//------------------------------//
// A Breakfast Tale 
// Story: True Love Never Dies (Cancelled) 
// by ocalhoun 
//------------------------------//

Twilight settled in on a black velvet cushion across a low table from Luna. The room had been meticulously cleaned, that was obvious, but the grey dust filtering out of the cushion below her revealed that the night Princess's room hadn't been immune Canterlot Mountain's wrath.
“How are you fairing, Twilight?”
“I'll be fine.”
Luna's blue eyes bored into her, too deeply for comfort.
“I can handle it, okay? Just tell me the story.”
“Twilight Sparkle, I know how it feels to be stricken with great loss. Ignoring it and searching for distractions will not–”
“I'm fine.”
Luna sighed and looked away, toward a window that faced the mountain. “Very well.” She winced as she curled down deeper into her own cushion, making Twilight wonder what hardships she had been through last night. Finally, Luna looked up at Twilight, before letting her eyes wander down to the delicate designs inlaid on the crystal table in front of her. “In the early ages of the world, days our history books have forgotten, the world was not such a friendly place. Weather moved at its own will, creating storms, floods, and droughts. Plants and animals cared for themselves only – they feared ponies, and sometimes even attacked them. Even the sun, moon, and stars moved of their own accord, beyond the control of pony kind. Ponies struggled against this harsh world, and against each other, but they dreamed of a more prosperous future.
“The ponies of old greatly desired to take control of nature, to harness it to their will. They saw this as the ultimate achievement of magic, and from what I understand, they built up somewhat of a religion around it.”
Twilight tilted her head to the side. “But we've always been in control of the weather patterns, and the sun and moon can't move on their own. That's why we need you.”
“It was not always so.” Luna looked up at Twilight again. “Eventually, these ancient ponies developed a magic ritual to achieve their goal of taming the chaotic world around them. It was massive. Thousands of ponies – of all races – took part. That ritual created the six alicorns, powerful and immortal, to rule over the forces of nature.” Luna began pointing to six different symbols of the table's inlay, each in turn. “The six are divided into three pairs – sun and moon, earth and sky, friendship and love. Such are the forces of nature the ponies hoped to harness.”
“Wait...” Twilight furrowed her brows. “Friendship is a force of nature?”
“Friendship and Love are both powerful forms of magic. You should know, being the alicorn of friendship yourself.”
“Okay. So, the sun and moon, I know... I'm friendship. So, Cadance must be love?”
Luna smiled. “Correct. I can see why my sister was fond of calling you her faithful student.”
“But where are the other two?”
“We will come to that later. For now, allow me to finish my tale.”
Twilight nodded.
“The ponies celebrated their victory over the chaos of nature... but that chaos could not be removed from the world so easily.” Luna looked down and shuddered. “Chaos took a new form that day. It was an unintended side-effect of the ritual that Discord came to be.
“The evil spirit Discord ruled over the land, and both the alicorns and the ponies who created him were powerless to stop him. For centuries, he made life miserable for everypony and everything... but the alicorns did not give up without a fight. A plan was devised for the imprisonment of Discord, one that would require great sacrifice.” Luna winced. “We created the elements of harmony using the same ritualized magic that had created us. Each element required the deaths of all six alicorns.”
Twilight's jaw dropped. “So...”
“Yes. We sacrificed ourselves again and again, each time reincarnating into new bodies, growing up and finally discovering our potential... then making the same sacrifice again.”
Almost involuntarily, Twilight's hoof made its way up to her crown. She touched the cold metal of the element of magic, in awe of what it had taken to create.
“Finally, we created the six elements of harmony, one for each alicorn. We challenged Discord, and he was unprepared for the magic we had accumulated. The elements encased him in stone, for what we thought would be forever, and thus ended the seven hundred year reign of Discord.”
“Wow...” Twilight sat back on her cushion. “That's amazing. Why isn't it ever in the history books?”
“Discord's fall was very nearly two thousand years ago, Twilight Sparkle. Few are the books that recall things so old.”
“So, what happened then? Why aren't–”
A knock at the door silenced her.
“Please, come in.” Luna's horn glowed, and the doors to the room opened, enveloped in a similar glow.
A young earth pony stallion pushed a cart with a few steaming plates inside. He barely made it in before he froze, blinking wide-eyed at the relative darkness of the room and trembling.
“What has become of Silver Platter?” Luna asked. “It is usually he who delivers my meals.”
The young stallion began trembling even more. “He-he's unaccounted for, your highness. One of the missing. I'm, um, Dinner Bell.”
“I hope he can be found.” Luna waved the servant over to the table. “I would be grieved to lose him.” She glanced at the cart. “So, what have you brought for us, Dinner Bell?”
“I, uh, well, the kitchens have been in some disarray ever since the eruption... and... we couldn't exactly–”
“I understand completely.” Luna used her magic to levitate the two plates over to the table. “And we appreciate the effort you have made to serve us through these trying circumstances. I am certain that whatever you have brought will suffice.”
“Oh, um, thank you,” the colt stammered. He began wheeling the cart away. “Oh! Wait, I mean, thank you, your highness.”
“Thank you Dinner Bell.” Luna graced him with the warmest smile Twilight had ever seen from the night princess. “You are dismissed, and please relay my gratitude to the chef.”
Twilight giggled after the door slammed closed. “You sure do have a way of intimidating ponies.”
Luna slumped in her cushion. “It is most difficult, returning after all these years.”
“You're doing great, really. A ton better than back on Nightmare Night.”
“Not that again.” Luna covered her face with a hoof. “The world was a very different place a thousand years ago.”	
“Where were the other alicorns back then? Why doesn't the legend mention them?”
Luna sat in silence for a moment, not moving a muscle. She stared down at the table.
“Um, Luna?”
Luna shot her head up, as if startled. She blinked several times. “Oh, yes. My apologies.” She used her magic to levitate a fork from the plate closest to her. “What have we been given? Eggs, grass pancakes, hm... no juice, but still, they have done very well under the circumstances.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You remember what you said about trying to distract yourself?”
Luna looked up from her breakfast and glared at her. “That is not the same thing.”
Twilight just kept the eyebrow up and stared back.
“Fine.” Luna sighed. “It was a thousand years ago, and that thing, Nightmare Moon festered in my mind, as it had for decades. After centuries of peace, the other alicorns had grown complacent, and a powerful unicorn king rose up in the North.”
“King Sombra.”
“The very same.” Luna shook her head. “When news of Sombra's evil finally reached us, the six alicorns flew off to confront him. They never suspected the traitor in their midst.”
Twilight scooped up a bite of eggs with her fork, barely paying any attention to them.
“The six alicorns did battle with the evil king, and victory seemed assured... but Nightmare Moon allowed the king's attacks to penetrate their defenses. She made it look like an accident.” Luna winced. “She made it seem like Sombra's attacks alone were responsible for the deaths of four alicorns. One of the others managed to survive the attack... Celestia. Together, Celestia and Nightmare Moon banished the unicorn king into the arctic ice, and his kingdom along with him.”
“Ugh. For a thousand years, I have repeated this day in my memory.” Luna collapsed, laying her head on the table.
“I get it, you don't have to–”
“I do. I need to do this, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna rose back up. She took a bite of her pancakes, but she didn't seem to even notice it. “Nightmare Moon thought Celestia had been fooled. She was wrong. Celestia knew exactly what happened, and she confronted the demon. A great battle ensued, and the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters was laid to ruin. Celestia threatened that the other four alicorns would revive and reawaken to overthrow Nightmare... Nightmare countered that she would kill them before they matured, over and over, as long as necessary.” She took another bite, automatically. “It was then that Celestia took upon herself all six elements of harmony and banished Nightmare Moon.”
“Oh... wow, I'd never known that she–”
“A thousand years.” Luna took another bite. “Do you know what that does to a pony? A thousand years of bitter, lonely thoughts... of plotting revenge and destruction?”
“Luna?”
“The moon is an empty, desolate place. The day burns, and the night freezes, and everything is stone and dust. It is a place for empty, desolate thoughts. They circle you, never–”
“Luna!”
The alicorn across the table pulled her head back. She blinked several times before her eyes focused. “Oh, yes... We – ah, I – apologize. These are my demons to face, and I should not trouble you with them.”
Twilight decided that this time, a little distraction would be a good thing. “So, where are the missing two alicorns now? And who are they?”
A smile returned to the other princess's face – a knowing smile. “You have already met one of them, actually.”
Twilight's eyes widened and her ears perked up.
“Rainbow Dash has been identified as the alicorn of the sky.”
“Rainbow? Really? This is amazing!” Twilight clapped her hooves together. “Does she know?”
“No, no. She has yet to reach her full potential, and neither me nor my sister had the heart to interfere with her dream of being in the Wonderbolts.” Luna paused to take several more bites of her breakfast. “However, with the recent loss of Celestia, she may be needed sooner. She could possibly be awakened if–”
“Don't you dare!”
Luna dropped her fork and stared wide-eyed at Twilight.
“One dream was already crushed today when I lost Celestia just after I first admitted my love for her. I'm not going to let you end Rainbow Dash's dream just as it's starting, too!”
Leaning back away from the suddenly vehement alicorn of friendship, Luna nodded. “Very well. We will make do with just three alicorns.”
Twilight backed down, feeling a bit sheepish after her outburst. “So, um... That just leaves the alicorn of earth. Who is that?”
Luna shook her head slowly. “The alicorn of earth has yet to be identified.”
Twilight's face brightened. “Have you checked my other friends? I bet it's Appleja–”
“It isn't.”
“Oh.” Twilight slumped back down onto her cushion. 
“Believe me, all of your friends were checked – discreetly – as soon as possible after they were known to represent the elements of harmony. You, of course, were already known. Celestia tested you the day she met you. It wasn't until after my return that Rainbow Dash was discovered, however.”
“Hm... then who is it?”
“The world is large, and there are many ponies in it. The alicorn of earth is almost always born an earth pony, but that narrows our search by only a third.” Luna stared deeply at her again. “Now that we have you, though, we will be able to locate the missing alicorns. Only the alicorn of magic can perform the locating spell.”
“But I'm just the alicorn of friendship.”
“Friendship is magic.”
Twilight chuckled to herself. “Of course... So, would this spell be able to find any alicorn, no matter how young?”
“Yes.” Luna's stare was all too knowing. “It can only be used at the moment of sunset, and each time, it will show you the closest unknown alicorn. It will find the new Celestia.”
Twilight's grin grew wider.
“But you must not contact this foal. She must be allowed to have a normal childhood, or she may never reach her full potential, and she may never develop into a full alicorn.”
Her grin faded. “Oh. Okay.” After eating a few more bites of her breakfast, she put a hoof to her chin. “But that incident with King Sombra was a thousand years ago. Why are some of the alicorns still missing now?”
“Ah, yes. I was not here for this, being still on the moon, but my sister told me the tale. It was the dragon wars. They took the alicorn of love first. Her name was Rose Lace in those days. It was a vicious sneak attack. Over the next few years, the war raged on. Celestia was able to keep it confined mostly to the wastelands at least, but this came at a price. Seven years after the attack that killed Rose Lace, a battle took place at the border of the wastelands. The ponies had no more room to give without letting the dragons into Equestria, and the dragons mounted a full assault. Three more alicorns died on that awful day.”
“Oh... I'd read about the dragon wars... I never realized we were that close to losing.”
“It was a very near thing, I am told, but in the end, the dragons were beaten back, at a terrible cost.”
“So, that's why Cadance is seven years older than me?”
“Indeed. And that narrows down our search for the alicorn of earth further. The new alicorn will be the same age as you – twenty-two. Unfortunately, that still leaves a very wide field.”
The itch to find Celestia again burned inside Twilight. She hated herself for waiting so long to act on her feelings. If she had just acted sooner, they could have had more time. “So, let's go start on that detection spell!”
Luna chuckled. “Patience, young one. The spell cannot be performed until sunset, and we are both weary from our efforts yesterday. We should rest.”
Twilight just stared up at the bigger alicorn with quivering eyes.
Luna's eyebrow rose. “And no, we are not going to lower the sun early just to be able to perform this spell sooner. The schedule is off enough as it is.”
“Fine.” Twilight sighed and absorbed herself in finishing her breakfast.
“Do not worry. The detection spell is easy to learn, and within three nights, we shall find the new Celestia.”
Twilight nodded. She knew it was reasonable, but still, the prospect of finding her mentor again tantalized her. To be so close, but still have to wait, was a torture.