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Description

THIS IS A GIFT, IT COMES WITH A PRICE; WHO IS THE LAMB AND WHO IS THE KNIFE?
AND MIDAS IS KING AND HE HOLDS ME SO TIGHT / AND TURNS ME TO GOLD IN THE SUNLIGHT

☼ A Queen belongs not to herself, he'd said that crisp autumn morning, moments before shattering her heart. She belongs to her people. Promise me you will remember this long after I'm gone.

Though Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddington and Lord Commander Hurricane were very much present in the Sisters' upbringing, it was clear to everypony and everycreature that none doted on the young alicorns as much as Starswirl. An unicorn of renowned prowess and passion for learning, the wizened old wizard of old had been a young stallion once, and young he was still when Celestia and Luna ascended. Starswirl himself, along with a team of prominent magic users, had seen to the rising of the Sun and Moon before Discord's rule had set the heavens askew; it seemed only fitting that he would instruct the newborn Goddess of the Sun and her nocturnal sibling in the higher mysteries of the cosmos.

Starswirl meant to teach, and teach he did; with unparalleled grace he led Celestia and Luna through a journey of research and knowledge, and soon the trio was thrilled at their discoveries, as feats of magic never before performed by ponykind were mastered by the young goddesses. But to remember Starswirl the Bearded only as a professor to the Sisters is an insult to his memory, for he did more than just teach magic. He was mentor and counselor, listener and comfort. With fatherly warmth he cared for the Alicorn Queens as a parent would for his teenage children.

Luna, of the easy laughter and witty honesty. Celestia, with her competitive streak and love for poetry. He knew them as little other ponies would, and would be one of the very few ponies to scold a Goddess for her lack of manners at the table. And as much as he would dote on his little Princess of the Night, it was Celestia who truly shared his passion for research and study. Together, Queen and Scholar would rewrite the fundamentals of magic, dipping their hooves on areas of study previously unexplored. It was this pursuit of knowledge that led them to the Mirror.

The Mirror of Refractions, as Starswirl would name it on his personal journal, was a considerable triumph for Starswirl the Bearded and his solar protegé. The presumed mirror was in truth a portal, through which the pair visited what they decided to be alternate realities, worlds existing in faraway dimensions from our own. During one such trip, they stumbled upon an Equestria much like their own, and yet different in so many ways...Starting with the governcy itself. Here, the Alicorns were mystic beings of darkened legend that ponykind was blissfully distant to, and their noble ruler was an unicorn by the name of Sombra. Much like Amore in the Equestria we know, Sombra was an unicorn touched by higher magics, who had earned his crown with valor and generosity. After a rocky welcome, Sombra made guests of Queen Celestia and her scholarly companion, and the three became fast friends.

But soon, Celestia found herself visiting this reality more often than others, even without the company of Starswirl. Centuries later, she would claim this was the time around which relations with Luna started to decline, and each Alicorn surrounded herself with her own court and companions, further apart from each other. This would be a secret Celestia would clutch close to her heart, away from her sister or mentor; this was something that belonged not to the Queen, but to the pony. This would be Celestia's first love.

King Sombra and Queen Celestia had always been most devoted to their subjects, but their devotion to each other came close. They bounced off each other with witty remarks, teasing each other and delighting in the many ways in which their countries were so different, yet so very alike. They indulged in poetry and song just about any time they could, as the foreigner Queen filled Sombra's court with singers, jugglers and color. Celestia would visit almost every week, sometimes with Starswirl and sometimes without...Until small details could no longer go unnoticed. It started small, at first, but soon they could no longer turn a blind eye to the way both worlds seemed to become linked, and in ways that were not for the better. Magic between realities is something largely unexplored, and extremely dangerous even to modern equestrians. It was no wonder Starswirl saw it fit to stop their incursions, and cease the usage of the Mirror altogether.

This is why he turned cold as iron when his little Queen betrayed his trust. In her first and last act of defiance, Celestia insisted on visiting her king, long after Starswirl's initial warnings. In doing so, she had put both their kingdoms at risk, and this was a lesson the mentor would not let go unlearned.

"You know the consequences to this! We talked about this! You promised me!" Rang Starswirl's voice throughout the hall, silver shod hoof stomping down on the pristine floor. "I will not let you put your kingdom and his at risk. This is over. Now." And Celestia begged. Goddess of the Sun, matriarch of Equestria, she fell to her knees and pleaded with tears in her eyes. Her fatherly mentor, though wounded by the sight, was unmoved. He had to, he told himself, for the good of the realm. "A Queen belongs not to herself. She belongs to her people. Promise me you will remember this long after I'm gone."

He shouldn't have worried. What happened next was not something Celestia would forget in her long, long life, even after the initual hurt dulled and faded. With a shattering crack that matched the breaking of her heart, the Mirror broke by Starswirl's powerful spell. "I can sympathize with this, I really can," the aging wizard said, even as magic crackled angrily from his horn. "But making decisions you don't want to make is part of being a ruler. I had to make a decision for you. I'm sorry."

____________________________________

and here's our next piece, exploring celestia this time :] i've known of this ship for a long time, but this week i got to read the official comics on celestia/sombra and liked their story way more than i thought i would! so this is celestia not being the perfect princess equestria knows her to be. their love had a sense of purpose to it, mirroring luna and amore's in our equestria, and celestia felt more than regular heartbreak when her adoptive dad basically told her to stop visiting her bf. it felt wrong, imbalanced. this is why celestia poured herself into fixing the mirror, which she eventually did. she kept visiting sombra's equestria long after starswirl's disappearance, never sharing this secret world with luna, who started to suspect. the sisters were still close, but each lived in their own world now, and celestia living a second life with sombra only drove them further apart. this is, we could say, the very beginning of the end, the first stone in the grand structure that would be the sisters' downfall.

i hope you like this piece! i think i finally settled on a way to color celestia's hair on the bottom panel, which is a redraw of a panel from the aforementioned comic

Description

THIS IS A GIFT, IT COMES WITH A PRICE; WHO IS THE LAMB AND WHO IS THE KNIFE?
AND MIDAS IS KING AND HE HOLDS ME SO TIGHT / AND TURNS ME TO GOLD IN THE SUNLIGHT

☼ A Queen belongs not to herself, he'd said that crisp autumn morning, moments before shattering her heart. She belongs to her people. Promise me you will remember this long after I'm gone.

Though Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddington and Lord Commander Hurricane were very much present in the Sisters' upbringing, it was clear to everypony and everycreature that none doted on the young alicorns as much as Starswirl. An unicorn of renowned prowess and passion for learning, the wizened old wizard of old had been a young stallion once, and young he was still when Celestia and Luna ascended. Starswirl himself, along with a team of prominent magic users, had seen to the rising of the Sun and Moon before Discord's rule had set the heavens askew; it seemed only fitting that he would instruct the newborn Goddess of the Sun and her nocturnal sibling in the higher mysteries of the cosmos.

Starswirl meant to teach, and teach he did; with unparalleled grace he led Celestia and Luna through a journey of research and knowledge, and soon the trio was thrilled at their discoveries, as feats of magic never before performed by ponykind were mastered by the young goddesses. But to remember Starswirl the Bearded only as a professor to the Sisters is an insult to his memory, for he did more than just teach magic. He was mentor and counselor, listener and comfort. With fatherly warmth he cared for the Alicorn Queens as a parent would for his teenage children.

Luna, of the easy laughter and witty honesty. Celestia, with her competitive streak and love for poetry. He knew them as little other ponies would, and would be one of the very few ponies to scold a Goddess for her lack of manners at the table. And as much as he would dote on his little Princess of the Night, it was Celestia who truly shared his passion for research and study. Together, Queen and Scholar would rewrite the fundamentals of magic, dipping their hooves on areas of study previously unexplored. It was this pursuit of knowledge that led them to the Mirror.

The Mirror of Refractions, as Starswirl would name it on his personal journal, was a considerable triumph for Starswirl the Bearded and his solar protegé. The presumed mirror was in truth a portal, through which the pair visited what they decided to be alternate realities, worlds existing in faraway dimensions from our own. During one such trip, they stumbled upon an Equestria much like their own, and yet different in so many ways...Starting with the governcy itself. Here, the Alicorns were mystic beings of darkened legend that ponykind was blissfully distant to, and their noble ruler was an unicorn by the name of Sombra. Much like Amore in the Equestria we know, Sombra was an unicorn touched by higher magics, who had earned his crown with valor and generosity. After a rocky welcome, Sombra made guests of Queen Celestia and her scholarly companion, and the three became fast friends.

But soon, Celestia found herself visiting this reality more often than others, even without the company of Starswirl. Centuries later, she would claim this was the time around which relations with Luna started to decline, and each Alicorn surrounded herself with her own court and companions, further apart from each other. This would be a secret Celestia would clutch close to her heart, away from her sister or mentor; this was something that belonged not to the Queen, but to the pony. This would be Celestia's first love.

King Sombra and Queen Celestia had always been most devoted to their subjects, but their devotion to each other came close. They bounced off each other with witty remarks, teasing each other and delighting in the many ways in which their countries were so different, yet so very alike. They indulged in poetry and song just about any time they could, as the foreigner Queen filled Sombra's court with singers, jugglers and color. Celestia would visit almost every week, sometimes with Starswirl and sometimes without...Until small details could no longer go unnoticed. It started small, at first, but soon they could no longer turn a blind eye to the way both worlds seemed to become linked, and in ways that were not for the better. Magic between realities is something largely unexplored, and extremely dangerous even to modern equestrians. It was no wonder Starswirl saw it fit to stop their incursions, and cease the usage of the Mirror altogether.

This is why he turned cold as iron when his little Queen betrayed his trust. In her first and last act of defiance, Celestia insisted on visiting her king, long after Starswirl's initial warnings. In doing so, she had put both their kingdoms at risk, and this was a lesson the mentor would not let go unlearned.

"You know the consequences to this! We talked about this! You promised me!" Rang Starswirl's voice throughout the hall, silver shod hoof stomping down on the pristine floor. "I will not let you put your kingdom and his at risk. This is over. Now." And Celestia begged. Goddess of the Sun, matriarch of Equestria, she fell to her knees and pleaded with tears in her eyes. Her fatherly mentor, though wounded by the sight, was unmoved. He had to, he told himself, for the good of the realm. "A Queen belongs not to herself. She belongs to her people. Promise me you will remember this long after I'm gone."

He shouldn't have worried. What happened next was not something Celestia would forget in her long, long life, even after the initual hurt dulled and faded. With a shattering crack that matched the breaking of her heart, the Mirror broke by Starswirl's powerful spell. "I can sympathize with this, I really can," the aging wizard said, even as magic crackled angrily from his horn. "But making decisions you don't want to make is part of being a ruler. I had to make a decision for you. I'm sorry."

____________________________________

and here's our next piece, exploring celestia this time :] i've known of this ship for a long time, but this week i got to read the official comics on celestia/sombra and liked their story way more than i thought i would! so this is celestia not being the perfect princess equestria knows her to be. their love had a sense of purpose to it, mirroring luna and amore's in our equestria, and celestia felt more than regular heartbreak when her adoptive dad basically told her to stop visiting her bf. it felt wrong, imbalanced. this is why celestia poured herself into fixing the mirror, which she eventually did. she kept visiting sombra's equestria long after starswirl's disappearance, never sharing this secret world with luna, who started to suspect. the sisters were still close, but each lived in their own world now, and celestia living a second life with sombra only drove them further apart. this is, we could say, the very beginning of the end, the first stone in the grand structure that would be the sisters' downfall.

i hope you like this piece! i think i finally settled on a way to color celestia's hair on the bottom panel, which is a redraw of a panel from the aforementioned comic