In the Sun's Shadow

Chapter 8: Lullaby of Loss

Castle Aurora

Two Hours After Sunrise

Celestia

There it was, the secret of her heart and mind was out in the open for her daughter to finally know. She had put this off for far too long.

The silence was suffocating.

Her heart was beating fearfully in her chest, almost deafening in the silence that had descended. Celestia hadn't felt this vulnerable in centuries. Every second of nothing that passed seemed like a year of agony as she awaited Twilight's reaction.

Her daughter gasped as if stabbed and flinched back. "What?" She squeaked. Twilight stared up at her as if she didn't recognize her. Then she looked back at the mirror, where their reflections still showed, and then back up at her.

Twilight started trembling, as if in her own personal earthquake. Her lip was shaking as she whimpered.

"I-I don't understand!" Twilight stuttered. Her tail curled up and she started stroking it with a shaking hoof. "That...That's not possible is it? N-N-No! That's not possible! You...You can't be my mother!"

Celestia winced. "I...I'm sorry. I should have told you a long time ago-"

"Told me!" Twilight yelped. "I should have never not known!"

Twilight was getting more frantic with every second. Her wings unfurled and then retracted repeatedly as her panic grew. She turned around to where Celestia couldn't see her face.

Twilight started crying.

"I...I wish I didn't know..."

Celestia could feel her heart start to break. She reached forward to touch Twilight, but as soon as her hoof touched her daughter's shoulder Twilight brushed off Celestia violently.

"Don't touch me!"

Twilight still wouldn't look at her.

"Twilight...Twilight please, I'm sorry!" Celestia begged, tears leaking down her face. Her fears were being realized. "I just...I didn't..." She just wanted to see Twilight, see her face, see the magenta eyes that were just like her own.

She just wanted to be a family.

Mother and daughter.

Was she too late?

Celestia reached out with her wings to embrace her. She wanted to just...hold her wonderful, beautiful daughter. To feel her heart beat against her own. Celestia needed to let her child know how much she loved her. "Twilight...Twilight I-"

And in a poof of magic, Twilight was gone.

"...love you." Celestia finished weakly.

She remained where she was, wings reaching out to embrace the empty air.

Twilight...had rejected her.

Twilight didn't want her.

Twilight didn't love her.

And Celestia's heart broke.

Letting out a heart-wrenching sob, Celestia closed her eyes bitterly and bowed her head as she wept. Her mournful keens filled the forsaken room like a the echoes of a long forgotten ghost. Tears flowed freely as they fell like rain to the unfeeling stone below.

I've lost her...

Celestia felt her heart beat weakly in her chest, as if it had lost the will to continue in the wake of Twilight's rejection. Her mind was numb. What would she do now? What could she do? Did she even want to do anything?