The Truth

by Blue Turtle

Hydrogen

The cool crisp air of morning fell into Cadence's lungs softly. She exhaled the now warm air. She stared outside into the endless rain, Discord sat next to her. She didn't know him well, all she knew if what she heard from her aunts and Twilight.

Twilight...

Cadence snapped back, her eyes wide with fear. She didn't want to remember. It'd only been a day since... since it had happened. She felt so helpless then. She was so afraid she couldn't even move.

"Princess Cadence?" Discord said softly, looking down at her. His expression was torn in between something like pity and empathy.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine." She said quietly, keeping her mane to hide her face from him.

"No one is fine right now." The draconequus said back, looking out into the rain. Cadence glanced up at him.

"Tell me Cadence, do you know why Celestia hated me so much in the first place?" Discord said solemnly.

"Isn't it because you made the ponies of Equestria miserable--something like that anyways?" Cadence said, tapping her hoof on her chin. Discord's face became pained.

"I doubt you know the full extent of what that means." Discord said, swallowing his pride. Cadence looked up, cocking an eyebrow.

"A long, long time ago before the three tribes even existed, Levier, Galaxia, Nebulis and I lived together in a way. Galaxia and Nebulis had come down to this world and soon found Levier, alone. My... father killed her mother Gaia. But Levier suffered from amnesia--just like Galaxia and Nebulis did." Discord let the nostalgia bring a soft smile onto his face. His expression softened.

"You see, they found me not too long after they found Levier. Gaia did put up a good fight after all." Discord chuckled to himself.

"So we lived together in harmony for a while. We were happy just being wanderers. I miss it sometimes, I really do; Being able to walk along a huge expanse of plains without anyone talking, just admiring the wide open beauty of the free land." Discord said with pleasure. His eyes glistened as memories flooded back to him.

"But then... one day everything took a turn for the worst. We were all just minding out own business, checking out some ruins when Levier came across some information. It told about how my father, and what he did. She was so fragile. She wouldn't stop screaming..." Discord let his voice trail off as he stared at his hands.

"I screwed up. I should have stayed there but I didn't. I ran away." Discord said, biting his lip. Cadence only listened.

"That's when Aurinko came. She told me she could help and get my friends back. I can't believe I listened to her. Sure she granted me power but that was just about it. I couldn't control myself. I got mad and attacked them. Galaxia and Nebulis weren't alicorns at this time. Because then they fell they lost their power. So Galaxia became a pegasus and Nebulis became an earth pony. There was nothing they could do. I almost killed them. Levier wouldn't... stop." Discord said, his voice trembling. He had never spoke about what had happened to him. Cadence looked up to him.

"You don't have to say more if you don't want to." Cadence said. Discord chuckled.

"Oh come on now Cadence you should know by now, I don't' stay sad for long." Discord said with a wide, mischievous smile. He teleported behind Cadence.

"And you can't either! C'mon I am one-thousand percent sure that eventually this whole thing will smooth. Maybe not by itself, but in time it will." Discord chirped. Cadence felt the draconequus push her towards the door. She pretended to be angry but couldn't help but giggle to herself.

However her giggling became silence as soon a they arrived in the throne room. Galaxia and Nebulis stared at Discord.

"Long time no see..." Discord said casually. A dark blue spell shot right above his head.

Discord ducked, his eyes wide. Nebulis glared at him, hatred that burned for over a thousand years burned into Discord's skin.

"Well that was rude." Discord said, teleporting over to Galaxia. She looked up at this with irritation.

"Silence!" Nebulis hissed, stamping his foot.

"Calm down Nebulis. We'll all on the same side now." Discord said, moving his hands like her was trying to push down something.

"That is utterly ridiculous and you know it." Galaxia snapped. Discord rolled his eyes.

"I'd think for being able to crawl out of Tartarus you two would at least be able to notice that I am certainly not evil anymore." Discord said with feigned disgust. He could never be angry at them.

"Fine. But slip up and I will send you to Sirius B!" Galaxia threatened. Discord only nodded.

"Fair enough." Discord said as she floated above Nebulis.

"I swear you two remind me of Twilight. She's sooo serious it's boring." DIscord said distastefully. HIs face was very animated; You could tell every emotion he was feeling.

"You will not compare us to that mortal." Galaxia snapped back. Discord began to laugh.

"You're no fun Galaxia." Discord pouted after trying to stop himself from laughing. Cadence 's face turned red as Nebulis began to stare at her. She couldn't read him; It was like he was stone wall. Nothing was let out and what was let in could not be seen as soon as it entered.

"Princess Mi Amore la Cadenza, I wish for us to get to know each other better. Come, we will go to tea." Nebulis said. Cadence blinked.

"A-Are you sure, I mean this is sort of on the spot..." Cadence said, her voice becoming faint as Galaxia glanced at her.

"Well, I realize this is very impromptu, but we do not have more than a few weeks left. I wish to know the ponies who will rule this country." Nebulis said calmly. Cadence nodded. She regretted not taking time to brush her mane as neatly as she would normally.

Cadence followed Nebulis and Galaxia as they walked amongst the web of hallways into a warm sun room. The sun room was quite small, only big enough for four ponies to sit comfortably. The cushioned seats were built into the wall, the table in the center of the room. Nebulis took his seat alongside Galaxia. The small, cozy room seemed to clash with their elegant posture. Cadence took her seat across from them. Two pegasi walked in, and stared at Galaxia and Nebulis. They stared into the starry, ethereal wings. Like they could see the universe within their wings. Because they could actually. The pegasi snapped back to attention and poured three cups of tea for the alicorns, then bowed before leaving the room. The fragrant tea smelled of bai mudan, earl grey, and rose chai. Cadence took in the smell with a deep breath.

"You have an excellent taste in tea." Galaxia said, her expression softened as she looked down to Cadence's cup of rose chai

"Why thank you. It's one of my favorites." Cadence said without thinking. SHe almost forgot who she was talking too. Nebulis lifted up his cup, taking a small polite sip. Cadence's face turned slightly pinker than it already was.

"I see. It is quite lovely." Galaxia simply nodded back. Cadence could see the soft, warm expression that made Galaxia feel so comfortable to be around. Cadence felt she could be trusted.

"So, Princess Cadence as I believe you prefer to be called, how did you meet my daughter?" Nebulis said,looking into Cadence once more. She hated the feeling of being looked into, but this time it seemed like he wasn't tearing her apart. He seemed to be more examining her, taking notes on her reactions.

"She... saved me I guess. When my parents died she took me in." Cadence said, looking down into her cup. Galaxia's expression changed in an instant. As if she was the one who brought it up. Nebulis nodded.

"I see. Say nothing more, I understand." He said, taking another sip of his tea. Cadence was relieved, though the anxiety of being around them still stuck to her.

"So, Princess Cadence what do you think of what it means to be an alicorn?" Galaxia said as she took a small, elegant sip.

"Well, it's... challenging to say the least. But honestly; I'm okay with that. You have to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort to take charge of a situation. But I bet you already know that." Cadence said, looking up from her cup. Nebulsi and Galaxia exchanged glances.

"Princess Cadence, i'd like to apologize for my brash behaviour earlier. It was quite rude of me to shout at such a genuinely kind ruler such as yourself." Nebulis said, closing his softened eyes. Cadence couldn't help but et a small smile creep onto her face.

"King Nebulis, I may not ever understand everything it means to be an alicorn, but I do know that you only want what's best for Equestria." She spoke quietly. Her lilting voice was soft and quiet. Nebulis looked at her for a bit, not judging or examining. Just thinking.

Cadence was a nice mare. She had a good heart and could see the good in ponies. She was calm and collected. She knew when and how to speak without being too brutal but still got her point across. It was only when she was worried she'd become urgent, which was understandable. Hopefully this good-hearted nature would last.
A purple alicorn slouched into the room. Ah yes, the other one was supposed to join them for tea as well.

"Sorry your highnesses, I-I wasn't sure where this was." Twilight stuttered. Cadence patted the seat next to her and Twilight quickly bowed and sat down.

Nebulis took a long sip of his tea, refusing to make eye contact with Twilight. This made Twilight nervous, well more than she already was.

"So, Princess Twilight; You've been my daughter's student for many years now, haven't you?" Galaxia said, staring directly into Twilight's eyes.

"Y-Yes. Princess Celestia made me her personal student after a I hatched a baby dragon." Twilight said unnervingly, her eyes darted around Galaxia's face.

"Ah, mind explaining a bit more to me then? Me and my husband's brief summary of the history of this planet within the years we've been gone are just that; A brief summary. Very vague and unreliable but the spell did give us as much information as we needed." Galaxia said, keeping her gaze locked.

"Ok-Okay. Well at first I just wanted to get into Princess Celestia's School in the first place. I spent so many hours studying and preparing. I did perfectly on the written part of the test, but when it came to show my magic, well at first I wasn't doing so well. When they presented the dragon egg and I couldn't hatch it well to say the least I was freaking out." Twilight said a little more casually.

"I see. Failure can be quite terrifying." Nebulis said, glancing at Cadence.

"Correct. I probably would have failed if it weren't for a friend of mine. Well at the time we weren't friend but anyway; Apparently what had happened was that she was in a race to protect my other friend. She went fast enough to pull off a sonic-rainboom. Most ponies at the time thought they were just a myth!" Twilight said, letting herself gush a little bit over her friends.

Galaxia and Nebulis exchanged glances.

"Well, the sound wave scared me stiff but then out of no where there was a huge surge in magic energy. And well I kinda turned everypony else in the room into potted plants. But then Celestia came in and everything went back to normal." Twilight said, letting a small smile grow on her face.

Galaxia nodded and attempted to take another sip of her tea, but then her eyes opened when she realized that the cup was empty.

"Hm, so you say my daughter stopped you?" Nebulis said as he shifted her weight.

"Yes. I don't what would have happened if she didn't." Twilight said, looking out the window to see the garden saturated with rain.

"Well then. I suppose it's time for us to leave. Until our daughters get back it seems well be ruling for a little bit now. However Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight we are going to need you help." Galaxia said while setting down her cup. Nebulis stood up and waited for Galaxia. Cadence nodded her head, grimacing a little. Twilight glanced at Cadence and agreed.

_________________________________________________________________________

"Sister?" Luna tapped her sister's shoulder. Celestia rose up to full height, groggily stretching her fiery wings but realized she didn't even need to. It's not like she could feel her wings anymore. She wanted to cry again but she didn't even have eyes to do so.

"Yes?" The taller alicorn said back, extinguishing her wings. Luna had trouble looking directly at her sister's face, mostly because there was no point trying to pick up on expressions. It was like her sister's face had been set in stone; A blank, unreadable expression that carried no describable emotion.

"I've been thinking of a way to go back... do you have any ideas?" Luna said, trying to look directly at her sister's face. But she just couldn't do it.

"No. Not really. My mind just keeps on jumping back to the Elements of Harmony and... they won't even get near us..." Her sister said, her distorted voice fading.

"There has to be some way." Luna said, trying to sound more confident than she actually was. In truth she felt hopeless.

"Luna.. I don't think there is. This is our punishment." Celestia said, that kind, hopeful voice was just gone. Luna stared at her sister in disbelief, but never her face. Would she ever see her sister's smile again? Or would that blank expression be all she ever saw anymore?

"Damn it!" Luna screamed out, stamping her hoof on the magical platform. Her colors shifted again. Tears ran down her face.

"It's not fair! I come back after a thousand years of exile and this is what I get? More misery! It's not.... it's not fair..." Luna sobbed, her body trembled. Her heart sank like a rock.

"No.. it's not." Celestia said, turning her head up towards the sun.

Celestia could not comfort her sister. She just couldn't. What could she say? that'd it get better? It wouldn't. It could be thousands of years before they returned to their old bodies, and even if that happened. And Luna had so much hope, so much hope that in the future she'd make Equestria proud to call her it's co-ruler. But that hope had been crushed, dashed away as soon as everypony around her screamed. In truth, her sister was beautiful, even in her true form. Her silvery mane and body that almost looked like a faint image of the night sky. Her four wings were elegant, and showed the stars. Luna's night had always been beautiful after all. Her bright white eyes that gleamed even in the daylight. It wasn't fair that she, such a beautiful mare, had been stripped of her hopes and dreams. Her noble aspirations to make a better future. Luna hadn't put her past behind, she faced it head on.
Celestia had always respected Luna because of this, to never back down and face challenges head on. To cry when she needed to but to put on her brave face when others needed her. She could be elegant and polite, but also decisive.
The recent events crushed this. They crushed everything that Luna stood for. So what could Celestia say? When every thing Luna strived to do was crushed?

"Sister... what do we do now?" Luna said, looking up the Celestia, still not directly at her face though.

"I.. I don't know sister. I don't know what to do." celestia said, her voice faltered at the end. She choked out her words rather then said them in that elegant voice Luna knew so well. But her expression stayed the same. Exactly the same. That blank, expressionless face. WIth those soulless eyes, that stared into void.

_________________________________________________________________________

Twilight stared into the old book. It was around midnight, however she couldn't sleep. The warm, orange light that was normally comforting fell on the pages of the ancient book harshly. She wasn't reading it, just staring at the same picture.

Such a simple picture made her almost cry. It was her fault. She should have never said anything. She shouldn't have told her friends, she shouldn't have yelled at them. There were some many mistakes she made that she wanted to take back. But she knew she couldn't. She couldn't make up with them either, after what she'd down.
Twilight threw her crown on the ground, it made a metallic clink on the tile floor. It twirled a bit and landed on it's rim, making another clink against the floor.
Twilight buried her face in her hooves, letting out soft sobs occasionally. She had failed. SHe was a failure.

"Twilight dear?" A familiar voice came through the door, which let a sliver of harsh castle lights into the semi-dark room. Twilight looked up to see Rarity, a shawl around her shoulders.

"Rarity?" Twilight said looking up. Rarity's puffy red eyes seemed surprised to see Twilight was still awake.

"Twilight..." Rarity held her hood over her her mouth, looking like she was about to cry.

She didn't know why, but she pulled her friend into a hug, folding her wings around. It just felt like the irght thing to do. Rarity let out a sob and hugged Twilight back.

"I'm sorry Twilight.. this is our fault." Rarity said, sniffly. Twilight shook her head.

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you into this."

"Dear, you never dragged us into it. We were the ones who should have held you back. We were supposed to protect you." Rarity put her hoof to Twilight's cheek.

"I'm such and idiot for screaming at them like that."

"Twilight, you were afraid. We were all afraid. You spoke up because you didn't know if it was in our best interests to trust her anymore. This is just as much our fault as it is yours." Her voice trembled.

And so they sat there for a while.