//------------------------------//
// Sing of Her 
// Story: Twilight's Friendship 
// by Penalt 
//------------------------------//

	For twenty-five years the banners of Canterlot Castle were dipped on this day.  Today was the twenty-fifth anniversary of perhaps the bleakest day in living memory.  The day that marked the last time Celestia, Princess of the Dawn, had left the castle.  Twenty-two years since the end of the Changeling War that had claimed the life of Celestia's student, protegee and friend.  Twilight Sparkle.

"Sister," said Luna entering the throne room after everypony, save the ever present guards, had left at the end of the Day Court.  "Today of all days, will you come out with me and walk among our ponies?  You know they are celebrating the anniversary of the great victory over the Changelings."  Celestia's mane stopped flowing and she looked down, muttering something.  

"I'm sorry, Tia," said Luna.  "What did you say?"

"I said," replied Celestia, in a voice made of equal parts tears and broken glass.  "There was no victory.  There never will be."

"'Tia," said Luna, folding a wing over her sister, "Twilight made her choice with open eyes.  She fought and fell valiantly.  And she was avenged."  Luna pointed to the mounted and preserved head of Chrysalis that was attached to the far wall.  The head's unseeing eyes looking down toward the throne.  "Twilight did her duty and you dishonour her name by hiding here, and turning our castle into a living mausoleum."

Celestia's head shot up at that.  "I DO my duty," she snapped as Luna hastily withdrew her wing.  "I raise the sun, I hold court,  I arbitrate and I rule."

"Yes," said Luna.  "You do all those things.  But there is no joy in them.  No love.  You might as well be some machine that dispenses decisions for all the warmth thy ponies feel from thee."  Celestia said nothing.  She merely looked up toward the head of one of the greatest enemies her ponies had ever known.  Minutes went by in silence, and Luna was opening her mouth to add more, when Celestia finally spoke.

"She won, you know," said Celestia, lowering her head again in sorrow.   "We might have killed Chrysalis, but she cut out my heart before she died."

"Would it help," said Luna, "if you knew that somehow, in some manner, Twilight Sparkle still fights for Equestria?"

"Don't toy with my feelings or my loss," said Celestia.  "I loved Twilight like she was my own flesh and blood.  But she is dead.  Dead and gone."

"Dead perhaps," said Luna.  "Gone?  Apparently not."

"What?" said Celestia, her head coming back up to look Luna full in the face.  "Explain yourself, Sister."

In response, Luna called out to the guards, who were standing silent watch at the doors, "Bring Hammered Line in."  The guards opened the door and ushered in a blue earth pony with a brown mane.  He carried a guitar strung over his back and looked around nervously.  As the guards brought him before the throne he didn't simply bow to the Princesses, he fully prostrated himself.  Lying on his belly, he touched his muzzle to the floor.

"Please, great Princesses, be merciful," he said.

"Rise, Pony," said Celestia.  "Why are you in such fear?"  She looked over to her sister, "Have you committed some crime for which you should be punished?"  The pony did not lift his body from the floor despite Celestia's command.  He instead looked up and over to Luna for confirmation.  Who nodded her assent.

"I...I sang a song about Twilight Sparkle," he said, suddenly cringing in terror at his admission and pressing himself back to the floor.  "Please, Great Princess of the Sun, don't kill me!  I meant no disrespect."  Celestia's eyes widened in shock.

"Why would you think..." Celestia stopped and looked at her sister.  "Why would he fear my wrath because of a song?"

"I have tried to tell thee, Sister," said Luna.  "You have cut yourself off from your ponies.  The last time most of them saw you was when you cut off Chrysalis's head.  All an entire generation of ponies know of you, is that you still mourn the death of Twilight and that you killed the one responsible for her death.  You have created a legend of death and vengeance about yourself, almost as great as that of Nightmare Moon."

"Pony," said Celestia, addressing the still cringing stallion before her.  "Rise.  You have no cause to fear my anger.  It is not directed at you, nor at any pony.  I swear to you by the sun, that you will leave the palace alive and unharmed.  Please, what is your name?"

Carefully, as if he stood before a predator, the pony stood up and said, "My...my name is Hammered Line, your Highness.  Your sister brought me here after she heard me sing in a tavern on the Baltimare docks.  I swear, I meant no disrespect."

Celestia looked over at her sister, who obviously had planned this.  Luna meant well, she knew.  Perhaps it was time to open up a little more.  Maybe, it might hurt a little less if she had more ponies around her.  

"This song," she said aloud.  "I take it is about...Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes, your Highness," said Hammered Line, his ears flattening against his head.  "For the past few years...there have been stories.  Sailors coming in off of their ships, all telling similar stories.  So, I made one of them into a song.  A pretty popular one too.  It's been keeping me in bits and food for a few months now."

"Stories..." mused Celestia.  "Hammered Line, I am going to issue a Royal Command, and I expect it to be obeyed."

Hammered dropped himself back to the floor, "Yes, Princess.  Whatever you ask."  

"Play the song for me," said Celestia.  Hammered looked up carefully.  Celestia looked down at him, neither smiling nor frowning.  Visibly gulping, he sat himself in a playing position, and after a few nervous moments of tuning his instrument, began to play.	





Twilight Sparkle was the captain of the Friendship and her crew
And she sailed and fought the Friendship in the War of 82.
Now the Friendship was the tightest ship ‘tween here and Luna's mane
And the crew of Twilight Sparkle was the same

On patrol in sector seven, keeping watch on Hoofer’s Run
They were jumped by three ‘Ling cruisers though they weren’t a match for one.
As they came to general quarters and Spike flamed out an alarm
Twilight’s crew was sure they’d finally bought the farm.

No one living saw that battle, though the ‘Bolts were quick to leave.
When they reached the site they found a scene no sane mare could believe.
Adrift lay three ‘Ling cruisers, cut to ribbons all around,
But no sign of Twilight’s Friendship could be found.


There are stories of the Dutchmare, the Celeste and Barnham's Pride,
There are stories of the Stallion and the Lady at his side,
But the tale that chills my spirit, more because I know it's true,
Is the tale of Twilight Sparkle and her crew,
Yes, the tale of Twilight Sparkle and her crew. 

I was second mate on Luna's Dream, a freighter of the line.
We were shipping precious metals to a colony so fine.
It was on the second watch of that most uneventful night,
When the pirate ships appeared to be our blight. 

Now to me there was no question, for they had us four to one,
And you can't fight dirty pirates when your freighter has no gun.
So we stood by to be boarded by a party yet unseen,
When another ship appeared just like a dream. 

First we thought it just a pirate, but her angle was all wrong.
Then we thought it might be rescue, but her pennant was all wrong.
When she didn't answer hailing, we all felt an unknown dread,
For we saw her guns were out and glowing red. 

Now the courage of that single ship is shown by very few,
But we never knew a ship could sail the way the stranger flew.
Never fearing guns or numbers, like a griffon to its meat,
The stranger then attacked the pirate fleet. 

And the stranger's guns burned brighter than all guns I'd seen before.
And the stranger's sides were harder than the heart of any whore.
As the battle rent the sea lanes, we watched and shook our heads,
As the pirate ships were cut to bloody shreds.
The pirate ships were cut to bloody shreds. 

Just as quickly as it started then the fighting was all done.
For the pirate fleet was shattered, and the stranger ship had won.
Though we tried to call and thank her, not an answer could we draw,
Then she dropped her sails and this is what we saw. 

There were thirty holes clear through her and a gash along one side, 
And we knew that when it happened, every soul on board had died.
Then she turned to show her markings, and we read them and we knew,
The fate of Twilight Sparkle and her crew. 

She was the Friendship, and a grave for all her crew.

Now instead of sailing off, the stranger then began to fade,
First the hull, and then the bulkheads as we cowered there afraid,
For as the Friendship disappeared, the last to slip from view,
Were the bones of Twilight Sparkle and her crew.
Yes, the bones of Twilight Sparkle and her crew. 

There are stories of the Dutchmare, the Celeste and Barnham's Pride,
There are stories of the Stallion and the Lady at his side,
But the tale that chills my spirit, And I swear that it is true,
Is the tale of Twilight Sparkle and her crew,
Yes, the tale of Twilight Sparkle and her crew. 



The last notes of the song echoed into the empty vastness of the throne room.  Celestia's face was unreadable.  Hammered Line replaced the guitar on his back and met Celestia's eyes.  There was fear still there, but his face showed he was prepared to accept whatever came next.

"Guards, take Hammered Line away," said Celestia, to gasps from everyone around her, including Luna.  Hammered Line simply hung his head, unresistant, as the guards approached him from either side.  "Take him away to the kitchens," she continued as Hammered Line's head shot back up.  "He is to eat and drink his fill.  Before he leaves the castle, he is to be given a pouch full of bits for services to the Crown."  The musician's eyes shone with gratitude.

"Thank you, thank you, My Princess," he said over and over as the guards led him off to the kitchens.

"Come, Luna," said Celestia turning to her sister.  "Let's go for a walk.  Twilight wouldn't like it if I just sat here like a statue, would she?"

"No, sister," said Luna as the pair began to walk to the throne room doors.  "She would like you to live with us, as would I."