AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This is NOT the next part of No Regrets — it's a retelling of the original tale from as different an angle as possible. It's here as a frame around the picture that No Regrets paints.
No Regrets (what you read in Chapter 1) is complete and self-contained. You do NOT need to read this to enjoy, or understand, the story.
If you somehow haven't read No Regrets yet: stop now and read it. Otherwise, this WILL spoil No Regrets in a deeply unsatisfying way.
– H
(126 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
I came as soon as I heard. Please accept my apologies that I'm not writing you with some words of wisdom or reassurance, but this letter is first and foremost an attempt to re-establish communication. I've been here only a few minutes, but it's already clear that going in after you is a bad idea.
Please let me know that yourself and Princess Luna are okay.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(131 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
I ... don't understand. It's alright — we'll get through this — but I thought that would work. Spike's dragonfire is linked to your spirit rather than your physical presence, and yet my last scroll is apparently sitting on the floor by your feet.
Okay. I'm casting a Draymij's Dictation on him to modify his scroll transmission slightly. If that doesn't work, I'll ensorcel the scrolls themselves with a modified Maredankien's Mental Messaging.
Are you alright? Please respond as quickly as possible. We've only got two hours.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(138 AE)
(incomprehensible runes)
(146 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
It is of utmost importance that you respond to this letter, if you can. My friends are on their way with the Elements of Harmony, but I'm afraid of resorting to them unless there is literally no other way. As you know, large surges — oh, stars, why am I even telling her this? She's the one who taught me!
Spike! Cross out that bit.
Ehrm. As you know — don't "cross out what?" me, Spike! Cross out what I just told you and then keep writing down everything I say! I'll —
— Aaah!! Get that foal away from there! … … Well, why DON'T we have guards on the power cord? If the machine gets turned off —
Yes, Spike! Write EXACTLY what I say, okay? Except cross out the first thing I said! The two most important ponies in Equestria are counting on me and time is ticking and NOTHING! CAN! GO! WRONG —
AAAH THE LIGHT JUST BLINKED RED WHAT DOES THAT LIGHT MEAN
— YES, SPIKE, EVERYTHING I SAY!
(breathe, breathe) Okay. The light is green again. We can do this. I can do this.
YOU! GUARD THAT CORD WITH YOUR LIFE!
Right. The letter.
Anyway, as you know, injecting large surges of power into a delicate enchantment can have dangerous effects. I would never forgive myself, ever, EVER, if I hurt —
— no, you CANNOT leave to go to the bathroom! This is YOUR machine, mister, and if anything happens —
— YES, I'm upset! NO, I'm not overreacting! Do you have ANY IDEA what will happen if we don't get them —
— SPIKE! Why isn't that letter sent yet?
(167 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
First of all, I'm sorry for my last scroll. Really, REALLY sorry. I'm mortified at my lack of professionalism. I can only offer this: I'm keenly aware that every time I send a letter, entire years have passed for you. So I'm dictating as fast as Spike can write, and, er ... misunderstandings happen.
Please don't banish me. At least, not until we've gotten you out.
Secondly, I'm even more sorry for this letter's delay. Apparently I was overlooking an important detail of the enchantment's time dilation. Your response arrived so quickly that Spike tried to belch it while he was still breathing fire on the outbound scroll. Fortunately, one of the Royal Guards knew the Saltlick Maneuver and was able to get the burning scroll unstuck from his throat before he choked.
In short, please, PLEASE, wait one month after a scroll arrives before you write back to me.
I'm having Spike send this while we write answers to your questions. I beg your patience. Another letter will follow.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S.: No, I promise, this isn't a prank.
(171 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Since you don't recognize me, the first thing we need to establish is what you've forgotten. They warned me that might be a problem — the enchantment has to obscure your true past in order to make you believe the world you're seeing — but we're all treading new ground here.
I don't have time for a full introduction — and I'm afraid I might not be able to establish my credibility, after that mess of a first letter — but I'm Twilight Sparkle. Your personal student, the Equestrian Friendship Scholar, and the current bearer of the Element of Magic. You're ...
... this does sound mad.
You and Princess Luna are in a machine that is enchanting you to relive altered memories. I don't know what you're seeing in there — but out here it's the year 2001, it's about an hour and a half until the scheduled sunset and moonrise, and if we don't get you two out to do it there's going to be a national crisis.
The inventors said there might be permanent effects if the spell on you is stopped midway through, so I have to figure out how to safely end it. However, I've only got 90 minutes, and in your world you've got 90 years of research time. I need your help, Celestia. Please.
Please believe me.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(177 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Yes, I agree, I'll stick to answering your questions in order to economize our time. So:
The inscription on the inside of the tiara reads "OMNIBUS AMICITIA EST". I honestly don't know about the birthmark, but your favorite drink is Darjeeling, and based on your room decorations I'm going to guess red. We've never talked about passwords, so I really hope that's a trick question.
I call her Luna because, um ... that's her name. I haven't sent her scrolls because I can't. My assistant Spike is a baby dragon, and when you started teaching me you cast a Clover's Coronal Commingling ritual to link him to you for communications at a distance.
Is Luna okay, by the way? The more help we can get, the better.
As for why you two went into the machine ... I'll tell you what we know. The machine shows you a world without your greatest regret. Flim — or maybe Flam, I can never keep them straight — says that they don't ask what regret the customer wants erased; the spell takes care of that. All he could tell me was that you walked up, alone, and your disguise fooled him. Since you looked young, he told you it should take 10 minutes, 15 tops. Luna traced you down to the funway after you'd been inside for a little over an hour.
Once they realized who was really in their machine, the inventors started to panic, and Luna got very agitated at them. They apparently weren't saying what she wanted to hear, because she yelled that doing nothing was unacceptable, cast a defensive ward, and leaped into the machine to wake you up.
Remember what I said about large surges of power? Her ward caused some sort of reaction, which reset the spell and pulled you both into it. That was ... about three hours ago.
My brother happened to be one of the royal guards who accompanied you here — that's Corporal Shining Armor of the Second Solar Squad — and he sent for me. I wish I could live up to his faith in me, but at least I've managed to establish communications so that a true master can tackle the problem.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(184 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Thank you. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. You're a far better and wiser teacher than I ever could deserve.
That was very interesting reading. I think you're right about the inflection point. What actually happened then was ...
Oh, stars. You're not going to like this.
There was a war.
Luna ... was taken over by that spirit of jealousy, and you had to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. For a millennium, you managed both the day and night skies.
There's no Everfree Castle any more ... the whole area is tainted wilderness. I live in Ponyville, near the edge of that forest, but we're in the rural reaches of the nation. The capital was moved to Canterlot ... um, if I remember my history right, what you would call Canter Peak.
When Nightmare Moon escaped her banishment last year, she would have shrouded Equestria in eternal darkness, except that you sent my friends and I to find the Elements of Harmony and redeem Luna from her pain.
I ... I'm so sorry, Celestia. Your Equestria would have been a much better one to live in. But this is the one that needs you. Needs your sun, your radiance, your wisdom.
We need Luna, too. I ... understand if you can't convince her to help, or can't trust me enough to try, but we're doing this for both of you.
Maybe when you come back, she can be Aurora for us too? I ... don't know? I'm not sure it works that way, but it sounds like it's worth trying.
Any progress on the spell research?
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(188 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
That ... might be problematic. The inventors of this tartaric contraption — technically it's the "Grand Nostalgic Chronophagic Regret Eradicator 2000" — are gadgeteers, not ritualists. I'm trying to cross-reference all the effects they've woven into the machine against known spell families, but even a high-level understanding would take more time than I've got.
I recognize the base evocation patterns of an Eyes Inward, linked for ingress from a True-Tongued Muzzle, mixed with something that looks inspired by Maredankien, and then linked for egress through some sort of, um ... it's like an inverted Flank Finder ... argh. But that's all shot through, all of it, with a Nightmare's Touch, and at least two separate effects that are most likely illusions, and possibly upwards of five effects I haven't even STARTED to analyze, and it's all so hideously interlinked that every time I try to isolate anything the entire mess starts to destabilize.
I'll keep working at it, but ... but ... I'm just not good enough to give you the answers you need. I'm sorry. I'm ... I'm sorry. I —
— Hang on, my friends need to talk to me.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(193 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
On behalf of Twilight Sparkle, I wished to acknowledge receipt of your latest missive, and to inform you that she is ... ah, temporarily indisposed.
I am certain you realize how seriously she takes her duty to you, as student and as subject and as friend. In the present moment, the weight of that dedication may be a distraction from the task at horn. The other Elements are assisting her in overcoming her entirely rational, yet — I must specify — groundless fear that this puzzle may prove too intractable for our deadline. I hasten to assure you that we are in firm agreement that such is not the case.
Your Majesty, Twilight shall respond to your letter at her earliest opportunity, with renewed confidence befitting her skills.
With humblest regards,
Rarity
(204 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
First, thank you for the kind words. My friends said much the same thing. I'll do my best, I promise.
They were right about another thing, too. We ALL need some words of support in such a stressful situation. Every time I send a new letter, you've been managing the entire night sky for YEARS. Well — not the real night sky, but it's still awfully stressful.
That's what your red light means, the one I was wondering about earlier. They built some monitoring into the machine -- among other things, to make sure their customer was having a happy experience. I asked him what they usually did when the monitoring showed problems and he gave me a blank look. "Why would anypony NOT like a life without regrets?" he asked. When you're in somepony else's fantasy, I guess the answer is a little more complicated.
So — anyway — what I wanted to say was, you're the best pony I've ever known, and I believe in you. It's easy enough to forget to say that in normal circumstances, but with so much time in between letters, I need to make a point of telling you that over and over. Maybe that's the most important thing I can say.
As for your suggestions:
That's the first thing I thought of, too, but it wouldn't work. The enchantments are channelled into the machine's interior, a padded room about a ponylength square, by a mithril cage built into the walls. Leaving the door open for more than a few seconds, or tunnelling through a wall, would destabilize the field. Teleporting inside would put me within it.
Pulling the plug and overtaking the enchantment on my own, on the other hoof, is an intriguing idea. If I had your skill ... perhaps. But there's no way I could replicate the existing effect without comprehending everything that went into it, and again we run into the time barrier.
Joining you would give me the time I need to work on the problem, yes, but it's out of the question. The enchantment was already destabilized and reset once by Luna's entrance. Your red light has been sporadically active since then. Any further tampering might turn your fantasy world into some kind of nightmare. Not to mention, then we wouldn't have any effective method of outside communication.
I agree, however: "When all else fails, start from first principles." You taught me that yourself, years and years ago. That's what I've already been doing, though, in trying to analyze the underlying spell effects — is there something about your suggestion I'm not understanding?
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(208 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Oh! That IS a good question. I don’t know … but I’m sending Rainbow Dash for my reference books now. It may take a little while. Don’t worry — we’ve still got an hour before your sun needs to set and Luna’s moon needs to rise.
That’s a tight deadline to break such a complex, ambitious, and sloppy enchantment, but you’re the most amazing mage in all of Equestria. If anyone can do it, you can.
Also, both of your vital signs look good, but I can’t take anything for granted since neither the monitor nor the machine itself were designed for the indefinite lifespan of alicorns.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(218 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
I haven't heard anything from you in 10 minutes. We were seeing two red lights for a while. Is everything okay? I have complete faith in your abilities, but a letter back would still help reassure us.
Rainbow Dash should be halfway to Ponyville by now. I've been continuing my research into your question.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(228 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Okay, I'm getting worried now. Please respond.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(235 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
What's going on? It's been almost thirty years in there!
Princess, PLEASE respond. If I don't hear back from you by the time Dash gets back, we'll have no choice but to use the Elements of Harmony.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(239 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
I'm torn between relief at your scroll and panic at your news. I had been assuming both you and Luna would help to break the spell when it came time. I can't oppose an alicorn's willpower, Celestia. I just don't have the power. Nopony here does, not unless we resort to the Elements.
I've attached a diagram of the spells, to the best of my current understanding. Please tell me we have some other option.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S.: Dash will be back in about 10 minutes, and the instant I can cross-reference our letters from last year with The Alicorn Magic Compendium, I'll have an answer for you.
(242 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Controlled internal feedback does seem like our best shot right now. Please be careful with it. I'll be monitoring. Good luck.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(243 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
That was scary. Please don't try it again. The monitoring went crazy for a moment — I think your vitals might even have skipped a beat — but the overall enchantment didn't waver.
If I had to guess, I think it targeted the wrong feedback loop, with the Nightmare's Touch and the Shadow Veil. If those collapse with the rest of the enchantment intact, it ... um ... well, don't do it.
Hang on, Dash just got back. I need to research what we discussed.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(248 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
It looks like you were right about the method of Luna's transformation, except for one thing: she couldn't have used a Clover's Coronal Commingling to become Nightmare Moon. It polarizes the spirits it links, like two matching poles of a magnet. Luna trying to merge with the Nightmare via a CCC would be like trying to push those magnets together.
I did get your latest letter, and I'll read and respond to it now.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(252 AE)
Dear Princess Celestia,
Oh my gosh! Could it really be that simple?
That's ... that's just brilliant. I can't see any flaw in your reasoning. If the spell itself is a source of the regret that it's trying to eradicate, then it will dismantle itself from the inside out, and thus consume its own feedback loop and terminate naturally.
But ... I don't understand.
You've GOT to be right. Her greatest regret was deliberately causing you pain. You went back to the moment of that decision, she turned herself from it, and she refuses to let go of the false world that lacks it.
But then your falling out half an hour ago should have —
— no. This makes less and less sense. I've been staring at your red light for most of the last hour!
Help me understand, Celestia. We're running out of time.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
(253 AE)
Oh stars. How did I not realize —
Celestia — don't! It's not worth embracing that darkness — fake or not. The night can be a little late — we'll
(found crumpled up, unfinished)