Worlds Apart

by Incandesca

Many Moons Later

Through the forest canopy, twiddling fingers of orange-pink light dappled the ground where two pairs of tiny hooves scampered. The sound of giggling fillies intermingled with the sounds of nature, and to those whom it belonged wove about the trees stretching high above them

Father had forbade them from the woods, warning of the potential dangers lurking within, but Luna hadn't paid it any heed. In her mind, any monsters that might spring from the shadows would be struck down by her awesome might. It was ironic, Celestia thought, given the fright a murkbeast had given her that past summer. Ever since, she'd refused to go near the lake without their parents. The fact murkbeasts were entirely harmless and ate nothing but crustaceans and algae blooms hardly seemed to matter.

Such being it was that they found themselves here to play their little games. Celestia had needed some convincing to go along with it, but it didn't take long at all for her to concede. With springtime well underway, she couldn't resist the forest's beauteous allure with its verdant greens and brilliant blossoms.

Father wouldn't return home for another fortnite, off to the city to do whatever it was he did that put food on the table. Mother meanwhile got so often wrapped up in her artworks that the pair could slip out from their cottage's yard to the treeline with as much ease as a mouse. An afternoon's span could pass before they'd draw suspicion, and in that time a whole wealth of grand adventures could be had.

They were engaged in one of their favorites - sailors versus swashbucklers. As Luna chased her through the wood, the folded hat made from paper the filly wore and the eyepatch and bandana she herself boasted made it clear which of them took up which role. In both their magical grips were held aloft a matching set of wooden swords, glancing this way and that with clumsy childish practice between girlish screams of delight and yo-ho-hos.

Hopping over a stray log, Celestia turned on her hindhooves, bringing up her blade in a defensive posture. Luna took this for an opening, foolishly, and her attempt at Celestia's heart was blocked effortlessly.

The battle continued from there, sometimes running and other times standing. Branches were snapped underhoof and bird's nests disturbed by the wooden thunk of oaken weapon against tree trunk. Gradually, the light of sunset began to fade to a purplish blue, announcing the time for making way back would come soon.

When it came to their play fights, Celestia never much cared who won or lost, but the same could not be said of her younger. Luna was a fierce competitor - although blessedly not the sort to cry foul when fairly defeated - but she knew Luna would not allow them to retreat homewards until one of them was the victor.

Celestia stopped to make her final play, even if that meant shameful surrender. Luna may have found such an action boring, but she wouldn't deny a victory by default. All that Celestia was concerned for was wrapping up cozy with sister and mother alike over good warm stew and cups of fresh-squeezed peach juice. The pink-haired foal's tummy rumbled and tongue grew dry at the very thought.

She readied her sword as Luna approached, heart thumping rapidly against her small chest in anticipation, only for the other filly to keep on right past her. Confused, Celestia turned tail to follow, but could find no trace of her. She stayed quiet and careful as she tread, wondering and becoming fearful of the increasingly intrusive thoughts of what might have spurned her sister so. Had there perhaps been a timberwolf, or stars forbid a manticore? But surely, if that had been the case, Luna would have spared to mention, wouldn't she?

The unicorn swallowed and cast a glance at the area surrounding in a new, more grim light. Shadows which had seconds prior gone unnoticed now lept about in creeping ways, contorting to coalesce unknowns that promised terrible fates for young fillies like her. That she called out to Luna and received no answer only heightened her fears.

Then, with a suddenness that made her heart leap to her throat, Luna cackled and pounced on her from a tree above. Celestia was too paralyzed to act, and it was with a satisfying thud of the wooden plaything against her withers that Luna claimed winner.

---

I was pulled from the memory by the telltale sound of a letter's arrival. All around me, the details of the memory dissipated, falling into reality like the drawing of a curtain. I sighed and turned to my desk to see who it was that had interrupted me. Though, for as much as I wanted to be annoyed, the memory spell had nearly wrapped up anyways.

The memory spell was quite the thing indeed, something that only a caster of truly powerful persuasion might be capable of conjuring successfully. It had served me well in times past and on days such as these. The Luna which I shared them with may not have been true in the realest sense, but her presence was a consolation without which I could scarcely cope. Seeing her, touching her, so long after she'd gone from my life outside of dream or mind's eye was a gift I never once took for granted.

It was that which kept me going through the long years, mundane and uneventful as they were. One thing a pony learns after the loss of someone they love is that the period of mourning never truly ends. One might deign to recover, put the broken pieces back together, but the ghosts you leave behind follow you to the ends of the earth.

I was blessed in innumerable ways. The gold of my crown indeed could weigh heavy, but it also permitted me problems to focus my attentions upon. Diplomacy, ensuring fair elections, regulating the kingdom, and overseeing parliament - dull or grating as the role of monarch might be, it kept the dark waters at bay.

And between those duties, it was not as if I hadn't ponies to forge relations with or the little things that brought a smile to my lips. Maybe those little things were silly in the face of my history but the value of a properly entertaining play or friendly hello could not be understated, at least to my mind. It was then that perhaps some might view my reminiscence of events centuries buried with worry that I clung too tightly to the past rather than standing in the present and looking to the future, but my ability to live those moments again was just another little thing to improve my day. It was peace. It was solace, in a world relegated now to the yellowed pages of dusty tomes and cobwebbed archives.

There was that, and the pursuit to make the need for those living memories unnecessary.

After that terrible night, it took a long time to feel close to normal again - close to, for in the wake of such a trauma 'normal' could never be re-attained. My days were gone about mechanically, from dusk till dawn in a hazy stupor. The seasons passed and the world spun as it always had, caring for my plight no more and no less than the passing of a fly. Everything was gray then, from the winter ice to the summer fields. My eyes registered the colors, my brain processed them, but to me they appeared as vibrant as a charcoal sketch.

Then there came anger, a bitter and restrained breed of scorn that made me - to my great regret - resent the world around me. Neither universe nor pony went unnoticed by my secret wrath. How dare they continue about their lives? How dare the planets revolve and leaves change? How dare the constellations shift after what had happened to me?

Humility took residence, eventually. Though I'd not on a single occasion spoken those contemptible thoughts, I'd been arrogant and selfish to think them at all. I had no right to demand time stop for me and me alone, regardless of my grief. Countless before me had experienced the same or worse, and while immortality extended my own there were more important things to concern myself with than mistakes of the past.

One of those important things, among the likes of transforming the fledgling nation of Equestria into a prosperous homeland for all my subjects, was bringing Luna back to me. When the clouds of initial mourning had passed and rendered my judgement more clear, I came to the understanding that what I had done was not permanent. It was a revelation years in the making through the deep studies of the Elements and their powers. They were not merely a weapon to beat back the evils of the realm, but a set of tools left behind for generations of souls to utilize on the road to a better tomorrow.

They could be used for destruction as much as banishment, and in the right hooves even reformation. They could bind, tying the bearers of harmony to lead the way to a brighter future.

But I would not be the one to use them in that fashion. I, as one mere mare, could only do so much with them, and it was at that realization I constructed a plan.

That plan had taken decades to unfurl, and longer to formulate, but on this day I would see to it the fruits of my labor be reaped. The stars would aid in her escape, and I would have my sister back.

Coming to my place in front of the fire, I pulled a cushion from my bed and set it down. The letter followed, and behind it unspoiled parchment and inkwell for writing a return if needs be.

The seal enlightened me to the sender of the missive instantly. I had seen its gold pin and scarlet ribbon time and again for the past several years.

A smile curled its way onto my lips - my faithful student had addressed me. Any faint irritation that lingered at the worry of another trifling political matter clawing for my opinion melted away. From foalhood to the brilliant young mare I'd had the privilege to watch her become, each letter she'd sent my way was like a little gift, no matter how trivial the contents within.

Undoing the pin and allowing the scroll to unfold, I had my inklings to the purpose of this message far before my eyes read 'Dear'.

It wasn't as if I hadn't orchestrated for this exact happenstance from the beginning. I'd left that tome of ancient myths and mysteries in the bookshelf of her study room for a reason. She would recall it eventually, helped along with the nudge of a vague word here and there to jostle her memory.

Naturally, I wrote the only thing I could, and I wondered if she would ever look over it again in the future should my machinations succeed. Nary a lie did I offer in reply. There was nothing untrue about the sentiments imparted. After all, she would never know to use the Elements if she never made friends.

Perhaps it was wrong of me, however. I wasn't blind to my own manipulations, but I couldn't foresee another possibility for ensuring my oldest, deepest regret be remedied. Whom else could claim they'd have so much as the barest opportunity to do such?

No, I had made that decision long ago. I did not feel guilt for my actions, not when it came to matters of blood. What she did not know did not harm her, and I had never falsified any achievement of hers. Those were her own to boast, her own pride to claim. It might indeed have been true that she was chosen because the piece she embodied fit perfectly into the puzzle and not simply due to her arcane acumen, but I did care for her. I loved her even, as if she were a daughter.

If she learned the truth, I couldn't help to think of how she might react. She may come to hate me, but it was a steep price I was willing to pay.

The only thing I regretted in my ambitions was my first failure. She hadn't been the first one I'd selected - not the first to show the same promise. But in my eagerness to see my will be done, I had fallen into the very same trap which had lost me my only kin. For her, I did not know if I could reconcile. I could only hope.

For Twilight at least, I could be proud.

---

It was towards eventide when I decided to depart from Canterlot. Tonight would be the night of the Summer Sun Celebration in that quaint, queer little town of Ponyville, so it came expected that I travel beyond the mountain city's borders. Guards looked upon me strangely when I'd told them to forgo the chariot and that I would be flying alone, but they did not press the issue. I was the Princess, and regardless of what others thought best for me, they did not hold the power to change how I cared for myself.

To make certain I'd not flag attention, I cast an invisibility cloak over myself before taking off. This flight was a personal one, and I was wary of prying eyes. I did, however, have some guilts over the ponies of Ponyville. They were expecting my arrival shortly, including my faithful student, but I was not to show.

Instead, as I swooped over the rooftops of the city, I adjusted course slightly west of the town. There, flanking the valley, was a great sprawling expanse of deadly thicket. Pointedly, the memory spell from earlier rose to the forefront of my mind - flashes of a smaller village, a friendlier forest, a time both kinder and harsher than today.

The winds picked up as I lowered into my descent, sheer rocky cliffs of the great mountain amplifying the inertia my wings created. In flights such as these, I couldn't halt my thoughts from running philosophical. It put both myself and the tiny, private worlds of my subjects in perspective to look down on them like so. Fragile was the word that came to head. Save my power and the extensions it afforded me, I was not so different from them. It reminded me, inexorably, of why I bore the weight of my crown. My purpose in being put upon this earth was to protect and nurture, for every one of them down to the littlest foal was deserving of a happy and fulfilling existence. Their time to attain such was limited; no such limit existed for me, and that was why my duty was so important.

The dark treetops wavered beneath my wing's buffets as I drew ever closer to the forest. The Everfree it was called now, from what I'd gathered. Not so distant from here was the Whitetail Wood, a far closer version of the forest I'd known as a filly than this wild place.

Parting the leaves as if they were air, I landed upon the loamy ground with a thump. Instantly as a blink, my surroundings went from the still present light of setting sun to a dreary dimension of dark, rich greens and browns. Through the blanket of canopy, not a single ray of sun or moon could pierce and light a traveller's way. The world of the Everfree was wholly different from the one outside it, down to the weather itself.

Dropping the cloak from my form, snouts and eyes and angry teeth peered at me from the blackness between the twisted trunks. This region was host to all manner of dire creature, from those I'd known to fear in fillyhood to new horrors I'd seen only in anatomical illustrations.

For any normal visitor, the Everfree was an awful den to be avoided at all cost. For one the likes of myself, the danger was purely aesthetic. Despite the growls and saliva-dripping maws hoofsteps from my throat, none dared to brave beyond the precipice. They knew my strength and the magic I wielded, and only the mentally ill-fit of them would attempt for me.

The walk took longer than I'd anticipated. The path beneath me was only a whisper now, vaguely familiar but distorted by the Everfree's growth and passage of years. Few cobbles from the ancient street poked through, the rest swallowed up by soil and choked by gnarling coils of roots and vines.

It was difficult to think this place had once been a bustling metropolis, not unlike Canterlot or Manehattan in modern terms, but time had a way of changing things. That was eras away, when the sculpt of the land itself was different. If the flight here had not been humbling, the understanding that these thick woods were all that remained of Equestria's previous capitol was supremely so.

And there it was, where the trees and unrestrained undergrowth tapered out. A shadow of its former self it was, but a landmark nonetheless. The lone reason I could guess as to how it stood the test of time was the hidden magic within, beating back the consuming mouth of the forest.

It had been centuries since I'd last laid eyes upon my - our - old castle. And what a sad state it had fallen into. Once strong impenetrable walls of stone had worn and crumbled, the reinforcement enchantments having dissipated generations ago with no one left to renew them.

Inside the castle, things were surprisingly intact, but no less decrepit. Hallways and corridors were lightless as they were lifeless, the fading glow of my sun providing all there was in way of illumination. Where the ceilings remained and windows lacked, I was forced to light my surroundings myself to expunge the otherwise pitch atmosphere.

To my quiet surprise, anything of organic make was nearly untouched. Dusty and eaten by moths though they were, no mold or rot had marred them in all the decades. Door hinges creaked, but doors themselves did not fall. Books and carpets were as usable as the day they'd been abandoned, save some minor refurbishments.

Fascinating as this all was, to see how these dwellings had changed in the absence of mare, it was not why I'd come.

Walking past the rooms which had been mine and my sister's, I fleetingly thought of peering in. With some reluctance I pushed open the door to the latter's, I was met by a heart-stopping sight.

Even now, after all this time, it looked the same. When the city had been evacuated, I'd taken many of her possessions with me for keepsake, but the remainder was left alone. Her bed, shelves, and carpet all stood as the day they were cleaned - no holes, no webs, not even a mote of dust.

I swallowed hard. A lump had formed in my throat stubbornly refused to go down. I didn't know how, what kind of spell she must've employed, but that pony had stuck to her promise. Even in death, she'd preserved this place, just for me.

Bowing my head in reverence, I backed away and shut the door to leave it undisturbed. I tried not to lament that she'd been buried in the city graveyard before the collapse, and that it was likely I'd never find her to pay my respects.

Sighing, I finally resolved to where I'd intended to go from the beginning. The courtyard was a short jaunt from the main body, and it was where I'd sit when she returned.

Tilting my chin towards the sky, I settled in against the ground and pressed my flank to the overgrown grass. Evening was soon to come, and after morning, if my beliefs held firm. My magic came alight and it was not the moon I focused on as I began the process of unwinding.

I'd loved her. I'd missed her, all this time, all these miles away. I did still, or fate would not deem it I be here doing as I did

I had faith in my most faithful student to do what was right. A plan generations in the making would come to fruition, and a grave folly a thousand years committed would be undone..
The stars would aid in her escape, and I would gaze upon the face of my sister once again..

Author's Note:

Wow this thing has been through a lot. Took me many reconsiderations to get this thing into its final state. I actually wrote the first chapter for it all the way back last October, but never went further.

Then I rewrote it in August, and had thought of publishing it that month, but realized with how many things I had on my plate it was going to be too much. September came and went, and I didn't get anything else done until the final chapter these last couple days.

So, after trials and tribulations that could be a story in and of itself, here it is. Figured it'd be fitting to publish on one of the series' anniversaries.

I also placed a few challenges on myself for this one.

The first was writing in first person, seeing as I only ever write in third. There's the obvious exception of this rule at the start of this chapter, but I felt the stylistic distinguishment justification enough.

The second was no dialogue. I could describe general conversations and sentiments, but nothing word for word. This was mostly to challenge myself as already mentioned, but I think it serves the story's framing of being very much inside Celestia's mind and seeing the world through her eyes -- my interpretation of her at least - rather than a more objective standpoint.

The last was to include at least some lyrics from Lullaby for a Princess in each chapter, as that song and animation was what gave me the inspiration for this story in the first place. I'm sure all you intelligent, attractive readers out there can find them. It's not like I tried to hide them honestly.

So, after that mini-essay of an author's note, I hope y'all enjoy. Let me know what you thought and felt, and feel free to offer criticism. I'm always looking to improve.

Comments

[new55]

That was a Really good story.

[Flora Blossom]

10/10 story!!!! What a great masterpiece!

[neutralmilk]

Been a while since I revisited this story. Just as good as the first time. Thanks for writing it. Definitely deserved more attention, in my opinion!