Equestria's Mirage: Dream Warriors

by Alchemystudent

The dream of beginnings

---------------------------------------------------------4 days ago-----------------------------------------------------

In the royal throne room of Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle began to walk around the large room allowing her mind to think back to the events of previous year after her coronation. The loss of the elements, the adventures her and her friends have been on recently, and most importantly, the growth of her friends. Looking at the glass window and at the afternoon sun, she let out a reflective sigh, it just seemed that her friends had been growing more and more apart. As if the loss of the elements had marked a much unwanted change in her relationships, one that had begun to make her doubt their deep bond.

A sorrowful sigh escaped her lips as she began to think back on the past few months, looking at seemed to be an endless onslaught of parties and duties. The work that she and her friends had been taking so much of their time lately that it seemed to take away from them spending time with each other. Not to mention the work that Dash had been putting into the Equestrian Games, Rarity had been putting in extra time at the boutique, and Fluttershy had been spending some extra time with helping the Breezies and other creatures, have been all events that seemed to put some distance between her and her friends. To make matters worse, it seemed like her duties had been increasing within the last few months, forcing her to spend more time in Canterlot and away from Ponyville and her home. Making her feel very alone, and separated from all that she cared for, “Will they always be there...?”

Shaking her head, she tried to get the doubts out of her mind and focus on her one year anniversary.

A soft smile came to Twilight Sparkle as she looked down from the window of the throne room at the small party that was being held in the courtyard. All of her friends were there to celebrate her first year anniversary of her coronation and the third biggest day of her life (the first being, the day she became Celestia’s student and the second when she came to Ponyville. A contented sigh escaped her lips as she looked over the courtyard at all the things her friends were doing. Applejack happily sharing her apple wares with the various ponies and talking to a cousin of hers and Rarity busying herself with the Canterlot elite, namely a white unicorn stallion with a stylish blue mustache. Chuckling, she placed a hoof onto the window as if she wanted to touch them and to be down there with them. Looking to the sky, she watched as Rainbow Dash began to have a race with a yellow pegasus while Fluttershy sat on some grass surrounded by the animals she loved so much. Another chuckle escaped her lips as she watched Pinkie Pie mess around with some of the more, snobbish, of the elite.

“You wanted me, Princess?” asked an orange stallion with a purple mane.

“Ah yes, Swift arrow,” Twilight said, putting a serious and stern look on her face. “I command you to bring to me: Abbigail Jacqueline V, Rainbow Dash, Pinkamena Diane Pie, Rarity Belle, and Fluttershy Firewing. I want them to be brought to me at once. Let them know that this is a ROYAL command, that they are to be brought to receive some due justice.”

“Due justice? For what? And what exactly are you going to give them?” asked Arrow, his eyebrow arched.

“Oh, they’ll find out,” Twilight sneered, her eyes narrowing in anger, “Now, follow my orders and bring them to me!”

“Yes, ma'am.” Arrow said, walking out the door that lead to the room and closing it.

As Twilight watched the door close behind him, her stern facade quickly vanished a mischievous grin replaced it. In truth, she never wanted to sound like it was going to her head; however, in order for the deception to work she needed to look the part. Her smile growing wider, she immediately flew up into the sky in a flurry of giggles, “Oh this is going to be PERFECT! It’ll be a perfect joke!” After doing a loop in the air, she glided back onto the throne with a big smile on her face, “I can’t wait for them to come in and see the looks on their faces! I can almost see it now, first,” the purple alicorn said with a grin as she created small images of her friends walking through the door, “They’ll come in not know what to expect!”

“Applejack will probably go ‘Now what in tarnation do ya think that Twilight wants us to come in here fer?’”

“To which Rainbow will go, ‘Maybe she just wants to knight us for being so awesome! Maybe she just wants to remind us of how awesome we all are?’”

“Fluttershy will then respond with, ‘Well, I uh, am, not...that awesome, really.’”

“Rarity will then look at Fluttershy and tell her, ‘Oh, Darling! Don’t be ridiculous darling, you are just so fantastic darling.’”

“Pinkie Pie would then say,” Twilight then stopped herself as she looked at the image spell, “Ok, I have no idea what she would say. It’s kind of hard to predict Pinkie Pie.” Looking to the front door, she continued her plan, “They’ll then walk through that door and see me sitting there on the throne and I’ll look as serious as I can. Pointing my hoof at them, I’ll say ‘YOU five are brought here to properly punished for your horrible crimes!”

Twilight then let out a small giggle as she watched the illusion of her friends gasp in horror.

“If it were not for you five, I’ll continue, I would still be back in the library surrounded by dusty books and scrolls. I would never venture out of the library and stay indoors all of the time just studying. I would never see the world, I would never LIVE! But now, thanks to you Pinkie, with your undying optimism, finding ways to keeping me happy and bringing me hope when I need it the most. Rarity with her ability to look beyond a pony’s looks to bring out beauty, reminding me to keep looking deeper for a pony’s good qualities. Rainbow Dash! Your devotion to your morals, your IDEALS, and wavering desire to stick to those when anypony else would fall keeps me going, even when I thought that it all was hopeless. Applejack, with your honesty, you remind me to keep true to myself. And then there’s you, Fluttershy, with your kindness and shyness, but hiding an inner strength that makes me feel a little weaker. Somehow, you...help bring out the best in us.”

“‘Because of all of you! I’ve done more in the past four years than most do in their entire lifetime, I have gone out and truly lived for the first time, I have had become something more than I could have ever hoped to be, and became a hero. If I had never met you five, I would have stayed just a simple unicorn with vast power, alone with her books. It’s because of you that I got THESE THINGS,” Twilight then flapped her wings in response, “As such, for all of the above crimes, I hereby sentence you I’ll pause for effect, ‘To being my friends, for the rest of your days.”

Twilight then made the illusions of her friends gasp in happiness.

“And, I’ll continue, as punishment for scaring you and tricking you like I did, I hereby punish myself by exiling myself to Ponyville to stay with my dearest friends for as long as they will have me.” Giggling, Twilight flew away from the throne and into the air and gave herself a hug, “Then, we’ll all laugh together and have a big group hug, followed by me teleporting everypony to Ponyville where I’ll show the statue I made of them,” Twilight smiled softly as she looked at an image of a statue that she commissioned, “With them above me of course.”

Hovering in the air, she began to think about why she was doing this. Though it was true that she was living in Ponyville still, she began to have a nagging doubt that she could keep her promise. She remembered the promise that she made to Applejack about staying together even without the elements, but lately she felt like it would be harder to keep that promise. The various events of the past few months began to make her feel like they would not be there for her, seeing how far they were becoming. Her eyes narrowed, knowing that she needed to do this, to further cement that she would always be there for them, “Even if they might not always be there for me.” Memories of certain events flooded her mind and she quickly shook her head to get them out, trying not to think of a certain wedding or some of the times that they had failed their elements.

“Your majesty? Package delivery,” said a mare from the other side of the door.

“Package? Why would somepony send me a package here? Why not send it to my home back in Ponyville?” Twilight asked herself as she flew to the door and opened it with her magic, “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, your highness,” the mail pony said as the alicorn took the package from him with her magic.

As the door closed behind her, Twilight turned away and looked at the package in front of her, “Hmmm, the only label that on it says “From: an old friend, congratulations on one year of princess-hood,” and nothing else. She gave a small shrug as she tightened her magic around the package. “I guess whoever it was wanted to remain anonymous, or is just shy.” A small smile came to her lips as began to open it, but then quickly stopped herself. Lowering her head, she let out a regretful sigh as she began to cast spells to look for poisons, bombs, and dark magic that could be hidden inside. She hated the idea of doing this, but she knew it was a necessity. Although most were content with her accession, there were others in Canterlot who were not as content to have a new princess. They thought she didn’t really earn it, that her personality would make her unworthy of being a princess, or worse, she would take over all of Equestria and kill Celestia. She scoffed at the idea of becoming a mad tyrant, after all...there were worse things she feared.

“There we are,” Twilight said as she tried to forget about the more jerkish members of Canterlot nobility. “No bombs, poisons, or anything wrong with it. Just a normal package from a secret admirer.” With a few tears from her magic, Twilight soon opened the contents of the box to reveal a photo of her and her friends standing together with her wings outstretched, “I remember this! It was the day after my coronation, when I promised that I would never leave them.”

“Well, I guess this is it,” Applejack said, looking down, “Ah bet you’ll probably be moving back to Canterlot now.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, looking at her friends.

“Well darling, you are now a princess. Surely you don’t think that you could possibly live in that old library anymore,” Rarity said, sighing. “You’ll have to live in that lovely new palace and move away from all of us.”

“It’s just that we heard from some ponies about how you might have to move to Canterlot since you became a princess,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Girls, I’m not going anywhere,” Twilight said, shaking her head.

“WHAT?!” A shocked Rainbow Dash asked, “But you’re a princess now.”

“I don’t care!” Twilight shouted, “You guys are the ones responsible for everything I have. All the great things I have ever accomplished was because I had you guys behind me to make me more than just Celestia’s student. I wouldn’t be who I am without you guys, and a crown isn’t going to make me throw it all away. I promise,” she added, placing her hoof onto her heart, “That no matter what happens, what changes I go under, that I will do my best to make sure that I will stay with you. Even if...even if Celestia herself told me that I would have to leave, I’ll find a way to beat the system and come home. This won’t ruin our friendship, because I won’t let it.”

Pinkie Pie said at that point, what they all were thinking, “WE LOVE YOU TOO TWILIGHT!” and with that, they gave each other a group hug, a photo being taken at that moment.

A tear streaked down the violet face of the alicorn as she remembered those words, though there were times when she had doubts that she would be able to keep the promise. Her friends were growing up and moving further and further away it seemed like, too where she began to wonder if they could always be there for one another. The question was always at the back of her head, like a small scratch she could never get rid of. She then arched an eyebrow as she noticed two black spots on the tips of her wings in the photo, “Wait, those weren’t there before!”

A look of horror came to Twilight’s face as she realized that the trap had hidden itself well from her scrying spells and was now sprung. Dropping the picture, she tried to scream for help but could only let out a gasp of shock and pain as a black tendril shot from the photograph and pierced her neck, emerging from the other side and writhing around, “R-Rarity,” Twilight choked out as she began to stumble back, the tendril and photo disappearing. “A-pple-jack, Fluttershy, Rainbow D-D-Dash, Pinkie Pie...

...

...

Help me.” She gasped out as she collapsed to the floor, giving out a shuddering breath and closing her eyes while her breathing slowed to a halt.

A few minutes later found the five friends of Twilight Sparkle walking to the door of the throne room, “Who does Twilight think she’s fooling anyway with that whole guard thing?” Dash asked, flying above their heads.

“Ah, know, you think she thought we were born yesterday,” Applejack said, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Now girls, Twilight has no experience at pranking before. I say we owe it to her to at least pretend to be surprised,” Rarity said, smiling.

“Right, I’ll act super-duper surprised!” Pinkie squealed as she hopped to the door and opening it, “HEY TWILIGHT! We’re here...” the pink party mare then stopped herself at the threshold, looking at the still form of the purple alicorn, “Twilight? Twilight, this isn’t funny.” She said, tears coming to her eyes.

Rarity came up next to Pinkie Pie, and before she could ask Pinkie about the situation she caught sight of the fallen alicorn. Letting out a soft gasp of fear, she put her white hoof to her mouth and shook her head in disbelief. Applejack came up next, and when she saw Twilight’s prone form, she immediately raced to her side, “TWILIGHT! No, Twilight don’t do this us,” Applejack said, shaking her friend slightly as memories of her mother and father’s bodies came rushing to her, filling her heart with terror. “Come on now, the joke’s over. Please, just get up now, don’t leave us, please Twilight.”

“Twilight, no” Fluttershy said as she stepped into the room next, and collapsed to the ground in tears.

“TWILIGHT?” yelled Dash as she saw the fallen form of Twilight and raced to her side, shaking her, “Get up! Come on, get up! Twilight, Twilight...TWILIGHT!!!”

---

The next few hours in the castle were some of the most hectic in the castle’s 900 year history. Almost outdoing the events of the Everfree takeover a few months ago. The party was quickly dismissed as every medical pony that the castle had on staff quickly raced to the princess’s side, “What happened to Twilight Sparkle?” asked a large white alicorn as she raced to Twilight’s side, her normally calm demeanor quickly vanishing.

“We don’t know!” Rarity said as she ran alongside the alicorn, “We just found Twilight laying on the floor and not moving.”

“Is she breathing, at least?” Celestia asked.

“IT took me and AJ a few moments, but yeah she’s breathing...barely,” Dash said, flying ahead of the group, watching the medical ponies hit Twilight with spells.

As they made it to a special room for sick alicorns, the group of ponies found a young drake talking to a white unicorn and a pink alicorn, “TWILIGHT!” The purple drake yelled as he ran to the stretcher where Twilight was, but was stopped by an orange hoof.

As the medical ponies put Twilight onto the table and began to hook her up to some small machines, the white unicorn walked to Celestia, “WHAT HAPPENED TO TWILY? Why is she like this?”

“We don’t know!” Applejack yelled as she was forced out of the room with the others, “We found the gal like this.”

“Anything I can do, Celestia?” asked the pink alicorn as she walked alongside Celestia and stood outside the door.

The white alicorn could only let out a sad sigh and shake her head in response.

After a few hours of waiting, a blue stallion with a white cross cutie mark stepped out, “Well, from what I have seen, she is healthy. Her organs, brain, and everything else about her shows her being as healthy as Princess Celestia herself. For all intents and purposes, she should be perfectly ok.”

“Maybe, then, the problem is not in her body but in her head,” said a dark blue alicorn as she walked to the small group.

“Do you have an idea, Luna?” Asked Celestia.

“Maybe, but I need the time to perform the spell and I need all of you with me, just in case,” Luna said as she looked at the group in front of her.

-------------------------------------------------------Present time---------------------------------------------------

“WHAT DO YA MEAN THAT YOU ARE SORRY?!” screamed Rainbow Dash in rage, her flight being stopped by Applejack grabbing her forelegs from behind, “I thought you were supposed to be this great dream mage, now you’re saying that you can’t even save my best friend? WHATS THE POINT OF HAVING A GODDESS ON OUR SIDE IF IT CAN’T BE USED TO SAVE HER?”

“Whoa there, sugarcube! Ah’m sure, PRINCESS Luna is doing all she can to help Twilight,” Applejack said, trying to empathize to Dash who she was yelling at.

“If she was doing her best, then Twilight would be awake by-” Dash continued, only to be interrupted by the royal canterlot voice.

“RAINBOW DASH!!! THOU ART LUCKY THAT THOU ART A FRIEND OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE, A BEARER OF HARMONY, AND MY SAVIOR. OTHERWISE, WE WOULD SMITE THEE WHERE THEE STAND FOR SUCH INSUBORDINATION!!” Luna’s scream shook the room as she glared at Rainbow Dash, making the pegasus back up a little, “Now, we do have an idea to who did this to Twilight, and how to save her. But we need the time to gather our forces if we are to be successful. For now, you must stay and watch Twilight, make sure she doesn’t get worse. We’ll be busy gathering preparing.” With that, Luna walked out the door, followed shortly by Celestia.

“Are you sure you know?” Celestia asked, walking with Luna, her face unchanging.

“Yes,” Luna said, looking up at Celestia. “You can cry you know, nopony is watching.”

Tears flowed from the white alicorn’s eyes, “I haven’t cried this much since over a 1000 years ago. But I need to be strong, for all of them.”

“So what does the public know?” asked Luna.

“As far as they are concerned, Twilight is on a mission of peace to the Griffon kingdom. Nothing more needs to be known,” Celestia said.

“Keeping them safe by making sure they don’t panic? Are you sure it’s wise?” Luna asked as she neared the balcony.

“No, but Mirage wants us to panic and be scared. We can’t give her the chance,” Celestia said, a weary sigh coming from her lips. “Are you sure you know what you are doing?”

“Trust me, my student hasn’t failed me yet,” Luna said, flying off.

Under the bright lights and sparkling signs of Las Pegasus, a light blue unicorn came out and threw her hooves up, “COME ONE AND ALL! It’s time to be amazed at the power of the great and powerful, TRIXIE!”

Author's Note:

Thanks to Opuscon486 and I am anonyomous for fixing things.

I was thinking about referencing the assination of Twilight Sparkle as one of the things that scared Twilight, but it wasn't working out...more's the pity. Also, Welcome back trixie, I missed writing you.

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