Chapter 16: Silver Lining

Luna disguised herself as the terrifying Queen of Terror again. An annoying thing to do, she feared that she could not separate her true self and the Nightmare someday. Her will was stronger than ever though, especially since she had an important mission and a goal worth fighting for.

“Focus Luna! You’re on your own, and Celestia should not be alerted,” She thought to herself, this new castle was so different than their old one though. So many different halls and doors, the alicorn would’ve been lost for sure, but the connection to Silver guided her.

Shadow travel made the ‘staying invisible’ part much easier, and painting stupid runes on her royal coat was not an option. The few unfortunate guards and staff members that saw the Princess of the Night in an unlucky moment, were quickly eliminated and left, letting them bleed out in a puddle of their own blood. She didn’t feel sorry for them at all, every last pony that worked for Celestia had to be punished.

She was almost at the entrance to the dungeons, so far, so good. Then the inevitable happened, a cheerful light-pink mare walked past hear, whistling a happy tune. “What’s up, Nightmare Moon?” She ask while walking past the creepy looking alicorn.

It took her a few seconds eventually she stopped and blinked. Wait… alicorn? Nightmare Moon? Not even a single scream escaped her sweet lips before Melody’s throat was encased in dark-blue magic, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t breath, staring into the hallway was all that the terrified unicorn could do.

“It’ll only hurt for a little while. This… is for Silver,” Luna whispered into her ear. Then the alicorn’s magic crushed Misty Melody’s windpipe and let her fall to the ground. The poor mare grasped her throat, desperately trying to get some air, the hole was only filled with crimson liquid out of the torn blood vessels. The last silent tears fell before she went limp. Another victim of this war.

The Princess of the Night decided to leave her here, in case somepony noticed it, she could justify another bloodshed. Twilight would understand, they were equals after all. A strange thought for her, she could’ve never expected to find the key to Celestia downfall, in an ordinary unicorn. No… not ordinary, Twilight Sparkle was far from ordinary, but she was mortal, the fact that Luna worked together with a mortal pony, considering her an equal, astounded her.

‘Now’s not the time to think about hierarchy and leadership,’ Luna tried to focus. She was still in one of the most heavily guarded places of Equestria. The entrance to the dungeons was free, she took the opportunity and swiftly sneaked through the door.

A split second later four unfortunate guards collapsed in a puddle of their own blood, Luna really was lucky today. The Nightmare would be satisfied for a while, and she could tear down Celestia’s defenses. The next straight corridor was completely frozen by the time she’d passed through it, leaving two terrified looking ice statues. While she plowed her way through the dungeon, she opened every cell door and released the prisoners, “You’re free, thank Twilight Sparkle for it. Rise and create chaos, in the name of the rebellion.”

Meanwhile the entire castle had sunken into complete anarchy, a young mare had found the dead body of Misty Melody. More and more bodies showed up and panic spread, not even Celestia knew what was going on. She knew who was responsible for it, but not how, or why.

She could feel the connection growing stronger as the alicorn approached the last door of this corridor. A quickly slash with her sword and the heavy iron door was nothing but metal scrap. On the opposite side of the room was, chained to the wall, the reason why she was here. A bruised, and bloody Silver Night, his mane and coat were filthy, not taken care of in ages, and he couldn’t be called anything more than a skeleton. The stallion’s ribs were showing through his malnourished body.

Silver’s voice was barely more than a weak whisper, “...my… queen…”

Luna destroyed the heavy chains, the countless enchantment broke like a twig under the hammer blow that was pure alicorn magic. She supported his weight easily due to his malnourished form, but they still weren’t safe, “Let’s bring you to Ponyville. They will pay for this later…”

His head hung low, Silver couldn’t trust his own senses, the queen had come to the stallion’s rescue, all alone.

Five minutes later she slowly dragged him through the terrified masses of staff member, who instantly fainted as they saw who invaded their peaceful work day. Luna looked up to see who was still standing in her way, as every last civilian and guard was gone, four ponies stood before her.

Eclipse, the captain of the third division, levitating in her magic was a black scythe, it’s razor sharp edge engulfed with black energy. Thunder Flare, his face showed a devilish, excited grin and the air around him was buzzing with electric energy. Mistral, who already prepared to freeze the entire castle if she had to. And last, but certainly not least, the Princess of the Sun in all her glory.

Beads of sweat began to form on Luna’s forehead, her sister was one thing, but three of her strongest soldiers, all at the same time? Her shadow travel was almost ready, she just needed to stall them for a moment, “Oh? My welcome committee? I was just about to leave with my guest of honor here, so I’m afraid we have to delay the celebration.”

Celestia tried to burn dagger into her sister’s soul with her gaze, “So it really was you… this pointless act of vengeance, just for one thestral? Where is Twilight?”

“My dear student? She is taking care of your old friend,” Luna mocked, Morning Blaze and Shining Armor arrival in Ponyville was no secret for her, the wards that they installed together proofed to be very efficient.

The princess’ expression changed, pure, unbridled anger was written into her face, it was always hard to keep her composure when it came to her student, rarely anypony saw the princess that angry, at least not in the last few millennia, “You will stop at once! Cut off your magic flow and surrender.”

The air around the sun princess grew consistently hotter, Mistral and Eclipse stood right next to her and shifted uncomfortably. They knew exactly would would happen if the princess lost her temper. The stories were still told from generation to generation, so that nopony under her reign would attempt anything like that ever again. The tips of her glorious wings began to flicker with white-hot flames, ready to bring doom and destruction to any mortal being that dared to oppose her. Celestia’s golden shoes gained a red-ish hue due to the high temperature in and around her body.

Luna gulped, she hadn’t felt the wrath of her sister in a long time, and one thing was clear for her, she’d need Twilight Sparkle’s help if the alicorn wanted to defeat Celestia, “I’d love to stay for a nice chat, dear sister. Unfortunately Silver here would disagree.”

The two captains and the general present stared at Celestia. This statement changed the entire situation, Nightmare Moon, the sister of their ruler? Could it be that their goddess wasn’t so innocent like everypony thought?

The heat nearly doubled around Celestia, the wall carpets next to her were already smoking, they’d catch fire any second now. No normal pony could stand this heat for more than a few minutes. “Curse you, Luna! You’ll pay the price for that!” Even her inner voice was practically dripping with venom, her anger couldn’t be comprehended by any mortal creature.

As the Princess of the Night watched their expression change, and Celestia’s fire intensifying, she put two and two together, “Oh? Your subordinates didn’t know about our dear relationship? Well then, I believe you have much to explain Celestia.” Without giving another hint, she sunk into the shadows beneath her.

Celestia cried out as she saw her sister vanishing, without thinking the sun princess fired an enormous beam of pure sunfire into the general position of Luna’s lost position. Without any target to pulverize the beam penetrated the massive stone walls like paper, leaving nothing but molten stone and fire in its wake. Later that day a small village, hundreds of kilometers away from Canterlot, would report a strange beam of pure fire destroying nearly all of their fertile land, effectively dooming them to starve.

Meanwhile only a short trip from Canterlot, Morning Blaze woke up from her pain induced slumber. She couldn’t decide if ‘waking up’ was the right term because she was still freezing from the bucket of cold water that got emptied over her head.

Her entire left side felt numb, somepony must’ve treated her wounds, at least she could look around. The room she was in had clean and flawless iron walls, even the floor was made out of steel, only the heavy door was made out of some kind of black crystal. They were no windows, except a small one in the massive door. Unfortunately there wasn’t much of anything in there, a slighter higher piece of iron represented a bed, and a barred hole was the toilet, presumably. In one corner a bowl filled with clean water and one with oatmeal in it stood ready for her.

Blaze wondered how she got here, then saw the clear reason, her old student was leaning against the opposite wall, the iron bucket still in the grasp of her magic. Twilight’s face was still adorned with this Celestia forsaken smile. The lavender mare’s voice echoed around the iron walls, “Good morning, mentor. I hope you had a pleasant rest!” She broke out in her notorious laughter.

“Very funny, Twilight. Where’s Shining Armor?” The yellow mare asked, irritation dripped out of every word she spoke.

“Who? ...Ah yes, my stupid brother. I got rid of him earlier, you should’ve seen his empty look after I severed his head,” Twilight replied in a mocking tone. Those words hurt her, but it was worth it, she couldn’t allow herself to mourn.

“W-what? N-no… n-n-no, Twilight would have never done this…”

“She wouldn’t? Let me tell you something Blaze, he was the first of many. And you know what?” For the last words she came closer, almost able to nibble at Blaze’s ear, then Twilight whispered, “You will help me.” Without another word the mare left, closing the black crystal door with a heavy thud.

The female captain’s expression was beyond mortified, her mind completely empty. Did she… did she really understand her young, innocent and not murderous student right? The death of her brother was barely worth mentioning for her, what was going on?!

Another day had passed since Applejack decided to join this mysterious ‘Sharpshot’, the mare couldn’t say whether she liked it or not yet. Some company was nice, but the way he acted made her worry about this journey. Not once did AJ understand what he was trying to say, or rather, what he was trying to hide from her.

“We’ve been runnin’ all day again, where are we goin’ anyway?” Applejack asked while jumped over a small pile of mud covered stones. Normally the country mare enjoyed the sense of danger, but traveling with a completely unknown stranger in some random woods Celestia-knows where took it a bit too far.

“Deep within these woods lie the ancient ruins of a long lost civilization. Their tribe worshipped the moon, so naturally, the Nightmare was drawn to them. After the events of its arrival, the moon tribe vanished completely. I’ve studied their old rituals, their society, not many records of that time survived until now, it seems like they had technology we could only dream of. They were able to fly to the stars, without the need of wings, they were able to walk on water, without magic, and they were able to live significantly longer than any pony today could. Many of their secrets were lost in time, but the ruins in this forest could contain valuable information regarding the Nightmare, or its power,” Sharpshot replied, one look into his companion’s eyes were enough to know that she didn’t understand half of it. There was no time for second chances though, time was running out for Equestria.

Before Applejack could even begin to ask questions Sharpshot stopped, “This… is the ruin of the old moon tribe civilization.” The area was perfectly flat and devoid of any disturbing trees. Houses in all sizes and form were half destroyed, half buried in the dirt. The biggest building was some sort of octagonal temple, a giant depiction of a crescent moon had been constructed at the very top. The temple itself seemed to be only one story tall, and each corner of the octagonal building had an enormous, black column built into it. The end of the half moon, and the height of the columns seemed to match perfectly, they was some sort of meaning there, that much was sure.

“Woah Nelly, do ya really want to enter that thing?” AJ asked with certain nervousness in her voice.

Sharpshot nodded shortly, “Who knows what kind of secrets it holds. This could be what we have been looking for, this is bigger than just me, you, or your little group of friends, the entire world could be in dire peril very soon.”

Without the need for more words, they approached the giant temple. Sharpshot was certain, this was as close to the Nightmare as he was ever going to get without being corrupted by it. It was like walking through a graveyard of the centuries, the moon tribe’s technology surpassed their own by a landslide. What threat could’ve possibly wiped them out in this short period of time?

Runes and foreign symbols engraved into the massive stone gates. Sharpshot stepped forward, touching the outlines of the symbols, “What secrets are hidden withi—”

Suddenly he was thrown backwards, magic energy surged through his body and the runes. The strange energy lit the hollow engravings, unleashing the true potential of this technology. Centuries upon centuries worth of knowledge opened up to the little group as the giant gates moved on their own. It lasted for a minute, then the blue glow faded, revealing the open passage into the moon tribe’s most sacred place of worship. He groaned shortly, but got back up quickly, it seems that it was only the magical backlash from the mechanism being activated for the first time in centuries.

The first thing that greeted them, in this cold and dark hallway, were the long withered remains of a pony. Some kind of blue robe was still draped over its skeletal shoulder, although it didn’t fare well, holes littered the dyed cloth, giving it an extra haunting look. As soon as they approached it ghostly blue lamps illuminated the corridor, the walls were covered in the same kind of unknown symbols as the door, the floor was just polished cobblestone, now covered with moss and grime.

Sharpshot paid the skeleton no mind, he went straight into the temple, wanting to reveal its secrets so desperately. Applejack stopped next to the long rotten corpse, something had caught her attention, a small journal, bound in deep blue leather or hide. Her curiosity had peaked and she picked it up, eager to read the last thoughts of this deceased pony.

Nearly all of its pages were unreadable at this point, or simply missing. Maybe she wasn’t the first pony that read this. Only very few survived the signs of age.

704. Moon Cycle - Day 14

Today our High Priests have returned from the very first flight to the stars. Their tales of the moon sounded like a little child’s depiction of paradise. Someday we will all travel to the home of our gods. They brought many valuable informations on the celestial bodies too and even hints that could lead us to the Plains of Heaven! May the gods be pleased with our work.

704. Moon Cycle - Day 24

High Priestess Rao’s second journey was an even greater success! Hopefully my barriers are enough to hinder prying eyes to read this, but I can’t shake off the feeling of distrust, every time I lay my eyes on her. The priestess seems so far away all the time, never considering alternative methods. Rao’s is known to be incredibly cruel, her cold eyes differentiate not between foes, and those who disagree with her ways.

She brought a strange deep blue crystal with her, its properties are quite remarkable. It seems to have some sort of sentience. Rao apparently knows how to communicate with it, the secrets the crystal reveals to us are incredible! The mere fact that she is the only one able to talk to it is another very concerning thing to worry about. Maybe the gods just blessed her with this gift though, and my emotions simply betray me. Anyways, I should keep this short. The other apprentices already prepare themselves for the journey, I shall do so too.

The country mare came to the last page, half of it was missing, but the some of the text was still readable.

704. Moon Cycle - Day 28

All attempt to stop it have failed. Even the High Priest are unable to prevent the inevitable. Rao went missing after she unleashed… that thing out of the crystal. My distrust has not been unfounded, unfortunately. Our city is…

… only hope. I fear my training won’t be complete in this lifetime. If only the princesses…

...this damn Celestia may be cursed for all eternity! In case this journal survives the ages, and this tragedy repeats itself, there is only one way to defeat it, find Tsuku…

The entire rest had been ripped off. She didn’t understand half of it, but this strange crystal had something to do with it. After their weird journey this Rao must’ve found it. What was the way to defeat it? Only a part of the word was still there ‘Tsuku…’, what did it mean?

“Hey Sharpshot! Ah think you might want to read this thing,” Applejack exclaimed, he approached her again, already storing several ancient books in the bags and pouches of his weird garb. She handed the journal over to him.

After only a few minutes of reading the stallion stumbled backwards, slightly shivering. Applejack already began to worry, but then he slowly removed his hood and stammered, “T-that’s it… I can literally feel the Nightmare in this parchment… after so long.”

At least she could see his face now, Sharpshot’s short, black hair was styled in a wild manner, almost like something blew up right in the center, creating a vortex of hair, it didn’t look half bad though. The stallion icy-blue eyes were wide open, still staring at the journal, he must’ve been really excited about this little book.

“Ya don’t look like Ah expected in the least, it’s not bad though,” She giggled shortly, the country mare herself didn’t really know what she was saying. Maybe, just maybe this totally weird and dangerous pony was a teeny, tiny bit good looking, from an outside totally-not-attracted perspective.

He shook his head quickly to get a hold of himself again, “I, uh… thanks? I guess. Anyways, we have to explore this temple! This is the best hint were likely ever going to get!” After the orange mare offered him a hoof, they both began to search through the temple.

Countless doors on both side of this labyrinth like corridor revealed many interesting details about the moon tribe, well, they would’ve… two thousand years ago. The only thing they found, were skeletons of moon worshippers, broken furniture or the occasional burnt, rotten or withered book. This thing that came out of the crystal, that must’ve been the cause for all of this.

Finally they came to the main chamber of the temple, it was easy to recognize since it was four times the size of the other rooms. Weak, blue light was shining from below the slits between the mossy stone tiles. The walls were adorned with strange paintings of foreign creatures, all of them were born in the shadows. One beast was depicted as big as a mountain, on its back a shrine could be seen surrounded by a garden with a giant temple bell hanging in it on a large stone pedestal. Underneath the pedestal was a mass of writhing tails, entwined, and at the sides of the mass sprouted eight necks the size of tree trunks, and on the end of each neck was a head, wearing an ancient samurai helmet with thick armor plating and armed with a gaping mouth covered in vicious teeth, and the outside lined with barbs pointing outward.

They both noticed that this was some kind of story, told in form if these pictures. The beast attacked the tribe ferociously, each head was able to utilize a different kind of element to make the ponies suffer even more. Although there was no text, it was clear was was going on.

“L-look at this, Sharpshot,” Applejack stammered, the depictions got more and more disturbing.

The beast settled down in a giant cave, in the middle of a moonlit lake, every year on the night of a particular full-moon it demanded the sacrifice of a young mare. Otherwise it would bring destruction upon the tribe once again.

The fateful night happened again in the next picture, the loved one of a proud warrior was chosen to be its meal. He refused to let his loved one die, the stallion entered the cave himself, disguised as a mare. A long and exhausting fight began for him, he used a long broadsword, adorned with the symbol of a crescent moon, the steel of the blade completely blue, like the night sky.

Holy winds came to his aid as one head drew upon fire, countering and extinguishing them. As it came rushing towards him, a large tree was depicted to grow right in front of the stallion, protecting him. Every move, every attack of the beast was rendered useless by this unknown, divine protection.

One head after the other got severed by his blade, after the last one hit the ground, the terrifying beast collapsed in a pool of its own blood. The last picture depicted the stallion, proudly holding his blade towards the shining moon.

The last picture almost touched the first one again, it was like a never ending story. Sharpshot took his time to look at it over and over again, “This blade had some kind of meaning… this beast was certainly not the Nightmare… but it almost looked like an ancient servant of it, definitely of demonic origins. Look around, there has to be some kind of clue in here, maybe it’ll lead us to the sword, or to an effective weapon against the Nightmare.”

A large altar was placed in the exact center of the room, the light from outside shone through a small opening in the ceiling, giving the stone construction a dangerous, but serene look. It was plain, without any form of decoration, placed on top of it was a cracked, midnight-blue gemstone of unusual size. Its size almost equal to that of Applejack’s head.

Although it was centuries old the gemstone still emanated magical energy, chaos in its purest form. The country mare felt herself drawn to it, suddenly touching it was the most desirable thing in the world. She approached it slowly like in a trance, only a few centimeters separated her and the strange crystal. Far in the distance she heard a quiet voice shouting something.

Before she had the chance to fulfil her sudden desire, Sharpshot slapped her hard. The country mare tumbled backwards, he was certainly stronger than his form would let on. That was the only methods to snap her out of it that the stallion could think of. His sword was obviously not suitable for that.

Slowly she came back to her senses, first thing Applejack did, was to touch her cheek. She had to bite down on her tongue to not cry out in pain, “Gosh darn, Sharpshot! What the hell was that?!”

He offered her a hoof, “You didn’t react to my warnings. Who knows what this thing is, and it’s still brimming with magical energy. I am sorry, but I’d rather just slap you before I have to watch another innocent pony turning into whatever Twilight Sparkle is now.”

She kept her mouth shut, maybe he was right. Twilight was obviously not the same mare as she was before… it still hurt though. Not everything was lost, there was still hope, “Alright, let’s keep searchin’.”

The icy winds whipped over her body, the feeling of little needles pricking every fiber in her beings had long since faded. Now only a dull feeling in the back of Fluttershy’s mind. The yellow mare barely paid attention to her surroundings anymore, that could’ve her end on more than one occasion.

The reason was not the slaying of demons, the icy temperature, nor the responsibility that loomed over her like a dark shadow watching every step of the timid, little mare. Maybe all of it played a part, but the main reason… was herself. She’d committed the one of the ultimate taboos of their land, eating flesh. That was the reason why no other kingdom dared to send ambassadors towards the Griffon Kingdom, they were seen as blood and flesh hungry beasts. Even Celestia herself had a certain… aversion to call them for help, but she’d go over corpses for her… precious and innocent student.

Suddenly the brown stallion before her stopped, causing the mare to bump into him, at least that snapped Fluttershy out of her thoughts, “W-why are we stopping?”

“This is it… the Kamui Shrine,” He looked up to the mountain, a very steep and difficult path could be seen, almost leading up to the top, it stopped somewhere in the upper third though. Fluttershy couldn’t see discern what it was leading to, the snowstorm and the strange fog that seemed to follow them around made it impossible to see further than a few meters. She nearly tripped on the way over to him, as the timid mare looked down she could nothing but thick ice. This must’ve been the frozen lake at the bottom of the shrine.

Their respective weapon grew just slightly hotter as they approached the dangerous path, they seemed to do that whenever a strong demon came close to them. The second Fluttershy stepped onto the path, a thunderous roar could be heard from somewhere above them, presumably from inside the shrine.

Fluttershy curled herself up in a little ball, so that the evil creatures couldn’t hurt her. It was just like a reflex, from deep inside her mind, telling her to run, to hide, to close her eyes, “W-w-what w-was that?”

Rost already had his red broadsword up and ready, gripping the guard tight with his mouth, after it was over he strapped it to his back again, this was not good at all, “The demons… it seems like the element of surprise is not on our side anymore.”

Without the need of another word they began to climb the steep path, it would take them at least another day before they could finally put an end to this nightmare… and then the real fight back in Equestria would begin. The fight for her friendship.

For the first time in a thousand years, Celestia laid awake in her bed, her restless mind not being able to get a calm minute of soothing oblivion. Her celestial mane was a mess, disheveled and some stray strands of hair gave her the perfect look for insomnia, the immortal alicorn’s coat was duller than usual, lacking its striking shine. Even her gorgeous wings were affected, some big, white feathers were ruffled and out of order.

She hadn’t been able to sleep properly for more than a month now, it would’ve been a very serious health risk for any mortal pony. However Celestia, was an alicorn, their bodies worked a little different and they had a remarkable longevity, she could go without sleep for another month if she really had to. The best solution was to finally end this war and get her precious student back, the memories of her long lost sister still hurt too, but the Sun Princess had realized that Luna was beyond saving for a very long time now.

Twilight however… Twilight was a whole different story, the Nightmare did not fully taint her yet. Her appearance would’ve change quite a bit if that had been the case. Celestia prayed that her student’s corrupted mind let all of the bearers live. Without them, the alicorn had to watch another loved one fall into the abyss that was her eternal nemesis. Not Discord, nor the old tyrant Sombra, or even the evil spirit Tirek came close to being Celestia’s most hated creature in this world. For Faust’s sake, in the entire universe!

Finally Celestia found the courage to stand up and attack yet another depressing day. The morning was always the worst part of the day, oddly enough because she was quite literally the first ray of the dawn. The the annoying and tedious rest followed, bathing, preening her feathered wings, brushing her coat so that it gained its usual luxurious shine. The part that took the longest was combing her hair, normal ponies simply did not understand the difficulty of combing celestial manes, it almost had the same consistency as maple syrup

The next thing on her very, very tight and predictable schedule was breakfast, or rather it would be. Suddenly three short knocks on her chamber’s doors interrupt her planning. She answered with her usual composure and gentleness, “Come in.”

The bright yellow coat, short, ruffled almost white hair and a suit that put her sun to shame, it was none other than her favorite general and friend, Dawn Comet. It was obvious that he wasn’t back to full health yet, some bandages still covered his sides and one went around his forehead. Celestia considered saying anything about his condition, but she wouldn’t be able to change the stallion’s mind anyway, “A pleasure to see you, Dawn. I hope that the nurses have been treating you well.”

The old stallion smiled, it felt good to be in the presence of his princess again. Her aura was always so warm and soothing, although that changed over the course of the last few months. Especially every time somepony talked about her student, “Of course… Celestia, but you know how I think about hospitals. Hahaha! I left yesterday, they gave up trying to bring me back into a bed after a half an hour chase around the town.”

She chuckled and slowly shook her head, “He and his weird antics.” Then her smile faded slowly, the grave nature of their situation sank in once again. “Is there any particular reason you endured all that trouble, just to visit me this early? Not that I don’t enjoy your company, Dawn, I am just a little curious.”

Dawn’s smile faded as well, “I wanted to talk about a certain topic.. because some of the puzzle pieces still don’t fit.”

“Hmm, well then, go ahead. You can ask me whatever you want.”

It took him several minutes before he was able to word correctly what the stallion was about to ask, “What kind of relationship was really going on between you, and Twilight Sparkle?”

The princess’ eyes widened, of all the bad questions he could’ve asked, Dawn choose the worst, “W-well…” She began to stammer. “As nearly everypony knows, I was her mentor for nearly her entire childhood, we were close…”

“Maybe a bit closer than anypony realized?” He asked with a serious expression.

Celestia’s expression was riddled with shock, eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape, “W-what did you just say?”

“P-princess, maybe you don’t realize it yourself… but the amount of sacrifices you were making… just for one subject, it’s just very suspicious.”

Now her emotions went into a very dangerous direction, “How dare you to accuse me of that! Dawn Comet, I’m over two thousand years old, do you really think the bottom of my heart was left unexplored?!”

The stallion winced at the intense wrath emanating from her, it just reinforced his suspicions, “Think about it Celestia! You were willing to sacrifice half of Equestria, you gave her an easy chance to conquer one of your cities, Law and Taka are both injured because of that. We haven’t heard anything from Morning or Shining Armor for over forty eight hours, I’ve done my research. Now tell me, would you do all of this for any other pony in this land?”

“Leave. Now. I… I need to get ready… my schedule is full enough as it is…” The stallion left without a word.

Celestia sank back into her bed, her face buried under a fluffy pillow. Even she had her breaking point, and the immortal alicorn was the closest she ever was to breaking it. Tears threatened to fall from her already reddened eyes.

Just one thought crossed her mind, “Twilight… Oh please come back to me… I will save you, no matter the cost.”

Author's Notes:

My apologies for the slight delay. I know there are actually very few who are reading it, but I shall try to keep the updates fortnightly.

It's my turn to ask for feedback again, I love to read thoughts and comments on the chapters, positive and negative. So feel free to leave a rating or comment. A big thanks to the few people who stick around.