Celestia would remember later that the melody was nothing extremely complex or even original. That the forest provided terrible acoustics. That the sound was thrown off by the fact that one of her ears had been eaten. She would remember those things later, because at that moment she was enraptured by the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her life. In a life of one thousand, one hundred and eleven years, nothing she had ever experienced could even compare.

It was more than just music. It was infused with love and joy and all the beauty in the world that went unseen. It spoke to her of longing and loss and the folly of equinity. It moved her, like nothing else could, and she let the tears stream down her face, unashamed. It was alicorn magic, and she wanted it, wanted her godhood back with an intensity that made her stomach tighten and her legs shake.

The trees around Celestia bowed away from the god-Queen of the world as she descended to the ground without a single flap of her wings. Celestia went to her, and Terra smiled at her with a radiance that made the worries of the immortal game melt away from Celestia’s mind. Her ethereal mane reached out and brushed her daughter’s face, and Celestia smiled back at her mother when she felt its warm touch.

Then the singing stopped.