Chapter 2
“Bye, thanks again for your help! They all look so delicious; I’m going to have a hard time preventing myself from eating them!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she waved from the doorway of Sugarcube Corner. After a long day of baking cupcakes and other pastry treats Twilight, Spike, and their new companion Electra, made their way home as the sun began to set behind the hills. The atmospheric lighting brought on by the sun formed long shadows of everything hit by its rays. It had been a beautiful autumn day, not a cloud in sight, Twilight had somewhat regretted not spending her day outside. With winter on the way there isn’t going to be many more days like today where the temperature was chilly, bringing the skin of everypony to the brink of shivering, but the comfortable warm breeze that came from the east negated the chills.
During their time at Sugarcube corner, Twilight noticed that Electra never really opens her wings. After she had shown them off a bit and the visible, static like display that came forth, she hadn’t seen her open them. She wondered why. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have never gone twenty minuets without flexing their wings. Twilight figured she’d ask Electra about it later. The matter seemed unimportant while baking cupcakes. She also didn’t want to pass a line of privacy with her new found friend; that would, as a matter of fact, be staying with her and Spike for…
“Soo, Electra, how long do you play on staying in Ponyville?” Twilight inquired.
The Pegasus took a moment to think. “As long as I can Twilight, as long as things go well.”
Twilight didn’t know what she meant by that, but she thought that also was a matter to bring up at a later date.
Spike, who had been sneaking peeks at Electra all day, was riding on Twilight’s back, quickly blinking and looking around innocently if she ever caught him staring at her. There was just something about her that seemed so brilliantly amazing and Spike just couldn’t put his claws on it.
“Soo you’re from Cloudsdalehuh?” As mostly every Pegasus is, she realized. “Um, so why did you leave and decide to come to Ponyville?” Twilight hoped this question was appropriate.
“Well,” Electra began, “let’s just say there was an incident that led to me having to leave.”
‘Hmm, she doesn’t want to talk about it,’ Twilight thought to herself. “Oh, I see.”
“Yeah… but I suppose the change of scenery will be good for me, as well as being away from all the clouds…”
‘…being away from all the clouds’? What did she mean by that? Twilight wondered what kind of story was behind this Pegasus, but she concluded that she would strive to find out without being too obvious about her dedication. She decided treating her to a nice dinner would be a good start. She thought this as the three of them walked up to the library.
“Here we are, home sweet home,” said Twilight. She opened and entered the door, closing it magically after both Spike and Electra had entered.
“C’mon Electra, I’ll show you around.” Spike exclaimed as he pulled on one of her legs.
She smiled, “Alright, alright, I’m coming, lead the way Spike. We’ll catch up later at dinner Twilight.”
“Sounds good,” Twilight replied as she smiled back. Once Spike and Electra had begun their tour, Twilight hurried over to her beginners cooking station to begin dinner. Cooking with her magic had been another new talent of hers. Out of a wooden compartment she had crafted herself she pulled out some grass blades as well as some lettuce and started preparing a salad as best she could. All the while, she had the azure Pegasus on her mind. She is quite the mysterious pony. She looks over to see Spike leading Electra into another room, and as before her wings are stationed directly at her side. Twilight's curiosity was starting to get the best of her. She could barely make out Spike’s words, but from what she could gather she could tell he was describing each of his pony friends as accurately as he could. Twilight rolled her eyes when she heard Spike bring up Rarity, he still had quite the crush on her, and it didn’t show any signs of fading.
About half an hour later, Twilight had finished preparing dinner. She quickly flung a cloth over one of her desks, turning into a temporary dinning area. She tried hopefully to make it look homey by placing a potted flower in the middle of the desk as to imitate a centerpiece. She fiddled with it, seeking satisfaction, and then smiled to herself once she found it to be perfect. “Spike, Electra!” called Twilight, “come and eat!”
A few moments later, the two of them appeared in the entrance to the basement. Spike must have been showing her the science equipment that Twilight had used to try and decipher Pinkie Pie’s “Pinkie senses.”
“Ahh. Finally, dinner; good timing too. I just finished showing Electra the whole place.” Spike said as he walked over to the desk and claimed one of the chairs for himself. Electra followed and sat down next him, looking over to Twilight as she brought the food over.
As they began dinner Electra started up a conversation, “You have got quite a nice place here Twilight, it was very nice of the Princess to let you use it while you stay here in Ponyville. It’s apparent you have done a good job keeping it tidy and neat, maybe even more so than the library in Canterlot.” It seemed Spike told Electra quite a bit about the unicorn as well.
Twilight beamed at the compliment, “why thank you Electra, I try to keep it in tip top shape, you never know who will come to pay a visit.” She winks at Electra as she says this.
Spike seemed a bit tired, probably all worn out from the non-stop blabbering during his tour with Electra; no doubt that Rarity is on his mind.
After a while of conversing and laughing, Twilight finally gathers up enough courage to ask Electra about her wings. She figured that the night had been going so well; there wouldn't be a better time to bring it up. But first…
“Hey Spike, don’t you think it’s for bed? You seem a bit exhausted, why don’t you go on ahead, I’ll clean up tonight.” As she said this, Twilight gave Spike a facial expression as if to hint to him to accept the proposal.
Catching her expression, Spike reluctantly agrees. “I suppose you’re right Twilight, I’ll see you in the morning. You too Electra, have a good night.”
“Night Spike, thanks again for the lovely tour.” Electra replies in a soft voice.
At that, the dragon hobbled up to where he and Twilight slept, yawning and stretching his arms along the way.
Twilight waited until Spike was out of view until she started to clear their dining materials. As she did this she brought up what she had been wondering about all night. She began slowly. “Hey Ele, I was just wondering, is there something wrong with your wings? I mean, I saw you open them back at Sugarcube corner earlier today, but since then they’ve been plastered to your side. So I was just wondering if everything is alright.”
Electra looked down at her blue wings and realized she had been keeping them withdrawn all day. After the incident that occurred in front of everyone at Sugarcube Corner, she had thought it better to just keep them controlled. A minute passes and Twilight continued, “It’s alright if you’d rather not talk about it, I just wanted to make sure everything was OK.”
“No no, it’s alright. I think it would be better for me to bring this up now instead of later. It might be better for everyone. I’m not your … average Pegasus, Twilight.”
“What do you mean by ‘average’?” asked Twilight.
“Well I don’t really know how to explain it but, here, let me just show you.” At that instant Electra fully flexes her wings. Immediately, sparks appear from her wings and spread throughout the air. A sound like raw energy fills the room as she flaps her wings twice, with each flap more sparks fly out of her wings.
She quickly closes her wings and the display dies down. Twilight Sparkle stares in awe at what she had just witnessed. She tried to whip up an explanation in her head to resolve this phenomenon but nothing came to mind. She continues to search her mind for a reason while Electra begins to stare at the floor again.
“What…was… that? How did?” Twilight was able to put these words together, her eyes staring at the Pegasus. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know why I’m like this,” Electra tries to explain; “I’ve been like this ever since I was a filly. I can’t flap my wings or fly anywhere without an array of sparks flying out of my wings. No pony has ever been able to explain it to me. No pony has ever found a reason to why this happens to me.” One of Electra's auburn eyes looks up at Twilight, the other was significantly covered by her hair, the sparkle forming at the base of it shows that she’s at the brink of crying. “Back in Cloudsdale, it was difficult for me to carry out an average day without having to use my wings. As a filly, I would have to go out at night alone to practice flying, it was always to dangerous for me to practice with the other fillies around because of the risk of harming one of them with the sparks that flew out of my wings. I felt alone. But then, one day I met someone, a friend. She was a Pegasus with wings too small for her to fly, we talked and right away we established a bond. We both had something that separated us from all the other pegasi, but that entity is what brought us together and made us such good friends”
Electra is crying now, she tries to hide it from Twilight, who is listening with more than just her ears, but with an open heart as well. She wipes her eyes at the memories she is recreating in her mind. The memories she sought to one day forget completely.
After a pause she continues her story. “Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. One day, about a month ago, I was out with my friend. We were confronted by a rude bunch of stallion ponies, and they started to harass us about our differences. No pony was really that sure why I would hang out with the Pegasus with wings that were too small. Until recently, not many ponies truly knew what I was, and still am, capable of. But to be honest, I didn’t know either… After a few minuets of them following us around, pelting us with petty insults, I turned around to confront them. It turns out that this was a bad decision, because of all a sudden, all of the rage from enduring the bullying my friend and I had put up with every since we were young fillies came to the surface as I jumped in front of the stallions, threatening them to leave us alone. While this was happening, I lost control of my wings and they spread open to match my fury, at that moment not just sparks, but bolts of lightning flew everywhere.”
Electra pauses again, trying her best to hold back the tears.
Twilight, completely bewildered by this story, could do nothing but wait to see if she will finish.
“After I had calmed down and regained my senses, I looked around. Everything around me had been charred, including the Pegasi. Each one of the stallions and even my friend had blackened tips on their coats and manes. Many of them were in shock. Realizing what I had done, I started crying and ran off to hide, looking for comfort in my home as well as from my parents. But it didn’t matter; I would have to face the consequences for my actions.” Electra takes a deep breath. “Because of my actions, as well as my condition, everypony thought it best if I were to leave Cloudsdale and move somewhere else. So, I ended up here, in Ponyville. Right when I got here I met Pinkie Pie and she invited me to her place, and now luckily for me, you were kind enough to offer me a place to stay.”
Twilight magically brought a tissue over for the Pegasus, which she gratefully accepted. She’d of never though Electra would have had such a hard life up until now. “I… I just don’t know what to say Electra. I…”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Electra interrupted. “I was born this way, and for the most part I’ve been able to cope with this… curse.”
At the word curse Twilight remembers the book that Spike had found, she had forgotten all about it. She quickly set that aside though, this Pegasus needed comforting, there was no time to think about reading a new book.
Just then an idea ignited in Twilight Sparkle’s head. “Well Electra, I may have some good news. This is a library, and I’ve been labeled rather frequently as the most resourceful pony in Ponyville when it comes to magic. Perhaps there’s something about your… ‘condition’ as you call it in one of the many books here.”
“Oh, Twilight, as much as I would appreciate the gesture, you don’t need to…”
“Don’t worry Ele, it won’t be any trouble at all, I just finished mastering another spell as it is, it will be nice to have something else to do besides studying. Plus, I could really learn something amazing from all this. Why don’t we start right now?” As she said this, Twilight placed the last of the table setting back in its original place, restoring the desk to an average place for studying.
“Now? Umm, I wouldn’t want to keep you from your sleep Twilight, It’s not that important, really,” insisted Electra.
“Nonsense! Exclaimed Twilight, “I’ve pulled many all-nighters studying and practicing spells that just couldn’t wait ‘till the next day, and really, you’ve been stuck with this your whole life, why keep it going for another day, or night for that matter?” Twilight smiled at the Pegasus while she magically brought a book down from a nearby shelf. “I’ll start over here; you start over there in the ‘Magical Beings’ section.”
Electra’s hopes began to rise. Could Twilight really find a cure for her problem? Her head filled with more questions and possibilities as she hurried over to the bookshelf Twilight had pointed out, and pulled out a book. With new hope gleaming in her eyes she looks over at the unicorn, “Thank you Twilight,” she says as she returns her gaze to the book and opens the cover.
______________________________
Celestia, catching on to the worry in her sister’s eyes, takes a step back giving Luna some space. “Why Luna, is everything alright?”
“I’m afraid not sister. I wish I had brighter news but… I can’t hold this off any longer.”
Celestia nodded her head with understanding, “How about we sit down?” She turns to face the fireplace as she says this. The area around her fire place was always kept tidy; the rest of her room was always covered with scrolls and other documents needed by the ruler of the kingdom of Equestria.
Luna, who could do nothing but accept the offer, moved in front of her sister and led the way. Instead of taking a chair, she laid herself down on a rather large cushion. Celestia, who had followed her sister closely behind, took the cushion next to her, as to make her sister feel as comfortable as possible for what she was about to say.
After situating herself, Celestia swiftly uses her magic to close the door to her room, in order to provide the two of them privacy. “Alright Luna, what is it you need to talk with me about?”
Luna, who had begun to stroke her mane waited, as if to give herself one last chance to change her mind about this. But she finally spoke, “Well, allow me start from the beginning. About three years back, when we, err… I had just been released from the moon; my plan was to submerge the world into eternal darkness. Luckily, thanks to thee along with the Elements of Harmony, I was defeated and shone the errors of my ways.” She pauses and takes a deep breath, while Celestia listened intently. “But, while I was Nightmare, I was not ill-advised. I knew thee would find a way to stop me. So I thought of a umm… back-up plan, as you would call it.”
Celestia smiles and nods her head to show that she understands.
“Yes, well, this plan was suppose to carry out my deeds of darkness if I had failed to do so myself, which I did. Little did I know at the time that I would return to my original self.”
Celestial leans close to her sister and whispers, “I'm sorry Luna, but I fail to see what the problem is here. You cast out your evil ways and returned to my side to rule the Moon as I do the Sun. Everything has turned out just fine.”
“Yes, everything may seem fine, now. But... soon, a storm will come, a monstrous storm. Its clouds will form a blanket of evil over Equestria and its winds will bring chills of fear. It will bring about Nightmare Moon's dream... eternal darkness.”
Celestia moved even closer to her sister, “What?” She asked sternly. “A storm, how do you know this?”
“Because I created it, sister. While I was Nightmare, I foretold of an evil incarnation of weather that only I would be able to control, to condemn Equestria into darkness, should my first attempt fail. This won't be your average storm Celestia, it will have a mind and soul essence of its very own, and nothing will be able to stop it.”
“What ever do you mean? You just said yourself you would be able to control it. Just command it to recede and abandon its purpose once it arrives, whenever that may be.”
“Nay, sister. I cannot control him, only Nightmare can. In the state I am in now… Pure … I do not possess the magic in order to control such evil.”
Celestia raises one of her royal eyebrows, “Him?”
Luna looks up at her sister, the expression on her face seemed like she was crying out for help. Their eyes met and Celestia finally began to understand the intensity of everything Luna was telling her. “Maelstrom”
Luna then lowered her head and began crying softly. Celestial got up from where she was sitting and moved over to be close to her sister.
At this very moment, they had each other, and that's all that mattered.
“Luna,” and after a pause, “no matter what happens, always remember that I love you. We'll make it through, no matter what comes our way.”
Luna looked up at her sister and managed a smile. “Thank you -Tia... I love you too.”
The two of them sat together in the firelight. All that could be heard was the crackling of the fire, and Luna's gentle sobs. The warmth of her sister helped calm her, for in her heart she knew her sister would be by her side no matter what.
They both eventually dozed off, the fire soon died. Eventually, all that could be seen was what ever was within the beam of moonlight that pierced through the window. A few corridors down from where the sisters were sleeping, Frederick stood and marveled at the same moon wondering what Luna had meant.
"...A day may come soon when you will take part in that history.”