The Fall: Prologue Part 1

The latest edition of the "Foal Free Press" dropped to the floor after its reader glanced at the headline. "Equestria saved once again by the Elements of Harmony". The headline was followed by a group shot of Twilight and her friends, the mares who represented the Elements of Harmony. Fueled by anger, she turned the paper into dust with multiple pounds of her hooves. The sound was enough to catch the attention of one of the nearby guards. Hurriedly, he went from his post to where the sound had come from.  "Your highness, I heard some noises coming from inside, and I came quickly as I could. Is everything alright in there?" The guard stood there for quite some time, waiting patiently for a response. As he reached to knock on the door once more, it flung open, nearly knocking him in the head. " Oh goodness! My sincerest apologies Captain!"

Reassuring his ruler, he responded "I'm fine your highness, just a little stumbled from the doors. I do apologise for intruding on you, but I heard some some loud noises coming from within your chamber, and I was simply making sure nothing had gone wrong. "I should have known that the sound of many books falling all at once would get some attention. I'm doing a bit of reorganization, and moving my books was one of the last things on my list. I'm not particularly fond of this, so I was simply rushing it to get it over with sooner. I lost focus for a few seconds after seeing that the paper had arrived, and as a result, my spell stopped, dropping all of the books. Nothing more, nothing less. I do appreciate your concern, and I humbly thank you." Although he was relieved that he had found the source of the cacophonous noise, he felt as if she were rushing him out of the situation, almost as if she had something to hide. Shrugging it off, the captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard trotted away from Celestia's gilded doors.  

It took all that she had to smile throughout the ordeal, but she had managed. The guard believed her story, which was all she cared about at the time. After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, she walked towards the remains of the newspaper. The picture of her apprentice and her friends were completely ruined. The satisfaction of somewhat crushing them made the dismayed princess feel happy. With some magic, she repaired the paper, and destroyed it again. And again. And again. This went on for quite some time, after which, Celestia felt that her hooves were sore from all of the pounding. The moderate pain was nothing to her, and she still had the urge to destroy the newspaper again. However, she refrained, for she knew that the constant sound of hooves beating on the ground would warrant more unwanted guests. The ruins were swept into a trash can, and Celestia went towards her bedchamber, feeling stressed and angered once again.

Laying down on her large bed, she ran countless thoughts through her head: How her star pupil and friends saved Equestria as many times as they did, yet showing no signs of dismay; how during every encounter with evil they had, they always came out on top, and were infinitely praised by the other ponies of the world. However, the hardest part to imagine was how all of her subjects slowly became distant from her. Not that they didn't care about her, or that they didn't praise her, but it was clear to them that the princess wasn't the mare she was 1000 years ago, as made obvious by her defeat at the hooves of the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. When ponies realized that even Celestia had her mortal boundaries, they began to think higher of the Element Bearers, and in turn, the princess began losing importance. After all, not even the strongest efforts by their opponents were enough to put them down for long. More importantly, Celestia was almost never present when disaster struck, and even if she was, she had barely any use. The real heroes were the Element Bearers. The ones deserving of praise were the Element Bearers. The ones who had overshadowed Celestia... were the Element Bearers. In nearly every way, Twilight and her friends had Celestia trumped, and she was quite aware of this.  

The inevitable had happened: Celestia was experiencing an immense feeling of jealousy, even stronger than Luna's before her corruption. After all, Celestia had given everything to her student. The chance to meet her friends, the chance to stop all of the destruction that plagued Equestria every so often, and the chance to rise above her in the eyes of the normal citizens. No credit was ever given to her, only the snotnosed ponies that used her gift of friendship. She was barely respected by even her guards, whose conversations she had overheard numerous times. "Have you ever thought about how Celestia's power seems to be dwindling?", said one guard to another. "What? Of course not! I mean, that defeat at the wedding wasn't really within her realm to control", the other said in response. "Yeah, yeah, I know, but she's THE most powerful being in Equestria, and she was stopped within seconds of trying. There was hardly any struggle between the two", the first replied. "But that Cheeselegs was fueled by some seriously strong love, right? And that's what those freaks get power off of", said the other. "So what, Celestia's raw strength is weaker than love? I don't believe that for a second, no matter how much love was pumping through that changeling's veins." "Maybe you're right, but Celestia can't be losing power. It just doesn't make sense", said the other grimly. "Face it. Celestia is like a dying star. She's losing all of that energy that initially fueled her, and she's going to burn out soon.", the first said forcefully. Upon hearing this, Celestia teleported away to the roof of Canterlot Castle to be alone with her thoughts.

The painful memories brought tears to her eyes, and she wept herself to sleep. Her dream consisted of her in an empty plane, by herself, aimlessly walking into oblivion. "Doesn't seem fair, does it?", Celestia heard. "Who's there? I demand to know", she said in retaliation. She looked all around in every direction possible, and saw nothing. It was quiet for a few minutes, after which the silence was broken by the same unknown force. "You know that the Element Bearers don't deserve all of the attention that they're getting just as much as I do." "WHO ARE YOU!?", Celestia screamed. The entity knew that her buttons were easily pushed, especially at a time like this, which made it push them harder.

"Do you really want the surprise to be spoiled already? Fine. Have it your way." At this point, a mirror rose out of the ground in front of Celestia, which startled her quite a bit. "What does this have to do with anything? I want to see you, not myself." "Oh, you don't seem to realize. You wanted to see me, so I gave you the chance to see me." "W-what? You're me? But...how?", Celestia questioned. "To put it into more realistic terms, i'm your subconscious. But yes, in a way, I am you. I know everything you know, everything you've done, and everything you want to do." "So you know of my thoughts on the Element Bearers", Celestia said bleakly. "I certainly do, and I must say, for your standards, those are very harsh feelings." "I can't help it. They are truly gifted ponies, and I am proud to have introduced them to the Elements, but they continually push the rest of my subjects away from me. They don't even think highly of me anymore. I'm just the mare who raises the sun.", she said on the brink of tears. "No tears Celestia, I know that you are suffering. It's something you may not have experienced first hand before; Jealousy. Am I right?" "You know you are", she said annoyed. "Heh heh, I know. What if I were to tell you that you can rightfully claim your respect back? Make everypony live with only you in mind. Sounds enticing doesn't it?" "Very, but I do not know how I would go about doing this", Celestia said, disappointed. "Kill them." "Excuse me? Kill them? My student and her friends?", said Celestia. "Obviously. The only way to finally earn back that respect and fear is to kill those who overshadowed you in the first place. You know that it is the only way." "B-but I can't. They are the only group of ponies that can utilise the Elements of Harmony", said a distraught Celestia. "Not if you were to kill them. Their power is transferred to the one who takes the elements away from them. I can't say anymore for tonight however. Come back to me tonight with your decision, and then I can help you further." "Wait! Let me stay a little long-", was all that came out as she was cut off mid-sentence before she woke up.