Highness?” Chrysalis cocked her head to the right with a very confused look on her face. “I see that your sun is shining.” She pointed a hoof to the sky. Celestia looked up, then back down at her, still with an unamused look on her face. “I feel the warmth of the summer breeze in our manes as it blows.” Both her mane and Celestia's flowed slightly as the breeze picked up. “I hear soft chirping coming from the tree branches above me.” She pointed her hoof upwards towards the branches above her. Celestia looked up, seeing several birds. Again, she didn’t looked amused at all. “And I know the village just down the road has lots of yummy, tasty food. So why not come with me and have some fun instead of going back to your castle and moping about for something that wasn’t your fault.”

“W-What did you just say?” Celestia replied, taking a step back, her face beginning to show pain and regret. “What do you know of my pain, my sadness?” Tears began to trickle down her regal face as she continued, “How dare you say it wasn’t my fault? Of course it was! I used the magic of the Elements against my own sister!”

Chrysalis laid a very soft, gentle hoof onto Celestia's shoulder, saying tenderly to her, “I know of your pain because Star Swirl told me about it. Your sister forced you into something that you shouldn’t have been forced into. You had no choice. It was either use the magic of the Elements or lose all of Equestria to her darkness.”

Celestia shook slightly, and Chrysalis came to suddenly realize the real reason why Star Swirl wanted the two of them to meet. Her eyes slowly went wide as she said, “Y-You haven’t actually allowed yourself to cry or to mourn for what happened that night, have you, Celestia?”

Celestia tried and tried to contain her tears, to maintain her composure. It was all completely in vain. Seeing how hurt she was, Chrysalis very gently pulled the princess into her, laying her head onto her shoulder and allowing Princess Celestia to let out her bitter tears.

“WHY?” Celestia sobbed hard into Chrysalis's shoulder. “Why did I do it? I could have worked things out with her. I know I could have!” Her body trembled as she tried to fight back her tears. “What kind of sister am I to banish one that I loved so much yet paid so little attention to?”

“There, there, Your Highness. Let it out. Let out all this pain and regret that you have been keeping up inside you.”

Celestia stayed on Chrysalis's shoulder for almost twenty minutes, allowing herself to cry. She recalled while her tears ran down her cheeks that even after using the Elements on Princess Luna, she didn’t cry that night. She had kept in her anger, her sadness, her tears. She had kept it in until now, when, like a floodgate, they came pouring out of her with no end in sight.

“Shh. It will be alright, Your Majesty. You’ll have your sister home someday, and together, you both will rule Equestria with honor, duty, and above all, love.” Patting her on the back, Queen Chrysalis continued, gently saying, “Your sister loves you, Celestia, and I am sure she will bear you no ill will when she returns to you. I am sure she will forgive you, just as you must now forgive yourself for what you had little choice in doing to her.”

Celestia pulled away. Wiping a hoof over her eyes, she said, choking back her sobs, “H-How can you be so sure, Your Majesty? How do you know that my sister will return to me and that she'll forgive me, let alone that I'll be able to forgive myself for what I did?”

“I know because I, too, lost somepony that was dear to my heart.”

Celestia wanted to ask more, but thought she'd acted out of line enough. Instead, she said, “Thank you for allowing me to act so personally, Your Majesty. I am sure you must have thought of me as a complete mess for crying on your shoulder like that.”

“Oh, not at all, my dear, not at all. In fact, I am sure that it has done you good.” Chrysalis moved so that she was standing right next to Celestia. “Now, shall we head into the village just down the road and see what it's like? Perhaps we will have some fun along the way, as well.”

“Fun?” Celestia looked back towards her castle, then back down towards the road, and smiled warmly. “Yes, let's go see what this little village has to offer. I think after my crying fit I could use some, uh, fun. Who knows? I might even make a friend today.”

“I'd say you have already made a friend.”

“I have?” Celestia looked at Chrysalis, who was beaming a big smile to her. She giggled slightly. "Yes, I suppose I have."

Chrysalis continued smiling as she said, “There is a tradition among my ponies that when a pony cries on another's shoulders under a tree, the ponies swiftly become friends.”

“Really? That's interesting, albeit really specific. I'll have to see more of your ponies and their traditions.”

Side-by-side, the two continued on their way. Coming to the village in the late evening, Celestia stopped at the threshold of the village gates, smiled, and let out a contented sigh. Chrysalis looked at her, then past the gates, which were already open. Before anypony knew what was happening, the two royals raced through the town, each laughing and giggling like two little fillies. They raced up and down the streets of the village, each trying to outrun the other, neither of them gaining or losing ground. Their laughter and silliness didn’t go unnoticed, as soon, the entire village was in on the act, with all the ponies around racing each other throughout the streets.

Next Chapter: Common Ground (Edited by and Titled by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 45 Minutes