Getting Only Half of the Story
"In half?"
Twilight and Spike both flinched at the concern and incredulity in Celestia's voice. Twilight scuffed a hoof against the marble floor before Celestia's throne, looking at Spike out of the corner of her eye. Spike raised his paws, stepping back a bit and shaking his head. Twilight bit her lip, not quite meeting Celestia's gaze.
"Yes. Uh, in half." Twilight squirmed in the silence that followed. "Cleanly bifurcated," she added a bit softer, hoping that Celestia would say something, or at least move a bit. Neither of those things happened, so she continued with a small cough, "thoroughly trunca-" She cut herself off with an eyebrow raised. "Princess, are you okay?"
Celestia did not immediately respond, for she was performing the Royal Double Facehoof, a gesture of such resigned frustration that every guard in the room suddenly sat down in emphatically felt weariness. Twilight took a tentative step closer to Celestia.
"Uh, Princess?"
"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia spoke suddenly, her tone endlessly patient, "you are the only pony I have ever known who would ask me if I am well immediately after informing me that you have been cleaved in twain."
Twilight didn't quite have anything to respond to that. She shared a nervous look with Spike and instinctively felt her torso. There wasn't even a scar or a raised mark where the slice had been made.
"Well," Twilight ventured, "I got better."
"Indeed." Celestia responded dryly, before quickly regaining her regal and caring tone with a small cough. "And how exactly did you..." Celestia's face barely changed, but Twilight's years of studying with the princess let her know that she was struggling to put the situation into a coherent form. "How did you pull yourself together?"
Spike spoke up nervously. "Uh, I saw it happen. She kinda just healed together on her own." His nose wrinkled in disgust. "It was actually really disturbing. There was a lot of these crunching and squelching noises, and I think Fluttershy passed out."
Celestia blinked. "Right," she just barely managed to retain a neutral tone, "unconsciousness aside, are your friends who were with you okay?"
Twilight nodded. "They're a bit banged up, but fine."
Celestia nodded in return. "Then it seems our first order of business will be some explanations." She rose from her throne, making her way to the back door as her guards followed a bit behind her. "Please, follow me." Celestia called back to Twilight.
Spike hopped on Twilight's back and the two followed Celestia up to Luna's tower, where she graciously dismissed both her and Luna's guards. She gave Twilight a thin smile.
"I shall only be a moment." Celestia assured, ducking into the room. Twilight leaned close to the door, but she couldn't hear anything. She frowned. Of course there'd be silencing spells on the princess' chambers. She leaned back in disappointment, but Spike scrutinized the door closer.
"Aren't there any spells that'll let us hear what they're saying?" Spike asked. Twilight rubbed her foreleg nervously.
"Well, yeah, there are. But no matter how horribly curious we are, wouldn't that be a rude and unfriendly thing to do?" She pointed out. Spike nodded, stroking his chin and sitting with his feet almost touching the door as he looked it over. Twilight sat patiently, calmly, and most of all, politely.
For five seconds.
As soon as the spell was cast, Twilight and Spike could hear Celestia just as she finished saying something. They both leaned closer to the door, straining to hear.
"It is indeed quite noble of Fluttershy to have attempted to calm the beast," Luna said, "but surely a creature like that could not be reasoned with. How is it that she escaped injury?"
"Apparently, Twilight pushed her out of the way just in time."
Luna gasped slightly. "How did dear Twilight avoid injury then?"
"Well," Celestia said, her tone betraying no emotion, "according to what she told me, she was quite simply cut in half."
The silence in the room was deafening. Twilight sat for a moment, and tapped her horn. Had the spell cut out?
"In half." Luna finally spoke.
"Yes." Celestia responded.
"Hemisected."
"Correct."
"Divaricated."
"Indeed."
"Furc-"
"Okay I am not in the mood to deal with this." Celestia interrupted. There was another pause, followed by Luna chuckling slowly.
"Ah. Dear sister, centuries may separate us, but your penchant for pranking remains unchanged." Luna laughed.
Her laughter awkwardly faded away. Silence once again returned, settling over the two eavesdroppers like a blanket made of anvils, but not preventing them from leaning further towards the door.
"What?!" Luna screeched.
"I know!" Celestia shouted in return.
"She just..." Luna made a very undignified squelching noise.
"Indeed! But she got better!"
"Better?!" Luna's tone held nothing but confusion.
"Better! She's right outside the door!"
"Sister, our staff just mopped these floors!"
"Alright, that is not at all what I meant." Celestia said, her tone disgusted. "Wow. No. I did not drag my student's physical halves all the way up the stairs. She's very well and not currently in two pieces."
A long series of confused noises and half formed exclamations tumbled out of Luna's mouth, ending in an incredibly deep breath. Luna breathed deeply and rhythmically for a moment, Celestia waiting in silence all the while.
"So then," Luna eventually managed, "it's alright, the incident is contained entirely to the Element Bearers who were present at the time, nopony else probably observed their battle deep in the Everfree, and we can contain these unexpected effects from public knowledge." Luna breathed deeply one last time, sounding much more calm. "Pray tell, who else aside from Fluttershy and Spike were present?"
"Rainbow Dash and Rarity." Celestia blankly responded.
Silence once again fell over Twilight and Spike while they leaned even closer to the door.
"We are doomed." Luna deadpanned.
"Undoubtedly."
At this point physics remembered that it shouldn't be possible for an alicorn and a dragon to be leaning at a seventy degree angle against a door without pushing it open, and Twilight and Spike both tumbled to the floor at Celestia's hooves. Spike groaned dizzily, and Twilight attempted an innocent smile.
"Uh," Twilight began with a small cough, "so you see, we were... well we weren't quite... it wasn't really-"
"You were eavesdropping." Celestia stated.
"Yeah we were eavesdropping." Twilight said defeatedly. "So what was that about being doomed?"
"Twilight, as it would happen, immortality brings with it some rather peculiar consequences." Luna explained. "Some such consequences lie outside of the self, and instead reside in the hearts and minds of those who trust in immortals such as us. While we may remain like stone pillars of timeless power and security, those around us rise and fall as if they were pillars of sand moved by the winds of time. When one rises from mortality into a higher state of being like you have, and the ponies at large discover it, the effect on the national morale is astonishing in its weight."
Twilight and Spike both stared at each other, then back at Luna. Both of their heads bobbed up and down in slow nods.
"If everyone knows you're immortal now, you'll be paradoxically hounded by ponies trying to alleviate your suffering." Celestia translated blithely.
"Oh." Twilight kept nodding for a second, the movement slowly morphing into confusion. "Wait, my suffering?"
"We would be wise to explain this to you at a later time, after the crisis of which we speak has been averted." Luna said gravely. "For now, it is imperative that we find Rainbow Dash and Rarity before they can speak of your immortality to anypony, if such an outcome can still be avoided."
Twilight waved a hoof and smiled. "Oh, princess, have a bit of faith! I'm sure they haven't spoken a word about it."
Rarity burst into the spa so quickly that the doors both slammed into the opposite wall. She took a deep breath, and tilted her head back in a yell.
"OH DO I EVER HAVE SOME NEWS FOR YOU, DARLINGS!"
Twilight laughed quietly to herself, stopping when she realized it sounded a whole lot more defeated than she had meant it to.
"Yeah okay all of Ponyville probably knows by now." Twilight sighed.
"Probably a lot of Canterlot too." Spike added. Twilight shot him a withering look, to which he shrugged in response. "What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking."
Celestia frowned. "We must hope that the news is not that widespread yet. For now, I believe we may be able to contain the situation if we act before the newspapers can get ahold of the story."
With that, the three princesses and one dragon set off.
Stats
Page generated in 0.018 seconds
Total duration
1,027 users online
1,292,987 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Bearers.
Celestia, Luna, you're supposed to warn the newbies about this sort of thing...
This reminds me of something I wrote.
In half?
"Got better"
This instantly popped into my kind:
effect
Ha. Ha.
I love the timing and delivery of that line.
Phew. For the first few paragraphs there, I thought Celestia was going to inform Twilight that Alicorns are like starfishes, and that there were two of her now.
She turned me into a newt!
Nice reference.
Uh, what? maybe you mean Bearers, i think?
should be effect, me thinks.
7489946 That gives me an interesting story idea; let me think about how I want the question to present itself...
Also, this exchange reminded me of the one where Twilight turns all her friends into liches.
effect, in this context.
SOLD. And sold hard.
Brilliant work, mate.
~Skeeter The Lurker
....Ssshhheeeeeeee-it.
This could have some unfortunate consequences.
In other news, I am sold, mind, body, and soul.
Waitaminute.
Howzat? Are they trying to kill her?
7489039
Ditto, VERY MUCH Ditto!
What's this censorship bullshit from the princesses? They mist have studied at the CIA.
So much for freedom of the press, Equestria is a tyranny.
7804420 they are keeping it from the public so ponies dont start trying to offer 'alleviation from her suffering'. My best guess is they had the same problem.
[youtube=MlrsqGal64w]
I know Twilight can't be a dim wit... she's a half wit.
>immortal
>perfectly bisected
>there is only one of her
Booo! How unrealistic! Booo!
8174186
The halves probably pulled together like some horror movie
Ok this ABSOLUTELY NEEDS to be expanded upon! What were they fighting? How exactly did Twilight heal herself? What kind of chaos will she face from the populace now that they’ve learned of her immortality?
Wait, but I thought everyone already knew that Allicorns are immortal? It should be obvious since Celestia is over 1000 years old.
11778856
Ponies are aware that alicorns have either an incredibly long lifespan or are completely ageless, which would make them 'effectively immortal'.
Not being able to die to illness or lethal wounds is a very different and far more literal form of immortality.
The whole pseudo-virtuous 'outliving your friends' bs aside, eternity is a long time and being forced to live for literally forever, without the option to decide for yourself that you've had enough of this form of existence ... well, calling the late stages of such a life a curse wouldn't be unreasonable. It would depend on the individual and how much life the can endure.