Twilight walked in the small hut. It was ornately decorated and many strange machines illuminated by candles filled the room. The man took her to a couch in front of a large tube with a red light coming out of it. She sat down.
"How long were you searching for us?" The man asked.
"For about an hour." Twilight answered, Spike nudged Twilight.
"Spike, seriously-" But she stopped when Spike pointed to the other side of the room. Standing there was something moving... it wasn't dead... it wasn't alive either... a human-shaped Golem. Spike looked at Twilight and the old man, worried.
"They won't harm you as long as you don't harm us. Their our... security guards." The man said.
"-Now, forgive me, I should have introduced myself. My name is Ivar, from the house of adepts. I'm Aldred's uncle." The man said, Twilight looked at him oddly.
"It's good to meet you... My name is Twilight."
"I know who you are, you're Celestia's right-hand student. You think you wouldn't be on our radar?" He asked, Smiling.
"Well, actually... I didn't even know what a human was until recently. So... not really." She said, Ivar frowned.
"It seems she has tried to erase us... Poor thing, to go through that much pain..." Ivar said.
"What are you talking about? Aldred said practically the same thing..." Ivar looked over to Twilight with sad eyes.
"The poor woman... our kind nearly ruined her life... it was dark times, miss.... dark times... Celestia was being persecuted by humans who thought her having immortality was "evil". They came at her with knives, swords, bows and arrows, catapults... anything they could. It was up to the individual to take a side in the fight... I myself have seen thousands of Equestrians and Humans die because of misplaced hate... Celestia eventually had no choice but to send all humans back to their home world... but something happened that was so bad... that not even Celestia could prepare for it... much less could Aldred."
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"Celestia!" Aldred shouted, he ran through the hospital wing past multiple Equestrians and Humans, until he stopped in front of the majestic Princess, she looked like death had touched her happiness.
"Celestia? What's going on? People keep on crying to no end mentioning my parents and my sister's name. Did something happen?" He asked, tears swelled at Celestia's eyes, and Aldred knew at the bottom of his heart he was about to get horrible news.
"Your parents... were spies..." Celestia said, she held up a document to Aldred, Aldred snapped it away, and read line after line... then stopped dead.
"...I had no choice..." Celestia said, she closed her eyes and tears flowed down her cheeks and hit the floor. Aldred looked at her in horror.
"My parents... you killed them..." Aldred said, his expression blank except his eyes, which were overflowing with mixed emotions, anger, sadness, horror... and betrayal.
"...It was... an accident..." Celestia said while weeping, Aldred looked up from the document, rage built behind his eyes.
"...Where's my sister?"
"...Aldred..." Then, his rage snapped.
"Where's my sister, you tyrant!?" Aldred shouted, he tried to seize Celestia by the throat but was stopped by two guards.
"Aldred... Celestia didn't want any of this." Luna said, revealing herself from behind a curtain, there, on a hospital bed was Aldred's adopted Unicorn sister. Aldred ran over to her, breaking free of the guards. He stopped at the foot of her bed, a crystal ball showed her heart rate. She opened her eyes.
"C...Cyra...?" Aldred asked, tears swelling at his eyes, the young unicorn looked at him, and smiled sadly.
"I just wanted you to know... you were always... my best... friend..." She said, then, a flat line could be heard.
-
Nobody heard his screams in pain and heartache, he pounded his fist against the wall in despair in the hallway. He shouted obscenities and swear words. Then, he broke... he fell to the floor crying. He then got up and started to walk towards the exit of the castle- and ran deep into the Everfree forest.
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"Oh my God, that's..." Twilight said, having trouble to find words to explain her empathy.
"Celestia had no choice... Aldred is blinded by hate and pain... he was forced into a realm of absolute, endless sleep... but I brought him out. I was able to save him. When he got out, he immediately ran to this place here, and began building that huge structure over there- that tube..." Ivar said, he pointed at the strange device.
"What does it do?" Twilight asked.
"Well... uhm... how do I put this... have you ever heard of possession?" Ivar asked, Twilight nodded.
"This device mimics a body without a soul- with it... Aldred revived his sister." Twilight stared in surprise.
"What? Really? How?"
"Inside of it is a glass case with a mass of an alchemical substance similar in physical properties to clay. When inhabited by a spirit, it takes on that spirit's past form..." Ivar said, Twilight looked at the device in awe.
"...Would you like to meet her?" He asked, Twilight got up- and began to walk towards the machine.
"Is someone there?" A soft voice asked.
"We have another visitor- it's Celestia's right-hand student."
"Her right-hand student... Twilight Sparkle!?" The voice asked, the metal tube rose up to reveal a glass inner layer filled halfway with water, floating in it was a waxy figure of a unicorn, it blinked, it breathed- it was alive. Twilight's eyes went wide.
"I've heard about you! What you did to nightmare moon with your friends- that was incredible!" It said, Twilight's expression loosened, then her face went red.