Heartbreak.
Nightmare Moon has awaken.
While Celestia fights with the elements of Magic and Generosity, Luna discarded Honesty and Laughter and Staria is too weakened to use Loyalty and Kindness.
This is a mostly emotional chapter -you all know what happens that night, so I'm focusing more on Staria.
And I don't say it enough, but I'd like to thank the few of you who dropped a review once in a while -I don't reply unless there's a question, but I do see and appreciate them. Thank you!
Next chapter deals with the aftermath of the fight, and last chapter is the epilogue.
That said...enjoy!
XxxX
…Lullay Moon Princess, Goodnight sister mine…
When that fateful night came…Staria was down, struck by a terrible sickness that left her weak and unable to leave her bed. Weak and powerless to do anything.
When the voices came to haunt Luna that night, she was not there to deter them. She was not there to tell her things would soon look up, not there to tell her that Celestia wasn't selfish, not there to comfort her. As if it would have changed anything.
That night, Staria was cold. Cold with dread and pain and helplessness.
Had she failed as a sister?
Had she failed to protect the youngest?
Had she failed to warn the eldest?
I have failed everything.
And even now, as her tired eyes gazed at the unforgiving moon above…she could not muster any strength to help. She'd let herself fall into this sick slumber, numb to anything but her own pain…when her sister was suffering so much more than her, wasn't she? What a fool she had been. Trying so hard to prevent this from happening in her younger years, fearful that it would happen, ready to do anything to help…and now that what she had so feared, what she had wanted to prevent was here, right in front of her…she could do nothing. Nothing but watch and cry.
Had she ever really been useful?
Had she ever really helped?
Had she ever really understood anything?
Bursts of colour sometimes lit the dark sky, so far from the joyful fireworks they used to launch together. Two lights, two powers fought each other, endlessly; rage, bitterness and violence against pain, sorrow and determination.
Where was she?
Why wasn't she up there to help?
Why couldn't she do anything?
I could never do anything.
Rest now in Moonlight's embrace...
She could hear the broken walls and the shattered glass, like an echo of their own shattered lives. Broken, weren't they? But they had been broken long before tonight, long before one of them finally snapped. Their lives were made of tattered bonds, blind gazes and empty words.
When had it ever been different?
When had they stopped being truthful?
When had they stopped caring?
She still remembered a time of happiness and joy, of sisterly bonds and gentle words of reassurance.
"I'll tell you a secret…"
"What is it? What is it?"
"I prefer the night, too."
"Hey, sister…"
"What is it?"
"Will you still watch the night with me, once I get my cutie mark –and we start to rule?"
"Of course. We may not be able to do it as often as we wish, but we'll manage."
Lies. All of them. Nothing but lies and empty promises.
"We'll always be sisters no matter what, Star. We'll always be there for each other."
"We will fight to keep this bond. And as long as we do…it won't break."
Why?
Why did it have to be this way?
Why couldn't they go back in time?
I did not fight enough.
Bear up my lullaby, winds of the earth...
She had lost hope, somewhere along the way. She'd stopped believing in her own words, turning a vow she intended to keep into a shell of the truth, nothing but pale sand lost to the unforgiving passage of time. Perhaps they were never meant to stay together. Perhaps they were meant to learn the true weight of the crown this way.
Don't they say the most important lessons are only learned through pain?
Sorrow.
Agony.
Despair.
Something stirred in her, something she recognised all too well –something she'd used so many times with her two sisters that their familiarity hurt. The Elements were awakening –Loyalty and kindness.
When had she been loyal to anyone?
When had she been kind to anyone?
She had been, hadn't she? Hadn't she?
Liar. I've never been worthy of these two.
Through clouds and through sky and through space...
She'd been only loyal and kind to herself.
Perhaps this was why it was happening.
"I'm busy, Luna."
"Lately that's all you seem to say, 'another time, Luna' and that other time never happens."
"I'm so sorry, Sister."
"You promised you'd try, Star."
Celestia was summoning the Elements. Yet another thing she was doing alone, instead of asking for them both. But one had walked away from them, and the other…
The other just did not believe in them anymore.
Magic.
Generosity.
Loyalty.
Kindness.
Honesty.
Laughter.
They do not mean anything anymore. Nothing does.
Carry the peace and the coolness of night...
One last burst of Light, and her beloved sister was banished to the moon she'd tried so hard to rise, once upon a time. One last burst of Light and one sister was sent away for a thousand years, another was suddenly brought to her knees, and the last was sent spiralling further down the abyss of her regrets.
Mistake.
Failure.
I should have never been made to rule.
Celestia landed on the ground, shaking with tears and cries for her lost sister. Lost in her room, Staria gazed outside with empty eyes, feeling the once comforting warmth of the Elements leave her being –as they had been used to banish instead of redeeming. They would never be the same again.
The sisters would never be the same.
She was done with everything.
Hopeless.
Careless.
Useless.
I'll never fight again.
The sun finally rose with this last thought of hers.
And carry my sorrow in kind...