Original paste date: Apr 30th, 2020

>Celestia is immune to heat
>And in an attempt to overthrow Equestria, griffons infiltrated and burnt down the castle
>Every hall and wing rigged, bursting into flames at once, leaving no escape for any pony still inside
>The action is done during the high point of the summer court
>Meaning not only the castle staff but also nobles and commoners were taken by surprise and with no hope
>Everything happened in a blink, and just like that, everypony inside died
>Everypony but the main targets
>Celestia, in a hurry, teleported to her sister's location
>An passive spell let each know the other's location, often used for fun and pranks
>But this wasn't one of such times
>Her sister could handle the coldest of the colds, but it was herself who was meant to handle this
>Already burning as hot as her sun, she barely heard her sisters scream before she teleported the night mare into a far away lake
>Knowing the amount of heat unleashed, she knew who this was targeted for
>There would be no need for such extremities if this was for any of her little ponies
>Ponies which none could be saved, barely having time for her sister if she didn't act fast
>But as soon the screams began, they ended, the fires taking their toll and leaving only a single mare up on her hooves
>Like an ember in a nuclear fire, she kept absorbing the heat into herself
>The burnt corpses on the corridor from her loyal guards, never really needed but for mere show
>The maids she often traded secrets with, few which she could trust to talk about her personal worries
>Seeing Daisy Cherry corpse, one of such employees, hurt her especially deep
>Like Twilight, she had been raising the young earth pony as her own from a young age
>Slowly, she lit her magic to close the mare's still burning eyes
>Only for the mare to be cremated instantly
>No one knew the burden of the sun, nor did anypony know her sister's burden of the stars
>She had planned for such increase in her magic after so much heat, but not to this extent
>She had never thought on the idea that the griffons would ever go this far
>Perhaps her patience and generosity to such corrupted race had been in vain
>They had made many visits these last moons, wanting to know as many details about the castle as possible
>Celestia wanted to believe that this was so they could rebuild their city, make a monument of their own
>She wanted to believe the griffons had the best of everypony and everyone else in their mind
>She didn't want to believe...this
>But like many races before, a race she allowed to coexist finally showed their true face
>Like gargoyles, humans and even alicorns like herself
>Such races craved power, a deep ingrained lust to it, her own sister was a testament to that
>And with that, they couldn't be allowed to co-exist with the other peaceful races
>For the good of the land, she took upon herself to clean such monsters from Equus
>Her sister's followed soon after, not willing to have her sister carry the burden alone
>For over ten thousand years Equus had known peace, races living in harmony
>But apparently, not all evils were slain...
>A small tear escaped the monarch, evaporating immediately, followed by a short, sad giggle
>She could feel herself brimming with power, surely unable to levitate anything without making it turn into ashes
>Just like the time she stood in a vulcano's lava for months before taking on all alicorns
>Yet, it had been mere minutes here...
>She was sure the next creature to snap would have been the dragons, with their barely contained attitude
>Yet, they live peacefully, small fights aside, which are to be expected
>Or perhaps it's just their larger than usual lifespan that helps remind them of her own burden
>Still the griffons, as dirty as they were...no, she never expected this from them
>Shows how even with all her wisdom, she may never truly understand other races desires completely
>Entering her court, she levitated each corpse inside at once
>Not even ashes remained from her touch, allowing her to sit down and pounder in the fire, if after so long such a thing had to be done once more
>For two days she stood there, and for two days the sun didn't move
>What the ponies of Canterlot or Equestria thought of the incident didn't matter to her
>What such act, of leaving the sun up and still, would do to the planet didn't matter
>What are two days compared to the fate of a whole race
>On the dawn of that day, the sun finally began to set
>Slowly, like clockwork and without any rush, it made its way past the horizon
>Once it made crossed over, the moon started making its way up
>But it was stopped by a bright golden aura that, for a minute, made the night sky look like the early hours of Twilight
>This night was not meant to be beautiful or remembered by any
>Yet, once free it started rising again
>But only half of the moon rose above the horizon, not daring to rise further
>For the ponies of Canterlot that were outside staring at the weird event, their dark night gave them a single star, not falling from the skies, but raising from the castle's ashes
>They didn't know what it was, yet they feared even looking at it
>Slowly flying upwards, Celestia tried to fly above clouds to hide her burden and what she was about to do
>But even the clouds couldn't hide her radiance, with cities like Cloudsdale looking like daytime for a few minutes as she passed through, speeding towards Griffonstone
>Still many kilometers away, she started slowing down and focusing on her magic
>Magic of which she had more than enough to create another sun herself, as was her plan
>A small star popped into existence far above the tree in the middle of the griffon country
>And in less than a minute, the galactic ball of fire, bigger than the country itself had made itself known for all below
>Being so far away, Celestia couldn't hear their screams, but she didn't take joy in such action either
>No, yet another race would make itself a burden for her to carry, but this had to be done
>Not for the better of Equestria
>But for the better of Equus
>And so she let it go
>She did not feel exhausted for such magic usage, not even a sweat had grown on herself from it
>She watched as the star slowly made its way down, pulling some of the ground apparatus towards itself with its own gravitational force
>All griffons were dead before the star even meet the half-point
>But that wasn't the point of such "overkill", like before, everything about them had to be erased
>Every proof of their civilization had to go
>Their houses disappeared like sand in the wind, anything related to them gone before the star even landed
>The reason for this was to make a thing that, once real in the past, were to become a myth in the future
>Finally, in a silent touchdown, the star hit the ground and its structure collapsed
>Blowing outwards, it would no doubt erase half or more of the planet at its size
>But like a mother, Celestia kept her magic true, holding the annoyed star in her grasp like a crying child
>She could feel their heavy weight on her heart, the weight of the action she chose, an action she could never step back from
>But the star itself was barely anything to her still empowered blaze
>Quietly and slowly, she calmed the star down, putting it to sleep, not letting it expand and instead calmly taking any force out of it
>Slowly the star dwindled, shrinking almost peacefully under Celestia's hold
>Any fissure or failure on the ground got mended together, mountains and hills disappeared under its wake
>Any life from the area and for the foreseeable future was gone, as a new badlands appeared on Equus geology
>But finally everything went dark once more with the star imploding and disappearing on itself, with only Celestia's luminance remaining
>Yet, after all this time, after everything that happened, she still didn't allow herself to cry
>No, it was time to check on Lulu and see where they would take the next step
>But more than that, she needed to just see her sister, to feel her embrace
>For a world without her was not a world worth keeping alive
>Shaking the fleeting thought from her mind, she flew away to finally mourn the countless victims of the past days