Celestia watched over Canterlot from her private balcony, her forelegs hooked over the railing. As was her wont, dawn was approaching, and her horn glowed lightly as she pulled the sun drowsily above the horizon. The alicorn took her sweet time because she knew ponies would still be resting. She was certainly weary, but she smiled contentedly as she recalled she’d be with friends at Fluttershy’s baby shower later that day. Luna decided to take Celestia’s shift for a few hours so she could attend, because she knew Celestia would want to congratulate Fluttershy and discuss this with Discord.

The draconequus had undergone astonishing changes throughout his eternity of life, and Celestia never dreamt of the day that she would be asking the Spirit of Chaos if he was ready for fatherhood. She felt a mixture of pride in Twilight’s friends’ accomplishments and with a strange pang of something she couldn’t identify. Perhaps it was the surreal reality of it all. This was simply an outcome Celestia never expected when she chose Fluttershy to help Discord see the value of friendship. But now he was having a son…the Spirit of Chaos and the Element of Kindness united in the crushing, eternal tides of parenthood. There must be a poem about that somewhere.

Celestia flicked her ears back as she heard her balcony door open behind her and she turned to see Luna. Judging by her unkempt mane, she had just woken up.

“Ah, good morning, moonshine!” Celestia greeted her cheerfully. Luna smiled and sat next to her sister. “Come to see your big sister expertly raise the sun?”

“Ha, yes, well I should hope you do it expertly by now. It’s only been your job for thousands of years.” Luna’s smile faded, “Hey…um, I need to tell you about something.”

Celestia gazed at her sister warmly, welcoming her to speak her mind. Luna loved that motherly look Celestia seemed to have always possessed. Made it a lot easier to give her bad news.

“I’ve been having that dream again. Except this time…I saw someone.” Luna turned her eyes down to look at Canterlot.

Celestia blinked, puzzled by Luna’s pause. “Well, who did you see?”

“Caelus’ statue…”

The magic around Celestia’s horn popped, and the sun froze in its position. She unhooked her legs from the railing and stared at Luna with poorly hidden concern, and perhaps hope? However, she kept her smile, “Then…that’s good news right? I mean, now we know that these dreams aren’t visions.”

Luna narrowed her eyes, “I-I’m not so sure.” She let the moment hang a moment longer, “I think I need to investigate this and travel to Luna Bay. That’s where we left him, remember?”

“Yes, but as a crystal statue…it’s simply impossible he could be communicating with you…an-and even if he was, why now? After millennia of silence? I mean…crystallization is not usually something you come back from.” She put her hoof on Luna’s shoulder, “I just don’t want you to make a long trip that will only end up disappointing you.”

Luna remained silent, trying to hold back any emotion. “Still…someone is communicating with me, for a reason. I think it is my duty to see what this is about.”

Celestia was still unsure, “Luna, dear, we both miss him but…it’s just impossible.”

Luna glanced at her, breathing out shakily. Memories of their childhood, the three of them together on Tempest Mountain tried to flood her mind. But she pushed it down. She had a job to do.

Celestia sighed, and smiled, “At least take Twilight with you if she is free. Give me two days to prepare for your departure.”

Luna flashed a look of surprise at Celestia, and the elder princess glanced at her with that pained, knowing smile. Luna smiled in return, relieved, and she hugged Celestia.

“Thanks, Tia…I promise I’ll be back before you know it.”

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Part one of a three panel comic-ish thingie. I thought it would take too much space in my gallery to tell this story in a cohesive way, so this is kinda still experimental. Hopefully it flows okay when it’s finished, but basically I’ll just update this piece with a new panel as I add to this arc. Hopefully I’ll have part two done next week! And please my dudes, if you have any crits of my writing, please feel free to share! I’m still new to all of this and I wanna get gud so I can provide some of that prime cut pony content y’all watch me for.

I swear things will seem less out of context when I add more to this small arc! This is just one of the events leading up to Janus’ birth, and I promise that we will find out who Caelus was sooner than later.