Chapter Nine
*******
“I thought I said we weren’t supposed to keep secrets,” Twilight growled. “I guess I understand now. I understand why you hate them so much.”
“...You expected me to just come out and say it?” Celestia managed, her voice choked with sorrow.
“Will somepony enlighten me as to what’s going on?” Olly asked, irritated.
“Celestia’s is--was--the Element of Loyalty,” Twilight explained. “But when Arrogance possessed you, Loyalty was forced out of your heart. That, or Deception forced it out of you somehow when she made you immortal. Either way, my real question is,” she began, walking up behind the sun goddess, “who are you? Who are you, really?”
Celestia didn’t answer. Twilight kept up her cold interrogation.
“Who’s Skids?” she asked. When Celestia didn’t answer, she continued. “Somepony important, probably. You said that name when Guilt attacked, and it was mentioned by Hate, as well. Both times ended with you crying. But why?”
“Um, Twilight...” Fluttershy began, glancing nervously between her and Celestia. “Sh-She looks upset, maybe you want to, um-” she stopped when Twilight shot her a harsh glance. “O-Or continue, th-that’s fine.”
“Or maybe you want to tell us who Luna really is, huh?” Twilight asked. “She’s an Element, too, right? But what? Kindness? Generosity?”
“M-My sister was the Element of Magic,” Celestia managed to stammer.
“Okay, that’s a start,” Twilight continued. “Now, who’s Skids?”
Celestia didn’t answer, and refused to meet Twilight’s eye.
“You’re going to tell me, one way or another,” Twilight promised, gritting her teeth. “What did Hate mean when he said you and Dash beat him to death? Was it because you’re both the Element of Loyalty, and Hate has been holding a grudge from since the Elements were created?”
Celestia nodded weakly.
“Were you alive?” Twilight asked.
Celestia shook her head. She tried to say something, but was too upset to do so.
“What happened to the other Elements? Why aren’t there four others ruling Equestria with you?” Twilight asked.
Celestia didn’t answer.
“Tell me!” Twilight commanded.
“Twi, don’cha think yer bein’ a little hard on the Princess?” Applejack asked hesitantly.
Twilight ignored her. “What happened to the other Elements?”
“They were mu-murdered,” Celestia managed, though each word caused her visible pain.
“Why weren’t you?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight, stop!” Rarity ordered. “Celestia’s obviously upset!”
“Well so am I!” Twilight yelled back at her friend. “I thought I could trust that she’d tell us anything related to us, that I could rely on her for trustworthy information about Discord, but I guess that’s just not the case anymore.” She turned back to Celestia. “Why weren’t you killed? Why preserve Loyalty and Magic?”
Celestia tried to answer, but couldn’t.
“Answer. Me.” Twilight growled. “Now!”
“I-I don’t know!” Celestia eventually exclaimed.
“Why weren’t the others spared, then?” Twilight asked. “Do you know that?”
“N-No,” Celestia choked.
“Who’s Skids?!” Twilight asked, exasperated.
Celestia vigorously shook her head.
Twilight was fed up. “Tell me!” she yelled in frustration.
Celestia took a deep breath, trying to control a sudden burst of anger. “T-Twilight Sparkle. You can’t tell me what to do.” Her voice lost its friendliness and was replaced by a tone she only used when Twilight had done something seriously wrong, though she still had a slight stutter.
“I can, and I will,” Twilight stated, though Celestia’s tone shook her slightly.
“It’s j-just too much for me to relive,” Celestia stated, calming herself slightly. “Deception tore my group apart in an instant. You don’t know how I feel; you can’t know how I feel until you experience it for yourself!” As her anger grew, she raised her voice, turned, and glared fiercely at Twilight. “Deception burnt my hopes and dreams to dust! I almost died that day, and when I look back on it, I think... I think that I probably should have! And now you say you can’t trust the ruler of Equestria and your friend just because I’m not filling you in on memories from a life I want to leave behind? Twilight, the only reason I’m coming along on this journey is because I want to prevent what happened to me from happening to you!”
“I can’t forgive you for keeping secrets when you promised you wouldn’t,” Twilight countered, “and I’m not about to bend to your will just because you’re royalty! Don’t pull rank on me, Celestia; you’re the one who said that you should be kissing our hooves!”
Celestia was about to boil over. “Don’t you argue with me, Twilight. I gave you every--single--thing you ever had! If it weren’t for me, you and all your friends would be dead a long time ago!” She didn’t give Twilight time to interject. “Oh, and if that’s not enough for you, have this: If it weren’t for the mistakes I made thousands of years ago which I’m desperately trying to forget, I would be dead, and not only would you be dead, all of your friends would have been enslaved! The Dark Times never would have ended, Twilight! But that’s not what bothers me. What bothers me,” she began, her mane glowing-white hot, “is that you’re so UNGRATEFUL!”
She slammed her forehooves on the ground, sending a shockwave through the mountain, knocking Twilight over. A bright flare of light soared into the sky and exploded into a red-hot firework, with a burst of heat briefly dispersing the bitter cold. The icy winds returned with a vengeance, though, and they flung ever larger snowflakes into the group’s faces. For the most part, they didn’t even notice.
“So what now?” Twilight asked bitterly. She got to her hooves. “How are we supposed to continue as a group if I can’t know if you’re hiding information? How are we supposed to beat Guilt and Hate if you’re not even able to fight them without passing out?”
“There’s only one thing you ever have to know about me, Twilight,” Celestia began, wiping her eyes as she tried to catch her breath. “There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about how I’m going to crush the forces of Discord beneath my hooves. They took everything from me, Twilight. That’s what I want you to understand.”
“You called?” a voice asked. It seemed to be floating on the wind, though it was as snide and jovial as ever. “I guess this isn’t the best time, but I happened to be in the neighborhood. Heh, ‘neigh-borhood.’ It never gets old, does it?”
“How does he keep finding us?” Dash thought aloud.
Discord appeared in a flash of light. “It’s very hard to mistake your auras. You may be walking time bombs where your powers are concerned, but you’re not designed for stealth. You stick out like a sore thumb covered in blinking lights. Besides that, I rarely leave your side as it is! Orders are orders, after all. You only see me when you’re about to make a terrible, terrible mistake.”
“There isn’t a single way you could make this worse, Discord... so just leave,” Celestia said quietly.
“Oh, I still have a few more ideas of how to make this the best day ever,” Discord chuckled, snapping a picture of Celestia, who was trying to hide her tears. “Scrapbook, check. Three more ‘Sobbing Celestias’ and I’ll have my Junior Wildlife Spotter badge. And possibly one in alliteration.” He paused. “Hmm... this would be an opportune time to talk about my own past with Celestia... but, in the end, I suppose only so much information should be forced down your throats at a time.”
“I think we’re experiencing a lack thereof,” Twilight muttered.
“Oh, believe me, I know the feeling,” Discord laughed, brushing snowflakes off of his right arm, which happened to be the leg of a lion.
“What, are you going to throw cream pies in our faces this time?” Dash asked resentfully, igniting her mane and adopting a battle stance. Her flames quickly blew out in the cold of the wind, and she shivered.
“Oh, I have something a tad flashier in mind,” Discord grinned, snapping his talons.
Purple sparks of light floated around the group. They were being drawn out of the surroundings, and converged at the base of the cliff side. The individual purple sparks converged in a mass at the bottom of the pit--though of what, the group couldn’t completely determine. It slowly began to shrink and condense, however, forming a shape--the shape of a pony. Dash’s armor glowed with a fiercer light than ever before as it reacted to the magical mass that was gradually constructing itself below.
*******
“Good luck, everypony!” Discord laughed before vanishing.
The ground began to tremble and glow with a faint purple light. Twilight thought the magic felt oddly familiar, but she didn’t have the time to ponder that idea for long.
Celestia glanced at Twilight. “I think the situation demands that we be friends... even if it’s only for a little longer.”
Twilight sighed, and for a minute her eyes lost focus. “For old time’s sake, Loyalty.” She paused. “I have my friends to think about, too, Celestia. This isn’t for you.”
“No... It’s for Equestria,” Celestia said, looking at Twilight with glistening, heartbroken eyes. “It will always be for Equestria, no matter what happens. Remember that.”
An aura started to surround the Elements of Harmony. Each pale light shining from the six friends was their respective Elemental color: Deep purple, bright orange, fiery red, sky blue, light pink, and vibrant magenta.
“As usual, Discord has perfect timing,” Twilight muttered, preparing her magic and staring off the side of the cliff.
Meanwhile, Dash was telling Olly, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to take Centime and run away.
“As fast as you can, too!” she urged. “There’s no telling what we’re up against.”
“But I can fight!” Scootaloo protested. “You always get to do the cool stuff!”
“Normally I’d let, you, Scoot. You know I would. But you have a nasty cut, and you’ve lost a lot of blood,” Dash said, pointing at the bandages wrapped around Scootaloo’s midsection. She put a glowing hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Leave this to us, okay? You’ll have your chance to shine, just not today.”
Scootaloo dejectedly nodded. “Okay... I guess.” She galloped up the hill with Olly and Centime.
The mass had finally finished forming. It was a glowing unicorn mare with a bright purple coat that was speckled with what looked like tiny stars. She slowly started walking up the mountainside toward her targets. The air around her was charged with static electricity.
“Ready?” Twilight asked her small brigade.
“Freddy!” Pinkie chirped.
Dash nodded, leapt in the air, and spiraled toward her target. Twilight began to charge up energy as Rarity took the side path down the mountain. Opting for a quicker route, Applejack and Pinkie began to slide down the steep side of the mountain, while Fluttershy and Celestia took to the air, following Dash.
Now that they were closer, they saw that the entity’s eyes were shrouded by a purple mist, and it lacked a cutie mark.
The pony at the bottom of the mountain didn’t try to dodge Dash’s spiral attack. Instead, it split apart and reassembled behind her, emitting a burst of corrosive magic in the process. The acidic beams of energy burned at Dash’s armor and threatened to break through the mithril barrier, so she was forced to retreat.
Celestia dove downward and batted away the energy tendrils. Applejack leapt down and tried to swat the entity, but since it wasn’t made of matter, her hoof went right through it. While Applejack was off balance, the being solidified and latched onto her. She managed to pull away, but not before the apparition stung her with its corrosive force.
The entity melted into the ground, and for a moment, nopony knew where it was. A few seconds passed before it launched itself upward and tried to grab Pinkie, but she was quicker. She unearthed a stick from underneath the snow and grabbed it in her teeth, stabbing the monster as soon as she saw an opportunity. It was stunned for a second, but soon the rotting wood dissolved in its body.
Twilight watched from overhead, chanting a spell. “Remove magica inimici nostri!”
Celestia took the opportunity the creature provided and cut at it with her horn. Rarity bucked a nearby rock into its side.
Twilight saw that she had already weakened the entity; the tendrils of magical energy that were holding it together were beginning to trail off into space. It won’t be able to battle for much longer, she observed. Now’s my chance. She steadied herself and focused all of her magical energy inward, and a light purple film started to cover her pelt. It was a force-field; one that protected against all magical threats.
Applejack distracted the creature by feigning an attack and dodging its onslaught, though her burnt hoof slowed her progress. She inwardly winced every time she put weight on it, but adrenaline kept her from slowing down as she distracted her opponent.
Dash tore off her ruined armor and rejoined the fight. She knew she couldn’t attack directly, so she picked up a piece of her shattered mithril armor and tossed the glowing metal into the center of the mass of purple magic. It reacted with the composition of the entity, exploding on contact and throwing the monster backward.
“Wha...?” Dash gaped.
“Good thinking, Dash!” Celestia exclaimed, rushing in and following up Dash’s attack with a magically guarded hoof to the monster’s face.
“Um, yeah!” Dash agreed hesitantly. She glanced at her remaining armor pieces. After a moment or two of thought, she picked one up in her teeth, grinning slightly.
Meanwhile, Twilight was finished charging. She summoned her magic and teleported to the battlefield. The monster had recovered and was fending off Celestia, using its acid limbs to cut at the sun goddess. Celestia yelled in pain as flecks of pelt dissolved right off of her body.
Twilight intercepted the fiend and tore it off of Celestia, thrusting it backward. Her magical shield protected her from the creature’s acid while simultaneously forcing it to remain solid. She followed up with a quick headbutt and buck, stunning the creature severely.
“Twilight!” Dash yelled, tossing the biggest piece of armor she’d salvaged toward her friend. It was her helmet, and it glowed fiercely in the presence of this magical being.
Twilight quickly caught on and swatted the mithril into the monster. It was embedded into its interior before it exploded in a giant burst of purple gases. The evanescent magic slowly started to drift away, revealing a solid shape at the origin of the burst.
In the center of the crater was the body of a blue unicorn mare with a light blue mane.
*******
Twilight eyed the corpse before gasping in realization. But...
“Alright, high hooves all around!” Dash exclaimed, not having noticed the body in the center of crater. She glanced around, seeing her friends’ shocked and pained expressions. “Huh? What’s up?”
Rarity had a hoof over her mouth. “No, no, it can’t be... not a second time...”
Celestia’s mane glowed from the intensity of her outrage, the heat from her magic dispelling the cold winds near her. “They snuck into the royal mausoleum and they took her body for a second time!”
Twilight slowly walked over and closed the unicorn’s long-motionless eyes. Hasn’t she been through enough? she asked herself angrily. Trixie... you deserve better than this.
Had the situation been less serious, Dash would have groaned. Does every battle we win have to end badly? Lyvia, Daymare, Hate... when are we actually going to catch a break?
“Hey, Twilight? Can’t you bring Trixie back with some kinda Necromancy hocusy-focusy?” Pinkie asked, waving her hooves about in the air to push her point.
Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Well... who says I can’t? It’s in the very back of my Necromancy book; I’ll go up and get it right away!”
Twilight began to rush up the mountainside, but Celestia stopped her.
“What now, Celestia?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight...” Celestia sighed. “It’s better to let the dead rest.”
Twilight stepped back, confused. “H-Huh? But Trixie died in such an awful way, and her body is being put to such misuse!”
Celestia nodded. “I know, but Twilight, bringing back the dead is, well... it’s just not the right way to approach magic.”
“Are you saying Trixie doesn’t deserve to live?” Twilight asked resentfully.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Applejack snapped. “Stop that right now. Celestia’s done nothin’ but help us. Ah’m all fer gettin’ the truth out, Twi, but ya don’t have ta be mean about it. Try ta be civilized about this, okay?” She looked back toward the mountain. “We gotta regroup and pack fer the climb--you two can cool down an’ have a lil’ chat until then. Got it?”
Twilight bit her lip. She looked up at Celestia, her gaze still tinged with hostility.
Celestia motioned toward the group. “We shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes or so. Get Scootaloo and the others and meet us back at the cave.”
Pinkie nodded and bounded up the mountainside, accompanied by her friends.
Celestia turned back to Twilight. “Why have you been so immature lately?”
“Me? Immature? You’re the one that’s been lying and keeping secrets. This is a perfectly reasonable reaction,” Twilight growled.
“Twilight, if this isn’t a matter of friendship, it’s a matter of respect,” Celestia argued.
“I thought I was the Element of Magic here. You’re the one with a lack of respect for me,” Twilight glared. “Who. Is. Skids?!”
Celestia gritted her teeth. “I thought I said that topic was off-limits. I’m trying to be lenient with you, Twilight. I don’t want to be the villain here.”
“All I want are answers, Celestia,” Twilight began, “and if you don’t give me those answers right now, I’ll go and get them from Hate himself!”
Celestia was shocked. “What?”
“You heard me,” Twilight hissed. “He’s told me a lot more about the Elements of Harmony than you have. Maybe I’ll finally learn why you turn into a mumbling mess every time Skids is mentioned, or why you hate Deception so much.”
Celestia ran a hoof through her mane, exasperated. “Twilight, Hate wants to murder you.”
“I’m going to die if I stick with you anyway. We all are,” Twilight growled. “You’ve been leading us head-first into these conflicts without telling us why. You expect us to win these battles without telling us how. Celestia, at this point, I just want to keep my friends alive, and you’re not helping me do that.”
Celestia hung her head. “Fine. I understand. I guess... if that’s what you think, then I can’t argue. All I want you to do is try to understand.”
“That’s what I want, too, Celestia,” Twilight growled. She turned to leave. “I’m going to get the Necromancy book and bring Trixie back to life.”
“Twilight, no,” Celestia pleaded, tensing at the very notion of bringing Trixie back from the dead. “That isn’t the answer!”
“Good luck trying to stop me!” Twilight yelled defiantly.
“You’ve just got to trust me,” Celestia said, her eyes watering. “Please...”
“Is there something else you aren’t telling me?” Twilight asked, her eyes full of spite for her former friend.
“Twilight, please, listen to me...” Celestia pleaded. “The reason Necromancy is banned is because ponies always wonder if they can bring back the dead... and they can. But the dead cannot be brought fully back to life. When you instill life back into a dead pony, you are ripping the soul from the afterlife, and... a-and some parts stay behind. It’s unbearable. Life after life isn’t worth living, Twilight. I... I hope you understand that before you make this decision.” Celestia folded her wings and sat down, in utter defeat.
Twilight glowered upon her. “Celestia... how am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to believe that you actually know all of this if you don’t tell me how you know it?”
Celestia couldn’t answer through her tears.
Twilight turned around. “I’m bringing Trixie back,” she decided. She was about to start climbing when Celestia stopped her once more.
“Wait, Twilight... you made me a promise,” Celestia choked. “Please, help me... listen to me.”
“Okay, I’m listening,” Twilight said, tapping her hoof on the rocky ground impatiently.
“I know I have an attitude problem, Twilight. I know that I keep secrets even though I shouldn’t, and I know that I’m not always the best decision-maker... but Twilight, remember when you promised to help me if I went off the deep end? Twilight, I need you to stop asking all these painful questions... you may not feel it, but they really hurt. I promise, though, that if we retrieve the Source, Obsidian will answer all your questions. The questions that I can’t. I need your help, Twilight. Please,” she finished, wiping her eyes. She extended her hoof in a final act of friendship. A single, fleeting hope that their bond would be preserved.
Twilight looked away. “I’m sorry, Celestia. I just can’t trust you anymore. Not until I know your past.” She pushed Celestia’s hoof back to the ground. “I won’t bring back Trixie, not because of what you’ve said, but... Really, because I’m not sure if I can actually pull it off. I’ve messed up every single Necromancy spell so far one way or another. I’m not ready to try something as drastic as this. But we’re going to bury her before moving on.”
Celestia nodded, disappointed. “Okay.”
=====================================================================
*******
Twilight decided to take a brief rest before moving onward with her friends. She slowly drifted downward as the dream overtook her, and she quickly found herself sitting next to Verba at the front gates of her Ponyville illusion.
“Taking a catnap?” Verba asked. He was lazily drifting from building to building and not bothering to hold his form together, so he was stretched out to about twice his normal length.
Twilight rubbed her eyes. “Something like that.” She quietly attended to her illusion, reconstructing it from scratch. Brick by brick, pony by pony, she began to build the rural town from the ground up.
Verba seemed to notice how quiet she was. “...So... Whassup? Something on your mind?”
“No,” Twilight said quickly.
Verba grinned slightly, but since his face of runes couldn’t properly form facial expressions, it looked like he was smiling with a sweater pressed up against his face. He floated over onto Twilight’s head. “Something on your mind now?”
“Verba, I just want to work,” Twilight said, brushing him off. His individual runes scattered, but reformed nearby.
“Hey, now. You don’t have to be rude,” Verba said, landing on the dirt road. “Did you have a falling out, or something?”
“Don’t you know? I mean, since you’re me and all,” Twilight said, though she didn’t make eye contact with Verba.
“Sorry, kiddo. No magic jewelry means Obsidian and I are deaf and blind to whatever’s happening on the outside,” Verba explained, “but seriously, Twilight, I don’t want you leaving here angry. Just tell me what’s bothering you. I’ll listen.”
You don’t have any choice but to listen, Twilight muttered to herself, but she said anyway: “Celestia was the Element of Loyalty, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah-huh,” Verba answered, “and Luna was Magic.”
“Why didn’t they tell me that?” Twilight wondered aloud. She turned to Verba, irritated. “And why didn’t you tell me that if you knew all along? Does everypony know more about them than me?!”
“Woah, woah. Calm down. Don’t yell,” Verba said, trotting over to Twilight’s side and solidifying. He sat her down and took a seat next to her. “Yeah, I knew, but it just never crossed my mind to tell you. I mean, it doesn’t make all that big a difference. Sure, she was the Element of Loyalty, but that doesn’t mean she has any of her powers anymore. And just because nopony told you doesn’t mean we’re intentionally hiding things from you, and it doesn’t mean that we don’t think you’re important. You are important. That little tidbit ‘bout Celestia? Not so much.”
Twilight exhaled. “Fine. I can understand that. But then, she wouldn’t even answer the simplest questions, like who somepony named ‘Skids’ was. Do you know who he is, Verba?” She looked at him hopefully.
“...Sorry, Twi. Your guess is as good as mine,” Verba said, glancing at the ground. He paused as a transparent pony walked through him. “The thing is, during the Dark Times, Vengeance had a barrier around the necklaces that prevented them from just teleporting to you like they normally would. Sort of like what happened when you fought Nightmare Moon, remember? But that couldn’t happen until after Vengeance vanished. We tried to contact Celestia and her friends during their dreams, but that didn’t work too well, either. I think I got Celestia... once. She was really sick, and she slept for sixteen hours, and I managed to snag a hold of her for, say, five minutes. I think Obsidian got her once, too. But we’ve never heard of anypony called Skids. Never thought to ask.”
“...Well, I guess I can’t expect you to know everything about her. But that’s not what bothers me about this whole thing,” Twilight began. “What bothers me is that she thinks this entire expedition could go on without us knowing her past!”
“Well, can’t it?” Verba asked.
“Uhm... I’m not sure, but I am sure it would go a lot smoother if we knew. I mean, who knows what we’ll encounter that Celestia will have already known about if she just told us what happened to her? Knowledge is power, Verba,” Twilight stated. “Guilt and Hate seem to know everything about her, and they’re going to use that to their advantage. She might be able to hide it from us, but she’s all but transparent to the Elements of Discord.”
“Well, fair enough,” Verba said.
“And it’s not just that, either. Celestia gets really, really
Verba paused. “...Twilight?” he finally asked. “What’s the worst mistake you ever made?”
“...Why?” Twilight asked warily.
“Look, just trust me. I think I know a way to make you understand. That’s what you want, right?” Verba asked. “Just trust me.”
Twilight nodded, and thought for a minute or two. Strange... Nothing really comes to mind. I mean, I know I’ve made mistakes. Not standing up for myself, not making friends, not wanting friends, putting my friends in bad situations, misusing magic... but none of these are all that horrible. Nothing that I’d never be able to forgive myself for. She thought for a while more, and then it hit her. It actually seemed to literally hit her, like it had whacked her in the gut, and she felt cold all over as she fully recovered a memory she had worked for years to bury.
“Well?” Verba asked.
Twilight swallowed. “Yeah... there’s something.”
“Okay, well, tell me,” Verba said nonchalantly. “I mean, this is what the exercise is for, right?”
She nodded, and took a breath. “When I was a foal, I had a sitter named ‘Cadance.’ She was my best friend, and, well, one of my only friends, at the time. There were others back then; I wasn’t a complete outcast like I was just before moving to Ponyville, but Cadance was my best friend. We played almost every day, and we went almost everywhere together. We even had a secret hoofshake. She foalsat me until I was about into the third grade of magic school, just when we were learning about pyrokinesis, or the magical manipulation of fire.”
“And... you burnt the school down,” Verba guessed.
Twilight shook her head. “No. Worse. I was having a really, really bad day when it happened. One of my only friends had just moved away, to Manehattan, I think. In school that day, I got an assignment back that I thought I did really well on, but it turns out that I got a C, which meant I was grounded. I was fuming, because I was supposed to play with Cadance all day after school, but I’d have to spend all of it in my room. And to top it all off, when I got out of school, it was pouring. I’d forgot the pegasus weather schedule and had lent my umbrella to my brother, Shining Armor, so I was sopping wet and cold.”
“Did you get sick?” Verba inquired.
“No,” Twilight said, her voice strained as she neared the final part of her story. “I was rushing home as fast as I could, and I wasn’t looking where I was going. I was so angry, because absolutely nothing that day had gone right. I could barely see straight, I was so furious, which didn’t help as I basically plowed through the storm. But then I bumped into somepony, and since I was still little, I fell into a nearby puddle.
“All I remember feeling was rage, and all I remember thinking was that everypony was out to get me. That entire day was so unfair. So when I crashed into somepony and was thrown backward, I reacted defensively... I summoned the fire magic I had just learned, turned my hoof into molten magma, and thrust it forward, right into the chest of the pony who was already tr-trying to apologize,” Twilight choked, trying to contain her tears. “I-It was Cadance. She knew the way I would try to walk home, a-and she brought an um-umbrella and everything.”
Verba didn’t cringe, or react negatively. He simply wrapped his arm around Twilight’s shoulders and hugged her close as she continued to tell the awful tale.
Twilight was openly crying now. “She didn’t move for a while. I-I thought she was dead, so I sc-screamed for help, and soon there were d-doctors there, and they took her away. But the fact that I burned her i-isn’t even the worst part.” She wiped her eyes. “Wh-When they as-asked me what had h-happened... I told them th-that my magic malfunctioned, even though I kn-knew I had done it. A-And they believed me... but mostly be-because C-Cadance vouched f-for me. She wouldn’t hurt me.”
Twilight was beginning to calm down, but Verba remained silent as she started to wrap up her story.
“After th-that... Well, I couldn’t talk to her, even when she tried to r-reach out to me. Her burns weren’t permanent, and they vanished after a few months, but when she told me, I don’t think I e-even looked at her. I was still too angry at myself, and I wouldn’t let her talk to me. I lost my other two or three friends, and I focused on school more than ever before. I never wanted to hurt anypony ever again with my magic, not like that. But... she never did foalsit me again,” Twilight finished. “I lost my best friend that day, and I haven’t seen her since.”
They sat in silence for a while as the citizens of Ponyville went on with their preset routines.
“How old are you, again, Twilight?” Verba asked.
“...Not very,” Twilight said after a little while.
“Now, how old is Celestia?” Verba asked.
“Five thousand years, according to her. But it couldn’t have been less than about a thousand according to the oldest history tomes I’ve read,” Twilight said.
“So you have that one, awful memory that you’ve been trying to forget for the majority of your life,” Verba began. “That means, statistically, that Celestia has at least one hundred nasty secrets like that. You can’t deny that you had a lot of trouble telling me what you did to Cadance. But just today, you were asking Celestia to tell you all kinds of painful secrets. It’s not all that reasonable, right?”
“She’s had a lot more times to come to terms with them than I have,” Twilight growled.
“But it’s pretty reasonable to assume you never would have confronted your secret had I not asked you to,” Verba said.
“Exactly my point! She needs to confront what’s bothering her so that she can focus on fighting Discord instead of her friends,” Twilight argued, standing up.
“No, exactly not your point,” Verba retorted, standing up as well. “Look, I understand where you’re coming from. I do. But you’re asking Celestia to spill her guts in front of everypony without giving her any time to prepare. Of course she’s going to react negatively. Jeez, Louise, Twilight; nopony could do that. Me and you included.”
“Fine. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to forgive her,” Twilight stated, turning her back to Verba. “She promised me she wouldn’t keep secrets. It’s going to take a lot for me to let that go.”
“Of course it will. You’re a mare,” Verba muttered.
“What was that?” Twilight asked, snapping back around.
“Alright, alright, I get ya. But don’t be too hard on her, Twilight. The only way you’ll ever be able to work well with her is if you warm up to her. The icy dynamic you have right now won’t serve you too well against Guilt and Hate. Just keep an open mind, is all. Friends forgive each other for mistakes, especially the big ones,” Verba said. “Got it memorized?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Twilight grumbled, though she still wasn’t convinced.
After a few more minutes of work on her Ponyville, Twilight’s dream ended as swiftly as it began.
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*******
After they had buried Trixie and paid their respects for the second time thus far, they prepared for the journey ahead. Applejack slung her saddlebags onto her back, as did the others. They were noticeably lighter than they had been at the beginning of the journey.
We have a couple more days’ supplies, Twilight thought, quickly taking inventory. Still... I can’t charge up a teleport to go and restock if I don’t know how far we are from Fillydelphia or Ponyville. Then again, I do have some spells to conjure food out of the surroundings, but that’d sap all my energy. If we were to get into a fight...
“We’d best git goin’,” Applejack said, leading the path up the mountain.
“Look how low the clouds are,” Scootaloo gaped. Centime was walking next to her, and he touched a tiny wisp of water vapor.
“It’s not that; it’s how astronomically high we are,” Rarity moaned. “I think I’m getting a little altitude sickness.”
Dash scoffed, her breath making mist in the air. “Rarity, c’mon. We haven’t even breached the cloud layer yet, and there’s no telling how far we have to go after that.”
“Ohh...” Rarity moaned, her stomach lurching with every step. “How did I get dragged into this?”
Celestia was near the back of the group with Fluttershy, with the ill-tempered Twilight at the head of the party with Applejack.
“Are you feeling alright, Celestia?” Fluttershy asked.
Celestia was pale. Her steps fell out of sync a few times on their journey. “It’s just the thin air,” she breathed, her voice barely audible. “I-I’ll be fine once I get used to it.”
Fluttershy glanced at Twilight. I can’t believe she was so mean to Celestia. Aren’t we all supposed to be friends?
“Uh, Twi? Don’cha think ya might wanna apologize ta Celestia?” Applejack suggested.
“Not now, Applejack. I’m not in the mood,” Twilight growled, pushing ahead of the orange earth pony.
“Now you just see here!” Applejack exclaimed, running back up next to Twilight. “Yer actin’ like a foal when ya oughta say yer sorry like a real friend. This isn’t like ya, Twi. Yer lettin’ everythin’ go ta yer head, an’ yer gettin’ overwhelmed.”
“I would be in a better mood if somepony actually told me what is going on,” Twilight retorted. She refused to meet Applejack’s eye. “I’ll say I’m sorry later. I’m still too upset to be sincere. I try; I’m just not even sure if she deserves my apology yet.”
Applejack sighed, her ears folding back against her head. And I thought I was the stubborn one... still, I guess I can see where she’s coming from. I just wish they both could let it go, because this is really going to drag us down. I don’t think Twilight’s been like herself lately, either. I wish I knew what I could do to help.
“Okay, are we there yet?” Olly asked, exhausted. He swatted the fog that was invading his eyes. “Arrgh!”
“We’re almost through the cloud layer,” Dash breathed.
“Are we going into outer space?” Pinkie asked. “That would be so amazing! I’ll finally be able to prove to Twilight that the moon is made of cheese!”
“The moon isn’t made of cheese, Pinkie,” Twilight yelled from the front of the line.
“How would you know? You’ve never been there,” Pinkie argued.
“I don’t need to go there,” Twilight grumbled irritably.
Pinkie hmph’d. “I rest my case.”
“And we’re not going into outer space, either,” Twilight added. “There’s no mountain in Equestria that pierces the atmosphere.”
Pinkie was dejected for a moment, but she kept up her positive attitude. “Oh, Twilight. Why do you always trust books right away instead of finding out for yourself?”
“...Good question,” Twilight mumbled to herself.
Centime prodded Scootaloo. “Why is Twilight being so mean? She just wants answers, right?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “I want answers, too, Centime... Celestia must be hiding something. It’s just that... well, she looks pretty upset about it. I think we should ask her when she’s not so stressed out.”
“But we need to stick together,” Olly added. “If we don’t, well, it’s a fair bet that Guilt and Hate will tear us apart. Metaphorically and literally,” he added, glancing at Twilight. “It’s not like we can just drop Celestia off at the nearest train station and say ‘Seeya!’ We’re stuck with her, so we might as well make the best of it.”
“Gee, thanks,” Celestia grumbled.
“I mean, stuck with you in the best possible way,” Olly grinned nervously. He paused for a moment. “Hey, Celestia? You know that spell that Twilight cast on Centime to... um, help him sleep better?” Olly asked, glancing at the foal who was only a few meters behind him. I’m not sure he would like it if he knew we were snooping around in his memories.
“What spell?” Centime asked.
“Yes?” Celestia asked. She walked up next to Olly, and he lowered his voice so that nopony could overhear them.
“Well, if you’re so worried about Deception, why not cast that spell on all of us? That way we can root out the traitor, right?” Olly whispered.
Celestia shook her head. “Well... I considered that, too, but it won’t work all that well, for two reasons in particular. One is that Twilight exhausted herself after using that spell just once. She needs that strength for the journey ahead. The other is that, if a mind is exceptionally strong and ancient, like Deception’s, Twilight could see whatever Deception wanted her to see. I know now that Deception isn’t Centime because his mind is too young to hold the two sets of memories Deception would need to use in order to fool us. Besides,” she added with a small smile, “do you really want Twilight seeing your innermost secrets?”
Olly swallowed, and nervously adjusted his goggles. “Heh. Guess not. Still, once this is all over... I’d like to find out about who I was. Y’know... before I met all of you.”
Celestia nodded, and continued her journey silently.
“...Hey, you seeing what I’m seeing?” Dash asked, squinting through the dispersing fog to a higher spot on the mountain.
Dash shed her saddlebags and tried to take to the air, but she quickly had to land due to exhaustion. The thin air not only made it harder to support her weight, but the previous encounters and constant journeying left her completely spent.
“It looks like an entrance,” Twilight observed. “Let’s go, everypony!” She rushed up the steepening mountainside.
From far away, invisible to the Elements and their friends, a lone, maroon-colored unicorn stallion with a chocolate-colored mane watched the group intently. He twitched a bit as a near-undetectable shockwave of energy bounced off of Twilight to his sensitive ears.
We were right, he thought. She is here.
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[Note]: I do not own anything in this story that already belongs to someone else.
This story takes place BEFORE season two, but AFTER season one.
Please let me know if a link doesn’t work.