//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Who Am I? // Story: A Lost Soul in a Dark World // by TasteTheSun //------------------------------// Celestia and Luna were escorted to their cell deep within The Canterlot Dungeons. Earlier that day, they were rushed to the hospital, on behalf of Princess Black Iron to be treated for all of the injuries that were inflicted on them. Luna only suffered several major cuts and wounds, as well as a broken leg. Celestia however, was far worse out of both of them. Besides from having the magical sword removed from her abdomen, she had several broken bones, and severe damage to her jaw, hind legs and wings. Though with enough magic, and state-of-the art technology, her legs and abdomen were encased in metal casts to help heal her injuries, and allow her to move around. They spent the rest of the day at the hospital, until they were strong enough to move. Later that night, Black Iron’s Royal Guards escorted them to their imprisonment. There, they were given raggedy old clothing so that they could keep warm at night. They were also forced to where a suppressor on their horns so that they can't us their magic at all. Once the two were in their cell, one of the guards slammed the door shut and locked it, leaving the two sisters alone, with nothing but one cot, and a luminescent gem to provide light in the dark cell. Sitting down on the cold stone floor, Celestia lowered her head as she silently wept. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Luna took notice of the situation, and slowly, but painfully moved closer to her sister's side. "Celestia, are you alright? Is there something wrong?" Luna asked. Celestia continued facing the ground, not even bothering to look at her sister. "How could I have been so foolish?" she said. Luna was puzzled by what her sister had said. "I beg your pardon, but what do you mean foolish?" Luna asked. "Remember that talk we had several days ago, when you said that how everything that disappears always seem to return after a thousand years?" "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" "Well, it seems that you have forgotten one important detail." "And what is that?" "It seems that whenever something disappears for a thousand years, it always seems to bring back something evil." Luna was a bit surprised when she thought about what her sister had said. "What do you mean 'brings back something evil'?" Luna asked. "Think about it. When you returned, did you return as your normal self?" Celestia asked, finally facing her sister. Luna only remained silent. "And what about the Crystal Empire? What did that bring? Nothing but hatred and evil in the form of an evil unicorn, that's what it brought. And that's exactly what happened to Twilight." said Celestia. Luna was speechless from what she had been told. "Oh my, I never thought of it that way! So what do you plan to do?" "Nothing," Celestia said in a flat, depressed tone. Luna was shocked by what she had just heard. "Nothing?! You mean to tell me you're just going to sit here and wait for our execution in two days? Are you really going to let your kingdom fall to the hooves of a crazed mare intent on getting revenge? I heard what happen back in the throne room, and I don't think you should let that nutcase Maxspell get away with this!" Luna replied forcefully. Celestia went back to staring at the ground while slowly weeping. "My kingdom. I feel like that's what caused so much. If only I had cared more about the ponies that were important to me, then I wouldn't have to pay the price. Why should I even bother? It's over. We lost. There's nothing more we can do. I failed not only you, but her as well. I don't deserve my position as ruler. I might as well just accept my fate." Celestia replied depressingly. Luna was simply disgusted by what she had been told. "Very well then. If you choose to die over your problems, rather than resolving them, then that's fine by me," Luna said annoyed as she slowly lifted herself up onto the cot to lie down. "I'll see you in Tartarus then, sister," said Luna as she turned her back towards her sister. Celestia only sat there as she soaked in those final words her sister had told her. ••• "How do you define a nightmare? Would you say it's just a bad dream, a figment of your imagination, or a terrible reminder? Better yet, would define a nightmare as an awful memory from your past?" Black Iron asked. Maxspell was puzzled. She didn't know how to answer that kind of a question. "Well, tell me how you would define it, and by the looks of it, it seems that something is bothering you. Mind telling us why?" Maxspell asked. Black Iron sighed before she was about to let everything out. "Since you’re the one asking me now, I would say it's the third option I mentioned earlier," Black Iron replied. Maxspell nodded, indicating her to continue. "I have been experiencing a lot of nightmares recently, and it looks like they have gotten much worse. I keep seeing a purple alicorn who looks exactly like me. I see her with several other ponies, but they're hard to make out. I can't exactly recognize most of them. It's as if I'm missing something that helps me remember them." "Really! You don't say," Maxspell replied nervously. Her worst fear had been realized. Black Iron was beginning to remember her true self. In no time, she will remember everything, and then Equestria's new era will be over before it even begins, which means it will go back to how it used to be. She could not allow that. "Anyway, I can't help but feel like those nightmares last night were really more like memories! What do you think it means?" Black Iron asked. Maxspell began to panic a bit, although she did a great job not expressing it. "Memories?! Don't be silly. I mean, it may just be a bunch of bad dreams. You have nothing to worry about!" Maxspell said, in an attempt to keep calm, while also trying not to look suspicious. Black Iron was confused by her leader's behavior. Just then, Longspear entered the room from the throne room balcony. "They're ready when you are, your majesty," Longspear said. "We'll talk about this later," Black Iron told Maxspell. She replied with a nod. All three ponies then trotted out towards the balcony. It overlooked majority of the old and slightly devastated district of Canterlot. Below were many of Black Iron's guards, as well as a large number of ponies, most them being the city's residents. On the balcony, Ironhoof, along with several guards stood near the edge at attention. The three ponies continued on until they reached the end of the balcony so that everyone below could see them. "Alright, now give them the speech I gave to you to memorize," Maxspell instructed. Black Iron nodded before she moved up a little bit closer until she was standing on top of the ledge. Extending her wings, her gems in her armor, as well the irises in her eyes began to glow. She activated her horn so that she could call upon her magic to amplify her voice. She began giving her speech. "Ponies of Equestria, the dawn of a new era has begun, for your beloved princesses have been utterly defeated. They have handed the throne over to me, which means that you will all be loyal to me now!" Everyone below gasped when they heard the devastating news. "Do not worry however. Now that I'm in charge, there will be a few minor changes now that I'm here. For one, you will all address me as Queen Black Iron! "Hey! That's not what I wrote for her!" Maxspell whispered furiously. Then she noticed Black Iron had turned her head towards her, winked, and smiled before returning her attention towards the crowd. "You may also continue with your puny little lives like you normally would, and if any of you try step out of line, or even disappoint me in any way, you will either be sent to the dungeons, or you can help my guards in rebuilding all of the damage they had caused. Oh, and everything must be approved by me before any of you can do whatever it is you plan on doing. All of that may be done in court, but you must have an audience present with you, or else you won't be allowed to see me. I will also remind you that we will be holding the execution of The Royal Sisters tomorrow, so for now, go home and stay indoors, for we are about to help this kingdom rise up out of the ashes it has always been kept in!" Every pony below stood in silence for several seconds before they began to cry in panic. It took all of Black Iron's guards to keep the panicked crowd under control. As for Black Iron, she turned around and headed back towards the throne room. Maxspell stood there shocked by what she heard earlier. She felt like she was about to go on a rampage. "Did you hear that?! That wasn't what I wrote for her! Did you hear her mention anything at all about enslaving all the ponies of Equestria and ruling with an Iron Hoof?! I think not!" Maxspell said furiously. "I guess your little plan is beginning to backfire!" Longspear said casually and humorously. Maxspell ignored him and went straight towards Black Iron to confront her. She then grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. "Would you mind explaining to me what happened back there?” Maxspell asked. "What you said was nowhere near what I wrote!" "Well I did read your little speech, and I just want to say that I had to make a few improvements." Black Iron replied. "Why?!" "I’m a royal, am I not?" "Yes, but-" "Then that means that whatever I say, goes, right?" "Right but-" "Which means that I should be the one giving orders, not you." "What are you saying?" Maxspell asked puzzled. "What I'm saying is that I'm the one who decides what's best for my kingdom, and you have no right to tell me otherwise! I'm your new queen now, which means that you do what I say, not the other way around. Do you understand?" Black Iron said as she moved in closer to Maxspell until the two stared at each other face-to-face. Just then, a smile grew on Maxspell's face. "Spoken like a true leader! I believe it's time for me to let you go, and allow you to give orders from now on. Even though I don't agree with your ways of leading this kingdom, I for one am not going to be one to judge." Black Iron smiled as she backed away, feeling satisfied. "Excellent! For now, I need you to assist the guards by supervising them as they rebuild all the damage done at the new district. I also wish not to be disturbed as I retire to my new bed chambers for the rest of the day, for I wish to catch up on some sleep." Black Iron commanded. "Yes your majesty" Maxspell replied. She then motioned for Longspear to join her as they both left the throne room. Once she was alone, she also left the throne room, and made her way to what once was Celestia's bedchambers. When she got there, she entered the room, locked the door, and then made her way to the enormous, king-sized bed. After, everything that she's been through, as well as the lack of sleep from previous nights, she felt like she deserved it. She crawled into the covers and made herself comfortable. She didn't care if she still had her armor on. In fact, she's also realized she hasn't taken her armor off since that first day, but she didn't care. She felt comfortable, as well as attached to it. Finally, despite it being almost one o'clock in the afternoon, according to a nearby digital clock, she fell asleep instantly. ••• Pitch Black. Nothing could be seen. Somehow, Black Iron could see herself just fine. In the distance, she could see her. Both her and Black Iron trotted closer to each other until they were a few feet apart. "What's happening? Who are you, and where are we?" Black Iron asked, only to be silenced by a raised hoof, motioning her to be quite. Just then, the purple alicorn look alike spoke. "You are not who you think you are," She said. Black Iron was a little confused by this. "What do you mean?" "What I mean is that you are not who you truly are. You and I are one of the same," "I kinda know that already, considering we do look alike." "Yes, but that's not all. Your name isn't Black Iron, It's really Twilight Sparkle." The figment Twilight said. "I had a feeling that might have been, considering that I have been called that often," Black Iron replied. "But tell me. If my name is not Black Iron, and I'm not a queen, or a princess at the least, then who am I?" "The princess part is true, it's just that everything else you've been told is a lie. From you being an evil ruler to you hating Celestia. All a lie!" Black Iron felt a bit shocked from hearing that. "But it seems you are remembering bits and pieces of your past life," "How?" "Whenever you see something familiar, you start seeing odd visions. Those visions are memories." Most of the things Figment Twilight was telling her were things Black Iron had already figured out. "But it seems that those memories aren't entirely clear, which means you need something that will surely jog your memory." Figment Twilight explained. "Like what?" Black Iron asked. Figment Twilight turned and walked away before turning her head back around. "Head towards The Ponyville Memorial Library. There should be something there to help," she said before turning and fading away. "No wait!" Black Iron cried out before she saw her world swirl around her. Then suddenly, she jumped out of bed, drenched in sweat. Looking towards a nearby digital clock, she saw that was almost seven, which was the time for the sun to set. Heading towards the balcony, she used her magic, and with great effort, attempted to lower the sun, and make way for the moon. After a minute or two of excruciating work, she was able to do the job. She could now see the stars beginning to shine, along with the full moon. Looking down towards the city streets, Black Iron saw her guards patrolling the area. She then looked out, and saw the lights of a city in the distance, past the new district. She figured that had to be Ponyville, considering that it was the city closest to Canterlot. Remembering what Figment Twilight had told her, she figured that if she wanted to get answers about herself, and her past, it would be there. After leaving a note for Maxspell telling her she had gone on an evening flight, Black Iron extended her wings, and took off. ••• It didn't take more than five minutes to arrive at Ponyville. Gliding through several tall skyscrapers, she arrived at the Ponyville Library. It was a bit different then the way she saw it the last time she was here. For one, the windows were shattered, there was graffiti all over the walls, the entrance had been broken into, and the large statue representing the figment Twilight was now representing Black Iron. From her head down, her body was painted black, and the eyes looked just like Black Iron's. They were green with red irises. They also managed to change the expression from a warm smile, to an evil frown. Black Iron looked at it with disgust, and continued on towards the library entrance. Inside, everything was ransacked. Bookshelves were turned over, books were everywhere on the floor, and there was even a pile of ashes, showing the possibility of several books being burned. Somehow, the sight of that ached in Black Iron's heart. She didn't know why she felt sorry for the entire library, as well as some the destroyed books there. Then suddenly, her gaze fell upon a portrait. She slowly approached the portrait while also giving it a hard long look over it. The portrait showed a small group of ponies, and a small dragon. Amongst the group, she saw a certain pony she recognized. She saw figment Twilight surrounded by the other ponies. As she continued staring, she started feeling a sharp pain in her head again, this being as painful as the one from yesterday during her encounter with Celestia. In her mind, she saw the other Twilight with her friends. They were all happy and enjoying a good time, and expressing their friendships for one another. Slowly, Black Iron began to remember who those ponies were. She also began remembering the memories of her past. From the time she was a filly, to the times she was a full-grown mare. She remembered everything now. Opening her eyes, she looked around and took in her surroundings. She was shocked when she remembered what happened and what she had done. "Oh no! No no no! What have I done?!" she said frantically as she looked down upon her. "What have I become?!" "I figured I'd find you here," a new voice called out from behind Black Iron's back. Turning to see who it was, she saw Longspear standing just a few feet away from her. "L-Longspear? W-what are you doing here?" Black Iron replied nervously. "I was helping out the guards clean up some of the damage done in a small shop just a across the street, then I saw you come here." "And Maxspell?" "She's in Manehattan, which means that she shouldn't return for another couple of hours! "Ok then, how did you know I might come here?" she asked. "Because, you have been acting a bit strange lately," Black Iron sighed as she lowered her head down. "Is there something wrong?" Longspear asked. "I remember," "You remember? Remember what?" "I remember who I am. I know everything about who I really am now. I also remembered all the things I've done this past week." Longspear felt nervous at first, but was also filled with joy knowing that she somehow had managed to regain her memory. "At least you have your memories now," Longspear reassured. "Yes, but how can I live with myself knowing what I have done!" she replied while raising her tone a little. "I took over all of Equestria, I killed possible hundreds of ponies thanks to my little invasions, I even tried to kill Celestia! How can you just stand there having such a positive attitude knowing that I have brought all of Equestria to its knees?!" Longspear forced down a knot that had formed in his throat. "Well, all I can say is that you are right about all that. The only difference is that I'm not enjoying this as much as Maxspell is." "Oh really? If that's the case, then why didn't you try to stop her and go straight to The Princess?" "Because she holds my fate in her hooves." Longspear told her. "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means that I can't go against her. I have to obey her or else she'll mount my head on the wall, and I can't have that. I've sworn an oath to serve her until the day I naturally die, and you don't want to know how that's been going for me. "Wow! I never thought of it that way. Why do you have to obey her every command?" asked Black Iron. "It's a long story," Longspear told her. She wasn't satisfied. Thankfully however, she did calm down a bit. Now, there was one more thing she had to clear up. "Longspear, can I ask you something, and when I do, will you be honest with me?" she asked. Longspear agreed. "What happened on my last night? All I can remember was sitting in the library reading a book, and then Spike called me in for dinner. After that, it's all still a blur, but I'm sure you know what happened," Black Iron told him. Longspear knew where this was going, and he sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you, but don't hate me when I tell you, because I never wanted any of this to happen, alright?" Black Iron replied with a nod as she sat on the floor. "Ok, so it was late at night, and Maxspell and I were approaching your home roughly around midnight. Maxspell knocked, you invited us in, and there she started tricking you into agreeing to do a special project for her, and sadly, you agreed. That's when she threw a sack over you, tied it up and forced me to carry you into a small wagon so that I could pull you to our hideout. You'd think you could have been heard screaming and hollering from outside of the bag? Well, you couldn't. Maxspell had enchanted the bag earlier, making it where whatever was inside the bag couldn't be heard, nor could the items in the bag move at all, so you pretty much couldn't do anything at the time. Once we arrived at our hide out, we brought you inside and dumped you out of the sack, and no offense, but you looked terrible when we released you from it. But anyway, Maxspell told you her plans for revenge and how she wanted to use you to usurp The Princess. You were about to fight back, however, Maxspell wasn't dumb. She had everything planned out for months now, so what she did was she put you to sleep. She then placed you in some magical box that would keep you preserved for a thousand years. As for us, she somehow stole a powerful spell made by this Starswirl fellow that would make any pony immortal. As you can tell, she cast the spell on both of us so that she could keep track of Equestria's progress, and let me tell you that these last couple of centuries was the worst years of my life! Why you ask? Besides from having to put up with Maxspell, deep down, I knew that what we were doing was beyond wrong. The guilt I felt from knowing how devastated your friends and family were. They searched for you for months! Why, even The Princesses joined in on the search, as well as nearly all of Equestria's citizens. There was this one time when two of Celestia's Royal Guards showed up in trying to search for you. They were really close to finding you when Maxspell stepped in to lie to them, and got them to leave. Around a few months later, there was a special memorial service held right here at this Library! Back then it was just an oak tree, but now look at this place! All of this was dedicated to you, including that statue outside. Later, all of your friends came up to say a few words about you, which was by far, one of the saddest thing that has ever happened in my life. But believe it or not, Maxspell found it quite amusing. Because of that, we had to leave early. After a while, most of your friends, and family were able to move on for about a week or two, but their depressions got the better of them. They all died of broken hearts. Even Celestia herself nearly fell victim to it, but thankfully, she was capable of dealing with it and moving on. Can you imagine how she felt back then, knowing that everyone she knew had been torn away from her in an instant? I just hope I didn't hurt your feelings too much, and I'm extremely sorry for what happened to you. I know I just threw a lot of shocking news at you, but what I want you to know is that I never wanted ANY of this. In fact, every day, I wish I could back and fix all of this, but I can't," Longspear said. He saw tears run down Black Iron's cheeks. Doing the one thing he knew best, he wrapped his legs around Black Iron, and held her close to his chest. That's when she began bawling her eyes out. "H-how could s-she... d-d-do such a thing?" Black Iron cried out. Longspear continued holding her tightly. They stood there for what felt like ten minutes. After a while of nonstop crying, Black Iron was able to calm down. She backed away from Longspear's embrace. Even though it was hard to tell because of her dark coat, Longspear could see it had turned to a shade of red. Her eyes were really puffy and wet from all the crying. "H-how could she do such a thing? S-she made me bring terror to a lot of ponies; she made me attack The Princesses. Why, she even made me kill ponies! She also brought grief to all my friends! SHE RUINED MY LIFE!!!" Black Iron cried out in agony. "You're not the only one. Have you tried living with her, doing everything she says, being forced to do things you don't want to do, and having to deal with knowing that she has brought pain and hardship to a lot of ponies for a thousand years?" Longspear asked. Black Iron shook her head while wiping the tears away from her eyes. "You know, I never asked to be with her! In fact, I was forced to be with her! But that's not the worst part of it! The worst part is that I can't stop working for her until she says so!" "But how did you get stuck with her?" Black Iron asked. "Like I said before, it's quite a long story. I'd have to explain so much so that you could understand! I'm sure you don't want to sit here and listen to me talk about my back story for a long time." Black Iron smiled and approached him. "You know my backstory, now it's my turn to know yours!" Longspear smiled in defeat to that. "Alright then. Sit down, 'cause this is going to take a while. Oh, and it's a little sad at first, but I think you can handle it now." Black Iron nodded. "Ok! Here we go..." ••• Questions, Comments, Complements, Any errors are accepted, always room for improvement! Be sure to like, and follow me both here, and Twitter!(Pony3T)