Unfortunate Side Effects

by DWhay

First published 21st of September, 2013

Twilight comes to terms with being an alicorn.

Although it's been almost a week since Twilight changed into an alicorn, she can still feel the consequences of her decision echoing. Strange things begin to happen around her, and it may be up to Spike to figure out just what's happening, and what Celestia failed to explain to Twilight the very first time they met.

Meanwhile, Twilight struggles against her developing darker self, trapped in in her own mind until her antithesis is banished, or she is.

Picture credit goes out to turbosolid on deviantArt.

Prologue: Discovery

'Ten to the right, and seven down' Spike counted, setting books on their
appropriate shelves. 'I wonder why Twilight has me doing this?' He thought to himself. 'I
only rearranged the library last week, and she knows nothing's been checked out since
then... maybe it's because she's stressed... I heard her talking to herself yesterday, and
she keeps doing that thing where she paces in a circle.'

Outside the library a light drizzle fell, the occasional thick raindrop smacking
the window, out of tune with the others. The moon hung low over the trees, making its
slow climb up to the top of the heavens and casting a silver glow down on the buildings
below. The crisp autumn wind drove all into their homes, wet leaves absorbing the rain
or dissolving into ruddy brown and copper flecks. Soon snow would begin to fall in
Ponyville, and the winter festivities would begin. The collecting of the leaves and the
warm fires would start. But for now all that seemed worlds away in the tide of the brisk
fall gale.

As painstaking as organizing the whole library was, Spike had the feeling that
something was amiss with Twilight. She seemed different since her talk with Celestia, a
short three days ago in the wake of the personality-swapping bedlam. Every day she woke
up more tense, and whenever he would ask to make her something she would always
turn it away, no matter how extravagant the dish he'd offer to procure. Even tea was
beginning to be turned down. For Twilight that was like forgetting to breathe. As wrong
as it felt, he was beginning to worry for her well-being, whereas normally she was the
one fretting over his. So he'd made a resolution. If things kept getting worse, he would
ask her about it.

With that he picked up the last book and put it away, snugly fitting it between
two thick tomes on the history of pegasus casting rituals. Sighing, the young dragon
descended the ladder, hoping that he could get upstairs in time to catch Twilight awake.
She was sleeping a lot more than usual; extremely odd for a pony as owlish as her. Every
other month she stayed up until at least three in the morning and caught an hour or two
of sleep. Now it seemed to be her most absorbing activity. She slept from roughly six at
night until nine the next day sometimes. Then she always woke up looking awful, saying
she wasn't rested and hadn't slept a wink. The more Spike thought about it, the more he
saw that was askew with his caretaker.

As he set the stool against the wall in the cupboard, he turned to see that the
curtains were drawn. Just a moment ago he'd sworn that they were open, letting in a
small ray of moonlight. Another queer phenomenon that was becoming more and more
frequent as the days went on. Objects would move without warning, with no hint of the
aura that usually accompanied magic. Cups would float up to their respective cupboards,
which would open and then allow its contents to be stacked neatly before closing. Plates
he had to wash would wash themselves, the curtains would draw themselves, chairs
would straighten as you walked into the room, among many others. It was nice to have
the household tidy itself, but in a way it was also bothered him in a way words couldn't describe.

The sudden urge to cough clawed at the back of his throat. That only meant one
thing. Clearing his throat dutifully, he breathed a jet of green flame, which then took
the form of a scroll. Spike expertly caught it and prepared to march upstairs to set it on
Twilight's nightstand for when she woke. But something stopped him. An urge he'd never
felt before. It was strictly against Twilight's rules to ever open a letter from anypony
without her express permission. Despite that, he felt the urge to break the wax seal on
the scroll and read it. Something told him that whatever was written there was the
whole reason why his guardian was acting how she was. Almost against his will and
directly opposite his better judgment, he felt his claw slide across the parchment, separating the two ends of the paper in a seamlessly straight line.

'Dear Twilight,

I know that you're under a great deal of stress right now, but please try not to
panic. As I explained in my previous letter, eventually your body will adjust to the amount
of magic you are now capable of producing. I'm also afraid that, although I put my best
efforts into it and several of my best researchers did as well, I have found no way to
change you into a unicorn again. Even more grim, what I have found is that if you were to
become just a unicorn yet again, you would... meet an unfortunate fate. The amount of
energy you contain cannot be contained in any lesser creature, and there are rare few
whom could hold more. For now it is simply best that you stay as you currently are and
acclimate to your new-found abilities.

On a less civil note, I'm sorry to tell you that there will be a long list of things that will begin to change about you in the very near future. For one, you will begin to feel ill. I have to ask you to refrain from eating or drinking anything right now, as any interference with your metamorphosis could cause unbearable pain. Avoid light sources, as your eyes will be especially sensitive from here on out. Finally, you may have very real physical changes in your anatomy besides the obvious exclusion of having wings. These might be pointing of the ears, mane-color changing, increased strength, sharper fangs, alterations to your Cutie Mark, and finally, much to your displeasure, a heightened sense of touch. It can make something as simple as bumping into a bench excruciating.

Finally, I have to include a few things I found about what may happen to you mentally. My research says that you may lose sight of who you are for a while, in the face of the sudden change to your body and drastically heightened senses. You may have an encounter with the 'Anti-Twilight', as it is. Both me and Luna have an antithesis, so I have no reason to think you will be exempt from this pattern. Also, things you may have found appalling may very suddenly seem like explorable venues. I must ask that you make sure you have a moral anchor, otherwise your dementia may be far more severe, and you might not like what you did during your psychosis.

If you need to contact me personally for any reason, I have imbued a
teleportation spell into the parchment on the scroll. It will bring you to me no matter
what the distance, and may be activated by saying my name three times.

P.S. I beg of you, please keep all of this from your friends and report any
strange symptoms to me as fast as you can manage. I don't remember when I became an
alicorn, nor is there records of my youth, but if there is any way I can alleviate any
discomfort I will do so.

Your Friend,

Celestia '

Spike's head was spinning at what he'd just read. When he'd seen Twilight with
her wings she had told him that it was 'merely cosmetic' and that it didn't really make
her an alicorn. She had lied to him. Since then her wings were gone, but he couldn't
help but think that she was hiding something from him. Now he knew, the whole three
days she'd been avoiding him by locking herself in her room and pretending to sleep.
Feigning illness so that she could spare him and her friends the gory details of her
transformation. As much as he sympathized with her, Spike felt slightly hurt by her
secrecy. If anything, having her friends know would make it all the more bearable.

Biting his lip, he set towards the stairs. He didn't know how he was going to tell
her that he had completely disobeyed her rules and broken her trust. But if she used it
against him he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself from telling her that she had
broken his, and what he did was no worse than her crime. Even though inside he knew it
was juvenile, using the 'eye for an eye' argument. Just as his hand was about to reach
for the door handle, it opened.

Twilight was sitting on her bed, in front of the window with the high moon in
front of her, basking her in it's silver light. Spike could only see her outline, standing
down by the door, in the head of her long shadow. As he stepped inside the door closed
silently, the slight 'click' of the lock the only clue it had shut. Twilight opened her wings,
and in response her shadow did the same, the tips of her feathers touching either side of
the room. Her real wings were about three times her width, each flight feather only
slightly allowing the light from the moon to pass through, making a misty, opaque pink
mist spread over the walls behind her.

Spike cleared his throat to begin his explanation when his mentor rose from
her bed, walking down the stairs as silently as a leopard. He gulped down air instead,
fearing that she would be more upset at him that what he'd first thought. As she walked
towards him, a plethora of candles lit themselves on a table that Spike hadn't noticed
before, in the very center of the room. The flames were an eerie purple, revealing
Twilight striding in his direction, a phantom cloaked in mauve. Just as she was in front
of him, she stopped, standing before him and letting out a very tired, lethargic sigh.

"If I told you once, I've told you a million times, Spike." She breathed, the scroll
jerking from his grasp. "Don't read my mail."

In a seemingly short two sentences she had summed up the emotions roiling
for attention in her heart. Her tone expressed pain, and she showed it in her eyes as
plainly as if she had written it there. The way she moved seemed slow, indecisive. To say
that Spike was reading her like a book would be a perfect description. He could tell by
the way she kept shuffling her hooves that she was wondering just how much to tell him
about her transformation. How she was going to tell him she was now an alicorn, and
might just be forced into being a princess.

"Spike. I want you to know that I'm still your mentor, and the pony that hatched
you all those years ago. With that said... I'm going to have to tell you something that I'm
not proud of."

"Yeah, I know. You lied to me and-" He began

"No, not that. I need to tell you that I might go away, soon. Very soon. And if you
decide to follow me, you will never see Ponyville again. We'll have to go to Canterlot.
It's the only safe place for me right now. And by default, everypony I call a friend has to come too."

Spike had barely processed the words when he protested. "Why would we have
to leave? You're an alicorn now, what could possibly put you in danger?"

"Chrysalis." Twilight said, bowing her head. "Discord. Luna is having trouble
with her nightmares again. Maybe Nightmare Moon will try to come after me. Anypony
who wants a bargaining chip against Celestia will be on the hunt once news gets out
about this. And it will. The worst part is that, for now, I'm just as strong as any regular
old unicorn. Not even that. I'm weak. I can't eat anything. I can't sleep. Sometimes I
forget to breathe and then realize I've been holding my breathe for an hour. Time
passes... so slowly, it's like the clock ticks backwards sometimes. I see things, and those
are the ones I've experienced so far. I can't even imagine what's going to happen later."

"Why can't Celestia just come here?"

"She prefers the protection that comes with a three millennia of overlapped
protective spells, hard stone walls and an army of guards patrolling at all hours."

Spike fell silent. That was hard to argue with. Twilight turned her back to him
and pulled a book from her bed, levitating it over to him with magic. She felt herself
slipping every second that she spent idling. If she wasn't focused, it was as if a fog would
settle on her mind and she couldn't find the right thoughts. Even words became hard to
locate if she failed to concentrate. She was fighting a losing battle against her own body,
and soon she would have to face it that she would lose control. She didn't know what
would happen when she did, but she knew that she wouldn't be the calm, collective mare
she was anymore.

"Spike... you can set the scroll on the table. That book goes in section A-7."

Just as Spike was leaving she shot over her shoulder. "Oh, and bring me a copy
of 'Binding the Untouchable: A guide on mental manipulations', please..."

When Spike had left she let her composure slip. Tears formed in her eyes the
size of marbles, three days worth of frustration held in the crystalline droplets. Twilight
didn’t know when she'd lose her sanity, or to what degree, but she knew it would happen.
Within the next two weeks, she would snap. She would lose her battle with the mist that
hung at the edges of her mind, and she would lose herself in it. Something in there was
calling her, an archaic beacon that she didn't have the will to resist. All she could do was pray that she was far away from anypony she held dear when she finally lost control.

Author's Notes:

Hello Everypony!I'm so glad to be back because now I can start working to bring you guys fanfiction again! After a lot of deliberation, I decided that an appropriate ramifications list of becoming an alicorn should be explored. Thus, this story. Anyways, questions and comments can be left directly down there, but I realize at this point that everpony still thinks I'm belly-up as a writer. So I don't expect many, and that's okay. Anypony who still knows I exist can acknowledge it with their review/comment/criticism.

(P.S. Sorry about that moderators, it's been a while and I'm still adjusting to all the new changes.)

Thank you, I look forward to writing for you yet again.

A Stage is Set

‘Dear Princess Luna,

I don’t really know why I’m sending this letter to you, but I don’t have anypony else who’ll tell me the truth. Twilight Sparkle, the mare that you first met back on Nightmare Night, is becoming an alicorn, and I don’t think that Twilight or Celestia are telling me the truth about what’s happening here. I don’t even think that Twilight actually knows the whole story. I know I sure don’t. And that’s why I’m writing to you, because I can’t trust your sister. She is holding something from Twilight, and me, and everypony involved. I don’t know what I should do, or even if I should tell Twilight’s friends. But something tells me the longer I wait, the worse this is going to get. I need your help.

Please reply soon,

Spike the Dragon ‘

Spike sat back and examined his handwriting, wondering if the whole thing would be ignored, or even intercepted somehow once he sent it. He knew that if Celestia discovered this he would be in a whole world of trouble. He thought the whole thing seemed abrupt, too short. But he couldn’t think of anything else he could write. Any more and it would sound like he was just rambling. So, with his hopes now on the paper he was about to engulf in flames, he took a deep breathe, and sent it. The effect was instant. The stress on his mind disappeared, and he had some comfort knowing that now somepony else knew about this. He might even check on Twilight to see how she was doing.

With a new energy in his step, the dragon made his way to the stairs, only to stop and stare up them, dumbfounded. While he had been working the steps had changed. Where there had once been warm, comforting wood, there was cold, unsettling black obsidian. The door at the end of the stairs was now a massive pillared entryway, with two gates made of thick tendrils of the glassy stone barring the way into Twilight’s room. A light mist spilled over the edges of the final step, rolling down two more in an eerie display before dissipating. To add to the disturbing air was the sheer scale of the stairs.

Seemingly breaking the laws of physics, the whole side of the library seemed to be expanded to accommodate the wide stairs, and the roof had extended to twice its normal height. The result was a dizzyingly long spiral up the walls of the library. In addition to the steps being obsidian, they had nothing below them supporting them, and one could plainly see that they had no connections between them. If you were to climb them you could see directly past the step you were on, and that they simply jutted out of the wall, with nothing to stop you if you were to fall. Spike swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping that he would have some burst of courage. No such comfort came to him.

The moment that he had his foot on the last step the gate opened, revealing an inner sanctum where Twilight had built her own personal garden. The moon shone down on Twilight, who sat on a large dais in the center of the courtyard, gazing up at the moon as if it held the answers to all of her problems. Hearing the gates open, her ears swiveled towards him. She didn’t turn, or even make any sort of movement to acknowledge that Spike was there. She was in her own world, far away from the dais she stood upon, far away from Ponyville, Equestria, and her assistant. Spike took a few hesitant steps into the yard, afraid he’d upset her by doing so. As he approached he caught a glimpse of the new dimension Twilight had made for herself.

Hedges marked the border of the garden, and beyond them were rolling hills of tall grass, crisp and dry in the fall evening. Inside the confines of the garden a light mist churned along the ground, and underneath it lay hundreds of gnarled vines, only parting to make a pathway straight to the dais Twilight was perched upon. The moon here had a mauve tint, with a halo of black around the edges. Behind Spike the gate shut, prompting him to turn around. He saw that the gate didn’t appear to lead back to the library anymore, and it simply led out of the garden and out onto the countryside of this alien world Twilight had created.

“Woe betides ye whom enter this sacred place. “ Twilight said, quoting one of her favorite books. “I left a note on the door to leave me be.”

“Um… Twilight, the door isn’t really, uh, there anymore.” Spike said, tapping his claws together nervously. “I just wanted to check on you and ask if maybe I could go out to Fluttershy’s cottage.”

“May I ask why?” Twilight inquired, turning to face him.

Spike nearly turned and ran at the sight of her. She was terrifying, in a way. A shooting star streaked overhead, revealing that where there were once streaks of light pink, there was now glossy black streaks in her mane and tail. Her Cutie Mark was now one large black star surrounded by six purple ones, with a single bright white star in the center of the dark one. Her eyes looked a much brighter shade of purple now, bordering on pink with speckles of black near her pupils.

“I asked you why, Spike.” She repeated. “Are you going to tell me?”

“Well, I just wanted to get out since I’ve been cooped up in the house for a couple days.”

Twilight turned away from him, confused. “How long has it been?”

“Four days…”

The alicorn disappeared and appeared behind him, silent as the twilight she now called home. “You can go… but tell me something first. Am I… am I becoming something my old self wouldn’t have wanted me to be?” Twilight said, leaning down so she could be at eye level with her assistant. Her bright purple eyes were searching his face for something, some sign of recognition. Some sign that she was still the Twilight Sparkle that he’d grown up with.

Spike took several seconds before he was satisfied with his response. “I think that you’re still yourself, Twilight. The only thing that changed about you is that now you have wings. You said it yourself. It’s only cosmetic. Nothing’s changed on the inside.”

Twilight vanished, again staring up at the moon. She didn’t want Spike so see just how deeply that had affected her. “Okay… but promise you’ll visit me more often, even if I tell you to go away. I don’t want to lose myself. I want to still be me.” She said, her voice hoarse.

Spike nodded and turned towards the gates, only to stop himself. He felt a scratch at the back of his throat. He struggled to choke it down, calmly walking over to the gates, then sprinting down the stairs, desperate to get out of earshot before he coughed up the return letter from Luna. Safely downstairs, he exhaled, feeling a jet of flame escape his lungs and solidify into a letter on the writing table. The scroll wasn’t sealed with the normal red wax that he was used to, but a deep azure seal that had three stars and a crescent moon embedded in the waxen crest. As quietly as possible, he looked over his shoulder and listened to hear if Twilight knew. With nothing happening, he tiptoed his way over to the basement door and slipped inside.

Once he’d closed the door he fumbled to find the candle kept on the left-hand shelf, nearly dropping the letter in his haste. With a gentle exhale, he let a tiny lick of fire leap from his lips and onto the wick, lighting the candle. He descended the stairs post haste, eager to read the reply from Luna that he’d so desperately sought. When he had maneuvered his way through the maze of unused, misused and unreadable books, he took great care to keep the candle away from the high stacks, knowing that if he caused a fire Twilight would never forgive him, no matter how accidental it was. Once he was on the other side of the basement he saw the entrance to the cellar, the one room in the house that Twilight didn’t make him go into and clean on a regular basis.

In a way the cellar was eerie, even more eerie than most of the locales that Twilight seemed to be able to produce at will. Not to mention it was always freezing down there. A single chandelier hung up on the ceiling high above, and the polished, waxed floor beneath him squeaked if he drug his claws over it or scuffed his feet. There were old, moth-eaten chairs lining the edges of the floor and he could only think that this had been a ball room at one time or another, since on the other side of the massive room was multiple tables and similar chairs, all set up, the silverware laid out and napkins neatly folded. Curtains hung on the walls, even though there were no windows, and candelabras were set up on the tables, as if it had been the scene of grand, high-class festivities at some point. In order to see better, Spike made his way over to the tables.

As he sat down he picked up the candle gently, as to not spill the hot wax that had pooled at the base, and used it to light those ones still resting in the holders. Once they were lit, he extinguished his by licking his claws and pressing the fire out, so there wouldn’t be an odor of smoke. Taking a deep breathe, he pulled out the scroll, admiring how it looked in the candlelight. As he exhaled he broke the seal, ready at last to read.

‘Dear Spike,

Although I haven’t really come to know Twilight very well, I can tell that she is a good mare, and she means a lot to you. Especially if you are going against the wishes of my sister in order to safeguard her wellbeing. That unto itself speaks volumes for both your character and hers, and I would be glad to tell you everything I know about alicorns.

Firstly, I know that Celestia may have told you that she has no written records, nor memories, of her foalhood and how she became an alicorn. That is an outright embellishment unto itself. The whole reason that she has no memory of her previous life is because she spent a long time as her ‘Anti-Self’, and that period would be known as the Dark Ages. Although that was four-thousand years ago, I can tell you that she personally burnt any records of her younger years to ashes, mostly because, long ago, back when she was a pegasus, she had a suitor by the name of Discord.

You see, when she rejected Discord, she did it in the most wounding manner possible. I suppose you could say that she made him into what he is now. They fought for a long time afterwards, and after Discord began to acquire god-like powers, razing her homes and killing all those she held dear, she sealed him in stone using the Elements of Harmony. This is where I suppose you can say the Dark Ages truly began. Once she’d banished Discord, she very nearly lost it. I was left back home, watching over the townsfolk who hailed me their de facto leader. But while Celestia avoided me entirely, she was busy with other pursuits.

These include hunting down and brutally murdering every draconequis she laid eyes on, eventually leading to a mass genocide, which then led to her problem with the dragons, which nearly went extinct due to their support of the Draconequi, and finally her being very nearly killed by the greatest dragon who ever lived. After all this, she made her way back to me, and I nursed her back to health. I suppose it took that long for her to snap out of her trance, but once she did she decided that she could no longer have the sole control of power. Because if she lost control of herself, there would be no hope, just as there had been for twenty years. She taught me to use the Elements of Harmony, and then we used that power to immortalize me.

You see, anyone who knows how to use the Elements of harmony can become and alicorn. But the transformation isn’t gentle, and Celestia herself demonstrated how it can break even the most stable pony. That spell that Celestia sent Twilight was just a riddle, a clever riddle that she meant to test Twilight, to make sure she was worthy. And worthy she proved herself. Since she did, there’s no going back now.

It would seem that Celestia is making sure that Twilight loses herself outside of the public eye, in order to keep this as hushed as possible to the townsfolk. I can assure you she is right on that facet, but wrong in the way she is doing it. I must implore you to tell your friends about this, and make sure that she always has somepony in the room with her. If she is left alone she could easily begin to slip into the same state that Celestia fell victim to. I recommend that you tell Fluttershy and Rarity first, as they are the most supportive of her. Finally, I will be coming to Ponyville to oversee her transformation myself soon, so please keep her as stable as possible.

A few tips on dealing with her. Keep her happy, and make sure that anything she asks of you is done as quickly as possible, no matter how absurd the request. If she begins to slide off the deep end, make sure she is far away from you when she does. It’ll be your best hope of getting her back. As strange as this might seem, your physical proximity to her may just help her more than you’d think. I found that, in the days before I turned into Nightmare Moon, my assistant, Fobwatch, was a great comfort to me. He provided a sort of moral support that you can only get with your best friend. If all else fails, worry about yourself first. If you live, you will be able to try and help her another day.

I’m packing to leave right now, so I should be there by tomorrow.

Your Accomplice,

Luna ‘

When Spike looked up from the scroll he very nearly jumped right off his chair. There was Twilight, standing there with a gravely disapproving look. The room she was in seemed to react immediately to her presence. The cobwebs turned to dust, which then disappeared, leaving most of the surfaces clean. The chairs knitted the moth-holes in their upholstery, and the tablecloths shook themselves into perfectly symmetrical order. The candles lit themselves in an explosion of purple fire, lighting the room in an unnatural shade of mauve, where the shadows danced madly on the curtains, royal dervishes who reveled there long ago, come to revel again. Just as the air dropped to almost freezing, Spike opened his mouth, hoping he could think of an excuse in time.

“Stand.” Twilight commanded.

Spike felt himself rise from his seat, his heart beating five times its normal pace. Every instinct in him told him to run. The way that Twilight was glaring at him was so full of fury it was as if her eyes were burning right through him. Despite his terror, he walked towards her, preparing to try and explain.

“Don’t even think about it.” Twilight said, her expression unreadable. “Get over here.”

All of the sudden Spike was there in front of her, unable to do anything but wait for her to think up some form of punishment. He stood there, being stared down for what felt like an eternity. Her face read like a blank page. She seemed upset, but in another way she appeared to be intrigued. As if his rebelliousness fascinated her. At the same time, the display that she had put on seemed anything but.

“Dance with me.” The mare said, a smile on her face.

“Wait… what? “ Spike stuttered, unable to find the right words to express his confusion.

“I told you to dance with me. I want to dance. That’s why I made this room.”

Out of thin air six string instruments appeared, along with a harp and a guitar. The instruments began to play themselves, a thrumming melody filling the air. As if she knew he didn’t know how, Twilight leaned down, her horn flashing. Spike felt a slight tug on his wrists, as if she was trying to prompt him to do something. Following his gut, he put his arms around Twilight’s neck, praying he was doing this right. The music began to slow, and Twilight took a step back from him, showing him just how to waltz. He stepped with her, letting her guide him.

The two fell into an unsteady waltz, Twilight thoroughly enjoying herself while Spike tried desperately to keep up with her. She chuckled at his attempts to make his steps as broad as hers, since her legs were easily twice as long as his. For every step she took, she had to slow so that he could take two. Spike was trying to look past how sensual the whole scenario was, with candles casting them both in a warm light and her face just a few inches from his, her eyes peering into his expectantly, their breathe turning into vapor that met between them in a sweet-smelling cloud. It was enough to make him think Twilight was doing this for some other reason than to punish him.

The whole time he was dancing Spike tried to look away from Twilight, to avoid her eyes, but every time he tried she would break her step, forcing him to look at her to get back into rhythm. Her eyes glittered with an unknown joy, like this was something she’d always wanted to do, some dream she hadn’t had the courage to realize until now. The way she looked at him bothered Spike. He could tell she wasn’t in her right mind at the moment, but Luna’s advice echoed in his head. ‘Do whatever it takes to keep her happy, no matter how absurd’ she had told him. So he gritted his teeth and tried to keep up with her.

“Come on Spike, at least try to smile.” Twilight rolled her eyes at his lack of enthusiasm. “This is supposed to be fun.”

Spike relaxed a bit. At least she wasn’t mad at him like he’d originally thought. “Twilight, why are we dancing?” He asked, hoping for an explanation for her erratic behavior.

“Well why not?” She chuckled. “I never really show you how much I appreciate you. This is my way of showing that I’m glad you’re my assistant.”

As she spoke the music shifted into a heavy lull, relying heavily on the bass. The guitar was strumming a low note, and the harp was plucking faster than before. It was as if the music displayed her mood. It was too bad Spike didn’t know how to interpret it.

“So who was that letter from?” Twilight asked.

“Luna.” He replied, not I a huge hurry to lie to her again.

Twilight leaned closer to him, causing his grip to slip down her neck until he was holding her ears. She giggled like a filly at how flustered he became, his cheeks glowing red in embarrassment. She stood up again, the music stopping. Spike let go of her, turning to go upstairs.

“Hey Spike.” Twilight called, stopping him dead in his tracks. “Can I ask you something?”

“Uh… sure?” He replied, unsure of what else to say.

“Why didn’t you want to dance with me?”

Spike didn’t know how to tell her, so he did his best to give a little order to how he felt. “I just thought that… since I’ve known you so long, that you were trying to… um….”

“Spike, I wasn’t.” She said reassuringly. “Besides that, I was only trying to remind you that we’re friends, even if I’m an alicorn. Even if I’m a princess, we’re best friends.”

Spike nodded, a little ashamed that he’d misinterpreted her intentions. He walked upstairs with a startling new thought forming in his head. Why had he thought that was her reason? Twilight was a mare of logic, stable and resolute. The lines that separated friends and companions were as solid as steel to her. And he was a friend. So why had he been the one thinking that way? When he went to bed that night it was still tugging at the corners of his mind. Why was he beginning to see her as less of the pony that raised him, and more of the charming, intelligent mare that he lived with?

Author's Notes:

If you don’t like a story’s plot points being explained to you in detail, just skip the next two paragraphs.

Greetings again! I know I’m posting two days in a row, but that’s called a good work ethic and I believe in that. The explanation behind this chapter is that I wanted to share with you the events that sow and plant the seeds of attraction in Spike, and though he doesn’t understand it yet, he is attracted to Twilight in a way he himself can’t explain. He might not appreciate it, but he knows that somehow he’s beginning to see her as more than as a simple caretaker. I also wanted to show that Twilight is unhinging a lot faster than what Spike’s prepared for, and is quite oblivious to the fact that she is inadvertently drawing him in with her antics. Also, Luna is stepping into the mix. In a sort of teaser, there is a character that the Princess of the Night mentions in her letter, one that it would pay to look out for later in the story. And if you can figure out this character’s real name it would truly impress me, for those of you who love a good riddle.

I also wanted to explain Celestia’s motives here, as well as how her past experiences are shaping the way she’s acting now. I also sprinkled a few hints as to the nature of Luna and Celestia’s friendship, and just how tense it is. Including how Luna believes her Sister is completely untrustworthy. Luna also explains how Discord and Celestia both have a very violent past, despite both of them fancying themselves peacekeepers. I also allude to how Celestia fired the first shot at Discord, not the other way around, and to where she fired at. Right into his heart. This also explains how Luna is conveniently absent during the wild goose chase to find and contain him. Because she sympathizes with him.

Anywhos, comments and other such shenanigans are welcome. Just put them down there so I can see them. Or PM me, that works too if you have a question you want to ask me directly. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Luna's Arrival

“Wake up.”

Spike shot straight up in bed, clutching his heart. The air in the room was freezing, his breathe coming out in billowing plumes. He felt a faint pressure in his neck, like someone, or something, had tried to strangle him. The room that he had fell asleep to was no longer there, replaced with another purgatory-esque chamber. It seemed that every time he had a lapse in attention, dozed off for a moment, the library would change in some way or another. Now all of the books were bound in black, a small purple line traced down the spine. The walls were now the color of ash, as if the wood had been aged a millennium while he’d slept.

Spike crawled out of his bed, limbs protesting, stiff from his short, uncomfortable sleep. A fountain was standing where the reading table once was, making for a grim centerpiece in the center of the library. It leaked a foul-smelling black liquid. Thick and congealed it slid down the obsidian, reeking like decomposed carrion. Even more unsettling was the effigy on the very top of the fountain. It was Twilight, her wings bare and plucked clean of all feathers, horn snapped and legs shackled, the fetid liquid draining from her lips. At the sight of it Spike’s skin crawled violently, as if there were snakes underneath his scales. Something about the effigy disturbed him more than anything else so far.

“It’s just a statue…” He told himself, reaching for the candle next to his bed.

There was no candle; instead there was four floating candelabras near the ceiling, lit with Twilight’s signature purple-pink flames. The lighting cast the effigy atop the fountain in elongated shadows, stretching across the floor and painted across the shelves in various depictions of agony. Spike did his best to ignore it all, but somewhere in his heart he knew that this was chipping away at what little courage he had left. Not to mention his sanity.

“Just find Twilight.” He said, standing, praying she wasn’t too far gone by the time found her.

The way to the basement was gone, and the only way to go was upstairs unless he went out the front door. With his destination decided, Spike set towards the stairs. Halfway there he stopped, looking back towards the front door. He could have sworn that somepony had knocked. It was so faint that he couldn’t even tell if it had been real. Was he losing his mind just as fast as Twilight was? Deciding to verify his own sanity, he walked over to the front door. There it was again, so faint that one could hardly hear it over the sloshing of the grisly fountain. With slight hesitation he turned the handle, imagining what other horrible creations of Twilight’s subconscious were behind it.

“I was knocking for ten minutes.” Luna griped, striding inside impatiently. “What’s all this? I told you to stay by her until I got here, Spike.”

Spike let out his held breathe, relieved beyond words to have somepony to help him. For a moment he thought that it would just be him trapped inside this artificial hell. “You’ve got no idea how glad I am to see you, Luna. I mean, uh, Princess.”

“Just address me as Luna, its fine.” The alicorn said, conjuring a scarf for herself. “It is miserably cold in here. Where is she? And… may I ask what that awful stench is?” She asked, doing her best not to express her disgust. “It smells like a compost heap.”

Spike only pointed to the fountain, and the corrupted idol that stood atop it. “I think she’s upstairs. The last time I went up there she was sleeping.”

“Oh… I see. This is pretty far along. We need to find her, soon. I’m not sure that she’s not already lost to us, but I need to be sure. In the letter, my sister told Twilight not to eat anything, yes?”

Spike nodded. “She said it would make her sick if she-“

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, my sister lies.” Luna hissed in distaste. “She wanted to keep Twilight weak so that she’d be easier to handle when she gets here. Whenever she even planned to visit, if that was even her intention. Unfortunately for poor Twilight it’s only making her weaker mentally, not physically. It’s forcing her to succumb faster. I think I have a way to bring her back from this, but I have to warn you it’s not going to be very pretty. It’s the best shot we’ve got, though. Follow me.”

With that the mare attempted to conjure a lamp to better see in the dimly lit room. She took a hasty step back when her newly conjured oil lamp erupted into flames, which then leapt towards the fountain. The liquid in the fountain erupted into flames, arcing into a huge pillar of fire, the idol perched amidst the embers, suffering amongst the destruction. Luna didn’t attempt to summon another. Instead she continued on her way up the stairs, muttering curses under her breathe.

When they reached the obsidian gates they swung open to their own accord, revealing the new setting for their meeting. Thick tar, the same stench and consistency of the one at the fountain, covered the ground. Tall trees, roots embedded in the soil hidden beneath the swamp, blocked any attempt for the moon to shine light on the clearing. The hollow was made by roots, which were weaved together into walls. On the other side of the pool of decay was Twilight, laying on a bed of reeds. She was almost unrecognizable. Luna herself looked slightly taken aback by her appearance.

Twilight stared at them with deep bruises around her eyes, which barely focused at the sight of the princess. No spark of warmth lit them. If it was anypony else looking at her they would have a hard time recognizing that she was a sentient being. Her expression was glazed over, lost. The only interest she displayed was in the way the tar reacted to Luna’s hooves. Luna walked on top of the murky liquid, whereas Spike had to wade his way through it, chest deep in the cold, slimy substance.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said to get her attention. “Do you recognize me?”

Twilight blinked, the glazed expression leaving her. “Leave. Now.” She said, resting her head on her hooves like a wildcat. “It’s too late for you to help me now.”

“The fact that you are speaking to me tells me otherwise.” Luna said, walking towards the other mare as slowly as possible. “I came here to help. Do you remember the letter that Celestia sent you just two brief days ago?”

“Ye-… okay… no.” Twilight confessed, sitting up. “But I still remember the gist of what it said.”

“Do you remember it telling you to not eat?” Luna asked.

“Yes.”

Slowly, as to avoid alarming her, Luna lit her horn and summoned a simple cup of tea, hot and fresh from the kettle. It seemed so out of place there that Spike had a hard time convincing himself it was real. The princess held it out to her, offering the beverage to the deranged mare.

“I think that, since things have changed, it would be best if you were reminded what it’s like to be mortal. I know it might seem… frivolous, but it goes a long way towards settling the nerves.”

“But Celestia told me that-“

“That was two days ago, Twi.” Spike spoke up, hoping his word would convince her. “You need your strength if you’re going to get through this. I want you to drink it.”

Twilight looked from Luna to Spike, taking the tea from the princess. She looked at the cup suspiciously, as if it might be poison. Deciding it was safe, she took a light sip. Luna turned to Spike, giving him the unspoken signal that he might not want to see what was going to happen next. He quickly looked at a tree branch with a snake sliding over it. As much as he trusted Luna, he couldn’t help but look over at what she was doing. He regretted it immediately.

Twilight had thrown all composure out the window and was chugging the bottomless cup of tea, ravenously gulping the sweet substance. She didn’t seem to care that it was running down her front or that she was starting to cry. She was occupied with sating a thirst that had built up over the last week. Luna shook her head, trying to get her to stop drinking. Twilight didn’t react to her. Then, just when Spike thought that Luna was going to take the cup from her, Twilight stopped. Just before she doubled over, vomiting the gallon and a half of sweet tea she’d just downed.

“Oh you poor dear…” Luna said, rubbing her back as she purged her stomach. “I tried to tell you.”

Spike busied himself with turning a twig over in his claws, blocking out the sounds of Twilight being sick and Luna trying to comfort her. He didn’t know which was worse, that he’d looked, or that he would never be able to get the image of Twilight behaving like an animal out of his head. Once he couldn’t hear his mentor puking anymore he turned to see her resting her head on Luna’s shoulder, crying like a lost filly. He’d never seen her so vulnerable. Every memory he had of her was her being so strong, iron-willed. Now here she was, fractured and weak. It felt shameful to look at her in such a state, so he turned and gazed at his feet.

“Spike dear, head downstairs and make her something to eat.” Luna said, wrapping her wing around Twilight. “Make sure it’s light.”

Spike did as he was told, hurrying out of the chamber. Something he noticed as he passed through the library was that it was yet again back to normal. No fountain spewed tar, and the books were bound in every color of the rainbow. The wood under his feet had returned to its light brown-tan hue, and the stairs were yet again wood. For the first time in a week, things were back to normal. Twilight herself seemed to be back to a normal, albeit downcast, mental state. All in the brief time that Luna had been there. Even by his standards for a princess, that was impressive.

Shortly after he arrived in the kitchen Luna followed, Twilight beside her. He busied himself with making her a salad while Luna sat her down, hoping to get her comfortable enough to talk to her. Spike finished what he was doing and sat down beside Twilight, Luna opposite them. Twilight ate slowly, tentatively lifting the fork with magic and taking a single leaf at a time. Luna nodded, glad that Twilight was back to normal. It would make the conversation they were about to have a lot easier.

“So… dear. I know that this hasn’t been the easiest time for you, but you have to realize that you’re being very… open about what your thoughts and concerns are. Especially when they’re showing up in the world around you. I saw some things before I went upstairs to see you and they’re… a cause for concern, one would say. If there’s anything you need to tell us, in no way are you shaming yourself by doing so. Spike and I are both here for you, remember that.”

Twilight swallowed the leaf of lettuce she was eating and struggled to keep from shivering. It wasn’t that she was actually cold, but that she was appalled at herself. She had lost everything she stood for. Even though it had only lasted a brief ten seconds, it was horrifying for her to look back and realize that she’d behaved like a complete animal. In front of Luna and Spike, a pony and a dragon she respected more than all the others. She wouldn’t have minded if it was Applejack or Rarity, they’d seen her in plenty of sad states before. But Spike… Spike was different. And Luna was a princess, royalty she’d acted like a beast in front of. She decided that, in the wake of what just happened, she would be better off warning them if she was going to have an episode.

“Look… you two are two of the most important ponies that I know.” Twilight said, setting her fork down. “Without you two, I don’t know if I’d even be sane enough to talk to you right now. And Luna… I understand that offering me food was a way to bring me back, but that was… awful. If you can find another way to do it next time, please don’t ask before you do.”

“I apologize, but I didn’t know how far gone you were. I simply used the most effective means I could.” Luna shrugged, being perfectly honest.

“Anyways, I want to tell you guys that… I’m afraid. I’m afraid that when all this is done, I won’t be the mare that I was anymore. I’m afraid I’ll turn into the next Discord or Chrysalis. That in the process of transforming, I’ll become something… awful. And I’ll try and hurt the ponies that I hold dear. Like Spike, or you, Luna. Or any of my friends. For a second there I thought that it might just be best if I… chained myself, snapped my horn, and made sure that I never hurt anypony ever again. I nearly hurt Spike just yesterday. I was going to… do unspeakable things to him when I found him reading your letter. But then something else happened and I had one of these insane personality changes.

I’m also afraid that, once I’m done transforming, I’ll be carted off to Canterlot and made to be a princess like you. That I’ll never see any of my friends again, or Spike, or anypony I truly care about. To add to everything is that, now, I have to live forever. I have to live long enough to watch the rest of my friends grow old and pass while I’m still here, alive in the prime of my youth. Plus there’s the fact that even then I could become like you, Luna. I could become the next Nightmare Moon. Just… break. Like glass…” She said, tearing up.

“Gosh… dear.” Luna said, handing her a tissue. “I never remember having to worry about any of those things. Celestia and I never had any close friends. We spent so long on our own, and Immortality just seemed… natural. But I can tell you that there is no way that I’d let Celestia take you away from your friends. You will be able to spend as much time with them as you want... Not even Discord would ever be so cruel.”

“Anyways… I guess that I was scared, and I got lost. I was hungry, and sad and afraid I’d never see anypony I loved ever again. So I lost it. I can’t really say any more than that.” She finished, dabbing her eyes and handing the kerchief back to Luna, who promptly made it disappear. “So… what are you doing here Luna? I never remember inviting you.”

“I was… invited. Cordially, by your young assistant.” The princess said, nodding towards Spike.

The young dragon did his best to avoid Twilight’s gaze, afraid she might still be mad at him for going against her rules. By the way she had acted last night in the cellar, she had been on the brink of violence with him when she’d learned of his secret messages with the other alicorn. He was hoping that, in light of the recent circumstances, and how quickly things were changing, she would forgive him.

Instead of commenting on that, Twilight sighed and smiled, still looking at Luna. “Yeah… he does things like that sometimes. I know he worries about me a lot, even when it’s not really necessary.”

The princess looked at her gravely, adopting a serious tone into her normally casual voice. “What Spike did was in every way necessary, Twilight. If anything you owe him a thank you, and an immense amount of gratitude. He was worried sick enough to know that going against everything you’d taught him was the only way to save you. He must love you very much to ensure your well -being like that, especially at the cost of his own personal reputation. “

Twilight looked down at her hooves, taken back by just how much Spike had done for her in the hindsight. How much he had tolerated, and how much it must have hurt him to see her this way. He’d been more influenced by the last few days than he had the whole time he’d been in Ponyville, possibly in the whole time she’d known him. So, even though it required her to unbend her already wounded pride, she turned to Spike and leaned down, looking him in the eyes.

“I’m sorry about… all this. About telling you to do things that you knew were wrong, and demanding that you sit back and watch me fade away when you had the power to save me. I can’t even imagine what it was like, seeing me like that, but refusing to accept help. All the while I wasted away in front of you. I’m… sorry. And really grateful that, for once, you didn’t do what you were told.”

With that Twilight leaned down and planted a light kiss on his cheek, a tear hovering at the corner of her eye. She didn’t want to think about how she’d acted. She lacked the will to even bring up the sickening incident that had happened only a half an hour ago. She wanted to focus on what would happen next. Spike sat flabbergasted, holding the spot where’d she’d kissed him. It was as if the spot on his scales were now branded, and he would never be able to forget that tiny half-a-second where her lips and met his cheek. Luna brought them both back with a hearty clap of her hooves and jovial smile.
“Now that we’ve all made nice, I suppose we can all focus on what’s important now.” The Princess exclaimed, beaming at Twilight and her noble, starstruck young apprentice. “Just how to explain this to everypony you know, and eventually the rest of Ponyville. And after that, the world.”

Twilight, whom had just a moment ago been completely at ease, blinked twice, as if she hadn’t even heard her.

Then she fainted.

Author's Notes:

Believe it or not, in this chapter Luna originally spilled the beans, and Celestia turned up just before Twilight snapped and the two had an epic duel to the death. But then I stopped and thought ‘Wow, that was a great chapter, but what do I do now?! You can’t really get a better climax to a story besides that, and it’s pretty hard to top myself after something so awesome.’ So in the end, I cut it in exchange for better atmosphere and suspense. Everypony loves great fights but in the end it’s what makes the story better, and a story ending prematurely is anything but that. So, that scene was cut, and Luna keeps the string on the bag tight instead of spilling the beans to the already emotionally compromised Twilight.

Now to the stuff that really happened. Firstly, there was the Effigy. That thing actually featured in the nightmare that I had about Twilight locking herself away forever because she was afraid of what she was becoming (YAY, NIGHTMARES!). And that thing scored deep. In a way I wanted to draw it and make it the title cover for the fic, but then I stopped and told myself there was no way in heck that I had the talent. Or the cruel mind to burn that into the corneas of my readers. So there’s that story. Then there was Twilight totally losing her cool in front of Luna and Spike. In a way, that one was very heat-of-the-moment writing, and it all came to me in a rush. The way it felt then wasn’t comparable to any of the times that I re-wrote it, so the original copy stayed. I really wanted to nail home the importance of expressing that Twilight is being broken down as a unicorn, and shedding every outer layer she has in front of two of the characters she loves most. Trust me, before the end of this fic, she will land herself in a lot of situations, each much worse than anything you’ve seen so far. (I know my audience is squeamish. They may have, maybe, probably have been grossed out, this is me trying to pat them on the back).

I left the whole chapter off with Twilight coming to the realization that she had to, in the midst of battling psychosis and keeping herself from strangling Spike, explain to her friends what was going on. Then, after that was over, she had to worry about news getting out about her being an alicorn, until the whole town knew. Then she had to deal with all of Equestria knowing. They would expect her to be like Luna and Celestia. Royalty, stable and fair in all things, when in reality she is anything but. They would want her to be a ruler and make decisions for other people when she doesn’t even have the willpower to control herself around food at the moment. It would be like taking a person fresh from the mental institution and crowning them the king or queen of the most prosperous country in all of existence. Basically, what would be expected of her would far outweigh her current abilities. So at the last moment she fainted in the face of this overwhelming tidal wave of realization.

Well, that wraps up this chapter. I hope you enjoyed Luna’s Arrival, I’ll see you guys down there on the comments board. Or you can PM me, if that’s more your style. However you contact me, I’d love to answer any questions you throw at me (Outside of handing out spoilers) and sometimes even a little criticism is nice. But if you want just want to say my story’s cool, please explain why. It helps me make future chapters better if I can figure out what my readers like best.

See you next chapter!

Waking Up

Twilight came to on a couch, a throbbing headache developing behind her eyes. As she sat up, she noticed that she wasn’t in her library anymore. The high arched windows in front of the couch looked out on Canterlot, the beautiful capitol of Equestria, the sun harshly shining on the fall morning. She had no recollection of ever going there, so she logically concluded that Luna must have brought her there while she was still unconscious. The décor in the room further supported her assumption.

The carpet in the center of the center of the room was covered in the current celestial constellations that could be viewed that night, and the roof was those constellations that wouldn’t be seen until spring. A scale model of the celestial bodies lay on a large desk beside a smaller writing desk, covered in paperwork and inkwells, as well as no small number of blue quills. On either side of the room behind Twilight and behind her was a staircase, one ascending and one descending down towards the Palace. A soft silk blanket was laid over her, patterns of stars twinkling in the enchanted embroidery.

Though there was no windows open at the time, Twilight felt a light breeze churning in the room. Figuring it was just another spell Luna had cast on the tower, she pulled the blanket off her and stood, stretching like a cat, yawning in an attempt to wake herself up. Her wings unfurled, nearly knocking over a lamp on the nightstand beside the couch. While her attention was focused on the stand, she noticed a note, covered in the Princesses’ trademark cursive font.

‘Twilight, I’m asleep upstairs if you need me. Spike is down in the palace, probably in the kitchen, knowing him. Celestia is in the tower opposite mine, and I recommend you exercise caution if you leave my quarters. In my desk, third drawer down, there is an amulet that renders you invisible to most. This will not help against my sister, though. Avoid her at all costs, or you might be in a lot of trouble. If you wish to go back to Ponyville, you may do so at your leisure. Just don’t forget to stay out of sight.

Luna’

Twilight set the note down, wondering why Luna needed to sleep, but she didn’t. After all, she hadn’t slept for the last week or so up until last night when she fainted. Maybe it was something that she didn’t need, so much as she craved. Like food, or water, or even breathing. She didn’t need any of those things anymore, but there was something about them that reminded her of who she used to be. The mare couldn’t help but wonder what else an alicorn could live without. It seemed most basic necessities for life didn’t apply to her anymore. Only the little things, like company, seemed to make the list. Without company she had nearly fallen apart. Maybe the needs that she thought had been erased were simply changed.

Keeping that in mind, she trotted over to the desk, opening the third drawer down on the left side. A small jade heart on a string clattered noisily to the front of the drawer, seemingly useless. Twilight had learned through prolonged experience with magic that an enchantment can make even the most petty object remarkable in some way or another. She picked it up and tied it around her neck in a bow, seeing there was no clasp or hook on the string. She looked down at herself, still completely visible. Then she realized that, obviously, if Celestia could see through most illusion spells, so could she. In order to confirm that she was invisible the mare conjured a mirror. When she saw there was no reflection, she nodded, making sure to thank Luna the next time she saw her.

Eager to explore the castle, she hurried down the steps leading to the back of the palace. She stopped only briefly to muffle her hooves with a silencing spell, arriving at a door further down the tower. Since she was still in Luna’s quarters, she passed it up. As close as they had become lately, she was sure that the princess wouldn’t appreciate her snooping through her things. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw a massive pair of double-doors, both with symbols for the moon emblazoned on their surface, as well as countless runes that made the door both invisible and un-openable to any Luna hadn’t permitted to be there. Twilight took a deep breath and pushed on one of the doors, finding that it was much heavier than she had anticipated. When there was a small opening, she slipped out, the door closing behind her.

By the blue and silver color pallet, this was one of the private sections of the castle, only open to a select few and elite guards. As she walked down the hall she made note of how unnecessarily large the palace was. One could easily have a parade or nine going down any of the corridors, and the sheer berth of the hallway was nearly three-thousand feet. Not to mention how long it was, which measured in the miles. Even the height was overdone, with the vaulted ceiling a dizzying ninety feet above her. Blue-white flames blazed in lamps on the walls, making the whole hall seem as if it was underwater. No windows broke up the endless hall, only sturdy iron doors every hundred feet. By how cold it was she could tell that this place, wherever it was, was deep underground.

By coincidence a certain happy young dragon named Spike was walking directly towards her holding an assortment of dinner pastries in his arms. He had successfully raided the kitchens with nopony noticing, and a few of the cooks had even recognized him and let him take their minicakes. He’d tried to find the vaults that held the jewels, but regular food would have to do for the moment.

“Spike!” Twilight said, trotting towards him. “I’m so glad to see you! Where are we?”

Spike looked around in confusion, almost dropping his beloved food. “Twilight, where are you?”

“I’m right in front of you, but I have an invisibility charm on myself so nopony can report me to Celestia. Now, where are we and what happened after I fainted last night?”

“Well,” The young dragon beamed, glad to be of use. “I memorized a map of this place and this place here is the underground storage block. Nopony ever goes down here, and it trails all the way to the back of the mountain. That’s why Celestia put the entrance to Luna’s tower down here. Over there is the other side of the summit, where Luna can be all on her own.”

“Wow… isn’t that a little… harsh?”

Spike shrugged. “Anyways, after you fainted last night we came here for a ‘change of scenery’, since Luna said that you shouldn’t be cooped up in your library. Anyways, I fell asleep on a chair, Luna laid you on the couch and went to bed. That’s about the whole story.”

“Okay then… do you have any idea what’s in these rooms?”

Again he shrugged. “I don’t know, but I remember that most are just empty. The ones that are being used have a sun mark on them, and if not there’s a moon on the door. But they’re all locked, so I couldn’t get into any.”

With that the dragon began to march back in the direction of Luna’s tower. Twilight hurried after him, wondering where he’d learned all of these things. She hardly ever brought him to the castle when he was younger, but somehow he seemed to know where everything was.

“Hey, Twi, can I ask you something?” Spike said, turning in the direction he thought she was. “Why’d you faint last night? The moment Luna mentioned you had to tell everypony you blacked out.”

Twilight didn’t reply to that, just kept walking down the hall, swatting a suit of armor with her tail to show that he was annoying her. Spike followed in her general direction, hoping that she wasn’t mad.

“Okay then, why’d you, um…” He stuttered, trying to hurry. He could hear her dragging her hooves purposefully ahead of him. “Can I ask you something else? You can’t be mad at me, okay?”

“What?”

“Why did you kiss me last night?”

Twilight nearly knocked the suit of armor on top of him. “Because I was thanking you. What of it? Do you think that I did it for some other reason?” She asked, turning to face him.

“Oh, well, uh, I was just wondering because…” He trailed off, red-faced. “Never mind, it’s stupid.” He started walking again, making his strides as long as possible.

The two didn’t talk again until they reached the tower and were once again in Luna’s living room, sitting across the suite from one another. Twilight had taken the amulet off and put it back, and was sitting at the desk. Spike sat on the couch, doing his best not to look at Twilight. As much as he wanted to tell her, he felt guilty. She always got edgy and uncomfortable when he tried to tell her.

‘She doesn’t want to know.’ Spike thought to himself. ‘I’m not supposed to be thinking about her like that… she’s a pony and I’m a dragon. Heck, she’s an alicorn. Plus I grew up with her. She probably thinks of me as her brother. Like Shining Armor…’

Spike sighed and took another bite of chocolate forest cake, drowning his sorrows in food while he fed his sadness with his sullen thoughts. He couldn’t help but glance at her on occasion. She was looking through the papers Luna had left on her desk, occupying herself so that she didn’t have to talk to him. Her wings were draped over the back of the chair while she worked, sorting the papers into separate piles compulsively.

‘I wish that she’d just let me tell her, that way at least she knows and I don’t have to keep sitting here asking myself why I’m so spineless.’ He thought, licking the crumbs from his claws. ‘What if I tell her and she sends me to the moon? Celestia did that to Luna once… it’s not like she couldn’t.’

Twilight got up and drew the curtains with magic, blocking out the setting sun. The moment the curtains shut the room fell into darkness. Then, sensing it’s time to shine, the chandelier lit itself with bright azure-white flames. Almost as soon as this was done, Luna descended the stairs in her evening robes, putting the finishing knots at the waist. She looked quite… un-royal. Her mane was in disarray, and she didn’t have any jewelry on. Without her crown she looked almost normal to them. If it wasn’t for her wings they could honestly mistake her for any other blue unicorn getting out of bed in the morning.

“Good evening, Twilight.” Luna said, smiling brightly as she passed by on her way to the other staircase. “I trust you had a nice day?”

Twilight shot a glance at Spike, who looked away quickly. “My day was great.”

“That’s good. Say, can you come here a moment. I want to show you how to use the room downstairs. I think you’ll find the enchantment I put on it devilishly clever.”

Twilight cast on last look at Spike and trotted after the other alicorn, wondering what would be so important about a room. The dragon looked at the tray of food beside him and shoved it away, lying down on the couch. He’d had enough for tonight. Instead he looked up at the stars on the ceiling, wondering why the ones he had been born under had been so cursed.

---

“What’s so difficult to understand about a room?” Twilight asked, following Luna down the stairs. “Isn’t it just like any other in the tower?”

Luna stopped at the door, smiling at how clever she was. “This, Twilight isn’t just one room. It’s well over a hundred rooms all in one. They all occupy the same space, but the one that the door leads to can be different each time. And, once one closes the door from the other side, nopony can enter that room until the current occupant or occupants have left. They may enter a different room, but the occupied room is locked and the door will not even appear in there until the occupant wants it to.”

Twilight struggled to wrap her head around the concept. She’d never even heard of magic being used in such a bizarre way. “Is that even possible? And how do you know which room you’re going to get? Besides, why all the security?”

“Dear, more than a few times I’ve had Celestia burst through my door because she was angry at me. Then there were other times where I just wanted to be on my own, with no interruptions. I also prefer my privacy. I know that a lot of ponies would love to pry at my secrets.” She explained, turning to the door. “All one has to say it ‘Starlight’, then the room you’d like to enter. So, I want to get my evening shower. So I might say something like ‘Starlight, Bathroom’.”

Luna turned the handle on the door with magic and opened it to reveal a spotlessly clean bathroom, complete with dim, warm lighting coming from a large crystal hung above a massive bathing pool in the middle of the floor, already steaming, with frothy bubbles floating on top of the water. All around the chambers were mirrors that reflected the bathroom into infinity, so the occupant could see themselves at all times. To complete the room was the light scent of cinnamon in the air and a thick steam that wafted out into the hallway .

“Impressive?” Luna asked, turning back to Twilight.

Twilight couldn’t think of what to say. This was the type of magic that she would have had to train for a year to pull off back when she was a unicorn. Luna made it seem so simple, like it was almost child’s play. She impulsively stepped into the room, as if to make sure that it was real and not a massively complex trick of the eye. The smooth feel of polished porcelain under her hooves, the humidity, and the slight scent of orchids from the bath all told her that this was quite real. Luna walked past her, impressed with herself. It was the first time she could show off her skills in thousands of years.

“I’m glad you like it.” The princess said, reaching her hoof down into the bathwater. “Nice and hot, perfect to ease those sore muscles.”

With a flash of her horn she closed the door, which disappeared. Luna trotted over to a long shelf and began to pick different soaps off of it, including a few bottles of shampoo and even some herbal bath beads. Confident with her selections, she trotted back over to the pool and set them down. Twilight thought that she must have forgotten she was there, since she didn’t seem in the least bit phased by being alone with her.

“Do you prefer your bath with salts or without?” Luna asked, looking directly at her.

Twilight stood for a moment, not grasping what she was entailing by the question. It took her a few seconds before she realized what Luna was asking her. When she finally figured it out she turned a bright shade of scarlet under her coat, biting the inside of her cheek.

“ I wasn’t planning on taking a bath right now, it’s fine.” The flustered mare said, hoping that she could leave soon. “I have to go… uh, check on Spike now.”

“Oh… okay then.” Luna said, a note of disappointment in her voice. “I was going to tell you the story about what I did on the moon for a thousand years, but… that’s all right.”

Luna began to untie her robe, returning her attention to the bath. Twilight looked around for any way she could leave, but there wasn’t a door anymore. She was stuck there. All she could do was close her eyes while the princess disrobed and slipped into the bathwater, sighing as the hot water met her coat. Once Twilight thought it was clear, she opened her eyes again to see Luna sipping a glass of apple juice she’d conjured, enjoying the bathwater. Luckily she couldn’t see her, since there was so much froth.

“Luna, how did you say you got out of here?” Twilight asked, becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

“It would seem I forgot that the door disappears until I’m done in here. Well, I guess that you could just make the most of it and settle down here with me. The water’s still quite warm and there’s room for two in here, if you want.”

Twilight groaned, massaging the bridge of her nose with her hoof. This was beyond inappropriate for her. And Luna was behaving like everything was completely fine. Her being totally indecent towards helping her wasn’t making it any easier for her headache, either. Then again… perhaps this wasn’t as bad as she was making out to be. It surely couldn’t hurt her to enjoy a bath with one of her best friends, especially one that saved her life. Not to mention that she’d nursed her back to health.

‘Maybe… maybe just this one time.’ Twilight thought. ‘It’s not like it’s hurting anything. Besides, you’ll be spending the rest of your life with her. It’d be rude if you refused. She’s been really nice, and even let you sleep on her couch. So… here goes nothing. Just don’t think about it.’

Swallowing the growing catch in her throat, she calmly walked her way over to the pool, looking at Luna. The princess nodded, encouraging her. Twilight couldn’t help but think of how wrong this felt to her old self. Somewhere in her the old Twilight was roaring outrage that her parents had taught her better than this, and she wasn’t the type of pony to needlessly expose herself in front of another mare. But that was in the past. The past her, the one that had no fun, and the one that devoted every second of her time to trying to win the attention of her teacher, wasting her life on impressing others with her smarts. She wasn’t that mare anymore. She wanted to be happy. Formality was for business, not for her friends. There was a time for logic and sense, for thought and measurements. Then there were times like this one.

Luna politely turned around and read the back of her shampoo bottle while Twilight submerged herself, sighing at how good it felt to unwind. The tension in her muscles dissolved in the water, and the headache that had been bothering her for hours dissolved with it. When she was completely under the bubbling froth Luna turned back around and smiled at her. She looked overjoyed to have convinced her.

“I told you that you’d like it.” Luna said, pausing to sip her drink. “Now, when I was first banished so many years ago I spent a long time as Nightmare Moon. But after a hundred years or so I managed to come back, and take control again. Then there was just one little problem. The moon is a big hunk of dust and rock. There isn’t much to do. So… I tried my hand at the only thing you can do with rock. I made things. I eventually got so good at sculpting that I made this massive statue of me and my sister…” She trailed off, a sour look growing on her face. “Of course, that was before I realized…”

Luna bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, as if trying to bury a painful memory. Something had happened between Celestia and her, and Celestia had obviously been in the wrong. Then, just as suddenly as she had started, the princess smiled again and opened her eyes, as if she’d once again locked away whatever demon she still had lurking in her past. For the briefest moment Twilight saw her eyes flash green, a trace of the unrepentant anger surfacing briefly.

“Twilight… I’m not going to pretend to like my sister. But I will keep my long-winded rants about her to a bare minimum. I know you and her are… fond of each other, with her having been your mentor. So I’m going to keep my opinions on her to myself. Let’s just agree to disagree right now.”

Twilight wondered to herself just what had happened that had been so awful. Luna wasn’t the mare that locked her emotions in a box. It must have been something truly traumatic for her to be on damage-control a thousand years later. It was a long time to hold a grudge.

“So why did you invite me in here, Luna? Except for the pleasant conversation, of course.”

“Oh.” Luna exclaimed, surprised she’d gotten so sidetracked. “I was hoping to ask you if you’d be a dear and help me go down into the catacombs. It’s part of my duty as the security in the castle to keep the tunnels under the base of the mountain clear, and since you have advanced training in battle-oriented magic, and Spike is a dragon, after all, you two could come down there with me. It’d be a great help. See, I never really liked going down there on my own since it’s… well, I don’t really say this often, but that place is downright unnatural. Things always skitter behind you, or you’ll see things flicker right at the edge of your peripheral vision. It’s like something is down there, always watching you. I’d feel much better with you two with me.”

“Sure…” Twilight agreed, although with hesitation since she knew Spike was coming. “I’ll go.”

Luna beamed at her. “Good! This will make things easier, maybe even faster.”

Twilight felt herself sink farther into the water, hoping that the warmth would fix her problems with Spike. Unfortunately, it only seemed to work for her physical ailments. She prayed that her assistant hadn’t taken what she’d said too seriously. She was just hoping that this was a passing phase, that he would just forget about it and then they could go back to their normal lives together. But she couldn’t see that happening with him longing for her to like him in ways she just didn’t feel right doing. ‘Or... maybe that was just old Twilight talking?’ She thought, letting a hint of doubt creep in.

“Nah, definitely the real me.” She said, closing her eyes and sinking under the water.

Author's Notes:

Hello everypony and welcome to this chapter’s breakdown. Let’s just start with the creative decisions behind Twilight and Spike’s argument in the hall. For the most part that scene was meant to set the stage on just how the dynamic between them has failed, mostly on the part of Twilight, who refuses to even see Spike’s affection for her. Though she knows it’s there she refuses to acknowledge it, and that puts him in the difficult position of making the decision on whether to pine after her or bury his affection in never-ending mounds of chocolate forest cake. In setting up this roadblock, I as an author also got to spend more time as Spike, and kind of get behind what really would be going on in his head if he was in that situation. In putting this in I get to ultimately make sure we can spend more time with him and as him as the story progress.

Then there is whole scene with Twilight and Luna. I’m sure a ton of you are just saying ‘Oh, he just put that in there to keep the reader’s attention, and make another shipping pair, whatever’. Well guess what. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this. I made the scene to further punctuate that Twilight is beginning to see her alicorn body as less of a burden, and more of an opportunity. With her new body she has been reborn, and as most people with a second chance at life do, they feel the psychological compulsion to try new things they normally would never have done. With a fresh start she is rearranging her whole personality, and the lines between what she considers moral and immoral are blurring. For example, if Twilight was still a unicorn, she would have adhered to her strict pride and sense of self-purity in that scene, refusing to have any part of the situation. But as an alicorn she is putting new borders on what she can and can’t do, basing it off of her past experiences with her friends, something she didn’t have before when she was growing up as a normal unicorn, but only had later in life. So yeah, heavy stuff you might have thought was just packing peanuts for shipping.

Anyways, that’s all for this chapter. Shoot me a comment or maybe some criticism, whichever you feel this chapter deserves.

Voices of Id

Twilight finished tying her bathrobe as she walked out of The Room, surprised at how much time had passed since her and Luna had decided to bathe. The moon was now hovering above the edge of the horizon, inching its way upwards to the arc of its climb in the night sky. There was a soft breeze coming from the general direction of upstairs, and the difference in temperature was enough to make Twilight shiver. Luna moved past her, trotting up the steps steadily. She didn’t seem in the least bothered by the weather, let alone enough to shiver as her guest was. Twilight shook her head and followed her, wondering just what it took to faze Luna. She always had her head about her, somehow.

When the two passed through the living room they saw Spike at the writing desk, furiously scribbling as fast as he could, without giving up any neatness. He had his forked tongue out and he was hunched over the desk as if it was the most important task he’d been given in life. Twilight shook her head and followed Luna upstairs, wondering just what had gotten into him in the hour of their absence. She had an unfortunate feeling in her gut that it concerned his unfortunate new admiration of her, seeing as how hard he was concentrating.

“He wishes that you’d notice him, you know.” Luna said to herself. “Not as a friend or your assistant, but as a dragon that wants you to recognize his affection. All he wants to know is if you’ll even accept his attempts to advance towards you. He isn’t a child anymore, not after what he’s seen.”

Twilight did her best to ignore the statement, instead turning her attention towards the room she had just entered. In a way she had expected as much from a studious princess like Luna, but in another it was still a feast for the eyes. A long row of shelves wrapped around the curve of the tower outwards from the bed, which was raised above the rest of the room by five small steps that led up to it. There was a large canopy and four curtains that shielded the sleeper from the midday sun, as well as thick curtains on the windows to further impede any light. The bookshelves were packed with books on every type of magic, as well as a few fantasy epics of the romantic variety. There was a long desk on the right side of the room that held hundreds of beakers, alembics and other alchemical apparatus on its surface, showing that Luna was also an avid maker of potions.

“This is really nice.” Twilight commented, drinking in the room. “I wish I had a setup like this back at my library.”

Luna shrugged, warmed by the new alicorn’s praise. She stepped over to a massive dresser on one side of the room and began to pull out clothes of all sorts, even a few things that Twilight deemed questionable at best. Finally she found what she was looking for, a light blue evening gown with a large crescent moon on the front, speckles of navy surrounding the glowing halo. She motioned for Twilight to turn around with her hoof, beginning to untie her bathrobe. The other mare did as she was told, admiring the bright lapis-colored carpet while she waited for Luna to be decent. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large case on the desk. Inside the glass case was a single, solitary brass-tipped calligraphy pen with an ink siphon on the side. It looked ancient, and it seemed to be crafted out of silver and gold by what she could tell. Curious, she walked over to the desk and opened the case, picking up the calligraphy pen. It was shockingly heavy for a pen; she found that writing anything with it might make one’s wrist sore after only a few sentences, let alone a whole paragraph. Shrugging, she moved to put it back in its case.

‘Turn around.’ A voice in Twilight’s head commanded.

The alicorn nearly did as she was told; she actually felt her heels turn into the movement before she caught herself. Looking at the pen quizzically, she looked closer at the engravings on it. They were runes, but in a language so ancient that not even she could divine the meaning behind them. It was a strange script that seemed to revolve around a single solitary line with complimentary lines drawn through it for each letter. Whatever it was, it seemed malignant. Anything that could think for itself and tell others what to do raised about seven red flags in her book. As she went to replace it again she heard another whisper.

‘Turn. Around.’ The voice growled again, this time more forcefully.

Twilight had to exercise every ounce of will she had to not turn. She felt her ankles crack, the sinew in them protesting her resistance. With that she shoved the pen in the case and shut it as fast as she could, before it could speak any more illicit orders. Luna walked over to her, her nightgown now on, and stared at Twilight critically.

“Did you pick up that pen?” She asked, glancing at it like the mere sight of it was enough for her.

“Well… yeah.” Twilight replied, looking at the silver-handled object. “It tried to tell me to turn around. I didn’t listen to it-“

“Well thank heavens for that.” The princess said, locking the case. “That is the pen of Id, and the thing isn’t to touch another living creature. Ever. It makes the most noble ponies go bad if you listen to it even once. Then it takes control and the only way to make it stop is to write all your Id wants you to in your own blood. The thing was made by Discord, and Celestia spent almost a year at war with the thing in her own head. When she finally finished she’d written seven-hundred pages of secrets, and then she tried to burn them. They wouldn’t, since that’s part of the enchantment. So, she hid them away. To this day nopony knows where they are, but if anypony ever found them I shudder to think of it.”

“So… what exactly is your Id?” Twilight asked, having never taken a psychology course.

“Your Id is the side of you that’s still an animal.” Luna said, throwing a black cover of the case. “It’s the part of you that you throw all of your inhibitions and secrets to, and most ponies think they’re hidden away forever in their own minds. Your Id is your anti-you, and it’s fed by every lie you tell yourself. And to an alicorn, your Id is the thing that you never want to get out. Nightmare Moon is my antithesis, and she knows everything about me. But she would heed to desires that I have kept repressed for the last thousand years, and woe betide any pony that might fall victim to her... as I have darker demons than most locked away in my head.”

“So… what might my anti-self look like?” Twilight asked, her interest piqued.

Luna gave her a look and sighed. “Only you can know Twilight. She would be everything you have choked down and forbade yourself from doing for your whole life. She would be… terrible. So for the love of the gods above, don’t go near that pen. It’s in that case so that it can’t tell anypony to do anything while it’s still trapped.”

Twilight nodded and moved over to the dresser where Luna had been standing, looking around in the wardrobe for something to wear. She would be fine with just her normal mane and tail, but seeing as how Luna had felt the need to dress up, it only felt right that she would too. She fished around until she heard a whisper in her head again.

‘I’m still here.’ It said, in an eerily smooth, honeyed version of her own voice. ‘And there isn’t a thing in the world that you can do to make me stop.’

Twilight stood stock still, afraid to move. She glanced over at the case to make sure that it was still undisturbed. It was still locked in the case, the same glass panes that were supposed to protect her from its malignant effects. She shook her head, going back to searching for clothes.

‘Listen to me.’ She whispered, in a way that made Twilight’s skin crawl with unease. It was so disturbingly like her own voice that it sounded as if she was whispering in her own ear. ‘I know what you’re thinking right now. You can’t get away from yourself, you’re smart enough to know that… so why don’t you just try and listen to my advice? I’m everything you try not to do in life… but lately you’ve been trying some new things, right? So why don’t you give your repressed memories and impulses a try… I know you’ll enjoy yourself if you listened to me.’

‘No.’ She thought back, still rifling through the dresser in search of something to wear. ‘You are nothing but the worst ideas I’ve ever had. I’m not going to listen to you, and nothing you say can convince me otherwise.’

‘Even if I told you that you already are? And that I can convince you, with a little prodding?’

Twilight stood back up, incredulous that she hadn’t made the decision herself. The thing, the voice in her own head, had made her stand. Sensing her lapse in focus, whatever had been nesting in her took swift control, until Twilight felt like she was no more than a passenger in her own body, and whatever had invaded it was now the pilot. Her Id was now in control, and she was powerless to help it. She stood stock still, feeling an unbearable forced crushing her head from all sides. It felt like she was being pushed right out of her own skull. Then, like a passing fever, it faded. She tried in vain to tell Luna that she wasn’t the real her. But her lips no longer obeyed her commands.

Twilight could see herself perfectly, as if she had a third-person view of everything around her. An overwhelming feeling of hopelessness crept over her. This was the material that could be used to sow nightmares, and here she was actually living this. She wanted to cry at how unfair it was that she was being pushed from her own body, the body she’d fought tooth and nail to obtain and maintain. Then, at that, she felt a sensation on her hooves again. It hit Twilight like a brick wall then; this creature, this anti-her, whatever it was, was still getting used to her body. This was her chance to regain control, now, before it could hurt Luna or establish permanent residence. She reached out and grabbed onto that emotion she’d felt. It was anger and righteous fury that helped her.

‘Stop resisting. I just want to show you what you could to if you listened to me.’ She said, and just like that Twilight was in the back seat again with no control.

Twilight had to watch in horror as the thing, the anti-her, looked over at Luna and smiled dreamily, batting her lashes at the princess while she watched it take control. She had to watch as the thing crossed her legs and ruffled her wings at the princess, making her look like a foal in front of her. It was downright wrong, the way it was making her behave.

“Twilight… what’re you doing?” Luna asked, confused. “Are you going to get dressed?”

‘No! This isn’t right! I’m supposed to be making these decisions, not you!’ The furious alicorn screamed in her head. ‘You have no right to be here!’

“I was just thinking that-” The creature broke off in the middle of its sentence.

“THIS IS MY BODY NOT YOURS YOU WHORISH FREAK!” She screamed, mentally ripping out the jaw of the creature invading her mind and driving it back out from whence it came.

Luna looked taken aback, until she suddenly realized what was going on. She reached over to the case and took out the pen, hurrying over to Twilight as fast as she could while she was still in control. Taking out a piece of paper she held it up to her, prompting her to take ahold of it. Once she had Luna began frantically repeating instructions, as if she’d done this herself more than a few times.

“Look Twilight, I want you to let the thing back into your head, I know that it’s hard but while you’re holding the pen the only thing it can do is write so I want you to do that now. It’s the only way to keep it from coming back again and again, now please, just hurry.”

Twilight looked down at the pen, thinking that the very last thing in the world was to let it take control again. But… she had to, so she did her best to let down her mental walls. Like the animal it was, the anti-her exploded back into her mind, but stopped immediately. It saw the pen in her hand and howled, like it had no choice but to be dragged forward towards the reins. Twilight lost the feeling in her hooves as it took control, but only there. The mare nearly screamed as it took the pen and, hooves shaking erratically, began to push the brass tip against the inside of her wrist.

“Don’t panic Twilight.” Luna said, putting her wing around the panicked mare to help her regain stability. “This will only hurt for a second.”

The sharp chisel pierced her skin easily, blood seeping out of her wrist and down her arm like a faucet had been turned on. Luna did her best to avoid looking at the wound, but soon it was dripping onto the carpet and sticking to Twilight’s coat in thick gory clumps. With her other hoof the creature used Twilight to pull the siphon on the side of the pen, filling it up with an unnatural amount of the thick red liquid. Twilight nearly fainted, suddenly feeling lightheaded at the sudden dip in blood pressure. Then, like it couldn’t control itself, she began to write, the wound sealing itself almost immediately after the tip was withdrawn from her arm.

The fit faded as suddenly as it had started, and just as suddenly Twilight no longer felt the horrifying presence in her head. It had disappeared onto the paper in the blood that now soaked the pages, written in an odd backwards script that was written in a manner similar to her own in almost every way. It disturbed her how easily the creature had moved in and mimicked her every move, from her voice to her manuscript. It wasn’t right, and she felt violated. Luna picked up the pen with a kerchief and put it back in the case, throwing the cover over it once again. The princess couldn’t help but be impressed with how Twilight had handled that. She had resisted, a true fighter down to the last second. Most ponies she knew had touched the pen gave up once they’d lost control the first time.

“So… Twilight.” She said, turning to face her guest. “I want to say that… even though I know that what just happened was… awful, to say the least, I’d like to tell you that I’m proud of you for fighting back. I didn’t the first time, and that’s something I myself didn’t do so many years ago.”

“That was the reason you changed into Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked, still in shock.

“Indeed it was. And it haunts me to this day. I want you to know that it still has a connection to you… and sometimes it might still whisper things to you, but it can no longer influence you like it did the first time. Okay? If you feel that it’s coming back, just open your wings and close your eyes. I’ll know what it means.”

“What it did… I mean, what it wanted me to do… you won’t hold that against me, right?” Twilight asked, ashamed of herself for her flirtatious behavior. “I mean, you know that was something I thought at some point that it wanted me to act on, so… am I forgiven?”

Luna looked down at her, a curious expression on her face. She seemed somewhere between intrigue and slight interest. “Well… I’ll forgive you. But I’ll have you know that I’ll keep that in mind the next time that you decide to take a bath with me.” She said, walking towards the stairs.

As she did Twilight could have sworn that Luna had run her tail over her chest on purpose… but she dismissed it as a figment of her imagination. Such things were below a mare like her. Besides, she already knew that the princess wasn’t interested with how she’d reacted to her confession. Or maybe she’d just imagined that too and she really was curious to see how she felt towards her. The newborn alicorn shook her head, confusion making her mind run laps. Everything that was happening to her recently was only making things less and less clear. And now… the cat was out of the bag.

Twilight groaned and followed Luna down the stairs.

---

Later that evening Spike walked up to Twilight, a note clutched behind his back. Twilight was sitting on the couch in a nightgown that Luna had helped her make. The sun and moon were both setting on either side of the gown, making elusive mixture that is twilight in the center. The mare sighed and closed her eyes as she watched him approach, already knowing what he wanted from her. She could already feel the guilt welling up inside her about how she was neglecting his feelings. When he stood next to her and coughed, just politely to get her attention, she opened her eyes and sat up, unamused.

“Hey, um, Twilight.” He stuttered. “I was just thinking about, y’know, what I tried to talk to you about in the hall earlier today, and so I kinda wrote this note to you so that I could better explain what I was going to tell you before… umm…”

Twilight nearly closed her eyes and fell back onto the couch when the same sickly-sweet voice from earlier whispered to her, so lightly it sounded like it was miles away. ‘Hear him out, he’s only a young dragon who finds himself liking a much more mature mare. You yourself are in the same situation, so don’t pretend that you can’t empathize with him.’

Twilight shuddered and took the note, opening it. It drawled on for over two paragraphs about how Spike thought that, despite the fact that they’d grown up together, that he might have feelings for her. Feelings that he didn’t really know how to tell her about, so he had written to her. Then it went on to say that Spike wasn’t really wanting that much, and just that he wanted her to know that he did like her in a way. After that he concluded with a simple request to tell him whether she felt for him too.

Twilight rolled the note back up and looked down at him. He looked so cute to her, like a puppy with his eyes as big as saucers staring up at her, hoping that her answer would be a resounding yes. Twilight couldn’t help but feel pity for him. He was lovesick. She’d experienced that before. That strange emotion when you pine after a pony that she she’d thought was her sun and moon. Just to, in the end, find out that the pony she’d been yearning for didn’t appreciate her that way. She wanted to spare him the pain, but then she felt that same voice in head again.

‘Tell him that you do.’ The voice said. ‘Lead him on so that he can feel the same pain.’

Twilight took a deep breathe, then handed him the note back. “Spike… I am a pony. And you are a dragon. That means that, no matter how hard I might try, or even want to, you and I can’t be anything more than a platonic relationship… but I want you to know that I’m doing this because I don’t want something like that to ruin our friendship. Okay?” She said, hoping that her explanation would soften the blow.

Spike took the note and sulked over to the waste bin, where he placed the note, sniffing as if he was fighting back a tear. With that he trotted miserably over to the stairs and descended them, waiting until he was downstairs to lose his composure that way he didn’t have to do it in front of Twilight or Luna.

Luna looked up from her writing desk and gave Twilight a long-eyed look, the type one gave someone if they just made of tough decision even though there was no right answer. “You did the right thing. You couldn’t keep him hanging in limbo forever, anyways. It’s for the best that he knows now, instead of having false hope. Although I do pray he doesn’t feel the need to hold onto it. We have a busy night ahead of us, after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since Spike told me that you’re having trouble with the castle layout, I was going to give you a tour. Once we tell my niece, Cadence, you’re here of course. Then it’s only a matter of time before she blabs to my sister about you. That way we avoid a direct confrontation and we have until tomorrow at… let’s just go with nine-o’-clock, since that’s right before Celestia goes to bed. Anyways, we have two options. We can have a pajama party with Cadence and an extremely depressed young dragon, or we can have a tour of the castle with just Cadence. Or maybe we could invite Celestia as well… I suppose it’s all up to you as the guest of honor to decide.”

Twilight gave her a look that would have seared the eyebrows off of anypony else but the three-thousand year old princess. “None of those options sound particularly appealing.” She griped.

“They aren’t meant to be. But Celestia has to figure out you’re here otherwise she’ll launch a massive search for you soon when she visits your library and you’re not there.”

“Fine… Invite Celestia and Cadence over here. I’ll go get Spike so he can send the letters….”

Author's Notes:

Hello everypony! Welcome to this chapter’s roundup. As is the usual, we are going to start with the first thing. Finally, I’m exposing some of the backstory behind why alicorns have their darker sides, and a lot of it has to do with that dastardly Pen of Id that stars in most of this chapter. It reaches out to Twilight after its put back in its case, which I hoped would show you guys that it didn’t matter how far away she was, she would have eventually been subjected to the artifact’s power even if she’d never touched it. Discord made it as a curse towards anypony that possessed the Elements of Harmony and thus and alicorn, that way it was a failsafe that whomever was an alicorn would have moments of weakness, which he could exploit even though he’s normally powerless to anypony how has the power of Harmony at their disposal.

Besides that about the Pen I also include a little psychological terminology as well as an aspect of pure corruption that the pen represents. Namely that the Pen can only be negated by a sacrifice of the alicorn’s blood, which is used to write down pieces of their inner psyche that can’t be burned or otherwise destroyed. Another advantage for Discord if he ever found them. The only way to keep the Pen’s corruption at bay is to put one’s own self at risk in the long term instead of the short term. The Pen also offers a look into Twilight’s head, and how she felt towards Luna, who’s been acting as her knight in shining armor up until this point in the story.

I’m ending this episode off with the interesting proposition of Twilight, Luna, Cadence and Celestia all being in the same room together for an entire night. I’m curious to see where my own imagination will go with this considering how vastly different their personal methodologies are, as well as lifestyles. Anywhos, I suppose I’ve taken enough time out of your day, so make sure you leave a comment down there and subscribe if you’re really enjoying the series so far.

See you next chapter!

Partial Catharsis

“You’re going to need a bit of knowledge on my family’s history, so I guess I’m going to give you a crash course in our genealogy.” Luna said, standing in the center of her tower suite’s living room. She had a large chalkboard out in front of the couch, with a piece of chalk levitating next to the board’s surface. “Firstly, and for the very last time, I am not Cadence’s mother. I know that Celestia has everypony duped otherwise, but I’ve never even been intimate with anyone. I know, big shocker, but I’ve only been on earth for about two-thousand years as compared to Celestia’s three. I spent that missing thousand years of my life on the moon. And Cadence is only one-hundred and twenty-three, so there is a massive hole in my sister’s whole made-up story. She makes it out that Cadence is my child, when she is in fact hers. I suppose she needed a scapegoat to hide the fact that she had an illegitimate child with a random pony. The most shameful thing is that she didn’t even bear Cadence, she had the pony she was with do all of the hard work.”

Twilight’s head and stomach did a flip at that. What that meant when Luna had said that Celestia hadn’t been the one to bear Cadence, meant that the pony she’d been having an affair with was another mare. While she was still reeling, Luna scribbled a picture of herself and then one of Celestia, with a line leading out of the frame and down to a picture of Cadence. Next to Celestia she drew the outline of a pony and then a question mark over the mystery mare, signaling that not even she knew who her sister’s mistress had been.

“Now, I in fact have a half-sister, which is actually Chrysalis. She was originally the Element of Kindness back when she was unicorn, and I was the one who made the mistake of thinking she was ready for the responsibility of being an alicorn. She… turned into what she is now shortly after she was transformed, conjuring the fallacy that there should be a race that forced the sharing of kindness among the other races. So, she made the Changelings and defected, taking the Southern Swamp as her kingdom.” Luna drew a picture of Chrysalis slightly off to the side, and a dotted line between them so that she knew they were slightly related. “I’ll conclude with the fact that you can’t tell anypony who Cadence’s real mother is. Cadence knows, but not another soul knows yet. It’s part of an unspoken agreement between me and Celestia. She can carry on with her lies as long as nopony ever breathes a word of what I did back when I was… corrupted, so to say.”

Despite the business-like tone of her voice, her tone was filled with spite. She didn’t need to tell Twilight how unfair it was that her sister got to lie about her virginity to the whole country. All because she had fallen prey to the same ailment that had claimed both Twilight and Chrysalis. Instead of bringing it up to her, which she knew would only send her into a fit of rage and possibly cause her to take a swipe at Celestia during their unofficial meeting, she stayed silent so that the mare could continue her lecture.

“Anyways,” The princess concluded, her flawless composure back in place. “I will also have you know that besides those I just listed, there is no other living alicorns in existence. We are all there are. Thank the heavens for that. Imagine if everypony had the same capabilities as us. I shudder to think of it.”

Luna threw the chalk down on the holder and pushed the board back over to the side of the room, clapping her hooves. She seemed pleased with herself that over three-thousand years of family had been condensed into a roughly three minute lesson. She turned to Twilight, expecting some burning question to arise from her. The only thing the princess-to-be did was shuffle her hooves and look around, trying to avoid her lecturer’s gaze. She was uncomfortable with what had just been explained to her, especially the things that were happening and had happened that she’d been lied to about. Finally, she cleared her throat and asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“Does that mean that Celestia is my mother-in-law, since Cadence is her daughter?”

Luna shuddered, feeling slight pity for her. “Yes. Just try not to think about that too much. I sometimes like to pretend that I’m not her sister, so it’s fine if you don’t associate.”

Luna’s ears stood up as a knock sounded from downstairs, causing Twilight to nearly faint. She couldn’t imagine how this would turn out, since she’d blatantly disobeyed Celestia no less than thirty times in the last seventy-two hours. She knew that her former mentor was going to be livid, but to what degree she had no idea. She knew that she wouldn’t be bold enough to try and scold her in front of both Cadence and Luna, but she feared for her safety if she was somehow caught alone with her. So with a heavy heart she walked over to the stairs as Luna hurried down in front of her, much more speed in her hooves. Twilight wished she could share in that sureness. She was downright afraid of how this could turn out.

Luna continued down the steps while Twilight stopped, turning around to go back into the living room. She had agreed with Luna that it was best if she wasn’t in a place where Celestia could easily grab her and teleport away before she could do anything. The tower was safely guarded from disappearance spells of all types, making it the safest place for her. She heard Celestia downstairs complaining to Luna about the hour, Cadence beside her, seeming to be thoroughly excited by the whole experience. In her letter Twilight had told the youngest of the three alicorns that she would be there, but she let Luna write the letter to Celestia so she could make it as vague as possible. With that Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, counting the steps as the three walked up them. She had a sixth sense telling her that Celestia was in the middle between Luna and Cadence, so that when she saw her she wouldn’t be tempted to do anything rash.

She counted down the last ten steps… five… four… three… two… one…

The whole room went into a dead silence. Twilight dared to open her eyes. Celestia stood, her mane a shocking bubblegum pink and with an equally shocking lack of bodily decoration. She wore no jewelry, but she didn’t need full royal fanfare to make her student feel terrified. She glared down at her, her mane stark still and eyes stabbing into hers, silently screaming her rage at the young alicorn. Twilight could feel tears leaping behind her eyes at how enraged she looked. It was a stare that had been perfected over thousands of years to strike fear into the souls of all her subjects, and the threat of physical violence looming was enough to drive anypony to tears. Twilight, who knew just how cruel her teacher could be, was doubly affected by how close the two had been before the last month’s events had torn their friendship to pieces. A tic was developing in the princesses’ right eye, and her hooves were digging into the carpet as if she was already pushing her perfectly sharpened and lacquered hoof to the former unicorn’s neck.

“Hi Twilight! I’m so happy that you finally managed to become an alicorn!” Cadence said, oblivious to the hostility as thick as molasses and hot as boiling oil filling the room around her. “It’s all you talked about as a filly, so it’s only right that your dream came true.”

The younger alicorn moved to step towards Twilight. Celestia stuck her leg out so quickly it couldn’t be seen, shooting Cadence the same look of pure hate. Even Cadence, with her total lack of social understanding, took the hint. She stepped back and let the eldest alicorn have her time to come to terms with the situation. Luna looked on edge, her horn humming with energy in preparation to act if Celestia tried to maim Twilight, as she likely would. Twilight was ready to lose her composure in front of them; she could feel the hot tears behind her eyes, already welling at the bottom of her eyelids.

“Are you ashamed?” Celestia asked, her voice carrying the same force than if she’d struck her student across the face. “Are you glad now? Glad you’re pithy enough to be called an alicorn, when you were never supposed to be? I hope you know that you don’t deserve those wings. You never earned them. They weren’t bestowed to you. They were handed out the same as a rich mare stops to tip a beggar of the side of the street. Wallowing in his own filth he finds the gift to be valuable, when it is merely a trifle of what the rich mare truly has.”

Twilight blinked and felt two full, hot tears streak down her cheeks. They burned like acid on her skin, and she felt inclined to bow her head to hide her emotion. She couldn’t bear to look at her mentor and idol anymore. It hurt her too much to know that the one mare that had seen her as valuable when nopony else had, now hated her when everypony else loved her. It was her approval that truly counted in all of this, and without it she felt like a piece of her own heart was missing, and the rest of was left to hemorrhage blood until it was complete again.

“Please stop this Sister, you really have no room to talk.” Luna said, stepping in front of her older sibling with preternatural speed. “You were no better, and you know you didn’t deserve your wings. Your power.”

Celestia looked like she was about to kill. The very mention of the years following her birth as an alicorn was a massive blow beneath the belt for her, but that was what it took to even the playing field. Celestia was abusing her emotional lordship over Twilight in a way that could be defined as bordering on sadistic. The leader was using every tool she had to hit her former student wherever it hurt most, right in her scars. Luna couldn’t let that happen. So she was doing the same.

“Tell her, Celestia. If she is so unworthy of her wings, tell her of what you did that was so saintlike in your first years. I’d love to hear it from your mouth. Because I can remember it with perfect detail. Especially the killing. The maiming, the murder. It was a treat to hear that every night coming from the basement. The trophies you kept of your kills. I’m sure she’d love to hear all about the horns you kept after you sawed them from their owner’s heads. Oh, and let’s go ahead and tell her about the eyes. And the ropes that you kept, the skin that was always caught in them and the blood on the floor. Then to top it all off you can tell her all about your medical tools.”

Celestia took a step back like she’d been stabbed. Her eyes were as large as saucers, beyond words at just how detailed the picture Luna had just painted with her words was. It was downright disturbing to hear what she’d done in her psychotic state. The princess blinked at how the images flooded back to her, each more vivid than the last. There was so much pain… the fear that she saw reflected in the eyes of the ponies and other creatures around her scared herself, and shoved a wrench in the gears of everything she was about to say to Twilight. One after the next she remembered bits and pieces of her past life, each on burning into her memory, branding her mind so that she wouldn’t forget.

Luna leaned close to her and whispered. “Now, I’m going to talk to you after this is over about our agreement with whom Cadence’s parents really are, and then we’ll discuss Discord. Until then, consider yourself humbled.”

Celestia turned away from her, unable to keep eye contact. She felt inundated by just how angry Luna sounded, behind all the sarcasm and venom in her words. So… with the same godlike strength with which she had just assaulted Twilight verbally, she pushed down her nearly infinite pride and said, in a voice that sounded to strained, so brittle that it conjured images of a thin pane of glass on the verge of cracking.

“I… apologize for that.” She quipped, so quickly that the statement seemed to have been said through a mouthful of razorblades. “I was… off base with my previous statements.”

Twilight was still distraught, but she felt the weight lift from her shoulders so that she could once again look at her teacher. She’d heard everything about Celestia’s past life, but she didn’t have the will to piece the whole picture together yet, so she put her energy towards drying her tears. She slowly regained her composure, wiping her eyes and sitting up straight on the couch. Celestia conjured a high-backed chair and sat down in it, looking pointedly towards her hooves. Cadence did likewise, except hers was a bright yellow with plush red velvet for the seat. Luna smiled that her audience was acting civil and walked over to the couch, taking a seat directly next to Twilight.

Luna put a wing around Twilight and pulled her close, leaning to whisper in her ear. “I know how cruel she can be, but she won’t try to bother you anymore. You two are on equal ground now, so just pretend like none of that happened… you get used to doing that after you’ve lived as long as I have. Talk to her like you would have as her student. I know it seems odd, and you might still be hurt from her outburst, but things will go so much smoother if you just forgive her. Plus that’s proof to her that you’re worthy of being an alicorn. So… just be yourself like you were a month ago.”

Luna leaned closer still and breathed to her in a voice so light that Twilight had a hard time believing it had really happened. “Anything for you, dear.”

Luna resumed her normal sitting position, but her wing was still placed possessively over the younger alicorn. Twilight felt strange; the way Luna was acting made it seem like she was trying to protect her from them, and at the same time it was like she was sending a different message. Like she was telling Celestia that no matter how hard she tried, Twilight wasn’t hers anymore. It made Twilight feel wanted by her, but in the bigger picture Luna was also attempting to jest towards affection, in her own way. So she took a deep breath and let the princess keep her wing over her, even brave enough to smile despite what had just happened. Luna looked at her and returned the gesture, a slight upturning of her lips, just enough to show that she understood what it was like to be in her shoes.

---

Spike trudged down the hallway, furious with himself and Twilight. He kicked a piece of garbage up towards the ceiling, where it hit a chandelier, rebounded, and hit a suit of armor. The metal clattered to the floor, but he marched on, still blisteringly angry. It was like all the harsh thoughts that he’d ever had about himself were now screaming, crawling over one another and stepping on the other’s backs to try and get his attention. Twilight’s rejection had hurt. It was more painful than the burns he’d given himself while learning to breathe fire, or the time he tried to impress Twilight by walking down a flight of steps and holding all of her books at one time. He’d needed stitches on every appendage after that incident. But none of it came close to the pain in his chest. Because he knew it wouldn’t pass. Physical pain was temporary, but the scars on his heat would be much slower to heal.

As he stomped down the hall he noticed that he was now an inch taller, mostly due to the sheer emotional turmoil in his head. He didn’t care enough to actually stop and calm down. He was fine with feeling this way for now. It felt right to him, to be angry at himself and the mare that he’d tried desperately to win. He was even prepared to create a potion if it would make her like him. He’d have changed as much as needed if she’d told him to. It felt wrong that, despite all the willingness, all the time he was willing to devote to her, she’d just told him no. Such a simple, show-stopping roadblock to his immensely complex, confused jumble of emotions. Now they had nowhere to go but to fester in his heart, where he’d have to lock them up or let them define him as a person. He wanted to do the latter, if it would show her the pain he felt.

Spike sat down next to a door, one of the thousands down in the castle storage. He leaned against the sturdy iron vault, closing his eyes. He felt trapped. Like all his plans he’d made had been cancelled and now he would be staying at home all day with nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was maddening for a dragon who’d always followed at his mentor’s side to suddenly be faced with the reality that she might not care about him as any more than a quick-deliver mailman. Maybe to her that was all she saw. Maybe in her eyes he was just a child still, and he had no grounds to have such emotions towards a mare as complex and intelligent as her. Maybe it was just because he was a dragon and she was a pony. So many ‘Maybe’s rattling around in his head, enough to make him want to forget about it, as if it’d never happened.

On one hand, he could do just that. A potion like that would be as easy to find in a palace as large as this, filled with so many magically-oriented ponies. On the other, he could hold onto his pent up emotions and endure her disregard what she did to him with every day that passed with her as his muse. Then, far out of his hands, so far away on the horizon he could barely even see the option, was the option to just let it go. It was signaling him, like a gem that had been carelessly dropped on the ground in the middle of a field. He could accept that Twilight wasn’t the mare for him if she didn’t share his feelings. He could, but it seemed like it wasn’t right, letting something like this go. Still, it was an option for him, and he couldn’t just ignore that. So, he examined each.

He loved Twilight in a way that made forgetting her unimaginable, so he threw option one into the back of his head as a last ditch effort only. Then he arrived at tolerating her lack of emotion for him, but cling to the hope that she would someday acknowledge him. He liked that option, it meant that he could at least go back to her and live a relatively normal life with her. He could explore if perhaps Rarity would consider him a nice enough dragon to take him in. He wouldn’t mind living with her, after all. He’d once had a decent enough fascination with her, and she’d seemed happy with his company on more than one occasion. It would sure take his mind off Twilight if he was away from her, but it also felt like he was giving up. He would have to walk away if he took that route.

At last he looked at his final option. The one that looked the hardest to exploit. Spike knew this one wasn’t his style, and might not even be the right one. But it seemed to be the only one that allowed for his continued existence with Twilight. He’d have to let it go. Accept that she wasn’t his, and he wasn’t hers. They were just two people, a dragon and a pony, living together so that one could learn to have a happy life later on. He knew that they were friends, not a couple. He’d known that the moment he’d began to have crush on Twilight. That was how she viewed him, and deep down he didn’t want her to stop treating him like her most trusted assistant. If he didn’t let his resentment go it would eat their friendship away, and he’d be left with no options but the very last. To forget. There was no changing how she felt about him, their relationship was set in stone from years living together. So he’d have to let it go. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt for a pony, and it certainly wouldn’t be his last. In order to remain at Twilight’s side he had to learn that regardless, no matter how hard it was.

‘It’ll be hard.’ He thought to himself. ‘But I’m still her best friend. Even if I don’t feel that way.’

Something slipped its input in at the back of his head, like an agent of chaos leaving a package on his doorstep. ‘She’ll accept it if you make her see. If she knows how much you feel for her, she will have no choice but to know that you love her. You simply have to force her to see your side, to feel what you feel. If she knew this pain she would never subject you to it. She would accept you, and everything will fall into place…’

Spike perked his head to the side. That hadn’t felt like it’d come from his own head. The wording was… wrong. He’d never use the term ‘love’ for what he felt at the moment. It was more the strong the desire to be known as an adult, and that he wanted to be more than just a friend to Twilight. ‘Love’ to him meant kissing and sleeping in the same bed, both things made him feel invasive towards his mentor. He’d only wanted her to let him establish a foundation with her, so that maybe he’d hold her hoof on occasion. Even that was pushing it for him. He’d wanted platonic love. That thought carried all the wrong connotations, and reeked of something more along the lines of lust. The whole basis of the thought was manipulating Twilight, something that he would sooner fall down a thousand flights of steps for, before he would then do something so grossly immoral. And to his one and only mentor and caretaker, the thought was more alien to him than Discord aligning his books in alphabetic order. He shook off the foreign thought and focused on the one that was his.

He would have to accept that he wasn’t Twilight’s first choice. But he could live with that if it meant that he could still live with his best, and maybe his only, true friend. He stood up and set off in the direction of the castle kitchens, eager to make it up to Twilight for making her feel guilty. He shouldn’t have even forced her to choose in the first place, and this was his was way of making it right.

Author's Notes:

Pherhaps, in order to break the mold, I’ll start from the end and make my way to the beginning in this chapter’s wrap-up. Spike, as we leave him in this chapter, is beginning to see that there is a part of him that is very willing to lie and manipulate others for what he wants. For now, though, it would seem that this part of him is being largely ignored. We can all be thankful for that right now, but how long this greedy part of him will go unobserved, not even I as the author know. He has the capability to either leave or stay with Twilight, but he chose to stay, another testament to his loyalty. He has a noble heart, but he feels the seeds of corruption growing in him. The part of him that spoke to him at the very end of the chapter was telling him to do something that appalled him, but at the same time the prospect of imminent success drew him in for a moment, even if it wasn’t his intention to be.

Another thing that Spike realized was that he had been laboring under the delusion that Twilight wasn’t already reserved, and that he would inevitably be her first choice. He thought that since he’d known her so long she’d forget about any other possible suitors and accept him. He saw that, in assuming that, he was being selfish, and that he’d ignored the fact that Twilight is her own mare. He couldn’t assume that she didn’t already have a pony on her mind.

Now we get to the first part of the chapter, which may have been a little heavy. As a matter of fact, I think that this whole chapter has been a real anvil as far as mental weight. We start out with the bombshell that is Luna telling Twilight about her family tree. That even made me sit back in my chair and say ‘Wow, I just shocked myself’. Something that most people seem to forget is that, most of the time, fanfiction is just creating your own headcanon. That’s really all there is to it. But the way that came out onto the page was… yikes. Then there was the scene with Celestia, and Luna jumping in and heeding her off. You see, I can’t really say anything about things that are so dialogue driven, because whatever is said is exactly what they said. There isn’t any need to elaborate.

I can, though, tell you a little about the scene at the end with Luna and Twilight. Twilight is beginning to see that Luna hasn’t acted solely in the interest of protecting her. She’s piecing together that Luna sees her as not just her student or her charge, but as somepony that she feels the compulsion to protect. The princess is trying to protect Twilight while, at the same time, teaching her to hold her own against ponies like Celestia, through example. Finally, Twilight is starting to see that, though she’s doing her best to disguise it, Luna enjoys her company as more than a hostess… or maybe even more than a friend.

Well, that’s all folks. Hope you like this particularly lengthy chapter. Have a nice day, and leave a comment down there if you have a question, or just want me to hear your input. Or flames, I haven’t spotted any flames anywhere so far.

Situations Change

“First and foremost, we’re here to talk about Twilight.” Luna began, looking at the alicorns around her critically. Her gaze lingered on Celestia, whom was seemingly entranced with her mane at the moment. “I can’t even begin to convey to you two the sheer scale of the news. Twilight is an alicorn now, something that only happens once every other dozen-thousand years. She’s the first in such a long time that everything about her has to be considered and thought about before we do anything. She needs a place to live outside of the public eye right now, so I suppose we can start there. I would be more than happy to let her stay here in my tower, but that isn’t how a republic works.” She cast another glance at her sister, who stiffened at the weight Luna had put behind the word ‘Republic’ “I need your input before I make a decision about her well-being.

The four alicorns sat in near silence for a few seconds before Cadence said, almost to herself. “I suppose I could let her stay with me and Shining Armor if she wanted. But I’m sure that you’re happier here, Twilight. And I can only imagine how he’d react…”

Celestia spoke for the first time in nearly a half an hour. “I’m simply wondering how you plan on dealing with this, Twilight.” She said, addressing her former student directly. “You seem very at ease for a pony that I just insulted. Not to mention that you could lapse into psychosis if we left you alone for more than an hour at a time. You’re unstable and you know that, but you seem to be taking it all in stride. But, do you have a plan? How do you intend to share this with your friends, then Equestria? Or do you even plan to do that? Are you going to disappear into the wilderness in the night and never be seen again? I want to know what you intend to do now that you’re an alicorn.”

Luna gave her a look with her eyes half-shut, showing that she clearly wasn’t enthused by her sister’s straying from the topic. “The topic that’s on the floor right now is living arrangements. We’ll get to that later, but let’s focus on what we’re going to be doing in the immediate future.”

Celestia, used to being able to switch lesser ponies’ attentions easily, sighed heavily. Patience wasn’t her strongest suit. “Fine. Let’s do as my inferior sister suggests and deal with the small, pithy things first.” She relished the look on Luna’s face at the word ‘inferior’, and then began. “I will not let Twilight stay at the castle unless extreme measures are set to make sure she is not a danger to herself and others. I want a pony with her at all times, and not my sibling. She is capable, but she isn’t disposable and she has duties to perform. I suggest a guard or perhaps even one of my own personal assistants.”

“What about Spike?” Twilight said, wondering why Celestia hadn’t mentioned him thus far.

The princess only smiled sardonically at her. “We’ll get to that in a second. As my sister said, one thing at a time. Also, I’d like to ensure that, if worse comes to worst, Twilight can be contained so that we can stabilize her. I’ve seen what can happen when an alicorn loses her bearings.” She concluded, her eyes coming to a rest on Luna.

“You keep talking about her like she’s some sort of animal that could break and maul somepony at a moment’s notice.” Luna commented, clearly dissatisfied with her conditions. “I can see the second condition being met within my comfort zone, but I don’t see how Spike and I aren’t adequate enough to keep Twilight perfectly fine. We have thus far, and she is in perfect health, as you can see.”

“That is where I can come to my final condition. Neither Luna nor Spike can watch Twilight. Firstly, because I want Spike to be reassigned as my own assistant, and Luna is only conscious during moonlight hours. Thus there is nopony to watch her.”

Cadence, Luna and Twilight all turned to stare at her. It was like separating Yin from Yang. A push without a pull. A reaction without an equal and opposite reaction. It was nearly impossible to imagine Twilight living anywhere without Spike. And here Celestia was saying that her only true, set in stone demand was that Spike was to be taken away from her.

“That demand is ludicrous.” Luna protested, seeing that Twilight was still too stunned to do so herself. “It would do nothing but further destabilize her if you took him away! He’s the only thing she has from her previous life right now. If you do that you’d be cutting her one connection to her past.”

“That is why I’m going to make a pony that Twilight should be quite familiar with watch her.” Celestia elucidated. “I have my own reasons for taking Spike, including that he’s the only dragon of his species to be discovered in over a thousand years, and that his subservient nature makes him much more productive than most of the buffoons working under my direction. But the most important is that, if Twilight went ‘off the deep end’, as the colloquialism goes, he’d be one of the few that could bring her back to a stable state. We simply can’t afford to lose him.”

“Who is going to be my assistant then?” Twilight asked, speaking to Celestia for the first time during the meeting. “You said it was somepony that I knew.”

“Well… let’s think about that. It can’t be Rarity, otherwise all of Equestria would know in a matter of days. Rainbow Dash is equally untrustworthy as a braggart. Fluttershy is too delicate to handle you if you had an episode, and Applejack has far too much on her plate to be babysitting you day in and day out. As for Pinkie Pie… she’s mentally taxing enough as it is. I wouldn’t condemn my worst enemy to have to stand next to her all day. So who does that leave us? We have a few ponies that are your acquaintances. There’s always the option to have you just live with Cadence, and that’ about it. So… I think that I know who would be a perfect guard for you.”

“Well then spit it out.” Luna snapped impatiently.

“Can I say something before you make your decision?” Twilight said.

Celestia shrugged, thinking whatever she had to say wouldn’t change her mind in the least.

“Well, I think that I should be with Luna. I mean, she’s been able to keep me from losing my mind so far. She even brought me back from the brink once. She didn’t do it in a very gentle way, but she got the job done. I think that Cadence should take Luna’s duties while I’m living in her tower. Besides, I don’t think that you even trust anypony I know enough to leave me with them.”

“That could work, I hardly even do anything all day.” Cadence replied enthusiastically.

Celestia shot her another one of her signature ‘looks of death’ and returned her attention to Twilight. “I think that is still preposterous. Luna sleeps during the day, and Twilight is awake during the day. They wouldn’t really be interacting.”

“My sleep schedule is usually largely leaning towards the day.” The youngest alicorn explained. “I don’t think that it’d be a huge stretch for me to just stay up all night.”

“Fine.” Celestia grated, giving way in the face of being so clearly outnumbered. “But I want you to be visited by your friends once a week. If you don’t, I will know. Then I’ll be the one you’re bunking with. Except you can sleep out on the balcony.”

Twilight had her own personal victory inside, even though she knew that Spike would be taken away from her. At least things weren’t all bad, since she still had Luna. Adding in the fact that her friends would be visiting only improved her spirits more.

“Next order of business is the long term plans.” Luna said. “Firstly is Twilight’s permission to be out in the castle. She should have the right to go where she pleases in my opinion. With her being supervised by myself, of course.” She added, slyly winking at Twilight. She knew where all the little curios and interesting rooms were in the palace. “What do you think?”

“Of course!” Cadence said, her eyes wide. “Then she can come and visit me! And maybe we can go out into the gardens together!”

“Negative.” Celestia said, much to the disappointment of Cadence. “She is not only dangerous, but there are a fair number of hazards associated with being an alicorn. The guards would see you and gossip would spread like wildfire. The servants are especially chatty. If a certain somepony heard about there being another alicorn, he’d be trying his best to get to her. Not only him, Discord, but Chrysalis would as well. It would be a threat to security.”

“And if we were invisible to the naked eye? And we only wandered around the castle at night?” Luna furthered, pressing her sister. “I’m sure those would negate the foresaid risks.”

“Fine.” Celestia said, nodding. “But as ground rules, you are to come nowhere near my section of the castle and stay far away from large congregations of ponies. Other than that, follow common sense. You might be invisible and inaudible, but you aren’t ghosts. You can’t pass through solid matter.”

Just then their attention was distracted by Spike walking up the stairs, carrying a large tray with an assortment of different teas, lettuces and sandwiches. He walked quietly over to the coffee table between the four and set it down. The young dragon took a slight bow and promptly went over and sat at the writing desk. He seemed to know that he’d showed up at an inopportune time, so he did his best to make himself scarce. It took a second for the four to resume their conversation, but it instantly picked up on the note of.

“Can I go out into Canterlot?” Twilight asked. “I swear I’ll stay invisible, or I’ll disguise my wings. I’ll stay on the down low and not talk to anypony. I just want to get some things to make this place a little more homey for myself. It’s not that Luna’s place isn’t, well, comfortable. I think it’s more than perfect in that aspect. But there’s just a few things that really make it feel like home to me.”

“I will have Luna accompany you on this trip and you will have a guard. Disguise your wings, that is the only thing that I can advise.” Celestia said, looking at Twilight curiously. “You’re already beginning to think about the risks of your actions… You just might make a good alicorn yet.”

Cadence interrupted whatever was about to be said by picking up the kettle of tea and pouring herself a cup, levitating it over to where she was sitting. She gave a grateful nod over towards Spike and took a sip. Twilight shrugged and did likewise. This was supposed to be a friendly meeting for them, not a war counsel. Celestia was the only one who didn’t seem to want anything, so she occupied her time with looking out the window of the tower at the sky. It was slowly darkening, meaning that Luna’s moon was tucking itself under the horizon. Soon she’d have to raise the sun, and leave for her daily morning briefing. She sighed and decided to make this last part quick.

“I want Twilight to remember that she is now liable to be responsible for everything she does. Unless she has a very obvious psychotic break, then she is directly blamed for her actions. She is still susceptible to the same rules that everypony else has to follow. I’d also like to remind my sister that she is a three-thousand year old, mature alicorn mare that is equally as responsible for herself and Twilight. If I see that either of you are ignoring that, I will separate you. Forcefully. And Twilight, you aren’t off the hook for disobeying the commands I gave you in that letter. So expect me to be asking for you in a day’s time. I’ll devise a punishment fitting for your disobedience.”

And let me finish with this. Luna, you are not to engage in any sort of relationship with Twilight above a strictly platonic level. I know you’re lonely, and that you might feel some form of uncivil, carnal attraction to her. Especially since you’re so old and she is just a filly in alicorn terms. I can already see the gears turning in your head on how you can take advantage of her mental instability to grow her psychological dependence on you. You’ve been alone for a while, but that is no reason for you to violate the terms between the social construct of a student and mentor. I know I didn’t when I was teaching Twilight, and thus I trust you to adhere to those rules as well. No matter how exotic your emotions and imagination may grow to enjoy seeing her in that light.”

Luna’s face fell from a look of triumph to a furious, angry mask. One could feel that air thicken with tension and venom as she prepared to lash back at Celestia, but the eldest of the two sisters waved a hoof.

“I know that me anticipating your attractions towards lesser, weaker souls is infuriating to you. But as much as I’d love to be yelled at for that, I have to raise the sun in a half an hour and I’d really prefer to bathe and perhaps get down to the courtroom before that happens. I have a criminal to condemn directly after I raise the sun and after that I get to oversee her execution. It should be a delightful morning for me, all told. So I’m going to politely excuse myself.”

With that Celestia stood, her chair disappearing with a loud ‘snap’. She left the room with Luna in that state of anger, descending the stairs with a smile on her face. Spike looked from Luna to Twilight in confusion. He hadn’t understood half of what Celestia had said about Luna, but by the way the princess looked ready to murder her older sibling, he could tell it had plucked at very raw nerves. Luna got up and stormed out of the room as well, heading upstairs so that she could be alone. Cadence was left with Twilight, whom both sat wondering what had just happened. Things had been going fine, what went wrong? The mood had been great and they were wrapping things up when Celestia had said those last few sentences to Luna. Cadence coughed lightly, then said.

“Celestia has a particular talent in doing that. Taking a triumph for somepony else and then turning it around to make them feel horrible for themselves. She just called Luna a large number of things that… well, that she didn’t appreciate. She did them in a very classy way, but you have to understand there are more than just the words. It’s what she meant by them.”

“So what did Celestia say that was enough to get her to react like that? She looked like she was about to cry…” Twilight asked, disturbed by how fast the mood had changed.

“Well… there’s this thing that Celestia pulls out whenever Luna ever gets an interest in a particular pony. If she sees that she even remotely likes somepony, she’ll say that, legally, by law nopony with more than a forty year difference in age can have a relationship with one another. Otherwise it’s considered a statutory offense, as well as pedophilia. Since she’s over three-thousand years old she likes to point that out, since no living pony is that age or anywhere near it. She also implied that if she were to be in a relationship with you, she’d be taking advantage of your mental condition by making you rely on her. In a way she also just called her a pervert. It isn’t really fair that Celestia can just do that and walk away, but she just did. And I think it really hurt Luna…” Cadence explained, looking away. She felt slightly guilty that she’d just let it happen.

“I guess I’ll go, then.” She finished, standing up. “I hope that things go well with Luna and Spike. Good day.”

Cadence left, leaving Twilight alone with Spike. She couldn’t believe what had just happened in front of her, under the guise of a distinguished vocabulary. Celestia was capable of being cruel, but this pushed the envelope of just how sharp her silver tongue was. She’d basically called Luna a complete sexual deviant right in front of her, but she’d been unable to see through the curtain of formality that she’d thrown up to prevent her from seeing. She knew that Luna felt hurt, and that she’d been called those things many times before. But having them said to you in front of the one pony that you considered to be most important was hovering on the edge of pure sadism.

Twilight was about to get up, but before she could Spike walked over to her, wringing his hands nervously. She closed her eyes, preparing for what she thought would be another onslaught of guilt brought on by her not returning his affections. But he cleared his throat politely, looked up at her with sincerity in his eyes and said.

“Twilight… I know that I was wrong to think that you’d take me as more than a friend, just because I’ve known you so long. And I was wrong to make you feel guilty about it afterwards. I was also wrong to assume that you weren’t reserved already, and thinking that you were mine. So… I guess…” He choked on the word for a moment, then sighed. “I’m sorry. I accept that you don’t like me that way. And that’s okay as long as we can still be friends.”

Twilight stared at him for well over a minute, shocked at how mature he sounded. Looking around, nopony else was forgiving her for anything she’d done recently. Except for him, and he wasn’t even fully grown yet. Here she was, surrounded by alicorns that were tens of centuries old and here, in front of her, not even older than thirteen by his race’s standards, was a dragon that possessed a skill that they did not. He had forgiven her, and even admitted that he’d been wrong. Celestia herself didn’t have that quality, and Cadence and Luna had a hard time with it. She exercised it on a daily basis, but here he was a million times younger than everypony she knew and still he knew how to do things that immortal beings, beings that were supposed to be above him in every way, simply could not.

Twilight reached down and wrapped him in a bear hug, pulling him close to her as she dared. He hesitated at first, then returned the gesture, glad that she’d forgiven him in return. When she let him go she smiled and said to him, in a soft voice like a teacher to her student.

“Spike, I’m proud of you. You’ve learned to do something that ponies a million times older than you can’t do. And that’s forgive. Not only that, but you admitted you were wrong. Celestia, who was just sitting in this room, far smarter than me and you, can’t do that yet. You are the most mature, and the most intelligent dragon I’ve ever known. I forgive you, and I’ll admit that I did feel bad about breaking your heart. But let’s not dwell on the past. I’m glad we could clear the air, but now I have to go and check on Luna.”

“Thanks Twilight. Do you want me to come with you?”

“No thanks, I’ve got it. I’m sure I’m enough to get her back out here.”

With that Twilight rose from her seat and trotted over to the stairs, still amazed at how nice it had been to make things right between her and her assistant. It was like some invisible weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she could now walk a little easier with the knowledge that it wouldn’t come between them again.

As she emerged into Luna’s room she noticed that the lights were dimmed and the moon wasn’t in the sky. The sun was rising on the other side of the tower, the side with no windows. The curtains were drawn shut, and the candles on the chandelier were just barely lit, as if the azure flames they held had lost the will to burn temporarily. Twilight saw that, over on the bookshelf, there was a single tome missing. She walked as quietly as she could over to the shelf, then looked to see that, where the book had once been, was a small bottle. When she uncorked the bottle it let off a very noticeable, pungent aroma that struck a familiar chord in Twilight’s mind. It was a sleeping draft, one that reeked of cherries and was very potent. From that Twilight only assumed that she could be in bed, sleeping off what had just happened.

“That was last night’s sleeping draft.” Luna said from behind her bed’s curtain. “I was about to get up and take tonight’s, but then you came in.”

Luna sounded like she’d been crying, from how hoarse she sounded. Twilight looked over at the desk to see that there were multiple bottles, all littering the desk’s surface. Each on was the same size, shape and every single one was empty except for the bottle at the very center of the desk. Twilight couldn’t believe that Luna had any sort of trouble sleeping; she always seemed so relaxed to her. What stress was she holding onto that would prevent her from sleeping?

As if she’d read her mind, or at least followed her line of sight, Luna sighed. “Ever since I sent that letter to you bearing the spell to change you into an alicorn I haven’t been able to sleep. I haven’t been able to forgive myself for what I did, plunging you into this world for selfish reasons. I wanted you to be an alicorn, Celestia didn’t. I forged that letter brilliantly, but even a week later it hurts to think that you’ll never again be able to look at a clock and not laugh. Or, perhaps, cry.”

“What do you mean, selfish reasons?” Twilight asked.

“I mean that I thought it would have been a waste. A mare as intelligent, as creative as you would be a waste to keep as a mortal. You not only have a flawless intellect, but your morals are so in line that you make mine look shabby by comparison. And you take such good care of yourself that I… I couldn’t help but think that you practically deserved to be made into an alicorn. That and you… the way you do things, the way you move, the way you solve problems, the way that you even make potions and cast spells all makes me think that you’re the perfect mare to live forever. That… and all those reasons make me attracted to you in a way that almost scares me. Since I’ve been alone my entire life, I’ve been independent. I have never looked at anything or anypony and thought that I couldn’t live without it. And then there was the day I met you. The moment I saw you, you struck a chord in my head that made me think for the first time ‘I want to know you, live with you, and learn from you, forever’.

From that day on I raided the Canterlot Vaults, trying to piece together a spell that had the capability to transform you into an alicorn. I wanted to visit you, and I wanted to get to know you far better before I transformed you, but time didn’t permit it. Celestia was onto me, and I had to hurry. So I did, and now I find myself second-guessing all of it. If I made the right choice, for the right reasons.”

“You mean that you planned this?” Twilight said, nearly in shock.

“Yes. I did. But… then Celestia go involved. And you became so afraid. I couldn’t help it, I had to directly interfere, even though I was afraid that I might fall for you if I got too close. But I had to, otherwise Celestia would have let you rot in that house until you killed everypony there, and then yourself. She would have let you decay, so I had to get involved. Then, I fell for you. I was afraid I would from the start. What started out at a simple mission to make you the best you could be turned into a mission to protect you, and we were forced even closer together. I never did it so that we’d end up living in the same tower, but that’s how it played out… and for that I’m sorry.”

Twilight walked over to Luna’s bed and drew back the curtain. She was lying under the woolen comforter, her silk nightgown’s enchanted stars twinkling in the half-light. She looked sullen, and her cheeks were stained with tears. She couldn’t look at Twilight, and turned her head away to avoid looking at the estranged mare.

“I failed you.” Was all she said. “I did the wrong thing, for a wrong, selfish reason.”

Twilight looked at her for a long moment and shook her head, reaching out and setting her hoof on the princesses’ shoulder. “You didn’t fail. You succeeded. And in the process, a happy accident happened. I think it’s awfully serendipitous that we ended up in this situation together. I like the fact that we live in the same tower together, and that we’re both alicorns. I like that I’m going to live forever now. And besides all that, I think that you’re a really good mare for what you did.”

Luna looked back at her, smiling for the first time in an hour. “So you’re not mad at me?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. I can’t be mad at you for following what you felt was right. For following your heart.”

Luna looked over at the table, where the sleeping draft lay, corked and ready to be drank. “Are you going to be sleeping downstairs? Because if so I have a little space here in my own bed for you, if you want to sleep up here, of course.”

Twilight didn’t need to be asked twice. She walked around to the other side of the bed and slid in next to Luna, smiling at how warm it was under the covers. Spike would undoubtedly fall asleep downstairs soon. She… she’d sleep up here for the night. Luna turned onto her side and looked at Twilight curiously, admiring how her eyes seemed to glow a brilliant mauve in the darkness. The younger alicorn blushed, glad it was so dark that she couldn’t see her biting her lip. Luna stretched her wings out and pulled Twilight into an embrace, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Twilight was now a radioactive shade of scarlet, too shocked to comment on her hostess’ lack of royal manners. Once the smaller mare was tucked lightly between her arms, Luna enveloped her with a wing and slowly, delicately leaned down and kissed her horn. With that, the princess nuzzled herself into the pillow, and fell asleep.

Author's Notes:

This took me until two in the morning to get it into a satisfactory state, so I sure hope that it’s worth it. I can’t even comment on the first half of the chapter since it is pure dialogue. I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, since Luna just openly admitted to being behind her transformation. Spike has once again shown that he is mature far beyond his years, and thoroughly impressed Twilight by doing so. With that I put a lot of emphasis on the term forgiveness, because I think that it is a drastically under-used quality in a person nowadays, especially with the world the way it is. People don’t seem to forgive each other as often as they used to, and people need to realize that most things that others do to them are but a tiny speck of sand in the infinite desert that is your life. In the end most things aren’t worth dwelling on, all things considered. Unless you were scarred by it, you should most likely forgive and forget. Spike has learned this lesson for himself, the youngest character in this fiction.

Then I get to talk about the last scene. This is another one of those scenes that speak for itself, but also speaks of things to come and things that were. When Celestia tells Luna that she could see the gears turning in her head, I wanted that to be a clear sign that Luna has looked at Twilight before and Celestia has more than picked up on how her younger sibling feels towards her former student. I also wanted to convey that Luna is almost scared by her fascination with Twilight, since she’d never truly desired any earthly sustenance, object or pony before. In a way she’s disturbed by what she thinks is dependence, since she’s never had to rely on anyone before. She sees Twilight as somepony that she couldn’t bear to see harm come to, and in that way she is protective over her. She’s not only protective of her, but she is trying to show restraint, since she’s afraid that what her sister said about her is true on some level. She has become enamored with Twilight, in a way that isn’t just physical, but largely mental. She sees Twilight as the one pony that thinks on her terms, and shares the same hobbies, thought patterns, and interests. She feels that her emotions are only compatible with hers, and this uniqueness of psychological balance is appealing to her in a way words can’t express.

But enough of my petty plotline jargon, I’m sure you guys want to say something after this criminally long chapter. Leave your input in the boxes they put down there, and I’ll see just how I can take your input and make my fictions better, like the fire needed to make iron into steel.

Juggling Fire (Dark Warning)

Twilight woke to feel Luna shifting, rolling over to the edge of the bed. She had carefully separated herself, making sure that she didn’t jostle her bedmate. As careful as she’d been, Twilight had felt the exchange of weight through the firm mattress. Luna stood and stretched, arching her back like a cat, standing on the tips of her hooves to extend her tendons. She looked reminiscent to a lioness, yawning heavily as she extended her lithe body as far as her sleek limbs would allow. She then resumed a normal stance, blinking sleep away. She looked back over to see Twilight feigning sleep. Deciding it wasn’t worth waking her, the princess drew the curtain to the bed shut, shielding her from the harsh sunset currently blazing through the windows. Twilight moved over to the edge of the bed, figuring that it wasn’t worth pretending to sleep anymore. She pulled the curtain back to see Luna walking over to her desk and pushing off the empty bottles, which clattered noisily into the wastebin. She watched patiently as she strode over to the window and looked out towards the countryside, a yearning look in her eyes.

The princess closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the last rays of the sun fall across the land. Then, on cue, her horn flashed, and the moon crept up over the horizon where the sun had once been. She looked at the celestial body with pain, like she could still see herself looking back at earth from the dusty, airless planes of her exile. The moment passed swiftly, and she drew the curtains shut with another flash of her horn. She turned to see Twilight looking at her from the edge of the bed, observing her evening routine with piqued interest.

“This is what I do, every day.” Luna said, gesturing with her hoof towards the window. “Every day for eternity. It’s the charge for living forever. I’m still deciding if the monotony is worth it.”

“It doesn’t seem that bad, I mean, you have the rest of eternity to do whatever you want.” Twilight shrugged. “One single thing you have to do isn’t so bad.”

“I suppose.” The princess sighed, looking over at her chalkboard with slight reluctance. It was covered with her schedule, and it was packed with two day’s worth of duties she had to make up. “I wish that I could throw off my routine, but it’s set in stone. Things would fall apart if I didn’t supervise the Gardens and guard the castle at night. But… gosh is it a pain.”

“Why don’t you take a vacation?” Twilight asked, standing beside the bed, wincing as she extended her stiff wings. “I’m sure that the guards would understand.”

“True... but then I’d never hear the end of it from Celestia about how she raised both the sun and moon for a thousand years, and never took a day off between then and now. I can just hear her condescending voice now. Best I just make my rounds quickly so that I can get back here to watch you. Spike can stay with you this one last night, and then I’ll be in full charge. Then it’s just you and me, since Celestia’s taking Spike. I’ll be excused from my duties to watch you, and we can have a week or so in relative peace.”

Luna’s expression grew more at ease as she said that, like there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t give to be able to have a nice, peaceful day with Twilight. They could just laze around, maybe read a book or sit down together and make a few potions for no reason. Walk down to the palace’s spa and relaxation center for a soak in the mineral water together. I nice, placid day where she could relax without the worry of a breach in security or a Discord escaping and reaping havoc on Canterlot. Such a day would be a slice of pure heaven for her.

“But alas,” She said to herself. “Such a day will have to wait until tomorrow.”

Luna turned and saw that Twilight was walking towards the stairs, hurrying to make sure that Spike hadn’t wandered off during the day. The princess tilted her head to the side as she observed her charge, how she constantly felt the need to make sure that Spike wasn’t making a mess somewhere by doing something he didn’t know was wrong.

‘Maybe what she needs is to let him have his own adventure.’ She thought as Twilight trotted quickly down the steps. ‘He needs to learn to be independent.’

Luna shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t any of her business how Twilight was raising Spike, so she pushed that to the back of her head and walked over to her dresser. She looked at her usual amulet and horseshoes and grimaced. Today wasn’t the day for the typical royal attire. It was the last day she’d be on the job before she went to watching Twilight. So, she shrugged, tossing the outfit into the wastebin with the rest of the empty sleeping draughts. She decided that she’d go bare-hooved today, and she’d wear a bright blue dress that trailed down to her knees. She felt girlish, and so she was going to act like it. She hadn’t worn the dress for two-thousand years, though. So she didn’t know if it would fit. She pulled off her nightgown and threw it in a hamper by the dresser, admiring how she looked without her blue mane twinkling with starlight or her horseshoes gleaming. She looked… natural. It felt good to be natural, when, as an alicorn, you were anything but natural. You were supernatural.

Ignoring that last thought, she pulled the dress over her head and stepped into the sleeves, using magic to pull it the rest of the way down to her waist. When she looked in the mirror she winced at how young she looked. She hadn’t appeared so full of life in… she couldn’t even remember a time. It was nearly impossible to imagine a time she wasn’t in those old horseshoes and amulet. It stunned her how she looked almost like a young filly again, having just obtained her wings as an alicorn. She could remember the feeling of being so full of faith, so trusting that there was a bright future. Now she had the same dress on again and she couldn’t help feeling the same way. There was a bright future ahead of her, one that involved Twilight, her new best friend. Things were looking up on all fronts.

She smiled and did a curtsy, feeling just ten years old again. Today was going to be a great day.

---

Twilight arrived downstairs to see Spike walking up the stairs across the room from her, carrying a letter sealed in the customary sun stamp. It was from Celestia, judging by the massive cursive signature on the parallel side. Spike saw her and smiled, seemingly well-rested and ready for the day.

“Hey, this was slipped under the door when I was on my way to the kitchen for breakfast. It’s for you.” He said, looking at her as she took it from him and tore it open. “Is it something that I should be worried about?”

Twilight pulled the letter from the envelope, unfolding it and reading it aloud so that she could answer Spike’s question.

“Dear Twilight, I would like you to be at the southeast corner of the castle, by the cliffs and dungeon, at exactly two in the morning. I expect you to be well rested, and ready to help me with my yearly chore of scrubbing down the prisoner’s cells and cleaning out the guard’s chambers. Bring Spike if you feel so inclined, as I have a task I shall assign him upon arrival. If you do not arrive I will have you scrub out the main sewer duct leading out of the castle to the underground waste chamber. It will be extremely nauseating for you, as well as hot from the steam given off from the pressurized water. So I recommend you arrive for the former function, as the latter is quite unpleasant. Of course, though, I have dutifully given you a choice in the matter. Love, Celestia.”

Twilight threw the letter over her shoulder, catching it on fire as she did. It landed in a heap of ashes on the writing desk. She had been so happy that she got to spend her last day with Spike freely, and here Celestia was ruining it by offering her an extremely shoddy ultimatum. Cadence had been right; Celestia was good at butting in and ruining a pony’s good day. Especially if it meant putting them in an even more uncomfortable situation if they didn’t comply. She looked at Spike who looked just as irked as she did. He shook his head, telling her that it wasn’t worth it. Twilight sighed and nodded, signaling that if they didn’t do it now, she’d be saddled with an even less appealing job. The young dragon groaned and trudged off down the stairs, seeing how it was almost midnight. It would probably take them two hours just to find the right place.

---

Twilight arrived at the prison wing of the castle to find that there were no guards, and not a single soul in sight. It looked abandoned, but in good condition. There was a yard with a massive cliff on one side, and three walls barring escape from the other sides. The alicorn could see that most, if not all, of the prisoners had been allocated for the winter. It was starting to snow, and there was no trace of any sort of ventilation so far. She could feel a cold breeze pushing its way down the hall as she walked with Spike, making her shiver. No wonder they had relocated the prisoners; it was only late autumn and she felt like a normal, mortal pony could easily freeze to death.

The bars to the cells gleamed as she passed them, heading into what she took to be a maintenance or acceptance area. It led out into the yard, where she saw that Celestia was standing, looking out onto the endless waves of trees, whose leaves were being lost to the cold and becoming barren, blackened claws reaching towards the heavens fruitlessly. She seemed to be smiling to herself. It was like a place of so much misery appealed to her, it made her giddy in a disturbed, sickening way. The way she was grimacing made Twilight’s skin crawl, like she was drinking in the sight of decay like it was her morning eggs and milk. Her demeanor seemed… cracked, fractured.

As Twilight walked out into the courtyard she saw the princess turn and regard her amusedly. She smiled and held out her hoof for a shake, but her former student was too busy fluffing her wings against the sub-arctic wind to return the gesture. It seemed to be even more intense outside, as it whipped against the bare cliff face like it was trying to rip them all off it and towards the jagged wooden talons that waited to impale them below. Shrugging, Celestia turned towards the wall on the left side of the prison, gesturing towards the door at the very center.

“I see that you were smart and showed up punctually, I commend you for that. I’d like you to go and check the underground isolation cells. Just make sure nothing nasty is living down there, check for contraband, then make your way back up here to that I can make sure you did your job.”

The whole task seemed far too straightforward to Twilight. Celestia was a manipulative, conniving mare and the whole job seemed to be too… easy to her. Nothing was ever simple with her, so an almost stupidly linear task like that immediately raised a red flag. She looked at the eldest alicorn, wondering if there was some sort of catch. She simply nodded in the direction of the isolation cells, smiling. Twilight knew instantly that this was set up. A sort of twisted test of her mettle. She summoned a single flashlight, powered by her own magical energy. She looked at Celestia one last time and then trotted off in the direction of the cells. Celestia turned to Spike and lead him over to the acceptance area, saying something about backed up paperwork for him to do.

Twilight opened the gate to the block to find it likewise abandoned, with only a small desk space over to the right of the doors. She reached over and flicked on the light, which then illuminated the sterile white insides of the building with harsh incandescent bulbs hung from the ceiling. She already felt wrong, just being there. It looked inhospitable, and she was only at the front door. There was no hint of color anywhere, just white and the peppered floor tiles. It hurt her eyes if she looked at the walls for more than a few seconds at a time. She walked further it to find that there was only on long hallway with a solid iron door at the end. She saw the light flickering at the end of the hall and swallowed the lump in her throat. A very simple task was starting to look like a terrible descent into a psychological game of cat and mouse between her and her worst fears.

She passed another door that led into an office halfway down the hall but it was locked when she tried to open it. She sighed, steadying her nerves. She was doing her best, and she had to prove herself to Celestia. It was just this one thing, then she was off the hook for good and the eldest alicorn couldn’t bother her again. She strode up to the door and seized ahold of the hard iron door handle, cold as ice to the touch. She threw it open and walked through, not stopping to let herself be scared. She immediately regretted it. The door slammed behind her, and she stared down into a staircase that led into pitch black. There was no space between the railing and the other staircase, so there was no way she could see how long it descended. A single light illuminated the first flight, and that there was a large, almost obnoxious black ‘1’ painted onto the first landing.

After that, the stairs faded into an inky quagmire. She couldn’t even see the ‘2’ painted onto the second landing down to her right. There were no lights on further downwards. She looked for a light switch, but there was none. She blinked and stared downwards again, biting her bottom lip. Another thing that bothered her was that there was no color. White, and the black numbers on the walls. The railing was a stale gray, and nothing in between. The monotone bothered her more than the darkness, on a level that was pricking at her very base instinct to run away. This wasn’t something she could fight off. It was what seemed to be an endless staircase that led straight to the gates of some hell. A place she would give anything to not have to visit. Swallowing her terror, she walked down the first flight of stairs.

She flicked on her flashlight and brandished it in front of her, the comforting beam illuminating the black two painted on the second landing. She descended the next flight. Then another, and another. And then another. And another… until eventually a crumbling ‘42’ appeared to her in her flashlight’s beam of light that didn’t seem quite so comforting anymore. She shined her flashlight down another flight of stairs, her legs beginning to ache at the sheer amount of physical exercise. She had begun to think to herself, to think about Luna, and her, and how Luna had changed her to be like this. To live her life as an immortal creature. She had very few options left, seeing as how she was just walking down steps. So she thought to herself.

‘Maybe… maybe Luna did intend for me to like her.’ She thought, clearing the forty-eighth landing. ‘Maybe she was just taking advantage of me, being in the state I was and swooping in to be a hero. Maybe she knew that I wouldn’t be able to resist her… and that was why she did it in the first place.’

‘Exactly.’ She reasoned with herself. ‘She did it to manipulate you. To make sure that you would be hers once you were done with your little episode. She made you dependent on her, that way if you wandered off too far she could come and find you and bring you back to her, so you can be together. Forever, as alicorns. She wanted you to be the pony that she got to have trapped inside her tower. That way she could slowly begin to turn you into her own version of a servant.’

‘But… she wouldn’t do that.’ Twilight thought. ‘She seemed to be holding back quite a bit whenever she was in bed with me. Like she was afraid of herself and what she might do to me if she were to just let her emotions control her. I think that she had no intention of ever being with me, but that’s how thing happened. And I think that she is doing her best to let me have things at my own pace.’

‘WELL I THINK YOU’RE AN INSIPID TRAMP WHO WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE USED BY A MARE THOUSANDS OF TIMES HER AGE!’ The voice roared in her head. ‘YOU SHOULD HAVE USED SPIKE IF YOU WANTED TO LET OUT YOUR PETTY STRESS IN SUCH A RIDICULOUS, DEMEANING DISPLAY!’

Twilight winced as it dawned on her. She hadn’t just been talking to herself, her own subconscious had been talking back to her. And it wasn’t just her subconscious, it was her Id that was now screaming at her. She closed her eyes, stopping on the sixty-second landing as the truth of the situation washed over her. She was a mile beneath the earth, with nopony to keep her company but the voices in her head, and nothing she could do but move forward. She began to shake, horror starting to scratch at the loose ends of her mind. She was alone. Brutally vulnerable and trapped not just physically, but mentally in a war against the panic that was already beginning to drive her to sit down and give up. Her eyes washed with tears, but adrenaline and terror kept her walking down the stairs. The act felt as natural as breathing to her now, and she did it without thinking anymore. Now she ran.

She could hear the walls breathing, as if the whole stairwell was had been fit down into the bowels of the earth and she could hear it take its deep inhale and exhale. The walls murmured things, groaning and making terrible, agonizing creaks as it strained under the pressure. She began to feel her ears pop after the seventy-seventh floor. Then she lost track. There were no more numbers, just infinite staircase that she kept running down in an attempt to get away from the voices in her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the voices kept jeering at her, voicing their opinions on her choice to defend Luna all too clearly. ‘Harlot’ and ‘Tramp’ were common words they used but ‘Slave’ and other more demeaning vocabulary seemed to be echoing off the walls, growing infinitely louder and more forceful as new waves of tears followed the last. She was going deaf by how loud they were, piercing her eardrums like rusty sowing needles. They were agonizing, her entire head felt like it might simply crack in two from the volume of hate exploding at the seams of her mind.

After what seemed like an eternity and a second, she tripped and skinned her knees on yet another landing. She dropped her flashlight, which went out immediately. She hugged her knees, begging the voices to stop. She cried pitifully, clutching her face to her legs, curled into a singularity of pure misery. She couldn’t imagine it ever stopping. They just kept talking, stabbing at her weakest, most fragile insecurities. The walls were closing in on her, crushing her head like she was something the earth had ingested and was now trying to purge itself of. She would have been grateful if she’d have been spared the pain and sent back home, to her library without her wings. This wasn’t worth being an alicorn. Not with the monsters in her head hounding her.

After what she thought was years of crouching there, her flashlight flicked back on. When she opened her eyes she was astounded that the cell, the single cell that she had been searching for, was right in front of her. She picked up her flashlight, shoving all the mental clutter to the back of her head with a renewed burst of confidence. She could just check the cell, and teleport out. It was that simple. She stood up, her knees still shaking from her darker side roaring at her, now contained in the far end of her consciousness. She reached out and opened iron cell door, which only had a single slot in it for feeding. When she did, she noticed that the cell wasn’t even a cell at all.

Inside the iron door was a bedroom. It was fully illuminated, with warm yellow light being shined down from a single lamp hung in the center of the ceiling. Twilight struggled to understand. This wasn’t right. Had she finally lost her mind? There was a single massive bed and even a door on the right side of the room leading to a bathroom. There was a huge dresser with a full-body mirror beside it. It was downright… homey. She blinked once, twice. This was just a hallucination. She’d cracked, and she needed to get out of here. But… curiosity drove her on. What was this doing here? And why was it so far down? She stepped inside.

The door slammed shut, and there, holding the door, which locked itself with a grating of rusted steel, was herself. It was the same version of her she’d let take over back at the library. The same sleepless eyes, the same hungry, ravenous glint in her mauve gaze. She stared at Twilight, like she was some sort of delicious entrée to a full course meal.

“We have a lot to talk about.” She said, her voice like decayed flesh coated in honey.

Author's Notes:

Well… not much I can say here. I’m going to forgo the whole ‘Chapter Roundup’ and let y’all come up with an explanation to what the !#$% just happened here. Leave your theories or comments in the boxes down there and I’ll get back to you tomorrow with the continuation. Suspense… suspense…

Never is a Strong Word

Twilight rose from her sleep, hardly remembering where she was at or the date, the time. She didn’t know if it was night or day, or perhaps she was in purgatory, where the sun never moves from its eternal place on the horizon. The hard bed beneath her was stuffed with what smelt of old, mildewed feathers and pelts from various animals. The blankets themselves were moleskin. She looked around to see that the whole room was decorated with products that were made almost solely from the bodies of other creatures. To her horror, the dress that she found herself wearing was made of dragon-scales. She immediately leapt up and backed up into the bedframe, disgust and the urge to vomit rising in her throat. She wanted to cry and scream and lose what little she’d eaten the last time she was at a table, whenever that had been. She began to tear at the dress, until she realized that she wasn’t alone in the room.

She met her own gaze in the dim lighting of the room, her mauve eyes glinting like razors. Her own version of corruption sat across from the bed, in a high-backed chair that was made of the bones of some massive creature. By the skull that hung from the back of the throne, it was a dragon. Her own self rose from the chair, smiling broadly at how mortified her other half looked. She was pressed against the headboard, refusing to touch any inch of the room that seemed to be made of the souls of those passed. The other her felt the same rage, the same outwards revulsion towards the version of herself that was trying not to cry, crouching at the far end of the bed, scared beyond reason.

“Look around.” She said, picking up what looked like the skeleton of a rat and throwing it onto the bed. “You will outlast them all. Consider me to be the you from the future. You might wonder why the mare that sent you here did so… she wanted to know if you can handle it. Can you handle me? I wonder… would you beg and cry for your own innocence when you get to dance on graves of those past just by being alive?”

“What are you talking about?!” Twilight exhaled, her breathe shaking, ready to crack her voice. “This is sick! These were all living things! The least you could have done is respected them with a grave.”

“I did.” The other her retorted, watching her mirror image intently. “They all expired from natural causes. Because you’re not natural, you outlasted them all. So I want to put this into perspective. On just how many ponies, dragons, animals, even maybe a few draconequi , will pass in front of you, and maybe even be your friend at some point, and go on to die. I simply wanted to show you the pressure that you’re going to feel if you don’t take my offer.”

“I know better than to listen to you.” Twilight said, feeling the scales on her coat sting her like hot irons. She wanted to be rid of the barbaric gown, to throw it off and burn it. But something told her it would be better to not be exposed in front of this perverse, corrupt image of herself.

“Oh, you’re right about that.” The other her sneered. “You know best after all. Look at how many times you were wrong if you’d like to see just how wrong you are. You’ve been listening to me all along and not known it, coming to Ponyville, making these petty things called ‘friends’. Now you just need to take the next step and learn how to use your friends to their full potential.”

“So this is what you want? Me to use my friends so that I can better my own standing?”

“Oh, please. Don’t flatter yourself. I wanted you to know how you can get the most out of manipulating them while they’re still alive. The most… entertainment.” The way that she said that made Twilight want to close her eyes and cover her ears, to pretend like this was all a nightmare. “They are so fragile, so short-lived… I remember when the first one died for me. Do you want to know who it was?”

“I’m not listening to you.” Twilight said defiantly. “Nothing you can say will make me talk to you. I know that you’re going to try to get me to hand over control. I won’t let you.”

The look on the other Twilight’s face went from amused to blindly furious, her eyes flashing like the fangs on a cobra. The other her stormed over to her mirror image and grabbed her, pulling her down to eye level with herself. She stared into her eyes for a long time, fragile, vulnerable purple meeting the razor-sharp edge of her own mauve-tinted corneas. She breathed like she was doing everything she could to contain herself, pupils shaking with the effort. Her breathe smelt of grapes, like wine that had been aged for a millennium.

“I. Can. Hurt. You.” She hissed, releasing herself from her own iron grasp. “And I will not hesitate to do so, either.”

Twilight lit her horn, trying her best to frantically teleport away. Her opposite was on her in an instant, pushing her horn down into the bedsheets with a single hoof. The amount of pressure she was exerting on her was unrelenting, and the murderous fire in her eyes made it very clear she wouldn’t hesitate to snap it in two if it meant keeping her under control. Twilight suddenly felt more vulnerable than ever, her most prized possession being pushed on like a toothpick that could be snapped at her Id’s discretion. The other her sighed and let her go, but remained on top of her, legs pinning the alicorn’s like she was a ragdoll. Twilight could feel her mirror’s eyes scouring her, drinking in every detail of how her skin rippled around her shoulders and how she instinctively curled into herself, fearing for her life.

“So… weak. A perfect ruse to play with, the perfect body to use to exploit others for a little fun. For what other thing is there but entertainment when you live forever? It’s all in what you fill eternity with, and I think that slowly using your delicate little body to do that would be…” The antithesis breathed deeply near her neck, making Twilight shut her eyes and turn away from her. “… so very entertaining. I can already feel you at the back of my head, out of control, while I live your life, exploiting everypony you know as I see it fit.”

“Please… I never want to hurt anypony.”

“You hurt everypony every time they look at you.” She said, still unbearably close to Twilight’s neck. She had her ear a millimeter from her artery, listening to every little hummingbird flutter of her heart. “Every time a pony looks at you they think to themselves of how you will carry on, while they have to grow old and become hideous.”

Twilight was doing her best to maintain her composure, but the way her other self was gazing at her, like a predator, looking at her skin like it would make a perfect pelt to drape over her shoulder, was driving her to hysteria. She couldn’t keep this up with her an inch away from her, her breathe intoxicating her with its sickeningly sweet perfume. She tried to move her hoof, but she had it pinned so tightly that it barely shifted. The other her was lifting her hoof, reaching towards herself with a look of intrigue. Twilight had no choice but to hold still as the other her ran her hoof down the nape of her neck, then grazed it over the knots tying the dragon-scale dress to her back. She erupted into tears, unable to maintain her façade any longer.

“There it is.” She chuckled. “I knew that you would crack eventually. Now… listen to me carefully, and I will never, ever bother you again. Visit Spike tonight, slip into his bed. Then, let go. I’ll do the rest, and I’ll show you how entertaining eternity can be.”

Twilight leapt up with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, turning over and jumping to her hooves, throwing her other self sprawling onto the floor beside the bed. Luckily her Id cracked her head on the dragon-bone chair, and she used that time to run towards the door. Unluckily for her, her more corrupt version of herself had undone the knots on the back of her dress. The dress fell down to her knees, tripping her and sending her face-first into the thick carpet. She felt a hoof grab her and, with such force it could only be described as supernatural, pull her up onto the bed again. She met herself, looking beyond rage. She didn’t look angry, on the contrary, she looked extremely calm. The other mare smiled, and with the same calmness that she was regarding her mirror image, pushed her down onto the bed with a hoof, until she was practically standing on her chest.

“I tried to help you.” Her Id said, her voice a smooth, emotionless monotone. She seemed oblivious to the mare beneath her struggling to breathe under her weight. “But… no. I’m going to give you one last chance, Twilight. But before I do, I want to remind you of something. “

All of the sudden she vanished from on top of Twilight. Twilight blinked once, then twice. Confused, she sat up. She leaned back onto a large plush pillow, wondering just where her other half had gone. Then she felt her hoof begin to move, without any effort on her part. She watched with growing dread as she lost control, until eventually she heard a voice that wasn’t hers, but still sounded like hers, come from her lips.

“Look at yourself. Look at me.” She said to Twilight, holding her hooves up to demonstrate that she was in complete control. “I can do whatever I want to you, and by that I mean whatever my half of your mind can conjure. I can use magic, and I can make you wish you weren’t born.”

‘Stop this! It doesn’t feel right when you move my arms… I don’t feel like I’m myself anymo-’

“Good.” Her other self said with her mouth, licking her lips to further unnerve her unwilling passenger. “Now watch closely. I’m going to show you that you aren’t just you. You’re mine as well. This, is my face.” With that she lifted her hoof and pressed it to Twilight’s cheek, forcing her to feel every inch of her cheek before she continued. “And these, are my legs. They are mine, and I can do as I wish with them… and then, you’re most… precious asset that I have owned since the day you were born.”

Twilight screamed in horror at the back of her own head as she watched herself spread her wings, horn sparking with anticipation. She looked down at herself, running her hooves over her chest until they reached her waist, then, slowly, as to distress her even more, Twilight’s Id trailed her hooves towards her thighs. Twilight was beyond violated; this was wrong on a whole new level. She was being abused by her darker side, alone with no help, chained to a wall in the back of her head with no control over anything. She begged and cried as her hooves ran steadily upwards, until eventually she could feel a slight pressure between her legs, on the most sensitive, delicate part of her femininity.

“Do I make myself clear?” Her darker half whispered sweetly, in a way so cruel but so honey-coated that Twilight was nearly reminded of Celestia. “I hope I do, because if I do and you don’t do as I ask, there will be… unforeseen consequences.”

Twilight nodded at the back of her head desperately, pleading with herself to release control of her body. It felt so wrong, so inherently amoral to be touched by somepony other than herself in control of her body, like being a puppet on a string. But her other side wasn’t done yet. She forced her to roll over to the other side of the bed. She stood and looked over to the side of the room, spotting a small bottle on the dresser. She strode over to it and uncorked it. She looked herself in the mirror and Twilight winced in pain at how she winked at her, as if a final jeer, a final message that she was in control. She downed the potion, lights popped in front of her eyes, and she lost consciousness.
HR

Twilight shot bolt upright in bed, looking around frantically and patting herself to make sure that she was the one in control of her own body. She saw that the room she was now in was sterile white, with splashes of gold. She noted the marble and the chandelier in the middle of the tower. After a few moments, she determined that she was in Celestia’s turret suite. The princess herself was at a large desk next to the bed, reading an extensively thick volume on legal strategies. The sun was making it so bright in there that the overwhelmed alicorn had to squint, the bright marble reflecting the sunlight around the room in a way that she was sure would blind her after a month of staying in there.

“So do you mind explaining to me why you were tucked into a hobble on side of that isolation cell? I’m sure that you thought it was comfortable. I had to go and fetch you, after all.”

“You… you brought me back here?” Twilight said in confusion.

“Yes.” The princess answered in the affirmative. “As much as I would have loved to leave you there and have you wake up with the worst backache in history, I had a slight shift in my moral state. And I knew that there must have been another reason for your sudden bout of lethargy.”

“I… I was tired from all the stairs.” Twilight bluffed proffesionally.

“Oh. Ten flights must have been so hard on you.” Celestia said, looking at her critically. “You know I sent you down there so that you’d come to an agreement with yourself. I was testing your mettle. Now, did you lose control or did you make a bargain with your Id? I’m curious.”

The young alicorn swallowed a lump in her throat. “An… an agreement.” She said, unnerved by how accurate Celestia was proving to be. It was like she’d done the same thing herself at some point.

“I wanted to know because you are uncomfortably weak.” She continued. “I’ve noticed that you’re not as cautious as you once were, and that means that your Id had been able to influence you behind the scenes without you knowing it. So she already had a hold on you. Now, what agreement did you reach? If you feel like telling me, of course. I’m sure that it’s an intensely private matter, the deals one makes with oneself.”

“That’s private.” Twilight said, pulling the sheets higher over her chest. She felt defensive; Celestia was being invasive, and she knew it. She was just pressing her for information.

“Fine.” Celestia said. “Your penance had been taken up, and you no longer owe me anything. So, you may go at any point in time. Just make sure that you take care to keep yourself in check.”

HR

Twilight left her tower a short half-hour later, thinking to herself just how she was supposed to honor the unholy agreement with her Id. The thought of what she wanted to do made her skin crawl at just how much it involved her making herself feel like a hormone driven animal. She was being blackmailed into taking major advantage of a dragon that she’d known for her whole life. It was so wrong that she swore that there must be something she could do that would make their verbal contract void.

These thoughts consumed her until she reached the door to Luna’s tower a half an hour later, and she was still unable to come to an agreement with herself. Nothing she thought of would ever dissuade her darker half, so she kept thinking. There had to be something… something she could do. Then, like the sun parting through the clouds, she had an idea. She would ask Luna about it later on, but she knew that it had a good chance of working. If her mirrored self was as driven as entertainment as she thought, she knew just what she could do to amuse her.

As she walked past the living room she noticed that Spike was already asleep on the couch, and Luna could be heard upstairs bustling about, re-arranging her furniture. Twilight galloped up the stairs excitedly, eager to see her best friend again. As she cleared the last flight of steps she noticed that not only was Luna there, but Cadence was as well. They looked like they were making important decisions on where to place a full-wall mirror when she came in, eager to see how long she’d actually been gone from reality.

Luna turned to see her and smiled, trotting over to her and wrapping her in an embrace, glad that she was alright. “You were gone almost all night. I was beginning to worry when Celestia told me that you were okay. I visited, but you didn’t wake up… so I decided that you could come back to find my room a little more… spacious. I added a few more enchantments to the tower, so it’s about forty feet larger in diameter, and now I have a bed for you.”

When Twilight looked over she saw that Twilight had her own four-poster, queen-sized bed laying on a raised platform with steps, just like Luna’s was. The whole side of the room was lilac, down the carpet and the curtains on the windows. There was a large chest for her things, and a totally blank bookshelf for her own use, as well as a writing table stocked with inkwells. It was downright cozy. Twilight turned to congratulate her, but she was once again focused on placing the mirror just so that it lined up with her own dresser’s, making an infinite mirror. Twilight shrugged and turned to Cadence, who looked much less busy.

“Hey Twilight.” She greeted her, tilting her head to the side, curious. “It seems that Luna’s really going out of her way to make you comfortable here. I hope you like it here, even though it can get awfully boring if you don’t have something to do. I have a hobby, but even then sometimes I get bored. It’s just the slow living style of the castle that gets to me on occasion.”

“I don’t think that I’ll be bored, Cadence.” The youngest alicorn replied, looking around. Things were being put into their proper place now that Luna had the mirrors aligned. “I have my hooves pretty full with just getting myself oriented.”

“Okay then.” Cadence shrugged, smiling. “Make sure you remember to breathe every once and a while around here, maybe go out on a walk. It’s not right to just keep yourself cooped up in here. I went camping in Everfree Forest just last weekend with Shining Armor, and it was divine. Just being able to feel the breeze is enough to make you want to smile.”

As riveting as Cadence’s tales could be, Twilight was distracted by Luna struggling to handle a potion that was unfallible, meaning it prevented magical influences. She knew that potions like that were not very easily levitated, but an object you can use to carry it could. She helpfully lent a tray under the potion, allowing her roommate to guide the potion over to the designated alchemy table. Luna nodded gratefully, letting out her held breath as she finished with decorations.

“I think that should about do it.” The princess said, glancing at the two younger alicorns. “I think that it would be best if you two headed downstairs. I’m tired, and want to keep this as simple as possible. Cadence… you’re welcome to stay as long as you like, but I will be going to bed soon. Twilight may do as she wishes as long as she’s with you, so long as she stays within a reason. Which I have all the faith in the world that she is capable of doing.”

Luna ousted Cadence from the bedroom, hanging her head once she was gone in an exhausted manner. She straightened the hem of her dress and looked at Twilight, who smiled at her meekly. The princess returned the gesture before she walked over to the dresser, admiring herself. If it wasn’t for the fact that she didn’t want to sleep in it, she would have worn the dress indefinitely. She began to pull the dress up, but caught herself as she saw Twilight looking at her through the mirror. She let the dress fall back to her knees, giving her student and friend a distasteful, but interested glance back at her via the mirror, her eyebrow arched and the corners of her lips turned upwards.

“It’s not polite to watch, Twilight dear.” Luna teased, still maintaining eye contact with her roommate’s reflection.

What happened next both appalled and shocked the princess. Twilight’s reflection strode over to her and turned her face towards hers, and with a forceful, but extremely sensual hoof placed behind her head, pulled her close and locked her lips to her own. Luna could only look into the mirror in awe, dumbfounded as to how she should react. Twilight’s reflection pulled her down onto the floor by her head, pulling her to bear down on top of her, all with her lips still locked onto hers. Luna began to take off her dress in the mirror, prompting her to look away before the whole thing got completely out of hoof. She looked over towards Twilight, who looked equally as shocked as her. When they looked back there was nothing but their normal reflections of what was actually happening.

“I… I don’t know how I did that…” The younger alicorn stuttered, so embarrassed that she was turning a deep scarlet. “I didn’t mean for it to show up on the mirror, I really didn’t….”

Luna simply held up a hoof, muffling any further response by her student. She motioned for Twilight to turn around with her hoof, and then turned around herself. The ashamed mare did as she was told, pained beyond belief that she wasn’t able to control herself. She had been thinking about it, but just as a ‘wouldn’t it be nice if’ type of thought. There was no serious, conscious thought behind the whole imagined scenario. Yet still it had appeared on the mirror, as clear as if it had actually happened. The fact that her fantasy was been put on display was enough to make her want to leave the room. Luna was obviously disheveled by the experience, as she made no further attempt to talk to Twilight as she changed and then walked over to her bed.

“I’m sorry.” Was all Twilight could muster. “I really didn’t mean to.”

Luna turned back towards her and tilted her head to the side, as if she was pondering an extremely complex problem. Twilight’s pulse skyrocketed as the princess strode over to her and looked down at her, her expression a mask. The two regarded each other for a moment, until Luna moved so quickly that the younger alicorn barely even knew what was going on before it had happened. Luna leaned close and pecked Twilight on the cheek, so fast that it was like she’d merely grazed her lips over her before she turned away and strode over to her bed. She was whispering to herself, saying that had been completely inappropriate and unsafe, as if to convince herself.

“I’m going to bed.” She announced, pulling back the curtain and settling in before closing it.

“Goodnight… just call if you need me for anything.” Twilight said, wondering if she could maybe sleep in her bed again. It might lead to more physical contact with her, and to her that was exactly what she needed to take her mind off the events of the night previous.

Twilight strode downstairs, feeling like she could already collapse. She had to check up on something first. Spike was still there, but she still needed to check. She tiptoed her way over to the writing desk and opened the bottom drawer on the left, which was the one drawer that was locked. In it was a bracelet, one that she was going to make into something that make into something that would render her useless to her Id as long as she wore it. She took out the single golden band and admired it in the lamplight briefly, especially the single diamond that was housed on the outermost section of the band. She took it and a large amount of ink, hoping that it would be enough to put the enchantment on the aforementioned trinket. She hurried to write the correct runes of the paper, burning through page after page, a single rune taking up a fourth of the page. She wrote a paragraph in all, but she needed the symbols on it to be large enough to be correctly inscribed into the inside of the bracelet.

When she was done with the hardest part she threw away the quill and arranged the paper in a tight circle around the brace, being careful to not let any papers touch or overlap, as that would lead the spell to fail. She spaced each as evenly as possible and had paid specific attention to make sure that not a single drop of ink connected any of the runes. Each was its own word, and if they ran together the enchantment’s meaning could become open to interpretation. Simply thinking about it in a different way would negate the effect completely. With her task nearly complete she checked one last time, then began to mutter a simple casting spell under her breath.

‘This has to work.’ She kept thinking to herself, willing the spell to be stronger. ‘It has to.’

Author's Notes:

Okay, I borrowed a lot of sources for the creepiness that I used in this chapter. From ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ to the simple psychological terror of ‘SCP-Containment Breach’, I’ve been doing my fair share of creepy searches in the middle of the night, analyzing just what makes the creatures that plague our nightmares so scary. Or, in Twilight’s instance, just downright invasive. The way that Anti-Twilight is structured is to prey on the whole connotation of the tenth word in this sentence. Prey. When one feels hunted, one needs to put distance between the hunter and yourself, but when the predator is in your face the fear and adrenaline is so much stronger, causing a much more intense, not to mention nerve-racking burst of terror. So I had Anti-Twilight simply be something Twilight isn’t, invasive. She has no prospect of personal pride or space, and sees no problem violating the sanctity of her lighter half’s body. Or any other creature’s body, for that matter.

Another thing that I included in Anti-Twilight is the feeling of hopelessness. She pulls this card a lot, just in the short time that she’s been in the fiction. She makes Twilight feel like she doesn’t have a choice, and she does this by forcing her into a situation that pits her most basic fear against herself. She makes Twilight move without her consent, and makes her take a backseat to everything, but maintains her ability to feel everything her darker half is doing to her. This is all sorts of disturbing, being a prisoner in your own mind and body, but the last quirk she has is the final proverbial nail in the coffin. She tells Twilight that she knows why Celestia is the way that she is, and that knowing, that knowledge, is the one thing that scares Twilight the most. She knows something that she doesn’t, even though they are supposed to be mirror images of one another. The fact that her evil side has an advantage pushes the two previously mentioned factors over the edge, since she knows that if it came down to a battle between them, her other self would ultimately triumph.

And now onto the final scene. Twilight is losing her mind, and the hinge on her magic is becoming a lot more loose. She knows that beneath that her darker side wanted Luna to see that, to know just what was going on in her younger accomplice’s head. She did that to tempt her, because Anti-Twilight can see the way she looks at Twilight and then uses the most convincing, albeit extremely unfair, thing she can to lure Luna in. It’s not nice in the least to poor Luna, who is doing her best to control herself, and in moving the rooms around, distance herself from Twilight to make her less dependent on her company. Cadence was there, which will come into play in the next chapter, which will introduce the first of the Mane Six into this story, so there will be a new, fresh pair of eyes on the situation that has largely been stale as far as new characters go.

Anyways, I have to get to bed now since it’s about eleven-thirty. I hope that you guys and gals like it, even though it probably fraught with mistakes and the like since I’m tired. I hope y’all comment, even though the quality is, most likely, not up to par with my previous chapters. I promised it today, so it will be delivered today. I hold myself to that promise.

I eagerly await your feedback.

In finité

Twilight felt a cold pressure on her neck, like an ice cube slithering down her back. She opened her eyes, almost afraid to see what was lurking in the dark behind her. She lit her horn and rolled over, blinking so that she could see whatever was disturbing her so graciously at three in the afternoon in detail. She saw two eyes regarding her in the pale moonlight, eyes that she didn’t know she’d ever have the privilege of seeing again. They were a dark purple, with a little bit of pink around the edges of the iris. The pony that the eyes belonged to smiled and jumped into her bed, purposefully jostling the mattress so that she’d wake up.

“I haven’t seen you in two weeks, and you’re sleeping at three in the afternoon.” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. “And you guys call me the lazy one.”

“Dash, I sleep during the day now.” Twilight said, pulling the covers up over her head. “I have to keep in tune with Luna’s schedule so that she can watch me. It’s part of this deal we made with Celestia… just leave me be. I’ll see you at around seven.”

“No can do, chum.” The pegasus said, jumping up and down on her bed to infuriate her friend. “I flew all the way here after I got a letter from Celestia, and she wants me to stay here all day tomorrow. I just wanted to surprise you and arrive a day early.”

“Wait…” Twilight asked, suddenly becoming very conscious of her wings. “What did Celestia tell you in this letter? Did she explain why I’m here?”

“She just told me that you were here on some sort of study of alicorns. Why, is there something that I was supposed to know? In the letter it was pretty vague, and she used these gigantic words that I don’t even know how to pronounce. Who uses big words like that in a letter? It’s a waste of ink in my opinion. Do you ever write like that?”

Twilight was surprised by how chatty the normally stoic mare was being. It was probably because she hadn’t seen her since the beginning of the month, and she was just antsy from flying all the way from Ponyville. Twilight needed a distraction. She knew that Rainbow wasn’t the best with surprises, and she was sure that her wings would be more than enough to make her wonder just what had been going on. Sensing a moment of reprieve, she spoke before her friend could fit in another long, trailing question.

“I have to get dressed, Rainbow Dash.” She said, looking at the pegasus with what she thought was an accurate representation of what embarrassment would be. “I’ll meet you downstairs in a moment, just go and give me a moment to make myself look decent.”

“What’re you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked. “When I wake up in the morning, I just jump outta bed and shake myself off, maybe get a shower. What’s all this talk about gettin’ dressed? And making yourself look decent?”

“Unlike some of us, Dash.” Twilight began, sleep-deprived and grumpy. “I actually like to wear things to bed. And my mane and tail aren’t as thick as sailor’s rope like yours, so I don’t get as much flank coverage. It takes a lot of care to keep me looking appropriate if I’m not wearing anything, so head downstairs and I’ll see you in a second. Unless you’d really like me to drag you out by your ear.”

Dash looked at her like she’d just spoke in some foreign language. “What’ya mean, my mane and tail are as thick as rope? And what the heck is flank coverage? I thought that letting it grow wild was all you had to do. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Twilight felt an unknown eye tic acting up in her right lid. “Your mane and tail cover the more private parts of your figure quite well, but mine do not. My tail barely covers me enough to let me walk out my door in the morning without being stared at. So I have to brush it just a certain way to keep it covering as much of my… mareish figure as possible. My hair doesn’t grow as thick as yours. Case closed, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. And I feel fine. Now do me a favor and scram while I get dressed.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and leapt down from the bed, rolling her eyes. Twilight was being awfully touchy in her opinion. As she made her way to the stairs she looked back and called. “Oh, I was thinking about going out tonight. Just into Canterlot. Once you’re dressed you wanna come?”

“I’ll think about it.” The alicorn said, making her way over to the edge of the bed. “Now shoo.”

Once Rainbow Dash was gone she heard what sounded like a rustling of blankets. Luna stood up from her bed, arching a questioning brow at her. She didn’t say a word, but Twilight already knew that she was thinking about how she would be able to pull that off. Luna would have to come with her, and that would garner a lot of attention. She could already feel the eyes of the crowd on her, staring in awe at the princess that hadn’t come out of her tower since she’d returned to earth. Then she’d have to drop the bomb later that evening about just what had happened, and how she was an alicorn. Plus, there was no telling if somepony might notice her invisible wings while she was out. A simple bump against a stranger would compromise her disguise. She would have to tell her no, sadly. Not only was it too risky, but Luna looked like she was already dreading being seen in public.

“It’s okay if you tell her no.” Luna said empathetically. “You’ve no idea how many ponies have asked me for a drink in a local tavern. I turned them all down. So compared to my record, your slate is still fairly clean. You can, though, offer her a drink at the pub here in the castle. It’s mostly for the guards, but a lot of other ponies go there. Servants, guards, visiting diplomats, curious enough partygoers who wander too far from the usual path through the castle, all of them have been there. I’ve been there myself. It’s a nice enough place, everyone’s quite courteous for it being a bar. The bartender knows that if I ever come in I always like a large bottle of aged whiskey. She’s quite nice like that. I’m sure your secret will be fine if you go in with me. Since it’s mostly those that work here in the castle or in the general area, they know to keep everything about me and anypony I have with me a secret.”

“Are you sure? I know that Rainbow isn’t the most… cautious mare. Her with a drink could be the punchline of a really bad joke. And to see her face when she notices my wings… I’ve got no idea how that’ll turn out.”

“I’m very sure.” The princess replied with a reassuring smile. “You have no reason to be nervous. I have the utmost confidence that she will keep your nature a good secret, and if she does tell it will only be to your other friends. She is the Element of Loyalty, after all.”

Twilight sighed and looked over at her mirror. She looked a hot mess, with her mane jutting out at all angles and nightgown running halfway up her leg on one side. With a groan she began to disrobe, pulling the edge of her nightgown up over her waist with magic, then stepping out of it before she pulled it over her head. Luna made a noise like a mouse being stepped on, turning around too late. She had caught a very full glimpse at her, and it was fresh in her mind, sharply detailed, with every minute point on the younger mare’s body fully memorized. Realizing what she’d done the younger alicorn turned a dark shade of red, angry that she could be so careless in front of the princess

“Sorry Luna.” Was all she could say, biting her bottom lip. “I didn’t think you were still watching. You usually change first so I just thought you already had your back turned…”

Luna didn’t say anything, just shook her head and crawled back into bed, her eyes still closed, but biting her bottom lip so hard it nearly bled. A new wave of guilt flooded Twilight. She knew that her roommate was having enough problems without her adding to them by practically exposing herself in front of her. She already knew that her hostess was distressed by her, especially when she was being suggestive, but this was a whole new level of apology that she had to give. She could just imagine how conflicted she was, with her being so careless, putting herself on display in plain sight without warning her.

Twilight decided that it would be better to let her have her time alone, she was probably still recuperating from the shock. The mare, ashamed of herself, put on her golden bracelet she’d enchanted the previous night. She knew that it worked, as she hadn’t been bothered once in the night. As long as she was within fifteen feet of it she was perfectly safe from her Id. With her mind still weighing the gravity of her actions, she grabbed a brush and straightened her mane and tail, brushing it just the way she liked it. With her morning ritual completed, she looked herself in the mirror one last time. She looked decent enough, but she still wanted to apologize to Luna for putting her in that situation. She began to say something, taking in the breath to do so, but then she let it out, feeling like nothing she could say would make Luna un-see what she’d quite plainly, and accidentally, made a masterpiece photograph out of in her mind.

“I’m really, really sorry, Luna.” She said one last time, turning to leave.

Twilight stopped at the stairs, looking down them like they were the same staircase that had led her down into the room with her Id. The motion of taking a step downwards terrified her now, and she pedaled down the stairs as fast as she could. She didn’t want to see another staircase as long as she lived. She looked over to see Rainbow Dash poking Spike, who was dead to the world. He snored loudly, as if nothing in the waking world was of any concern to him. What he wanted right now was sleep. So he was going to sleep until somepony told him otherwise.

“Hey Rainbow Dash.” She said, bracing for the inevitable. She began to count the seconds in her head. One… Two… Three…. Fo-

Rainbow Dash released the inkwell she was holding, jaw dropping in awe. She stood like that for another few seconds, staring at her, eyes flitting from her face to her wings, then to her horn and back again to repeat the cycle. Twilight got up to the count of thirty-two before her friend flew over to her at nearly supersonic speed, looking at her wings like they were the most fascinating pair of wings that had ever existed on the face of the Earth. She gazed at them so intently, so closely that it almost made the alicorn feel like she was being judged. She seemed to be counting, remarking on the spacing of the feathers, keeping track of every one that was out of place or needed to be molted. It was so thorough. It was perhaps the first time Twilight had ever seen her friend concentrating so hard.

“Your wings need preened. Tell somepony who knows how to get those unshed flight feathers looked at. And I’m also… kinda jealous of your plummels.”

“My what?” Twilight said, spreading her wings so that she could look closely.

“Plummels are the things that owls have that lets ‘em fly real quiet. You can, and let me tell you, I’d give anything to be able to fly silent. It’d be so useful, especially for night flying. Most of the time if I’m going anywhere by wing anypony below me know where I’m going just by listening to my noisy flaps. Part of the problems with being so fast, it wears out your feathers fast.”

“Gee… thanks, Dash.” The alicorn said, impressed at her friend’s knowledge of avian affairs, and equally flattered with her praise. It wasn’t often that she complimented anypony. “So, about going out tonight. I was thinking that maybe we could go to this place here in the palace.”

“Okay.” Rainbow Dash said, still looking her friend over. “I can do that.”

“Are you going to ask me about how I got these wings? And where I’ve been? Or maybe how I got to be here?” The studious mare asked, annoyed at her friend’s lack of compulsion for backstory.

“Nah. That’s all backstory, and I’m sure that I’ve already got a pretty clear picture of what’s going on just with this. So… yeah. Spare me the details. Where’s Luna, anyways? I heard her upstairs, but I thought that she was still asleep when I was up there?”

“Oh… I don’t know if Luna’s coming or not.” Twilight said, opening her wing so that she’d purposefully flick her feathers over Dash’s nose. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable with her being so close, even more so after last night’s events. “She said that she would join us down here after seven.”

Rainbow Dash groaned, flopping down on the couch. “That’s too long… I think I’ll go upstairs and see if I can get her outta bed. Okay?”

“Rainbow Dash she’s not really ready to wake up yet, and last night was really stressful for her. I don’t think that it’d be food for you or her if you just went up there unannounced.” She warned, biting her bottom lip. The princess was probably still upset about her earlier frivolity.

“It’ll be okay.” The pegasus shrugged laxly, rising from her seat and walking over to the stairs. “I think that once she knows it’s me she’ll change her mind. I’m only here for a day or two, so we could get some quality time in together since you’ll be living here from now on.”

Twilight sputtered, nearly choking on her own exhalation. “How did you know that?”

“I’m a little scatterbrained, Twi, but I’m not that thick.” The insulted mare countered, putting her hoof on the first step. “All alicorns live here. For a lot of good reasons.”

Rainbow Dash set up the steps, looking quite determined. On the way up Twilight tried to convince her that it wasn’t a good time to be disturbing Luna, and that it might get them both in trouble if she didn’t stop. The pegasus treaded on, heedless. She didn’t stop until she reached the top of the stairs, where she halted, standing as still as a statue. Twilight struggled to see past her, until she managed to push her friend aside, only to stop and gawk herself at the sight before her.
Luna was crouching in the middle of the floor, a large circle of papers around her, covered in runes that Twilight didn’t recognize. Suddenly she realized that they weren’t readable, but she did recognize the way the letters were structured. They were structured with a single line through the center of each letter, then another set of accompanying lines that declared each symbol’s meaning. She knew it immediately; it was language of the draconequi. The same letters could be found on the Pen of Id, and probably on a few other miscellaneous objects that Discord had scattered around Equestria. Alarm sparked in her mind before Luna cracked an eye open, then made a gesture with her hoof that indicated that she should leave. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but in another second the papers began to move.

Luna lit her horn, forcing all the papers to begin to converge on one very large piece of parchment directly in front of her. Twilight watched with fascination as the papers began to merge with the parchment, each one becoming a tiny, microscopic dot of ink on the surface of the blank page. Eventually they seemed to be a sort of picture, with breathtaking detail and color, the shadows all perfectly in place and colors so vivid it was like looking directly into another world. Then, like smoke, the image vanished. Rainbow Dash looked at Luna in confusion, wondering what the whole show had been about if it was just going to disappear. The princess offered no explanation, but instead strode over and put her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, nodding towards the stairs.

“We’ll join you in a moment.” Was all she said.

Dash went downstairs, while Twilight remained. She looked at her mentor, a million questions in her eyes. All of the sudden the image on the large parchment was back, and it was taking the form that she recognized all too well. It was herself, standing over by the window, looking back at the viewer with large half-closed eyes, smiling as she slipped out of her nightgown. Twilight was appalled. Something in her said that this hadn’t been any sort of accident. She had a lapse in attention, in diligence, and that had been all it had took. Luna looked at the painting with great pain in her eyes, rolling it up and throwing it over into a trunk that Twilight had never noticed in her room before. Except, this time, it hadn’t been Twilight’s fault.

“I’m afraid that I will no longer have any accurate recollection of that event.” Luna said, looking down at Twilight. “And I apologize for this, but I do believe that I, or at least, Nightmare, did. It wasn’t your fault, I was tired, and being awoken let her slip out for a half a second. She put the impulse to undress in your head, it wasn’t from you. She told me so right after I turned around. She then seized ahold of the memory and taunted me with it for somewhere between five to ten minutes. I couldn’t live with her waving that image in my face whenever I try to control myself around you, so I took it from her. And in the process, both of us. It’s locked in that trunk, sealed away. If you want to retrieve it and burn it, I would make no attempt to stop you.”

“Wasn’t that dangerous, though?” Twilight asked. “Using draconequis magic?”

“That is open for debate.” The princess commented, walking towards the stairs. “If you’re as proficient as me or you, then it is relatively safe so long as you apply yourself throughout the ritual. If you were just learning magic and thought you could tame the unbridled corruption that is draconequis sorcery, then you would be chained to the back of you consciousness and forced to watch as your darkest impulses controlled the rest of your life.”

---

Twilight sighed as they sat there in the living room. Rainbow Dash had been overly picky about her meal, and Spike was sitting on the couch beside her as she complained that the iceberg lettuce was too loosed for her, and that it should be a solid, stiff leaf. Twilight ate in silence, having decided to go with Rainbow Dash down to the castle pub. She didn’t know just when they would leave, but they all determined that it would be best if they ate first. One tended to spend unnecessary amounts on food when they are inebriated, which they had no illusions in their mind that they would be in roughly twelve hour’s time.

When they were done they had Spike take them to the kitchens and, while he was still occupied, slipped out of the tower. The three weren’t disguised or cloaked, for they had no reason to be. At this point the whole castle basically knew about Twilight staying there after the incident where Celestia had to take her back to her tower for bedrest. More than a dozen medical staff had checked her while she had been unconscious, and due to that the rumor had spread that Twilight was there, and that there was another alicorn besides Luna and Celestia. Cadence was hardly considered an alicorn, since she didn’t behave like one or even require the title assigned to royalty. She had always been in the mindset of a common pony, despite being raised in a palace.

Luna led the way, steering them through the extremely ill-traveled section of the castle with ease. She knew the castle like it was her own home, so it wasn’t a problem finding their way to the corridor between the Day Guards and the Night Guards. There was a clear demarcation, as either side of the castle from that point on was colored with either warm, bright colors, or a dark, cooler pallet. In between the two on the far side of the hall were two large glass doors that opened out into a massive balcony, the size of a playing field for sports at its maximum diameter. From almost fifty feet away they saw a griffon polishing glasses with her nimble talons, making sure to get the hardened rinds left at the bottom of a careless tequila-drinker’s glass.

Luna waved hello when they stepped out onto the balcony, which could hardly even be called that since she could practically hold a circus there if she wanted to. Dining chairs and polished oak tables were set all about the patio, as well as multiple glowing lampposts at random intervals. The griffon rolled her eyes and smiled, as if she and the princess were old friends greeting each other.

“She acts like you two met before.” Rainbow Dash asked, lowering the volume of her voice so the griffon wouldn’t hear.

“We have met before. As a matter of fact, you would have a hard time believing that I spent most of my nights here prior to my return. She’s talked me out of doing a lot of mindless things, and she actually has a degree from Canterlot University on clinical counseling and psychology. She chooses to work here because it allows her to be around the guards, which she used to be before she worked here, and it also lets her ply her craft in a more loose setting than a stuffy padded room. Her name is L’me, and she is to be treated with respect.”

Twilight smiled as they approached the bar, reaching out to shake her talons. They griffon didn’t hesitate to take her hoof and smile back at her, a steely glint in her eye. Luna greeted her by simply saying hello, and Rainbow Dash did the same, as if she didn’t know whether to be friendly in a formal sense like Twilight or in an informal sense, like Luna had.

“I’m guessing you’re just here for your usual.” L’me said, glancing at Luna. “I see you have the new subject of interest with you.” She commented, glancing at Twilight, who was still puzzling over the way the bartender had just referred to her. “I’ve heard all about her, even before she was an alicorn.”

“That’s good, but I’m just here for the usual. And perhaps something for these two.” Luna said, giving them a look that plainly expressed her desire to not be alone in the conversation.

“Oh, uh…” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll just drink what Luna’s getting. If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me.”

Twilight spoke up. “I’d like a bottle of aged, lightly spiced red wine.” She said, knowing her favorite from her dark period back before the final exam in her University days.

“Sure. Are you guys just going to leave now or are you staying?” She asked, flapping her wings so that she could reach up high enough on the wine rack for Twilight’s drink of choice. “Because the guys are coming in about an hour, and it’s Friday. It’s going to be quite the party.” She said, looking at Rainbow Dash.

Twilight gave her friend a stern look and mouthed ‘no’ under her breathe, all too aware that Rainbow Dash wasn’t the best in the world at keeping herself under control. She couldn’t imagine the trouble she’d get into with a large crowd of ponies, most of them being stallions. It would undoubtedly be a spectacle to go down in the history books, her doing a Sonic Rainboom right into a tree or a lamppost. Rainbow Dash shook her head politely, signaling she was going to pass. L’me shrugged and set the bottles on the counter, as if it didn’t make a difference in her overall day.

“No charge, by the way.” She said, gesturing to the two ponies beside Luna. “Any friend of hers is a friend of mine. So make sure that you thank her.”

---

Twilight didn’t remember much about the following evening. She remembered most in about the middle of it, with Luna making sure to lock them into the tower for safety and overall concern that things could get out of hand. Spike wasn’t there, as he had instead elected to sleep the night upstairs on Twilight’s half of the tower. Rainbow Dash had to literally be told by Luna to stop drinking the heavy Scotch, as she didn’t seem to be getting any more kick from it after the third or fourth shot. Despite the blur that the night became, Twilight remembered one strand of conversation among the massive, confusing cat’s cradle that was her memory of that night.

“So Twilight.” Luna asked, in her usual manner, though with a noticeable increase in the volume of her voice, as well as a light twinge of a lilt towards the end of her sentences. “I’ve been thinking and I’ve wanted to ask you… do you forgive me for the, erm, incident earlier today? I know it was my fault, so I simply wanted to ask.”

“Of course I forgive you.” Twilight said casually, setting her hoof on the older mare’s shoulder. “I don’t see how I couldn’t, since I’ve made more than a few mistakes with my dark side before. Just yesterday I made a deal with it. It was awful, but I know that I had to do it to get her to let me go. I don’t intend on doing it, but I knew it wasn’t right to bargain with her.”

“I do the same things sometimes.” Luna said, nodding soulfully. “I know that my sister does as well. Except… she’s in a little deeper with her Id than either of us. She’s really there with hers, sometimes I have a hard time telling them apart… and sometimes I wonder if the her that I know, and have known for so long, has been the Id the whole time. She’s been through these mad personality swings before, and I think that it was the two sides of her trying to find balance… the worst part is that I don’t know which part of her is worse. There was one time, back when I was only a thousand-two-hundred or so, when she began to hire servants purely based on their orientation towards the opposite gender! Then she would torture those who preferred males with her own body, and then subject those preferring mares to interact with males! I swear she not only did it on purpose, but she was purely striving for their discomfort.

Then there are these times where she… shuts down. Becomes this poor, meek, shy mare and holes herself up in her tower. She speaks in this small, shaky voice and tells me that she’s trapped, and can’t think and the echoes in her head make her want to cry. It makes me so scared when she gets like that… it’s like the her that I never got to see. She was so nice, too. She was such an artist as well. She wasn’t good at magic at all, but she could paint you a portrait like no other pony I’ve ever known. She could freely talk to me, without a single hint of contempt in her voice or rude comment towards her servants. She seemed almost… peaceful. She could be sociable and make jokes. She didn’t have a speck of political know-how, she could barely even stand in front of a crowd without becoming ill. Then, like a dying star, she would be the same awful, cruel, but analytical and well-versed Celestia. She went from being a great leader to a foal at heart, then faded back to this political monster that I never wanted to see again after that… that almost sweet Celestia had convinced me that she wasn’t so bad after all.”

For some reason Twilight remembered that specific conversation. She also remembered that shortly afterwards Luna had begun a tearful recollection of the sweeter, nicer Celestia that she had only encountered on a handful of occasions. Deciding that it wasn’t helping her to keep drinking, Luna helped Twilight up the stairs, heading for bed. The two didn’t talk much before they fell asleep. But she swore she felt like Luna was sobbing on the other side of the room.

Author's Notes:

Hello everypony and welcome to this chapter’s rickety roundup. I’m doing this, yet again, at night. So I’m wrapping up this chapter, at night. At around roughly twelve-thirty-eight at the time of this writing. So, let’s dive right in. Let’s start from the last bit first, shall we? I put so much plot detail for later in the story it is almost a fanservice reading through Luna’s drunken ramblings. She mentions the inability to discern between Celestia’s two halves, except that one is very physically cognitive, as well as a dominating extrovert, and the other is very mentally inclined, and has much less willpower to exert over others. Thus, this would make that version of Celestia an introvert, as well as the antithesis of our known Celestia so far. Now, the question that Luna poses for us is not which one is which, but she instead goes in a roundabout way of saying that she can’t tell which is better for everypony as a whole. She questions whether an extremely competent, world-wise and rock-steady to the point of near sociopath-like proportions Celestia is the right version, or the incompetent, rather doleful, antisocial Celestia that has no idea how to run a country would be better.

Granted, one version of Celestia is extremely sweet and shy, and would be very nice to know as a pony. But would she fit as a princess? She wouldn’t be able to rule Equestria anymore, and nopony else is qualified to take her position as leader. Luna just got back from the moon, Cadence is… Cadence, and Twilight just arrived on the scene as well. So with nopony to take her place, they the characters and you as the reader are stuck between choosing the good of the common people or the good of those few ponies that personally know Celestia. Does one side with the nice, albeit indecisive and incapable version of the eldest alicorn, or does one side with the cold, domineering side of her that has such a strong sense of righteousness that she recites law to her sister on occasion? I’m leaving that up to you.

Next, we get to the whole fiasco with Rainbow Dash appearing, the scene with Twilight and Luna, and a little hint as to the nature of Draconequis magic. I’ll start with the magic part because it’s the lightest and easiest to explain (As if anything I write in these wrap-ups are light or easy to explain). Luna hints that Draconequis magic is, by its very nature, volatile and dangerous. She says that only an experienced spellcaster can handle it, because in its most primal element the form or magic she was using was pure, raw, untainted power. Power is corruption by default, so if one doesn’t control the flow it can easily spread like a rip in the side of a pool and continue to grow until it splits the user’s mind in two like the thread taken out of the seamline on a new shirt. With this any wandering entity could take up house in the caster’s mind, and hitch a free lifetime ride in the user’s body, if of course it has the ability to close the flow of energy to the caster before they’re reduced to ashes.

Now we get onto how Luna uses that magic and the scene with Twilight and her. We learn here that Twilight isn’t the only one with a demon in her, and Luna isn’t very stable herself. Celestia even slips between her two forms sometimes, and this means to her and to anyone reading this, that any alicorn can have a lapse in attention and end up accidentally maiming somepony, or in this case, providing impulses that get mistaken as the victim’s own thoughts, and get them in trouble. Luna demonstrates that Draconequis magic excels at taking ideas from the one artistic form to another, so long as they are abstracted in the draconequis language. It also has an uncanny knack for rewriting the general rules and order of the universe (Hence why Discord is proficient at doing just so). It can take abstract ideas and make them very corporeal, as well as do the inverse just as well. So she uses it to take a memory that otherwise she didn’t have access to, and wrenched it away from Nightmare Moon and out into the real world. This is possible with unicorn magic and spells, but it must be done in a much more roundabout, complex way, whereas with draconequis magic it is quite simple, since it, again, can make things that only exist in the abstract dimension of our mind, reality, with very little effort involved.

I’m done with this roundup, so the best I can do is hope that you guys have a comment for the MASSIVE amount of information that I dumped into this chapter in the wake of the last two, which were mostly just action. Anyways, drop a comment please, and I may very well make it worth your while by commenting back. Have a wonderful week everypony.

What's Fair?

Twilight was roused by Luna, who seemed to have woken up much earlier than her. It was nearly midnight, the lunar equivalent of sleeping until noon. The younger alicorn grumbled something unintelligible and rolled over to see Luna on the edge of her bed, her eyes sparkling like gems in the dim candlelight. She looked more excited than she had in days. The princess was practically humming with energy, and her wings were twitching with such exuberance that it ruffled papers on Twilight’s bedside table. It was a new look for the usually very restrained mare.

“Luna… what’s going on? Are we going somewhere?” The princess’ student asked, blinking the sleep from her eyes. “Did something happen while I was out? Did Rainbow Dash crash somewhere?”

“No! It’s much more legendary an occasion that!” Luna spouted ecstatically, resorting to her older, more archaic manner of speaking in her blind excitement. “I want you to get up out of bed and get dressed! We’re going to see my sister!”

Twilight blinked dumbly. She couldn’t recall any reason why she would ever want to visit her sister, especially at this hour. She was groggy, and in her mind there wasn’t a single reason to bother the temperamental elder alicorn. Then, piece by piece, she picked the disparate memories of the night before out of her half-conscious mind and fit them together. All of the sudden she was very awake, and Twilight was brimming with energy just as Luna was. She got out of bed as fast as she could, deciding that getting dressed would be a waste of time. She began to brush her mane quickly while Luna rushed about, picking up seemingly random things from around her room. When she returned the younger mare realized that it was in fact different materials that could be used for art.

“I don’t know how often this happens, but when it does there is always a sudden list of things going on around the castle.” Luna explained, attempting to push all of her supplies into one satchel. “First thing to happen is that most of the guards are relocated to the outer perimeter of the castle, and all the elite guards congregate near Celestia’s tower door. Second, everypony else that lives here in the castle is told to stay home, and not come anywhere near the section of the castle we’re located in. Third, Celestia retreats into her room and doesn’t come out for anything. Anypony wishing to visit is to be escorted in.”

“But why today?” Twilight asked, looking towards her mentor. “Why on this specific date, this month, this year?”

“I don’t know.” Luna shrugged, slinging the satchel over her shoulder. “I can only assume it’s all part of the agreement she’d made with herself. But I don’ think that it’s of her own free will that she chooses this date. It always seems to be on this particular day that she decides to drop her guard. I suppose that it’s the necessity of secrecy, since today is Armistice Day. The one day that all wars are to cease for a full twenty-four hours all over the world. War cannot be declared today, otherwise all nations turn on that nation by the Pact of Armistice. The whole holiday is a long story, but it’s the safest day for everypony, especially her.”

“So she chooses today because committing an act of violence is taboo?”

“Yes.” Luna explained, heading towards the stairs. “And I must admit… it takes some getting used to, the way that this Celestia acts. She is almost… how to put it… endearing. So make sure you have an open mind.”

‘So this is it. Celestia’s Id.” Twilight told herself. She could hardly believe it, that she’d be seeing it within the century. Let alone the day after both her and Luna became free mares. Rainbow Dash was sleeping on the couch when they passed her, Spike in the chair over by the writing desk. Knowing that the two would do fine with each other, and Rainbow Dash was the lightest/heaviest sleeper she knew, she decided to leave them to sleep. It seemed that Rainbow just knew when she needed to wake up. If it wasn’t necessary, she was immovable. But just at the right time it always seemed she knew just where she was needed.

Twilight snuck out of the tower with Luna, a feeling of exploration and mystery sitting like a hot coal in her chest. This was going to be the most interesting thing she did in a long, long time.

---

When the two showed up at Celestia’s tower they were astounded by the security. Twilight knew that she didn’t want intrusions, but this seemed over the top. There were bars on the stained-glass windows in the massive rotunda leading to the doors into her tower. The guards were posted at every entrance to the rotunda, leaving no sightline unchecked. There were even a few pegasus archers up in the rafters of the vaulted ceiling, their keen eyes staring at them the moment they turned the corner of the hallway to the entranceway. There was even a few guards that had battle armor on, as well as a small wall with sharp pins sticking out of it, like an anti-riot barrier. Twilight saw the glances they gave her. The guards themselves were scared here, as they had about as much knowledge of what was going on as Twilight had the night before last.

The guards parted at Luna’s appearance, leaving a very clear path through the purposeful debris. The princess nodded to them, as if everything was okay. They all relaxed visibly. They had thought that maybe there was some disaster, or assassin that they had to ward off. Seeing Luna helped assure them that nothing was wrong, and that perhaps it wasn’t for such serious reasons. Maybe a drill for a large-scale invasion. They didn’t want a repeat of the Wedding Night, after all. Luna made her way towards the large doors before a particularly large guard stepped in front of her.

“I’m sorry milady, but Miss Twilight Sparkle isn’t to be allowed in. Celestia requested it specifically. She told me that she might be a hazard if the correct parameters were met around her.”

“She is to be allowed in.” Luna said, smiling up at the guard. “As you know, me and Cadence together have the ability to override any order she gives with a majority vote. If you’d be so daft as to actually seek her council so she can give the obvious positive answer. But instead of wasting my time, as well as your own and possibly Princess Cadence’s, you could really just let me through.”

The guard, looking quite off-put by her use of the word ‘daft’ to describe him, made a croaking noise in his throat, making sounds but unable to put them into words. After a moment of this quite humorous croaking, and with a cold-sweat breaking out on his forehead, he stepped aside and opened the door for them, gesturing that they were free to enter, still red-faced. Deciding that leaving the door open would be a mistake, he stepped back outside the moment they were inside the tower, shaking his head. Luna smiled at Twilight, as if she’d just taught her a very important skill that she would have to use for the rest of her life.

The two set off up the stairs, bounding up them two at a time, expecting the tower to be of the same layout as Luna’s. To their later displeasure, they figured out that it wasn’t. Firstly, the first floor of the tower was a large pool, with monolithic windows opening up to the night sky. Although the princess was slightly annoyed at her sister’s apparent need to make things for no real reason, Luna just rolled her eyes and continued up the stairs. They passed many other oddities on their way to the top, including a massive sand pit, an extremely large greenhouse floor that had vines crawling all over it, all of which seemed to move at their own accord, a strange room built mostly out of black granite, marble, obsidian and onyx, and finally, as if to top off the sundae of strange rooms, there was one room that had nothing but safes, all of them covered in symbols from many magical, runic languages, labeled in some sort of code that only Celestia understood. Luna almost stopped at that floor, and had a hard time tearing her eyes away from it. She seemed to have an inkling of what was in those many safes, but after repeated requests from Twilight, the princess rejoined her on her ascent to the top.

At long last, with their abdomens and legs burning from the massive effort of climbing stairs, the two arrived at the top floor, which had a single ornate, stained-sanguine Oakwood door leading into the eldest alicorn’s room. The two stopped there for a moment, catching their breath. That had been more exercise that either of them had gotten in a long time. They couldn’t help but wonder if that was why Celestia always seemed to be so in shape, with her toned legs and chest. Because the climb to her bedroom was enough to make most pass out on the way up. Once the two were presentable they looked at each other and nodded, nodding in order to assure that this was the right thing to do. Taking a deep breath and holding it, Luna knocked on the door.

There was the sound of rustling and of things being locked in a trunk before they heard the unchaining, unbolting, unlatching and the disarmament of hundreds of locks, before they heard a small, slightly higher-pitched version of Celestia’s voice come to them through the door.

“Who is it? I’m warning you, if you don’t tell me I’ll turn you into slug and send you to the moon! Go on, tell me! I won’t hesitate to hurt you!”

“Celi, it’s us.” Luna said, rolling her eyes with a growing smile.

Twilight was still puzzling over the pet name ‘Celi’ as she heard the last lock being undone. The door opened to reveal a version of Celestia that Twilight had a hard time looking at, let alone believing had been acting as her mentor all those years. The Celestia that was in front of her was about Luna’s height, just slightly taller than her younger sibling, and possessed a wine-red/mauve mane, one that nearly struck Twilight speechless. Her usual style was so flowing, extravagant. But this mare was one that induced awe merely by how natural she appeared. She looked very plain, with nothing in particular on her person, nor did she wear any jewelry. Her typical three-foot long horn was now about a foot, and her eyes were the strangest colors. In her left eye the iris was a bright blue with traces of green, and in the other it was completely red, with a minute peppering of black. Twilight had to catch her own breath just looking at her former mentor as she truly was, how borderline supernaturally sculpted her body seemed. Not like an athlete, but more in the sort of a gymnast.

The way this version of Twilight moved was in no way akin the usual high posture of royalty. Her movements were long-limbed and liquid, as if her whole body was corded steel wrapped in skin and muscle. She had a power that wasn’t even in the same league as the one that the other version of her commanded. This power was in her body itself, not in her superior intellect. The way that she strode over to the trunk she was just at reminded of her the way Rainbow Dash moved, but also of Zecora, being a survivalist. The sheer unjustified power of a speed-flier with the strange, instinctual awareness of her surroundings that only came from years of experience with avoiding danger. It was like watching a tiger or a lion move while it was stalking its prey. It wasn’t anything that could be described. One just had to look at her and observe to know that she acted like nothing that could ever exist in the world naturally.

“I almost thought that the guards wouldn’t let you in for a moment, Twilight.” Celestia sighed, picking up a tray of tea and a few sandwiches from her nightstand and setting it down in front of them on the coffee table. She had laid out a large area rug and had conjured rather comfortable looking chairs for her company. “I wanted to see you even though She forbade it. She doesn’t like you very much.”

“What do you mean, She? The other you?”

“Yes.” Celestia said, lowering her voice, almost as if she was hoping her Id wouldn’t hear her. “She thinks you’re a threat to everypony, and her. So She is making me stay away from you. I think that She’s-” The mare stopped suddenly, her eyes flicking from the tea to the door. “She’s telling me not to talk about it…” She confessed, then moved to go and relock her door.

Luna looked at Twilight, concern in her eyes. In all of her years with having these meetings with the anti-Celestia she had never once had the more dominant side of her sister interfere. She half-wondered, half knew that it was Twilight who was antagonizing the other, more aggressive side. She probably felt threatened by her presence, making it so that she was exercising much more control over the pliable, compliant side of the eldest princess. She felt bad, since she was sure that that her sister’s Id would give her grief about breaking the rules of engagement. Celestia meekly walked over and sat down, smiling at them and nodding for them to do the same. Once they were all seated she began to talk, as if she’d recited her speech well.

“I had to tell you guys that… if I don’t make sure that my language is approved by Her, she told me she would make sure that we wouldn’t be able to see each other like this for a very long time.” She began, looking at Luna with a yearning. It reminded Twilight of a caged bird. “Then she told me to tell you both that you are not welcome here so long as you are a mutual distraction to each other.”

“Well hear this.” Luna said, increasingly annoyed at her sister’s Id forcing her to censor herself. “I want to hear from the sister that I grew up with. Not you, this awful thing that you made her into. If you don’t let her talk freely I will make sure that we hand off power to parliament and you can be banished to the far side of oblivion where you belong. You’re just lucky we need you. But you’re not needed right now. So go, before you overstay your welcome.”

“She told me that if you threaten her again she’ll make sure my life is miserable.”

Luna blanched. Her stoic, tough hide fell apart at the idea that this delicate, fragile Celestia being subjected to whatever cruel whimsy her darker half had in mind. She couldn’t do it, not after knowing what had happened to her when Nightmare Moon had taken over. She knew that this wasn’t right, letting herself be blackmailed, but when the hostage was her sister she had no choice. She dropped her hooves into her lap and sighed a very long, agonized exhale of pure loathing.

“Fine.” Luna said, pinching the bridge of her nose with her hoof. “I want her censor set to a minimum, though. I want to talk to her, still. Not a script you have her read to us like she’s an actor or a pawn for you to use. She is my sister.”

“She says that it’s fine.” Celestia said, smiling again. “Okay, where do you want to start?”

“Let’s start with this.” Twilight asked, confused beyond reason. “Why is Celestia’s Id necessary? I thought that your Id was everything that you hated and loathed, all the things you refused to do throughout your mortal life. Why is yours any different?”

“Well, I guess it’s because she has the skills that I lack.” Celestia shrugged, avoiding her gaze shyly, ashamed at her incompetence. “She has the brains that I don’t, the kind that are able to multitask well and make hard decisions on the fly. And she is vicious, something that I’m pretty incapable of being all on my own. You see, her mind operates sort of like a computer. She deals with constants and variables, risk and reward. It’s the only language she speaks and it’s all she can understand. True, she can register emotions, but most of them are negative, and any that aren’t hers are usually considered minute factors in her analytic brain. She knows that negative and positive emotions can be used to her advantage and she is skilled in psychological games. But she doesn’t ever experience any true emotions herself other than annoyance or this smug sort of pleasure she gets from knowing she’s immortal.”

“So… I’ve never gotten to know the real you?” Twilight asked, thinking for moment that all of those years as her student had possibly been a farce.

“No. She lets me out when real emotion is needed. She’s sociopathic, and can’t form any sort of connection with anypony. Whenever she needs empathy or sadness, or happiness, she lets me take control of her body briefly. She let me teach you for a long time… those were some of the happiest days of my life. Then she stuffs me in the corner again with my dunce cap, content to never let me make any real decisions for myself…”

Luna looked over at Twilight, signaling with her eyes that it was just best she didn’t bring Her up again. Celestia was obviously repressing a lot of trauma from being so unable to control her own life, judging by the hidden pain behind her voice and rapid blinking, like she was trying to restrain a great amount of grief by not showing it to them. Luna was also noticing this, and decided that it wasn’t worth it to start trouble when they were in the same room with Her. Instead she changed topics, skillfully slipping in a small, almost trivial question.

“So I heard that She tried to get Twilight’s Id to take control from a certain little dragon. Is this true? And if so what was the results? Is she competent in the eyes of our resident despot?”

Celestia froze for a second, then in a stiff, almost emotionless voice she replied. “At the moment she seems quite capable, but she wants more conclusive tests that can only take place with time.”

“Okay then.” Luna shrugged. “Can I ask if you’d like to do anything while you’re here?”

“With me?” Celestia said, gesturing to her current state of self with her hoof. “You mean with me, the version of me that can’t do anything useful?”

“No, the other you standing over there.” Luna rolled her eyes, smiling sarcastically. “I was wondering whether you’d like to go for a walk or maybe go and see Cadence. Go and see Twilight’s friend Rainbow Dash, perhaps?”

Once again Celestia stiffened and shook, shivering like she was in a cold room. Then, in an extremely haughty, contemptuous voice that they all recognized as the Id’s, she replied. “I will have you know that we have very fair, appropriate rules of engagement for all contexts and situations. In the seven-hundred and twenty-seventh she agreed that she would never leave this tower or another secured, concealed area in this state. She is never to be revealed to any public area so that nopony can look at her and question the stability or resoluteness of Equestria’s ruler.” The anti-Celestia said, like it was something that she had said a million times before. It had been delivered in an extremely dull monotone, making it sound even more irritated and rehearsed.

Luna bit her bottom lip, feeling it split open and blood spill down her lip and drip off her chin. She didn’t even seem to notice as the wound sealed itself, apparently too irked with Celestia’s Id to care. She wanted so badly to disobey the other Celestia. It was so tempting, so easy for her to just reach out and pull her down the stairs, dragging her away from the place where she was imprisoned. She’d wished somepony had done that while she had been under Nightmare Moon’s sway.

“I am not going to tolerate any more interruptions from you.” Luna said directly to Her. “I don’t care what you say, if you don’t let her talk with what little time she has with us I am going to use every resource I have at my disposal to banish you. If you don’t think that I can’t, try me. The Elements worked on me, and I’m more than certain they could work on you as well.”

“You wouldn’t dare. I am the only reason Equestria is still standing.”

“I would if it meant liberating my sister from a tyrant. Now I will repeat my request one last time in case you didn’t catch it. Leave her be, or I will bring the hammer down on your little bouts of fun you get from exploiting others for your own sick amusement.”

“This is only fair. I sacrifice my time to care for Equestria.” Anti-Celestia said, sounding irritated, with a slight, almost imperceptible drop of uncertainty.

“While my real sister does what? Sits in the back of her own head while you do everything for her and make personal decisions for her? Tell me, if you can, did you even let Celestia make the decision when she slept with that mare, one-hundred and ninety-four years ago? Or was it you? Did she get a choice, or did you for once show some emotion in the form of attraction? Riddle me that? Are you truly as emotionless as your portray yourself, giving in to primal urges like a lesser mortal?”

The air in the room suddenly became so thick it was impossible to breathe. Luna had stepped so far over the line that it wasn’t even on the horizon from her perspective. She had blown Celestia’s mind right out of her ears, dropping that massive bomb right in the middle of the argument. Luna smiled as she watched Celestia’s mouth open and shut, struggling to formulate anything, any possible answer to that without showing, glimpsing at weakness that her Id considered so dangerous. She continued like this, her expression growing gradually more feral, a vicious snarl curling over her teeth like a wildcat ready to sink it’s fangs into the princess’ neck. Luna was fully aware that she had found a very painful old scar for her Id, one that hadn’t healed after all those years. There was no control left in the darker side of Celestia, only rage and a red mist that was hazing over everything it saw.

Celestia leapt out of her chair so fast Twilight didn’t see her move, like there wasn’t even a frame per second between her sitting down and her standing at her full height, holding Luna’s neck to the couch with her hoof, pushing with the force that would have broken any mortal pony’s neck like a dry twig. Luna gave her a look that spoke a thousand words in one glance. She was saying to her sister’s dark half ‘What do you have to hurt me with? Oh yes, nothing. Your mind can’t even begin to wrap around my needs, thus you can’t possibly cut me off from them. You can’t kill me, obviously. You’re still Celestia, so nothing, no matter how hard you might try, will make you break my neck right now. And finally, you know the answer to that question I just asked you. You know very well you’re not as in control of Celestia as you’d thought. She overpowered you that night, that one night. And you can’t bear to admit that. Your faults. Your shortcomings.’ She said, all with a single glance into the eldest alicorn’s eyes.

Celestia stood again, once more her full royal attitude, her voice flushed with hate and contempt. “I recommend you both leave. Now. Before I get the sudden urge to brutally maim one of you. As if I haven’t already had that impulse run through my mind already.”

---

Twilight fell asleep that night with a feeling of unease over her, like something about that meeting had been off. And something was just bound to go wrong at any point. The air seemed cursed, like anything that could go terribly wrong would absolutely do so. She was so uncomfortable that she got up in the middle of the night and moved to Luna’s bed, waking her up long enough for them to get comfortable. When she voiced her concerns to the princess she told her student that everything would be okay, and wrapped her wings around her comfortingly. She had ended the evening with a light kiss on the cheek and a mutter of good day to her mentor, already dozing off, feeling much safer in the arms of her guardian. Twilight had no idea that the worst thing she could have possibly done was go to sleep. In doing so she made the second -worst mistake of her life.

Author's Notes:

Okay, before I start this roundup, a few things. The next chapter will be long, as in it might take me more than a day to write. And it will be Dark, and by Dark I don’t mean slight gore warning or disturbing images that might give a four-year -old nightmares. I mean that next chapter is going to be rather disturbing, for a lot of different reasons, including but not limited to gore, some rather graphic things that involve some not-so-voluntary possession and very likely sexual torture. Yeah, this fic might make the dive into M rated territory, so if anypony wants me to I will gladly switch this fic over if the massive label reading [RATED M FOR SEXUAL CONTENT & DISTURBING SCENARIOS] doesn’t seem to convey accurately that you are taking your own discretion into your own hands when you read the next chapter. It will be bad, so I’m warning everypony now. This will mostly have to do with Twilight, and the “… Unforeseen Consequences…” That her id spoke of if she dared disobey her. Tell me in the comments whether you want me to write a safer chapter in advance to spare your eyes and still give you the key plot details.

Now, onto the chapter itself. When I originally came up with the idea of Luna and Twilight sitting in a room with the real Celestia I thought that things would be awfully awkward, but the more that one thinks about it, the more you realize that the normal Celestia, the Id, would probably be controlling and censoring her speech constantly. She would never let her guard down, even in a time of mutual respect and trust. Not only that, but Luna becomes so upset at this censorship that she lashes out at the weakest point for Celestia, which happens to be the circumstances surrounding her daughter, Cadence, specifically her conception and the mystery surrounding what exactly had happened that night and who had been responsible. This causes a psychotic break for Celestia’s Id, who sees all emotion as weakness. If she had lost control of Celestia during that time she would appear equally weak. Left with no options, she was forced to the point of breaking her normal stoic pattern to threaten Luna. She wanted to convey that the subject as never to be addressed in her presence ever again, lest there be severe consequences.

I also put a key room in Celestia’s tower by writing it in. It was the room with the safes, and what that symbolized for Luna. She stopped and stared at them, meaning that she would love nothing more than to have access to her sister’s personal secrets when all of hers were so plain for the world to see. Twilight has to stop her from going in, knowing that nothing good would ever come from digging around in Celestia’s past. This hints that even though a lot has been revealed about the alicorn, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Such as, who was this mare that Celestia had a relationship with? Is there really any way to banish Celestia’s Id without sending Equestria plummeting into chaos? Is the princesses’ Id really as emotionless as she’d once thought? Will we ever get to meet the true Celestia, uncensored by her oppressive darker half? A lot of these very difficult questions are hanging in Limbo right now, but with that let’s get back to the suspense driving the end of the chapter.

At the very end of the chapter Twilight knows that something is wrong, and maybe sleeping isn’t the best route to take. She had an itch under her coat that she couldn’t scratch, a feeling in her gut that told her that something was very, very off about that particular night. She seeks comfort from Luna, who only succeeds in calming her down slightly, leaving her even more open to the horrific events that happen in the next chapter. What these are you’re going to have to wait one or two days to see, but for now I’m leaving you here. I really need to know if you guys are okay with me writing so darkly, especially if it gets it booted from the Teen rating and into the Mature. It’s really only one chapter, but it is fairly graphic. I don’t want to alienate my readers, so please send me a comment or PM. I won’t go out and do anything that you guys are uncomfortable with, so I need your input this time.

I hope you all liked the chapter, leave your responses to the above statements in the comments, or PM me. The next chapter will be out in one or two days. I hope you’re having a wonderful week, and that your tea tastes especially sweet. That concludes this chapter’s roundup, goodbye.

Behind A Mask [ Mature Sexual Content Warning]

Twilight didn’t want to wake up. The voice in her head was chatting on about how much time she was wasting, sleeping. She wanted to make it stop. It kept going on and on about how she was using her immortality on nothing but sleeping and socializing. She groaned and shifted over on the pillows, hoping that she wouldn’t disturb Luna. She was trying to get some sort of ambient noise to drown out the drone of the voice, as it had been bothering her for over an hour. By a glance at the clock on the wall it was roughly three in the afternoon, the same as being woken at three in the morning. The voice was becoming more forceful, and more like hers by the second. She knew it was leading up to her Id, which at the time had no determinate name. She wished she could just name the other half of her, but for some reason or another it was taking it’s time coming up with a title.

“I told you to get up.” Her Id hissed, sounding like it was right next to her ear.

“And I told you to leave me alone. I’m tired. That means that you’re tired. Why don’t you like sleep? I’m sure you love it just as much as I do.” Twilight grumbled back. “We’re the same pony after all.”

“I will tell you one last time to get up; any further insubordination will result in punishment.”

Twilight’s only response was to yawn and draw the curtain on the bed tighter with her magic. She wasn’t prepared for what happened after that. She shot up straight in bed, then rolled over, covering her mouth in pain. Her entire head was filled with the worst sensation she’d ever felt, like an electric current was being run through her teeth. She clenched her jaw as her eyes watered, feeling like she’d just set her tongue to an eighteen-volt battery. She did her best not to show any signs it had hurt her, but it had rattled her more than she cared to admit. She could feel a nosebleed coming on, and her Id was humming with a cruel satisfaction as the sensation faded.

“Now get up.” It said, still glowing with sadistic joy at the back of her head. “And get dressed, I have a task for you. It’s for being a fool who thinks she can undermine my authority with a trinket.”

Twilight grudgingly sat up in bed, then moved to stand. She spread her wings as she did so, elongating her legs until her ankles gave a slight pop, signaling they could extend no further. She arched her back like a cat, putting her head all the way to the light blue carpet as she stretched herself as she did every morning, a habit she’d borrowed from Luna. It kept one from getting leg pains if done regularly, so she had decided that it was only appropriate to do as she did. As she stood up again, she looked around the room to see that everything was as it should have been, except her golden bracelet, the one that was supposed to protect her, was gone. On second thought she’d actually left it downstairs, on the writing desk. She hated herself for her lack of caution, but there was nothing she could to about it now.

The alicorn noticed that there was something else that was out of place about the bedroom. A single dress was picked out of the wardrobe on her side of the tower, one that she’d had for over four years, and had worn on every occasion of importance since she’d gotten it. It was purple, with a small mauve bow on the front chest, and a tight sash at the middle of the waist, just before leading down until it stopped at about halfway to her back knees. On the bottom of it were also thin bands of mauve, accompanied with light purple in a striped pattern. It had been a present form Cadence on her first day at Canterlot University, when she was sixteen. She remembered how her former caretaker had been so proud of her she nearly cried when she said goodbye that day.

“Why am I supposed to wear this?” Twilight asked, as if she didn’t already have a fair idea of what she was being asked to do.

“You’re going to visit Cadence.” Her Id explained. “That is all that I care to tell you. If you keep asking questions I will personally make sure that the taste of metal wire is burnt into your taste-buds for the rest of your life. Do nothing but what I tell you and don’t speak. Get dressed.”

“In front of you?” Twilight asked, uncomfortable at the prospect.

“I am you. I already well know what every portion of your body looks like because it’s the one you and me share a memory of growing up with. Again with the questions. One more time. Try me.”

Twilight pulled her dressing gown over her waist and stepped out of it, pulling her head through. She didn’t understand just what her darker half was up to, but she knew whatever it was it was going to lead her into another terrible scenario, like the isolation cell incident. Probably a lot like that terrible, nightmare-inducing trauma. She mad a mental note to not let herself be lured into an enclosed space, then picked up the dress with magic. She didn’t know why it had to be this one dress, but she wasn’t about to ask her other half again. She was making it very clear that she may well have a knife to her throat with how hostile her Id was being.

As soon as she had it on and was tying it into a neat mauve bow at the waist her Id spoke to her again. “You are going to go to Cadence’s suite in the royal quarters. I will supply you with directions on how to get there. Once you arrive I’ll give you further instructions.”

---

Twilight had never been to the Royal Quarters, but she was beginning to see that it was called Royal for a reason. Long purple and white banners were hung on the walls beside every door, which were spaced an obscene seven-hundred feet from each other. On every banner there was a house crest, which the studious mare could only speculate was the Cutie Mark of the family figurehead at the moment. She didn’t know much about how to get around there, as the hallways were dizzyingly large, not to mention confusing with all of the side-passages and one-way callbacks to previous parts of the castle. She had to rely heavily on the voice in her head, but eventually she found herself staring at an unreasonably large set of double-doors. There were banners on either side of the door, and she was at the far side of a hallway that she couldn’t see the end of. The banners held Cadence’s crest, a crystal heart.

Twilight didn’t need to be instructed on what to do next, even though she could tell that if she didn’t react her Id would have still barked commands at her. She reached up and pulled on the surprisingly light metal knocker, and let it fall three times. She waited for a minute, then tried again. She heard a sound like papers being put away, until a very confused-looking Cadence answered the door. Her mane was in its usual ponytail, pulled out of her face. She looked down at Twilight and her eyes lit up upon seeing her dress, surprised that her friend had kept it all these years. She took a moment to examine her guest a bit more before she cleared her throat and, in a slightly surprised voice, said to Twilight.

“This is a rather odd hour for you to be visiting, Twilight.” The alicorn said, almost like it was a question. “I thought that you only followed Luna’s schedule. Come on in, I’m more than welcome to make my home yours… if you don’t mind the mess.”

Cadence opened the doors to reveal that her entire coffee table was covered in papers, stacked in piles thirty deep, a pink-feather quill and an inkwell at one end. No wonder she had appeared so ragged. She had been doing all the paperwork that Luna had to put up with on a daily basis. Twilight watched her as she walked over to the table and began to move the piles with her magic, hoping she was making her home more hospitable for her guest. While the papers sorted themselves out she headed into another room, a kitchen that was open to the rest of the house. The carpet beneath their hooves was a rusty gold color, and the whole suite was in shades of brown and that same yellow-gold. It seemed that Cadence had wanted a more home-like atmosphere, and the kitchen had a light auburn tint to the polished stone tiles. It was all warm colors, but without the eye-straining white of Celestia’s sun chambers. Cadence walked out a few moments later with two cups of hot tea, setting them down on the coffee table as the last papers were being relocated to the writing desk over on the other side of the living room.

Twilight made herself comfortable by sitting down as she felt a sudden urge to lock the door behind her. She did so, without really knowing why. It wasn’t anything she did normally. She decided it must have been a nervous tic from ending up in too many bad situations. Cadence sat down on the couch across from her, taking a sip of her tea before setting it down. She smiled at Twilight, who, despite the circumstances, returned the gesture sincerely. She was glad to see her old foalsitter, even if the reason she was there was possibly subterfuge.

“So what brings you here at this time of the day?” Cadence asked, habitually holding a pillow from the couch to her midsection. She didn’t seem aware that she was holding the pillow even though it was pressed to her chest. “Was there something that you wanted to talk about?”

“No…” Twilight said, hoping that her lies weren’t too plain. “I came here to see you about Celestia. Are you aware that she’s… not right? And the pony that you usually see isn’t really her, but the other part of her?”

“I’m well aware, Twilight.” Cadence said, sighing. “I’ve lived as her daughter for a hundred and –ninety-three years. She lets herself become that way, it’s how she rules Equestria as well as she does. She felt like she wasn’t good enough, so she handed over control to somepony that was. She tried to be the mare that everypony would love and respect as a princess. But she went too far, trusting her dark side. The moment she gave it control she ceased to have free will. She treats it as the sacrifice she makes for the continued prosperity of her country. It’s sad to see that she doesn’t rebel against her inner demons, since she has Luna and me to help her now. But so far I haven’t seen horn or tail of her real self.”

“That’s… sad.” Twilight said, hoping to switch the subject. “So how…” She began, trying desperately to think of something.

From the back of her head she heard a whisper from her Id, reminding her of why she was there. “Ask her about her own Id. I want to know.”

“So Cadence, since everypony other alicorn that I know has a dark side, what’s yours like?” Twilight asked hoping that her genuinely curious tone would win her a response.

Cadence shifted uncomfortably on the couch, looking at her tea. “I don’t think that it’d be all that wise to mention her, Twilight. She’s not very… stable. She gets very upset when I give out information about her.”

“I was just wondering because I think I might have my own…” Twilight said, rubbing her upper arm nervously. “She’s very smart, just like me, but she is rather… self-destructive.”

“Oh.” The older alicorn replied, picking up her tea and taking another sip. Once she set it down she continued. “I think, then, it would be okay if I shared a general of my, erm, darker side. She’s like me, almost, except that unlike me, she’s purposefully unreliable. Any promise I make to anypony she’ll try to break, no matter how sincere or important it is that I keep the vow. It’s like she tries to make me look bad. Then there’s this awful thing she does where she will make me think about the most vulgar things… once I remember getting a massage at the Ponyville Spa, and she suddenly threw the thought out to grab Aloe and pull her onto the table on top of me! She’s a brute, and doesn’t have a speck of courtesy. I hope that she never gets out again, because I have no idea what would happen between me and Shining Armor.”

“Oh… well, I’ve also been having some nightmares recently, about my Id. She’s been telling me to use magic to do… terrible things. It’s like she’s telling me to use everything I learned from Celestia and you to make others unhappy. And she’s been giving me these gross thoughts, too. She told me that it would be a good idea to… this is awkward to say in front of you…”

“If you don’t feel comfortable, I won’t make you say anything.” Cadence said, holding her hooves up. She looked interested, though. “I’d actually prefer not to hear it, since I can hardly afford to antagonize mine at the moment. She’s been dying to get out ever since the wedding. While I was in those catacombs under the castle I saw some things and learned spells that don’t have any place being used in a civilized world. Sometimes I think that it would be better if I forgot them, but whenever I try my other half decides to take the memories off me so that I can’t get to them to forget them. It’s quite infuriating.”

Twilight heard another whisper in her ear, but this time it wasn’t the general command to ask a question. “Ask her for a tour of her house.”

“Can I have a tour of your house?” Twilight asked in an innocent voice, looking around. “I saw that yours is the only one for a long way, so you must have a lot of things around here worth showing. I remember when I first saw Celestia’s tower, and it was amazing.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Twilight.” Cadence said, flattered that Twilight had indirectly commented her home by comparing it to her mother’s. “It’s rather large, and I’m sure most of the rooms would bore you. For the most part it’s guest rooms, since we host holidays here for Shining Armor’s friends.”

“I was just curious, since every alicorn’s suite so far has been better than anywhere I’ve ever been in my life.” Twilight sighed, doing her best to act let down.

Cadence looked around before smiling and shrugging her shoulders. “Fine, I’ll give you a tour of the house. Just make sure you put everything back. You know how your brother can be when you move his stuff around, he’s very obsessive about things being just so.”

With that the two set out to explore the mansion that was built onto the end of the castle, walking through the living room and into a large foyer, two staircases leading upwards to a second floor and a single pair of wooden double-doors leading to the rest of the ground floor. Cadence decided that it would be best to show her the ground-floor first, since climbing up stairs was a hassle she wanted to save for later. As she opened the double doors the first thing Twilight noticed was the hallway. There were three ways to go in the hall, right, left, and to the center. To her left was the staircase that led to what she assumed was the basement level of the mansion. To her left was what appeared to be a laundry-room and across from that, with the door tightly shut, a bathroom. The actual floor in the hall was wood, but a red carpet cushioned their hooves on the hard floor. To the center were four doors, with one at the very end.

Cadence led her former pupil to see the first room on the left, walking past many paintings of her past family, as well as a picture of her and Shining Armor on her wedding day. There were a few vases with stands in the hall as they passed, with bright purple lilacs growing from them. When the older alicorn opened the door to the room Twilight immediately lost interest. It was little more than a dining hall, an extremely long table with candelabra and a few plates scattered about, with a fireplace to warm the area in the winter. Once she was done with that, the two went across the hall to find one of the most amazing libraries she’d ever laid her eyes on, aside of course from the Canterlot Archives, to which there was no contest.

---

Twilight could hardly feel her legs by the time she was taken upstairs to the second floor, having been made to peruse the shelves of the vast library for over four hours and then continued on the tour of the house for another two. With a total of six hours on her hooves, she was ready to collapse. She barely made it up the stairs without her knees quitting on her. It was with great relief that they turned the left corner and into the eastern hallway of the mansion.

“This is where I keep all of my personal things.” Cadence said, smiling as if having stood for hours on end wasn’t in the least bit bothersome to her. “To the left is just storage, and the right is a rather large closet. At the end is my room, which I had to redecorate slightly to accommodate Shining Armor.”

Twilight heard the voice in her head again, except this time it was bordering on frantic. “Ask her to see the bedroom, it’s essential.”

Twilight almost didn’t want to, remembering the last time she’d been alone with her Id. But with a lot regret, she looked up at Cadence and asked. “Can I maybe see the bedroom? I’m interested in seeing if it’s like my brother’s when he was growing up.”

“Well… okay.” Cadence said, wondering why on earth Twilight would want to see her bedroom of all things.

Twilight walked down the hall until she pushed the door open to a room that might just have to be the most unicolor room in all of existence. Everything, from the drapes to the thin, almost film-like curtains on the plush feathered bed, was pink in some hue or shade. Most of it was a bright, faded lemonade pink. Although certain things, such as the dresser and desk, were all a dark magenta. She couldn’t help but feel… lured into the room. Like it was a place she wanted to go and stay for a while, if just to escape her reality for a bit. It seemed so isolated from problems, with its plush white carpet, to the fluffy velvet chairs, it made her want to make herself at home. She trotted slowly over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, admiring how soft the feathers inside it were, like the down from a pegasus foal.

Cadence came in a few seconds later, looking around before she noticed Twilight lounging on her mattress, looking up at the ceiling. She was daydreaming about how she might just make her half of Luna’s tower like this, like a little, isolated slice of space and time where she could go to get away from the stress of living in the castle. The older alicorn froze when she saw her, like she had seen a snake crawling in her bedsheets. She stared at Twilight for a few moments before she turned to exit the room, as if being in there with her former pupil would only worsen her mood.

“Hey Cadence?” Twilight began, rolling over. “Where do you suppose I can get a bed like this? It’s so soft I think I might get one for my own room. Maybe another for Luna if she wants one.”

Cadence halted, her hoof about to cross the threshold of the room. She was chewing the inside of her cheek, contemplating which would be worse. To leave the room and look rude or stay and only antagonize the worsening situation. She looked back over her shoulder and said, with slight fear in her voice. “Twilight, I think you may want to leave.”

“But why?” Twilight asked, rolling over onto her back again to regard her from upside down. She was feeling quite youthful at the moment, something she hadn’t felt like since the day she’d stopped being watched by Cadence. “I wanted to talk to you about the library. I saw a rare copy of-”

“I told you to…” Cadence began, stopping like she was biting her own tongue in two trying to keep from saying the end of the sentence. “Never mind…. I can talk to you about the library.”

All of the sudden Cadence calmed down, like it had merely been a small anxiety attack. She walked over and sat down on the bed next to Twilight, smiling cheerfully again. She looked just as she had before; calm, in control, and eager to spend time with the mare she’d known since she was a foal. Twilight found it nice to be close again, that she could sit next to somepony without it becoming a big deal. She was about to continue when Cadence suddenly spoke, dissipating what she was about to say.

“Before we talk about that, Twilight, let’s talk about that dress.” The older alicorn said, quite randomly. She hadn’t mentioned it once in the time she’d been there. “I was just remembering the day that I gave it to you. I was so… proud, so excited that you were growing up. The moment that I saw you in that dress I thought to myself that if you cared so much to keep that dress, all these long years, you deserve a reward.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, her curiosity piqued. This was rather sudden for a mare as schedule-oriented as Cadence. “I never thought that it meant so much to you…”

Cadence seemed to be admiring how she looked in it, tracing her eyes lightly over how her body still fit it like it was made perfectly for her frame. She skipped over her legs, and how it only just covered her flanks from view. She basked in how ornately the bow as tied at the arch of her back, and how the bow on her chest made her feel like Twilight was just a young filly again, asking her how to perform basic magic. She smiled at her former pupil fondly, then leaned slightly closer to her, so that she was only an inch from the other mare.

“I was thinking that maybe… maybe you deserve a prize that we, as alicorns, are more likely to enjoy than anything materialistic I could give you.”

“Wh- what do you mean?” Twilight stuttered, becoming very aware that the door was starting to close, the handle covered by the signature pink hue that was Cadence’s magic. The door shut, locking immediately from the other side.

“You see, Twilight, as a reserved mare, I have certain things that I like to do, which I’m not always able to because my husband works rather long say shifts that often run far into the night… this also makes me a little more… selective, on who and whom I think may be a nice pony to have around. I was only assuming that you wanted to help be with this small dilemma.”

“What do you want me to do?” The youngest alicorn asked, a feeling of dread inching across the back of her neck, causing the hairs to stand on end. “Because I’m not sure that I can be around all the time if that’s what you were think I wanted to do.”

Cadence put a single hoof on Twilight’s chest, pushing her over as lightly as possible. She had her eyes locked together with the mare, and continued to push her over until she was directly overtop of her, half-standing over her with a sweet, delighted smile on her face. She leaned down so close to Twilight that for a moment Twilight was going to turn away, but she stopped just as her nose touched hers.

“Twilight, memories that we create for ourselves are the most important thing to an alicorn. So I want you to help me make a memory with you, what might be the first important memory of you as an alicorn. Do you want to help me with that?” She asked, her eyes twinkling brilliantly.

“Um…. Okay, I suppose that I can, since I don’t have a lot to do right now, and you seem really excited about this. I just hope that this is a good enough memory for you…”

Cadence didn’t have to get any closer when she put her hooves on Twilight’s chest, At the same time she kissed her, rolling her tongue over her lips so lustfully that Twilight went limp, unable to process what was happening. She only sat and watched as Cadence, the very pony that had practically raised her, put both her hooves behind her head, pulling her closer to her. Twilight felt her wings open instinctively, unfurling gently as the mare on top of her doted upon her lips. Then, like a dream that turned out to be a nightmare, the alicorn snapped out of her trance. The reality of the situation hit, and she turned away.

“Cadence you’re married!” She cried, shocked by the words she was saying to the older mare. “Why are you trying to do this to me when you’re supposed to be loyal to Shining Armor!”

“He never lets me do this to him. It always ends up with him falling asleep from working too hard right as I’m about to kiss him. Besides… I’m not the Cadence I’d think you’re familiar with.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat or four. This wasn’t Cadence that she was talking to. The alicorn that she knew would never betray her husband, or try to errantly seduce a mare only a day after she was invited into her home. This was somepony else, and it was Cadence who was fueling this creature with the unrequited passion that she had pent up inside her. Cadence, or at least, Cadence’s Id, looked down at her with a rather disappointed expression.

“I was hoping that you’d simply let me. I am Cadence, I’m just not the part of her she likes to show to ponies. I‘m the part of her that desires more out of life. And… you.”

The moment the sentence was completed Cadence leaned forward again, but instead of kissing her, this time she laid her teeth to her neck. Twilight gasped in pain as she bit her, then began to massage the area around the bite with her lips, peppering bites of the like all the way down her neck. While this was happening she reached around her waist and pulled her up off the bed, using her magic to undo the bow holding her dress tightly to her flanks. She was insatiable, nipping at her whenever she showed any signs of resisting, and sometimes even just to hear heartbeat jump and her take an involuntary gasp. She couldn’t deny this was all becoming very intense, and she hadn’t the foggiest how to get out of it. She wanted to struggle, but she couldn’t dare to hurt the mare that had raised her.

“Cadence… please.” She gasped, feeling Cadence set her back down onto the bed. “This isn’t right. I’m telling you that if you do this it will haunt you forever! I’m not ready for this!”

“I’m not asking you to be ready…” The older mare whispered, her wings opening over her unwilling victim. “I’m asking you to accept what I’m doing as what I truly wanted to do to you all those years ago. The very first time I met you, I wanted this. “

Twilight felt her Id in the back of her head, suddenly quite absent. She knew that her darker half would make no move to help her. It wasn’t in her character to help her out of any situation that she deemed wrong on every moral scale. She tried to struggle, and even rolled over once, but a swift flick of her captor’s hoof and she was back to facing her, her eyes slowly perusing her figure, as if she wanted to trail her lips down every inch of the scared filly. She made a comforting sound as she brushed her mane out of her eyes, smiling. She didn’t seem to want to really hurt Twilight, but she had certain things that she had in store that were anything if not painful.

Cadence lowered herself down onto Twilight, until she was lying, quite literally, on top of her, pinning her to the bed. Twilight stopped trying; at this point it was akin to a housecat caught in a tiger’s claws, there was no hope for her. She only closed her eyes in an attempt to hide whatever was about to happen from her view. At least that would help her forget if there weren’t any visuals.

Cadence hushed her, planting a kiss on her lips, then one beneath both of her eyes to dry up the small tears that had developed in her panic. The youngest alicorn bit her bottom lip, hoping that whatever she did to her was over soon. She didn’t want to have a slow torture. She wanted it to be fast, as swift as possible. The dominant mare ran her hooves over Twilight’s chest until she reached her waist, then wrapped them full around her midsection, pulling her extremely close. She gasped as she felt something on her lower stomach, something warm and rather wet, soft as it soaked through her dress. She snuck a peak at what was going on, and regretted it immediately.

Cadence had both her front hooves around her waist, pulling her up towards her while she put her weight on her lower stomach, where she was slowly breathing, sighing with the sudden relief of feeling herself touch another pony. Twilight did her best to look away from the part of Cadence that drew the eye the most, but it couldn’t be helped. Her morbid curiosity got the better of her, and just as Cadence set her down again, she saw it. It was thick, swollen and covered with a thick coating of clear pre, which was still connected to her dress by a long, thin strand. The outer labia was shining in the half-light, catching it to make the pre turn a light gold color as the last drops separated from Cadence.

“Tell me…” The mare said in a gentle voice, turning so that Twilight was directly beneath her outstretched legs, a drop of the precum falling and landing on the filly’s cheek. “Do you not want to look at me? Are you that appalled by what I am doing? I am merely showing you that I love you… so if you love me back, I implore you, look up at me.”

Twilight opened her eyes again, soaking in the sight of her delicate slit. She blushed so hard it felt like a blood-vessel popped in her cheek, unable to take her eyes off of her former caretaker’s femininity. She admired the way that her clitoris seemed to just lightly show through the folds, already shining like a pink pearl in a sea of gold.

Out of nowhere Twilight’s Id came storming, taking control of her. She lost all inhibition and used her arms to prop herself up, then began to dote on the princess in long, idolizing strokes of her tongue. Cadence gasped at how sudden her change of heart had come, but wasn’t about to protest. She smiled and let herself be worshipped, sighing as she lingered on her vulva for a moment, tracing it as if to please her all the more. Twilight screamed at herself from the back of her head, crying tears of indignity as he Id made a servant out of her. Cadence wasn’t about to stop there, though. She wanted to make sure that Twilight never forgot her time with her. She pulled away from the filly, smiling contentedly and laying down, her back propped against a large pile of pillows. She opened herself up to her invitingly, as if she knew that now Twilight would be unable to resist.

“I…” Twilight stuttered. “I don’t know how to say thank you…” Her Id said, eyes watering with hysteria.

“You can by coming here.” Cadence said.

Twilight had to watch helplessly as she obediently made her way over to the princess, who only watched with a sense of satisfaction to see that her former pupil was just as hungry for affection as she was. Once the younger mare was near her the princess didn’t waste any time. She motioned for her to turn around, which she did without hesitation. The alicorn grabbed her waist and pulled her as close as she could before she planted a small, light kiss on her lips, which were bathed in a light, sticky film that stuck to her tongue, tasting heavily of cinnamon for some strange reason.

“This may hurt a bit…” She said, taking out one of her earrings and conjuring a sowing needle.

“Anything… just please touch me.” Twilight’s Id begged.

Cadence leaned towards her again and parted her fold with her lips, using her tongue to tease at her clit while she placed the needle and inch away, far enough away from her most sensitive areas that it wouldn’t be a bother to her, but that she could still look at it sometimes and remember. She began to push it into the very edge of her labia as she increased her push on her clitoris, tracing tight circles around her pearl while she pierced her. Twilight nearly screamed in a mixture of pain and erotic pleasure, loving the sensation of being pained by her love but being pleasured by her at the same time in a masochistic sort of euphoria. Cadence finished her task and pushed her earring into her as she finished her off, making sure that Twilight wouldn’t forget their time together anytime soon. With the golden hoop in place, she let herself move away from her, then bent her head down and, just with the tip of her horn, traced a single line down her slit. Twilight had to bite her lip clean through to keep from screaming as she came, leaving Cadence smiling broadly, her mission accomplished.

Then something happened that astounded everypony there, even Cadence. Twilight turned to Cadence, and with a grim sort of resignation she said, in a voice as clear as day and as sure as the sky was blue, she said.

“I’m… not Twilight. My name’s Limba, and I made Twilight do this.”

Author's Notes:

Well… explanation time. Everypony read that and every single one of them sat back and went ‘What the actual F*!%$ was that all about?!' Well, let me start with this. Firstly, it is Twilight’s Id that knows from the start about Cadence’s Id wanting to break their marriage vows by cheating, but it doesn’t anticipate that the princess’ Id is completely off her rocker, and though Twilight’s Id enjoys doing irresponsible, reckless, carnal and oftentimes painful things to Twilight’s body, even she knows that it went a little far this time. She never intended for Twilight to be marked by Cadence, nor did she expect her to even do anything besides openly molest her. So when things calmed down and the dust settled, in hindsight she realized that she had crossed the line, and might have permanently lost a huge advantage over Twilight since she may well have stamped herself with the scarlet letter. Twilight would never trust her again, with anything, and since Twilight hardly ever feels guilt, she, being the antithesis, felt that she had far overstepped the intended boundaries. So she shows that she acknowledges this mistake by unmasking herself in front of them, and giving a name to the evil that is Twilight’s Id.

She names herself Limba, and if anyone had ever taken a foreign language that can be traced back to Latin, it is a female-gendered version of the word Limbo, which can also mean Purgatory. She references Purgatory a lot, saying that it is the equivalent of twilight, and what time of day it represents. In Purgatory the souls of the dead wait to be passed on to the appropriate afterlife, some being damned to wander the earth forever, some ascend, and some are sentenced to far darker areas. Others pass into parts unknown once they are judged. But one thing that unites Purgatory is that it is a place of waiting, for something to happen, normally for thousands of years. This is the in-between world for the universe, and if one sees the sun as ascension or regression, then the wake of dawn comes. The same can be said about the coming of the moon. Limba is the in-between of Luna’s Id and Celestia’s Id. She feels the guilt that Nightmare feels, and the same overbearing dominance of Celestia’s darker half. She feels the need to punish her lighter half for supposed dullness and overstress of moral purity like Celestia’s Id. Then she feels the same very painful emotions that dominate Nightmare Moon, making her occasionally stop and think about what she’s doing, like the very end of the chapter.

Well, I just lost half of my fanbase, so I’m just going to hide in the closet until the flames stop. Feel free to comment if you’d like to, but I know none of the feedback for this chapter is going to be even remotely positive. If it is, you deserve a medal because that takes some serious effort towards being a good person.

Limba

Twilight winced in pain as she picked Cadence’s earring out of her, making very slow progress due to how deeply it had been embedded. She was letting Limba have the reigns at the moment, since she had yet to release her after Cadence had fallen asleep and she’d slipped out. She was lying in the bottom of Luna’s empty bathtub, a small trickle of blood running down her flank and onto the perfectly white porcelain. Limba only occasionally tensed as she did the work, pulling the golden half-ring out of her centimeter by centimeter with a pair of tweezers. Twilight as watching from afar, still in shock from how badly she’d been hurt by the one pony she’d believed to be a pacifist. Cadence had watched her all of her young life, and now her vision of her was skewed by what she was keeping inside, waiting to hurt others just like she had scarred her. Limba could feel how numbly her host was moving around in her subconscious, like she was lightheaded. Her antithesis sighed and continued her work, feeling slight guilt. It normally wasn’t in her nature to feel anything, but this was one of the few things that did make her heart shudder.

“If it gave you clarity and brought you back to reality, would you like me to explain just why I’m helping you recover?” Limba said through her host’s mouth.

Twilight didn’t respond with words, just made an indignant sniff from the back of her head, still beyond upset that she’d listened to Limba for even a second. She thought that it was shameful to have been tricked like a clueless filly.

“I will take that as a yes.” Limba said in response, plucking again at the earring, which was nearly out, but there was a large bulb on the end of the ring that wouldn’t let her pull it out as easily as she would have liked to. “I did that because I wanted to show you that… I’m not all bad. And I’m not out to make you miserable. I want you to know that I do what I do because I want you to have a fun eternity. With that said, I had no idea that this would happen. It would simply seem that Heartbreaker is more exuberant than I originally thought.”

“Heartbreaker?” Twilight thought to her. “That’s it’s name?”

“Yes.” Limba answered in the affirmative. “I knew that she was itching to get her hooves on a pony that would make for a good time, but I didn’t think that she would be so disturbed as to pierce your labial fold. Which I’m quite sorry for, by the way. Also note that the only reason I’m sorry is because it’s mine too, and thus we’ve both been hurt here. I want to keep your body in as pristine a condition as possible, and thus I’m helping you to remove this ring and return your body to its original state.”

Twilight was astounded that her other half could even grasp the concept of being sorry. She knew now that the only reason for her helping her was that it was in inconvenience for her as well. Limba winced as the golden earring pulled free and fell to the bottom of the bathtub, clattering on the dry porcelain. She cast a hasty spell and the wound sealed itself, and with nearly unnoticeable glow of purple, the rest of her loins returned to the way they’d been before, healthy and untouched.

“There.” Limba said, clapping her hooves, smiling broadly.

“I could have done that myself, y’know.” Twilight hissed irately, wanting control of her body now that she was done.

“Oh please.” Her darker half scoffed. “We both know that you only got a ‘C’ in your healing magic class, and that’s because you cheated off of the colt beside you. You’re about as adept in healing as you are in wielding draconequis magic. Which, by the way, you should probably learn. It’s more effective than the magic you and I know right now.”

Twilight bristled, hating that she’d gotten such an average grade in anything, especially a magical subject. She loathed how she couldn’t bluff towards her other half, since she and her shared a mind and memories. She pushed impatiently at the back of her head, making her intention to regain control of herself very clear.

“Oh hold your horses.” Limba said, still very much in control of Twilight’s body. “If you think that I’m going to release you just because I have a conscience, then you’re sorely mistaken. I made it up to you by fixing you, but now I get to have a life. And you can sit at the back of my head, unable to do anything but hope I slip up and let you out.”

She got up out of the tub, picking up the ring with magic and throwing it at the garbage chute so hard that it tore a hole in the metal grating and went banging down the inside, echoing every time it contacted the wall. Limba smiled to herself and admired her form in the full-body mirror, opening her wings to rub it in her host’s face. She had all the power now that she was in control, and she was going to use every opportunity to flaunt it to Twilight. She turned away and closed her wings, thinking of what to say to Luna. It was after eleven in the evening, so that meant that she was awake, and probably looking for frantically for her. After she’d freshened up a bit the darker half of the alicorn turned to the door and walked out, her alibi as flawless as a freshly cut diamond. Twilight roared her anger at the back of her head, but all Limba had to do to block her out was flash a quick image of her groveling beneath Cadence to make her stop, too ashamed to keep cursing and negotiating the terms of her freedom.

Limba walked upstairs to see Luna sitting in a chair while Spike explained to her how he’d thought that she had left for an early breakfast. When he saw her he sighed with relief, glad that she was alright and still in control of her own mind. Or at least that how it appeared to be. Limba smiled at him, walked over and took a seat on the couch next to Spike. She looked over at Luna with a flawless impersonation of Twilight’s normal facial expression.

“Sorry to worry you guys.” She said, mimicking the guilt in her host’s voice. “I was over at Cadence’s house.”

Luna narrowed her eyes, as if that was some cause of disturbance for her. She looked at Twilight closely, then noticed that directly beneath Twilight’s jaw was a large red mark, left from Cadence’s ferocious biting. Her brows knitted together as the pieces of the puzzle fell together, glancing over at Spike. She couldn’t confront her about it in front of him, not without destroying what little innocence he had left in him.

“Spike, go and get us some tea, would you? I’m sure that Twilight got hungry on the long walk over here.” The princess said, unable to take her eyes off of the bite on her student’s neck. It was easy to see beneath her coat, and looked like it had nearly pierced the skin.

Once Spike had wandered off Luna began to berate her. “I see that you met Heartbreaker.” She exclaimed, gesturing with her hoof to her jaw. “That, plus your breath, was a rather clear indicator that you’ve met Cadence’s resident demon. It smells quite potent, and you may want to brush your teeth after we’re done talking here, as well as heal the bites on your neck.”

Limba did an amazing job as an actress, blushing vividly as she covered her mouth with a hoof, lighting her horn to heal her bites, just as Twilight would have if she’d been in control of her body. “I’m so sorry, Luna… it just happened, and once it began I couldn’t get her off of me without hurting her, so I didn’t have a choice but to play along and hope you’d forgive me….”

Luna sighed and shook her head, not angry at her as much as she was irritated that Cadence hadn’t been able to control herself. “I’m not upset, not at you, but I want you to ask me before you go anywhere from now on. Between your Id wanting to make a foal out of you and all the other things that want to get their hooves on the new alicorn, it’s too dangerous to let you wander without somepony knowing where you are.” Luna paused for a moment, then bit her bottom lip, as if she was wondering whether the next question was hers to know the answer to. “It’s none of my business, of course, but did Heartbreaker… did she… hurt you? I know you’re… that you’ve never been with anypony romantically before, so it would put my heart to rest knowing that you’re still… erm, intact as you should be.”

Limba turned a shade of red near sanguine, her cheeks on fire. “No, I’m still okay. I healed myself right after she was done, so there’s no telling that it happened. I’m completely fine, inside and outside. I swear.”

The princess breathed a sigh of relief, glad her student had some trace of her youth left. “I’m glad, I know that it’s… important to decide who gets to have you first, so I was just wondering if you needed to talk about it. Seeing as how she didn’t wound you in any sort of permanent way, it’s fine. Unless you still want to tell me anything, then that’s okay.”

“No, it’s fine.” Limba said, giving Luna a meek smile. “She only used her tongue, so there aren’t any marks or anything. The only problem I’m having right now is that it’s rather uncomfortable to sit down and the aftertaste is rather… sensual.”

Luna turned her head to the side, shaking her head as she did, embarrassed for her as she said the word ‘sensual’. “I really don’t need to know the details, dear.” She said uncomfortably. “Whatever happened you don’t have to tell me or any other pony. I’m sure Cadence herself is going to be taking an amnesia potion tonight, so there’s no need to tell anypony about it. I recommend that you use the one in my alchemy table upstairs, as I’m sure it’s still bothering you that it happened.”

“I’ll take it later, before bed.” Limba said casually, as if nothing of real note had happened. “Right now I want to go and see Rainbow Dash. Where is she?”

“She left this morning.” Luna said, surprised that Twilight had gotten over being molested as she had so quickly. “Are you sure that you’re still not in shock, dear? You seem awfully calm about something that isn’t to be taken lightly. Your body is yours, and if somepony abuses you it is cause to be upset. Which you don’t seem to be.”

“I’m fine.” Limba said, turning her head away from her. “I might just keep the memory, to make sure I’m never to so careless around her again. I was almost asking for it, the way I was dressed and the way I was acting in front of her. I’m sure that she interpreted it as me flirting, there isn’t any other reason I’d have shown up at her door, alone, in the middle of the day. I was egging it on, so it is partially my fault.”

“It is no fault of yours, Twilight.” Luna said. “Cadence is a hundred and ninety-three years old. She should know how to control herself by now.”

Like mist, the subject dissipated after that. I seemed that those words had exhausted the conversation, and now it was time to talk about something else. Luna looked Twilight over curiously. There was something… off about her. The way she was reacting to all of this was almost post-traumatic. She was acting as if it wasn’t anything to be worried about. The Twilight she knew would be screaming with indignity and crying like a foal, scared and violated beyond reason. But she was going about her day like she was fine, and it was as common as tripping and falling down. She was suspicious, unable to accept that she was behaving so coolly.

“Twilight, if you’d like I could send a letter out and get another one of your friends to come.” She said, changing the subject, still wanting to voice her suspicions. “Who do you want to visit you next? I was thinking that we could get the ponies that would react the most to your new state, so how does Rarity sound? She’s probably going to overreact like she always does, but I want to get that out of the way, so that it can be easier for you as time goes on.”

“I was thinking Fluttershy.” Limba said, smiling. She could only imagine what she could do to her and get away with, and how much it would hurt Twilight inside to know that she’d been responsible. “She’s the nicest, and I think I could really use somepony like that after what happened.”

“Okay.” Luna lied, putting another tally on her board of suspicious reactions from Twilight. She immediately knew who she would invite. The most headstrong of her friends, Applejack. She would be the mare to tell her if something was off with her student. She would alert her if something happened. That was her namesake, after all, Honest Applejack. She had the senses of a wildcat and heart of gold. If anything she could at least tell Twilight she wasn’t acting like herself.

“Okay then.” Limba said, standing up, stretching as if she’d been sitting around far longer than she’d intended. “I was thinking I’d go to the kitchens now. Can Spike come with me?”

Luna sputtered with how quickly she was leaving, again. She had just gotten back a few minutes ago and she was already eager to go off again. She was starting to get the feeling that Twilight didn’t like her anymore, and was thinking of reasons to get out of her tower. She threw that theory away, thinking of how attached they had become after she’d moved in with her. It was something else. She was planning, or purposefully doing the opposite of planning. To Luna it seemed that she was thinking of things she could do to distract her from her recent victimization. She looked her student over and nodded, her course of action already decided.

As she watched Twilight leave, walking down the steps as she had done so many times before, Luna narrowed her eyes, focusing on her flank. Her Cutie Mark wasn’t the way it used to be. It was one large black star again, with six red ones in the largest one’s orbit. She leapt out of her seat, pulling the golden bracelet off the desk beside her and racing after Twilight, every hair on her body standing on end. No wonder she had been acting so peculiarly. She wasn’t Twilight, she was the part of Twilight that her student had failed to contain. The same one that she had seen come into existence back at the library a week ago, with the same Cutie Mark, down to the last follicle on her coat.

Sadly, once she was down the stairs and out of the tower, Twilight was gone, and now she had to search for her and Spike before she did something awful. Something that was extremely hard in a castle the size of a mountain.

---

“Why are we here?” Spike asked as they walked into the vacated section of the castle that was mostly storage. Nopony ever came down there, so he didn’t see the point of being there if they weren’t going to be doing anything. “I mean we could probably come back sometime later, if you want.”

“Spike, has anypony ever told you that you’re annoying when you comment unnecessarily?” Limba snapped at him, unlocking the door with magic. “Because I may second their notions, as far-fetched as they may be.”

Spike fell silent, thinking of how off that sounded coming from his caretaker. She had been acting funny all week, but this was something else, her openly insulting him. He couldn’t help but feel they were growing apart of late, since she was spending more and more time with Luna and Cadence. She didn’t seem to be able to find the time for him. He was starving for attention, or at least somepony to say hello at some point in the day. He was being ignored, and it chafed. Now Twilight was openly insulting him. He was beginning to think that working for Celestia was a better alternative at this point. Better to be used and appreciated than to be ignored and unappreciated.

Twilight whistled as she worked, until the lock opened with a satisfactory click. She pushed the door open into the storage room and gestured for Spike to follow, looking around for anything she could use. There wasn’t anything, nothing but a loft high above her for further storage. She sighed and looked around, eyes scanning for anything of use. On the second try she saw three boxes, about the size of saddlebags, tucked under the stairs to the loft. She smiled, shutting the door the moment Spike was inside. He jumped, looking at Twilight for a reason for locking them in. She shrugged and pulled the boxes towards her, opening them with her magic. Inside it was an intricate case for a sword, which as she pulled out of the box, she remarked was quite heavy. Nodding, she pulled out the rest of boxes’ contents and scattered them around her, placing her hoof on her chin. She was thinking of a way she could use these things to make it look like an accident. She nodded her head as an idea came to her.

She could simply push him from the loft, align him with the sword, and make it act like he’d impaled himself. That would do… but she wanted something more elegant. That, and the idea of him seeing it coming appealed more. He had been an irritating thorn in her side ever since she’d come here to the castle, with all of his unwanted advances, but not wanting her to be intimate. He had no right to make a request of that gravity. She knew that these would progress, and that he might live to be a thousand years old before he expired, so she was simply removing the problem before it was any more trouble. Like removing a tumor before it compromised any of the surrounding tissue.

She could always use the old rope and candle trick to hold up the sword, with him tied beneath it, waiting to be cleaved in two when it dropped, but it seemed too cliché an approach. Perhaps if she had a long, flat piece of metal she could fasten as a guillotine, then it would work. In addition there was no way to make him hold still for that time, without her getting the satisfaction of him being conscious while she waited for him to perish. She could always conjure something, but that felt like cheating to her. It was all part of the challenge to use only the materials available. She stood and began to pace the perimeter of the storage room, thinking of the most satisfying way to off him. She would have loved to just cut his tail off and watch him bleed out, but again, it needed to be an accident. She couldn’t be blamed and deemed a threat, like Luna had been with Nightmare Moon. She didn’t envy the idea of being sent to an endless plane of dust and boulders.

Just as an idea came to her Luna appeared in the loft, having seen the lock on the floor outside the door. She was lucky; Spike was still intact and Limba was still struggling to find a way to murder him. As quietly as she could she made her way over to the hole in the loft, looking down at Twilight’s Id, whom was still pacing the walls, thinking out the exact details. She didn’t waste any time, but wasn’t prepared for any resistance. Luna picked up the sword’s hard case, holding it directly behind the other alicorn’s head, simply intending to knock her out. Then, like disturbance in the air had alerted her, Limba swung around, ducking as the case swung at her. She tore the sword from the case, then unsheathed it, turning it on Spike. The young dragon had no idea what was going on, so he did his best to stay out of the way as things escalated. The case swung yet again at Limba, who dodged and lit her horn, turning the case to ash and ridding Luna of a weapon. Little did she know, one of her assaulter’s most practiced schools of magic was in arcane dueling. Luna made her way downstairs, unafraid of Limba.

“I saw the lock on the floor. You’re quite sloppy for being a part of Twilight.” She commented, stepping over the pile of ashes that was the case. She didn’t seem in the least phased by the sword the other alicorn had pointed at her. “Look, I know Twilight wouldn’t do this, so tell me, what’s your name? My Id has a name, and so does Cadence’s. I’m quite sure Celestia’s has one as well. So what have you titled yourself?”

“My name is Limba, and if you come any closer I’ll make sure you never have to worry about going back to the moon.” She said, her threat sounding hollow even to herself. “Don’t even move.”

“I’m sorry for this, I really am.” Luna said airily, as if she was trying to reconcile for what she was about to do. “I can give you the opportunity to give Twilight control again, but I don’t think you’d ever take it.”

“Never!” Limba shouted, feinting towards Luna, aiming to cut her horn from her head.

Like it had always been there, a long section of stone chain leapt from the wall, leaving an indent where Luna had used the stone to make it, and wrapped around the sword. It was snapped in two by the tendril of stone, like it was a toothpick between the fingers of a giant. Luna didn’t even seem remotely threatened, appearing to be disappointed instead. Like she could have prevented all of this if she’d simply been more attentive. She mouthed an apology one last time before a section of stone separated from the wall, travelling in a blur until it struck Limba in the back of the head. Her eyes rolled up into their sockets as a sickening crack echoed around the chamber, the stones returning to the wall. As Twilight slouched to the floor, unconscious, the princess turned to Spike.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry you had to see that, I know she’s special to you. That wasn’t actually Twilight. It was her darker half, like I have Nightmare Moon. “

Spike only nodded, in shock. “What was she doing before you showed up?”

Luna thought about giving him the real answer, but she shook her head, knowing it would only disturb him more than he already was. “She was planning on doing something awful, that is all that you need to know.”

The princess trotted over to Twilight, who was as still as stone except for the gradual rise and fall of her chest. Luna shook her head she wondered just what Limba’s logic had been in attacking her. She could see killing Spike, he was a malefactor, somepony that she didn’t want to live with for the next thousand years. Under normal circumstances she could outlive a nuisance like him, but since he had the unique disposition of being a dragon, her only option besides enduring his advances was to quiet them permanently. That train of thought was sound, and had a steady foundation. But attacking her when she interfered didn’t make sense to her.

If her whole goal had been to get Spike out of the way subtly, without casting blame upon herself, then why had she tried to kill her? Alone, Spike could easily be seen as suffering an accident. But it was harder by a landslide to kill an alicorn, and on accident, impossible. She mulled that over for a while, wondering just what had driven her to fight back so fiercely. Then like the sun parting through the clouds, it came to Luna. She had wanted her out of the way just as much, and might even have a plan to remove her from her life just as soon as she was rid of Spike. Not only that, but Twilight, being the rather attached mare that she was, craved affection, over a long period of time. She sought rather intimate, personal connections in a relationship. Luna had been the recent epicenter of Twilight’s affection, and they had been getting extremely close.

Limba obviously felt the opposite, and didn’t want any strings attached when she was in a relationship with anypony. Spike posed that threat, and so did she. So it made sense that she would strive to off them. Nodding as her logic checked out, clearing the sanity test, Luna turned back to Spike.

“Head back to the tower and get her bed ready. I have a long night of fighting ahead of me if she’d going to wake up as herself again.”

Author's Notes:

Well, that was the most action-oriented ending to a chapter that I’ve done so far, and undoubtedly the only one to end with somepony getting knocked out. On that note, let’s start this chapter’s roundup. I used this whole chapter to flesh out Limba, her habits, how she thinks, how good she is at acting like Twilight, etc. But I also included how, unlike Twilight, who tends to slow down and not make mistakes, Limba usually rushes into things and ends up giving clues towards her intentions. Such as forgetting to disguise her Cutie Mark with Twilight’s and leaving the lock on the floor outside of the door to the storage room, among others. She is messy, and very impulse-driven. Not only that, but she suffers from much the same complex that Celestia’s Id does. The same train of thought that, if something is displeasing, inconvenient, or is simply not serving any purpose relating to her, she has every right to remove it from existence, because it is compromising the quality of her immortality. Any way she wants it, that’s the way she needs it and nothing else will do.

Another inclusion is that she loathes personal attachments. She has a very short tolerance of intimacy and then it becomes burdensome, when all of the other things begin to outnumber what she wanted from the pony in the first place, which is entertainment in some form or another. She loathes the idea of being subordinate to any sort of social construct, like her obligation to live with Spike because they had been friends to long and she hatched him from an egg. The moment something becomes inconvenient, it is disposable, and thus Spike was. Although this is being tempered slightly by Twilight, who is still inside her and is taking the edge off of all these unhealthy characteristics she has, making her at least slightly humane. She feels guilt, but only towards things she’d done to Twilight, because she is the one exception in her mind. Because she simply cannot be disposed of. She only humors Twilight because she has to, and she is starting to learn that she will get nowhere if she doesn’t come to some sort of agreement with her other half, which may lead to a symbiosis between them if successful.

Anyways everypony, that’s my chapter for the day, I’ll see y’all next time. Leave a comment in the box down there and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. May your tea stay sweet.

Fair Warning

The very first thing when one when one wakes from a long sleep is take a deep, exhausted lungful of air. Twilight, much to her confusion, didn’t have a lungful of air to take in. She opened her eyes, trying to inhale. Nothing, not even the slightest amount of suction graced her windpipe. Not even the tiniest sliver of oxygen, or any other gas for that matter. The only thing that met her famished circulatory system was a vacuum. She sat up, thinking that she must be dead. The sky above her was black and infinite, and the ground under her was cold dust and hard gray rocks. She sat up, looking around, immediately noticing how silent it was. No sound filled the air, not the regular whistle of birds, or even the sound of her own breathing. The only audible noise was her heart beating the same stale, unoxygenated blood through her veins. She opened her mouth to yell, maybe call for help. Then she realized that, with no air, she couldn’t speak. There was nothing for her to scream for help with.

Panicked, she looked around to see that the sky wasn’t entirely black. High above her was the earth, far away, consuming a mere fourth of the horizon. The stars twinkled faintly, just enough for her to see the different nebulae. The lack of sound was disturbing. The sheer velvety, drumming thud of her heart in her chest was becoming deafening, consuming her senses. She didn’t need to breathe, but she needed to hear something. There had to be some other noise to fill her senses. It was the loudest thing she’d ever heard, and she swore she could feel every pint of blood sliding through her veins with each cacophonous stroke of the thing that gave her life. She covered her ears, wishing that she could listen to something, anything other than herself. It was maddening, with only the steady beating of her own life to keep her company. Every hair on her body stood on end, everything she touched was like sandpaper, and throughout the whole experience was the beating, like a war drum coming closer to her, steadily getting louder, her senses filled with nothing but the grating sensation of her hooves and legs scrambling on gray sand and the beating. The awful din that was drowning her, slowly.

Then, like a miracle reaching through the void, she heard a voice. “It’s awful, isn’t it?” A familiar tone rang out in the silent plane of dust. “I had to spend a thousand years here, once. Imagine that.”

Twilight looked up once again to see Luna, standing over her, looking quite melancholy. She reached down with her hoof, offering her help. The younger alicorn gratefully took her hoof and let herself be pulled to her hooves, struggling to gain traction on the ultra-fine, fully monotone sand. Once she had stable footing she turned to her princess, wanting to ask her a million questions. First and foremost, why had she been brought to such an awful place?

As if she’d read her mind, Luna said in her head. “I brought you here because I want you to know what could have happened back there.” She told her in a tone that was so dire it nearly scared Twilight. “If Limba had succeeded, or if you let her out again, and she achieves her goals that time, then this is where you’ll end up. Here. Alone, for what will feel like eternity. You will go mad. I did, so many times I can’t even count them. I made statues of the boulders near here and named them. I named my own hooves once. Then my horn, and my tail. I was quite feral, and for a thousand years I had nothing but my own mind and that sound. That awful sound in my ears. I wanted to summon a sowing needle to pierce my eardrums with at least four-hundred different accounts. I want to show you how bad it gets.”

Twilight looked at her in confusion, receiving her message fully, but she still didn’t understand how Luna was communicating without moving her lips and with no air. The princess didn’t offer an explanation, but began waking in the direction of a rocky outcropping on the edge of a desert of dust. Dust that never stirred, and looking around, Twilight could see that Luna’s hoof-prints were everywhere. There was hardly a single surface that didn’t have one of her hooves tracked on it. The mare couldn’t help but think of what Luna had possibly done for a thousand years with nothing but a small satellite, rocks, and a limited magical supply, since she couldn’t summon things all the way from earth. There needed to be an ‘original copy’ for one to summon from, and no magic could reach the span between worlds, not without a limitless resource of energy. And even an alicorn’s supply of magic was limited to extremely powerful bursts; the type of energy needed to reach so far would have to be equally as powerful, but stretched over a period of twelve hours or so just to summon one solitary object.

Twilight followed her and began to notice scribblings, marks on the rocks and the outcroppings, the cliff faces. They ranged from short, nice quintets so rather brutal sonnets, dedicated to self-mutilation and what a gift death would be to obtain. There were perfect artistic renditions of Luna doing everything that could be fathomed, from brushing her mane with a spindly rock comb to talking with Nightmare Moon, all the way to cutting off her mane and storing it in a crater so that it could be of use as an extremely crude stuffed animal she later weaved out of the individual fibers. It was quintessential depression at first, then it merged into schizophrenia, as it began to depict things that couldn’t possibly happen on the moon, such as her finding a lake and bathing in it, and her finding a young mare that she had called Nyra and later had tea with back at her house. After that it gradually fell into all forms of psychosis, with her essentially drinking her own blood, if only to taste something for a second, and her setting fire to the toxic dust around her and inhaling it, poisoning herself in order to be able to breathe again. She killed her imaginary friend Nyra in a bloody display of treason and blasted her own crater into the moon a mile deep for her funeral and later burial. The whole time Twilight read and observed these drawings and pieces of artwork she felt the cold claws of dread steeling at her stomach. If Limba got out again, would that be her?

Luna seemed to be doing her best to ignore the writing on the rocks and continued, walking with grim resignation towards some set point in the distance. Twilight still followed, though feeling more uneasy by the second about being there with her. This place was one of agony, of pain and regret, one that was Luna’s alone and wasn’t hers to be in. It felt like taking a trip into the past thousand years, and even more dreadful was that it was also a trip into her mind. Despite all of the warnings she could never had imagined what she was being led into. As Luna turned a corner into a cave she pulled a small cube out from under her wing, one that glowed a faint blue and seemed to be spilling a whole lot of air out into the vacuum around them. She lit her horn and summoned a torch through the cube, holding the cube close to the torch so that it would remain lit.

Twilight nearly fainted at what she saw written on the walls. Blood, gallons upon gallons sprayed, spattered and painted onto the walls of the originally silver cavern. Where there wasn’t blood was legible markings, all backwards, and as the young mare began to decode them in her head, all of them seemed to be spells, enchantments. It was using her, stockpiling energy, openly sapping it from Luna every second she spent in the cavern. It was stored in the stone, the moon itself. That had been her grand triumph, the invention of a magic so dark it stole life and stored it away as energy. It cut years off anything’s life, but as an alicorn was immortal, it hardly mattered to her. To any other creature it could reduce them to ashes if they spent more than a few minutes in the cave. Luna hadn’t cared, since she was in a state of eternal preservation, so long as no physical trauma affected her. It had been what she’d used to escape, after spending a number of years in there she had finally built enough power to transport herself back.

Twilight didn’t even know how to begin her questions. This was sorcery that was so dark, so corrupt it hardly could be considered magic. It practically bordered on necromancy, since it relied on copious amounts of her life’s blood in order to work. It stole life in exchange for power. What she was staring at was evil, pure, quintessential, corruption. It was every type of outlawed, banned, taboo and forbidden magic that could be imagined combined into one massive, hideous conglomerate of sin. Nothing else Twilight had ever imagined could scratch the surface of what this place did. Looking closer she saw that it was grinding up time itself in the chamber, speeding it up, eating away at potential energy like a cosmic, bloodsucking leech and storing it for later use. It was eating time, matter, and energy. Anything that it touched it consumed. Like black hole, compressing it eternally on one infinite fulcrum, waiting to be released, all the while absorbing anything it could, always hungry for more.

Luna turned to her, looking directly into her eyes as if to tell her that this hadn’t been created out of choice. Her hoof had been forced when she had created that place, and now it was time to leave. Luna took out the small, iridescent blue cube from under her wing again and threw it on the ground, where it opened a portal. She nodded for Twilight to go first.

---

Twilight lay in the shower an hour later, still recovering from shock. Taking her first breath in such a long time had been agonizing, but her physical wounds couldn’t be compared to psychological ones. She stared at the wall, unable to get the symbols out of her head, the dolls woven out of Luna’s own mane, the imaginary creatures that had haunted her all hours of the day, every day of the year. She couldn’t stop asking herself if that would be her in ten years. Or two, or even one. It could even be tomorrow if she didn’t keep a tight lid on her emotions. Limba was silent, still inside of her, as if she had been equally as affected by the trauma as she had. Cadence’s Id didn’t even begin to measure up to how disturbing it had been in that cavern with Luna. The walls seemed to breathe to her, and she swore she had heard a faint heartbeat in there, echoing from deep in the cave, somewhere in the bowels of the moon. The water was beginning to run cold, but even then she stayed, craving the comforting sensation of the water hitting her skin. That was what she needed. Comfort.

With that she got up and turned the water off, stepping out of the shower with her hooves shaking. She wasn’t cold; she was rattled, and unhinged. She wanted clarity, and she needed somepony to tell her that what she’d seen in there couldn’t hurt anypony. She felt the malevolence of the place inside her, like a drop of poison her body couldn’t clear out. It had touched her soul, in a way that had profoundly awed her and disturbed her in equal measures. She turned to the full-body mirror and called out to her other half, seeking conversation in the most unlikely of places. She didn’t give Limba control, but just enough movement to that she could hear her.

“I will never use such magics.” Limba told her. “What you saw… what we saw, wasn’t clean. It wasn’t efficient, and it wasn’t necessary. That was evil. That was torture, for the world.”

“But what do I do, though?” Twilight asked her reflection. “I feel like I need to talk to Luna about this, but at the same time it feels like a major invasion of privacy to talk about it. I felt wrong just looking at it, but she seemed even more off than me. It was like she could feel herself slipping back into that place, the same state that she’d been in when she created that… thing.” Twilight couldn’t even bear to speak of it as anything else besides something that was completely unholy.

“Don’t.” Limba said sternly. “For both of our sakes. Move on from it, and never bring it up to her ever again. She showed you that to remind you of the stakes, and to scare you. Nothing else. She doesn’t want therapy, or somepony to talk to. That would only make things worse. Sometimes the only thing a pony can do after doing something so dark is to just walk away and never speak of it.”

“Like the incident with Cadence?” Twilight asked.

“No. That’s an easy thing, with easy answers. She caused no permanent damage. Nothing that can’t be fixed. Mull that over with her the next time you feel the need for some closure. The thing that Luna showed you… is eternal. It sustains itself by sucking the energy from anything and everything. The very rotation of the moon is slowed by it. It is evil. There is no right solution besides to make sure it is kept far away and hidden, never to see the light.”

Twilight nodded and turned away from the mirror, feeling Limba return to the depths of her mind, too weak to try and take control again. Not so soon after being conquered by Luna. The young alicorn grabbed a bathrobe and turned out the lights with a whispered spell, extinguishing the chandelier. She opened the door and marched upstairs, seeing that Spike was still awake on the couch, writing to himself in a small notebook that Luna had lent him. He had changed recently, perhaps for the better. Then again, maybe for the worse. There was no way of telling at this point. She could only hope that he would forgive her if he ever figured out what Limba had been trying to do. She felt love for him, a maternal, motherly love. She thought of him as a son, or maybe a younger brother. He was still so young to her, inexperienced and unversed in how things were. If he had seen what she had today he would have fainted, he would have been unable to comprehend. She craved that, in a way. To be ignorant of the situation, now that things were laid out so very clearly to her. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t give to be the Twilight sitting in her library almost a month ago.

She continued up the stairs towards Luna’s bedroom, thinking of what to say to her. The young alicorn turned the corner to see Luna staring pointedly into the mirror, as if she had been having the same type of conversation with herself that Twilight had been having just a few minutes before. When she saw her she turned around, blinking. She looked at Twilight in her bathrobe and stepped towards her, as if she had something important to say to her student. It died on the tip of her tongue, just as she was about to utter the first syllable. It was as if whatever she had been about to say no longer mattered, and in a way, it didn’t. She had been preparing a long and arduous speech about how important it was that Twilight didn’t end up like her, but seeing the look on Twilight’s face said that it wasn’t necessary, and that there was to be an unspoken agreement to never make mention of the cavern ever again.

Luna, ignoring the previous, grim topic of discussion, stepped close to Twilight, her horn contacting her own at the very tip. She leaned as close as possible without touching her, running her own horn all the way down the other alicorn’s, a knowing smile showing at the corners of her mouth.

“Luna…” Twilight tried to protest, caught off-guard by her sudden approach. “That’s my horn… it’s a little sensitive when you rub it like that.”

“I know.” The princess replied, touching the very base of her own against hers. “I was trying to take your mind off of what happened today. What better than the pleasantries that you have forever to indulge in?”

“What do you mean? Please don’t tell me that you’re thinking about something like that right now…” The emotionally exhausted mare sighed, not in the mood in more than a thousand ways.

Luna laughed in such a lighthearted way it sounded almost foalish. “No, Twilight. I was thinking more about preening.”

Twilight’s head had to turn on a dime to adjust to what she was talking about. She recalled Rainbow Dash mentioning it what seemed like forever ago, but what was in fact only yesterday. She recalled her telling her that it was feather maintenance, and how to align them certain ways in order to make them look better, as well as keep them healthy. The fact that Luna was mentioning something so trivial now was sending her spinning for a reason, but none came up. She settled on the theory that maybe Luna felt that something like this would take her mind off of her troubles. She doubted it personally, but if it made her princess and new mentor feel any better, she would humor her.

“Okay then… what do you want me to do?” The younger alicorn asked, spreading her wings. “I personally don’t see anything wrong with the way my feathers are.”

“Just lay down on the bed with your legs tucked under you and your wings at your sides. I’ll do the rest.” Luna explained vaguely, motioning for her student to follow her.

The more Twilight thought about it, the more she was beginning to feel like Luna was trying to say something to her, albeit in a very roundabout manner. She did as she was instructed, and pulled back the curtains to the bed and jumped onto the fluffy blue mattress, tucking her legs under her in a sitting position. She was beginning to feel rather relaxed as she spread her wings to her sides, wondering just what this did for her in the long run. Luna stepped into bed behind her, sitting behind her on her back legs while her front raised her above Twilight. The princess smiled at her student comfortingly, then began to reach for her wing. Twilight barely had any time to think of an excuse to back out before her teacher was running her hooves over her wings, straightening her feathers. It was nice at first, but after a few seconds she began to truly see why Luna had told her this would help.

The way that her hooves felt was like silk being draped over her, akin to hot, steaming water running over her whole body in a way that made her feel so at ease that she nearly closed her eyes to sleep. The way that her hooves were trailing down her wings reminded her of just a few hours ago, when her skin was so sensitive that the slightest touch from another pony made her want to moan. It was a sensitivity that couldn’t be described, like that portion of her body was the only part that mattered, and anypony that was willing to please that portion of her could very well have her melting like warm butter under their firm, steady hooves. Luna smiled as she heard her student let out a small, feeble breath that had involuntarily turned into a gasp as she’d began to massage the area between her wings. Twilight felt Limba in her head, insulting her for enjoying this far more than she needed to. In the end Twilight didn’t care; this was the guiltiest pleasure she knew of, more than greed or magic or even sex. In her own mind this was heaven, with Luna over her, lovingly doting on her with a massage, and all the time in the world to enjoy each other’s company.

Author's Notes:

Well, that was a nice chapter ending. Now I think Riz can finally shush about there not being enough Romance (You just can’t please some people). Anyways, let’s get this all down into this chapter’s breakdown, shall we? I started this chapter off with dark stuff, namely with Twilight acclimating to the terrible sensation of living in a total vacuum. I took a lot of reference material for that early part of the chapter, including documents on astronauts who spent too long on their walks, the stages of prolonged isolation that can lead to mental sickness and later psychotic breaks, and even a little research on ancient pagan rituals. All of that came to make the incredibly compact, yet no less disturbing tale of how Luna went from a sturdy, well-put together princess into a raving lunatic in the span of only a hundred years. These behaviors that I included and referenced later are all symptoms of people who haven’t seen other human life, or any life for that matter, in years. People have been found, stranded in mountains, with dolls made of their own woven hair, and using their own blood or other creature’s blood to draw on the walls of their shelter in symbols that make sense to them but is just madness to others. Astronauts have been known to be profoundly affected by the way their heartbeat sounds if they don’t have ambience in the background, since it is the only audible noise in a vacuum. Then there are references to her having delusions, making an imaginary friend, murdering said imaginary friend in cold blood, and later burying said imaginary friend, as well as other impossible feats, such as swimming in a lake, having tea, and building a house. All of these make for a vivid, sharp record of the stages of mental degradation that come from being alone for far too long. With one single noise in the background; your own heart beating.

As we progress we have a brief conversation with a weakened, and slightly humbled, Limba. Who at this point is beginning to see that Luna is not the type of mare to be trifled with. She has been to the very depths of pure insanity and back again, and is more of a survivor than anypony else in Equestria. So Limba is slowly seeing that, if she is going to be able to enjoy her life, she is going to have to stop forcing Twilight and begin to make deals with her for a happy middle-ground. If she doesn’t, she may very well end up on the moon like Luna was. In the future she may begin to ask Twilight before just taking over and steering her towards disaster with no warning, and even begin to trust that some of the things that her lighter half is doing isn’t to bother her, but in fact for the greater good of them both. Then we get to the light ending of the chapter, in which Twilight discovers that Luna not only has the hooves of an angel but that she may just be more simple of a mare than she thought. If all it had taken was a simple backrub to reduce her to putty, she must not have been as sturdy as she had liked to believe. Luna enjoys this because it reminds Twilight that, though she has come a long way, and she is making huge progress towards being a better alicorn, she isn’t ready to be on her own yet, and still has to rely on her. The princess also likes this because of… well, one can assume why she takes pleasure of having her much younger student beneath her, enjoying the feeling of her hooves on her aching back and wings. Twilight herself makes her statement on the situation pretty clear in the last paragraph of the chapter.

Anyways everypony, I have to go now. I’ll see you next chapter. Drop a comment if you’d like to and tell me if this fic is still deserving of the Romance tag or not. May your tea stay sweet.

Misadventure

“Get up.” Limba hissed. “Your dreams are pettier than your appearance, and that is a feat unto itself. You have work to do. Rouse yourself.”

Spike sat up on the couch, the blankets falling off of him, cold sweat coating his forehead. He looked around for the source of the voice that had been whispering in his ear, but there was nopony there. He slowly peeked around the back of the couch, suspecting that somepony was playing a practical joke on him. Again, there was nopony that could have possibly been speaking. He shook his head, trying to gather himself. It wasn’t like him to just imagine things for no reason. He had been having a good dream, about him in an infinite field of gems. It was all great; he’d been eating his way through the sapphires when suddenly Twilight was there. She had spoken to him, and then he’d woken up.

“This isn’t a game, you twit.” Limba said again, increasingly annoyed. “Get up and grab the invisibility charm from the desk. You’re being commandeered. You’re now under my command.”

“Twilight?” He asked, still half-asleep. “What’re you doing in my head? And what are you talking about? I was having a great dream…”

“I’m not Twilight. I’m that weak mare’s other half, one that she naturally has as an alicorn. I tried to kill you just yesterday if your memory can even span back that far. I should kill you now, while I can still use your hands as my own. It would be easy. But right now I have a better task for you. Thanks to you I’m also behind schedule. Now, get off the couch and heed to my command. Or I’ll make you obey.”

“Okay…” Spike said, unwittingly playing into the plot of the sociopath that now was housed in his head. “Say, if you were the one who tried to kill me, why don’t I just go upstairs and tell Twilight what you’re doing?”

“Twilight is asleep, and blissfully unaware of my actions at the moment. And if you so much as think about telling her again then I will personally toss you face-first down a flight of stairs. It will be an extremely painful end for you, and just as much of an achievement for me. So if you don’t get up and listen to what I’m telling you, I will take control of you forcefully. It will be… unpleasant. For you, of course.”

Not needing any further incentive, especially with the lingering threat of death by internal bleeding, Spike got off the couch and walked into the center of the room. It was the middle of the day, and Twilight and Luna weren’t going to be awake for another four hours at least. The jade charm was in the bottommost drawer of the desk, and more importantly, locked in. Shortly after he tried to open it he felt the impatient presence of the alicorn in his head, irritated at his failure.

“Breath fire on the lock, and then shove your claw in and twist clockwise.” Limba snapped.

Spike did as he was told, thinking that there was no way on earth that doing something so simple would open a complex, enchanted lock. To his surprise, the lock turned and the drawer opened with no more problem than if he’d had an actual key. The charm was in the bottom of the drawer, glowing an eerie purple, responding to the presence of Limba. Spike felt in his gut that this wasn’t going to end well the moment he saw the charm, which seemed to be quivering on the wooden bottom of the desk. It shook more as he picked it up, and was humming when he put it on. A moment later it turned from a light jade to pure amethyst, corrupted immediately by the dark alicorn.

“Good, that was getting annoying. We can’t have that thing ringing the whole time we’re in the castle. The point of this mission is stealth. Now, head downstairs and await any further instructions. I will still be watching, and if you try to do anything insubordinate there will be immediate consequences. Immediate, painful consequences.”

Spike couldn’t help but glance at the stairs to Twilight’s room, wondering if he could possibly make it if he sprinted. Something inside told him that he wouldn’t pass the third step before he suffered some terrible fate, like spontaneous cardiac arrest or terminal paralysis. Fearing for his own safety, he turned to the flight downstairs and took a deep breathe. He might never get to look at this tower again, but at least he could tell himself that whatever he was doing it wasn’t his fault. He nodded and made his way downstairs, passing the enchanted door and continuing on his way. He couldn’t help but think of all the times that he’d descended those steps, just in the past two weeks. It was almost as if he had lived here his whole life, with how comfortable he’d become. I felt more like home than the library. It was strange to try and describe, but it made sense to him how this life appealed more now than their sedentary existence back in Ponyville. Here they did things, and had adventures, even if they were oftentimes more like misadventures, and often put somepony in harm’s way. It was more lively that way, and he’d grown more there than he had in his year back in the small town.

All of that was on his mind as he walked out the front doors to the tower, the door closing behind him with a soft gust of air. He felt colder all of the sudden, as if without the comforting presence of Luna and Twilight only a single floor away had left him feeling a lot less brave and a lot more vulnerable. He wouldn’t admit it to himself, but he was genuinely scared for his own safety. Limba could do as she wanted with him as long as she was in his head. She could easily force him to jump off a cliff, or commit a crime or do any number of unpleasant things to himself, with no chance of him being able to resist. He suddenly realized that leaving the tower was probably the worst thing he could have done, and that he could have simply screamed for Luna and she would have saved him. But no, he hadn’t thought of that in the heat of the moment, and now he was alone, being directed like a puppet around the castle. He considered turning around, but the probability of him letting him get his hand on the handle of the door were so slim that he would be astounded if he got that far.

While he was still questioning himself, Limba was stirring in his head again, giving him new orders. “Head east until you reach Celestia’s wing. Then, tell the guard that he’s to be allowed in for simple cleaning. He will let you in. Do that and await further orders.”

Spike began to walk down the right-hand side of the corridor and started to realize that, down in the dungeons, and in the storage chambers, it didn’t matter what time of the day it was. It was always dark and cold. The torches and candles on the walls and ceiling’s chandeliers didn’t give off heat from their blue coronas; they absorbed it, making the breeze that cut through the chamber miserably frosty. He soon couldn’t feel his feet as he marched up to a staircase, easily the size meant for an elephant, and began to make his way upwards. He stopped and admired the scale of the stairs for only a brief moment before Limba was spurring him forward again with her harsh words and endless insults for his size, stature and apparent lack of wit. Although he was insulted, Spike was more afraid of Limba losing her temper with him than her ferocious vocabulary hurting his pride. He would rather be left doubting himself than be left with a broken leg.

Soon he came to a section of the castle with many windows, each one letting the sun through at all angles. It was blindingly bright to begin with, and combined with the white marble floors, ceilings and pillars, it was like trying to walk blind. He had to narrow his eyes and use his hand as a visor just so see where he was going. It was giving him a headache, doing his best to focus. Soon he came to a large rotunda, full of stained-glass windows featuring the countryside and city, with one massive artwork between the two detailing Celestia in her full glory, sitting upon her throne. He walked as fast as he could up the doors beneath the window, wanting to get this awful ordeal over with as soon as he could. Once he was clear of the rotunda he saw a massive pair of double doors, with a sun emblazoned on either side of the oak surface, forming perfect symmetry. Two guards were standing stoically at the entrance, making sure no living thing crossed the threshold to the princess’ chambers.

Spike walked up to them and, with a shaking, nervous voice, asked them. “I’m here to help organize the princess’ library… she should have told you I was coming.”

The guards looked at each other and nodded. Both of them knew the young dragon from the times when Twilight was still a student, and visited Celestia’s tower every other week for study sessions. The guards unlocked the door, knowing that he wasn’t a threat to anypony. As they did Spike nodded to them gratefully, glad that they hadn’t asked too many questions when he was gambling with his life, against a mad mare who knew every card he was holding in his hand, and a royal flush in her own. He headed inside, until Limba barked over his thoughts with another raucous commandment.

“Go upstairs until you see a room with a great number of safes. Then, enter the room.” She snapped, in the same irritable manner.

Spike thought that she was either irritated because she was using him for this task, or that she had to share a head with him. Maybe a combination of both. Either way, he had little choice but to go up the stairs, passing a plethora of oddities and rooms shaped in nearly impossible ways. The geometry of most of the rooms didn’t check out, and in others the laws of physics were disobeyed entirely. It was as if the tower was rebelling against the universe itself, striving to be different. In some of the chambers mosses and lichens grew that weren’t found anywhere in Equestria, along with a massive number of vines that moved on a whim to new positions, possessing great dexterity. In some of the rooms there were great waterfalls, that fell upwards, then fell back down in an endless cycle between the pond on the ceiling and the bathing pool set in the floor. He couldn’t fathom how most of these things worked, and would have given anything to explore the rooms further, but something told him that the parasite in his mind would sooner drown him in that pool than see him figuring out the complex magic behind it. So he continued upwards, passing on massive library that was so vast that it stretched for miles, even though the outside of the tower was a mere seventy feet across. Among other curios was a roomful of paintings that moved on their own, a huge alchemy lab full of potions and ingredients from every source imaginable, those living and dead, and a room that was blocked by a massive iron door, chains strewn across it in an attempt to contain what was within.

Spike ignored all of these, doing as he was told. He didn’t know what would happen if he disobeyed Limba but he knew that it wasn’t good. She’d made it as plain as vanilla that she would sooner have him heave himself off the top of the tower than see him explore its entirety. After a great amount of climbing he reached the room that she had described, and in it was a large obsidian floor, and walls lined with thousands of combination safes. He stood on the threshold a second, feeling a strange pulse from the room. It was like it housed something that was… alive. It called to him, like a small foal begging for help on a streetside, asking for money. No matter how hard he tried, and even if he’d have wanted to, he couldn’t ignore the pull of the chamber he was supposed to enter. It had an energy about it that reminded him of Celestia herself, except a different part of her. The part that could show compassion and sympathy, as well as great heartbreak and regret. He took a step inside.

Immediately the taste of metal flooded his mouth, like he’d just run a mile without stopping for a breath. He felt the overwhelming urge to spit, since the taste was atrocious, and the consistency did nothing for the appeal. He swallowed instead, thinking it best to not leave any trace of himself behind. He looked around at the massive space, wondering what could possibly be under so much security. He couldn’t imagine what they could be. Artifacts, scrolls, the answer to life itself, anything could be housed in the immortal Princess’ most secure domain.

“You were right with the second one.” Limba said, stealing his thought pattern. “We are indeed looking for a scroll. But we are also looking for something far more precious to Celestia, a thing that will allow me the leverage to bring her reign to an end. Now, look for a safe with the number 2309721. It holds the first object we need.”

“I need or you need?” He asked, sensing she hadn’t meant to say ‘we’ as if they were united by any common cause other than a puppet and the puppeteer.

Limba was silent, but he felt her rage boiling at the back of his mind. He decided that it would probably be best for him to not look into what she was saying from that point forward and just do as she told him. He wanted to escape this with all of his limbs, fingers, and other extremities all in their proper place. With that last pleasant thought, he began searching for the safe with the proper identification. He kept mumbling the word to himself, reminding him exactly what he was looking for. He eventually traced his claws along the wall, all the way to a safe that seemed to be made entirely of ebony. He paused for a second, then shrugged, thinking that this was nothing new with the rather eccentric princess and her never-ending stream of odd architectural fancies. With that he sighed and waited for Limba to bark another command at him.

“The combination is 20, 42, 8.” Limba said, almost on queue.

Spike spun the dial a few times before he entered the combination, thinking of just what would be so important that it would make Celestia hesitant to challenge Twilight’s darker half. He heard a loud click and the safe door opened on its own weight, revealing an extremely thick scroll that looked very close to ancient. It looked older than anything he’d ever seen, as the long parchment was almost pure amber in color as he picked it up and pulled it out. He didn’t know what was written on it, as it was in a language that he didn’t fully comprehend, but it involved a series of lines all struck through one center line. This puzzled him, but he didn’t think too much of it. Apparently this wasn’t what was so important in the situation.

“Now, head to the safe directly next to it.” Limba commanded, Spike’s claws automatically wrenching over to dial of the next safe.

Spike shook his head, astounded by how impatient she was being. He didn’t even have to do any work as she rapidly spun the dial using his own hand. He noticed that this dial had significantly more numbers to it, ranging from one to one-hundred, and the pinpricks that marked the numbers and pins were so small he could barely see them. It was rather uncomfortable, to feel his own hand behaving outside of his will, but if he’d been putting in the combination it would have taken a year or so, since it had been nearly a minute and Limba was still putting in numbers. It was unfathomable to think that she had memorized so much, just to get one object. After easily seventy different numbers, the safe let out a resounding creak, as if it hadn’t been opened in a millennia, and opened. Inside was a single ruby, one that glowed faintly in the half-light of the dim room. It hummed, and a tiny light was pulsing in the center of it like a heart beating.

“Don’t touch that.” Limba warned. “Slip it inside the scroll, and make sure not to let it contact your skin or scales in any way. If you do, it will transfer the memory inside of it to you. I can guarantee you that nothing in your mind can even begin to handle the thoughts in that gem. The dreams of cruelty and disturbing pleasures she felt in that jewel was enough to drive the most strongly-willed being in all of existence to forget it, take it from her head and put it here forever. It can’t be destroyed, otherwise she would have already. Now, gently use the scroll to slide it into the center, then squeeze the center of the scroll to carry it. Our task is hardly done.”

Spike began to do as he was told, then, with the most maniacally intense speed, he reached out and grabbed the gem, seizing ahold of it with both hands. The logic behind it was that, if Celestia couldn’t have handled it, and he couldn’t understand what was going on, then Limba would be the only one affected by viewing the memory. He was grinning at how sound his plan seemed, at how this would probably rid Twilight of a huge problem, and free him in the process. His grin turned to a completely blank mask as he felt the memory settle in, making its way into the deepest part of his mind. Limba let out a harsh screech and disappeared, leaving him, unable to let go of the stone, unable to move. His face twisted into an expression of horror, seeing for himself, from a first person view, just what Celestia had been responsible for. He couldn’t let go; the images of thousands of years of pain and unrelenting apathy kept running through his head, galloping by but nonetheless burning into his memory so deeply it was as if he had memorized every detail. He stood there for roughly ten seconds, until tears, unbridled, began to run. He had never thought of anything that could possibly make anyone as stoic as him cry, but here it was, in his hands, showing him the untold story of what had truly happened after Nightmare Moon had surfaced. What she’d done to Luna.

As soon as it was done the memory retreated into the gem again, disappearing from his mind, but still leaving a scar from where it had seared his eyes forever. He threw the gem into the scroll, no longer able to control his limbs. Limba was back, and she was furious. She wasn’t in head; she was only controlling his body, as she wouldn’t dare touch his memories at the moment. She was going to kill him when she got the chance, but right now the goal was to escape the tower with the scroll. He had he invisibility charm, but there was nothing more that he would have enjoyed at the moment than to have disappeared forever. Nothing was worth living with the memory that was housed in that gem. No amount of money, or fame or power could ever tell him otherwise. What Celestia had done was the purest of evils, and now he knew the truth. He would never be able to live without telling somepony else, and that somepony was Twilight.

Author's Notes:

Whelp, we’re getting down to the final five. This is getting mighty interesting, since Spike now knows the events that Luna has been unwilling to divulge for over a thousand years. The best part is that in the fiction, the next day is Nightmare Night. Luna’s birthday, where a whole lot of stuff is going to happen all at once. But enough of the teasers, let’s get down to this chapter’s breakdown. Here we find that Spike is once again playing the role as the crucial (If not slightly unappreciated) victim of Limba’s. How he responds to this situation is overall coolly, but hidden in there he has doubts as to his captor’s intentions for him. In some dialogue she actually hints that she had little choice in the matter as far as using him for this heist. In any other situation, if she’d found herself in control of him, she would have used his claws to rip himself to shreds. But given the circumstances, she was willing to make an agreement to not kill him immediately. She also displays a great knowledge of how Celestia, or to be more precise, Celestia’s Id, thinks. She even knows the seventy-number combination to the safe in her secret room. I can let you all make your own educated guesses as to just who gave her this information, but either way she knew what she was doing.

Now, down to the part with the scroll and the memory. The memory is, in itself, something that Celestia’s Id regretted so much, even with her boundless apathy for all life, she sealed away to forget. This tells us that there is still humane parts of her, as few and far between as they are. This also tells us that it wasn’t Celestia herself that did some horrible, unspeakable thing to Luna, but in fact her darker half, which felt threatened by Nightmare Moon. Now, the scroll on the other hoof will come into play much, much later. Possibly even in another fiction I write, but for now let’s just say that Limba took it as well for insurance values. That way if she was caught with the gem she had something she could barter with. This scroll is hinted to be made by the Draconequi, which are long-extinct at this point in history, and have been for numerous millennia. This should be giving the allusion that this is an object that is not only magical, but breaks a lot of rules by its very nature. I’d love to spill the beans about it, but that’s just bad authorship. We’ll figure out just what this memory is in about in a chapter or so, but until then all that we can know is that it is unashamedly abhorrent on an astrological scale.

This is the chapter I have procured to you after working an eight hour work shift, and I wish you all a good day. Leave a comment, feedback, message, or even some criticism if you’d like down in the boxes below, and as always, may your tea stay sweet. Have a wonderful day/night.

Nightmare Night

Twilight woke to the sound of a screech owl, perched outside the tower window. She opened her eyes sleepily; last night had been the best sleep she’s gotten in a month. Her entire body felt limber, as if Luna had taken the time to rid her of all the tension in her shoulders, neck and back. She rolled her shoulders as she sat up, feeling like she’d gotten nine hours of sleep when she had only been out for six. It wasn’t a coincidence that she felt good, either. Luna had stayed up for a long time making sure her wings were just so, and the muscles in between them were so tender and supple that she swore she could go for a morning flight of she only knew how. The contented mare sat up in bed, thinking of how nice it would be to learn how to preen Luna’s wings, and how that might affect their relationship if she wasn’t so passive. For the most part she was the one who received the princess’ help, never giving any back. She wanted to do something for her for once. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a note lying on the nightstand.

The mare reached out and picked up the note in her hooves, switching to holding it with magic as she opened the long piece of parchment. It was a rather large letter inviting her to Nightmare Night. Her eyes widened as she realized that today Luna’s very own holiday and birthday. She jumped out of bed, looking over at the calendar. It was, the thirty-first of October, the very day that the princess turned three-thousand, two-hundred and twenty-two. She couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed; it was like she had been staring at her new wings in awe just a few minutes ago. She picked up the note again and began to read more carefully.

‘I, Luna, hereby invite you, my dearest student, to the Nightmare Night Festival in Canterlot. You are permitted to wear whatever you like, thought formal attire is preferred. You may come looking any way you like as well. I myself have a specific disposition of liking to turn my mane into stars, as well as lengthen my horn. You may appear any way you wish for this event (short of anything inappropriate for the occasion, mind you). I have already invited all of your friends, and you will be my guest of honor at the festival. Celestia will not be in attendance, and all of the guards will be my own staff. It starts at sundown tonight, and I would love little more than to have you accompany me. I do hope that you will accept, as we have shared more than a few special moments together that aren’t to be discussed in written letters. This will be a night to remember.

Happy Nightmare Night,

Luna’

Twilight read the letter again and again. It was beautifully written, in Luna’s own manuscript that flowed in cursive like water parting around the pebbles at the bottom of a stream. She took a deep breath and decided that this was well worth disobeying Celestia’s orders. She couldn’t stay inside forever, and it wasn’t like she could keep her wings hidden until the end of time. She was going to go out into Canterlot that night, and have fun. Not only with Luna, but with her friends, the same ponies that she hadn’t seen in over three weeks. Just thinking about that made her homesick, just imagining how distressed Fluttershy must have been once she’d heard of her disappearance. She clutched the note to her chest, thinking of how important this was. Luna was giving her free reign to break the rules, as well as have fun. It was as if she was doing everything that she hadn’t been able to since she’d arrived in the palace. She might even have a drink or two. She could probably even manage to buy a few things while she was in the city. The thought of going out into public again made her want to shout her joy to the whole castle, but she withheld on the front that, should somepony else learn of this, she would be in massive trouble.

The last time that she’d invoked the wrath of Celestia had been a week ago, and she’d paid rather dearly for her mistake. Now she was going to do it again. This time with Luna’s full consent. She had a great feeling about it, and that maybe this was her ticket back to having a life outside of the palace. She’d been so busy fighting for her life and her sanity, not to mention her own body that she had forgotten about all the things she loved to do outside. Limba was still hibernating in the back of her head, unable or unwilling to respond to the letter. The Id seemed to be… biding its time. Like it had already put her hand down on the table, and was waiting for the other players to either risk it or fold. She had the oddest sensation of anticipation, like she was actually waiting for her antithesis to make a move. She was stronger now, and she knew that no amount of mental trickery could force her into doing anything she didn’t want to unless she gave her explicit permission.

Twilight set the letter down and went to get dressed, thinking of how amazing it would be when she was free again. Despite her enthusiasm, she felt one last strand holding her back from leaving Celestia’s ever-watchful sight. She didn’t know what it was, but something was pulling her back for one last bit of unfinished business.

---

Twilight pulled the hood up from her fur jacket, struggling to stay warm in the cold night. She’d decided that blending in would be the best approach to getting into the festival. She had teleported out of the castle with relative ease, and she was surprised that she’d been able to breeze past the borders of magic that were supposed to repel intruders. She couldn’t delve too deep into that, though, as she was currently standing on High Street in Canterlot. She didn’t see anypony running around, mostly because the street largely consisted of shops. The real festival was taking place over in Canterlot Park, and she knew inside that she’d find the princess there. She didn’t want to teleport in, since that might plant her in a large crowd, and that would undoubtedly raise an alarm Her wings weren’t concealed at the moment, and her horn was jutting out of the top of the hoody she’d borrowed from Luna. The jacket was lined with blue fur, and was made of solid pelt and leather. She would probably stick out like a sore thumb.

So she made her way on foot, thinking of how strange it was that she hadn’t seen a soul yet. It was as if the whole populace of Canterlot had been told to stay home. As much as this raised a warning flag go her, she didn’t want to become overly paranoid on Luna’s birthday. It was a holiday, too, so it didn’t get her anywhere to panic over something trivial. It wasn’t until she made it to Magnolia Lane that she began to worry. The trees there were dead, not just in the average sense as the trees prepared themselves for winter, but in the literal state of being burnt to a knotted, dehydrated crisp. She shrugged it off, dismissing it as a mere trick to make it look more legitimate in the Nightmare Night spirit. She couldn’t help but note the black bark and dried leaves, though.

With an odd finality she emerged onto the street nearest the park. She sighed with relief as she heard the familiar sounds of the Nightmare Festival. She could see other ponies playing and handing out candy amongst themselves. She had been concerned that she was going completely crazy when she hadn’t met anypony on her way there, but here they all were, having a wonderful time. She cast a quick spell to hide her horn, rendering it invisible. With her disguise in place, she strode into the crowd confidently. As she walked she saw all sorts of games, from Spider Toss to an old-fashioned haunted-house, everything seemed to be in place for an evening of Nightmare Night parties. She sighed and continued to head towards the center of the park, her intuition telling her that Luna and the rest of her accomplices would be there. She had a hard time telling herself that everything would be okay; after all everything that she’d done so far telling herself that had gone terribly awry in some fantastic way.

As the princess to-be emerged into the center of the park, into a sizable clearing, at the center of which was a small stage, she spotted her friends. They were all at a table in front of the podium, smiling and laughing at a joke that Rainbow Dash was telling them. Twilight couldn’t help herself as she galloped towards them, grinning ear to ear at how nice it would be to hear Fluttershy’s shy, apologetic voice again. She could only imagine the look on Rarity’s face when she got a good view of her wings. She sprinted toward them until she had to brake, nearly crashing into the table and coming extremely close to knocking over Luna’s drink. The princess smiled at her while her friends fell silent, staring at her. It wasn’t until Twilight was about to speak that Rainbow Dash said, in the most casual tone possible.

“I see that you got your feathers looking a lot cooler.” She complimented, nodding to Twilight’s wings. “I myself made mine look as awesome as possible for Nightmare Night. Especially since Luna invited me here as the guest of honor.” She continued, gesturing to herself in a bragging sort of way. “I didn’t want to take all the attention off of you, though. What were you about to say?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. It was only typical of Rainbow Dash to steal the show whenever she had an opportunity. The rest of the mares were all staring at her, waiting for her to speak. She hadn’t talked to them all in so long that she was having a hard time finding the words. After a lot of preparation, she took a deep breath, ready to break the biggest news of her life.

“Well... I guess that you guys deserve the truth. I’m not sick, and I wasn’t hurt in a magical accident. I know that I told you guys that the transformation into an alicorn is temporary. I… lied to you, because I was told to by Celestia. She was afraid that the word would get out, or that you’d be too much for me to handle. I’m fine now, and I wanted to say that I’m sorry for all the secrecy, and for disappearing. I probably looked really suspicious for a while there.”

“So you’re an alicorn?” Fluttershy piped up, surprising everypony. She was hardly ever the first to participate in most conversations. “Like Luna and Cadence? Do you have better magical powers now? And can you fly yet?”

“No.” Twilight replied, impressed that her friend had been the initiator of the discussion for once. “I think that it’ll be a long time before I’m any good at flying. But I can use magic that I previously could only dream about. It’s been nice… but kinda hard, since things have been so hectic.”

For a moment she thought of telling them about Limba, about how all alicorns had darker halves that would seek to exploit those weaker than them. But something stopped her, telling her that was a discussion for another time, in another place. She would have to tell them individually, and everypony would have to learn the signs of her losing control. She would have to explain it to each of them, and each of them would need to be taught. She would have to divulge some quite personal information to do so, but it was necessary if she was going to keep them safe from Limba.

“So… I guess that’s it.” Twilight said, hoping that the whole topic would blow over and she could continue as if nothing had ever happened between them.

Pinkie Pie slurped at her smoothie loudly, breaking the tension with her quest to get the last bits of strawberry from the bottom of her glass. It was actually convenient; she seemed to know just when she could offer up some comic relief. She smiled to reveal strawberry pulp in her teeth, which caused everypony at the table to groan and shake their heads, smiling at their random friend’s antics. The pink pony just shrugged and set her drink aside, smiling at Twilight.

“Have a seat.” Luna said, offering Twilight a chair next to her. “Have a little fun.”

Twilight sat and just like that, it was like she was back to normal. Rainbow Dash resumed her extremely exaggerated reenactment of the time she’d performed double-backwards somersault midair and landed on a cliff face perfectly. Everypony listened to her, treating it as if it was a perfectly normal situation. It made her happy to know that she wasn’t going to be excluded from their group just because she was an alicorn, and when Rarity offered her a glass of tea she couldn’t finish it was like she’d won the lottery. She couldn’t help it; she felt more loved then than she’d ever been as a unicorn, just by being treated the same. It made her feel accepted among them, even if she was more of an outsider than ever. If she hadn’t fit in with them two weeks ago then it was a true victory for her to be able to sit at a table with them now and not be called ‘your Highness’.

The conversation about Rainbow Dash’s acrobatics faded away, and soon Rarity began to detail the making of a dress she’d recently made in the most exhausting measures possible, making everypony shut their ears for a few minutes. They all hardly listened to her as she told them about how she was caught using a box stitch instead of regular, and how she had to hide the stitching in the inseam. It wasn’t that they didn’t love Rarity, they all really did, but it was exhausting to hear drone on about her work. It was like Applejack telling them about apple quotas. It just wasn’t all that interesting. Luna coughed lightly, attempting to get everypony’s attention. Rarity stopped her monologue, turning to look at the princess.

“Thank you for that charming recitation, but I would like to ask you all something.” Luna said, her voice carrying over the field, causing her to get a few looks in her direction. “I was thinking about Twilight, as I have quite a bit these last few weeks. I was pondering over how healthy it is for her to be alone here in Canterlot with nopony but me and my sister to visit her. She has Spike, but I feel she needs a mare her own age to talk to, and maybe go out with on weekends. I’m fairly adept in being normal now that I’ve adjusted to society, but I’m sure that Twilight will need a break from me every now and again. So, would any one of you be able to move to Canterlot for a while?”

There was a uniform silence across the table as her words sank in. All of them looked at each other, unsure of what to say. They all had lives in Ponyville, and most of them had jobs. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were perhaps the most free of them, but Rarity couldn’t possibly give her time up with her boutique. Pinkie Pie had to run the bakery, and Applejack didn’t have a single day to come and visit her friend. In all, only the two pegasi could spare themselves to live in Canterlot. Even then, Twilight and Luna could see that they were having trouble deciding. As much as Rainbow Dash didn’t appreciate her job as a the weather mare, she was having a hard time imagining herself parting ways with it. Fluttershy knew that her pets could make due without her, they were animals after all, and didn’t need her constant attention to survive. Despite that, she felt her heart seizing at the thought of leaving them.

“I, um, don’t think that I can take the time.” Rarity confessed apologetically.

One by one they all began to say similar things, all of them explaining why, with things the way they were, they couldn’t put their lives in Ponyville on pause to help Twilight. Applejack did her best to tell her no, but even then it came out as a jerky, stuttering apology. She wasn’t used to letting anypony down, so having just got her friend back and then just to lose her again was difficult. Pinkie Pie made a likewise awkward apology, hoping that she wasn’t hurting Twilight’s feelings. After a long pause it came down to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, with them being the only two that hadn’t given an answer. Rainbow Dash was already ready to give her answer, but she was looking at her friend from flight school for support. She was willing to do it, since she barely ever worked anyways, and her house wasn’t going anywhere. Fluttershy was having a lot more trouble, being the indecisive mare she was. It wasn’t normal for her to be put on the spot, and she did the opposite of well under pressure. She gnawed at her bottom lip, looking over at Rainbow Dash. She nodded, signaling that she was in if she was.

“I guess I’ll go…” The shy mare conceded, nodding her head.

“Yeah, I guess if she’s going, I’ll go.” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re both pretty used to living together, ever since flight school when we had to share a cloud house. Count both of us in.”

Luna looked impressed with their character; she hadn’t actually expected any of them to accept. In all she’d only proposed it as a second thought to her original plan, which had involved simply commandeering a fair enough number of objects from Twilight’s library and setting them up in her room in an (rather feeble) attempt to make her feel less homesick. This had been more than she had hoped for. If best came to the best then she could have both of Twilight’s friends live in the castle with her, simply by adding another floor to her tower with a little jiggery-pokery via draconequis magic. It was the first break she’d received in a rather long time, ever since she’d gotten back to earth, in fact. Maybe even the first time the wind had blown her way period. She nodded gratefully, marveling at the strength in the two young pegasi.

“I hadn’t expected any of you to actually accept, but since you did, I’m going to set you up with free lodging and as much money as you need.” The princess explained. “You can move into the castle whenever you want. Since that’s done I suppose that we can get onto more business.”

“Wait just a second.” Applejack interjected. “We’ll came here to have a good time and see Twilight, not to talk all serious for the whole night.”

Seeing the other ponies nod, Luna sighed and accepted that no more agreements could be made before they’d had something to liven up their Nightmare Night. She smiled and clapped her hooves, her horn lighting up in a sapphire flare. Instantly ten separate drinks of different types appeared on the table, all in front of the perspective pony it was made for. Each one was also color-coded, with the different colors matched to each pony. Rarity got a nearly white glass with only a small amount of liquid martini at the bottom, the rest being slush and foam. Applejack was gifted with an extremely thick, foaming alcoholic cider, and the Rainbow Dash got a frozen form of every single drink imaginable, all mixed into a rainbow of colors in her glass. She herself got one, and was the first one to take a drink of her blue hued beverage.

The ponies around the table looked at her, wondering just what Luna had interpreted their evening to be. Rarity was politely pushing her drink away from her, insisting that she had to work tomorrow. Applejack had no qualms about accepting anything free of charge, and had already taken a large gulp of her own cider. Rainbow Dash was hesitant at first, then shrugged, figuring that she had to quit her job tomorrow anyways. Fluttershy sipped on hers to find that it was curiously free of any alcohol; it was as if Luna had known that she’d never drank before in her life, and wasn’t about to start. Twilight was likewise suited, and so was Pinkie Pie. It was strange how she had known just how much each of them had partaken in drinking, based on how she’d known to give each of them a certain drink that all happened to be their favorite.

Sensing the burning question, Luna stirred her straw and said. “I made the spell while I was bored on the moon. It’s constructed to measure the exact state of your kidneys and liver, then determine if you’ve ever had anything alcoholically based to drink, and how much you had and just what kind. I had a lot of time to make it, so don’t feel too estranged. It was a thousand years of thinking I had to do. I have a lot of spells just like it lying around, that was just the one I remembered and fit the occasion.”

For a while the ponies sat in silence, enjoying their drinks to their own content. Rarity eventually warmed up to the idea, logically thinking that she could probably take one day off if she really needed to. Not only that, but Pinkie Pie was discovering that her own smoothie kept changing from tasting like bubblegum to tasting of strawberries and cherry pie. Applejack was done with hers within three minutes, belching loudly in Rarity’s direction to perturb the formal mare. Twilight observed quietly as her friends carried on for about another half an hour, eventually discovering that their glasses would fill themselves after a few minutes of being empty. It was alarming for Fluttershy, in the middle of drinking her banana-flavored ice cream milkshake, to see it suddenly fill all the way up to the brim. Luna almost laughed as she jumped out of her chair, holding the glass at arm’s length. The princess smothered her laughter behind a polite hoof, hiding her amusement to spare the pegasus’ feelings. Once she had successfully stifled her chuckles, she took a deep breath and addressed them, using the same light, informal tone as before. She knew it wasn’t the time for her to be acting like a princess; it was more a time for her to act like she was their friend.

“Anyways, now that we’re all refreshed.” Luna said, setting her glass down on the table. “I was going to ask if any of you had the time. I have to be off at around midnight. The Nightmare Festival will begin at exactly that time.”

“It’s exactly eleven twenty-three.” Fluttershy squeaked from the far side of the table. She hadn’t been wearing a watch; countless years of exploring the wilderness had left her with an instinctual sense of what time it was, just judging by the position of the sun and moon.

Luna said a curse under her breath, resulting in a pony tripping and falling on the other side of the field. “I have to go now. Twilight, please follow me. I’ll show you how to work the spells behind the rejuvenation ceremony. It’s rather sophisticated if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

The princess got up, the rest of them rising to follow her. The princess looked back to see the other five mares, standing and taking a step in the direction she was headed.

“I’d prefer that me and Twilight did this alone. It’s dangerous, besides that it’s been a secret for as long as my memory can serve. Just sit back down and make yourself comfortable. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

With that the two alicorns strode off, leaving the rest of the Elements to wonder if it had been something they’d said. In truth and all fairness it had been nothing they had done, but it was more important that Twilight knew just what the princess was planning to do during the ceremony. She was almost halfway to the line of trees when a rather familiar face came running from the crowd, sprinting in their direction. It was Spike, and in his claws he was clutching a red jewel. One that glowed. He was going so fast that he was outpacing most of the guards that were chasing him. They came running from the crowd as well, pushing and shoving ponies out of the way after him. The young dragon seemed to be on the verge of collapsing when he reached them, panting like he’d run a marathon. He clutched the gem to his chest, hiding it from them.

“I… was... Twilight…” He panted, still holding the gem tightly. “I had Twilight’s dark side… in my head, and she… made me steal this and now that I took it out of Luna’s desk the guards are chasing me because I stole it from Celestia and she’s coming to chop off my head and mount it on her wall what am I going to do I’m being chased and now you two should protect me because this jewel holds the truth about what Celestia wants to do with both of you because she thinks you’re both a threat!” He said, all in one absolutely massive run-on sentence. The young dragon had to stop and pant for several seconds afterwards, unable to continue.

“What are you talking about?” Luna asked, trying to take the gem off of him.

“No!” He said, pulling it back towards him. “This thing makes sense of why Celestia is the way she is and that she isn’t who she seems! She’s actually her dark side in disguise! And she has no other wish but to be supreme ruler of everything, so she’s breaking the will of your guy’s’ dark sides to that they can’t challenge her! And she’d doing that by breaking you two, and she’s going to do it with Twilight just like she did to you Luna!”

Luna stopped immediately, her horn switching from glowing blue to an eerie navy in an instant. “What do you know about what Celestia did to me?” She said in a slow, almost robotic voice. She was obviously paying attention now, as her tone was now concealing the desire to take the gem and bury it in the mantle of the earth, then rip the memory out of him and burn that as well.

“I know everything, and I’ll never ever tell anypony about what happened. All I want is for you to save me right now and help me forget later! Just help me to get rid of this!” He held up the gem in his hands. “This is where I got the memory. It can’t be destroyed by the pony who made it, so Celestia locked it up. Twilight’s dark side made me steal it.”

“Enough said.” Luna said stiffly, suddenly all business. “I’ll help you, but that stone is mine. Maybe finally I can be rid of that terrible time forever with it gone. So far none of my amnesia potions or spells have worked, and I have a peculiar feeling that gem is the reason.”

Luna turned on a dime to Twilight, who was still struggling to understand what was going on. All she’d heard was Spike talking extremely fast to her mentor, and then them saying something about a memory, and the gem.

“You guys, what the hay is going on?” The confused mare questioned, looking form Spike to Luna. “Why are guards chasing Spike, and what were you talking about a memory being inside that jewel?”

“There isn’t any time to explain right now.” The impatient princess said, her horn beginning to glow navy again. “We’re going to the castle, now. Hold on, and I’ll explain once we’re there.”

There was a flash and what sounded like a shout of surprise from a guard before they were gone, leaving nothing but a blank stretch of grass in the field where they had been standing moments before.

Author's Notes:

Oh boy, this is getting juicy. By the last chapter there will be a lot of questions answered, but in Spike’s dialogue he reveals that Celestia’s Id was plotting against them ALL ALONG! She was just masquerading as useful to disguise her own motive, to gain total control of everypony! I loved including that, since it throws the idea of a non-inherently conniving Id out the window. As it turns out Celestia had made a deal with the devil when she’d let herself be controlled by her darker half, since she began to see her true motive as she learned about Luna’s Id, Nightmare Moon. Spike tells us only the surface of what Celestia did to Luna, and just why. She used her powers of domination to assert her authority as the alpha over Nightmare Moon, by preying on the one thing that both the light and dark halves of an alicorn fear and dread; bodily harm. Scars are the bane of an alicorn, both physical and mental, since they live forever and are slow to fade, a great number of traumatic events can permanently burn a brand into the memory of both sides of an alicorn’s psyche, effectively rendering both parties neutralized and very hesitant to receive another. And Celestia wants to do all of these unspeakably cruel things to Twilight now, just like she had with Luna! This is to the extreme level, and though Spike doesn’t show it much in his state of panic, he’s seen some things that nobody his age should ever see and not go through serious mental rehabilitation and some long-term counseling. Celestia, seeing the detrimental nature of him having the memory both on him and inside of his head, is trying her best at the moment to apprehend him and retrieve the stone, thought she hadn’t expected him to get Luna and Twilight involved.

Now that we have the back of this chapter covered, let’s get to the beginning, shall we? I basically set up the future events of this fiction’s timeline in the beginning/middle of the chapter, when Luna invited Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to stay in the castle. This will allow for more of an open-ended story ending, since we now know that inevitably the two pegasi will be living near Twilight and Luna. We also get to know that Luna didn’t just carve rocks while she was on the moon, she created a number of spells that, while not very useful on most occasions, are under the right circumstances. She had a lot more than she lets on, as she does tell them that she has a lot lying around. I also mentioned a few street names in Canterlot that I might use in future fictions.

That about wraps it up for this chapter, write a comment if you enjoyed and I’ll see you all next time with the second to the last chapter of this fic. We’re getting to the end, so it’s really important that you tell me something’s wrong now because once it’s done, it’s done. Sealed away in a sarcophagus, never to be seen or touched by sunlight again, perfectly preserved in the exact state I left it. So really, leave a comment to help change the fic with your input now rather than risk it ending and miss your big chance. Goodbye everypony, and may your tea stay sweet.

Antibellum

A light dribble of mineral water ran down the length of a stalactite, then slipped from off the end, doing somersaults midair, tumbling through helplessly before it speared itself the stalagmite below. The drop of water was impaled, and it ceased to exist as it was separated into a fine mist. Twilight couldn’t help but sympathize with how the droplet felt shortly before its demise. She was clutching to what she knew at the moment, hoping desperately that she wouldn’t slip off the end of her sanity. It was dark in the tunnel, and she couldn’t tell where there was real castle floor or hard, uneven stone. She had followed Luna into the bottommost reaches of the castle, hoping that she would be told the answers to her questions. Now the princess was walking ahead of her and Spike, hoping to avoid them.

They’d arrived there but moments ago, and Twilight had more questions than she had feathers on her wings. Luna was making it very obvious that she wasn’t in the mood to be explaining herself, but she didn’t have to. Spike was holding all of the answers in his hands, clutched dearly to his chest, as if to protect it. He wanted to destroy the memory, and it was the utmost important thing that he kept the jewel it was housed in safe. If he didn’t, and Celestia possibly reclaimed it, then Twilight would have to live the same horrific nightmare that Luna had a thousand years ago, shortly before her exile. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if anything bad happened to his caretaker, especially since he’d learned of just how cruel the eldest alicorn could be when it came to inflicting physical damage. To say nothing of how skilled she was in psychological torture. He’d seen just how awful Celestia’s dark side could be, and there was no absence of blood in the memory soaked into the stone he held in his claws. Luna wanted it gone so she could forget, and he wanted it destroyed for the same reasons. Celestia wanted it back because it was leverage against Luna, and would be for Twilight if she saw what it housed.

Spike looked up and Twilight, who was jumping at every noise that reached them from deep inside the bowels of the mountain. He felt like he should tell her something, at least enough to keep her from making the same mistake he had in touching the stone and trusting Celestia’s Id. If she’d gotten ahold of him and made him her servant, then he had no idea what would have befallen him, but it might have been worse than what he’d seen in the stone. That was difficult to say, considering the sheer brutality he’d been forced to bear witness to.

“Twilight,” He said to get her attention. “What I saw in this ruby was terrible, and Celestia wants to cover it up. She did things to Luna, awful things that I don’t even know the right words to describe just how terrible they are. I want to forget what I saw, and Luna wants to forget what she actually had to live. Celestia did those things to make sure Nightmare Moon never came back, and then after that she sent her to the moon. She wants to do the same thing to you, and I don’t want that to happen. So let’s just get this over with. I couldn’t watch you go through anything like what Luna did.”

“But why, though?” Twilight asked, searching her mind for any reasonable explanation. “It isn’t rational to do something like that to your own sister, even when she was okay again. I don’t understand why she would want to do it to me, either. I never did anything wrong.”

Luna turned on a dime, stopping short in front of another four-way hall that had massive holes in the walls, where soil and stone were coming through by hundreds of tons. She looked livid, like she was being asked to cut off her own mane. Her eyes had a light green tint to them, and she took a step towards Twilight, staring her down like she was a viper and her student was a mere mouse.

“I thought that it was punishment.” She snapped, her face inches from Twilight’s. “I believed in my heart that I’d done something wrong, and she made me feel that way. She blinded me using magic, made me a cripple by not letting me move for weeks at a time. My muscles wore away after months of isolation, of not doing anything for myself. I was treated like a mental patient, a crazed madmare that had no place being among to living. I was fed on her terms, if ever. She did things to me, things that I’d rather die than tell anypony else. Spike,” She grated, thrusting an accusing hoof at the young dragon. “He is the only one that I ever plan to let know just what she did to me to break me. She made me dependent on her, in every way. If I didn’t listen to her she… she would brand me, and use whips on my sides. I can still feel one particularly bad lash burning into my ribcage just thinking about it. You don’t need to know any more. I was brainwashed, through years of living like that. Then, when I was completely under her sway, and I finally thought that she would let me be free, and I was going to be able to live on my own again, she sent me to the moon.”

Luna brought her hoof down on a small pebble, crushing it into dust beneath her hoof. “That was my mind. I snapped, totally. I had been taught to be independent my whole life, then made to believe that I was to rely on my sister. Then I had to be independent again, all in the span of a few years. I couldn’t take it. She got her wish, too. I never asked her about it again, but I know well just what would ever happen if Nightmare Moon ever surfaced again. I would go through the same thing, again. And she might even do it to you as well. Now, I’m going to destroy this memory. Then I can delete it from my head, after so many years of letting it haunt my bad dreams. So come along, my sister is bound to be searching everywhere for me and your pet dragon.”

The princess turned again, continuing her brisk pace. Twilight had to stop and recover from what she’d just been told. The way she’d said it made her sound like her mentor had been treated like a slave. Celestia had taken her sister’s unbreaking will to survive and used it against her, twisting her into something that could no longer openly disobey her will. Then, for the nail in the coffin, she sent her to the most isolated place in existence, just to make sure that there were no more seeds of insubordination in her that could grow again. It made Twilight sick to her stomach to think of how awful it must have been, to have her sense of self erased through years of dependency on a pony you hated. To have that same pony be in control of everything you did, no matter how trivial, personal or private, brought her to the edge of vomiting on the stone floor. She could only imagine her former teacher watching her while she slept, while she ate, throughout every waking moment of her day and night. Even while she bathed. Unable to dwell on the subject any longer, she hurried to catch up to Luna, Spike following beside her, somehow keeping pace. Twilight was visibly rattled, her face pale.

“Beneath the castle are a great number of geothermal vents.” Luna explained, seemingly calmed down from her outburst a few minutes ago. “We’re going as deep as we can to find the segments of the Old Castle, which is near the base of the mountain itself. There’s actually open lava vents there, ones that would more than take care of that jewel. And make sure to not lose your footing. Most of the floor here is being enveloped in the soil and stone that breaks through the walls, and I’m not sure if this hall will even be here in a few years’ time. We’re lucky the passages are still open to begin with. I suspected that this one would have caved in months ago.”

“Once we get rid of the memory, then what?” Twilight asked, not seeing how it would keep Celestia at bay. “After that we have nowhere to go but back up to the surface. Then Celestia will catch us, and we’ll have to go through what happened to you all the same.”

“I have a plan for that.” Luna said, appearing to walk even faster in an attempt to escape her student’s questions. “I’ll explain it once we’ve gotten well rid of the jewel. I want to see the light leave its core, then we can discuss what I have in store for our future plans.”

The three walked for a long while, noticing that only a few of the doors lining the hallways were actually on their hinges. A few were bulging in their frames, under pressure from the immense strain. The rooms behind them had collapsed, so it was the only thing holding the tons of soil back. A great number were already splintered and crushed, the walls above and beside them deformed and distorted, on the verge of crashing down at the slightest touch. Twilight walked in the center of the hall six feet from Luna, Spike beside her, holding onto her wing in an attempt to make himself feel better about being miles underground with no way of surviving if the ceiling gave way. He was nervous about being there; underground spaces freaked him out on a scale that was almost as bad as the thought of changelings. Ever since he’d seen one of those things they gave him goosebumps, since they could be anypony they wanted.

Luna looked back at them, as if she was wondering whether to tell them something important. She had somewhat of a green tint to her eyes, and she hardly seemed to be stable.

“So…” She said, beginning as simply as she could manage. “My plan involves doing something that may or may not get us killed. I want to know if you’re with me, so if you don’t envy the idea of risking your life you can step out now.”

Twilight gave her a skeptical look. “I can’t even believe you’re asking me that question. Of course I’m with you. Celestia wants me as much as she wants you and Spike, so it wouldn’t make sense if I just stood by while you guys risked your lives.”

“Well then, we’re going to try and take Celestia’s Id and banish it from her.” Luna explained, like it was a simple project that might take a few minutes of their time. “I was thinking about the last time that she touched the pen of Id, and I also realized that there is a direct correlation to the length of banishment for the Id and how long it has been since it’s written. Celestia’s hasn’t touched the Pen since the one time, which was thousands of years ago. If we managed to get it into her hoof, then we could easily bet on her dark side being banished for a nice two-thousand years or so.”

As nice as that sounded in theory, they couldn’t help but feel as if it was a lost cause. Celestia’s dark side was a paranoid control freak and a megalomaniac; she probably had thousands of spells layered on top of one another to prevent her from ever touching the dark artifact again, not to mention how difficult it would be to get near her. It would be nearly impossible to think that they could just approach her and slap it down into her hoof without some form of magical protection. Twilight herself mulled this over for a while, keeping time with Luna’s footsteps but unable to keep up with her long strides. It would make all the difference in the world if she could just walk through any magical defenses that her former teacher could have ever created. She was thinking as hard as she could when she felt a sudden shift in her head, signaling that Limba was stirring from her slumber. She did her best to contain her, but she seemed to be less hostile this time and a little more docile, wanting only to talk. With a great amount of restraint, so that she couldn’t break her hold, Twilight allowed her to talk.

“I have an idea.” Limba said through Twilight’s mouth, addressing Luna directly. “It’s not me talking, it’s Limba, Twilight’s Id. I’ve been working for the last few weeks now on circumventing the magic that your older sister uses to protect herself. I found out , when Celestia and Twilight brushed just briefly at the prison, that Celestia, the real her, wants out just as much as you all want her to. So, she gave me an amazing hint towards what I could do towards making her darker side’s life harder. Spike is a member of the species of dragon that she almost hunted to extinction thousands of years ago, and part of the reason why she felt threatened by them is that they are immune to almost every type of magic. I used Spike, just briefly, to get that stone. I didn’t ask him to be a fool and grab it, but he did anyways. Seeing that all of us are in danger, I want to help you. Although I don’t like it, it would seem that my restraint towards throwing the runt of the litter down the stairs paid off. He should be able to approach your older sister without a single problem, which is part of the reason I used him to steal from her safe room earlier this week, since it was heavily warded.”

Luna blinked, absorbing the information like a sponge. After a few moments of tumbling the information in her head, refining it, she replied skeptically. “How do we know that it wasn’t just you who used Spike, and that he really doesn’t have any sort of special properties at all? If you’re lying to us, just like you have before on numerous occasion in the last month, then you’re setting us up for failure.”

“I’m not.” Limba hissed, still using Twilight to communicate. “I am doing my best to help. I don’t want to end up a scarred, beaten mare with no will to call her own. Not any more than you do, and I know what she did to you had more of an affect than it did on anypony else that fell victim to her. Because you knew her, and she was your sister. You told Twilight once that you wanted to see the real Celestia again, if we can form an alliance, no matter how briefly, we can probably make it out of this without a single scratch. Do you trust me?”

“Did you just allude to the true Celestia helping you?” Luna asked, her eyes glittering.

“Yes.” Limba said, seeing that she was getting her point across. “I felt her, and me and her melded minds for just a second; just enough to tell me her plan if it ever came down to something like this. Your true sister might be a ditz, and a liability in a courtroom, but she knows how to play a good mind game. That’s a trait that the other side of her had to learn, because it came to her naturally. Now, do we understand each other?”

“Yes. I understand perfectly.” Luna said, nodding. “Keep telling me more as we walk. Twilight, please let her continue to speak, this is imperative. I know it’s uncomfortable, especially after Cadence, but it is necessary if we’re going to make it out of here.”

---

Luna continued on her way down into the mountain, into the farthest reaches of the castle. Eventually the halls lapsed into caves with polished floors, all traces of the walls being gone. There was only stone labyrinth from that point, and all the while Limba and Luna continued to talk. It irritated Twilight that she hadn’t come up with the idea with Spike herself, since that proved that her Id was actually cleverer than her. It chafed that she hadn’t realized that a long time ago, when she’d been a unicorn and testing her spells on her assistant with little effect. That had been why all of her experiments on him had been inconclusive unless they’d involved potions. Luna was working out how to get Spike within an arm’s length of her older sister, going over the exact details with Spike when she needed to. The whole time she sat there, feeling like she was being overshadowed by her other half.

“Don’t feel so glum.” Limba said out loud, feeling that her other half was discontent. “I’m actually helping you for once. After this we go right back to the old daily grind of me and you pitted against each other. Introvert versus extrovert, carnal urges against intellectual, spiritual ones. Me and you will have to get back to my extremely good ideas against your dull, fortune-cookie-esque morals and philosophies. While we’re on the topic, you’re going to owe me something when things get back to normal. I was thinking something along the lines of a single evening with your body to myself.”

“Absolutely not.” Twilight countered. “You can make a request and I can fulfill it, because there is no way I’m letting you have full control after Cadence. You can ask me something and I’ll see if I can do it as long as it’s within reason.”

Spike was watching with a consternated look on his face, confused as Twilight literally talked to herself. The two were going back and forth with each other, bickering through a shared set of vocal cords. Luna just shook her head and sighed. Twilight had to learn to make treaties with her own demons if she wanted to live as an alicorn. The young dragon knew better than to ask just what was going on, since things had just continued to get weirder ever since he’d come back to Canterlot.

“That’s your problem.” Limba said, rolling her eyes. “Your definition of ‘within reason’ means that there is no risk involved, there can be no fun had, and there can’t even be the remotest chance of you getting in trouble. It’s pathetic that you can’t even think of having an evening with Luna without thinking about how Luna might ask you for something more intimate than a cup of tea and a back rub.”

Twilight turned a bright red, having been made to say that out loud, in front of Spike, who just raised his eyebrows. “That is totally inappropriate!” She said in a hushed tone, not wanting her young assistant to hear any more of her other half’s thoughts on the subject. “You can’t just talk about that in front of him! He’s only thirteen, for Discord’s sake. If he keeps on like this he’ll turn out just as bad as you, always acting like an animal, never listening to reason or bothering to stem his impulses.”

“I don’t think that you’ve did a very good job rearing your little Spikey-Wikey.” Limba retorted loudly, using Spike’s pet name. The young dragon turned a bright red and grabbed his right arm, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed. “After all, he does have the most interesting thoughts about him and a certain filly he knows, on occasion. Her name is Sweetie Belle, and the way he dreams about someday being able to hold her hoof is just so cute. It’s almost adorable how innocent he is right now. Maybe that’ll be gone by the time this is all over, and he’ll want something more mature from her.”

Twilight was unable to respond to that, it was just too insensitive for her to even contemplate. The way she’d said it, clearly illuminating the inside of Spike’s most private thoughts, showed her that she had very little respect for his privacy, and innocence, judging by the last sentence. She couldn’t imagine Spike doing anything like that, ever, and it bothered her on a profound level that she had made a stab at his pride like that. It beckoned a question that shouldn’t be asked until years later, when the dragon was much older than he was. When he was actually mature enough to deal with things, like the rather sensual topic that her Id had alluded to just a few moments ago.

“Another thing is that once, when Spike was still living in your library, he walked into Rarity’s boutique on an errand. One that you sent him to do at about six in the morning.” Limba began, enjoying wounding Spike’s pride. “He walked in and, seeing nopony, he decided that he should check upstairs. When he went up there, he found nopony, only Rarity’s door locked and the sound of her snoring. Like any dragon, he decided that it was best to leave her be, and went downstairs. He decided that he wanted to get what you needed anyways, so he went back down a floor and entered the bathroom. In the shower he sa-”

“That was absolutely not my fault!” Spike protested loudly, the reddest he’d ever been in his life, the blood vessels in his cheeks on fire from the shame of having his worst moments announce like the morning news. “I couldn’t help but not notice the shower was on! It’s a gigantic bathroom, and the door doesn’t let sound through!”

“If it wasn’t your fault, then why did you stand there in the doorway and watch Sweetie Belle for well over five minute before you came to your proverbial senses?” Limba sneered. “You were curious, face it. You might now have seen anything, but something inside you rang a bell when you saw her, drenching wet and singing your favorite song while she washed herself. You couldn’t help but stare until you got a good mental picture you could hang onto.”

Luna jumped in just as Twilight’s dark side got really vicious. “That is enough. I told you we could form an alliance, not that you could antagonize our messenger and most crucial asset. If you don’t control yourself you may as well just go back to being silent in Twilight’s subconscious.”

Limba grumbled, hating the feeling of being told to control herself. She was the opposite of control, the opposite of unbiased, and the polar antithesis of civilized. She wanted to tell them all still about the time that Spike had woken up and tried to drink an aging potion to try and win over Rarity, and the time that he also tried to turn himself into a pony and had to cook the antidote himself after he turned into a horrific half-dragon pony, with one wing, a half a horn, spotty patches of fur and scales and an awful sensation that he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. Seeing that memory had been amusing to her, since it involved him being in a great amount of discomfort. Of course there was all the times that he nearly asked Twilight to give him the ‘talk’, then chickened out because she might tell him he was too young, or tell him he didn’t need it because nopony would ever choose to be with a dragon.

As the tension faded, they continued into the depths, beginning to smell something awful.

---

Soon the smell of sulfur and boiling mineral water filled the air as they reached the base of the mountain. Spike had gotten so tired that he was sitting on Luna’s back, whom didn’t seem to mind the extra weight. He was actually too heavy for Twilight to carry anymore without difficulty, since he’d grown a foot since he’d arrived here, and gained fifteen pounds just as fast. Luna didn’t comment as she made her way farther underground, holding a blue fire in front of her for light. It was almost stiflingly hot now, and all of them were sweating from the excess steam. It was beginning to turn to fog, and Twilight had to keep getting closer to Luna to keep track of her escort in the mist. Then, a thought occurred to Twilight. If this was a tunnel, then why wasn’t Luna worrying about gas buildups with her fire that she’d lit without a second thought?

When she asked, the princess sighed and told her. “This isn’t fire in the normal sense, Twilight.” She said, waving it under her student’s chin to demonstrate. It felt like an ice cube had just slid across her cheek where the tongues of flame had touched her. “This takes energy away from the area around it, it doesn’t add to it. This actually has been keeping up fairly cool for the last few minutes. Without it I’m sure you can imagine how awful this trip would be.”

They began to hear the sound of shifting stone. It was the same ambient noise that Twilight had heard on her descent down into the prison back at the castle. Like the earth’s stomach grinding away at the stone ruins, the parts of the castle it had just swallowed. It was obscene how loud it was becoming, until finally they reached a patch of floor that was completely blackened from the heat beneath it. Luna stopped Twilight from stepping on it by shoving her hoof out, barring her access to the rest of the tunnel.

“This is the spot, Twilight.” She said, picking up a sizable stone from the rubble around her and throwing it onto the blackened floor.

There was a crack as the remaining fragile ashes gave way, revealing a vein of lava underneath their hooves. It was as wide as a large stream, and in the center was a ribbon of solid stone, semi-molten as it was carried downstream. Twilight had to cover her eyes from how bright it was, to say nothing of how hot it had become in there. Luna didn’t waste time, taking the jewel off of Spike with magic and dangling it in front of her as if it was a corpse of some unwanted pest she’d found in her closet.

“This is it, Twilight.” Luna called back to her student. “Once I throw it in, we have to teleport to my tower’s door as fast as possible. Celestia will know we were here the second it’s destroyed. The only thing we can do is run from then on. We will rendezvous in Celestia’s tower, it’s the last place she’ll suspect. After that, I need you to link minds with me so we can draw runes on the floor, as a precaution. We’ll cage her, and then Spike will put the Pen in her hoof. Are we understood?”

“Yes!” Twilight said, nervously chewing her bottom lip.

There was a sudden flash the moment Luna released the gem. They were gone, so nopony saw the memory tumble helplessly down into the vein of lava, settle onto a chunk of semi-molten stone, and slowly melt as it slid into the fiery red liquid. There was the sound of intense screaming, and an ear-piercing ringing cracked the stones around the tunnel, bringing the whole cave to a near collapse. Celestia appeared a moment later, looking down into the flames, her fractured façade, her compromised mask of sanity gone. She looked as she truly did. A long mane of green flames flowed down her neck, and the stone around her glowed red from the unrelenting waves of heat she was pushing out. She took a long look down at the lava, her left eye twitching madly. For a few moments her computer-like mind worked out a solution to her dilemma. She smiled as she came to her conclusion. She was going to kill Luna. She was too relentlessly rebellious to break permanently. Twilight… she would see. If she didn’t bend for her, she’d bury them together in the same shallow grave.

Author's Notes:

Wellsies, that was an intense chapter that consisted of nothing but walking. I don’t even know how I made that interesting, frankly. I suppose that exploring Limba’s new compliance with Luna was what made it good. So let’s analyze that first in this week’s breakdown. The highlight of the chapter is Limba, who has not only joined forces with them for a while, but has allowed us a rare glimpse at the events that she’s been up to in her down time. Including the fact that she had contact with the real Celestia briefly, which led to her heist of the gem in the first place. In this, one can’t help but wonder who told Limba to steal the gem for a little favor, hmm? Makes me think that maybe the real Celestia and Limba may have had something to do with each other all along, and that maybe they had a deal worked out that Limba couldn’t hurt Twilight anymore if she stole the gem from her, and she could personally take the scroll for her own use (*COUGH*Massive plot detail hint dropping*COUGH*). Anyways, Limba also opens up Spike as a lot less innocent as one might think. He has had encounters that have made him doubt his own purity more than once, and he wasn’t really comfortable talking about it in front of Twilight, especially since it made him look bad even though he couldn’t help it half the time, or it had been an accident.

Then we get down to the final scene. That was a classic example of suspense building, something that writers do to make the end a little more interesting, not to mention satisfying when all of the little pieces fall together (Or most of them, in this case). We have the events of the next chapter predicted, since Luna and Twilight are going to try and contain Celestia’s Id. But alas, the best laid plans of ponies and dragons hath gone awry. Though their strategy seems pretty solid on paper, everypony at this point knows quite well that this is going to be a long, bloody battle to the last breath. It isn’t going to be gentle, or delicate, or even fluid. Celestia’s Id is going to fight them until she can’t stand to anymore, and that is a fact. We also know that she isn’t going to hesitate to end Luna the next time they meet, so the coming storm is brewing into a hurricane that isn’t going to be very pretty when she hits he shoreline.

This is the end of the second to the last chapter, and I implore you to get your comments, theories as to how this will end, and maddened questions in now! Don’t wait until it’s too late and the fic’s over! The ending will be here sooner than you think. I wish you a good day, and as always, may your tea stay sweet.

The End

Twilight seized ahold of a piece of charcoal and began to drawn on the marble floor, feeling like her head was about to implode. Limba, Luna and her own thoughts crowded into her mind, each one giving her instructions as she struggled to keep up with their commands, rattling off instructions and flashing symbols in front of her as she wrote them down. Her and Luna were circling the room, drawing as fast as they could. It wouldn’t be long until Celestia eliminated their alternate hiding places off her list, leaving only the tower suite they were preparing as a trap. It wasn’t difficult for Twilight, but it her heart was telling her otherwise, the unbearable stress from knowing she was in mortal danger forcing her adrenaline to skyrocket. It wasn’t long until it was almost all she heard, her heart beating in her ears like war drums, growing louder, ever closer until they overtook her.

“Try to relax.” Luna said out loud, on the other side of the tower from her, scratching her own runes onto the marble. “It’ll all be fine. I promise she won’t hurt you.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” Twilight said. “It’s you. I don’t think she’ll give you a second chance after this. Spike… if she finds him, I can’t even imagine how terrible I’ll feel.”

They continued in silence, feeling the weight of their lives on their shoulders. Luna had sent Spike off. She didn’t want his location to be known to Celestia if she tortured Twilight. The princess of the night knew well that her sister wouldn’t take the time to extract any information from her. It would be as swift as Discord’s petrification. Then she’d turn to Twilight, and it would be up to her student when she failed. She would have to survive, with the same guilt and pain that she felt every day. In her head she knew that not everypony could bear to live with that, but that was the consequences of failure in this situation. Even then, she knew that Twilight wasn’t on par with her level of mental durability. In the back of her head she knew if this failed the mare across the room from her would never be able to consider her existence life. It would be sickness to her, torture just to keep breathing and wake up every morning. Luna’s one joy in life, her student’s attachments to her, might be the thing to tear the infatuated young mare apart if this ended badly.

“Stop thinking like that.” Twilight said. “This will work. It’s both of us against her.”

Luna cursed herself, having forgotten that she was still occupying the same mental space as her student. She couldn’t muster the will to keep talking, so she lapsed into silence as she continued her work. It wasn’t like she had much to say, in the wake of impending doom. They had a total of a few seconds before Celestia burst in anyways.

“I’m finished.” Luna said, throwing her piece of charcoal.

“What do we do now?” Twilight asked.

Shortly after the words parted her lips Twilight felt the temperature in the room rise. The water in a bowl on the desk began to boil, leaving it empty in a matter of seconds. There was a sound akin to glass being run across steel, and Celestia stepped into the room. She seemed to be completely calm, regarding the runes on the floor around her like they were the scribblings of children on a chalkboard. The bed behind her caught fire, her tail, composed of green flames, lashing across the oaken poster and curtain to accelerate the process. It was stiflingly hot in the room, and humidity was causing dew to form on their coats and manes. Celestia took another step towards them, activating their trap.

In the span of a second, the lights went out in the room. Twilight cast a spell as fast as she could, her horn flashing in the pitch black. There was an outraged curse, and when the lights resumed shining Celestia was surrounded in a large cage of diamond. She gazed at them hatefully, unable to teleport out of her makeshift cell.

“Oh, so you’ve been busy.” The eldest alicorn said, her voice dull and unimpressed. “Okay, I’ll give you this. Taking the gems in my drawers and multiplying them to make this trifle is a nice trick. I must commend you. So here’s your prize.”

The princess sat down and clapped her hooves, every unamused clop of her hooves echoing on the walls, causing Twilight to wince every time her two perfectly formed hooves met. The look she was shooting towards them was so sarcastic, so full of venom and sardonic amusement that a cold chill fell over them in the middle of the inferno. She was caged, at their mercy, and she was giving them a round of applause for their efforts.

“Now what?” Celestia asked, smiling at them. “Whatever will you do? Tell me, since you’ve proved to be just so full of brilliant ideas so far. I can’t escape, you can’t get near me, and due to the almost stupidly phrased spell written on the floor there, neither of us can cast magic towards one another. So… what? Do I just sit in here forever, or are we going to stare at each other until one of us submits? I’m very good at waiting, Luna. I waited so long for you to crack, to let Nightmare Moon out. Any reason to crush the individuality out of you, to seize your will and crush it under my hoof. I can’t wait to do it again.”

“Actually, we had a better idea.” Luna said, looking back towards the stairs. “A little bird told us that there was a reason that you wiped out Spike’s race to long ago.”

Celestia’s face contorted into pure hate. “You violated the sanctity of my own mind, you filth! I felt your Id slip into my head, Twilight! I felt her exchange information with my pathetic weaker half and run away like a coward. I was so occupied with my task that I missed my chance to crush her while I could… So what is your brilliant plan? What could you possibly do to me?”

Spike walked upstairs, holding the Pen of Id in his hand. Since he wasn’t an alicorn it had no effect on him, and he didn’t even wince at the heat. He’d felt the burn of lava before, this was like a hot shower to him. Celestia blanched at the sight of the artifact; the one thing she hadn’t considered because she had thought herself to be so above it. She had believed herself invincible, and far above any petty piece of silver that her failed suitor Discord had left her. Then she turned her attention to the bearer of the Pen, her upper lip curling back in a snarl.

“I knew my useless other half was playing at something when she suggested giving that dragon egg away… the foresight she must have had. Well, good luck getting close enough to touch me with that thing.” She commented, putting up an unfazed masque to hide the fact that she was beginning to panic. She was rapidly running out of options.

“Spike, I do believe that I went over the plan with you.” Luna told the young dragon, nodding towards her older sister. “You can go ahead whenever you’d like.”

Spike gave a dutiful nod, switching the Pen around in his hand so that he was holding the sharp brass tip of it, the handle protruding from his palm. He began to walk towards Celestia, ignoring the massive increase in heat as he stepped over the runes on the floor. It was scathingly hot the moment he crossed the threshold ten steps away, and five more was pushing his own limits. The air was rippling around him like it was liquid, and he swore he saw it respond to his movements like it was water. The eldest alicorn blinked and pushed every ounce of her bottomless pool of energy into superheating the air around her, bead of sweat rolling off of her. She wasn’t overheating; she was concentrating on keeping him away from her. With the temperature directly around her cage reaching about the surface of the sun, Spike was forced to take a step back and retreat to the edge of the room. He swore he could feel the skin beneath his scales begin to blister. Once he was beside Twilight and Luna again he shook his head, unable to tell them he’d failed.

“It’s not your fault.” Twilight said to her assistant, leaning down to face him. “Nopony could have gotten that far anyways, you did the best out of all of us.”

She leaned close and gave him a light kiss on the cheek, ushering a blush from him. She smiled and looked back to Celestia, who was allowing the temperature in her cage to return to normal so they could talk. They regarded each other like two wild wolves, waiting for the other to show weakness. Neither of them could back down. Time began to drag on, and it slowly returned to a normal room temperature, revealing that everything in the room was now burnt to a crisp. Minutes passed until one of them finally spoke. It was actually Limba, in Twilight’s head that was speaking.

‘Don’t think this around Celestia, as your thoughts aren’t guarded.’ Limba whispered to her. ‘But I have an idea. And I think that I should do nicely.’

Twilight’s expression went from concentration to shock as her darker half began to whisper an idea into her ear. It was genius, like she’d been planning it all out while she’d been running for her life. Luna, through her mental link, heard the idea as well. It was maddened, and might not even work, but in theory it would give them the upper hand, albeit the fact that it would bruise their sense of righteousness. It felt like a dirty trick, but they had very little options in this scenario. So, with almost as much hesitation as she could muster, Luna walked over to the dresser, looking at herself in the mirror, at the scene behind her. She pulled the drawer open and pulled out one of Celestia’s favorite crown jewels, a flawless amethyst. The eldest alicorn mouthed to her through the mirror, three very toxic words.

‘I hate you.’ She lipped, her eyes spitting fury at her younger sister.

“I don’t hate you.” Luna replied, turning around and walking back to stand beside Twilight. “I hate the you that’s disguising the real Celestia. And I know that you, being the sadistic egotist you are, have her locked up so far in the back of her own head she can’t even see us right now. So we’re going to bring her out, and she’s going to help us to banish you.”

Luna held up the stone, her horn beginning to glow like a torch of blue flame in the half-darkened room. With the sun setting in the background the amethyst in her grip began to flow a faint red in the center. Celestia’s eyes shrunk to pinpoints as she pieced together what she was doing. She planned on using the one memory, the one boundary she’d crossed with the real Celestia to bring her back out again. The younger princess was also putting in a few other memories too, like Limba telling her about wanting to torture Twilight the same way, and Spike begging her to destroy the stone, terrified that he’d be caught by guards and sentenced to life in prison. She grinned a large, ear to ear grin that hit her older sister like a blow to the face. It absolutely reeked of triumph, a sense of victory. If there was any one thing in the world that the darker side of Celestia hated more than anything else, it was losing. To anyone, or anything.

“You wouldn’t dare curse me with that again, after we both worked so hard to forget it.” Celestia said, her tone not quite hiding the insecurity shaking her to the core. She wasn’t sure she could keep them away from her with the real side of her working to overthrow her. “You’re supposed to be the good one there, the one that never stoops to lows like this.”

“Don’t be so cliché.” The night princess scoffed. “We would do anything short of killing you to get the real Celestia out here, and you shoved into limbo out the back of her skull, doomed to wander for thousands of years in her subconscious with no company. Nopony you can hurt. Just like you banished me to the moon.”

With her point made, Luna deftly tossed the amethyst underhoof, sending it floating through the air and then landing with a crack, sliding across the floor until it lightly touched the edge of the diamond cage. The memory acted like a leech, sensing a suitable host, it moved into the diamond and began its work. Celestia stood for a moment, biting her bottom lip in frustration. Then, after ten long, stressful seconds where nopony dared to breathe, the eldest alicorn stood and began pacing around the inside of her enclosure.

“Yes, that was a long time ago.” She began to talk to herself. “I know that it’s not right, and you wanted it out of your head in the first place, but I’m telling you that she was a danger and that this has to be remembered. She is…” She paused, seemingly listening to something only she could hear. “What do you mean there were other memories, ones that weren’t mine? Whose viewpoint was the memory from?”

Celestia’s head swung around and fixed them in a stare full of pure hatred, wishing she could erase them from the face of existence, shortly after she skinned them alive.

“No, Celestia.” She said, resuming her pacing. “I’m not lying to you; I don’t know where these memories came from.” She paused for a very long moment, then her hoof began to tap uncontrollably, like a nervous tic that they’d never seen before. She was sweating, focusing as hard as she could in order to maintain control. “Be reasonable I haven’t done anything wrong.” She lied.

“This isn’t going to be pretty.” Luna said, shaking her head. “And I don’t think that my sister can even do it alone. Do you think that maybe-”

“I’m all over it.” Limba said, in control of Twilight. “I think that it’s high time that I became directly involved with the Id of Control.”

With that Limba walked her hostess over to the cage, looking at Celestia like she was some sort of exotic circus animal on display. She blinked at her teasingly, crossing her front hooves in order to infuriate the already irate alicorn. The eldest princess flew over to the edge of the cage on winged hooves and seized ahold of her mane with her long, immensely powerful forearm. Limba just smiled at her, showing that she wasn’t even remotely impressed with her. Celestia’ horn began to glow.

Nopony really knew what happened then, all that could be seen was a flash of light and the sound of an extremely high-pitched scream. None of them could see for several seconds, but when they all regained their senses Twilight was standing a few feet away from the cage, looking like she was recovering from the worst migraine she’d ever had. Celestia was standing in the middle of her cage, her eyes fixed on the floor beneath her. Her eyes were flown wide open, and her pupils were microscopic pinpricks of black in a sea of green. The elder alicorn’s breathing was shallow, like she was having trouble taking it air. Her wings were flung out to her sides, and her horn was sparking brightly, scattering embers of pure energy all around her.

Luna shook her head as she struggled to comprehend what just happened. Limba had done something, but she didn’t know what until a few minutes had passed, and Celestia ceased breathing altogether. Then, a scowl, a scowl like she’d never seen on any living creature, spread over her sister’s face, and she bit her tongue so hard it bled through her teeth.

“Get. Out.” Was all Celestia could say, barely able to stay in control of herself.

Like a lightswitch in her head, the answer to what Limba had done became clear. Luna was astounded by how risky this was, but it had been a great approach. The darker side of Twilight, being Impulse and Depravity, was the polar opposite of Celestia’s Id, being Control and Composure. So, in order to truly pull up her control by the roots, Limba had transferred herself into the head of the older alicorn, aiding her true self in breaking out. Twilight herself began to piece it together, and as she did a look of exhilaration spread over her face. This was one of the last things that any sane pony would do, but it was the most effective way that they could help Celestia. For once her urge to do things that nopony would ever think to do was paying off.

At least she thought that, until Celestia’s Id began to spit blood from her mouth, the tip of her tongue falling to the floor. Twilight’s expression went from happiness to horror in a split second, the gravity of the battle being waged inside Celestia’s head suddenly put into full view. The alicorn in control limped over to the edge of the cage at an agonizingly slow pace, slamming her hoof against the diamond bars in pain. Luna was watching with grim resignation, knowing that this was awful to watch, but necessary. Celestia looked up at them, her eyes full of fire and tears of spite. She was crying from the pain, and the realization that her fate was sealed. She’d made her bed, and now she was going to be put in it, whether she liked it or not. For a moment the elder alicorn locked eyes with her younger sister. She mouthed the three venomous words to her once again, before she leaned as close as she could to the bars for support.

“I-if I can’t rule.” Celestia had to stop to spit a large amount of blood and spit from her mouth, a small trickle left to run down her lip. “T-th-then she can’t either. I’d sooner s-see this kingdom burn.”

The eldest alicorn placed her long horn in between the bars, then leaned to her left until it was being pinned from two different directions. She was using the bars for leverage, as a fulcrum for her final act of hatred. She locked eyes with Twilight, and in that brief instant she saw what Celestia’s Id truly was. She was the alpha, the one that had to rule, no other was worthy of the throne. She was god in her own eyes, and the only one with the true entitlement to decide a pony’s fate. She decided who lived and died, she chose the weather, the rising and setting of the sun, what was allowed to exist and what wasn’t. If she wasn’t the one who was making that decision, then she would see everything burn rather than walk in the kingdom he used to own, and cripple her successor as much as she could on the way out. With a final scream, she cracked her horn in two between the bars.

Twilight gasped and clutched her hooves over her mouth, the separated piece of her horn skittering across the floor to settle by Luna’s feet. Just before she lost consciousness from the pain Celestia laughed. A cruel, high-pitched, maddened laugh. The laugh of a condemned mare, knowing that this was the end of her. Her head fell to the floor with a loud, climactic crack, out cold. Luna shook her head again, sighing. She hadn’t known that it would be this severe, but she knew that this was the price of her sister’s freedom.

“If you can hear me Limba, then it’s time to return to Twilight. Let Celestia do as she wishes with her own body now.” Luna said solemnly, holding the Pen of Id in her hoof. “I need some… private time with my sister now that she’s back. She has to use the Pen, and I have to graft the horn back onto her head so it can heal… which will probably be in about fifty years. I have my work cut out for me, and only so long to do it before everypony starts to ask questions. What happened here isn’t to be spoken of.”

Twilight began to stalk out of the room, but before she was gone she saw Celestia’s mane and tail turn from her Id’s tri-colored stripes to a solid, ultra-light pink that reminded her of the sky shortly before the sun came up over the horizon. She opened her eyes, sitting up in the cage, looking around and feeling her tongue already healing in her mouth. Celestia looked over to Luna and smiled a saddened, but triumphant smile. She’d paid the price, and now she could enjoy her life again. She saw Twilight and nodded to her, tears in her eyes. They weren’t the tears of her other half, they were real, genuine tears of thanks that she let flow freely. She wasn’t afraid to show her emotions anymore, now that she was free again.

Luna gestured for her to leave, and Twilight left the room with the feeling of Limba yet again nestled into the far corner of her mind like a sleeping lioness. She would wake and give her grief one day. But this wasn’t that day. She passed Spike and smiled at him, signaling to him that it was finally over. Spike ran over to her and hugged her, glad he could finally show his face in public again. With the fall of Celestia’s Id, so did the rules surrounding their social exile.

---

Twilight stood in front of every royal family in the castle, on a third throne between Luna and Celestia. There was a new stained-glass window in the throne room now, detailing her struggle to power. Celestia wasn’t present, but Luna was at her left, nodding encouragingly. The youngest princess had a crown on her head, and a pair of horseshoes made of an outer shell of steel, stained purple and polished to a gleam. The royals below her all gawked in awe, some literally unable to accept her as reality and fainting. Unable to express their shock in words. For them it was like she’d just come out of nowhere, and it wasn’t often that something happened without them knowing through their vines of influence. The mare that sat on the throne was something that was previously impossible to them, in imagination and in reality.

Twilight wanted to talk to them, to say encouraging words to them and say that she was just as good a ruler as Luna or Celestia. But she couldn’t, so she did something that made them all gasp. She took off her crown on and kicked her horseshoes off to the side, sending them down the stairs leading to her throne. She shook her head, sighing.

“I’m not going to pretend like I’m a good princess. Or that I know about politics. I am a scholar, a student who this just… happened to. I’m not going to lie to you all. Luna, Celestia, they are both amazing rulers in their own ways, but I am not a commander. I will never tell you what to do when it is all your business. I’m not a mare that feels the need to control, or influence. I’m a pony who has a good sense of justice, and morals that have been tested so much this past month that I doubt anything could shake them. If something is wrong, I will stomp it out. But it is up to you all to make sure you’re not doing wrong in the first place. I will react, but I won’t set up rules to discourage you from breaking the rules. The demarcation between right and wrong won’t be guarded, or layered, or blurred by other rules. What is wrong is wrong, period. Though there are scenarios that this doesn’t apply, I know for a fact that most of the time that, once we have the full, complete story, told from every side, there are no shades of right or wrong. There’s only forgivable and unforgivable. That is all I know in a political sense, and so I’ll leave you with that. Otherwise, I am just a normal mare that somehow, via some divine intervention, gained wings. Goodnight.”

With that, Twilight left the throne room. Celestia watched her proudly from the doorway on the other side of the room, hidden from view in the shadows of the curtains. Words couldn’t describe how far her student had come in the short month she’d been in the castle. What made her even prouder was how far her young muse had to go, and how she would be there for every step of it.

Author's Notes:

That’s it everypony. Show’s over. I want you all to leave your final thoughts down in the comments, but other than that, this fic is done. I’ve tied the bow up on this present and I’m ready move onto my next project. I’ll be posting the ideas for my next fiction on my blog. You can find it on my homepage, and if you liked this fic, then I can only ask that you follow me and add this to your favorites list. Also, tell me if you want a continuation of this in the comments. I have a lot of plot strings that I could easily make into another story if anypony wants me to.

May Your Tea Stay Sweet.

-DWhay