“The beginning and ending share the same moment.”
—Keel
«♦»
I sighed, putting the pages back in the drawer and stepping away from it. Luna was right, dwelling on it wouldn’t help. I turned and flapped my wings, lifting me up into the air for a moment, before settling on my bed, and laying my head to sleep.
"Celestia?"
I blinked. "Mother?" I turned over, screaming as a wall of crimson slapped me across the surface of the moon. I shifted my strange weight around frantically and landed semi-gracefully, confusion being pushed to the side by urgency. I threw my gaze forward and saw Mother, looking down at me. I opened my mouth to talk-
All the oxygen in my lungs escaped, flooding the space around me as my vision thumped red around my eyes.
"Princess?"
I opened my eyes and gasped. I shook slightly, glancing left, hallway. Right, more hallway. Then down at my young pupil. I exhaled and took another breath, blinking the red around my eyes away. "...Twilight?"
"Are you okay Princess Celestia?" She asked, tilting her tiny head in worry.
I gulped and shifted slightly lest I fell. "I..." I croaked and cleared my throat. "Yes. Yes, thank you, Twilight, I'm fine." I furrowed my brow in thought.
“The beginning and ending share the same moment.”
"That's nice, Tw-" I paused, actually looking at her. "What did you say?"
“The beginning and ending share the same moment.” I heard from behind me.
I turned, the halls changing to a crater. I gaped, looking around in confusion. "Twilight?!" I called, holding a hoof to guard my eyes from the dust in the air.
I turned again and saw her, once again an alicorn adult, though much older. “The beginning and ending share the same moment.”
I coughed, closing my mouth to wet my lips, "Twilight, what does that mean? Where are we?"
“The beginning and ending share the same moment.”
I shook my head. "I don't understand!"
“The beginning and ending share the same moment.” I blinked, the oxygen leaving my lungs again, painlessly. Mother. I flexed my jaw, trying to form words as oxygen deprivation punched me almost everywhere. "I'm so sorry, Celestia." I furrowed my brow, mouthing a question to her. What did she mean?
She shifted, rotting away and turning to dust. “The beginning and ending share the same moment.” I turned, hearing a voice through the silence of space. I found myself staring right back.
«♦»
I yelped, tumbling out of bed. My horn seared, like somepony had sat it on fire. "Twilight!" I cringed, Spike's voice sounding louder than it likely really was.
I whined quietly, holding my head. "What...?" I whispered as the door slammed open.
Spike slid into the room, the crystal floors not really allowing for much friction. "Twilight!" He yelled, causing another wince from me. "Quick, something's wrong with Canterlot!"
I furrowed my brow, "I... Wha..?" I blinked, trying to discern what was giving me a killer headache.
"C'mon!" He ran over and helped me to my hooves. "You gotta see this!"
I nodded. "Yeah... Oof.."
He frowned, "You okay?"
I nodded and trotted over. "Mhm, I’m fine… I think. Lets go see what you're talking about, okay?" He nodded and led me and my aching horn through the Castle of Friendship. I tumbled a few times, tripping on corners and even my own hooves. My ache sending a strange haze across everything I saw. I felt numb, suffocated; like I was drowning in the air itself. Everything seemed to prick at me, like a thousand needles were stabbing into me. "Spike... I think something's really wrong."
He grimaced, looking back at me. "Yeah, me too..."
I shook my head, the ache lagging behind as it seemed to follow my horn. "No I mean I think I have to go to the hospital. I think something's really wrong with my horn." Did I crack it when I fell off the bed or something?
We exited out onto the front step, "Tw-Twilight, I think that might have to wait..."
I winced at the light, it was morning already? I felt like my head had just hit the bed a moment ago. Feeling deaf and blind, I blinked once, then twice; clarity returned in waves from each blink. The wind was howling, like a feral dog caught in a trap; and the prickly sensation seemed to have doubled. Looking down, it seemed even Spike felt it now as he lightly rubbed his arms with her claws. I gulped, my head throbbing harder with each moment I was standing in the obviously magical winds, before looking towards Canterlot.
The mountain was being torn apart, a tornado of pure white magic sending tendrils of destruction through the earth. And at the center was Canterlot. "Twilight!" I looked over slowly; my head gone numb from the pain. I saw my friends, Applejack had called my attention to them as they ran up. I noticed Rarity's face, she felt the pain too. "What's happenin', Twi? First Canterlot started explodin', then Rare's horn started hurtin' like somepony done came and tore it clean off her noggin!"
I nodded numbly, looking back at my home, my old home anyway. What happened? Did they evacuate the city before it happened? Were... Mom and dad okay? "I... I don't know, Applejack." I tried to use magic, and the throbbing headache returned. Magic withdrawal, that's what this is. Is this what Earth Ponies and Pegasi felt like every day? Numb and dull? "...We need to get to the Tree of Harmony." They stared at me. "Applejack, Rarity, go get your sisters and families. Rainbow, go tell everypony you can find to gather in the center of town, we can lead them to safety after that."
"...We're not going to help stop this?" Spike asked. I turned slightly and looked at him, behind me I heard mumbles of agreement from my friends.
I bit my lip before bending down. "Of course we're gonna stop this, Spike. I have a plan that involves everypony in town. Just trust me, okay?"
He stared before nodding. "I'll... I'll help Rainbow Dash and tell ponies to go to the center of town."
I smiled and pat his head. "There's my good baby dragon. Hurry ahead, I gotta tell everypony else what to do."
He nodded and ran off. "...Twilight, you don't have a plan, do you?" I peeked back at them. "You're just suggesting we run down the valley and hide, right?" Rainbow said. I looked down. "Twilight, we can't just run away. What about the rest of Equestria? What about the Griffon Kingdoms if whatever is causing that," She trotted over and pushed my head towards the mountain. "spreads?"
"I don't have any magic." I said.
She blinked. "So?"
"Are you just going to fly up and kick it like a cloud?" I shook my head, pointing at it. "Are you suggesting we go try to be friends with it? It's not a pony we can reason with. It's not a villain we can defeat. That is a spell of some pony or some thing’s design that is already activated and I don’t think I can do anything to stop it." I put a hoof on her shoulder, "The only chance we have is the Tree of Harmony. The keys and the box. And if that doesn't work... Maybe the magic protecting the tree will protect everypony we can take there."
She frowned. Buck it, they were all frowning. But what else should I have expected? "...Fine." She huffed, her wings erecting straight from her side before throwing her into the air with a single beat.
I watched her fly for only a moment, before looking back at the other. "Please. Hurry." I nodded to Rarity and Applejack, who nodded in return and bolted. "Fluttershy, can you fly around and try to usher your woodland friends to safety?" She nodded.
I smiled and looked at Pinkie. "Pinkie can you-" I look at Pinkie. ...I looked at her again, then I realized she wasn't there. I sighed. "Right..."
«♦»
"I built a sand world, Mother!" I smiled and cheered to her. She reached down and pet my head, running her fingers through my mane. "Do you like it?" I stared down at it with pride. Everything was just like I wanted it.
"I love it, Celestia. It's beautiful and perfect, almost exactly what I wanted." She said with a small smile that I returned in droves. "But I'm afraid you have to destroy it." I blinked, my mouth opening and closing. "...What?" I looked from her to it, "Why?!"
She bent down and held me in her arms, my hooves dangling over them as she lifted me high into the sky to her chest. “'The beginning and ending share the same moment.' Do you remember that, Celestia?" She rocked me gently back and forth. "It's time for us to go home now and stop playing. So we have to get rid of the beautiful thing you made properly. Then the next time someone shows up to play, they won't destroy it the wrong way, and make it something you would hate."
I frowned, glancing the long way down to the mound of carefully constructed sand. "But... Maybe we can stay just a little longer?"
She laughed quietly. "I'm afraid not, Celestia. It's time to go."
«♦»
"It's time to go." I said as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash landed next to me. "Everypony! Please follow us, we'll make sure you get to safety until this whole thing blows over, okay?!" I yelled, trying to make sure they could hear me over the ever loud, growing winds.
Everypony nodded, then the winds stopped in an instant. I turned and stared at the small black orb floating where the Canterlot mountain used to be. It twitched and bulged, like something was stretching from the inside of it. "Princess Twilight?" Somepony mumbled worriedly behind me.
I felt watched as it bubbled and expanded, stretching and distorting white as limbs grew out of it. "Princess Twilight?!" A mare cried as I stared in mild awe and complete horror. Eyes stared at me from the morphing play dough-like unicorn that grew bigger and bigger in the sky. Her limbs phased through the earth and distant towns and cities. A strange moaning filled the air as she expanded further.
"Twi'!" Applejack grabbed onto my shoulders and shook me frantically as I watched her tower further over the planet, wings sprouting from her back and arcing around the horizon. "What should we do?!"
"S-Sis?! What's happening?!" Applebloom yelled at her sister behind me. "I'm scared!" Applejack's hooves left my shoulders and I watched as the mare in the sky looked down at me. Directly at me. I felt tiny and insignificant, like the ants young unicorn colts scorch with magic.
But at the same time I felt at ease, and comforted. I knew the mare above me and trusted her without rhyme or reason. A name came to me, nay, a title. "Mother." I said.
Rarity trotted up next to me. "Dear I... I don't think we're gonna make it to the tree." She said. I heard sniffling which I presumed was Sweetie Belle.
Rainbow trotted up, "Rainbow Dash!" I heard and I looked, Scootaloo ran up and looked between Rainbow and the sky. "I... What..."
Rainbow shook her head and wrapped a wing around the filly. "It'll be okay, Squirt." No tone to her assurances. No honesty. And in the distance I saw Pinkie, her mane as straight as the streaks of tears curling down her cheeks as she held onto the cakes and their twins.
I looked back up and wondered. Will whoever's next have to experience this again? Or is this the last time life will ever exist on this planet again? "Everypony..." I whispered, but they heard. I just know they heard. I looked back at the town, a tear curving down my cheek as well. "I'm sorry. I failed you, all of you, and I'm so, so, sor-"
«♦»
I cried over the mound of mushed sand, my tears dripping down and turning it to mud as I weakly put parts back together before mushing it under my hooves again. I don't know why, but I felt so guilty. I felt so horrible and mean, like some kind of monster. A hand rested on my back, "It's okay, Celestia. It had to be done." The hand slid up and scratched my scalp under my mane. "You're a good little filly and Mother loves you very much."
I sniffed and nodded, looking at my hooves like they were coated in blood. "I-I-I don't know why b-but... I feel so sad, Mother..." I bit down a sob. "I-I-I..."
"Shhh..." She shushed me as she picked me up away from the sandbox. "It's okay, don't worry... Mother's got you."
As she rest my chin on her shoulder, I sniffed and sobbed while burying my muzzle into her. "I'm s-s-sorry!" I cried, "I'm sorry! Please forgive me, I had to do it!"
Mother shushed me again, "How about we go home now, okay? Everything will be okay then."
«♦»
“You’re just another story I can’t tell anymore.”
―Anonymous