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// Chapter 5: A Twinkle in the Mind's Eye// Story: Sunshine and Fire// by BornIn1142//------------------------------//

Chapter 5: A Twinkle in the Mind's Eye

By the time Celestia got back to Canterlot Mountain, nopony was there. Four others had crossed over with her and she had lost all of them. Of Brainy Bright, there was no sign at all, but she did catch a whiff of Luna's scent in the sky, and found tracks leading into the open desert that belonged to Twilight Sparkle and Spike. There were subtler traces as well – memories of magic gleaming invisibly around her in which she recognized her student's work.

Celestia set down amongst the hills briefly to have a look around. Her pastel mane waved and shimmered, even though the air around her was dead still. The wind was forgotten. It was quiet. She could sense nothing alive anywhere near her – not on the ground or the mountain, not under the earth and not up in the sky. There wasn't even a tiny worm to be found, not even anything left of a worm. There was only sand. She felt like she was in the graveyard of nature.

She had made a mistake.

Upon being thrust into this world, Celestia had floated onwards outside the atmosphere and explored. She had examined the planet from the above and tried to make sense of the sun. As repulsive as it was, it almost seemed to be calling out to her. She mind drowned in thoughts of flames when she looked at it. Still, her flight into orbit could have waited. She had wasted days when she should have turned around immediately and rushed back to find the others. She had made a mistake, and now found herself with no excuse for her foolishness.

Following the tracks was the only option at the moment, but Celestia worried more about her sister than Twilight Sparkle. Luna should have been the one more prepared for any dangers this world might present, true, but what effect would the absence of the moon have on her? It would not be pleasant, neither physically nor psychologically. Celestia hoped to gather everypony up soon so they could start thinking about how to get back to their own world.

She gave her wings a mighty flap, rose back in the air and headed after Twilight. In minutes, she came across a great canyon running several kilometers in length and infused with elemental power. The magic there was not recent – calling it ancient would have made her feel old – but nevertheless raw and pungent. It almost made her gag. The energies that had seeped into the ground there felt evil and terrible, and yet somehow familiar.

There was something underneath the earth. Celestia hadn't sensed anything alive at the mountain, but there was something here... not worms, but something else.

It didn't matter.

Celestia found the tracks again on the other side of the chasm. Soon after, she found another site of a magical eruption. This one was still fresh. There was a crater of vitrified sand there, flat and wide, from which an explosion of light and kinetic energy had burst outward from. What could Twilight have come across here that would have forced her to do something this drastic? What kind of dangers did this dimension hold?

Celestia could not find the tracks again. She soared around the edge of the crater, but found only broken glass and windswept sand that had obscured any sign of movement. Still, there couldn't be any doubt about Twilight's destination anyway. She and Spike had been on their way to the city nearby. Being the closest settlement around, it was the obvious place to head for.

It didn't take her long to get there herself. The city was huge, bigger than anything in Celestia's own Equestria. It was well-planned though. Most of the streets were grid-like and neat. She could see ponies on the move inside. Many of the buildings reached high, but there was an expected lack of towers, even in the huge palace that lay at the city center. Everything was built from a chalk white rock Celestia didn't recognize. There was an obvious distinction between large apartment complexes and elaborate, baroque mansions. The architecture of the latter reminded Celestia of Canterlot, though it was certainly more severe and less curvy. There were also many greenhouses of various sizes strewn about. Many of the bigger ones seemed to be for private use. A massive wall surrounded the city, and numerous tunnels for railway tracks led through it.

Obviously, Celestia was going to have to disguise herself. She picked the eastern gate, since that seemed closest in direction to Canterlot Mountain, and approached the city as a young mare with a snow-white coat and flowery pink locks. A certain tinge of spite made her keep her own cutie mark, the image the sun she called her own, but she made certain to hide away her alicorn features. She also made herself appear sweaty and dusty, and conjured up saddlebags and empty water canteens – everything needed to appear as if she'd just came wandering from the desert. She chose the body of a unicorn more out of habit than any other reason. This was the simplest disguise in Celestia's repertoire, and she used it often enough when she wanted to keep an eye on goings-on in and around Canterlot. She had to admit, she liked this form. It was very similar to herself in her youth. An ageless being felt no vanity about how young she looked, but there was a certain nostalgia in it, and she so enjoyed the feeling of freedom it gave her to be just another unrecognized snout in the crowd.

By entering the city on foot,however, Celestia did exactly she would rather have avoided: she stood out. The city gates were under heavy guard, and it turned out that nopony was allowed to leave the city. Entering was not forbidden, but it was certainly odd.

"You traveled in the desert by yourself?"

There were several armored soldiers there, but the pony in charge was a black and blue unicorn mare dressed in a white robe and hat. It was her who handled the questioning.

"You traveled in the desert by yourself?"

While she spoke, she was also probing Celestia magically. If Celestia had been any other pony, and if her magic was just any other magic, then the inquisitor would no doubt have seen through her disguise.

"Yes, ma'am," said Celestia meekly.

There was no need to say anything else. The unicorn stepped very close to Celestia – all authority – and glowered down at her with dark and cold eyes. Celestia matched her gaze. The guards had nothing to go on, nothing to justify any suspicion. They had to let her pass.

"Enjoy your time in Everfree City," said the unicorn, "Do not try to escape. It is forbidden by express command of the Queen, owing to the emergency situation currently in effect."
"Emergency situation?" repeated Celestia, but the unicorn did not answer. She turned around and stomped off.

On the side of the guardhouse was a large sign, lettered in golden block capitals:

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

WAR IS PEACE

MAGIC IS FRIENDSHIP

Celestia read it over one more time while the gate was being opened. It still did not make sense. She turned towards one of the guards, an earth pony, and smiled.

"The situation can't be that unusual, can it? I'm sure you have young and strapping unicorn ladies coming through on their lonesome here all the time."
The earth pony was slow to answer. "No, Madam. Not really."

Celestia considered asking about Twilight Sparkle directly, but decided to move on, at least at the moment. There was no need to rush ahead of herself and do something she might later regret. She had time to do some investigating first.

Once she was inside the tunnel leading through the city wall and the doors shut behind her, Celestia let her saddlebags melt into nothingness. She was now just another citizen, hopefully. The other end of the tunnel wasn't closed. As soon as she stepped out into the light, she noted a difference in temperature. It was somewhat cooler within the city walls. It might still have been a warm summer's day, but the sunshine was not nearly as intense.

Celestia found her cutie mark everywhere in the city. The sunburst symbol adorned half the street corners and the front doors of all barracks and government buildings. Armored soldiers – unicorn, pegasus and earth pony – wore it proudly on their chests. Hundreds of flags hung listlessly on hundreds of flagpoles, each of them showing what must have been the Equestrian coat of arms – a giant sun surrounded by a ring of fire, on a field of pure white. The sigils came in many different colors, but most often, they were bright and gleaming gold. They were on every side, where ever Celestia looked, and they all seemed to confirm her worst suspicions.

She wondered if it hadn't been another to mistake to use the sun as her cutie mark instead of the little blue stars or something else entirely. It turned out not to be a problem. Her flank drew a few glances, true, but these were almost always appreciative or even jealous. The ponies themselves looked perfectly ordinary to her eyes, but there was a distinct difference in how members of the different pony races carried themselves.

The question now was what the best way to locate Twilight was. Should she start checking for guesthouses, public locations? Should she try asking ponies? It did not seem likely that Twilight would have any money to pay for lodgings. Celestia was reticent about doing something like, oh, turning to the authorities, not until she'd had a chance to look things over in Everfree.

The first thing she tried to do was find a newspaper to learn more about the current situation in the city, but it seemed that the last several editions of the local papers had been blanketed by royal decree. It was apparently temporarily illegal to report the news, but there was always another way to find things out: gossip and rumor.

There was, of course, the distinct danger of distortion and exaggeration, but Celestia often found that commoners knew far more than anypony gave them credit for, or than they were supposed to. This Equestria had many of the trappings of a police state, and its citizens quite likely wary of being overheard saying something that could be construed as treasonous, but that didn't mean they didn't express themselves. It was as easy to pick up on the moods and concerns of a crowd as it was to read a morning paper, if one knew what one was doing. Celestia did indeed know what she was doing. She weaved through the shops, the marketplaces, the greenhouse parks and the streets – she looked and listened.

"Thank grace the curfew is over and done with. The new opening times I had to set for my shop were killing business. I'm so glad I get to sleep in again."

"I know what they said, but a friend of a friend told me Applejack is still out there, and she heard it from one of the soldiers that was sent to catch her."

"...and you know what the best part is? I've heard the foal might have been Duke Blueblood's!"

"I've been saying for years that we could use another war. I don't know why it's taken us so long to move against the Griffon Kingdom. They've been making a mockery of Equestria for centuries just by existing."

"He's not a unicorn anymore, so what is he? It's like he's not even a pony at all. He's just a dead... thing."

"She broke into Earl Catnap's treasury and took everything that wasn't bolted down. The guards only noticed what was going on when she left them her dust to eat..."

"I've never seen anything like it. The city guards were out of their minds. Nopony expected them to attack Everfree City directly."

"I don't know how we'll get by next month. I've already sold everything I could possibly sell. I told myself I'd never enlist, but what other choice is there?"

"They're only earth ponies."

"...regiments marching past their village..."

"Nopony's seen her for a week. I knew she should have kept her damn fool mouth shut about the Queen."

"But why would anypony want to kill Celestia?"

"I'm so glad Lord Chocolate Sun's ball is still taking place. Everypony who is somepony will be there."

"The griffons don't stand a chance. We outnumber them five to one. As soon as their capitol falls, the other cities will follow like a row of dominoes. This war will be over in a couple of months."

"They'll never catch the Blue Bolt. She's too fast."

"They took him! They took him! I tried to tell them he had nothing to do with it – he was with me – but they still took him!"

"I'm telling you, I saw it happen! I actually saw Applejack!"

"There's no way they can beat us in the air. We'll match the griffons feather by feather."

"Nopony knew anything until a message came down from the Queen herself. But how could she have known there were assassins in the city?"

"She came into our store and simply took what she wanted. When I tried to put a stop to it, she threatened to kill me! I don't care whether that bitch is on the Council or not, this is an outrage! A pegasus can't boss around a unicorn like that!"

"What'll happen once we've taken the Griffon Kingdom? I don't want the sun hanging over us again, I don't!"

"Lady Rarity is your best bet. Just go to her and tell her everything. She might be able to help."

"I just can't shake this feeling that I'll never see him again. He'll be buried in an unmarked grave in the Griffon Kingdom..."

"What are you, stupid? There are no wild dragons in Equestria. You mustn't believe every rumor you hear."

"...Daymare Sun..."

Celestia gasped. She immediately raised her hoof to her mouth, fearful that the ponies speaking had noticed that she was listening in on their conversation. Both of them were looking at her. Celestia quickly turned around and cantered away, keeping her pace inauspicious and her expression neutral. Meanwhile, her mind was racing.

Daymare Sun.

She hadn't misheard. The two ponies had been talking about strange graffiti appearing around the city recently. It hadn't been the first time, and the city guard always made sure to have it cleaned away as fast as possible. It couldn't just be a coincidence. What other conclusion could there be but the obvious one?

It made sense though. The piece fit in perfectly with the rest of the picture. At once, this Equestria's plight seemed even worse than before. Celestia was quite powerful by herself, but Daymare Sun's power was no doubt greater still. If they fought for control of the sun – thinking of it purely theoretically – Celestia was certain she would not come out as the victor. Not by herself, at least... If she and Luna faced the Queen together, though, what then? Perhaps it was futile even to consider this. There were too many other variables to consider. She needed time to think.

A coming war with the Griffon Kingdom was something she had heard mentioned again and again. Celestia headed out to look for some shop where she could find a map of Equestria and surrounding lands. She needed to get the full picture of what was going on in this world, and that included the geopolitical situation. She didn't have the money to buy the map, so she settled for committing it to memory.

As it had once in Celestia's own world, the Griffon Kingdom lay to the northeast of the Principality of Equestria. The border between them, however, was further back, coinciding roughly with the Talon mountain range. Surrounding nations were greatly reduced in territory – or simply gone, swallowed whole by their neighbor. Equestria itself was almost twice its original size, and that didn't include the occasional "protectorate" it had annexed over the years. Only the dragon lands were of comparable size, but vast as they were, it was likely that they were also in large part uninhabited. It seemed clear that ponies were the dominant species on the planet.

What worried Celestia most of all was the fact that the sun seemed to be positioned right above the capitol city of the griffons. The Queen could wipe out the whole nation if she wanted to, but she must not have wanted to, or she would have done it already. The plan seemed to be invasion and occupation.

Celestia scanned the pony-griffon border carefully. The mountains were a respectable natural defense, but they were not impenetrable. A route near the coast called the Valley of the Wind was an obvious route to take if the ponies were going to bring infantry to bear, but it would no doubt be heavily defended. Relying on pegasus troops or perhaps a surprise attack by magic were also options, but there was a lot of risk involved with either strategy. Celestia wondered if Equestria had any strength at sea.

There was much more she yet needed to learn. It didn't take her long to figure out a way to do that. Barracks and guardposts were plentiful in the city. It seemed that the Queen was nothing if not dutiful when it came to "policing" her ponies. Celestia sought out the biggest of them, a district headquarters. From there, she looked for the nearest tavern, where off-duty soldiers were sure to be hanging around. What she found was the Prancing Pony, which was in truth more of an evening club – so to say – than a pub. It was a place for officers, not common enlisted steeds, and that suited Celestia just fine.

Lavish double doors led into the shadowed insides of the club from the street. The gilded metal engravings of ponies prancing and dancing around in happiness that decorated the frame seemed to have a terrible irony to them. On either side of the entrance was a plaque stating 'We Do Not Serve Earth Ponies.' This regime certainly liked to belabor the obvious.

Celestia stepped in and made her way through the entrance hall, making sure to look suitably lost and confused, as well as impressed with the fine interiors. The main hall of the club was quite roomy, and the ceiling reached too high to be visible in the gloom. Low walls segmented the room and kept the tables strewn about apart. It was quite dark in the club, owing to the lack of windows, but the circular bar area in the middle was brightened by magic, and some tables were lit by candles or hornglow. It was hard to say at a glance how many ponies were there, but the place didn't seem too crowded. Most of the guests seemed to be unicorns, and quite a few of them wore uniforms.

Celestia slowly circled around and put herself up for display, then sat down at the bar. It didn't take long for somepony to take the bait.

"Do you want me to buy you a drink?"

Celestia was in luck. The unicorn stallion that had approached her was a guardpony, a lieutenant to boot. He smelled of liquor and salt.

"Oh, would you? That's so kind of you!"

She ordered a glass of white wine. Once the pony tending the bar put it down in front of her, she leaned forward and took a minuscule sip. When she sat up straight again, she had to push her mane back over her shoulder, and smiled at her benefactor as she did so. She expected she looked like a proper vision of loveliness.

The guardpony had taken the seat next to her. His coat was light beige, his mane a candy-cane mix of red and white. He was of middling height, but his posture and uniform nevertheless made him look quite statuesque. The golden plate he was wearing was very similar to the armor of Celestia's own Royal Guard, though this seemed to have a few extra enchantments. It protected its wearer from the heat, for one. His helmet, the stallion had left with a group of friends sitting at a nearby table.

"What's your name?" asked the guardpony.
"I'm Twinkle," said Celestia, "What about you?"
"Scoop. Power Scoop."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Lieutenant Scoop!"
"You know, I'm a Prancing Pony regular and I'm 99% sure I've never seen you here before."
"Oh no, you wouldn't have! My family only moved to Everfree City a few days ago. This is all still so new to me."
"Where are you from?"
"I doubt you'd know the place. It's a bit of a backwater. It took us a week to get to the capitol by train. I'm so hopelessly out of date with everything that's been going on."
"Uh, wouldn't it have been more convenient to use a pegasus carriage?"
"That's what I thought, but Mother didn't want to leave the servants alone with our things, especially the money coffers. I'm sure you understand."
"Ah, of course. It's never wise to trust earth ponies too much."

Common wisdom held that lying at length became more and more difficult. Celestia, on her part, found that every new lie came easier than the one before it. It wasn't hard to see how this world fit together, and the nature of ponies was such that what they believed and what they expected to hear could always be predicted.

"Your cutie mark is amazing," said Power Scoop, "You were very lucky to get it."
"Oh, I couldn't agree more, Lieutenant. It's such an honor. May I ask what yours is?"
The stallion's smile curdled. "It's a... ladle. How banal is that? Cooking is a job fit for dirt-eaters. There is no prestige in it. Being a soldier is a much more, ah, noble profession, don't you think?"

Celestia nodded. She wondered if that was simply his personal opinion, or an indication of a more general cultural leaning. Soldiers did seem to have a fairly high social status.

"It feels like I've missed out on so much while I was traveling! I was a little scared about all this recent chaos when I got here."
"No need for concern, Miss Twinkle. The earth ponies' plot fell through before it began. Agents of the Secret Police were onto them before they even made it into the palace."

Why was it even called that when it was clearly not secret?

"I do hope all of the rebel scum is behind bars now?"
"Certainly! Not one of them made it out of the city. We also arrested a whole bunch of collaborators who tried to harbor them. It should only be a matter of time until we know the whereabouts of their hideout and take care of the other ones as well. You know, come to think of it, I'm not supposed to tell other ponies about this, I don't think."
"Oh? I'm sorry, I wouldn't want to get you in trouble. Let's talk about something else then. What do you think of this war that's coming?"
"As far as I know, the invasion was already supposed to have begun, but there's a hold-up of some kind. Maybe it's because of the rebels, I don't know."
"Are there a lot of ponies involved?"
Scoop closed his eyes and drummed his forehoof against the side of his skull, making a show of trying to remember. "Over half the earth pony infantry and almost all of the pegasus air force, plus specialist unicorn support attachments. They even pulled in some reserves from the crownlands. That's over a hundred thousand ponies all in all, so yeah, quite a lot. It's the biggest campaign in living memory."

"Oh, wow! How much of Equestria's forces is that?"
"Two thirds maybe? I don't really know the exact numbers of our occupation armies in the south. They recruit some of the local sub-pony species as grunts."
"I admit I'm not well-versed on this subject, but isn't this all a little excessive? I've always heard it said that the pegasi will match the griffons feather for feather. I mean, what can they really do against us?"
"I think the Council is worried about their aeromancers. Apparently, some of these guys can control the airflow or something like that. Besides, the griffons are a martial culture. They'll be fighting down to the last soldier, and the Griffon King has had years to dig in."
"You're so smart, Lieutenant! Who is this Griffon King anyway?"
Scoop shrugged. "I don't really know. Some griffon, no doubt. You know, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be talking about this either."
Celestia paused, then smiled. "What, in case I'm a griffon spy?" she asked with a tiny hint of teasing mockery in her voice.
Scoop forced a laugh. "No, no, of course not. It really is a silly regulation. It's not like any of this is much of a secret anyway."

Celestia took a sip of wine, without letting her eyes leave Scoop's.

"You know, I've heard that Everfree City has wonderful balls."

Power Scoop did a double take at that.

"I've never really had the occasion to go to one before," continued Celestia, "Like I said, I used to live in a backwater. There were few others of my own standing there and none of them were my age. It was mostly just earth pony farmers. I never got the chance to go out and, you know, strut my stuff a bit. Now Mother got me an invitation to Lord Chocolate Sun's ball."

Scoop raised his eyebrows. Celestia hoped the idea that a fairly insignificant noble would be able to arrange an invitation to what seemed to be a very prestigious gathering wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Will you be there, Lieutenant?" she asked.
"Oh, um, I'm afraid not. I'll be on duty at the time. It's a pity, I've enjoyed it on previous years."
"Aww," said Celestia with a smile, "Well, I'm really looking forward to it, but I'd hate to make a fool of myself." She frowned. "You don't... you don't think Queen Celestia will be there, do you? Does she usually mingle with the nobles?"
"No, no, she doesn't. I don't believe she's left the palace in a few years now. Ordinary ponies only get to see her by special invitation."
"Oh. I have to admit, I've been wishing I could meet her since I was a little filly, even if it's just once."
"I've met her," said Scoop, and he couldn't wait to tell her about it.
"Really?"
"Oh yes. The Prime Minister summoned me to give testimony at the palace a few years ago, when he was still in charge of the Secret Police. Some ponies under my command were a little rough with a suspected rebel, and he happened to die before he could be interrogated. They wanted to stick the blame on me. I know, stupid, right? But they couldn't prove I had anything to do with that nonsense."

Scoop's smirk suddenly seemed a little stiffer. His eyes flickered around the room nervously.

"When it was all over and done, I was leaving and then – in the hallway – I met her."
"So what's she like?" asked Celestia, almost whispering, to give the question a suitable measure of awe.
Scoop's face scrunched up. "Huh. Well, she's very... um... I don't think I truly knew what the 'divine right to rule' meant until I came face to face with her. You wouldn't believe what a majestic figure she made, truly. I mean, she's as much beyond us as we are beyond the dirt-eaters. She looked me directly in the eye, you know, and somehow, it felt like she knew... everything about me. She had this serene smile on her face, so I would hardly have thought I was looking at a tyrant. I kind of got the impression that she wanted me to come closer to her. I tried to do that, but the heat was too great and I had to back away. Then, before I knew it, she was gone. I'll never forget how she looked until the day I die though. She is glorious, oh yes, and so, so beautiful."

Then he shivered, and fell silent. Celestia took another sip of wine and tried to imagine how the Queen looked like. It now struck her as odd that in the millennium she had spent without her sister, it had never occurred to her – not even once – how things would have gone if the monster had taken her instead of Luna, what she might have become. What did that say about her?

"Shouldn't you be careful about calling her a tyrant?" she asked after a while.
"Why?" asked Power Scoop, raising an eyebrow, "That's what she likes to be called. Hmmm."
"What is it?"
"You're pretty."
Celestia giggled. "Thank you. Hey, you mentioned the Prime Minister, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"What's he like?"

Scoop did a bad job at hiding a roll of his eyes. Celestia's questions were starting to tire him.

"That guy? Hmh, you know what?" He leaned closer to Celestia. "He's not all he'd made out to be. I find him creepy, nothing more. He's lost his horn, he's lost Celestia's Gift. That makes him no better than an earth pony as far as I'm concerned. I don't know why the Queen has kept him around for such a long time. It would have been merciful to put the damn gimp down a couple of centuries ago. I guess she's not very merciful, heh."

Now that was an interesting bit of information. Celestia had to find out more about this Prime Minister. Power Scoop did not seem to think highly of the pony – and yet he lowered his voice when speaking ill of him.

"But you say he's not the head of the Secret Police any longer?"
"Hah hah, true. Celestia gave the position to her new favorite. Not only that, she also named the filly her heir. Not really sure what the point of that's supposed to be, but who am I to second-guess the Queen? I think the filly's name was... Sparkle something."
Celestia took a deep breath. "Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes, I think that was it."

There was nothing so good and pure and innocent in the world that it couldn't be corrupted. Nothing and nopony. The thought sounded poisonously cynical in her head, but she could not shake off the grimness that was gripping her, not then and there.

"So how about we two see each other again some time?" asked Scoop, "Privately, I mean." His smile was ugly. "Oh, do you want another drink?"

Celestia looked away, which left the impression that she was blushing. Clearly, she was flustered and had to compose herself. After letting him stew for a moment, she turned back, stared him in the eye and gave him a perfect shy smile.

"Ah, I'll- I'll be going to the little fillies' room in five minutes."

The implication was obvious. Power Scoop looked like he couldn't believe his luck. A big enough ego, though, helped him believe.

"See you there, babe!" he exclaimed and stood up.

Celestia took another sip of wine and watched from the corner of her eye as Scoop returned to his friends, smirking wildly, and told them something that led to general snorts of laughter and several pats on his back. He downed a half-empty tankard of beer, wiped his mouth and galloped for the female restroom. The corners of Celestia's mouth twitched.

It took her a few minutes to finish off her glass. She stepped away from the bar, ignored the leering from Scoop's buddies and left the building. Then she trotted off.

At some point along the way – she wasn't sure exactly when – Celestia had reached a decision. Daymare Sun was going down. She knew this.

There would be no great change to her immediate intentions. She still had to find her pupil, her sister and the treacherous magicianist to ensure their safety, and they still had to secure some way back to their own universe. While dealing with all this, however, Celestia also had to figure out a plan for deposing an all-powerful monarch and crushing her rotten dominion down into nothingness. It would, perhaps, be quite difficult. There was much more she yet needed to learn before she could make a move. Furthermore, certain ethical issues would come about from affecting the causality of another dimension, but that was negligible.

She could not leave this be; she couldn't simply go back to her own throne in her own Equestria and forget. In her heart of hearts, Celestia knew that if she didn't even try to bring Daymare Sun down and correct the horror she'd wrought, its memory would never stop gnawing at her, not until her sun burned out at the end of eternity. Did she not already have enough regrets for her hundred lifetimes? Celestia could not bear to make such a mistake.

She might have been compelled to stay if it was Nightmare Moon or Discord or anything else holding the world under his or her thrall – but it wasn't. It was Celestia herself, or as good as. It was guilt by association. The Queen didn't even have the excuse of a greater good, but dared to openly call herself a tyrant! It was unforgivable. The weight of responsibility resting on Celestia's shoulders left her little choice about what to do.

She was going to have to find a way to kill herself.


Notes:

- Why, yes, it is extremely convenient that Celestia just happened to meet someone she could question like this right off the bat. I tried to soften the contrivance by having some of Power Scoop's information be vague, inaccurate or outright incorrect.

- This chapter posed a bit of a dilemma to me. I could not, in good conscience, simply summarize everything Celestia learned on the streets, but at the same time, I didn't want to write out a dozen different expository conversations. I had neither the time nor the space for that; it would have been unnecessary and probably boring. As such, I tried to split the difference by giving you bits and pieces of bigger conversations. I hope it doesn't come across as too bad...

- How do you feel about the way I'm writing Celestia? I'm kind of trying not to show her thoughts or reactions too much, since I think the character needs a certain distance from the viewer/reader. I'm worried that just makes her seem boring though. Do you like the way I write "grim" Celestia? Does she seem convincingly intelligent to you?


Next chapter: Lady of Liberty.