seven
Twilight walked through the lengths of Canterlot like she was in a dream. When she reached the gates to the Royal Palace, the guards allowed her inside without question or hesitation. It was almost as though the young apprentice had never left the place. This was, after all, her home away from home. Princess Celestia had promised that to her long ago.
Princess Celestia had promised Twilight Sparkle a lot of things.
Trotting down the lavish, grand hallways towards the royal chamber, Twilight glanced at row after row of portraits on either side of her. Images and profiles of magicians long dead loomed above, stretched like shadows by the weight of time. She wondered if someday she too would be reduced to a graven image blanketing a dusty wall of the labyrinthine castle, or if perhaps her legacy would be too muddied to earn so much as a footnote in history.
The eyes of standing guards followed her, a gesture that the apprentice had earned over a decade previous when she was an innocent little filly, running back and forth from one study room to the next before them. There was a time when Twilight knew the names of each of these armored pegasi like they were distant family. Now, the air about the place was cold, stale, devoid of color. She imagined the rigid words of Celestia stretching across a parchment of paper, emotionlessly issuing their heinous command; Twilight had no doubt that such pitiless words started here, born between the staunch marble columns, fueled by the shadows that lingered amongst the ghosts of history.
When she reached the door to Celestia's throne room, her shadow formed a trembling silhouette against the golden finish. She was nothing now but the shade of the petrified unicorn who stood on Mount Mare the day previous. The apprentice who existed beforehand was gone, and in its place stood something braver. She only trembled because she knew that there was nothing beyond this, no future, no hope of salvation. She was about to see the Princess, and it was to be her last time.
After a brief exchange with the lead guard, the doors opened. Twilight saw the shimmering visage of her mentor instantly, and her heart leapt and sank at once. Shifting the weight of her saddlebag, she marched firmly ahead. Several guards were trotting past her, exiting the throne room by Celestia's command. Soon, the doors closed behind her, and the unicorn stood alone in the aura of Equestria's immortal leader.
"Twilight Sparkle." Celestia spoke authoritatively, staring down from her regal perch atop the steep set of stairs. She stood up from the throne and shook her billowing mane towards the ceiling so that she could gaze at her student, unimpeded. "This is most unexpected. What brings you to Canterlot Castle? Shouldn't you be in Ponyville?"
Twilight took a deep breath. Her spirit was already fleeting; it was obvious to her from Celestia's tone that she was disappointed, that she had expected Twilight to be elsewhere, performing her duties... performing the duty. However, there was no place she could afford to be but there. Twilight could no longer turn back.
"Princess Celestia, I've come here bearing the portfolio of all of my magical knowledge, all of my completed lessons, and all of my personal logs of spell-making over the past five years." Twilight took a deep breath. "You may keep them in your personal library if you so wish. I will have no more need for them, starting today."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "No need for them? But..." For the briefest of moments, the almighty and wise ruler of Equestria fumbled for words. She stared incredulously while Twilight stripped of her saddlebag and plopped the offensive item down before the throne. "But, I do not understand, my student." Celestia's rosy eyes glistened. "Why would you give me all of your personal study records?"
"Because..." Twilight Sparkle's lips trembled. She stifled a whimper, then said, "Because I h-hereby resign as your apprentice. I no longer wish to serve the magical arts, Equestria, or even y-you, Your Highness."
Celestia's face was still. Her eyes narrowed; she said nothing.
Twilight's heart beat swiftly. It took all her strength to summon the next breath. "You may take on another apprentice as you see fit, but I humbly request that you do not involve me in anymore of y-your experiments of sorcery or st-studies on friendship." She gulped hard. "Please forgive my boldness, Your Majesty, but I cannot and shall not work for you any longer."
Celestia slowly walked down the stairs, her eyes trained on Twilight the entire time. Her voice was like the ringing of cold metal bars. "And just what, my little pony, has made you come to such a decision?"
"Because..." Twilight Sparkle gritted her teeth, her eyes convulsing. Her voice squeaked quietly, "B-because I have failed you, Your Majesty. I've failed you, and I did so willingly."
Celestia came to a stop on even ground before Twilight and her discarded things. "Did you, now?"
"I could not do what you asked me to in your letters..." Twilight clenched her eyes shut.
Celestia leaned forward. "Twilight—"
Twilight blurted, "I cannot kill my friends!" She opened her eyes, brimming with tears. Bravely, in spite of her spasming sobs, she glared at the Princess and hissed, "I won't do it! You c-cannot make me! Not for Equestria! Not for the Crystal Kingdom! Not for the Elements of Harmony! Not for anything!"
"My student—"
"No!" Twilight growled, falling to her haunches and hyperventilating. "I... I-I am not your student any longer! I c-can't serve a Princess who forgets what it means to be merciful, what it means to be k-kind, or what it means to love other ponies with all one's heart!" She sniffled. "I don't care if I sound biased or selfish or weak! I love my friends! I adore them! They mean more to me than my life and the well-being of Equestria, and I will not destroy th-them for anything! I d-don't care h-how powerful or wise you are!" She briefly buried her face in her forelimbs, heaved, and whimpered, "I'm so sorry, Princess, for letting you down. But I just won't do it. I just won't. You... you c-can punish me all you want to, but leave my friends alone. Please, I beg you..."
At the end of her outburst, Twilight fell prostrate to the floor of the throneroom, shuddering and heaving. She was prepared for a wave of solar magic to knock her off her hooves, or for a beam of light to send her screaming to the moon. She lingered there, in cold silence, punctuated by her weeping breath, until a gentle warm hoof stroked her mane.
"Twilight, your resolve is admirable and inspiring," Celestia's voice soothingly said. "But I must ask: what would ever possess you to think that I would request such a thing?"
Twilight sniffled and gazed up at the Princess, her lips quivering. "You... You..." She blinked wide. "Huh?"
Celestia gazed down at her with a neutral expression. "The very thought of murder is repulsive to me. It always has been and always will be. Even in the face of great adversity, I've never resorted to annihilation, and I refuse to, ever. It is for that reason that an evil as banal as Discord has been banished to stone, instead of erased from this mortal coil." She reached down and tilted Twilight's shivering chin up to stare evenly with her. "Now, please answer my question, Twilight, for you have me at a grave disadvantage. What would make you think that I would ask you to do such a thing, and... to your friends of all ponies?" She finished the last part with a distraught expression unbecoming of an alicorn.
Twilight panted heavily. She stood up on wobbly knees, gulping and stammering, "You... you mean... you mean you d-didn't send those two letters?!"
"What letters might you be referring to?" Celestia leaned her head to the side. "The ones regarding my thoughts on the Crystal Ponies?"
"Princess, that was over four weeks ago!"
"That was the last time you and I held an epistolary conversation."
"You mean to say th-that you know nothing about writing me and t-telling me to destroy the other five bearers of the Element of Harmony?!" Twilight spoke rapidly, her voice dry, her words coming out like chalk bullets sailing out of a gatling gun. "You didn't g-give me a piece of Canterlot Crystal to vaporize my friends with a steam transmogrification spell?"
"Good heavens, no!" Celestia actually gasped. "Twilight, please tell me that you possess these impossible letters of which you speak!"
Twilight practically dove into her saddlebag. She scrambled with her belongings, fumbling with numb hooves. Finally, after what amounted to a frenzied wrestling match with over four dozen sheets of paper, she produced the two dismal scrolls from her pile along with the translucent prism.
Celestia eagerly snatched them in her telekinetic grip and floated the items up to her squinting, studious eyes. After several moments—with Twilight watching in breathless, tail-twitching anticipation—the Princess uttered, "I most certainly did not write these manuscripts. These are forgeries of the most masterful kind. I do not know nor do I pretend to comprehend the type of nefarious mindset behind such a hoax, but I do fear that some evil presence has attempted to deceive you, Twilight."
She took a deep breath, her face hardening into a frown. Celestia lowered the three pieces of evidence beside the throne, her nostrils flaring.
"I must confess: this is not the first time that such a thing has happened. Millennia ago, when I was in a similar, long-distance communication with Starswirl the Bearded, several members of the changeling hive of that time period attempted to convince my loyal apprentice that I wished for him to start a famine across ancient Whinniepeg. He would have followed through with such a ridiculous command, only that the faked documents were replete with errors unbecoming of my penmanship. Thankfully, Starswirl was of both sound mind and conscience; he brought the false material to me, and together we exposed the changeling plot."
Celestia paced around in a tight circle, flexing her wings with an air of passing anger and frustration.
"This troubles me greatly, Twilight. If you received these manuscripts, then some malevolent force must have found a way to directly intercept the leylines through which Spike's emerald breath is bound. The one responsible for this apparently possesses crystals of magical enchantment, which suggests a knowledge of sorcery masterful enough to rival even my own. It is a good thing this was discovered sooner than later."
Scuffling to a stop, Celestia turned around and gazed at Twilight.
"I assure you, my little pony, I will not rest until the Canterlot Guard and I have tracked this evil to its root and imprisoned those responsible. I will not stand for wayward magicians endeavoring to deceive my loyalest of subjects." Celestia paused, her gaze narrowing. "Twilight...?"
Twilight Sparkle had collapsed. She lay low on the floor, her tears forming a tiny puddle on the plush, velvet carpet before the throne.
Softly, Celestia formed a smile. She trotted over, lay down, and stretched a wing over Twilight's trembling form. "Twilight," she said lovingly. "Why do you cry, my pupil?"
"I-I can't believe I was so st-stupid!" Twilight whimpered, covering her leaking eyes. "To think that I fell so easily to such a ruse! I doubted you! I-I even blamed you for things that you didn't do! I'm a horrible student, Celestia. You don't deserve to be the mentor to such a failure."
"And just what failure is that, Twilight?"
"I..." Twilight gulped hard and looked up with a moist face. "But I took the letters at face value and thought that you were actually wanting me to kill my friends—"
"And did you?"
Twilight blinked. Sniffling, she wiped her cheek dry and stammered, "No. Of c-course not. I couldn't..."
"Even if you had no reason to believe that another force was responsible for the false command?"
"They are my friends, Celestia," Twilight said in a shuddering breath. "I couldn't bring myself to hurt them, no matter who I thought was telling me to do so."
"Twilight." Celestia tilted the unicorn’s face to look up at her. She stroked her lavender cheeks dry with a plume of snow white feathers. "You have brought amazement and wonder back into my life. Since the day that I first took you under my wing, you have impressed me time and time again with your insatiable thirst for knowledge and your ability to grow. You have performed feats of magic unheard of for mares your age, outshining the likes of many unicorns to come before you, such as Starswirl himself." With a soft breath, she caressed Twilight and said, "Never in all our years of study together have I been as proud of you as I am right now."
Twilight's breath left her. Her moist eyes twitched. "Pr-proud, Your Majesty?" she breathed.
Celestia gently nodded. "When your spirit was conflicted, when your soul was strained between devotion to me and devotion to your friends, you did exactly what I would have hoped you would do in such a situation."
"I defied a direct order of the Princess..." Twilight winced. "Or, at least, I defied what I thought was a direct order."
"Do you truly believe that I am insulted by that?" Celestia's wings flexed as she said, "Twilight, all of these years, I have taught you the values of harmony and goodness of heart. By refusing to eliminate your closest companions, you have shown me that not only have you retained the knowledge of what you have learned, but you have applied them to the very fiber of your being. You have just now displayed a true value for friendship, a respect for life, and an unwavering faith in righteousness. You didn't need my guidance for that; you relied on your own heart, and you acted upon pure love and devotion. It is this pony that I am proud of, this wise student of good conscience, who rightly deserves every skill I have bequeathed her throughout the years."
Twilight gazed up at the Princess. Her lips struggled to form a smile against her grimacing sob. "I was so afraid... so afraid th-that I would be wrong and you w-would take me away from my friends forever..."
"Shhhh..." Celestia raised a hoof to calm Twilight's shivers. "You are so very righteous, Twilight. Look into your heart. Once you see the goodness that lies there, you will realize that there is nothing to fear, for you have conquered all."
Twilight took several heavy breaths. She smiled, and when she did she had her eyes clenched shut. More tears squirmed out, but they were warmer this time. She buried her face in Celestia's side as her whole body melted with contentment. "Thank you, Princess," she murmured. A hiccuping spasm jolted through her body, forcing the next few words effortlessly out of her mouth: "I love you so much."
"And I cherish you, my student," Celestia said, nuzzling Twilight dearly. "So long as you live and grow in this world, I see hope."
Twilight chuckled, her smile becoming more and more placid as she rested in Celestia's embrace. The alicorn patiently held her until her sobs resided, and soon the walls of the throne room echoed only with stories and laughter.
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Well, this was the obvious answer. I am just a bit disappointed, given I was expecting something... more unexpected, thus the unexpected was expected... if that makes any logical sense.
Now I expect the next chapter will be completely unexpected.
Hmm...I'm not buying it.
I had a feeling it wasn't celly who was writing those letters.
Well, I kinda expected this.
Keep in mind I still love your work and this story.
LAAAAAAAAAAAME.
If I don't read the last few chapters, can I pretend this is the actual ending?
What if the real Celestia wrote the letters and this one is a changeling?
1740435 if there were words stronger than "seconded" to convey my agreement, I would use them. The Trope, however, speaks for itself.
"It is for that reason that an evil as banal as Discord has been banished to stone, instead of erased from this mortal coil"
Wait, Discord is "So lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring"? Did you mean something different?
Ah, there we go. That was well handled.
Got a V for Vendetta vibe for a second there. Half expected Twilight to start reading autobiographies on toilet paper.
It really would've blown if Twilight had actually killed her friends.
Also, SURPRISE PLOT TWIST!
Celestia is lying. I think it would violate the rules of the prompt if it was otherwise.
Now just for the other hints. Wavebreaker is obviously making the wrong choice. Rarity is making scarves, maybe to hide something? Bite marks of the vampony?
Yeah, I kind of fucking called it back when she first received the letter telling her to kill the other Elements.
Seriously, Tyrant!Celestia never shows up in any well made fanfictions, at least that I've seen. And it seems that still holds true.
Eeeeeeeeeeppppp, its not over yet, Damn you SS&E , This is going to be horrible isn't it?
I love how this was the "obvious" yet in this fandom, with it's vast amount of possibilities, it was still a nice surprise. Yeah seriously I was banking on a corrupt Celestia there for a sec
. Still a few chapters to read, I do hope thou the force behind the deception isn't as "obvious" though. 
1767723
I was expecting the letter to be completely correct, and then everything would go horribly wrong and be ruined forever because Twilight couldn't kill her friends. I was actually quite surprised when Celestia didn't launch into a speech about how Twilight had doomed the world.
YES, I knew it was a forgery, thank Celestia Twilight couldn't bring herself to kill her friends
Well this turned out better than expected. I'm still wary, though. Who set this up? And why would they want Twilight to kill the elements? Twilight needs to show Celestia the evil crystal (Sombra?) before it sucks out someone's soul or something, and they both need to get back to Ponyville pronto, before the evil thing tries to off the other elements in Twilight's absence. Onward!
Yeah, this celestia is a changling and i bet the other mane 6 are too. That would be a cool ending.
Wait. Whinnipeg...I know this is a little lait to comment, but was that a dirrect referance to The Duchess of Winnpag from ASOUE?
Holy fuck, I'm actually crying.
Things went better than expected
I still have my eye on this story though! 
I fully expect things to go very sour very fast...
1738892 Discord.
Huh, and here I thought that Celestia had been possessed by an evil spirit or something.
I was betting that Twi would (at least try to) disintegrate Evil Celestia, but this, and...I am confuzzle.
I'm not buying it. Celestia's gone bad, I just know it.
Heh, the bad guy still wins. She may not have killed them, but now she's not there to protect them either. They don't stand a chance against a powerful sorcerer without twilight to counter their magic.
Huh. I was convinced that Celestia was either right (unlikely) or evil (more likely), but a third option?
At least it wasn't some kind of bullshit test.