The Truth

by Blue Turtle

Greif

The Truth: Chapter 9

It was so... so strange. The sensation Twilight felt. It was this electrifying feeling. Like when she opened up magic circles, within a brief second, she felt the same sensation. This underlying power she could never grasp. The underlying power no being could ever grasp, one that only a magic circle could harness. Even with magic circles this power was not truly controlled, more like politely asked to be used. This was one of the reasons it was banned; It's unruly nature could be dangerous. Twilight had felt it first hoof, when the tendril sliced open her hoof like nothing. It cut through her like butter. That was why magic circles were banned. What if had hit a vital area, like her throat? Or if it's sliced open her jugular? This could happen to anypony. Though all unicorns knew the dangers of magic circles. But this sensation she felt, was that. But it didn't go away immediately. It stayed as if were supposed to be there at all times. But her eyes were still trying to recover form the blinding light. There was one orange light that came from where Celestia was, and another dark blue light coming from where Luna was. The two colors mixed together and made a vibrant purple. It was beautifully blinding. The colors of dusk and dawn mixing together in a brilliant display of power. But Twilight could feel her heart thudding inside her chest. The power was overwhelming. Almost like when a magic circle had been completed. When a magic circle closes, the magic bonds keeping it open break after it's power supply is cut off. Once this happens all the magic used pushes back into the faltering rift all at once. WIth all the magic a magic circle gathers it's amazing the fabric of space doesn't just tear apart. It felt like that, all around her. It was terrifying. Cold chills ran miles up and down her spine. Every bone in her body was telling her to run but she couldn't bring herself to. She could start to see two figures within the blinding light. The shape of two alicorns. Her heart lurched. She was going to see them. What would they look like? She doubted either of them would look anything like she knew them as. But something stuck in her mind. Galaxia and Nebulis said that all alicorns had a true form. Did that mean she and Cadence had one. But that would mean for every time they'd died they'd come closer and closer to becoming however they'd felt. And so far that'd been about four times. How many more times did they have left?

"You must all understand something." Galaxia said calmly.

"That we... we do love our children. More than i'd think anyone would ever now. I know they will resent us for leaving them. They will resent us for many things. But, we do this out of love. They must know the price for their actions. No one can truly be free from that. Not even we, supposed beings mightier than all." Nebulis said, his voice cracked like he was about to cry.

"And because that... we can never return to this country. It is not our own now. It is our children's. They've learned so much. Maybe too much for how young they were." Galaxia sighed.

"Queen Galaxia and King Nebulis. What are you even saying?" Cadence said, shielding her eyes.

"We will pass on. We are returning back to the stardust in which we came from. It is only just for two being born onto this world because they were simply needed. Just as our children where. They were born into this world because they were needed. Subconsciously we knew this. We knew all along one day there'd be one finale test for our daughters. One test to show they were worthy to control our domain. That of the universe. Just as your domain is of love and friendship. One say subconsciously you two will pass on your knowledge to another generation. That is simply how life is and will forever be for we alicorns. We alicorns that cannot do everything on our on. Please, take care of yourselves." Galaxia said with a war smile.

Twilight immediately knew why... why Luna and Celestia loved their parents so much. But why they were so confused when they were immediately persecuted. Because Galaxia and Nebulis didn't have much time left. They'd spent too much time in Tartarus. Too much time wasted on themselves, so they were cut loose of their immortality born of the stars. The main reason alicorns existed was to serve the living beings of that world, which meant when and if they focussed on themselves, they slowly lost their rights of immortality.

The King and Queen were dying.

"Why don't you just do your jobs then!" Twilight suggested worriedly, rather than coldly as her words sounded. The two alicorns chuckled darkly. There was this underlying pain in their voices.

"We've completed them. We have sacrificed ourselves one last time. The Oracle told us.

You will die a death of love,
One you will see coming
But do not act for you know it is your last
Your children shall be in agony, brought on by your selfish deeds.
But will love you just the same afterwards.

we were pretty confused at that point. After all we weren't that old at that point. Our mental age wasn't at least. Crashing into a planet will do that to you." Nebulis said , a small light tone in his voice. Like when he was a colt and didn't have a care in the world other than being happy.

"We'll say goodbye. I promise you that." Galaxia said cooly. The hint of a mother's voice showing.

How could they be so calm? They were going to die and leave their children all alone once more and they didn't seem to care. No, that wasn't the right word. They didn't seem to mind. They knew it could happen, and they wanted to make the most of their last day. She could see in their eyes they wanted to ask their children every question, to comfort every pain. To make up for the however many years they were gone. But they couldn't. She could see how much they'd wanted to but they couldn't. She wasn't angry at them anymore. She wasn't angry at anyone. She wasn't angry at herself either. She was just lost in a sea of emotions she couldn't describe as the crushing power of two alicorns showing their true forms seemed to multiply these emotion ten fold. It was this.. this feeling of being crushed. Like the feeling you've done something wrong. Or you've lied to someone you've loved. This guilt, deep down within you that makes it hard to think because it forces it's way into your mind. This feeling in your heart that you've done a terrible thing. But the feeling of anxiety still lurked within Twilight. It was so odd how the two emotions blended together. Cadence shielded herself from the blinding light, she could see the ponies above her were squeezing their eyes shut tightly from not being able to shield their eyes. A blue spell shot from her horn and sliced through the vines, letting the five ponies fall. It was a rough landing but no pony got hurt. Maybe a sprained ankle or something like that but nothing life threatening. The light began to wane, the purple light thinning.

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Celestia could not speak. Her words... they wouldn't come out. She felt like she was on fire. Every muscle in her body was in excruciating pain. Every fiber of her body hurt. She had an ear splitting headache which made it impossible to think clearly. She could feel this deep warmth coming from her chest but couldn't really place what it was. She knew she was crying but she didn't feel anything rolling down her cheeks. Only small clouds of steam. SHe tried over and over again to speak, then she just tried to scream. She wanted somepony, anypony to hear her. Someone to answer her at the very least. It was at that point she just fell over. This crushing hopelessness threw her onto the ground.

"This can't be happening. Luna i'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened. Please... forgive me. I shouldn't have ever made us go near that rift. I shouldn't have banished you. I shouldn't have forced us to banish Sombra or MIra. I shouldn't have let Twilight hit me like that or even get her hooves on the information in the first place. I'm... i'm such a fool. A hopeless fool that can't do anything right without somepony getting hurt." Celestia said softly. To everypony else's ears though, they heard the screech. The terrible screech that made it feel like their ears would bleed. She heard Luna mumble something, then Luna said something else no pony else could hear.

"It's okay sister. You're not a failure. You've got everyone best interests at heart. You try so hard to protect everypony." Luna said, Celestia could see the cracks in her skin growing.

"I'll stick by your side to the bitter end." Her younger sister said, A icy tear rolled down her face. The worst sound you could hear coming from someone. Not a scream or fear or pain. It's the voice crack of someone trying not to cry.

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The purple light was gone, more and more of the two alicorn's silhouette's appearing in their respective lights. Twilight could feel the strange emotion growing inside her heart as it beat rabidly. Her blood turned icy cold. Though she could feel cold beads of sweat form on her brow. Her brain was screaming at her to run away but where exactly? There wasn't anywhere to go. Sure she could run to another part of the castle but that wouldn't be perfect sanctuary. The cogs in her head still turned though. Why would alicorns go to such great lengths to keep their meat form? Because it seemed a lot for trouble than what it was worth. But then again, it was like if FlutterShy wore a monster mask when trying to take care of the animals. They'd be too terrified of her for her to even get close. The alicorns were essentially alive because they kept the world in balance. If they couldn't do that, they die. That was why Celestia had to banish Luna, because if the world fell out of balance then everything would die along with the alicorns. The alicorns could not survive without some kind of job or purpose. That was why Galaxia and Nebulis were slowly dying, because they were gone so long that no pony remembers them and they've also basically quit their job. The only reason why they didn't die in Tartarus is because Tartarus is where beings go like the alicorns when they become corrupt. Galaxia and Nebulis failed and the universe simply saw their journey into Tartarus a way of them dying. Luna had become corrupt so Celestia sent her to the Moon, which the universe saw as a way as punishment. When Luna came back she would probably would have died if it weren't for Nightmare Moon; because she wasn't keeping anything in balance. In fact, she was screwing up the balance. The reason why Luna hadn't had her ethereal mane was because she was literally dying. If Luna hadn't been saved any sooner she might have died. It was all clear now. The alicorn's entire purpose in life was to keep balance. If they failed at doing this, they would die. Which was why Luna and Celestia had to banish their friends; because whether or not they knew it, they would die if they didn't.

If Sombra hadn't fallen then they would have died.
If they hadn't banished Mira then they would have died.
If they had not stopped the world from falling out of balance over and over and over again
They would have died.

It made sense to Twilight that possibly all along she and Cadence had subconsciously been doing this even before they were alicorns. Or maybe Celestia had subconsciously pushed them in the right direction so the world wouldn't fall out of balance. Becoming an alicorn not only meant it was her job to protect Equestria, but also to keep the world in balance. If not she could potentially die. But her mind shifted back to what was really important. She hadn't realized it but her head was trying to get her to not pay attention to what was happening before her. The lights were starting to dim and she could see more of the figures within. The light warped and bent around them. The lights got to the point where they only outlined Celestia and Luna, but she could not see any more than two dark figures. Cadence stood by Twilight's side, her face warped with shock. The light disappeared and two alicorns took Celestia and Luna's place. One looked as though it had lava for skin, the other one bore a striking resemblance to NightMare Moon.

The dark blue alicorn was smaller in comparison to it's sister. It was still taller than Luna, about the same size as Celestia in fact. It had a inky black coat that held faintly seen stars. It had four wing, each instead of having feathers had an ethereal vision of the night sky. Much like Nebulis'. It's eyes glowed a greyish white. It's mane was nothing like Luna's however, instead it didn't flow at all. It was silver and hung down onto the ground. It's sister was much taller, drawfingall the other ponies in the room. Twilight would have to stand on her back hooves to look the giant pony in the eye, well if it had any. The tall alicorn's coat looked as though it was made out stone. It was ashy gray with numerous cracks in it.These cracked coursed with lava. It had large, fiery wings that were more dragon-like than anything. But the worst part was it's face. The alicorns looked like it was always locked in one position. Instead of eyes, there were just two pitch black sockets. Like it's eyes had been taken away. It's mouth did not open, or at least it didn't look like it would. There were two pieces of skin that connected the upper and lower lips. It's mane was fire, almost like Ignis'. The larger one had trouble getting to it's feet, which were melting the stone floor. The room was hot but cold at the same time. It seemed the smaller alicorn was like an ice cube and just took the larger one's heat like it was nothing. The tall alicorn didn't show any expression, but the smaller one wept. Tears streamed down it's face but it didn't say anything. The taller one was silent, Cadence could clearly hear a terrified moan from it's throat that never quite managed to drift off it's lips. The taller alicorn stood stiff, no pony could really tell what it was feeling. The creature lacked any facial expressions. The smaller one's glowing white eyes were no better, but at least the alicorn could make some sort of expression.

"Why...?" The smaller one's wispy voice questioned. It's voice seemed like an echo, a far offish sound.

"Luna, you know why. You could hear us." Galaxia said quietly. The colder alicorn bit it's lip. The sky outside began to turn orange as did the sun, which became and eerie blood red.

The colder alicorn's color turned from blue to orange. The same color as the moon during a lunar eclipse. As did it's expression. For being roughly it's parents size it seemed to dwarf them with visible power. The colder alicorn's inky coat became more of an underlying orange beneath a night sky. It's mane turned soft orange as well. It's glowing eyes glared at the ground with rage.

"Oh? So it's our fault you never told us?" The alicorn hissed. Galaxia and Nebulis shook their heads solemnly.

The taller alicorn buried it's hooes in it's face, trembling. It was strange to see such a powerful creature tremble in terror. It seemed to be afraid of itself. The significantly smaller alicorn reached up and put her hoof on it's shoulder.

"If we are unwanted them we'll be going. Goodbye." It spat out. The taller alicorn made another hissing sound in it's throat and the smaller one nodded. It transformed back to it's cooler colors.

The overwhelming horror or merely being around them was more than enough to bring the ponies to their knees. FlutterShy wept and the smaller alicorn took a few steps closer. But she wasn't sure why. All she knew is that she was terrified.

"I suppose even the Elements of Kindness cannot see us..." The smaller one choked out. Icy tears formed around it's glowing white eyes but didn't fall.

"Sister. It's time for us to depart. We'll come back when we're needed." Luna said coldly. She spread out all four of her wings.

The small alicorn Twilight saw, was Luna.

It was Luna.

The tall one that dwarfed even Nebulis? That was Celestia.

That was Celestia.

It shouldn't have taken that long for it to click, but she was so scared out of her skin her brain didn't seem to work. Luna was so beautiful, but the underlying fact of all the power freely moving around her was overwhelming. her mentor was the opposite. She looked almost like a skeleton, very bony and thin. It didn't help that the air around her made it feel like Twilight had been in an oven. But it wasn't the sort of ht she'd sweat in, it was the sort of hot that you ran away from. Such as a forest fire for instance. But she didn't understand why she was so overwhelmed. She'd dealt with that kind of amount of magic before--well she thought she had anyways--and she wasn't nearly as scared. It felt a lot like when Sombra had began to break into the Crystal Empire. This dark feeling of dread, like at any moment something could and would go wrong. Maybe she was so terrified because the two ponies she thought she'd known so well had becoming something they weren't? Maybe because her brain had to hold in all the new information about alicorns that her brain just couldn't process all at once. What Twilight did know is that she was scared. She didn't have an exact reason, but she knew she was.

"It's time to leave." A dark, twisted voice came from the figure of Celestia. It somehow managed to open it's mouth but Twilight hadn't figured out how. The sound was layered over a strange, soft static. Then there was Celestia's voice. But it was deeper, not in a sense that was ridiculous, it was almost like her voice just dropped.

The larger one spread out it's fiery wings and took off, followed by it's sister. They disappeared into the orange skies where wispy clouds once grey cast down shadows upon the lands. The two pushed effortlessly into the sky. They flew higher and higher up, flying through the wispy clouds in their way. The blood red sun filled back with it's normal color, but the colors of sunset still painted the horizon. Blues turned into purples with in turn turned into pinks. Then pink would turn into the orange sky.

Luna felt her icy tears stream down her cheeks. Normally ponies would feel their tears be warm but this was not the case. For the moon was a frozen place. There was no light to give warmth to the dark side of the moon. Her sister slowed until they got far above the clouds. From their vantage point they could see the clear sky, with barely visible stars. The sky, the beautiful sky, was locked at sunset.

"Sister. There's something I have to tell you..." Luna heard her sister say.

"Yes?" Luna said, turned to face her. Luna's horn glowed and soon a magical platform was underneath her hooves. Celestia landed. Luna could not meet Celestia's gaze. It was difficult to look at her sister's face.

"Well, You see... Aurinko is, or more rather has, helped me lately." She heard her sister say, rubbin the back of her neck.

Luna turned to look directly at her sister, who dwarfed her.

"Huh. I suppose that's why the city's repaired?" She replied back. She was more puzzled then shocked or afraid. Normally if anypony got Aurinko's help they went insane. Add to the fact that out of everything that had happened Celestia had been surprisingly calm. Her sister nodded slightly.

"Hm. Alright then... How do you suppose we get ourselves out of this? We...can't get near anypony without them screaming..." She said, the words dancing off in an echo off her lips.

"I-I'm not sure. I just.. I just wanted mother and father to be proud of us. That was all. And then.. they punished us." Celestia said, her voice quivering. Luna bit her lip.

"It's not fair! How could they do this to us!" She shouted at the ground. Luna morphed back to the colors of a harvest moon. Celestia shook her head.

"I just... I can't... I don't want to be like this." Luna said with a heavy sigh. Her anger disappeared and was replaced by greif. Celestia sat down. She was tired. Both physically and mentally. Her bones, if she had any, ached. Her heart felt like a stone within her chest, weighing her down. She wanted to go to bed.

"Sister, I'm tired. Can we go to sleep now?" Luna said. Tears welled up in her eyes again.

"I just want to go to sleep... and have this be over. Just for a little while." Luna said, looking into her sister's soulless eye sockets. Celestia nodded and laid down on her side, allowing Luna to use her back as a pillow or sorts.

"Thank you Tia." She said quietly before finally falling asleep.

Comments

[MAPGlead]

Dot beat yourself over it Your the best author ever! Keep it up!

[Blue Turtle]

3456612
Aw. Thank you. I really appreciate it.
It's just my self-confidence isn't that high so more often than not I feel like everything I do will never amount to some other authors.
But seeing your comment makes me feel so much better. Thank you.