//------------------------------//
// The Coronation 
// Story: Machinations of the Worlds 
// by SoraPiroB 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight sat at the kitchen table, glancing at the door that led into the rest of the library as they ate their breakfast. Spike had made waffles, but not until he had spotted Clockwork and had a reaction similar to Twilight's. “So what do you think? Should we take him with us? I couldn't find any books here about inter-dimensional travel, but maybe the Canterlot library might have something.”
Spike thoughtfully tapped his chin while nibbling at a waffle. “Maybe he's an alien spy,” he said, and glanced at the door himself before leaning forward and lowering his voice to a whisper. “Do you think maybe he's scouting out our planet, and is preparing for an invasion?” Twilight merely rolled her eyes while Nyx gave a giggle.
“I think you need to ease it with the comic books, Spike,” Nyx grinned, and gently shoved his shoulder with a hoof. “Read too much of those and you'll start talking in speech bubbles.” She laughed while her mother smirked and cleared the table. “Anyway, I think we should take him with us. It's not like we can do anything to help. And the Princesses have seen so much, so they should know something about this.”
Twilight nodded and glanced at the clock. “Well we'd better get ready, the train leaves in two hours.” Quickly trotting back upstairs, she set to work packing a few things into a small suitcase. They were supposed to stay in Canterlot for about three days, so that Nyx would be properly informed of her duties as a princess after the coronation.
After carefully folding the dress she wore for her own coronation, she closed it in her suitcase and brought everything to the front door, Nyx coming down soon after. “You remembered to pack the dress that Rarity made for you, right?” Twilight asked, eyeing her daughter's suitcase.
“Yes, mother,” Nyx sighed, rolling her eyes. “So what about Clockwork?” she asked, looking over at the metal pony as it watched them getting ready to leave.
“Right. Clockwork, we decided that you could come with us. I'm pretty sure that the princesses can help with your predicament,” Twilight said. Clockwork quickly reshelved all of the books he had been reading and stood behind the group. Twilight nodded and ushered everyone outside, carrying the suitcases in her magic and shutting the door behind her. Soon they were on the train, sitting in a private car reserved for V.I.P.'s.
As the train began to move, Twilight couldn't help getting a closer look at their coppery companion, who had taken the seat next to her. It had been staring out the window since it sat down, and hadn't moved an inch since. It was like a metallic sculpture, and she wouldn't have believed it could move if she hadn't already seen it herself. Unable to contain her curiosity, she cleared her throat and addressed the automaton.
“Clockwork, may I ask as to how you work? I can't figure out any way that you can be moving, besides with magic, but that would require constant application of magic and there isn't anyone around to do that.” Twilight frowned slightly as she asked her question, the impossibility of the pony before her constantly nagging at her mind. Nyx and Spike had turned away from their own distractions, interested on learning more about the automaton.
Turning its head toward them, it extended a mechanical arm and lightly tapped its chin as it pondered the question. “My creators never did discover a way to power this body, or how to properly contain a soul within it. I came to life after being struck by magical lightning, and since then have been only instinctually aware of how everything in this body works.” Sitting up straight and lifting its forehooves off the seat, it exposed the underside of its body. The chestplate swung forward suddenly, revealing a myriad of gears and springs moving underneath. These then retracted, pulled back by tiny armaments until they revealed a small bronze sphere about the size of a grapefruit, its entire surface engraved with tiny runes. Spaced evenly around the middle of the sphere were five gears, spinning constantly and turning the one adjacent to them. Occasionally a small spark of electricity would arc across the surface of the sphere, causing the runes it touched to glow. “That is everything that I am. It contains what some would call a 'soul'. That is also what powers this body. I use my very essence to be able to move about. If anything were to happen to it, I would cease to live.” The gears moved back into place, and the chestplate folded back over them. “The lightning that struck me also transformed the original spells that were supposed to bind souls, making them more efficient and successfully preventing my essence from dissipating. But the strange thing is, I was supposed to house a soul that already existed. But I have no recollection of a life prior to this existence. Either I lost my memories during the transfer, or somehow I had come into being from nothing. But either way, I cannot figure out a reason. A spontaneous existence is very illogical.”
“Life is illogical. Life doesn't need a reason to be,” Nyx spoke up, frowning at Clockwork. “I wasn't born like regular ponies. I was created through a spell that tried to resurrect a monster. I had memories of that past life, but they brought on so many horrible emotions. But even though I had those memories, I tried to fight those feelings and make my own way. I wanted to live a better life than her, to not have my every choice made in anger and jealousy. I don't have those memories in me anymore, but I still remember how she acted. And I will make sure that my life will be better despite that.” Nyx tapped her chin with a hoof, deep in thought. “What I'm trying to say is, so what if you don't know why you're alive? The fact is that you're alive, and you can make your own choices. You don't need a reason to exist, just as long as you take advantage of the fact that you do.”
Twilight smiled at her daughter, proud of how mature she was becoming. She nodded and looked out the window as she went over the conversation in her head, the automaton next to her turning back to the window as it did the same. Soon the train pulled into the Canterlot train station, and then they were all on their way to the palace.


Twilight frowned at her daughter, as Nyx scowled at the ponies that were helping her dress, who were pulling a sash tight around her middle while another was doing up her hair. “I can dress myself, you know!” Nyx whined, grunting as the sash was tied over her back into a neat bow.
“Well I think it looks very nice on you,” Fluttershy said, giving a small smile. The rest of Twilight's friends had gone to Canterlot the day before, to help prepare for the event. Usually the palace decorators and caterers would have done the preparations themselves, but Celestia felt that a more homely touch would be a nice change of pace to the more elegant designs favored by the palace workers.
Nyx snorted and looked at herself in the full-length mirror, doing a slow turn to look at every angle. “I really do like the dress though. I probably would have put it on wrong anyway.” She smiled at Rarity, who straightened the frills at the sleeves.
“Why thank you dear, it's always nice to be appreciated for my work,” the fashionista said, giving the dress another once-over. “At least you don't have the same fashion sense as your mother.” She gave a devilish grin and laughed as Twilight began to pout. “You know I'm kidding, but I can't shake the memory of your design for your Gala dress.”
Twilight blushed at this and turned away, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Well girls, it's almost time. Let's get out there.” She waited until only she and Nyx were left in the room and gave her daughter a hug. “Don't be nervous. Everything will be fine. I'll be right behind you.” She sniffed and raised her head up, heading to the door. “Make us all proud.” Nyx smiled as her mother stepped through the door and waited for her cue to exit.
All of the princesses were standing on a dais, smiling at Twilight as she approached. Twilight's friends were lined up on either side of the dais, and Clockwork stood behind them. The clockwork pony had an illusion charm cast on it by Twilight that instead of changing its appearance, diverted any attention away from it and rendering it unnoticable.
Princess Celestia smiled and gave a small nod to Twilight she approached, waiting until she stood on the other side of Princess Luna before motioning for silence. The crowd quickly replied, the courtyard falling into quiet as the Equestrian subjects waited for their Princess to speak.
“We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. One of my most faithful subjects, Nyx, has done many things since she's lived in Ponyville. She had overcome the darkness within her, turning her back from Nightmare Moon. She had protected her home countless times, fighting alongside the Elements of Harmony as they defended Equestria from many enemies. And as she has grown into a fine young mare, she has proven that without a doubt that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's new princess, like her mother before her. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Nyx!”
At this, the doors at the end of the aisle swung open, and Nyx strode out with wings outstretched, head held high. As she slowly walked toward the dais, a retinue of choir singers and Royal Guards  began singing.

The Princess Nyx cometh
Behold, behold
A Princess here before us
Behold, behold, behold

Behold, behold (behold, behold)
The Princess Nyx cometh
Behold, behold (behold, behold)
The Princess is
The Princess is here!

As she reached the dais, Spike trotted up carrying a pillow on which a crown sat. It was a golden circlet wrapped in fine gold wire, like vines wrapped around a branch. On the front of the crown a small sapphire in the shape of a kite shield was surrounded by more gold wire, mimicking her cutie mark. Celestia gingerly picked up the crown in her magic and suspended it over Nyx's head, looking into her eyes. Nyx was nervous, but determined. Come what may, she will be ready to do whatever it takes to serve her fellow ponies. As the crown was rested upon her brow, Nyx beamed, and everyone in the room cheered.
The room suddenly fell silent again, and Nyx looked up to see surprise in the faces of those in front of her, their eyes trained on something somewhere behind her. As she turned to look, she spied what appeared to be a hole in the air in the middle of the aisle. A chaotic noise emanated from the hole, and dust billowed out of it. Everyone stared as a familiar-looking lavender unicorn fell through the hole, followed by another familiar-looking white alicorn.
The crowd of ponies quickly looked back and forth between the princesses and their doppelgangers, until the new Twilight suddenly spoke. “Princess, what are we doing here? This is still Canterlot. We've barely moved a couple yards.” She looked around until she spotted the other her, and the other Celestia. “P-Princess? Who are they? They look like us! That's not possible, is it?”
The Celestia that came through the hole looked at her other self and gave a peculiar look, nodding at her slightly. “Yes my faithful student, it is possible. We're in another world, one that parallels our own. And unfortunately, one that also does not contain an answer to our problem.” As if on cue, the cacophony from the other side of the hole increased, and a voice much like Luna's came through.
“Celestia, hurry! They've made it through the barricade! We can't hold out much longer!” The Other-Celestia frowned and draped a wing over her student. “I'm very sorry Twilight, but there's nothing we can do for our world any longer. So I have decided to bring you here, in the hopes that you may survive and prevent this from happening to other worlds.”
The Other-Twilight shook her head, her eyes begging to swim with tears. “What about you, Princess? What about Luna? Everyone else is-” she choked back a sob and wrapped her forehooves tightly around her mentor, only to be pulled away with magic. Except the glow came not from the Other-Celestia, but the real one, the one native to that world. The Other-Celestia looked up at her other self and gave a final nod, stepping back through the hole, only to have it close behind her. As soon as it was gone, Other-Twilight was released, and she began to cry in earnest, wailing and sobbing as she vainly waved her hooves at the space where the hole to her world had been.