1 - Silence
Ten years later
“…Tell me what happened Vera.”
Vireo Vista grimaced. Compared to everything else that had just happened, having his name mispronounced was nothing; but on top of everything else, it felt like everything. Wasn’t it enough that the old hag had failed to protect them, and was continuing to do so? All she needed to do was lift her head a few inches, look out her gilded balcony doors, and the big black column of smoke would have told her everything she needed to know.
Vireo had already wasted two hours that morning, with three other pegasi, at the palace gates; arguing with guards who just assumed that since it was only the second day of summer holidays, they simply must be lying pranksters. Maybe his pure white coat camouflaged the black soot that marred it, or maybe the two mugs of cider on his breath was enough of an excuse for them to call him drunk.
When Celestia finally got around to raising the sun, so everyone could see that a smoke column had replaced Ponyville; you’d think that that would have been enough for her to launch a rescue mission, but no. Far be it from Equestria’s fearless leader to do anything as rash as do something useful, like saving the life of Vireo’s sister, without having all the facts; so she called an emergency council, listened to the other three pegasi say what happened, and then ask Vireo to say it all again. Now, to add insult to insult, she just had to mispronounce his name to make him sound like he was a girl.
Vireo took a deep breath, “Last night, an army of buffalo attacked Ponyville. They posted guards at every exit and the rest of the army swarmed into the town, herded everyone they could catch into the town center and started dragging everyone away in nets. No, I don’t know why. No, I don’t know what tribe. No, there wasn’t any effort to talk things over before they attacked. Yes, there was a giant blue that some buffalo were carrying, that was shooting pegasi out of the air with magic. No, I didn’t get a close look at it. Yes they killed people; yes they looted the town, but these things weren’t their priority.”
Vireo spat out his testimony without stopping for breath, and waited for Celestia to respond; but she just sat that, shriveling under her own apathy like she’d hoped the other three pegasi were wrong and he’d explain how it was all a big mistake. When it became clear she wasn’t going to say anything, the room splintered into separate conversations:
The earth pony diplomats agreed that since the buffalo had no need for slave labor and hadn’t discriminated in the age or health of the prisoners they took that they must be after a ransom; and began theorizing what they could possibly want so badly as to risk open war and almost certain annihilation.
The pegasi scoutmasters highlighted that reaching Ponyville would have required skirting the inside of the Everfree Forest and detailed knowledge of the local landscape; meaning the chances they’d thought Ponyville still housed the Elements of Harmony after all these years was minuscule.
The unicorn magi were mostly on the balcony, using telescopes and magically enhanced eyesight to try to identify the giant blue cube that eight ornately dressed buffalo were carrying at the head of the escaping army as they bee-lined for their home territory without the slightest effort to hide themselves.
Vireo stayed put, seething in anger and ran a hoof through his black mane and found it was still slick with his sister’s blood. They’d been together when the attack began and been ensnared in a net before they knew what was happening. Vireo had to get away, but his sister was dragged to the ground and clubbed behind the ear and Vireo ran like a coward to save his own skin.
This was all Celestia’s fault. Twenty-five years ago the buffalo had attacked an outlying Equestrian settlement, and instead of retaliating Celestia had surrendered, offering them food that the pony settlers needed in exchange for their promise of peace. One regiment of Royal Guards would have been a match for any of the buffalo tribes, and three regiments could have annexed their entire territory; but Celestia had surrendered, rewarding them for their invasion and motivating them to attack again the moment they wanted more. Now Vireo didn’t know if his sister was alive or dead.
To Celestia’s left was the horn-locked, holographic projection of her sociopath little sister Nightmare Moon; who, for reasons Vireo could not begin to comprehend, Celestia was allowing to attend this emergency meeting from luxury house arrest. With the rest of the room talking, Nightmare Moon leaned over and began whispering to Celestia; maybe trying to convince her to let her go on a buffalo hunting holiday as an early birthday present, so long as she promised not to kill the prisoners as well. Thankfully, not even Celestia was stupid enough to trust her again.
One hope stood in the room; to Celestia’s right, in gleaming sky-steel armor, stood Shining Armor, the high defender of Canterlot who had led the Royal Guard, including Vireo’s father, for almost twenty years with a nearly flawless record. The mistakes he had made were ancient and exculpatory; side effects from an unparalleled spree of amelioration magic which had enhanced his magical prowess beyond what had been believed possible, surpassing even Celestia.
That wasn’t the reason for Vireo’s hope.
Celestia was childless; drudge to some ancient alicorn chastity oath to spare herself the pain of repeatedly watching her loved ones die. Shining Armor had four children who, like Vireo, had all been in Ponyville last night for Youtherd: the fortnight long end of school celebrations for high school and university students who flocked by the hundreds to celebrate the summer holidays.
The doors lurched open again and a trio of uniformed pegasi ran in. They bowed quickly and reported that the bridge connecting the train line to Ponyville had been demolished, apparently by pony saboteurs, hampering any relief effort to the survivors and blocking rescue forces.
The danger and complexity of the situation mutated and multiplied. Celestia seemed to shrink backwards, ready to sulk, Shining Armor tensed, ready to act; and Vireo understood why his father sometimes joked that if Princess Cadance had given Shining Armor two alicorn foals, he should have deposed both Princesses and installed his children as Equestria’s new monarchs.
Shining Armor shared one long, intimate gaze with his wife who was standing beside him. From where Vireo was standing her face was barely visible, blocked by her husband, a lock of pink mane, her minotaur body guard - Iron Will, and her wing that was stretching forewords to clutch the Element of Kindness hanging around her neck; yet Vireo could still see her eyes shining with uncharacteristic courage.
The aura of silence around Shining Armor shattered, and he began barking orders. The flag ship of the Equestrian Airforce would be ready for pursuit in one hour, as would Shining Armor with his elite Sun Guards.
Vireo’s sister was going to be saved.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Twilight Sparkle walked down row after row of empty tables in her vast, empty lecture hall; the silence was deafening. The room should have been packed; filled with buzz of intelligent young minds at work, the scratching of pens, the rumblings of books and the clash of hundreds of questions being met head-on by scores of answers as she taught the next generation of alpha unicorns. The room was quiet now; her kids were all gone for the holidays and Twilight had the entire summer to herself... just herself.
Twilight began rearranging each chair and table to stand at symmetrical perfection. She knew no-one would notice, but one last task helped delay the sinking finality that another year had already passed her by. Usually Twilight would have been looking forwards to the holidays, except… last summer... hadn’t gone too well.
It had begun happily enough, foalsitting Applejack and Fancypants’ foals Jonagold and Fair Trade; taking them to parks, movies, museums, or even the occasional sleepover, but all that ended in a huge fight with Applejack who had decided she was uncomfortable with how attached Twilight was getting to her children. It had been hard to accept, but Applejack wanted to be the only mother in her children’s lives and that meant Twilight had to go.
Twilight sulked for a few days, but then made the decision that she wouldn't let this ruin her holidays; she was strong, confident, and more than able to cope without Applejack’s kids. Then Rainbow Dash got mad at her and made her promise not to visit her and Storm more than twice a week unless invited.
Twilight guessed she was going to be spending a lot of time around Cadance this summer, or at least the next two weeks. Shining Armor would probably be busy and with all their children at Youthherd, Cadance would probably feel lonely, and Twilight hated for any of her friends to feel alone.
The only other friend Twilight had that she could visit was Pinkie Pie; but of all her friends, this was the least feasible option. Nearly one quarter of Twilight’s students were in Ponyville for Youtherd, and no matter how grateful they would be to her when they were older, Twilight knew that many of them resented their heavy workload and saw getting away from her as the highlight of their holidays. To attend Youtherd unannounced would ruin it for them, be awkward for her, and so in the interests of continued harmony, she had forfeited that territory to them. Her students probably wouldn’t even mind her so much if they saw her as having some kind of life outside of school but the truth was… they were right; she didn’t have anything else.
Twilight had spent her entire life dedicated to scholarly pursuits; and was now having buyer’s remorse. She’d waited too long to find someone to spent her life with, and now her life of endless intellectual pursuits was beginning to lose its luster.
Twilight had searched for 'the right one'; she'd cut her list of rules for the perfect stallion from ninety-three down to twenty-five and then just eight, but it was all in vain. Whenever she tried to get close to a stallion there was no spark, no flame, nothing like what she’d read about, or seen in her friends. She was alone, but for most of her life this hadn’t really bothered her; she’d been young, she’d had time, she’d had books; and except for Cadance and Rainbow Dash, none of her friends had been in a relationship until… it happened.
Eighteen years ago, Twilight had woken up in Canterlot Hospital. There was a letter beside her from Princess Celestia, asking her to remain calm and saying that she would be there tomorrow morning to explain everything. Twilight waited patiently for about two minutes, grew anxious when she realized that she was horn locked, and one arm was tied to the hospital bed, then panicked when she looked under the covers and saw nothing but an emaciated skeleton covered in a thin sheet of skin and scar tissue. Twilight began screaming for the doctors; and was answered with one nurse who casually hurried in and sedated her rather than answering any of her questions.
She woke up early the next morning and counted the minutes for Celestia’s arrival, but Celestia never came. Twilight asked the nurse who brought her lunch about the letter and the nurse got excited, asking specific details about the day before, then ran out of the room. Within twenty-four hours Twilight had been visited by Celestia, Shining Armor, Cadance, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Storm, Spike, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Pyromite and Owlowiscious; who all tearfully told her the same story. Two and a half years earlier, Twilight had been running experiments inside the Everfree Forest and had contracted a virus that gave her antero-grade amnesia, blocking her from remembering anything for more than a few minutes, and it had taken the doctors in Canterlot two and a half years to develop a cure.
Twilight asked about the scars and weight loss; at first it seemed hard to believe, but by the time Celestia explained it for the third time it had begun to make sense. When Twilight first got sick, she was taken to the hospital where she would constantly realize she didn’t know where she was, believe she’d been kidnapped and panic; over and over, in a state of constant hysteria, leaving her continually exhausted. Whenever possible, in-between treatments, Celestia would send Twilight back to the library to try and give her some sense of normalcy, while her friends took turns in watching her. This left her calmer; but she would still constantly realize she didn’t know what was happening or how she got where she was, and if her caretaker lost vigilance for a moment, she could go galloping off to get her bearings. Twice Twilight had tripped over a pile of books she’d left out and fallen heavily down the stairs, once she’d crashed into her chemistry set, spilling burning chemicals and broken glass over and into her coat and countless smaller accidents had mutilated her, piece by piece.
A plethora of gruesome accidents had battered her and an endless barrage of anxiety had aged her; the effect on her physical condition had seemed ruinous at first, but in the long term, it meant nothing. The bags under her eyes dissipated within a few weeks, her body weight returned to equilibrium within a few months and within a few years most of her scars were unnoticeable unless you knew where to look. The scars that never healed were the things she’d missed, and knew she would never get back.
Twilight went to sleep one night; she knew all her friends, Shining Armor and Cadance’s first foal, Clastic Strain, was a baby, and Rainbow Dash was the only Element in a relationship. She woke up one morning, Clastic Strain was walking, talking, casting basic spells and had two younger siblings Twilight had never even met before; Twilight was the only one of her friends who wasn’t married, Rainbow Dash had twins, Pinkie Pie had triplets, and those weren’t even the most important thing’s she’d missed!
Fluttershy was dead!
Rainbow Dash explained how Fluttershy had eloped with a pegasus named Nature Guard and went to live in a tree house village of conservationists to prevent a logger company from leveling the forest. Nine months later, Fluttershy was six months pregnant with their first foal when jungle fever struck the fledgling family, killing all three of them, after which they were cremated by the surviving conservationists to prevent the plague from spreading. Although Twilight was delighted to learn that The Element of Kindness had chosen Cadance as its new bearer, it was beastly poor compensation for having lost one of her closest friends, without having the chance to say goodbye.
Of course, much more had happened in two and a half years then everyone Twilight knew falling in love, having children and dying while she was plagued by self-destructive amnesia. Her friends told her the nice things first; like how Storm and Shining Armor had forgiven each other for what had happened and were talking to each other again. After that they told her some of the more regrettable things like how Rarity had lost what was left of her mind, was now incarcerated in a mental asylum, and had, in theory, married a tree she’d named, ‘Prince Handsome-Rich-Charming-Smart-Strong-Famous'. But it wasn’t until later that she began to discover for herself what no one else was willing to tell her.
Even when Shining Armor first visited her in the hospital; something about him had seemed… wrong. Three months later Twilight discovered Shining Armor was a recovering alcoholic and had been relieved from his duty as Captain of the Royal Guard. It didn’t seem possible at the time; it was terrifying. Shining Armor had always had one of the strongest wills of anypony she knew; until then, the only times she remembered him going out ‘drinking’ as a colt had been to make sure all his friends got home OK. For him to be an alcoholic in just two years was unbelievable, but at least he was better now. Cadance had made sure he got the help he needed and four years after the end of Twilight’s blackout Shining Armor was reinstated to his rightful position and hadn't touched a drop since.
The other thing that had happened during her gap period that no one had told her about was almost as surprising and infinitely more satisfying; she had learned to paint! A few weeks after waking up from her blackout, Twilight came across an old art kit and gotten the inexplicable urge to paint Clastic Strain. Based on her few, failed attempts at painting as a filly, Twilight had expected to paint Clastic just slightly better than he could have painted her; yet remarkably the brush now yielded with perfect cooperation and working from memory alone, she quickly completed an amazingly lifelike portrait.
Cadance finally thought to tell her that when she was sick, painting was one of the few things she could do that didn’t require a memory and would keep her calm, and so had become her primary therapy. Twilight asked to see the paintings she’d done, and Cadance said she’d have a look, but after a prolonged search, the hospital had reluctantly admitted to accidentally selling her works at auction.
Waking up after two years to find she was the only one of her friends still single had been the first time that Twilight had felt… empty and it wouldn’t be the last time. But although settling down and raising a family had temporarily invaded a portion of her mind; it was quickly consumed by something far more important than any single mare’s happiness:
The war in the Everfree Forest had dragged on for centuries; usually no more than an endless series of skirmishes but was marked by one massive invasion about every twenty-five years. After the return of Luna however, the terrormongers and changelings began behaving erratically, and showed every indication of preparing for an invasion of apocalyptic proportions.
Fourteen years before the last invasion had been anticipated; Twilight had learned about the Ranger’s in that fateful trip with Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash. Then, while resting in Uthraig for the return journey, Twilight had learned of an abandoned research program which, due to its place of origin, had been dubbed The Manehatten Project.
The theory had been simple; one automated spell network that would be powered by the forest’s own unique ley energy, which would end the war forever. The development of the idea had plagued some of Equestria’s greatest minds for centuries. Many who took on the project had become obsessed with it and spent their lives in vain pursuit of a seemingly unreachable goal, while the rest had called it impossible.
The Manehatten Project simply required incorporating the zeniths of too many branches of magic. To make it work you would either need fourteen alpha unicorns or alicorns, each with special talents for a very specific field of magic, to be communicating their fields to each other absolutely perfectly; or you would need one genius unicorn or alicorn whose special talent included all of the seven major branches of magic with a MQ of at least six hundred. Over the years, hundreds had tried to unlock the magical equations, including Celestia; but no one had ever succeeded.
When Twilight learned about the project, took the challenge. Within two years she understood all the research that had been done in the last two centuries and was on the verge of multiple breakthroughs when her blackout happened. As soon as she's been able, Twilight had begun easing herself back into her work. With three months to spare, Twilight successfully tested a weapon that made Shining Armor’s shields look like a magic-kindergarden project by comparison; and that was the last time terrormongers or changelings ever threatened Equestria.
Twilight could finally breathe a sigh of relief and take a hard-earned rest. She had a chance to reconnect with her family, get to really know her friend’s families and maybe start one of her own if she could find the right stallion. But after what happened at Gallopoli, Twilight couldn’t help herself; she was hooked on archeology.
Twilight gathered a team and set out, spending the next four years traveling across and outside Equestria, searching for relics from the old alicorn kingdom or even the Draquordic era. Minus the over-the-top super-villains and ridiculous death traps, her life had almost resembled the Daring Do novels she adored as a filly except, even if Daring’s courtships didn’t always work out; at least she had them, whereas Twilight remained single. Although none of her later discoveries rivaled The Pedagogy, Twilight uncovered many valuable artifacts, some magical, some dangerous, and even few that were cursed, but she never found true love.
After a year without any worthwhile finds, and dwindling funds for future expeditions, Twilight agreed to hang up her helmet and accepted a professorship from Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns. While watching her friend’s children grow from foals into young stallions and mares, Twilight taught. Her students got exceptional grades, she wrote two books that were received well by the academic community. Then, finally Twilight found someone she thought might be the one, only to find out that he was already married. Since then she’d made multiple inventions which were slowly changing the face of Equestria, become headmistress of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, published a third book, and was now too old to have children.
Spike had been like a son to her; but he left her for Sweetie Bell and who could blame him? Pyromite didn't even bother to say goodbye before flying off with Philomena. Owlowiscious stayed long after the other two had gone, sharing her love for books and archeology, he joined her on her travels, not needing any owlet to make him happy; then he died.
Then, of course, there were her students. While it was true that her near-total lack of romantic experience had caused her to be the butt of the jokes of some of her more careless students, (jokes quickly reprisal with many, many hours of detention), it hadn’t stopped Twilight from successfully playing matchmaker for eight pairs of her students, five of whom were now married and three of whom had children of their own.
Twilight rarely saw them after that, but that was OK because next year was always around the corner and would bring with it two or three more students who would be more special than the rest and would become almost like children to her. But in time they’d pair up, graduate and leave Twilight empty until she got a new batch of students who would become almost like family.
Twilight was facing another lonely summer; and that’s why she expected to be spending most of it with Cadance who had always been a remedy for loneliness. Back when Twilight was a filly, Cadance had been the only person except Shining Armor who had been able to break through her shell. Now that she was devolving into antiquity, Cadance was still there, and even though she had stopped encouraging Twilight that one day she’d find someone, she had never stopped being encouraging.
The lecture hall was aligned to perfection, Twilight went to her desk, and gathered the few items she would need on the holidays. Surveying the room one last time, she slowly turned towards the mahogany doors and gently gripped them in her magic. The doors exploded inwards; as a panting, bleeding young alicorn burst into the hall.
Chapter Two >>> Tinderbox
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Then shouldn't this story be rated mature?
3917253
To most 'mature' would mean to specifically describe what got kissed, what got touched ect. To me 'mature' would mean a sensible discussion on the physical/ emotional results.
Given that some statistics say one in three American girls will get pregnant before age 20; I don't see any reason to rate this as inappropriate for most teenagers because it includes 'mature themes' like unplanned pregnancy.
Poor Twilight... literally robbed of her chance with having a family of her own. I also remember the time before you changed your name to your current one now and I feel like that nudge to Iron Will is possibly part of your other story which I should get to sometime in the future. If only because I like knowing the facts
Also a shiplist from memory;
Spike x Sweetie
Rarity x her sanity
Rainbow x Storm
Twilight x disaster
Shining x Cadance
Applejack x Fancypants?! Wait what?!
Pinkie x ???
Fluttershy - deceased along with child and husband
Philomena x Pyromite
Did I get them all? Except Iron Will of course, that'll be for your other story
3944180
Some lucky bloke who get's Pinkie and identical triplet daughters who act crazier then their mother
On the other hoof, maybe not so lucky. There's a story behind that.
Yup; there's a story behind that too.
There is definitelya story behind that; don't assume it will be simple. All theories welcome.
3947780 I just hope they aren't all colts and are named Moe, Larry, and Curly.
As for Twilight, do you think she got cursed?
Meh, seems like a quite general answer isn't it?
3949106
"Cursed?"
"Who would curse me, and why?"
3953759
Well, you did mention some cursed artifacts...
3953784
Hey bro. I don't understand any of these references
. Is there a story or series that could explain them? If so, please PM me the URL