-The following chapter is shown through the eyes of PRINCESS CELESTIA-
i finally had a break from my royal duties... today was my day off to just relax. its about time i had one of these, its been too long. i got up from the throne and walked over to the window. i stopped at the window and looked over my kingdom. i couldn't help but look up at the sun. i started thinking about crimson and wondering if hes staring at the sun now too and thinking about me, because that's all i've been doing, is thinking about him. i hope he is safe. i wasn't very eager to send him in the right path for this journey, i didn't want him to get hurt... but the fire in his eyes was burning so furiously i thought that if i denied him any help he would shoot that fire right at me.
i have confidence that he will do what is necessary to get through this. i can feel it in my heart that he is going to pull through this. but i would hate for him to not return. i'm eagerly waiting for when he does... but who knows how long it will be until then. i know that my faithful student is with him... i'm glad. he will protect her and in a way she can protect him. she can act as a beacon of hope to force him onward... and i know he sees her that way. he's for too protective. but i care for him, he's become much like me in a way... but i almost wish he wasn't.
i've been stuck in this castle for millennia after millennia. always waiting and hoping something will happen. even though i can leave these castle walls, the walls can't leave me. i'll always be bound here. this is my fate. to keep my kingdom in order. it isn't easy and it isn't fun... but it is necessary. i make these sacrifices for the wellbeing of others. that is one of the ways me and him are alike. but i don't want us to become too alike. i don't want him to feel trapped, like he is confined to only one job. i never saw any good from what hes going through. i can put on a good fake smile, but i can see the pain, misery and pressure inside him. he's been keeping it in and letting it fester into something terrible. hes already gone through so much... i fear that if he goes through any more he might collapse.
i hate to see him suffer... and he's been suffering for as long as i've known him. when i first met him that one fateful day, i never though much of him. but now i can't stop thinking about him. i always tolerated him and thought that he wouldn't cause trouble. i gave him his second chance at life no knowing how long it will last... but now i see it will last for the rest of time. i never saw this coming, never saw the signs... there weren't any. he keeps it all to himself, as not to bother others. he's a lot like me and much like his friends.
timid and respectful like fluttershy, doesn't want to bother the other ponies and is always kind. generous like rarity, and from time to time can be a bit full of himself. loyal like his wife rainbow dash and he always does his best and never gives up. honest like applejack, and strong working and courteous. and he has incredible magical power like my faithful student twilight. he is smart and dependable and always excels in anything he tries to accomplish. he is a very interesting pony for certain... and i never would have known that the first time i ever met him.
but i know better than anypony how these things can get to you. i know what its like to feel the way he feels lately. to have all this pressure on you're head and nopony else to carry it with. the feeling of carrying the problems of others so they don't have to be burdened with them. i know the feeling all too well, but i feel as if crimson has more weight on his hooves than i've ever had. i know what its like to be stuck doing the same thing over and over again for thousands of years. he isn't used to that... yet. but i have to thank him really... he's the only one who has ever honestly tried to become my friend. sure i have twilight and her friends who are all wonderful ponies and great company, but crimson see's me differently. i see him in a different way as well. not like one of my subjects, but as somepony else.
he is the only one he tried to make me laugh and smile and have fun. all those years ago when he had just received his first taste of power. that incident with the curse, he changed... and now he has become something else. i remember our discussion in the garden. he told me i need to learn how to relax and have fun... he actually made me see how to have fun again. then not too long ago before the wedding of shining armor and cadence... that night we spent together... i'll never forget that night. and then the day before he left to go on his new journey. that moment before he left the castle, when we kissed. i'll never forget that either.
that kiss has been haunting me the past month while he's been gone. every second of it, all stuck in my head. the passion radiating from his very soul was warmer than the rays of my sun. i had never been so sure what to think of crimson, i was confused... he's so mysterious and secluded... always hiding his problems. but i can see now that i have always had these strange feelings for him... since the first time we met. these feelings i have for him now weigh heavily on my heart and i can't deny it any longer. that moment... the second we kissed. i knew my feelings for him. and i can say no differently that he may have feelings for me now... but his may now be very unsure at the time. i know how i feel about him though.
"crimson, i hope you're safe...I... I love you.".