> In the Sun's Shadow
>  by Polaris501
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue:  A Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

City of Canterlot

17 Years Before the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration





It was the time between day and night, the end of light and the beginning of darkness, fitting for the act she was about to carry out.  

The mare was average size at first appearance, and hung back in an alleyway as ponies trotted past.  She wore a thick brown cloak with holes for her wings with the hood hiding her face.  Her coat was the color of freshly fallen snow, and looked as soft as clouds to any that would look at her, highlighting the almost fluffy pink tail.  Her face was hidden in the cowl of the cloak, but if a pony were to look closely, they would have seen two magenta eyes underneath a pink mane that sparkled with intelligence.

If one looked even closer, they would have seen the tears as well.

There were few ponies left on the street at this time of day.  Many slept or were holed up in buildings, their windows softly lit as the sun made its descent on the distant horizon.  Very few ponies watched the stars awake or the moon arise to shepherd the night.

The silent mare watched as a young couple slipped past her and trotted quietly down the street, oblivious to the rest of the world as they rounded the corner, and fell out of sight.

The street was finally empty.

The mare stepped out of the shadows slowly and checked the street again, her magenta eyes sweeping the city like a lighthouse searching for ships in the dark sea.  A small bundle was on her back, tightly held between her wings like a basket.

Or a cradle.

In the dimming light of the dying day, as the sky turned to lavender and stars began sparkling their greeting to the world below.  The mare trotted quickly, but silently, her hooves barely making a sound on the cobblestone as she approached her destination.

It was not a poor building, but neither could one say it was well off either.  It was the type of building that didn’t attract the attention of admirers nor gain the pity of those seeing a ruin, in short, it was an everyday building that ponies passed by and let the memory of said building slip through their minds, never to remember.

It was perfect.

The white mare reached the doorstep and stopped, her head turning slightly under the hood as she once again appraised the street for errant ponies.  Making sure of her isolation, she turned her head towards the distant horizon where the sun glowed like a dying ember.  

A faint golden glow illuminated her features slightly as a horn lit up underneath the cloak.  As if sighing in relief, the sun sank gently below the horizon, leaving the sky to fade into darkness as the orb slumbered and rested, waiting for the new day.

The mare turned then, to the opposite horizon, and the glow continued as the moon arose and graced the night sky with its presence.  A scar in the shape of an ancient mare marred its pearly face as the orb ascended.  Underneath the gentle light of the moon, more tears fell down the mare’s face as the golden glow died and the stars danced in the sky.

Facing back towards the building where she stood, she looked up at the sign that could barely be read in the dwindled light.

Tender Heart Orphanage

Without a sound, the bundle on the mares back lifted in a gentle glow and came around to rest in her snowy hooves.  The mare looked down into her bundle and stared at its contents, as if memorizing it, branding it into her mind like burning iron pressed into wood, scarring it so as to never be forgotten.  

It was a foal.

She had a lavender coat with a short horn that parted her hair.  Her mane was a dark shade of purple with a pink highlight running down like an arrow through the straight and orderly strands.  The foal’s eyes were closed, and she breathed gently as her chest rose and fell in her slumber.

I am so sorry.

Slowly, as if regretting every inch she put between her and the foal, she lowered the sleeping child until she rested upon the doorstep.  

Reaching with her magic the mare pulled out a small piece of parchment from within the folds of her cloak and carefully placed it in-between the folds of the blanket in which the foal slept.

It had only two words on it.

Twilight Sparkle

There was nothing more to be done, and yet still she lingered.  Sitting as still as the statues that watched over the city, as if frozen in time and place.  She stayed there for several minutes, thought it felt like hours, and still she did not move, not even appearing to breath.

Breaking the trance, the cloaked pony lifted up its gaze and turned around, her pink tail brushing the foal slightly as she left.  She traced the path she had made earlier and found herself upon the entrance back into an alleyway when a noise broke the quiet of the night.

The foal was softly crying.

Again she stood still, a fore hoof lifted in pause as the foal gently cried behind her.  Setting it down gently, she looked back slowly, as if torn between the alleyway and the child on the doorstep.  Her eyes flashed as she could no longer wait and her gaze once again found the foal.

Two small magenta eyes stared back at her.

The foal’s lips were trembling as small tears escaped her wide eyes, her hooves reaching out to the empty air in front of her, searching for the mare that was not there.

It’s not too late.

A decision had to be made, one which the mare thought she had already decided upon.  But faced with the actual event, her thoughts betrayed her and regret assaulted her conscious.  

Only the sound of the child’s cry drifted through the street as the mare contemplated.  The night itself seemed to hold its breath as she juggled her choices, as if glaring down in contempt upon the white mare.  

She made her decision.

Like glass breaking the moment was over, and the mare turned back down the alleyway, her bright coat disappearing in the darkness of the city.

The child’s cries broke into a desperate wail.

But nopony answered.

> Chapter 1:  Among the Ashes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville

Four Hours After Tirek’s Defeat

Twilight 





The town was filled with smoke, it clung to the air like a dark and smothering curtain, drowning out the light of the sun.  The distasteful aroma of burnt wood drifted between the silent houses that stood sentinel over their fallen comrade.  The wind was burdened with fragile gray fragments of paper that once carried knowledge and wisdom, their torn remains fluttering like forgotten memories in the unrelenting wind.  Fire flickered like a taunting enemy, its unforgiving tongues tormenting the once mighty oak with deadly precision.

The Golden Oaks Library was burning.

Twilight Sparkle stood alone in front of the blazing inferno, her long shadow stretching as the sun set on the far off horizon.  Any tears she had shed from her magenta eyes had evaporated long ago in the face her home’s torching, now she could only look on mournfully and wait for the fire to burn itself out.

It was no ordinary fire.  The blaze that was claiming her home had sprung from Tirek’s twisted dark magic, a perversion of the combined stolen magical power of Equestria that the ancient horror had conjured with the intent of wiping Twilight off the face of Equestria.  

Twilight had barely escaped with her life, for as soon as she had seen the burning darkness hurtling towards her she had single-mindedly rescued the only other living thing in her tree, her loyal companion Owlowiscious, and had thrown up a hasty magical shield before they were flung into the streets of Ponville from the force of the fiery destruction.  

In the immediate explosion, the top half of the library where she had lived had incinerated instantaneously with the windows shattering from the shock wave.  The ground floor which had contained thousands of books had combusted, the aged papers igniting in a beautiful yet terrible bonfire that cried out to the heavens as their embers floated into the smoke-filled sky.  The laboratory underneath had superheated from the coals and fiery rain dropping from above, bringing ruin and ravaging flames to complete the task.

And even then, the fire did not stop.  

It was not content to merely burn like a normal fire, as if that were not terrible enough.  This fire had been mockingly summoned from the pits of Tarturus itself.  The inferno resisted all attempts to eradicate its presence.  Water, magic, anything that could be used to subjugate the blaze only added fuel to the flames.  There was nothing that could be done.

But wait.

As the fire’s light reflected Twilight’s view, she dimly became aware of another pony approaching before the intruder sat beside her in silence.  This mare’s shadow was far larger than Twilight’s, it seemingly swallowed the lavender alicorn’s dark reflection easily, not even appearing to try to overcast the smaller shadow.

Of course, this shadow belonged to arguably the largest influence on Twilight’s life, Princess Celestia.

“I…I’m so sorry Twilight.”  The taller alicorn said solemnly, her white feathers ruffling uncomfortably at her snowy sides as the inferno consumed Twilight’s home before them.

Twilight didn’t look at her, choosing instead to remain gazing into the fire’s enrapturing sight, to look into her former mentor’s eyes would be to acknowledge that the destruction of her home had somehow been the sun alicorn’s fault.

“I messed up princess.”  Twilight stated plainly, her words almost too quiet to hear under the waterfall of sound as wood crackled and burned in front of her.  “Do you know what I did when I first saw him?”

“No, but-“

“I ran from him princess, I ran away, and I led him straight here.  I should have known that the combined magic of four alicorns would be too powerful to miss.  Because of my foolishness, I have lost my home.”

Twilight could no longer stand the sight of her beloved library burning, but couldn’t lift her tear-streaked face to meet Celestia either.  

She stared at her hooves instead, trying to banish the branded memories of the rush of flames and the promise of death that had flown towards her from the centaur’s rampage.

“If I had even been a second later, or worse, if Spike had been inside…” Her timid voice trailed off, not even attempting to voice the morbid possibility.

The next thing Twilight knew, she was surrounded by a large white wall of feathers.  Twilight could feel Celestia’s warm body as she embraced the smaller alicorn.

Twilight could no longer hold it in.

She wept.

It was not the crying of young filly, nor was it from any pain or injury.  It was the despair of a mare who had just lost her home, of a pony that had just faced one of the greatest monsters of Tarturus by herself, of a friend that almost lost those she held dear to herself.

But among the tears were sighs of relief.

While Tirek had been terrible, it could have been much, much worse.  But thankfully, nopony had died because although Tirek drained them of their magic, in his malevolence, he had decided to keep them alive so he could gloat over his victory later.  A mistake on his part that Twilight was thankful for.

Twilight leaned into Celestia’s warm fur as more tears fell like starlight down her muzzle.  A hoof was gently soothing her back as she cried.

They didn’t exchange any words, but none were needed.  Twilight knew very well the sacrifices Celestia had made when protecting Equestria, banishing Luna and the millennium afterwards being the greatest of them all.  There was nopony else that Twilight knew that could fully comprehend what all had happened.  

And for that, Twilight was grateful.

For a few minutes or hours she stayed there, finding solace in the white alicorn’s warm embrace.  It was like when she had been a filly in the castle, and the thunder from a storm had frightened her.  Then also she had found peace with Celestia, having cried almost uncontrollably until Celestia had found her in a bundled mess on her bed.  Rather than just try to calm her, as what Twilight had expected as a filly, Celestia had surprised her by laying by her side and offering a protective wing.  Twilight had slept peacefully that night, so many years ago.

A slight nudging of the white plumage awoke Twilight from her brief bout of nostalgia, and she gently extricated herself from the princess to see what she wanted.

Twilight could see that Celestia was looking over at the ruins of her library, and Twilight reluctantly followed her gaze.

The fire was finally dying out.

Leaving naught but ashes in their wake.

Twilight walked cautiously towards what had been her home, the soft crunching of soot could be dimly heard underneath her hooves. 

Slowly, she walked through the burnt remains, sorting through different lumps of wreckage.  It was slow work, but slowly she sifted through everything, sending up great plumes of ash as the burnt wood was moved about.

Few things had been spared.

Her bed was gone, and so was Spike’s basket.  All the books she had ever had were nothing but distant memories now.  All the clothes she had possessed, her Winter-Wrap up vest, her Gala dress, even her coronation gown were all gone, having been vaporized along with her wardrobe.  Her telescopes were just heaps of molten wreck, the iron and glass warped beyond recognition.  All her laboratory equipment was fried, having met the same fate as the telescopes, with the addition of the wires melting into slag from the heat of the inferno.

She was sorting through wreckage from underneath the remains of a window and its frame when she found it.

Her scrapbook.

She had started making it before Spike had hatched, filling it with photos of Shining, Cadance, her parents, and herself when she was a blank-flank filly.  After she had gained her Cutie-mark, bits of Spike’s shell and Twilight’s first picture with Celestia were added to it.  

Years of photos and tidbits of her childhood had been crafted into it.  Photos, trinkets, and her own writing littered the pages.  After she moved to Ponyville, pictures of her friends and details of their adventures together were added to her scrapbook.

All her letters from Celestia had been in there too.

More tears threatened to overflow as she gently picked up the scrapbook, hoping to salvage something.

To her horror, even the cautious hold of magic was too much for it.  

It crumbled into a small gray pile at her hooves.

Her scrapbook, which was one of her most treasured possessions was nothing but ash.

Ash.

Twilight sniffled and tried to hold back the waves of depression that threatened to crush her.  She cast a mournful gaze over the burnt skeleton of the tree and turned away, no longer wishing to suffer from her loss.

She trotted slowly towards the edge of town, making her way towards the new addition to the landscape.  Twilight barely heard Celestia start following her as she made her way to her castle.

My Castle…

Twilight lifted her head as the two alicorns walked and looked closely at it.

The thick crystals that made up the stonework had a pearly sheen that reflected the light.  At the time of sunset, it glowed much like the fading sun itself, reflecting the bright orange hues into a mesmerizing display of significance.  It was shaped like a tree, in fact, Twilight thought it took the shape of the Tree of Harmony itself.  In the upper “branches” of the castle traditional stonework was shaped to reveal tall towers and large chambers.  Little windows were dotted all across its surface.  Gold could be seen cresting different adornments that highlighted the beauty of the castle.

It was magnificent.

But it was not home.

Of course, Twilight was not ungrateful or anything, and she knew that eventually she would love this place just as much as the old library.  But nothing could immediately replace the familiarity of the ruined tree.  The sounds of the creaking stairs, the smell of the kitchen, the homely hearth where she and Spike spent many a cold winter’s night, or the different dents and scratches from different misadventures.

Sighing heavily as nostalgia threatened to overtake her, she finally reached the base of the monolith.

The doors were huge, and they were emblazoned with detailed artwork that flowed into a breathtaking picture of a graceful tree.  Twilight pushed them open with her magic, and light poured out into the street as she made her way in, Celestia following closely behind.   

They were in the long hallway that led to the throne room, tall colulmns of crystal dominating the walls.

The empty walls.

Althought the castle had come with rooms built in, it did not provide any furnishing for its new residents to use.  No beds, desks, tables, chairs, or even simple tableware were to be found.  

“It’s beautiful Twilight.”  Celestia whispered, her voice echoing along the dark and empty hallway.

Twilight glanced up at the other alicorn next to her and scrunched up her face a little.  

“Yes it is.  But it’s completely empty, and I literally have nothing to put in it.  Nothing!”

The last word came out as a shout that bounced up and down the stonework, enunciating the emptiness of the space between its walls.
Celestia looked down at her patiently and gave a small and sympathetic smile.

“I know, and furthermore I know nothing will replace what you have lost.  But I can at least help with get settled in here now.”

Twilight’s ears flickered as her mind picked up pace and her mood lifted considerably.

“Thanks princess.”

“Twilight, I truly wish you would stop calling me that.  'Tia would be nice, or Celestia if you must."

“Sorry, it’s just…well…habit I suppose.

“I see.”

…

“That aside, I know just how to help you get started with this place.”  Celestia continued, the smile having become more genuine now.

“Oh?”

"The old castle in the Everfree is, as you are aware of, a complete ruin that could collapse any day now.  But I know that the library inside is mostly intact and the books there salvageable.  I know you will give them a much better home here.”

Twilight had to suppress her impulse to squeal like a filly and jump around for joy.

“Really?!  Oh I can’t wait, I know just where I’ll…oh…uh…I actually…don’t know where to put them.”  Twilight felt heat rise into her cheeks in abashment.  “I…haven’t actually explored this place yet.”

Celestia chuckled a little, sounding much like the gentle bells of Hearths Warming Eve.

“I understand, you and everypony else have been very busy.”  Her brow scrunched a little as Celestia looked up back to the empty castle.  “Speaking of everypony else, where are your friends, and Spike for that matter?”

Twilight’s giddiness faded a little as she too looked down the hallway, thinking back over where her friends were.

“Oh, well…I didn’t want Spike to…to be sad or unhappy.  He already a little bit since I told him what happened, but I think seeing it for himself would have just made him more so.  He’s staying at Rarity’s tonight or more until I get some food and furnishings for this place.”  Twilight looked above her at the unexplored labyrinth above her.  “Or until I’m not afraid of him getting lost in here.”

Celestia gently laughed again and waited for the rest of Twilight’s answer, sitting down on the marble floor.

“Applejack is with her family, they’re all recovering from Tirek taking their magic, as well as replanting the apple trees they lost from his forest fires.”  Twilight began counting down the list, naming each friend.  “Rainbow Dash got called in by Wonderbolt High Command, they’re searching Equestria for anypony that may have gotten hurt or injured because of having their magic drained.  Pinkie Pie decided to go visit her family at their rock farm to check on them, she’s also been busy trying to cheer up any colts or fillies that have gotten scared or frightened.”  Twilight chuckled a little, remembering her pink friend’s antics.  “Fluttershy is back at her cottage, comforting as many animals as she can as Tirek’s forest fires left many of her animal friends homeless.”

Twilight sighed again, the events of the day coming back in sharper detail with every recollection.  Despite the long celebration after 
Tirek’s defeat, there were many consequences that would still need to be dealt with.

Celestia gave Twilight a questioning gaze and her eyes crinkled as she frowned a little.

“And what about you Twilight?  What are you going to do?”

Twilight shifted around uncomfortably, all too aware of Celestia’s knowing stare.

“Don’t tell me,” Celestia began “That you are staying here by yourself tonight.”

Twilight guiltily nodded her head in affirmation of the statement, avoiding Celestia’s eyes.

“Twilight, you shouldn’t be by yourself, especially after today.”  Celestia paused and her face lit up in a smile.  “Why don’t you come back with me to Canterlot.  Just for tonight.”

Twilight thought it over.  Spike would be fine at Rarity’s, and the prospect of staying by herself in the castle with nothing to sleep on did seem like a dim prospect indeed.  Perhaps going back to her hometown would be nice, even if it was just for an evening.

“Thanks princess, I really appreciate that.  I’ll be more than glad to come with you.”
The smile on Celestia’s face just seemed to grow, and she turned back towards the entrance and used her own magic to open the doors.  

“Well, we should be on our way.  I think Luna should be back any moment now.”

“What has she been doing?”  Twilight asked, following Celestia out the door, the cool night air caressing her coat.

“She’s making sure the nobles aren’t panicking over today’s events, but more importantly, she’s taking care of Canterlot and informing everpony of what has transpired.”

Celestia sat down on the grass in front of the castle, peering up into the starlit sky and searching for her sister.  Something about what she had said didn’t quite sit well with Twilight, and it took her a moment for her to realize what it was.

“Wait, shouldn’t you be doing that?  Not that I mean I don’t think Luna should or can do it, but it seems like something that you would be doing too.”

Twilight gazed up at Celestia with a questioning look and was surprised to see Celestia returning her look with a bright smile.

“I’m doing something more important at the moment.”

“What?”

Celestia reached out and booped Twilight’s muzzle with a hoof.

“Making sure you are alright.”

Twilight blushed, but the smile that spread across her face felt more genuine than any other smile she had given today.

“Thanks, but—“

Celestia stopped her sentence by covering her mouth with a feather tip.

“Don’t say you’re not that important Twilight, for that would be the understatement of the last millennium.”

Celestia lowered her wing and looked back up at the sky, seemingly oblivious as Twilight wiped a few grateful tears from her eyes with her own wings.

“Oh.”  Celestia said, her voice softer than a whisper.  “There’s Luna now.”

Twilight glanced up quickly just in time to see Luna’s sleek blue chariot land quietly in front of them, two Lunar Pegasi in their silver armor pulling it.  It was the same chariot Luna had used when Twilight first truly met her, the Nightmare Night of a couple years back.

Luna herself looked tired and disheveled, but her face smiled nonetheless as she caught sight of them.

“Tia, Twilight, it is so good to see you both, it has been a most tiresome day.”

“Thanks for coming and getting us Luna.”

Celestia stepped up into the chariot and Twilight followed.

“Are you coming back with us to Canterlot Twilight?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, “Just for tonight though, the castle is, well…”

Luna nodded when Twilight didn’t finish, and she then signaled to the guards and they began flying up into the sky towards the mountain, pulling the chariot along with them.  The wind picked up in strength as they gained altitude and picked up speed.  Twilight could see that Luna wore a sympathetic face, etched with some worry.

“It’s the library isn’t it?”

Twilight only nodded.

“Fear not my friend, I understand your predicament quite well.  I will send the Royal Artesian to start outfitting your new castle.”

Twilight wondered why Luna would understand her situation, and then she realized that Luna had lost everything too when the old Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters had been mostly destroyed, and she too had to move into a new castle when she returned from her banishment.

“Thanks Luna, I really appreciate it.”

“Think nothing of it!  We are friends and fellow princesses after all!”  Luna smiled at Twilight again until she returned her attention to Canterlot.  The chariot had just flown over the outer walls of the city.

Twilight looked down, searching for her parents’ house when she felt Celestia nuzzling her.

“What do you plan on doing with your new castle?” she asked, genuine curiosity radiating from her.

Twilight thought it over.  While she had enjoyed her time as the librarian of Ponyville, Twilight knew that the town’s council would soon order the construction of a new one.  While she was reluctant to give up her position as librarian, she realized that her Royal Duties had left little time for her to actually sit down and be a librarian.  Twilight wanted what was best for the town, and a new library and librarian would certainly be for the best.  As Twilight finally felt ready to truly don the mantle of princess, she would throw herself into it, whole heartedly.

But what to do with the castle?

“I think…I think when it's ready, I’ll have an Open House at the castle.”

Luna frowned in confusion as she did not recognize the term.

“Do you mean that you’ll keep your doors open? or—“

“It means Twilight will throw a party to show everyone her new home.”  Celestia interrupted, giggling at Luna’s confusion.

“Oh.”  Luna replied, wilting a little.  “Like the Gala?  I have seen funerals with more spirit in them.”

“Oh no!”  Twilight replied, banishing the embarrassing memories of the Gala three years back.  “Nothing like that!  I’m sure Pinkie would love to plan it, and I’ll invite the Apple Family to cater the food.  The Cakes can provide dessert from Sugercube Corner.”  She spotted a familiar building underneath them as they flew by.  “Perhaps Pony Joe’s too.”

Twilight could see Luna perk up a bit from the ways her ears flickered back into giving her full attention.

“Pinkie you say?  Hhhmmm…Such festivities do indeed sound promising.”

“Oh yes, I’ll be sure to come as well.  It sounds lovely Twilight, and it’ll give you a good opportunity to know your new home better.”  Celestia said sweetly, looking down at Twilight with a proud and supportive smile.

Twilight looked over the side of the chariot and saw a three story house with a built in observatory on the top.

“Gents?”  Twilight asked, addressing the two Lunar Pegasi.  They continued to look forward but their ears flickered in recognition of her.  “Could you please land by that house with the observatory?  This is my stop.”

Celestia looked over Twilight’s shoulder, peering down at the house below.  The chariot descending to the street in front of it.

“Oh.”  She said, a small bit of surprise in her tone.  “You want to stay with your parents?”

“Yes, it has been far too long since I last saw them, and I know Shining is staying here tonight with Cadence before they travel back to the Crystal Empire tomorrow.”  From the corner of her eye, Twilight got a quick look at her former mentor.

Was it her imagination, or did Celestia look disappointed?

Looking up at the taller mare quickly, Twilight could see that Celestia wore a neutral but polite expression as she looked down on her parent’s house.

Luna interrupted Twilight’s staring with a compliment.

“Ah yes, Lord Night Light and Lady Velvet of House Armor.  They are most pleasant ponies, and one of the few among the nobility that I could call noble.  You are most certainly blessed to have such wonderful parents Twilight.”  She laughed a little, the sound like wind chimes.  “When I first met Lord Night Light, after I returned, he was one of the few nobles who accepted me immediately, granted though, he was very excited to speak with me.  He kept rambling about the constellations and asking questions about the phases of the moon and different star patterns, he would have kept me there answering his questions if Lady Velvet had not pulled him away.”

Twilight laughed at Luna’s memory of her father and stepped out into the street, the chariot having landed a moment ago.  

“Thank you sirs.”  Twilight said, giving a nod of thanks to the guards that had pulled the chariot.  She then turned towards Celestia and Luna who were still sitting in the chariot.

“Good night, I’ll see you both in the morning.”  She paused.  “Oh and Celestia?” 

“Yes?”

“Thanks, for…for being there for me.”

A golden smile flitted across Celestia’s muzzle.

“Twilight, I’ll always be there for you.”

As soon as the words left her lips, the chariot took off and ascended back into the starlit sky, leaving Twilight on the ground.  She watched as it flew towards Canterlot Castle before turning around and knocking on the door.

“Mom?  I’m home!”






> Chapter 2:  Resolute
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Aurora

One Week After Tirek’s Defeat

Twilight





“No, no no, Dimensional Teleportation by Starswirl the Bearded goes in the Magic section, not the Science section!”  Twilight admonished, pointing out to the flustered unicorn stallion the proper section that was one of the most prominent parts of her new personal library inside Castle Aurora.

“But doesn’t it fall under the science genre?”  He asked, his ears folding against his head at her rebuke.

“Sort of,” Twilight sighed, “but it was written by a unicorn wizard and has numerous spells for magical use, therefore it files under magic.”

“Yes of course, sorry your highness.”  And with that, the stallion scurried off to place the book.

Twilight smiled and started browsing, trotting past tall crystal bookshelves that were being filled with books old and new.  She made sure to not blunder into the other ponies that were helping her place all her new books.  Celestia had lived up to her promise and more, for not only did the new castle’s library contain all of the old tomes from the Royal Sister’s ruined castle, but the sun princess had also added books from the Canterlot Archives and even Starswirl’s Athenaeum to the already enormous piles of books.  With all the new literature, Twilight had needed help filing them as there were far too many for her and Spike to do alone quickly, and the citizens of Ponyville were all too happy to help her with it.

The castle’s library was a beautiful piece of masonry and architecture, it was cylindrical in shape and rose up to be seven stories tall.  Twilight could fly up through the middle of the library to each floor as there was an atrium in the center that spanned all seven floors.  A golden chandelier with glowing yellow crystals hung in the center of the library atrium, descending from the mural on the ceiling that depicted a map of Equestria.  Columns and stain-glassed windows littered the walls on all seven floors, light from the outside pouring in to brighten up the newly-filled bookshelves.

Skipping almost merrily through the library, Twilight came across her number one assistant, Spike the Dragon, who was staring up through the atrium with wide eyes.  A week ago he had been very sad and depressed about the old library, but over time he had become excited about the castle, especially since he was getting his own room.  Twilight thought Spike looked rather concerned though upon closer inspection, and her suspicions were confirmed as he walked slowly up to her with an almost fearful gleam in his eyes.  Hesitantly, he looked up at Twilight and shuffled his feet nervously.

“Hey—uh—Twilight?” he asked timidly.

“What is it Spike?”

“I’ve been thinking…”

“Yes?”

“This castle is rather…big.” 

“I did notice.”

“We’re not going to…you know…have to clean up all of it by ourselves?  I mean, the other princesses have servants in their castles, so you’re going to have some too right?”  He looked absolutely horrified at the prospect of the two of them cleaning the whole castle by themselves, but Twilight chuckled and rubbed his scaly head with a hoof affectionately.

“Don’t be silly Spike, we don’t need servants.”

“B—b—but it’s so huge!  It’ll take weeks to clean the whole thing once!  And that’s on top of filing your books, cooking, researching, and your royal duties!  How are we suppose—“

Spike couldn’t continue on as Twilight had stuck a hoof to his mouth, silencing the panicked drake.

Twilight shook her head a little, berating herself mentally for not explaining to him earlier.

“Spike, we’re not going to be spending time cleaning the castle.”

“Why not?  I know you’re still a neat freak.”

“I am not a—on second thought, you’re probably right.  But that’s not the point!  I’ve been practicing and looking up spells—

“This won’t end well.”

“—and I’ve figured out a way the two of us can maintain everything in the castle.”

Spike opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes widened as they caught something behind her.  Turning around to see what had grabbed his attention, Twilight smiled as she saw her new spells working.

“Look!  Here’s some now!  They must be on their way to clean the ballroom, it’s already collecting dust.”

As the two of them watched, a line of broomsticks marched past them with purpose.  Twilight’s spell had animated them to both clean up messes that appeared or take orders from her or Spike.  The same went for everything they had to maintain the castle.  Spike watched each broomstick as they passed by him, his eyes swinging back and forth like a pendulum.  It wasn’t until the last one rounded the corner that Spike spoke again.

“Twilight…did you enchant the castle to clean itself!”  He asked with some awe and a little disbelief.

“Yes I did!  Isn’t it wonderful!  I should have done this ages ago!”  She cackled merrily, clapping her hooves together in excitement.

Spike looked at her like she was a mad scientist but seemed to think it over.

“I don’t know Twilight, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what happens.  Can you show me what else you’ve enchanted?”

Instead of answering, Twilight headed back towards the library exit and levitated Spike onto her back as she walked away.  

“Later.  When everypony else has left, besides, our friends are coming over soon!”

Spike seemed placated by Twilight’s answer but crossed his arms and scrunched his eyes as if he was in deep thought.  Twilight trotted at a brisk pace, heading towards the entrance to Castle Aurora where Twilight wanted to greet their friends as they came in.

“Remind me again why our friends are coming?”  Spike asked.

“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten about the Open House Ball next week!”

“Oooohhhh.  Hehe…I uh…did kind of forget.  It’s just…you know…with furnishing this place and everything that’s happened, it slipped my mind.  Sorry.”  Spike shook his head as if trying to shake the cobwebs from his memory.

Twilight sighed a little and dropped her indignations instantly.  A lot indeed had happened and she shouldn’t have expected for Spike to remember everything.  Losing the library had been hard on the both of them.  She looked back over her shoulder at him as she walked into the entrance hall and smiled at him reassuringly.

“It’s alright.  I know this is a big change, and I’m so proud of you for how you’ve handled it.”  She broadened her smile and Spike seemed to find solace in it, his posture straightening and his smile returning.

“So.” Spike said, returning to business as he jumped off her back, the both of them standing before the castle doors.  “Why are they coming again?”

“We’re going over some of the preparations for the Ball, it’s only a week away and we still need to decorate and such.  Invitations have already been sent out to the princesses, our family, and Ponyville, but we’ve also have been getting many requests for invitations from all over Equestria.”  Twilight sighed in exasperation.  Being a princess was great, but the attention she received could sometimes be overwhelming.  “The nobility of all three tribes have sent in requests, as have the Wonderbolts, numerous celebrities, newspaper reporters, and even some foreign royalty and their ambassadors!  Can you believe it?!”

“Which ones?”

“The Chief Shamaness of Zebrica, the High King of Griffonia, and even the Grand Duke of Cervidae!  The Daily Trot newspaper in Canterlot reported that the Open House Ball is going to be the party of the century!”  She groaned, mentally going over the list of requests for invites.  

Twilight had originally wanted to throw a low-key party with her friends and family and Ponyville, but gossip and rumors seemed to fly faster than Rainbow Dash.  It was inevitable, she supposed, that everypony would want to explore the new castle of Equestria’s newest princess.  Especially since said princess had just restored all the magic of Equestria and saved the world from perhaps the most magically powerful monster to have escaped Tartarus.  Twilight shivered at the thought of what Tirek would have done with the combined power of four alicorns, Discord, and all of Equestria if she and her friends had not stopped him with the power from the Tree of Harmony.

Her morbid musings were thankfully interrupted by Spike.

“You know what I really can’t believe?”  He said, looking at the hallway around him and the castle in general.

“What?”  Twilight asked, following his gaze.

“How quickly it took to fill up this place with furniture, considering it was empty a week ago.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, it too had surprised her with how quickly the castle was furnished.

Luna had indeed sent the Royal Artisan to start cataloguing what Twilight needed for her castle, but soon she and Spike were receiving new furniture from all over the Equestria and even the world.  

Upon hearing of the destruction of her home, ponies all over the Equestria sent in donations to help.  Most of these came in the form of bits for the Royal Artisan to use, but Twilight and Spike had also been given expensive and beautifully decorated furniture too.  

To name off a few new acquisitions, there was Twilight’s new bed of purple crystal that was a gift from the ponies of the Crystal Empire and the sheets now on it were from Saddle Arabia.  Her new desk in her personal quarters was a highly polished solid wood oak that had been cut from the ancient forests of Cervidae and carved with ancient pictograms of early Equestria.  In the Great Hall where she and guests would eat, a table from Stalliongrad and their chairs had been crafted by their renowned Carpenter’s guild.  

Tapestries restored from the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters also littered the hall, a gift from Celestia and Luna as well among other things sent by the Royal Sisters.  

Her parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet, had given her a new telescope for her own use, several new signed books Velvet had written to replace the ones destroyed, and a tapestry depicting a large blue shield and helmet, which was the crest of their ancient family, the Unicorn House of Armor.  Shining had sent decorative suits of armor from the Crystal Imperial Legion as well as some from Celestia’s Royal Guard and Luna’s Night Watch.  Cadence gave a separate gift of a large and plushy cushion embroidered with Twilight’s Cutie Mark that she now used to read on.  

Spike had gotten a large bed carved from a single jewel that was sent by a group of dragons in the far south.  Even Owlowiscous received a new perch from Griffonia.

Twilight had tried to give some to her friends, but they all refused and said that she and Spike needed it.

Once everything was sent and done, Twilight figured she had enough furnishings to fill the castle twice, so she donated the extra to charity since they didn’t need extra.

Twilight appreciated the sympathy and the gifts, but she felt overwhelmed by the amount of things given to them.   She really missed her library, it was so cozy and homely, unlike the richly decorated castle now.  Twilight didn’t want to offend or disappoint anypony by not accepting their sincere gifts however, so she accepted them and went on.  

Now, in a week’s time, Twilight would show everypony her new home.

On the invitations though, Twilight specifically mentioned there be no House-Warming gifts.

Turning her head towards Spike, Twilight idly replied, her thoughts still cataloguing everything.

“Yes I know Spike, it was a—“

“SURPRISE!!”

Jumping forward in astonishment, the two of them whirled away from the door to face the source of the shout that came from directly behind them.

It was Pinkie Pie, sporting a kazoo in her mouth and a party hat firmly strapped to her head.

“Pinkie!  How did you—“

TWEET!!

“Ha-ha, very funny Pinkie, but seriously—“

TWEET!!

Twilight and Spike laughed a little, but before they could get an answer out of Pinkie, the door behind them emanated with two large knocks.

KNOCK KNOCK

“Oh!!  I know this one!”  Squealed Pinkie.  She rushed past Twilight and pressed her head to the door and asked.  “Who’s there?”

A confused voice that sounded much like Applejack came from the other side.

“Uh…Pinkie?”

“Pinkie who?”

This didn’t seem to help much, as Applejack’s voice seemed to vocalize her deepening confusion. 

“Well, Pinkie Pi—“

“No!  You’re supposed to answer with your name!” Rainbow’s voice cut off Applejack, who replied heatedly.

“Why would Ah answer with my name?  My name ain’t Pinkie!”

Twilight heard a loud smack come from the other side of the door which suspiciously sounded a lot like Rainbow face-hoofing.

Before the debacle could continue, Twilight gently lifted a giggling Pinkie out of the way before opening the doors to reveal her other four friends.

“Girls!”  She smiled “I’m so glad you came, please, come on in!”

The four ponies, two of whom were giving Pinkie the stink-eye, followed Twilight as she made her way down the main hallway to the throne room.  Rarity trotted up from behind and became level with Twilight as she walked.  She could see that Rarity was gazing at the Sun and Moon tapestries that they had just passed by.

“Twilight!  Those are exactly like the old tapestries in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters!  However did you find the loom designs to copy them!  I thought the originals had been lost!”

“Oh, those aren’t copies.  Those are the originals.  The Royal Artesian restored them with some help from a few archaeologists.”

“I see.  But shouldn’t Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have them back in Canterlot?”  Rarity implored, their destination approaching quickly.

“I had thought so too, but the two of them were adamant that I keep them, especially Princess Celestia.  They wanted them to remain with the other things restored from their old castle, like the books from their library.  Also…well…”  Twilight mumbled as her speech descended into embarrassed incoherency.  

“What?” asked Fluttershy, who was opening the door for them as they passed under the arch into the throne room.

Twilight blushed a little, she was a little self-conscious over what the two sisters had told her.

“Well…apparently…after Tirek’s rampage…and I gave the other princesses their magic back…”

“Yes?”  

“It didn’t all…go away.”

…

“Sugercube, do yah mean to tell us that yah still have sum of Celestia’s and Luna’s magic?”

The others were staring at Twilight as they each took their respective seats in the throne room.

“Oh no!  I gave it all back!”  Twilight said, shaking her head in denial.  But she winced a little and continued.  “But having used their magic to lower the moon and raise the sun once, just once, their magic left a permanent imprint on mine.  My magic can now feel and effect the changing of the celestial mechanisms.”

“What about Princess Cadence’s love magic?”  Asked Rarity, sitting up straight on her throne  “You had hers in addition to the royal sisters.”

Twilight shook her head again while she got comfortable on her own throne, making a mental note for later to install a cushion.   “I never used Cadence’s magic, just Celestia’s and Luna’s, therefore my magic is only attuned to theirs.”

“Hold up a moment.” Rainbow said, looking down at Twilight from her throne.  She wasn’t content to sit in the seat like the others but was perched on the top like a bird.  “So even though you gave them their magic back, you can raise the sun and moon.”

“Well…yes, but it’s not like that.”  Corrected Twilight, trying to form her thoughts into words to better explain to her friends.  “I could if I had too, but Celestia and Luna still control the sun and moon.  Since their magic is solely attuned to the sun and moon, they have more power over them than I do.  I’d imagine I would need their permission to affect either one.  It’s just that I can help them now if they need it, which I couldn’t before since only their magic could affect the sun and moon.”

“So what’s it like!” squealed Pinkie, who Twilight could see was sitting on the edge of her throne in anticipation of an answer.

“Well…” murmed Twilight, thinking back over the few times she had noticed Celestia’s and Luna’s magic over the past week.  “It’s almost like having an internal alarm clock.  I can literally feel when the sun comes up and when the moon goes down, and vice versa.  It’s so fascinating really, I’ll have to research it sometime to better understand it.”

The others nodded in understanding, but Twilight then saw Applejack look curiously around the throne room as the others thought over what she had just said.

“Hey Twilight?”  Applejack asked, her brows etched in curiousity and a slight tint of worry.  “Why are we here in your—“

“Our.”

“--throne room instead of the regular meeting room we’ve been using to plan this shindig?  I thought we agreed we would only come and use these here thrones if thar was an emergency or somethin.”

“Yeah!”  Agreed Rainbow Dash, sizing up Twilight in suspicion.  “I don’t want to be called in to sit in this oversized chair for every single royal duty you have.  I have…uh…stuff to do!”

Twilight sighed, even though there were six other thrones in addition to hers, she was the princess, not them.  After Tirek was defeated, they had all agreed despite Twilight’s protests that they would only sit on the thrones if there was another crisis like Nightmare Moon or the Changelings again, much like they had done with the Elements of Harmony.  Though they were appreciative of the pedestal Twilight put them on, her friends were reluctant (in Applejack’s case downright hostile) to claim all the trappings of royalty from her success.  (Applejack had yelled something along the lines of ‘No good and honest Apple would ever be a freeloader!’)

Twilight in the end, had reluctantly understood.  She didn’t want to make her friends do anything they didn’t want to do.  

She was the princess, and her friends had their own lives to live.

“Sorry,” she said, her ears folding back in abashment.  “The meeting room is being renovated and this room already had enough chairs for all of us.”

“OOOoooooohhh.” Was their reply, though Spike didn’t join in with them.  He was rather proud that he had an equal part to play in their little gang, unlike before with the Elements.

“So what else needs to be done darling?”  Asked Rarity.  “We’ve covered the food—“

“Eeyup, that’s us Apples.”

“—along with the desserts and entertainment—“

“Yuppers!!  That’s me!!  Pinkie!”

“—Fluttershy will be joining our singing group to perform—“

“Well…maybe just a little…maybe…”

“—and of course, the flying stunts for the evening.”

“I’m going to knock their horseshoes off!!”  Yelled Rainbow Dash while performing a loop in the middle of the throne room.  “Scoots is helping me and it’s going to be AWESOME!!”

“I think everything is just about covered Twilight.”  Soothed Spike.  “Don’t worry, everything is just going to be fine.”

BOOM!!

The sudden noise startling them all, Twilight stared at the closed doors to the throne room in suspicion.  She thought it sounded a lot like the main doors to the outside of Castle Aurora.  She then looked next to her at Spike, a question forming on her lips.

“Spike?  I thought we sent all the workers home for today.”

“We did.”

Twilight glanced back up at the doors with concern along with everypony else.

“Then who could possibly—“

All too soon, she heard the distinct sound of a hooves clopping on her crystal floors.  By the sound of it, there were three ponies trotting purposely through her home.

Thinking it strange, as she wasn’t expecting any other visitors, Twilight reached out with her magic and opened the doors to the throne room, as it was polite to do so for guests.

As the purple doors opened and they all beheld the ponies behind them, Twilight wished she had slammed the doors in their faces immediately, instead of gaping at her visitors in surprise.

“Oh, it’s you.”  Rarity said scathingly, looking away from the trio of unicorns in distaste as if she had smelled something rotten.

It was Prince Blueblood, the duke of Canterlot and the last remaining noble of House Platinum, the royal line of unicorns.  To his right was another male unicorn dressed as dapperly as the prince, Twilight idly recognized him as Coal Dust of House Obsidian, the duke of Fillydelphia.  On Blueblood’s left was Gold Dust of House Gold, the duchess of Vanhoover.

When Twilight had been Celestia’s student, she had never interacted with the snobby prince or the other unicorn nobles for that matter.  Despite her family being nobility, Night Light and Twilight Velvet were almost never involved in politics and actively worked to not get involved.  They preferred to be known by their own character and works instead of their ancestors, a trait Twilight wholeheartedly agreed with.  They didn’t think much of their House, the Armors, except as interesting genealogy.   As Celestia’s student, the nobility had ignored Twilight and she returned the favor.  They were initially interested when Celestia took Twilight under her wing, but soon lost interest as Twilight buried herself in her studies and barely interacted with anypony besides her family and the princess.  

After the Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight apologized to Rarity for not warning her about Blueblood, even though she didn’t know the prince at all or his character.  When she had become a princess, most of the nobility (ironically the Earth Pony and Pegasi nobility) didn’t put up a fuss about her ascension since she was a proven guardian of Equestria.  The unicorn nobles however, had protested strongly since they saw her ascension as a further weakening of their own royal, Prince Blueblood.  In fact, the unicorn nobles had argued that since Twilight was a member of House Armor and originally a unicorn, she was in fact subservient to Blueblood, who was the Prince of Unicorns (which was in truth an empty title, as all the power with the position had been given to Celestia and Luna by Princesss Platinum when the Royal Sisters were given the Equestrian Throne).  When the unicorn nobles had brought their arguments to Celestia, the enraged princess had immediately decreed that any noble that did not treat Twilight as an equal to Celestia and the other princesses, would immediately forfeit their title and lands.  Since then, none had protested to the princesses.

At least, they didn’t protest in public.

Returning her thoughts to the present, Twilight appraised her unwelcome guests.

They were all scowling, and looked displeased in general, as if Twilight had already insulted them.  

Twilight could already tell that the conversation was not going to be pleasant.

Not in the slightest.

“Prince Blueblood,” Twilight dragged out through her false smile.  “Duke Coal Dust, and Duchess Gold Dust, what a…surprise.  What brings you to my home?”

And what can I do to make you leave it?

Bringing his eyes to gaze back at Twilight, Blueblood seemed to struggle to place the smile Twilight knew was as false as her own.

“Princess Twilight,” He bowed reluctantly and the other nobles followed suit.  “I have come to bring to your attention a matter of the greatest importance.”

“I’m afraid any business you have with me will have to wait.”  Twilight told them politely.   “I will soon be posting court hours which you may attend and I encourage you to schedule an appointment.  My friends and I are busy at the moment with important planning.”

Blueblood blinked a few times as he hadn’t expected Twilight to refuse him.  He looked to the other nobles for support and Coal Dust nudged the prince into starting again.

“This cannot wait,” he said oily after an awkward pause “it is a matter of greatest urgency and it would be best if we present our case to your highness alone.”  Blueblood accented the last word by glaring at the other five mares and Spike as he spoke.  The other unicorns nodded and looked at the others in shared scorn.

Twilight scowled as she understood the prince’s insinuation, but she was not about put off a meeting with her friends for Blueblood of all ponies.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t just ignore him, as he was the Duke of Canterlot and he had a right to inform her of distressing business that required her immediate attention.

Reluctantly, she acknowledged that she would have to listen to the prince’s ramblings (she didn’t think anything Blueblood considered urgent could be really that important) but she wasn’t going to cave and send away her friends however.

“Whatever you want to say to me, can be said in front of them.”  She told him icily.   As she looked down at Blueblood, who seemed taken aback at her refusal, Twilight had the infinite satisfaction to notice that she had grown taller than the stuffy unicorn prince.

“Fine.”  He said bluntly, all respect dropping from his tone.  “My colleagues—“  Blueblood gestured to the duke and duchess flanking him.  “—and I are bringing forward a petition most of the nobility from all three tribes have signed.  We want you to immediately act upon our demand.”

Twilight was a little surprised, for if Blueblood was telling the truth, he actually had something that warranted her attention.  She could never recall a time the Earth Pony and Pegasi nobility agreed with Blueblood on anything.

Turning to Gold Dust, Blueblood’s horn lit up as the duchess gave him a piece of paper from her saddlebag.  He held it aloft as Twilight took it from him.  Giving Blueblood a suspicious glare, Twilight quickly read over the parchment.

…


From the Council of Confederate Nobility to Her Highness, Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Magic.

In the aftermath of the centaur Tirek’s seizure of all of Equestria’s magic, and his defeat at your hooves, this council has investigated the cause of the crisis.

We have found that if the draconeques, Discord, had not aided Tirek in capturing ponies for the centaur to drain of magic, then the princesses and yourself would have been able to defeat Tirek easily and re-imprison him.

We have taken notice that the Royal Sisters, Princess Cadence, and you have not taken any disciplinary actions towards his betrayal of Equestria in the aftermath of this horrific attack.

Therefore, these under signers demand the permanent imprisonment of Discord, and charge you with this task as you have been proven in imprisoning the belligerent chaotic figure before.

Prince Blueblood; Duke of Canterlot, Prince of Unicorns, House Platinum

Duke York of Manehatten, House Silver

Duke Coal Dust of Fillydelphia, House Obsidian

Duchess Gold Dust of Vanhoover, House Gold

Consul Thunder Strike of CloudesDale

Consul Wheeler of Rainbow Falls

Consul Cyclone of Los Pegasus

Governor Tumble Weed of Dodge City

Governor Quartz of Crystal City

Governor Pear Cake of Hollow Shades

Sherriff Silverstar of the Appleloosa Territory

Governor Trotsky of Stalliongrad	

…

Twilight read over the names of petitioners with growing dread.  Not all of the nobility had signed this, but enough had to where she couldn’t just ignore it and Blueblood immediately.

In a sense, they were correct.  Tirek would have been much easier to deal with if Discord had not helped him.  In all likelihood, the combined might of the four princesses would have been able to defeat Tirek easily if Discord had not accelerated his power grab (literally) by capturing ponies for the centaur to drain.  In fact, Twilight doubted that there would have been a need for Celestia, Luna, and Cadence to give Twilight their magic if Discord had not been involved with Tirek’s thievery at all.  Also, Twilight might have been able to defeat Tirek by herself eventually if Discord had not gotten Twilight’s friends captured and held hostage.

But in the end, not only was Discord a victim almost as much as anypony else (having his magic stolen by Tirek too), but he had been essential in righting his wrong by helping Twilight and her friends unlock the chest and find the power to defeat Tirek and restore Equestria’s magic.  He now showed genuine repentance for his deeds, and Twilight thought he deserved some leniency.  Having been humiliated so astoundingly and having his magic drained from him forcefully was enough of a punishment, in her opinion.  

Discord was her friend, and Twilight would stand up for him.

“No.”  Twilight told them, resolute in not even considering imprisoning Discord.

“Twilight?  What is it?  What did that thar paper say?”  Applejack asked, her brow scrunched in worry at Twilight’s reaction.

“No?!”  Blueblood screeched incredulously, he and his comrades appeared shocked by her blunt refusal.  He pawed the crystal floor in front of her throne and sneered at her.  “What do you mean no!  Most of the nobility from all three tribes signed that!  That monster needs to be locked up in Tartarus with Tirek, you—“

“Hold up!” Rainbow Dash seemed to have picked up quickly what the petition said.  “Are you talking about Discord?   Cause there’s no way we’re even going to try to imprison our friend!”

Twilight thought this was odd coming from Rainbow Dash, who had once bore the Element of Loyalty.  She had been understandably upset when Discord betrayed them, and Twilight had not seen the pegasus warm back up to Discord since, but evidently she had forgiven the draconeques of his misdeeds.

Twilight knew all too well the sting of Discord’s betrayal, and it would have been so easy to hold it against him.  But she knew that Discord had been manipulated by Tirek into helping him.  Looking back, Twilight realized that if she and the other princesses had been more welcoming of Discord, instead of treating him as a walking time bomb (though he had done more than enough to earn that title) then perhaps he wouldn’t have felt like their ‘errand boy’ and Tirek wouldn’t have been able to persuade him.

After Discord fully recounted his story to Twilight and her friends, she had picked up an inkling that even as he had helped Tirek, he was trying to find friendship.  His actions with the centaur only cemented her theory.  Discord’s reaction to Tirek’s betrayal and his immediate remorse had sealed it.

Twilight saw the others pick up on Rainbow Dash’s discovery and they too started to shout at the nobles in unified refusal of their demand.

“How dare you!”  Rarity screeched.

“Ain’t no way ya’ll will get ya’lls filthy hooves on him!”

“Nuh huh!  Nuh huh!” Pinkie repeated, bouncing up and down on her throne as she yelled down at them.

Fluttershy was silent but nodded along with the rest of them.

Spike too remained silent but he crossed his arms and smoke curled from his nostrils in outrage.

Blueblood shook his head from side to side as the refusals assaulted him from each pony.  Glaring angrily at all of them, he shouted up back at Twilight and tried to ignore their yells of denial.

“Listen here Sparkle!  That beast has no business being among us!  I don’t know why Celestia even released the mad monster in the first place!  The only thing he’s good for is collecting pigeon poop in the royal gardens!”

Fluttershy’s wings fluttered a little as she sat up and tried to calm Blueblood.  She spoke in soothing tones and smiled at him reassuringly.

“Now, now, I know Discord’s done some not so nice things, but—“

Blueblood rounded on her and screamed into her face.

“Do not speak to me harlot!  I did not come to trade words with some commoner!!”

“HEY!!!”  Rainbow flew down until she was inches from Blueblood’s face.  “Nopony talks to my friend like that!!”

Twilight was furious, standing up and her horn glowing brilliantly, she smothered Blueblood and Rainbow in her magic before simultaneously teleporting both of them.  Rainbow Dash ended up back on her throne, and Blueblood landed directly in front of her.

“Prince Blueblood!”  she snarled, tossing his title like a misused dish cloth.  “You do not disrespect my friends!  They—“

Apparently, Blueblood was either very stupid or very brave to interrupt one of Twilight’s infamous lectures.

Who was she kidding? 

“I will disrespect whomever I wish Sparkle!!  These mares—"

“And a dragon!!”  Spike yelled.

“--are nothing but backwater country bumpkins!!  How dare you ask me, the Prince of Unicorns, to treat these uneducated scullery maids with respect!!!  I would rather—“

Twilight never found out what Blueblood would rather have done, for with a satisfying zip, a zipper sprouted across his muzzle and sealed his mouth shut.  Blueblood didn’t notice that his ramblings were now incoherent, as he seemed to gesture dramatically his supposed importance before he froze up and felt the zipper across his face, discovering the new addition.  He then tried to unzip it but had no success, to Twilight’s infinite amusement.


I’ll have to thank Discord for that later.

The obviousness of the trick aside, Twilight, being the alicorn of magic, could sense different types of magic, and Discord’s brand of magic stood out like an oasis in a desert.  

While Blueblood struggled to renew his rant and her friends started keeling over with laughter at his performance, Twilight looked around the throne room for Discord, seeing if she could spot him hiding anywhere.

But she didn’t see anything that would give him away.  Not two mischievous mismatched eyes or that grinning smile he wore when he performed his mischeif.

Discord had been unusually shy lately, which Twilight understood.  He had only popped up occasionally over the past week to see her and their friends barely saw him at all.

Vowing mentally to find her friend later, Twilight turned her attention back to the silenced stallion.

Blueblood was now gesturing to Gold Dust and Coal Dust to continue with his speech, trying to (in a very princely fashion) gesture what he wanted said.

Thankfully, either they didn’t understand his signaling or they were smart enough to back off.  Gold Dust looked apprehensive but turned a determined face towards Twilight anyway.

“We are the unicorn nobles, the most ancient and preserved of Equestria’s nobility, and we will not acknowledge your friends as anything but decoration for your court.  They are unfit for the honor you bestow upon them.”  She paused and seemed to gather her thoughts.  “You are making a mistake honoring these mares as equals in your court, you would be wise to choose among us to fill these thrones.”  

Twilight could see her eyes gleam with ambition, and she had a sudden strike of insight.

Of course the nobles, particularly the unicorns, saw these thrones as an opportunity.  They saw a princess treating her friends as equals, and probably thought that if they could replace or remove her friends, then they too could sit on one of these thrones.  That was why the nobles were so both affronted and interested by her new throne room, they saw it as a chance for more power.

Snorting disdainfully, Twilight knew she would never allow that to come to pass.  These thrones were for the protection and the continued harmony of Equestria, Twilight would give up her crown before she let something that important dissolve into something as pointless as power grabbing.

“My friends were chosen to sit here with me by the ancient magic that has guided our land for millennia duchess, and they will help me as I seek to protect and guide our land along with the other princesses.”

Scowling in frustration, Gold Dust opened her mouth to respond, but Twilight levitated their petition in front of her.

“As for Discord,” she intoned regally, trying to sound like Celestia when the sun princess addressed her court.  “this council will not imprison him or take any actions against him.  He was a victim like the rest of us.  My answer is no.”

And with that, she tore the parchment into pieces with her magic before igniting it.  Its ashes floated to the ground where they gathered into a neat pile.

While Gold Dust looked aghast at the ash pile in front of her, Coal Dust addressed her.

“You’re making a mistake princess, protecting that monster.”

“No,” Twilight answered calmly.  “I am doing the same thing that defeated Tirek and restored Equestria its magic.  If that is something you have issue with, then you may leave.”

The two nobles looked cowed, but Blueblood kept gesturing wildly, now not even trying to act prim and proper.  Gold Dust seemed to understand his nonsensical movement and translated for them.

“His highness says that he will not be attending your party next week.  It will sure to be a fiasco without him.”  She translated.

“Then I will return the invitation I never sent.  And it will be all the more pleasant.”  She told the affronted prince bluntly.

Blueblood seemed to have reached the end of his patience, for he stuck his muzzle in the air (from which the zipper still dangled) and walked out the door back into the hallway, the other two following him with similar body posture.  They all watched them walk away until the doors to the castle slammed shut behind them.

With the nobles gone, the others shifted in the thrones uncomfortably.  They looked at each other in wonder at what to do until Fluttershy spoke up.

“Thanks Twilight, for standing up for Discord.”

“You’re welcome Fluttershy, by the way, have you seen him lately?”

“No,” she said sadly.  “He’s been flitting in and out of places.  Like a lost puppy.”

“He’ll pop up or fly in eventually.  He always does!”  Rainbow said energetically.

“All this aside darling,” Rarity interrupted, she seemed to have a thought.  “What are you going to do about party-crashers?”

“Ooh!!  Ooh!!  Pick me!!  I know the answer!!”  Pinkie screamed.

“Alright Pinkie!” yelped Applejack.  “Fire away!”

“Nopony likes a party pooper!  So I say we put them in this!!”  She scuttled behind the throne and returned with a large version of her party cannon.  “And they can go party-poop somewhere else!!”  

The rest of them nodded carefully (Fluttershy somewhat fearfully, while Dash seemed like she wanted to try it) and Twilight nudged the cannon to where it wasn’t pointing at her.

“What I meant is,” Rarity corrected.  “Is what we will do for guards?” 

“Guards?”  Twilight tilted her head, the question coming out of the blue for her.

“Yes dear, guards.   This is a castle, it needs guards.”  She said dutifully.

“Oh!”  Twilight said, she then laughed a little and waved a hoof dismissively.  “I don’t need guards!  Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Sugercube, I’m with Rares on this one.  This is a mighty big place, you’re gonna need some extra support.”  Applejack added, peering at Twilight sternly.

“But why would I need guards!”  Twilight said defensively.  “This is Ponyville for crying out loud!”

She laughed again until she noticed nopony else was laughing with her.

“Well…”  Fluttershy started.  “There was Nightmare Moon—

“—and Discord—“

“—Dragons—“

“--Diamond Dogs—“

“—amulet-crazy showmare—“

“—Ursa-Minor—“

“—Timberwolves—“

“—Changelings—“

“—Tirek—“

“ALRIGHT I GET IT!!”  She yelled, the barrage of the list of enemies coming from all sides as her friends listed them off.  “But do I really need guards?”

“Yes Twi,” Rainbow said firmly.  “Cause by the look of those snobs, they aren’t happy with you.  And we don’t want to see you get hurt.  And let’s face it, your castle is kinda obvious.”

“They’ll be attracted to it like moths to a lighthouse.”  Applejack added.

Twilight was frustrated.  She didn’t want guards, just like she didn’t want servants.  She had nothing against them, her own brother was a guard!  The thing was she hated thinking that she had to be such a bother that ponies had to take care of her.

On the other hoof, her friends were right, again.  It wasn’t her small cozy and unnoticeable library tree anymore, it was a huge, honking, enormous castle!

Trying to think of a way out of it while complying to her friend’s worries, Twilight scrambled to find a compromise. 

As she thought, a broom and dustpan had arrived to clean up the ash pile that had been Blueblood’s petition.

An idea formed.

“I just got a whole bunch of armor from my brother!  What if I enchanted them to serve as guards!  It’ll take a bit of work, but I can do it!”

Spike didn’t seem to like that idea.

“Brooms and mops were one thing Twilight, but armor!  What if--”

“I’ll promote you to Knight-Commander and they’ll take orders from you.”

“Done!”  Spike agreed heartily, shaking her hoof in agreement.

“I don’t think you’re taking this seriously sugercube.”  Applejack interjected heatedly. 

“I agree with A.J., magic and spells aren’t substitute for the real thing Twi.”  Added Rainbow.

Twilight sighed, she knew convincing her friends would be tougher.

“Tell you what, for the Open House Ball I’ll ask Celestia and Luna if I could borrow some of their guards for the night, then we’ll discuss this again.  O.K.?”

Her friends didn’t seem too happy about it, but they nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think there’s anything else to discuss, let’s go eat lunch.”  Said Fluttershy.

RUMBLE RUMBLE.

Twilight blushed as her friends turned to her and her stomach, which apparently agreed with Fluttershy.

“Alright, let’s eat, I just stocked the kitchen.  Meeting adjourned.”





Castle Aurora

Six Hours Later

Twilight 





Spike had just gone to bed, and Twilight was about to do some late-night research and she had gone down to the kitchen for a snack, when she felt it.

Chaos Magic.

One of the first things she had done to the castle was cast a ward that would alert her to any pony that entered the castle by magical means, and where they were located.  Usually, her defensive spells would have blocked an intruder, but Discord was not known for making sense.

Looking around, Twilight grabbed a tea set before sending her magic senses to find out where the draconeques was.  Upon locking onto his magical signature, she discovered that he was sitting on top of the roof of the castle’s highest tower.
Seizing upon his chaotic presence like a beacon, Twilight charged up her magic and teleported to the top, taking the tea set with her.

As the magic from her teleportation disappeared and she regained her senses, Twilight saw Discord.

And felt pity.

The mismatched figure was crouched low on the roof, a fluffy pink cotton candy cloud floating above him while it rained chocolate milk on him.  As she watched, he raised his lion’s paw and rubbed his finger and thumb together and it was then that Twilight could hear some very sad violin music playing. 

“It’s a cricket violin.” He said plainly.  “I borrowed it from one of Fluttershy’s animal friends.”

Twilight didn’t know what to make of Discord.  She had never seen him to lack so much energy or spirit.  No matter if he was happy, mad, or anything, Discord had this boundless energy he seemed to have everywhere he went and in everthing he did.

She didn’t see it now.

Discord was the stillest she had ever seen (minus the time he was a statue) , and he continued to stare off over the distant Everfree Forest as he played his cricket violin.

Twilight flapped her wings and glided over to him until she sat next to him on the roof, she would have been drizzled in chocolate milk if they could hadn’t parted and spared her, Discord’s doing.

She picked up the tea set in her magic and levitated it in front of him.

“Tea cup?”

“You are too kind my dear.”  He said, a brief smile flitted across his face until it disappeared again.  He reached out with his eagle claw and grasped one of the tea cups.  With a loud crunch, he started munching on it.

They sat together as Discord munched on the tea cup, Twilight gathered some of the chocolate milk in her cup and sipped from it daintily.

Twilight knew on some level that Discord felt guilty, and that was something he was probably not use to feeling.  She knew prodding him wouldn’t help, and it would be best if he came out of his own accord.

“You know,” Discord started, still staring off over the forest.  “In all those times I played my games and had my way, I never thought about how those I played with felt.”

Twilight stayed silent, letting him talk.

“It’s different, being the victim, the puppet on the end of the string.  For that’s exactly what Tirek did, he played me for a fool, and I danced to his tune.”

Twilight said nothing.

“And then it all came crashing down, like a house of cards.  I pretend that I’m all-knowing, it’s part of the game, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Even I get caught by surprise, as you know.”  He paused seeming to sort his thoughts.  “And when I realized what a fool I had been, to both trust Tirek and to betray you, I was too late, and I expected the worst.  For being the master of Chaos, I seem to have found a rut in thinking predictably, for I imagined that for such an act of treachery, I had forfeited any kind of friendship I had and refused to even hope for a better possibility.”

…

“But I was wrong, you are full of surprises Twilight Sparkle.”  

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

A pause, they just sat together, enjoying the cool evening breeze.  The sun was making it’s descent on the distant horizon, casting the skies into a brilliant shade of lavander.

“Discord, I know you feel bad for what happened, but you can’t do this to yourself, it’s not healthy.”

"So is chocolate, but we still eat it."

Twilight didn't answer that, and she waited until he turned and she could finally see all of his face.

“There is something I do not understand, and I want to know.”

“What?”

“When I first tried to be ‘reformed’, I saw friendship as a compromise, an I do this for you, and you do this for me kinda thing.”

“Not all of it, but it is needed sometimes.”

“But then, when I had nothing to offer, and when you had every right to cast me aside as I had you.  You forgave me, and saved me, even though I was the cause of all the trouble.”

He looked her in the eye.

“Why?”

“Because you asked for forgiveness.”

Discord looked confused, something Twilight did not see often.

“I never spoke though.”

“You didn’t need to.”  She said calmly.  “I could see you, your regret, your repentance, your sadness.  I knew you did terrible things with Tirek, but I also knew, unlike him, you realized your mistake and wanted to do better.”

“I only realized it because I had lost.”

“It doesn’t matter how you realize it, but that you do recognize your mistake.”

…

“Even so, surely, given my crimes, I deserved to be punished, to be left behind.  Why extend grace towards someone with that hanging from them.”

“That’s not how grace works.  Grace is given out of hope, and the times we need grace the most is when we least deserve it.”

With that, Twilight stood up and walked up to him, standing in front of him.

“I think you need a hug.” 

Reaching around him, Twilight hugged him, and was happy to feel—

No wait, that’s the flag pole.

“Over here!” he sang, he laughed and Twilight knew that he was feeling better already.  He reached down and plucked her off the tower and hugged her for real this time, swinging her around until he set her back down.

Discord smiled again and laughed heartily before he looked back towards the sun.

“I think I will go on a—what’s it called?”  There was a flash and he was dressed in a tourist get-up complete with the gaudy hat and hideious sunglasses.  “A road trip?  Yes that’s it!”

“Where will you go?” She laughed.

“Oh, here, there, everywhere!  But seriously, I’m off on an adventure!”  Another flash and he was suddenly dressed like Starswirl the Bearded, complete with the large hat.  “Care to join me? I go onwards on a quest of searching!”

“What are you searching for?”

“Myself of course!”

Twilight smirked.  “Well, I hope you find yourself here in time for the Open-House Ball, there are some nobles that could use some…new outfits.”

Discord flashed next to her in an old grannies costume.  “Oh I’m so proud of you!  My little Twiley’s all grown up!”  Another flash and he was dressed like Daring Do.  “But ta-ta Twilight!  I must be going, before I go I must…er…drop in on some friends of ours.”  Impossibly, a vine appeared out of thin air and held itself in front of him.  He grabbed hold of it like he was about to swing off the top of the tower.

“Discord, wait.”

He looked back and pushed the pith helmet up his forehead.  “Hurry Twilight, haven’t a moment to lose!  Surely you know the benefits of a kept schedule!”

“You heard Blueblood today.”

“Now Twilight, we don’t cuss in good company.”

She smirked again.  

“I want you to know, no matter what other ponies say, you’re always welcome in my home.”

Discord smiled, and his eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Dear, dear, Twilight, it astounds me how much you are like your mother.”

“Huh?”

“Toodaloo!!!” he yelled, he grabbed the vine and leaped off, and Twilight could hear his mad cackling as he swung towards what Twilight could see was Fluttershy’s cottage.

She sat there a moment, enjoying it, when an errant thought struck her.

“Since when did Discord know my mom?”





> Chapter 3:  The Open House Ball
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Undisclosed Location Near Ponyville

Two Hours Before the Open House Ball





There were two figures that stood on the outskirts of Ponyville, both of them far off from the town’s boundaries and near the edge of the Everfree Forest.  The two of them wore cloaks, though it was noticeable that one was torn and ragged while the other was new and pristine.  They were both looking in the far off distance at Castle Aurora, which dominated Ponyville’s skyline.  Unlike the rest of the town, which was growing dark and quiet as the day ended, the castle seemed to light up more brightly like a beacon in the fading sunlight

The figure wearing the new cloak was a white unicorn stallion with a golden mane.  Underneath the cloak he wore an expensive and elegant shirt and tie that relayed his noble station.  The unicorn was distinctly uncomfortable underneath the branches of the Everfree, and appeared nerveous from his constant shuffling.

The other, shorter figure had the appearance of a black pegasus stallion with a dark brown mane.  He had on no garments other than the cloak, but his pale blue eyes seemed to pierce the oncoming darkness.  The pale orbs glimmered with intelligence, with no small amount of cunning as well.  Unlike the other cloaked figure, the black pegasus was distinctly at ease and calm.  He carried himself with confidence and authority.

“Are you sure you want me to give this to Coal Dust?  I really think we could gain much more by blackmailing her.”  The white stallion addressed his companion.  He held up in his magic a small worn piece of parchment that looked official with its curved, slanted writing.

“Stick to the plan Blueblood!”  The black pegasus hissed.  “I’ve told you before!  This is the best way for my colleagues and me to deal with Sparkle.  Once she’s properly distracted, we’ll be able to proceed.  Trussssst me!”

The cloaked pegasus stared intently at Blueblood with a fierce glare.  As if the pale eyes boring into Blueblood would discourage the prince from hesitating.

“But that’s the thing Bacillus, I don’t trust you.  Not at all.  If you had not come to me almost a week ago with this,” Blueblood waved the old fragment of paper in his magic.  “I would not even be talking to you.  I mean look at you!  Your attire looks like it just walked out of the Badlands!  And I don’t even know your so called ‘colleagues.’  How do I know they can keep your promise?”

“Do not…tesssssst me Blueblood.  My plan will work.  Sparkle will be taken care of, and soon, her court as well.  All you have to do, is give that piece of parchment to Duke Coal Dust, and let me take care of the rest.”

Blueblood leaned away from Bacillus, cowed by the pegasus’s ferocity.

“Fine.”  He stated in finality, taken aback by the pegasus sudden fierceness.  Eyeing Bacillus warily, he spoke with caution.  “But again, why must I give it to Coal Dust?  With the information on this paper, humiliating Sparkle is a surety!  I would love to do it!  Why use the duke?”

Bacillus stood still in contemplation of the question, before turning back to Blueblood with a raised eyebrow.

“Tell me, how much would you enjoy being a crater?”

“A crater?  Why ever would I be a crater?”

Instead of answering, Bacillus turned away from Ponyville and pointed with a wing towards the Everfree Forest.

“Look over there.”

Blueblood turned and viewed the decimated forest.  Many of the trees were ash or black shadows of their former selves.  Craters the size of a castle littered the barren wasteland along with deep trenches scarred in the rock.

“HHHmmm.  That’s new.”

Bacillus sighed in exasperation at the prince.  He glared at him disbelievingly.

“Do you not know what caused this?  Where were you during Tirek’s attack?”

Blueblood shuddered.

“After that…thing…took my magic, I barricaded myself in the deepest part of my mansion in Canterlot.  I stayed there until my magic was returned to me.”

“You didn’t hear the explosions, or feel the earthquakes?”

“No, I…well now that you mention it, I did feel some tremors.  Are you telling me Tirek did this?”

“No, not exactly.”  Bacillus answered.  “All this was caused when Sparkle dueled Tirek.”

Blueblood’s jaw dropped visibly, despite the cloak.

“I—I had heard, well, stories.  But I put thought that was all propaganda!” He whimpered.  Blueblood paled suddenly and looked Bacillus in the eyes.  “You know, I’m having second thoughts—“

“Don’t be a fool, Blueblood.”  Bacillus hissed, turning back to face Castle Aurora.  “Sparkle had the magic of all four alicorn’s then.  Now she has only her own.”

Blueblood seemed to ponder Bacillus’s reassurances but continued to glare accusingly at the black pegasus.

“I don’t know…”  Blueblood wondered.  “If those stories are true, then Sparkle was still able to defeat Tirek after he had all the magic of Equestria.  Tirek had all four alicorn’s, Discord’s, and every single pony from Appleloosa to the Crystal Empire and Sparkle still beat him, even after being drained of her magic.  Is that true?”

Bacillus’s eyes narrowed but he did not contradict the prince.

“Yes, that is all true.  She is not the Princess of Magic for nothing after all.  Other than the princesses, there is nopony who has walked this earth that can equal her in magical power and skill.”  Bacillus recited grudgingly.  It was obvious he didn’t like it but refused to ignore the facts.

Blueblood, doing the impossible, turned paler as his blood ran cold.

“Then why by Platinum’s crown are we doing this?!”  He waved the parchment away from him as if it were a bomb.  “Sparkle will flatten the pony who reveals this—“

“And that is why Coal Dust will be doing the revealing, remember?”  Bacillus reminded him.

Blueblood froze in realization.

“Oh.”

“Took you long enough.”

Blueblood wasn’t finished though.  He seemed placated a little but his brow was still scrunched up in thought.

“Wait a moment…if I give this to Coal Dust…well then he’ll squeal and rat me out surely!  Once Sparkle has finished flattening him into the ground!”  He screeched at the pegasus.

Bacillus nodded impatiently, to Blueblood’s horror.  But before the prince could object, Bacillus held up a hoof to forestall the stallion.

“Yes, that would be true.  IF Coal Dust remembered we gave it to him.”

“Why wouldn’t he?  Blueblood asked, his curiosity piqued and his panicked rant stalled.

“Because after you give him that parchment, I’ll place a spell on him that will make him think he took it himself from the public archives in Canterlot.  It won’t be a mind control spell, those are too easy to break if detected.  I will transplant my own memory from when I found it so that Coal Dust has the true memories of finding that dirt on Sparkle.  At the same time I will erase from his memory his encounter with you so that the story is straight all around.”

Blueblood nodded along but seemed put off by a stray thought.

“This sounds good and all, but it doesn’t sound like you need me to do this.  So why do you want me to give it to him?”

Bacillus sighed again and tapped his hoof on the ground impatiently as he continued to stare in the distance at the shimmering castle.

“For starters I need someone he trusts to distract him while I place the memory charm on him.  A scuffle or fight will attract unwanted attention and make the memory charm harder to uphold if a fight was involved.  Secondly, we need a noble, someone high up like yourself, to…help us.  I figured if you knew it was I that rattled Sparkle’s world with that paper you're holding, you would be more than willing to participate and profit from my expenditure.”

Blueblood huffed but he shrugged in resignation.

“Fine, your reasoning is sound, and you were right to seek my help.  Most of the other nobles, especially the Pegasi and Earth Pony nobles, are disillusioned with Sparkle.  They see her as some type of glorious hero.  They should be paying attention to me, not that filthy commoner.  I am the Prince of Unicorns, descended from Princess Platinum herself, not some bookworm nopony from this primitive village.  How a noble family such as the Armors could have dared to adopt some common pony as Sparkle, I will never comprehend.”

Bacillus smiled, it was a brilliant white against his black coat and lacked any humor, but carried a certain satisfaction.  

“I understand completely, your highness.”

His eyes flickered playfully back to the parchment Blueblood tucked into his coat.  Then back to the castle in the distance.

“And soon, everypony else will too.





Castle Aurora

One Hour Until Sunset

Twilight





“Alright Spike, time to do our last-minute check list, before everypony gets here.”

“I’m ready whenever you are!  Fire away!”  Spike said, holding up a quill and paper.

Twilight and Spike were in the princess’s quarters, preparing for the Open House Ball.  The room was large and spacious, bookshelves covered the walls, carrying Twilight’s favorite tomes.  Books old and new, fiction and non-fiction, science and philosophy.  Along with those others the Journal of the Royal Pony Sisters sat on a gilded stand in a corner.  A large, four poster bed lay against the wall next to the balcony doors, covered in fine purple linens.  

An old picture of Twilight as a filly, standing next to Princess Celestia when she became her student was in a large gold frame adjacent to the bed.  She had owned a small copy in her album, but it had burned in the library.  That was the original. Celestia had given it to Twilight as a gift from her own private art collection.  It had a special place on the wall next to her family portrait.

Said portrait contained Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Shining Armor, Cadence, Twilight, and Spike.  The picture had been taken a few months after her coronation, and it had belonged to her parents but they gave it to her to replace her lost photos.

Other things of lesser importance littered the floor and walls.  Royal banners, telescopes, maps, spells, and the occasional globe decorated the room.  A single door revealed a walk in closet, which was woefully empty except for a few new dresses from Rarity.  
Another door led to a large new bathroom with a crystal tub and golden faucets.

The princess and the dragon were both wearing the best of their new wardrobe.

Spike wore a dapper green suit with coattails with a white shirt and a glittering emerald tie that matched his scales.  A green top hat was donned on top of his head and a black cane was propped up against him since he held Twilight’s list and a quill.  He had a monocle over his left eye and a golden pocket watch in his coat pocket.

Twilight wore a beautiful lavender dress Rarity had specially made for the Open House Ball.  It had golden threads along the hem and light purple sleeves around her forelegs.  The train of the dress had numerous stars, constellations, and planets sown into the dark purple fabric.  On her hooves she wore four new golden shoes, replacing the ones she had worn at her coronation which had melted in Tirek’s fire.  Around her neck she wore a new golden torc like Celestia’s, but more in shape like Luna’s as it bore a six pointed purple star gem in the likeness of her cutie-mark.

Twilight was the host after all, and she needed to look her best.

“Is all the food ready?  Appetizers, the main course, and plenty of desserts?”  She asked Spike, beginning their checklist again.

“Check!  Applejack has appetizers and dinner, and Pinkie has desserts!  She brought everything from Sugercube Corner and even got Pony Joe to send some donuts from Canterlot!”

“Good!  How about decorations?”

“Check!  Rarity is all over that!  She has done everything from flowers to banners!  I can’t believe she was able to do that and complete all the dress orders she had for the ball!”

“Excellent!  Now what about the entertainment?”

“Rainbow Dash and the Cutie Mark Crusaders have got us covered!  Rainbow and Scootaloo are performing some stunts, Scootaloo with her scooter and Rainbow with some flying maneuvers.  Then the CMC are going to shoot off fireworks—“

“What!!”  Twilight shrieked.  Her blood ran cold at the thought of those three near any kinds of explosives.  “That wasn’t on the list yesterday!”

Spike tapped his chin in thought.  “Oh yeah!  They asked yesterday if they could help with the entertainment with Rainbow Dash, it was Scootaloo’s idea.  Apparently they’re trying to get their cutie-marks in pyrotechnics.”

“…Alright, but we need to make sure Rainbow keeps an eye on them.”  Twilight said, after some consideration.  “Oh!  We’ll also need to put Ponyville’s Volunteer Fire Department on notice when they start, just in case.”

“This wouldn’t be their first time putting out the CMC’s fires…”  Spike muttered.

“Alright!  What’s next?”  Twilight pressed on, peering closely at the list over Spike’s shoulder.  “…Music!”

“Oh it’s going to be great!  Inside the ball room Rarity booked an orchestra from Canterlot!  Pinkie also convinced DJ Pon-3 to play some music outside the castle on the lawn!”

“Great!  Did we get someone to valet for all the carriages coming?  As well as someone organizing traffic from the train station?”

“We sure did!  Applejack got some of her cousins from Appleloosa to manage the carriages, and Ponyville’s sherrif and his deputies are handling all the traffic.  They’re working with the train station’s crew.”

“Phheww,” Twilight sighed.  “I knew that might have poised a problem, with all the carriages and pony’s coming from…well…everywhere!   Now what about security?  I know Shining insisted on being in charge, but I insisted on him relaxing.  I’m sure Cadence appreciated that.”

“Princesses Celestia and Luna both sent fifty guards each.  We’ve got them all spread out in the public parts of the castle, with a few pegasi guards high up in the towers.  Since you ‘insisted’ on Shining relaxing tonight, Luna got Noctis, her captain of the Night Watch, to oversee both her own and Celestia’s Royal Guards.”  Spike looked up from his list to look up at Twilight, who was grimacing.  “Oh don’t worry Twilight!  They’re just here for tonight!”

Twilight sighed a little and looked at the portraits on the wall, particularly the ones of Shining and Princess Celestia.

“I hope so Spike.  You know how Shining is, he sees changelings under his bed.  He’s been insisting for a while now that I need to get some guards.  And getting this castle has only seemed to strengthen his resolve to put a garrison here.  Celestia is of the same mind, not that Luna and Cadence don’t agree with her, but Celestia quietly suggested in our weekly tea get together last week that I need my own guard now.”  

“They only have you’re best interests at heart Twilight.”  Spike told her sagely.

Twilight reached out with a wing and put it around him in a hug.

“You’re right Spike, but let’s take things one at a time.  We’ll just have to make sure the guards leave after we’ve let them in.”

“Uuuuhhh…”  Spike murmured.  To Twilight, his expression just screamed guilt.

“What?”

“I…uh…already let them in two hours ago.”  He said shyly, content at looking at the claws on his feet.

“Oh…well…that’s that then.”  Twilight said in reluctant resignation.  “Nothing we can do about it now.  What’s next on the list?”

“O.K!  Next is…rooms for our friends and family.  We’ve already taken care of that.”

Twilight nodded in remembrance of their earlier preperations.  She had invited her parents and Shining and Cadence to stay here at her castle for the night.  She had then extended that invitation to Celestia and Luna, who both accepted.  Twilight and Spike had prepared four of the guest suites.  One for her parents, one for Shining and Cadence, one for Celestia, and one for Luna.  All in the private part of the castle near Twilight’s and Spike’s rooms.

“Great job Spike!  Is that everything?”  She asked patiently.

“That’s it!”

As soon as he finished, Twilight noticed a certain bird swoop down from the perch above her to land on a pedestal behind Spike.  Her lips curved upwards in a smile as a sneaky thought came to her.

“Are you sure?  Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

Spike’s brow furrowed in confusion and he looked back down at the list to double check it.

“…who?”

“Hoo!”

Twilight laughed as Spike jumped and whirled at Owlowiscous in surprise.

“Hoo!”  The owl repeated, glaring accusingly at Spike.

“That’s what I’m asking!   Who?”

“Hoo.”

Spike face-clawed and shook his head in dismay.

“It’s you isn’t it?”

“Hoo!”

“YOU, that’s who!”

“Hoo.”

“NNNOOOOooooooooo!!!  Make it stop!”  Spike howled, covering his ears with his claws in an attempt to stop the owl’s tirade.

Twilight gave up trying to hold in her laughter and crumpled into a fit of uncontrolled giggling.

“Knock it off Twilight!  He wasn’t that funny!”   Spike growled, though he too chuckled a little.

“Alright Spike.”  Twilight said, getting over her fit of giggling.  She held out a wing to Owlowiscious and the owl flapped over to settle onto her back.  “Owlowiscous here is going to accompany Philomena and Luna’s pet possum Tiberius tonight.”

“Luna has a pet…possum?  Named Tiberius?!”

“Luna also calls him Sir Tibbles.”  She giggled.

“No.”

“Oh yes.”  Twilight told Spike pointedly, she turned her head to look back at Owlowiscous.  “You’re going to give them a tour of the castle right?”

“Hoo.”

“Good!  I’m sure Philomena and Tibbles will love that, just don’t cause too much ruckus at the dessert table.”

“Hoo!”

Twilight eyed Owlowoscious warily and narrowed her eyes at him.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t act all innocent.  I know for a fact that you and Philomena would eat everything by yourselves, and that doesn’t include Tibbles.  I’m sure he’s picked up a sweet tooth from hanging around Luna.”

Owlowiscous flapped his wings in defeat and gave out a reluctant, “Hoo.”

Spike looked back and forth between the two of them, as if how Twilight could understand the owl’s singular hoots before shrugging it off.

“If that’s everything, shouldn’t we head down to the main hallway to open the doors and let them in?  It’s about time for the Grand Entry!”  He pulled out his pocket watch and tapped it knowingly.

“You’re right Spike!  But let’s not waste time walking, it’ll be faster if we just teleport.”

Before Spike could protest, though Twilight doubted he would, she charged up her magic for the spell and quickly reappeared in the main hallway in front of the entrance doors.  Two guards flanked the crystal doorway, one golden armored Royal Guard and one turquoise armored Night Watch.  And then behind her, scattered throughout the large entry hallway were more guards between the windows and columns, standing stoically at attention and awaiting the crowd that was surely on the other side of the door. To Twilight’s immediate right stood Noctis, who was Luna’s Captain of the Night Watch.

“Ah, there you are princess.  Is everything in order?”  He asked Twilight politely.  Noctis was taller than the average pegasus and had all the traits of a lunar-pegasi.  The gray fur, the tufted ears, and the yellow slitted eyes all gave away his night-affinity.  He was armored in similar fashion to the rest of the Night Watch, but instead of turquoise, his armor was silver.  Noctis was joint-commander of the two branches of the guard tonight since Shining Armor was off duty.  Despite his intimidating appearance, Twilight knew from the few occasions she met him that Noctis had a good heart, and a hearty laugh.  Even now he smiled at her encouragingly.  “All guards are ready your highness, just say the word and we’ll be ready to throw out any party crashers that show their ugly head.”  

Twilight smiled at his surety but shook her head.

“I’m sorry captain, but I promised Pinkie that I would let her deal with any party crashers tonight.”

Noctis’s smile widened exponentially.  “Oh yes, Miss Pie’s reputation in dealing with party crashers is legendary.  We are more than willing to let them fall into her capable hooves.”  

Behind him, the two guards at the door smiled and nodded simultaneously.

“Oh, and here is that list you wanted for young Spike.”  Reaching with a wing into his armor, Noctis pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment which he then handed to Spike.  “That is the order in which they will be entering after everyone else has come on in.”

What he was referring to was the list of important VIPs that would enter after everypony else, in order to stage the ‘Grand Entry.’  In short, it was a parade of important figures that would arrive ‘fashionably late.’  Twilight had narrowed down the list to a few ponies, mostly friends and family in order to not draw it out like at the Gala.  Rarity had insisted on researching the protocol for the arrivals, and 
Spike had volunteered to announce them as they entered.

“Oh right, I had almost forgotten about that!  Rarity insisted that we follow some of the, ‘royal party protocol’ and Pinkie Pie agreed with her.”  Twilight leaned over Spike as he read over the parchment.  “Do you think you can handle it Spike?”

He nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.  “Sure thing Twilight!”  And with that he started making his way to the dais at the back of the entry hall where he and Twilight would stand for the Grand Entry.

“Are we ready princess?”  Noctis asked formally, though his smile ruined the effect.

With a bright flash Twilight teleported onto the dais while Spike picked up his pace to catch up with her.

“Ready Captain!!”  Twilight affirmed, her cheerful voice echoing down the entry hall.

Nocits about-faced and motioned with his wing to the two guards flanking the entryway to open the doors, he then stepped to the side as the guards lifted the latch and let the flood of ponies waltz in.

There were a great multitude of ponies, all dressed in their finest attire.  Twilight could make out a few familiar faces from Ponyville, as well as recognize a few nobles and celebrities.  Newspaper reporters with their cameras were also scattered amongst the crowd, taking pictures and already asking questions.  There were also a great many ponies she did not recognize, but they were welcome all the same.  The crowd murmured in excitement as they made their way into Castle Aurora, making room for all those behind them.  They lined the walls while they waited for the Grand Entry to end.  They made sure to leave room at the foot of the dais for Twilight’s VIPs, which was roped off with a ‘reserved’ sign.

Not about to have a repeat of the Gala’s disastrous entry, where she and Princess Celestia greeted each and every guest individually, Twilight had decided she would let them all in and then give a short speech before letting the festivities begin.

One all the ponies had filled up the hallway, Twilight nodded to Spike to begin, who in turn motioned for some enchanted trumpets to start playing as he made the first of the presentations.

With a tremendous blast, the instruments signaled for the first of the VIPs to start down the red carpet towards the dais.

“Presenting their royal highnesses, Princess Celestia Sol and Princess Luna Selene of Equestria!”  Spike announced happily, his face twisted into a smile that lit up his scaly face.

As the crowd cheered and applauded for the two princesses, Twilight remembered idly the addition of her former mentor’s last name.  Celestia and Luna were indeed full-blooded sisters, but when they had become princesses of Equestria over a thousand years ago, it was decided that each would have their own royal house so as to appear equal, instead of belonging to the same house and Luna appearing subservient to Celestia.  However, they were the only members of their respective houses, so the additional title was just a formality.  Being royalty of the host nation, it was expected that they would appear first in the Grand Entry.

Celestia was wearing something that looked like a formal bright yellow sun dress, but without the gaudy wide-brimmed hat.  Some gold was sewn along the hem and she wore her usual vestments over the dress.  Philomena was perched smartly on her back, looking prim and proper.  She smiled warmly up at Twilight as she make her way to her reserved spot at the dais.  Her kind magenta eyes always seemed to light up in happiness every time Twilight saw them.

Luna on the other hoof, was wearing an indigo dress with sleeves and with silver lace at the cuffs.  Her dress train was silver like the surface of the moon with a sapphire trimming along the hem.  She too wore her usual royal vestments and waved about the crowd enthusiastically as she trotted alongside her elder sister.  Her pet possum, Tiberius, was curled up between her wings and snoring gently, as it was not yet night.

“Announcing their imperial majesties, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire!”

Twilight winced a little, she knew Cadance didn’t like it when her full name was used, but formality unfortunately was inevitable in circumstances like these.  Twilight remembered from her history books that Cadance was descended from the ancient unicorn princess Amore, who had ruled the Crystal Empire around the time Celestia and Luna had ascended the Equestrian Throne.  Her ancestors had escaped Sombra’s purge of the royal family to find refuge in Equestria.  It was not sure who her parents were, as Cadance had been raised as an orphan pegasus by a village of Earth Ponies near the town of Tall Tale.  When she had ascended and gained her cutie-mark, Princess Celestia had taken her in as an adoptive niece.  The sun alicorn had confirmed later when the Crystal Empire returned that Cadance was the rightful heir to the crystal throne, a fact further validated by her name, Amore, and her cutie-mark, which was the ancient sigil of the Crystal Royal Family.  

Cadance and Shining quickly made their way through the doors to where Twilight and the crowd could finally see them.  Cadance wore a shimmering light blue dress that undoubtedly had some crystals embedded in the fabric, as it sparkled like a disco-ball with every movement she made.  Her mane was fashioned in a pony-tail, much like when Cadance had foal-sat Twilight when they were younger, and she wore her usual crown and golden slippers.

Shining was wearing his normal guard captain’s formal uniform, with some additional medals that marked him as a prince along with the shield sigil that labaled him as the heir to House Armor, their father’s unicorn noble house.

The both of them smiled and waved casually at the cheering crowd as they cantered to the dais to take a spot next to Celestia and Luna.

“Presenting Lord Night Light and Lady Twilight Velvet of House Armor!”

Twilight watched eagerly as her mother and father made their way into her castle.  Velvet wore a white and purple dress with an amethyst bracelet from House Star, her noble ancestry, on her foreleg.  Night Light wore his old guard uniform, a red monstrosity that clashed horribly with his blue coat, but he smiled brightly nonetheless.  A sash strapped across his chest bore the sigil of House Armor, of which he was head.  

Night Light and Velvet didn’t usually appear in their noble outfits, but they did occasionally made exceptions.  It wasn’t that they weren’t proud of their family heritage, it was more that they wanted to be known more for their own deeds than the deeds of their ancestors.  Their family houses, the Armors and Stars respectively, were notable among Equestria’s nobility for being ‘low key’ when it came to involving themselves in the politics of Equestria’s nobles.  Night Light’s family, the Armors, were among the princess’s greatest supporters and had a long tradition of their members joining the royal guard.  There were a great many of Celestia’s past captains that had been a part of the House of Armor.  Twilight Velvet’s family, the Stars, were great craftsman, writers, musicians, and all sorts of creative writers.  The two of them waved spiritidly as they made their way to the dais, Velvet no doubt getting inspiration for one of her next books from Castle Aurora.  And later, Twilight would have to show Night Light her new observatory and see if it met his standards.

“Presenting Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Applebloom of Sweet Apples Acres!”  Spike boomed to the assembly.

Twilight smiled again as the Apple family made their way into the hall.  Since all of her friends were a part of her court, they each received their own spot in the Grand Entry.  Rarity had undoubtedly decided to have them file in in alphabetical order.  Twilight remembered that Applejack had resisted being in the Grand Entry at all, but she had eventually, albeit reluctantly, agreed to participate, as long as her family went with her.

The Apple Family all wore matching clothing.  Granny Smith had on an old tan dress with a matching bonnet, and Twilight thought it looked like it belonged in a museum.  Big Mac was wearing a tan suit and tie, and he looked very uncomfortable with everypony staring at them.  Applejack was of course, wearing her hat, but she also had on a tan dress with apples lining the hem.  Applebloom wore the same dress as her sister, minus the hat.  They took more time than the others before them to make their way down the aisle as Granny Smith walked slower than the rest.  The old mare was seemingly unperturbed by the applauding mass flanking them, but Big Mac was visibly sweating bullets as he watched the mob.

“Presenting Fluttershy of Ponyville!”

The crowd started applauding, but the crowd’s praise soon died off as nopony entered through the doors.  An uncomfortable silence settled on the crowd as Spike cleared his throat and tried again.

“…Uh, presenting Fluttershy of Ponyville?”  Spike said hesitantly.

Twilight had a good idea of what was going on and discreetly cast a Eavesdropping charm in order to hear what her friends were saying on the other side of the closed doors.

…

"Fluttershy!  That’s you!  It’s your turn!  Get on in there!”  Said what could only be Rainbow Dash.

“I can’t!  T-There’s so many ponies in there!  They’ll all s-stare at me!”  Fluttershy whimpered.

“Just pretend their naked!  That’s how I got over my stage fright!”  Replied Rainbow.

“How crude!” sputtered Rarity.

“Uh…isn’t everypony usually naked anyway?”  Questioned Pinkie.

“Alright that’s it!” thundered Rainbow.

Twilight canceled her spell as the doors burst open to reveal Rainbow pushing Fluttershy roughly inside.  The yellow pegasus was scraping her hooves across the floor as she tried to resist Rainbow’s pushing, and her eyes were wide with panic and she immediately froze up as she caught sight of everypony else in the hall.  Twilight could see Angel, Fluttershy’s pet bunny, assisting Rainbow Dash in pushing the frightened mare.

As soon as Rainbow got Fluttershy in, she flew back out and closed the doors behind her, leaving poor Fluttershy on the threshold.
Fluttershy just stood stock still like she was caught in a spotlight, which she…actually was.  She could only stare in fright at the crowd as they stared back at her.

An awkward silence seemed to hold everypony captive.

Thinking this had gone on long enough, and berating herself for not foreseeing this, Twilight charged up her magic again and with a loud pop, Fluttershy disappeared from in front of the doors only to reappear in the VIP section, still frozen in fear.

There was a confused murmur as the crowd tried to figure out where Fluttershy had gone.

Not wanting to cause any more distress for Fluttershy, Twilight leaned over Spike quickly and whispered in his ear.

“Spike!  Next pony!”

“Oh, oh right.”  He mumbled.  “Now presenting Pinkie Pie of…uh…the second story bedroom at Sugercube Corner?”  Spike announced confusingly, peering at the paper as if making sure what he had just said was indeed written on the list.

Twilight had to resist the sudden urge to facehoof at the announcement.  It was almost guaranteed that Pinkie herself had written that when Rarity hadn’t been looking.

Twilight stopped her musings as the doors opened to reveal…a cannon?

“Spike, please tell me that Pinkie is not inside that cannon.”  Twilight said, her eyes widening in alarm.

Spike looked up from his list to follow her gaze to the pony-sized cannon protruding from the entrance-way.  His mouth dropped open in shock as he saw the barrel pointed at them.  Ponies in the crowd were having similar reactions as they backed away slowly.  

BOOM!!

“WWWWWHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” screamed Pinkie as she emerged from a blast of confetti and literally flew across the hall.  

Ponies gawked and stared as she sailed over their heads, giggling the entire time.  With a landing that Twilight thought only pegasi could pull off, Pinkie landed on all four legs and screeched to a halt right in front of the dais.

“Oh, that was so much fun!  I have to do that again!”  True to her word, Pinkie turned around and tried to gallop back towards the entrance, but Twilight quickly caught a hold of her with her magic and levitated the pouting mare towards her seat.

“Later Pinkie, we must move on.”  Twilight apologized, smiling at Pinkie, who nodded in resignation and took her seat.

Spike cleared his throat and the trumpets blared again, distracting the amazed crowd from the rambunctious pink earth pony.

“Presenting Rainbow Dash, Pegasus Reserve for the Wonderbolts!  And Scootaloo of Ponyville!”  He bellowed.

As soon as Spike’s echo faded away, the doors burst open to unleash the two pegasi.  Rainbow Dash came flying in at almost full speed, wearing her Wonderbolts Cadet uniform she had worn for the Wonderbolts Academy.  Scootaloo came rolling in on her scooter, going almost just as fast as she sped past the crowd.  Rainbow flew past Twilight and curved back around to salute to the crowd, while Scootaloo screeched to a halt in front of the dais.  The both of them then took seats next to each other amid the crowd’s wild cheers.  Twilight could clearly see the Wonderbolts Spitfire and Soarin cheering and laughing the hardest at Rainbow’s display.

Twilight chuckled herself but straightened up as Spike continued.

“Presenting Miss Rarity Belle and Sweetie Belle of Ponyville!”  Spike yelled out to the crowd.  Twilight could tell from his enthusiasm that he had been looking forward to that particular announcement all day.

The doors opened once more to reveal the two unicorn sisters.  Rarity and Sweetie Belle waltzed in side by side, wearing matching dresses.  They both wore a silver dress strewn with sapphires and blue amethyst crystals.   Rarity’s had a resemblance of her cutie-mark on the side while Sweetie’s did not for obvious reasons.  They both walked prim and proper, strutting down the aisle like it was a fashion show.   They smiled and nodded to the applause assaulting them, until they finally found their spots in the VIP section.

Twilight straightened up again after briefly relaxing from Rarity’s entrance.  Now came some more of the more serious guests that were not her family nor her close friends, but foreign royalty.  Twilight noticed that Spike too was slightly nervous, as he seemed more alert than his previous announcements.

“Presenting his royal highness, the Guardian of the East, High King Horus of Griffonia!”  Spike intoned regally, putting as much respect into his announcement as he could.

The entrance doors parted to reveal three griffons.  The two flanking the center griffon were obviously Griffonian Knights.  They wore ceremonial bronze armor that covered their chest and reached down to all four legs.  Their helmets they carried in the crook of one of their clawed arms as they flanked their king.

High King Horus himself was an elderly griffon of great height.  Despite his old age, the griffon carried himself without difficulty and with great confidence.  He wore delicately crafted ceremonial bronze armor befitting his royal stature along with the tarnished bronze crown of Griffonia which rested above his eyes in a simple halo.  His armor had ancient griffon hieroglyphics etched into the plating, depicting events of Griffonia’s past.  His crown had a few small points with rubies fashioned into the bronze.  He had kind eyes and a grandfatherly smile as he walked down the aisle.  His feathers were golden brown with a noticeable tint of gray at the end of the plumage.  When Horus and his knights reached the dais, they gave a respectful bow, which Twilight returned, before taking their seats.

“Presenting his esteemed highness, the Lord of Deer, Grand Duke Tragulidae of Cervidae!”

The doors opened once more to reveal three elegant deer.  They were all equal in height, but the biggest difference were their antlers.  The two flanking deer wore light blue robes that fell to their knees with dark blue sashes that crossed their chests, identifying them as deer mages along with their staffs strapped to their sides.  The two mages' antlers both had eight points, and they had decorative rings over each antler.  

Tragulidae himself wore a dark blue robe with two crisscrossing pale blue sashes with silver sewn into the lining of the sash.  His antlers were far larger than the others and had fourteen points total, each one thick and sporting a whole assortment of rings and bracelets that almost seemingly covered his antlers.  His face was young and kindly, and his eyes sparkled with mischief, much like Pinkie Pie’s.  He wore no crown, as the amount of gold decorating his large antlers revealed his status in the deer society.

The three deer gracefully walked through the hall amid the thunderous applause, the only acknowledgement of the welcome being the deer’s smiles.   Upon reaching the dais, Twilight repeated the ceremony with the deer, and gazed back down the hall for the last entry 
as the deer took their respective seats.

“Presenting She Of Wise Council, Chief Shamaness Mali of Zebrica!”  Spike announced, relaxing his posture once his duty was complete.

As the doors opened, another three foreign dignitaries reveled themselves, two of them large Zebra warriors in decorative masks and flowing red robes.

The third, which was undoubtedly Mali herself, was far smaller than the two warriors and even smaller than Zecora.  To Twilight’s keen eyes, it was plain that Mali was very, very, old.  Far older than the Griffon King and probably Granny Smith.  Her stripes were gray and she had many wrinkles that lined her elderly face.  She walked slowly and carefully but still seemed to carry a presence of wisdom and knowledge.  Her eyes crinkled with deep intelligence, undimmed even by her great age.

They silently walked to the foot of the dais, and bowed respectfully to Twilight.  After Twilight reciprocated the action, they took their seats among the VIPs.

Spike descended from the dais to stand near Velvet and Night Light, while Twilight took a deep breath and stepped forward to deliver her short speech.  All the VIPs and the ponies filling the hallway looked at her as she opened her mouth to speak.

“Welcome to Castle Aurora and its first celebration, the Open House Ball!”  She recited, smiling as the crowd cheered and relayed its excitement.  “I want to thank you all for coming tonight, and especially thank all of Equestria and its friends for donating furniture to Spike and I, and for making tonight possible!”  The crowd cheered once more, their hooves thundering on the crystal floor in applause.  “There is food for everypony in the Great Hall, music in the Ballroom, books in the Library and a great many more things for you to enjoy tonight!  All parts of the castle are open for tonight, so explore my home as much as you want!  Thank you all again and have a great time everypony!”  Finished, Twilight stepped back and waved amongst the crowd’s applause.  Doors began opening all along the entrance hall and ponies began to flock through each one, eager to explore Castle Aurora.

Relaxing and letting out a relieved sigh, Twilight descended the dais to the VIP section where they awaited her.  She walked up to her friends, family, and the foreign royals and spoke softly, pausing their inevitable greetings.

“While everypony else explores and eats in the Great Hall, I’ve set aside a private dining room for us to eat so that we don’t get mobbed.”

The gathering murmured their thanks and agreement, and Twilight led them away from the dwindling pony crowd to the feast that awaited them.





Private Dining Room, Castle Aurora

Forty Minutes Later

Twilight





“Did you enjoy your meal princess?”  Questioned Twilight, looking earnestly up at Celestia.

Celestia smiled brightly as she nodded.  “Yes, thank you Twilight.”  Celestia looked back at the table before her to watch the self-serving utensils and floating food platters.  “I’ll admit that I’ve never had the food serve itself though.”  A bowl full of salad floated over but Celestia waved it off.  “No thank you.”  The serving fork floated before her as if making sure Celestia didn’t want more salad.  “No really, I’m good.”  The fork and bowl floated away mournfully, seemingly disappointed with her response.

They were all in Twilight’s private dining room, a medium sized windowless room that was moderately decorated with pictures of food and famous feasts.  The table they were sitting at was a simple wooden round table.  Celestia and Luna sat to Twilight’s left while Velvet and Night Light sat to her right.  Different conversations were in process all around the table.  High King Horus was having an engaging conversation with Shining Armor, the two soldiers swapping war stories.  Cadance, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle were all discussing the latest fashions to come out of the Crystal Empire, and, to Twilight’s trepidation, probably gossiping.  Chief Shamaness Mali and Granny Smith were talking about all their grandchildren.   From what Twilight could pick up, Mali had ten grandchildren, twenty-two great-grandchildren, and forty-six great-great-grandchildren.  Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had left the table to talk with the Zebra Warriors, Deer Mages, and the Griffon Knights.  Twilight smiled as Rainbow Dash recanted some of their adventures, Scootaloo and Applebloom providing some dramatic impersonations.   The foreigners were very interested and seemed to genuinely enjoy hearing Rainbow’s first-hoof accounts.  Pinkie Pie had disappeared long ago, Twilight assumed she had stuffed herself with pastries and had gone to the party.  Grand Duke Tragulidae was talking pleasantly with Luna about the magical effects the moon and stars had on some of the plants they used for medicine.  Applejack and Big Mac were talking with Velvet and Night Light about…oh.

Oh please don’t embarrass me mother…

“So Big Mac, are you seeing anypony?”  Velvet asked the red stallion lazily.  She leaned across her empty plate to better address him.  Night Light shook his head at Velvet’s ‘innocent’ words.  “Surely a big strong stallion like you has a special somepony?”

Big Mac shook his head, seemingly indifferent to the question.  As soon as he finished chewing his latest bite of jalapeno, he said.  “Nope.”

“Really?!”  Velvet squealed, clapping her hooves together in excitement.  “Oh what a coincidence, Twilight isn’t seeing anypony either!”

Twilight looked cross at Velvet and pursed her lips in an undisguised frown.  This wasn’t the first time Velvet has tried to play matchmaker with her.  Before Velvet had teased Shining and Cadance, but now that they were married, Twilight had become the object of Velvet’s so-called matchmaking skills. 

Next to her, Twilight noticed Celestia’s ears flicker in her direction, meaning that the conversation had picked up the sun princesses’ attention.

“Mom…”  Twilight warned.  But Velvet either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.

Velvet spoke again to Big Mac while placing a hoof around Twilight.  “I think she needs a big strong stallion, like yourself, to just sweep her off her hooves.  Goodness knows she needs some romance in her life, the poor dear is just so busy all the time.”

Big Mac blushed a little from Velvet’s insinuations, and Twilight had a hard time keeping down her own embarrassment.  Twilight idly noticed Celestia frown a little, just the tiniest bit of disquiet showing on the taller mare’s face from Velvet’s words as the snow white alicorn forcefully sipped from her tea.  Not wanting this conversation to stray into more dangerous territory, Twilight leaned over to Velvet and whispered hotly in the older mare’s ear.


“Mother I’m warning you—“

“I mean Twilight has fallen behind Shining!  I’m afraid if she doesn’t act soon, her brother will beat her.”  Velvet mourned, sighing dramatically while Night Light paled and tried to make discrete shushing gestures. 

Her curiosity piqued from Velvet’s words, Twilight spoke without thinking.  “Beat me to what?”

Velvet smiled wickedly as she rounded on Twilight.  “Why having the first grandfoal of course!”

While Twilight’s cheeks turned the color of dragonfire, Celestia  started to choke and she fell into a violent coughing fit.

“Mother!!” Twilight hissed at Velvet, as Celestia coughed and hacked next to her.

As Twilight sputtered in a mixture of embarrassment and anger, Luna turned curiously to her sister and patted her gently on the back.

“Are you o.k. sister?”  Luna asked, her eyes curious at Celestia’s sudden coughing fit.

“I’m—hack—alright Luna.”  Celestia said quietly, recovering from her coughs and straightening back up, looking sheepishly at her lunar sister.  “I—uh—swallowed too much tea.”

Twilight tried to find words for her outrage, but could find none and only gaped like a fish out of water.  From what she could see, Velvet was smiling smugly while Big Mac turned a deeper shade of red but said nothing, which was probably a wise decision.

Finally, Twilight gathered her wits.  “Mom, please stop.  Big Mac is a good friend, and nothing more.  Right Mac?”

“Eeyup.”

Twilight smiled at Big Mac and turned back to Velvet.  “You see Mom?  Now can we please move on to something else?”  

Velvet huffed in disappointment and jabbed her fork into the cheesecake before her.  “But Twilight you are a full grown mare and you have yet to bring home a coltfriend, let alone a fiancé.  I’m just concerned for you is all, surely you understand?  There are plenty of young eligible stallions out there, and you don’t—“

“That,” Twilight interrupted.  “is because most of those stallions only see my crown, and the ‘benefits’ that come with it.”  Twilight looked to Cadance for confirmation.  “Isn’t that right Cadance?”

Cadance nodded as she shoved a cookie down her gullet, speaking between chews.  “Completely and one-hundred percent accurate.  Most stallions are jerks.”

“Hey!!”  Shining protested, while Night Light and Big Mac nodded sagely.

“There are a few shining examples.”  Cadance pointed out, prodding Shining roughly as she made her point.  “But for the most part they get so flustered and big-headed over us being royalty that they trip over themselves and become complete losers.”  As she finished, she jabbed into the pudding violently as if it had offended her.

“Ah suppose you’ve had sum bad coltfriends?”  Applejack asked, eyeing Cadance’s fork like the love alicorn was wielding a pitchfork.

“A few.”  Cadance spat, munching on her treat, her eyes narrowed as if recalling said stallions.

“My point is,” Velvet intervened.  “Is that it wouldn’t hurt to start exploring your options.”

Before Twilight could retort, Celestia spoke up.

“I think Twilight doesn’t need to rush, surely some—“

“Excuse me, but which one of us is her mother?!”  Velvet intervened, scowling across Twilight to glare at Celestia.  

As the two mares scowled viciously at each other, Velvet trying to look rightfully affronted while staring up at the much taller Celestia, who scowled in equal insult.

Oh not this again…

Throughout her tenure as Celestia’s protégé and beyond, Velvet and Celestia seemed to have this ongoing, well, rivalry when it came to Twilight.  Twilight didn’t think it was a conscious action on their part, and it showed rarely, as both of them would have denied any sort of tug-of-war over Twilight on the spot.  It was the small things, like talking with them or going to activities with them.  It had gotten worse when Twilight had moved into Canterlot Castle to be closer to Celestia during her tutelage.  Velvet seemed to be scared that Celestia would steal Twilight from her, which was ludicrous.  And Celestia simply seemed to crave Twilight’s attention, which the lavender alicorn thought was Celestia’s natural kindness.  Over the years, the two mares constantly had this silent battle of wits and words when they met.  When Twilight was alone with them, they didn’t show any animosity towards the other.  But when the two mares were together, especially if Twilight were around, they had a terrible tendency to walk on pins and needles.  The slightest veiled insult, real or imagined, threatened to set off a powder keg of frustration, but thankfully that fight had never happened, and Twilight was eternally grateful for that.

Twilight loved them both, and there was no possible way that one could replace the other.  They both held very special places in her heart.  Velvet because she was Twilight’s mother and Celestia because she was Twilight’s mentor, and if she were to be honest, a second maternal figure.  

There shouldn’t have been a reason for their silent struggle over Twilight’s heart.

Right?

Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated.  She then turned back to her salad and crunched noisily on the lettuce, still scowling deeply as she stared into her bowl.

Velvet huffed in victory and turned back to her own plate.  Smiling smugly as if she had won a non-existent battle, her spoon clattering nosily on the plate as she delicately munched on a tomato.  

Sighing in relief at the barely avoided scene, Twilight thought it best to move on before Velvet and Celestia renewed their tug-of-war.

“I think it’s time we headed for the festivities.  By now everypony will have spread out and it will be easier to enjoy the ball.”  Twilight announced to the whole table.

There was a collective noise of tableware clattering as everybody finished what they had been eating.  Several ponies, like Shining and Spike, were loath to leave the feast and quickly stuffed a pastry into their mouths.  Ponies started making for the exit while Twilight stayed behind to direct the enchanted dishware to send themselves to the kitchen to clean up.

She watched everypony, her friends, Cadance, Shining, Spike, and her parents included, file out the door before she noticed not everypony was leaving.  The griffons, deer, and the zebras seemed to be waiting behind her patiently with Celestia and Luna while their respective guards lined the wall.  As the door closed, Twilight quickly approached the royal gaggle and smiled widely, bowing respectfully to her foreign guests. 

“I hope you all enjoyed the meal.”  Twilight spoke.  “Is there anything else you need before you go to rejoin the ball?”

Chieftess Mali stepped forward carefully spoke in an aged voice full of memory and wisdom.

“It is not for our needs that we wait, but our desire for your presence to sate.”  Mali rhymed, her crinkled eyes shining with amusement.

“It is as the noble zebra says,” Tragulidae intoned regally.  “for we all have gifts to present to you.”

“Oh.”  Twilight said, taken aback.  She had not expected any more gifts from anypony, let alone her foreign visitors.  “But you have already given Spike and I so much in helping furnish Castle Aurora!  Your generosity is appreciated, but Spike and I want for nothing.  Your gifts should go to somepony who needs them more than me, I have already given my excess donations to orphanages and hospitals across Equestria.”  Twilight didn’t want to seem rude, but she couldn’t possibly accept any more gifts and take advantage of their generosity.  

High King Horus shook his head and gave out a mighty laugh, his chuckles echoing like a bass drum along the crystal walls.  “HA!  Your manners are as polished as the last time we met Little Spark!”

It was true, this wasn’t the first time Twilight had met the Griffon King.  Soon after Twilight had become Celestia’s student, Horus had come visiting Canterlot on an annual diplomatic tour.  During his visit, Celestia had introduced Twilight to Horus, and told him of how Twilight had come to be her student.  To say Horus had been intrigued by Twilight would have belittled his reaction.  Horus had in fact been absolutely astounded by Twilight’s magical prowess, as he had called it, and had taken a great interest in her.  Since then, each time Horus visited Canterlot he made time to sit and talk with Twilight, a year after their initial meeting he affectionately nicknamed her ‘Little Spark’ after hearing the tales of her uncontrolled magical flare when she had gained her Cutie-Mark.

The graying griffon smiled broadly and waved a claw at Twilight.  “Look at you!  I have known you since you were but a wee hatchling!  And since then you have blossomed into a powerful warrior alicorn princess!  Do not belittle yourself Little Spark!  You have accomplished feats that many of my forebears would have worshipped you for!  We helped furnish your castle because you were in need after saving the world from the monstrosity Tirek!   Now we come to give you gifts because we appreciate you and your efforts to protect our world.  Do not deny us our gifts, for we want to give you these treasures, not out of mere respect, but because of your success in protecting not just Equestria, but our homes as well!”

“Horus is correct.”  Tragulidae inserted in his lilting voice.  “If you had not stopped Tirek, he would have undoubtedly stolen Cervidae’s magic as well, before moving onto Zebrica and Griffonia and other lands.   We come to honor your bravery and success in defeating him.  With that much power at Tirek’s command, especially having control of all of the Alicorn Magic, we would have been helpless to stop him.  Tirek would have held us hostage with the sun and moon, if he could not merely conquer us through sheer power.”

“What the wise deer says is true, for without you we would surely be the centaur’s stew.”  Mali spoke, motioning for her zebra warriors to bring forward a large yet plain box.  “Accept our gifts now, Oh Magic.  To not do so would be tragic.”

The two warriors set the box down and went back to their positions.  Twilight looked down at the box uncertainly, but Celestia gave her a little nudge with her wing and said proudly.  “Go on Twilight, they only mean to thank you.”


Twilight nodded and her horn lit up, she lifted the box’s lid with her magic to reveal the contents inside.  Once the lid was clear of the box, Twilight felt her jaw drop in shock at what was inside.

It was a large brown book with green jade for the cover and gold etching the pages and outlining the hardback cover.  From what Twilight could see, the book was written in the beautiful letters of the Zebra language.  Picking up the book, Twilight flipped through it eagerly, each page seemed to be dedicated to the Zebra’s special knowledge of Herbology, Alchemy, and different magics channeled through objects.  Such tomes were rare as only the Zebra’s shamans practiced Zebrican magic and very, very rarely wrote down their knowledge, as it was passed down verbally from master to apprentice.


“This book of magic I wrote myself, I long for you to put it on your shelf.  For you are Magic as Celestia is the Sun, our magic I do not wish you to shun.  Now take my hoof and let us be friends, for I know that your love does not end.”  Mali smiled wistfully and held out her hoof.  Twilight eagerly grasped the zebra’s hoof with both of her own before pulling the surprised chieftess into a hug and voicing her sincere thanks.  

After letting go of Mali and letting her step back, Tragulidae stepped forward on his skinny legs with his own mages bringing forward a large cloaked object.

“I think you will like this.”  He said, green eyes glinting mischievously.  “Few of these were ever made, as the knowledge for how they are crafted have long since been lost.”  Tragulidae smiled widely as he spoke proudly.  “I and my deer cannot use it, as it is an ancient Earth Pony artifact and only responds to their magic.  My grandfather found it in a dragon’s hoard after the ancient drake had passed away in the mountains bordering Cervidae.  I can only imagine the dragon had stolen it from perhaps one of the Earth Pony Chancellors before they immigrated to Equestria.”

Without further ado, Tragulidae’s antlers lit up with his deer magic and he ripped off the cloak from the large object, revealing a mirror taller than Celestia and wider than a troll.  Its frame was tarnished silver with ancient runes etched into the metal.  The feet of the mirror depicted trunk and roots of a tree with its branches reaching out to encircle the mirror, forming the frame.

Twilight looked at it curiously as she had never seen such an object before, except perhaps the mirror inside the Crystal Empire she had used to chase after Sunset Shimmer, or the one that Celestia had used to visit the Alternate Equestria that had been destroyed six months ago.  But this one’s magic felt different.  The other two mirrors had led to other dimensions, or timelines Twilight wasn’t entirely sure.  The mirror’s before her however did not seem that powerful nor aimed at inter-dimensional travel.  Its magic was still very powerful, but it did not feel as though it had the same purpose.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.  “I know it’s a mirror, but I can feel the magic and enchantments on it.  What does it do?”

“It is a scrying mirror.  Whoever uses it can enchant it to conjure up images of places they have already seen, it will show you what is happening in the present at said location.  It is quite useful for watching out for threats or things happening.  But in addition to showing you the present, it can show the past of the pony using it, and sometimes, even show a glimpse of the future.  I am not sure how to view the future exactly and there are other properties it possesses that we have not been able to discern, but I am sure you will be able to figure it out.”

While Celestia and Luna looked over the mirror carefully, Twilight turned back to the Deer Duke.  

“This mirror is so fascinating, Spike and I will have to research it to find out what all it does.  Thank you Grand Duke Tragulidae.”

“Please, call me Tragul.  Tragulidae was my father.”

Twilight nodded but was confused.  “But I thought your name is Tragulidae?”

“Oh it is.  But I was named after my father, Tragulidae the First, I’m Tragulidae the Second, but I’d rather go by Tragul.”

“Oh, alright then.”

“You must feel the same way sometimes, princess, being named after your mother.”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when she heard a loud clatter behind her.  Turning back around, she saw Celestia next to what looked suspiciously like a dropped plate of cake.  Looking sheepish, Celestia shooed off Twilight’s concern and turned back to Luna.

“Well, I suppose so.  I’ve never really asked her about it.”

Tragul nodded in assent and walked back to talk with Mali, letting Horus take over.  The old king stepped forward with a long skinny case clasped in one of his claws.

“Both of my comrades have given you great gifts befitting your status as a scholar and a wizard, but I found something in Griffonia that matches your skill as a warrier princess.”

“But I’m not a warrior princess!”  Twilight protested, 

“Hhmmph!  Could have fooled me!”  Horus stated, eyeing Twilight sternly.  “Have you not defeated some of the greatest threats to have ever walked our world?   Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, and Tirek!  By the stars Little Spark!  The tales my griffons hear of your feats are legendary!”

“King Horus you flatter me, but I had help with all of those things!”  She said, disturbed a little that the griffons saw her as a legendary warrior.

“Tis true that you had help, and I find your modesty humbling, but is it also not true that you were the driving force, the leader, in each and every one of your adventures?”

“Well…yes…”  Twilight fumbled.

“Then it is settled!”  Horus crowed.  “And I brought the perfect thing!”  He slid the case over to Twilight, and she opened it hesitantly.  Celestia and Luna had listened in quietly to their conversation, and now peered curiously over Twilight’s shoulder at the case as she opened it.  

To Twilight’s complete astonishment, the case had a sword inside.

But it was no ordinary sword.  The blade was a bright silver with ancient Equestrian runes etched along the blade all the way to the hilt.  The hilt itself was a bright gold decorated with different pictograms of all three pony race, each with a different colored gem in the eye.  A sapphire for the unicorn, a ruby for the pegasus, and an emerald for the earth pony.  The hilt’s gold faded into a black onyx along the handle, where an alicorn of four different colors, white, blue, pink, and lavender was forged at the end, and a star gem was embedded in the eye.  The mulitcolered alicorn formed the pommel of the sword.

Behind her, Twilight heard both Celestia and Luna gasp in shock.  Turning around, she could see that the two princesses’ eyes were wide with surprise and their jaws dropped. 

“I…I haven’t seen that sword in over a thousand years…”  Luna mumbled, her tone almost reverent.  She turned to Celestia and spoke again.  “I thought you said it was lost a decade after my banishment.”

“It was.”  Celestia confirmed.  Her eyes roved up and down the sword as if she couldn’t believe it was sitting right in front of her.

Twilight turned back and forth from the sun alicorn to the lunar alicorn, searching for answers.  “You mean you’ve seen this sword before!!”

“Twilight.”  Celestia said, looking the smaller alicorn very seriously.  “This is Starswirl the Bearded’s sword.”

“Starfell.”  Both alicorns murmured, naming the sword..

Celestia’s stare darted from Starfell to Horus quickly.  “Starswirl’s great-great-nephew, a foolish unicorn noble by the name of Awry Venture, tried to prove himself as famous and powerful as his uncle and took Starfell from his old tower in the castle where it was kept after Starswirl passed away.   Awry then with a gang of his peers traveled into the Unicorn Mountains where they disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.  I had sent search parties for them but they never found anything.  Where did you find it?”

Horus straightened himself up proudly as he recounted the tale.

“My grandson, the Crown Prince, was leading a patrol of knight along our border with the wasteland when they stumbled upon a gang of Diamond Dogs leaving their underground lair to raid one of our cities in Griffonia.  My grandson and his knights quickly dispatched the rabble and captured all of the hoarded treasure the Dogs had stolen.  This sword was among the treasure.  I knew as soon as my grandson brought it before me that it was no ordinary sword, and that it belonged back here in Equestria.  I do not know how the sword came to be in the possession of the Dogs, I can only assume it has traded hands multiple times.”  Horus paused and picked up the sword and presented it to Twilight, wanting her to take it.  “I can think of no one better to wield Starswirl’s own sword than the Alicorn of Magic herself.  The wizard spent his life studying magic, and I am sure he would want you to have it.”

As he finished, Twilight reached out with her magic hesitantly and entrapped Starfell in her magic.  She held it aloft before her and looked over it carefully.  She turned to Horus again.

“I…thank you.  I…uh…have always been a great fan of Starswirl’s work and the tales of his adventures.  Thank you High King Horus, I will take care of it."

“You are most welcome Little Spark, I know that Starfell will be in good hooves.”  Horus said.  He looked to his knights and fellow foreign royals.  “And now I think my comrades and I will make our way to the ballroom, it is high time I showed off my dancing skills.”

“Horus, you are a terrible dancer.”  Tragulidae groaned.  “When you came to Cervidae last winter, and danced in my palace, half of my staff thought you were having a seizure.”

“Though Griffon King you are full of valor, you should not dance lest the crowd turn sour.”  Mali inserted, sidling up the pouting Horus with a smile.

“HA!  You both jest!  My dancing skills are beyond compare!  Come and I will show you how to really dance!”  Horus protested.  And without further ado, the griffon king led the others out the dining room, leaving Twilight with Celestia and Luna.

“I recognize the runes on the blade, they spell out Starfell.  But what do the symbols on the hilt and handle mean?”  Twilight framed the question to her mentor, who undoubtedly had known Starswirl best.

Celestia looked carefully at the blade, taking it in her own magic while she examined it.  Her piercing magenta eyes traveled up and down the blade in close scrutiny.  After a long pause, Celestia looked to Twilight with a hesitant smile.

“I remember when Starswirl first forged the blade for Starfell.  A meteorite had fallen to Equestria a few months after our coronation over a thousand years ago.  Starswirl took the metal from the crater the meteorite left when it impacted the land and used it to make Starfell.  As for the symbols on the design, well he obviously put all three pony races on the hilt because as a symbol for the three tribes united in a common cause, namely the protection and prosperity of Equestria.  The alicorn however…”

Celestia trailed off, her eyes seeming to grow distant and her tone seemed full of unanswered questions.

“You must know Twilight, that Starswirl was our friend, first and foremost.  But there were some things the old codger never revealed to Luna and I.  For with all of his talent, Starswirl also had the ability to divine glimpses of the future.  You have experienced some of his spells with time travel first-hoof, if I recall.”  

At this Celestia paused, seemingly deep in thought.  She then turned to Twilight with a frown that spoke of a deep hurt for whatever Starswirl had kept from her.

“I have never found any proof, none whatsoever even after his death, of his time travel spells evolving into anything more complex than what you found in the Canterlot Archives.  But…but he knew things that I wish he had told me, even if just to prepare me.  I have suspected for some time that Starswirl was able to travel into the future, and return.  When Starswirl worked with Luna and I when we ascended onto Equestria’s throne, and he first showed us the Tree of Harmony, we asked him about the three Cutie-Marks on the trunk of the tree.  Luna’s moon, my sun…and your stars.  After we gained our Cutie-Marks and realized ours matched the ones on the tree, we asked him about the third, yours.  Starswirl never told us outright who it was, but just hinted that was somepony very special.  From the way he acted, it is now obvious that he knew more about the future than just his visions, Starswirl had actually traveled into the future and met you, or at least learned of you.  I have never been able to pinpoint what time he actually traveled to, as he never acknowledged to us that he had been to the future.”

Celestia turned silently to Starfell again and eyed the pommel, where the multicolored alicorn stared back at her.

“I think, when he forged Starfell and crafted the pommel, the alicorn is supposed to be a representation of all four alicorn princesses working together.  The white ivory represents myself, the blue jade for Luna, the pink crystal for Cadance, and the purple star sapphire is for you, Twilight.”

Finished with her theory, Celestia held Starfell aloft until Twilight took it back in her magic.

“But what do I do with a sword?”  Twilight asked the two sisters.  

Luna looked askance as if Twilight had asked a stupid question.

“You fight monsters and enemies with it of course.”

“But I don’t know the first thing on how to use a sword!  Besides, it’s not like I’ll ever need it.”  Twilight retorted.

Luna snorted in amusement.  “Don’t count yourself so lucky Twilight.  There will probably come a day where you were glad you had that sword.  Your magic is powerful yes, but an enchanted sword like Starfell is useful and all sorts of ways.  You know first-hoof how difficult it is for monsters to be affected by our magic, and a sword can sometimes be the best way to deal with it.”

Twilight frowned at Luna’s logic.  “But I don’t even know how to use a sword!  The best I could do with it would be to hang it up on my wall!”

Luna gasped in horror as if a sword as a wall decoration insulted her deeply.

“Well, it seems that I will have to teach you the art of the sword then Twilight.”  Luna lectured sternfully.  “We can’t have a princess with a sword not knowing how to use it.”

“Wait, you know how to use a sword?”  Twilight asked Luna.

“Of course I do!  I take Moonbeam with me every time I go fighting monsters with my Night Guard!”  Luna squealed cheerfully.

“Wait a minute, hold up.”  Twilight stated, looking from one alicorn sister to the other.  “If you have a sword, then that means…”  Twilight gasped, staring up at Celestia.  “Do you have a sword princess?!”

Celestia blushed in embarrassment and nodded in affirmation.  She looked sheepish as Twilight openly gaped at her mentor.

“Well…yes I do.  But I haven’t had to use Sun’s Fury in over eight centuries, not since the last of the Diamond Dog raids.  It…uh…is in a case in my room.  It had been in storage beneath the castle, but somepony,” Celestia gave Luna a look, which Luna returned with her tongue sticking out, “keeps putting it back in my room, insisting that I always have it close at hoof.”

“Well excuse me sister, but who was the one who didn’t have their sword when the Changeling Queen trounced them.”  Luna spoke scathingly.

Celestia’s face grew a deep frown as she scowled down at her little-sister.  “I don’t recall you being there to see it…Oh wait!  You slept through the whole invasion!”

“My alarm clock broke!  And you know how much I enjoy my sleep!”  Luna protested.

“Hah!  I bet you broke that alarm clock yourself!”  Celestia crowed, pointing a golden hoof in Luna’s face triumphantly.

“Who could blame me?  The thing was a screaming mad marauding monstrosity of modern mechanisms!”

“Say that five times fast!”

“Mad marauding mon—“

“STOP!  Both of you!”  Twilight intervened, holding her hooves to her ears as a headache approached.  Celestia and Luna stopped as they realized they had both started bickering like they were fillies again.  But Twilight then realized she had just reprimanded two alicorns that were a thousand years older than her.   And one of them use to stop her when she screamed in an argument.  Abashed, Twilight tried to shrink herself down as the two taller alicorns stared at her in astonishment at her intervention. “Please, we really need to get going.  We have the whole party to enjoy after all.”  She offered, extending an olive branch.

The both of them smiled at her, before grudgingly hoof-shaking and agreeing to a temporary ceasefire.

“It is her castle Luna, we should listen to her.”  Celestia said smugly, smiling reassuringly at Twilight.

“True, I shall agree to a truce while we reside on this neutral ground.  But mark my words sister!  As soon as we return to Canterlot there shall be war!”  Luna stated dramatically.

Celestia smiled slyly and leaned down to whisper in Twilight’s ear.  

“So she says, but Luna has never won in a tickle fight against me, as you well know.”

Twilight nodded and blushed, remembering her own tickle fights with Celestia when she had been a filly.  Smiling up at her mentor as she nuzzled her, Celestia nuzzled her in return before Twilight turned back towards her foreign guests, who all displayed varied levels of amusement, laughter, and good-natured smiles.

“Alright, I think that’s enough and the Ball has suffered enough without us being there.  If you will all follow me, I’ll take you to the main ballroom.”

Watching the princesses and her guests follow her, Twilight led them out of the dining room and out into the party.






Ballroom, Castle Aurora

Two Hours After Sunset

Twilight





The ball was unfolding just as planned, in Twilight’s opinion.  Ponies were happy dancing and eating and everypony seemed impressed with her castle.  No incidents had occurred, no party crashers (Twilight suspected that was thanks to Pinkie) and everything seemed to be going just fine.

Twilight strode out into the ballroom where ponies danced and talked.  The music was a hip-hop swinging tune that got her wings fluttering.  Pegasi were dancing and flying above while Unicorns and Earth Ponies danced on the floor.

Twilight, despite her friends groaning, had decided to dance.  After all?  This was her castle and nopony would dare to tell a princess her dancing was horrible in her own castle.  Therefore, she was going to enjoy the music and dance away.

Or at least until she hurt somepony with her dancing.  (It had happened on a few occasions)

But right before she started twisting and turning to the tune, Twilight saw Celestia and Luna approach.  Stopping before she broke out into her infamous dancing, Twilight approached the two princesses and smiled brightly.

“Are you two enjoying yourselves?”

“Oh yes.”  Luna said.  “I particularly love the carnival games Pinkie set up.  And Sir Tibbles has been eating with Philomena and Owlowiscous at the buffet table.”

“Good, and what bout you princess?”  Twilight asked Celestia.

“Everything is just splendid Twilight.  The music is wonderful, much livelier than the Grand Galloping Gala, perhaps I should have Pinkie and Rarity plan the next one.”

“I’m sure they’d love to.”  Twilight replied.  Her ears flickered as a new song was strung up, her desire to dance stronger than ever.  “I’m about to go dancing, would you both care to join me?”

Luna nodded enthusiastically while Celestia shook her head.  Luna scowled and jabbed Celestia hard in the ribs.

“Oh come on Tia!”  Luna said.  “Dance with us!”

“No.”  Celestia stated firmly, accenting her decision by putting her hoof down.

“Don’t pay attention to her Twilight.”  Luna whispered, leaning close to Twilight.  “She doesn’t want to dance because she’s a horrible dancer.”

Oh really?  I have to see this!

Twilight got up close to Celestia and sat down in front of her, giving the taller mare the widest eyes and the most pleading pout.  Celestia was a sucker to give in to the infamous Twiley Pout.

“Please come dance with me?”  Twilight said cutely, staring up at Celestia with big round sparkling eyes.
Celestia’s lip trembled and she tried to avoid Twilight’s expression, but she sighed and walked forward past Twilight. 

“Oh…alright.”  She murmured.

Twilight was thrilled, and Luna sniggered as she and Celestia walked together out onto the dance floor.

The music played and Twilight started dancing, flaying her limbs out in a chaotic sequence that would have made Discord have a heart attack.  Beside her, Celestia slowly got into the music.   Tapping her hooves at first and then fluttering her wings.  It wasn’t too long before she was fully involved into the music and was dancing just as horribly as Twilight was.  Twilight could see Luna rolling on the floor with laughter as she beheld her sister and Twilight, but both bad dancers ignored her and continued, idly noticing the amount of space other ponies were giving them as they danced.

“BEHOLD!!!”

The sudden bellow broke through the music, and ponies everywhere stopped dancing to look for the disturbance.  The music screeched to a halt and the ballroom echoed with the ponies mumbling.  Celestia and Twilight looked together to the source of the disturbance.

It was Coal Dust, the Duke of Fillydelphia.  The stallion was swaying unsteadily at the top of the stairs leading into the ball room.  He had clutched in his magic a worn piece of parchment, and he was waving it bout like it was his salvation.  Twilight thought the duke was drunk from the way he seemed unfocused and unsteady.

Much to her surprise, the stallion staggered forward into the crowd, which parted before him like he was carrying the plague.  Coal Dust continued until he was in front of Twilight and Celestia.  He waved the paper in her face triumphantly, he then yelled out his proclamation for the world to hear.

“BEHOLD!!  Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Lies!!!.”


> Chapter 4:  Adoption Papers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Aurora Ballroom

Two Hours After Sunset

Twilight





Coal Dust’s proclamation echoed loudly in the ballroom, his nasally voice catching the attention of the entire crowd.  Ponies stopped what they were doing and turned towards the offending duke of Fillydelphia.  Twilight’s ears flickered as she heard the crowd murmur around them, mostly curious as to what the stallion was pontificating.   She turned quickly to the unicorn with a scowl written clearly upon her face.  She could see that Coal Dust was smiling smugly as he waved in his magic an old worn out piece of parchment above his head for the crowd to see.

“Let it be known throughout Equestria that Coal Dust of House Obsidian has revealed Sparkle for the liar she is and saved our glorious kingdom from her tyranny and the corruption of her court!” Coal Dust yelled to the assembly, basking in the attention he was receiving.  

He seemed to gain confidence in his cause as ponies looked at him, though they didn’t seem to support the unicorn, it appeared that they only gazed at him to find the cause of the disturbance that had halted the dancing.

Celestia and Luna quickly closed ranks and gathered at Twilight’s sides, presenting a united front to the errant noble.  They both wore expressions of annoyance and frowned firmly down at the much shorter unicorn.  But despite the obvious disapproval emanating from the two intimidating alicorns, Coal Dust continued his rabble rousing.

“Never again shall we be deceived by this liar!  For I have proof of Sparkle’s deceit!”  All the eyes in the ballroom locked onto the parchment he waved.  In the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Noctis and two of his guards shove their way through the entranced crowd towards the epicenter of the disturbance.

Twilight had had enough.  “Duke Coal Dust!”  She grounded out icily.  “I know that you and your colleagues have issues with me, but can you at least have the decency to file a complaint like every pony else?!”

“HA!”  The stallion laughed at her.  “I do not take orders from a filthy commoner like you!  Silence your tongue while your betters speak!”

The assembly gasped at the duke’s blunt insult, and ponies close to Coal Dust edged away slowly as if afraid of being associated with him.   Noctis scowled darkly as he sidled up next to the oblivious stallion, the other two guards waiting impatiently behind him.  Next to Twilight, Princess Celestia edged forward until she towered over him.  Twilight could see that Coal Dust suddenly remembered the presence of the other two alicorns and he gave two quick bows, and she could see small beads of sweat start to form across his face.

“Your majesty!”  He said.  “I have just uncovered a great plot against the throne!”
Celestia didn’t indulge in his flattery, her eyes speaking for her as they smoldered with barely controlled rage.

“Coal Dust.”  Celestia said flatly.  “Former Duke of Fillydelphia, you are dismissed.  Captain Noctis will see you out now.”

As soon as the words left her lips, the two guards behind Coal Dust seized the shocked former duke.  But Coal Dust barely paid them any attention, he instead sputtered at Celestia.

“F--Former?!”  He gasped, starting to struggle against the two guards.  “Princess listen to me!  That vile excuse for a mare is unworthy of the throne!  I have pro—“

SMACK!!!

Twilight’s eyes widened as Luna gasped beside her, and the entire crowd looked on in complete shock at Celestia.

She had just slapped Coal Dust.  Hard.

“Enough.”  She stated simply in the eerie silence, her tone resolute as her eyes bored into the thunderstruck unicorn.  “Guards, you know what to do.”

“At once your majesty.”  Noctis saluted dutifully.  He motioned with his head to the other two guard holding the silent stallion, and they departed from the ballroom.  Ponies made a path for them as they headed towards the main doorway.

As they approached, the door opened by themselves to reveal a very dark hallway, save for a single spotlight.  In the light sat Pinkie Pie, sitting quitely in the chair with Gummy in her lap.  She stroked the oblivious alligator as she stared intently at her approaching victim with a creepy smile.  Behind her, Twilight could barely make out the suspicious outline of an enlarged party cannon packed to the brim with what looked like the Cutie Mark Crusaders fireworks.  Peering closer at the cannon, Twilight could see a note attached to a long stick poking out from the explosives.  It read, ‘Reserved Fireworks Seat for Coal Dust, former Duke of Fillydelphia, courtesy of Pinkie Pie and the CMC.’

The guards took Coal Dust to Pinkie, and the doors started to shut behind them.  But before they did, Twilight and the rest of the crowd caught what she told the unicorn.

"Nopony party poops on a Pinkie Pie party....

As doors shut with a final boom, the crowd dispersed and the music started again. Ponies across the room quickly fell back into their revelry and the party was in full swing again.

Celestia sighed and turned back to Twilight, her expression the very epitome of concern.

“Twilight, are you alright?”

“Yes princess, he just startled me.  I—“  Twilight broke off, for her eyes had picked up the piece of parchment that Coal Dust had been waving about during his rant.  She realized he must have dropped it while he struggled with the guards, or when Celestia had slapped him.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Twilight walked over to the parchment and picked it up in her magic, wanting to know why the former duke had thought it could damage her.

Behind her, she heard Celestia gasp and her mentor’s voice sounded increasingly worried as she walked quickly towards Twilight.

“Twilight, wait!  I don't--"

But despite her mentor’s concern, Twilight read it.





Tender Heart Orphanage, Crown City of Canterlot, Kingdom of Equestria:  Archive Copy

Certificate of Adoption

Name:  Twilight Sparkle

Age:  Two Months?

Gender:  Female

Race:  Unicorn

Biological Parents:  Unknown

Event of Canterlot Custody:  Miss Tender Heart found the foal abandoned on the doorstep of the orphanage soon after the sunset of the 24th, with only the name Twilight Sparkle written on a piece of paper attached to the bundle in which the foal was found.

This certifies that upon adoption, Night Light and Twilight Velvet will obtain custody of Twilight Sparkle as her legal guardians and be fully responsible for her upbringing, education, wellbeing, and legal welfare as her adoptive parants.

Furthermore, as the prospective guardians are nobility, Twilight Sparkle will receive full privileges of the unicorn nobility of House Armor upon acquisition of her Cutie-Mark with the exception of title inheritance in accordance with ancient unicorn law.

Signed,

Miss Tender Heart, orphanage matron

Lady Twilight Velvet, adoptive mother

Lord Night Light Armor, adoptive father

Mr.  Fine Print, City of Canterlot public lawyer and witness





Next to the signatures, there were three seals.  One was for the City of Canterlot, showing that they approved of the adoption.  The second was for Fine Print’s legal firm, which showed that he had been a witness to the adoption.  And the third was the seal of House Armor, showing their commitment to the legal bindings of the document.

Legal seals in Equestria were of the utmost importance.  They were used for everything from postal services to royal decrees.  Each seal’s stamp was enchanted and warded so that none other than the rightful owner of the seal could use it.  The magic involving seals was a very intricate and difficult magic.  First, there was only one mold for each seal in case the original was destroyed or lost, and the molds were kept in a high security vault that only royalty and officers of the Royal Guard had access to.  Second, the enchantments woven into pictures of the seal made it impossible for a criminal to copy or reproduce.   The magic embedded in a seal picks up on an attempts to copy it and causes the perpetrators to inaccurately copy it, making it easy for counterfeits to be detected.  Third, if somepony stole a seal, and attempted to use it, the magic would cause the seal to break apart since a seal only worked for its owner.  Fraudulent seal manufacturing (which was nigh-on impossible) carried a minimum sentence of twenty-five years in prison with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

In short, Coal Dust, a below-average mage, did not have the magical skill to even attempt a fraudulent seal copy, let alone do it successfully three times.

Which meant the paper in front of her was genuine.

Twilight’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks and her jaw dropped as the full meaning of that sank in.

I…I’m adopted?

The sound of the party around her seemed to fade away until she could barely hear the other ponies’ excitement.  The only thing that seemed louder than before was her heart as it thundered in her chest.  A hole seemed to open up in her as new feelings and thoughts whirled around inside her.  Anger, depression, fear, sorrow, and disbelief all battled for dominance as Twilight tried to deal with the revelation.


No!  No, it can't be true!

Can it?

“Twilight what is it?”  Celestia asked, her voice sounding far off to her despairing student.

Wordlessly, and without acknowledging her, Twilight passed her the certificate of adoption that bore her name.  In the corner of her eye, she saw Celestia start to read the page with Luna looking curiously over her shoulder at the worn parchment.  She could see both alicorn’s eyes widen in shock, and it seemed to Twilight that Celestia turned pale underneath her white coat.

Reluctantly, Twilight took the parchment back from them and continued to stare at it.  Beside her, she could feel the other princesses’ shuffle uncomfortably.  Luna with barely contained rage, probably at Coal Dust, and Celestia seemed to be staring off into space, avoiding Twilight's eyes.

“How dare he!”  Luna shouted, her face contorted in anger.  “To insult Twilight and then attempt to frame her with some obviously fake document!  Sister, we will have to have him arrested later for seal forgery too!  In addition to public slander of royalty!”

For a moment, Twilight’s heart flickered with hope from her friend’s words, and her ears twisted to hear Celestia’s response.

But she said nothing.

Fear, dark and cold fear crawled inside Twilight.  Doubt took hold of her as her mentor did nothing to dismiss her sister’s statement.

There were only two ponies Twilight knew of that could provide the answers she needed to soothe her heart.


Or break it…

Without another word, Twilight flew up from the crowd with a panicked thrust of her wings, soaring above the startle ponies as she made her way to the ballroom doors.

She needed to find the two ponies she called Mom and Dad.





Castle Aurora

Luna





Luna watched as Twilight flew through the doors frantically, ponies all around them staring at her as she fled.  Confusion reigned supreme as Luna witnessed her dear friend flee because she did not understand why Twilight was upset.  Surely she did not believe the small piece of parchment that rat of a noble had produced.

She looked up at her sister with deep concern.  Celestia tried to hide it, but after several centuries of life together, Luna could tell that her big-sister was deeply shaken.

“Sister, I don’t understand.  The certificate is a fake, why is she upset?”  She asked sincerely.

Celestia didn’t answer, still gazing at the doors through which Twilight had just departed through, clearly deep in thought and oblivious to her lunar sister.

Now this came as very strange to Luna, that Celestia was too occupied with her thoughts that she didn’t notice her sister’s pressing question.  Now that she thought about it, Celestia had been acting strange on several occasions throughout the evening, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on what was causing it.

Luna prodded Celestia again, frowning as she still didn’t react.

“Sister?”

Again, no response.

Getting impatient very quickly, Luna frowned as she lit up her horn.  Casting a quick teleportation spell, Luna reappeared directly in front of her sister.  Waving a hoof in front of her unresponsive sister, she tried again.

“Moon to ‘Tia!  Wake up!”

Celestia let out a sad sigh, and dropped her head and avoided Luna’s eyes.  Her long white ears flicked back in the tell-tale sign of guilt or sadness.  Probably both.

“Lulu, there’s something I should have told you a long time ago.”


Uh oh, that’s not good.

There were only a few occasions in her life that her sister called her Lulu, and with the regretful tone of voice her sister intoned, Luna doubted that whatever it was that Celestia wanted to tell her was something that would make her happy.

Casting a wary gaze at the ponies that had started to approach them curiously, no doubt wanting some royal attention, Luna whispered quickly to Celestia.

“Sister, are you sure this is the…um…appropriate place to speak right now?”

Looking up a little, Celestia eyed the curious mob too.  “No, I suppose not.”  And with that, she walked through the crowd towards the exit, trying to put back up her serene mask for their ponies to see.

And she failed miserably.

As they walked through the doorway into the empty hallway Luna’s concern for her sister increased exponentially.  Celestia displayed no signs of improving soon, as the sun alicorn seemed lost and depressed.

Luna wracked her memory for what could be causing her sister such unprecedented distress.  The only thing she could think of was Twilight’s needless paranoia.  Seeing as there was no pony around, Luna spoke up once more.

“Sister, I can see that you are concerned for your pupil’s wellbeing but cheer up!  There is no reason for despair!  Twilight will find out what a miserable liar Coal Dust is as soon as she hears her parents—“

“They’re not.’

Luna stopped short, her sentence cut short by her sister’s interruption.  Confused, Luna only raised an eyebrow at her sister as they walked.

“Not what?”

“They’re not Twilight’s parents.”

Luna stopped in shock, Celestia trailing ahead and leaving her behind.  As soon as her mind caught up to what her sister had said, she sprinted back up to Celestia and scowled up at her sister.

“And how would you know that?”

Celestia’s ears flicked backwards again and she looked away guiltily.

“Luna I—“

“What?”

The muffled cry of pain came from beside them, through a crack in a doorway they were just about to pass.  The both of them stopped with shared apprehension, peering at the door with caution.  Luna noted that it was the same dining room where they had eaten earlier.

Luna recognized the voice that was filled with pain.

Leaving her sister to stand there, Luna reached forward and opened the doors a little, revealing the scene inside.

The first thing she took notice of was Twilight.  Her dear friend had tears pouring down her cheeks to splash on the floor as she stared despondingly at Night Light and Velvet.  Her wings ruffled and flapped randomly in accordance with her distress.  The golden crown which sat upon her head was crooked as it leaned to one side.  Her dress became more disheveled as Twilight plopped down heavily onto her rump, tears seeming to leak endlessly down her face.

Night Light and Velvet were in not in much better condition better condition, Luna could see that some tears also twinkled in their eyes.  The blue stallion wrapped a hoof around his wife in comfort as Velvet sniffled a little.

Shining Armor and Cadance were sitting between the two groups, staring at the couple and the lavender alicorn with different levels of shock and concern.  Shining just gaped at his parents in complete surprise, his jaw dropped and his eyes wide.  Cadance, on the other hoof, had only eyes for Twilight.  Her forelegs covered her mouth in a muffled gasp while her eyes too watered with tears.

Spike stood between them looking like he didn’t know what to feel.  The confused drake shuffled his claws nervously as he looked between Twilight and her parents.

Behind them, Twilight’s friends stood back from the group in obvious discomfort.  Applejack for some reason looked completely outraged, while Rarity next to her looked lost as she tried to analyze the situation.  Rainbow Dash was postured like she wanted to punch something as she looked down angrily and mouthed what Luna could only guess was, ‘Coal Dust.’  Fluttershy hugged Pinkie Pie tightly as she gazed sadly at Twilight, and Pinkie’s hair had deflated a little while she rubbed Fluttershy’s back gently.

Behind her, Luna heard Celestia quietly look over her shoulder at the ponies gathered in the dining room.  Together, they stood ignored as the discussion they had slipped in on renewed.

“You’re…you’re not my parents?”  Twilight choked out through some weak sobs.

When Night Light and Velvet did not immediately deny Twilight’s words, Luna suppressed a gasp of shock, her heart leaping up into her chest at her friend’s obvious heartache.

“Twilight,” Velvet began cautiously.  The small white mare then walked across the room until she was directly in front of the lavender alicorn, trying to hug Twilight.  When Twilight resisted, Velvet sat back down and sighed heavily.  “Night Light and I will always be your parents, never doubt that for a second.”  She paused and looked sadly at her ‘daughter.’  “But…I…I did not give birth to you.”

Silence reigned supreme.  

Twilight, who was taller than Velvet, could only stare down at the older mare as tears flowed down her face.  Her mouth creaked open and Luna could here small painful chokes emanating from her shocked friend.  It was very clear that she did not know what to say, or what to do.

Shining Armor had no qualms.

“Why?”  He thundered angrily, staring at his parents.  “Why didn’t you tell us?  Twilight had a right to know.”

Night Light looked apologetic as he faced his son.  “I’m sorry son, but Velvet and I never really had it in our hearts to tell her when she was a filly.  We wanted her to grow up without the pressures that such knowledge would have come with.”  He sighed heavily, looking older than he actually was.  “And then, when she grew up, well…she was just so happy.  We knew we needed to tell her, but we wanted her to be happy more than anything else.”  He looked away from his angry son guiltily.  “I’ll admit that we were cowards, not telling her, but we didn’t want her to see us as anything else but her parents.  We should have told her a long time ago, but we…we just couldn’t.”

His father’s words fading into the oppressive silence, Shining stood there for a moment while his face contorted with different emotions.  

As this was going on, something bright and purple caught Luna’s eye.

It was Twilight’s horn, she was preparing a spell.

Velvet saw it too, and guessed what Twilight was about to do.  Rising up and reaching out to Twilight, Velvet let out a panicked cry.

“Twilight!  Please wa—“

But before she finished, Twilight let out a hard sob before a bright flash engulfed her, temporarily blinding everypony in the room.  Once 
Luna regained her sight, she didn’t bother looking around like most of the other ponies in the room, it was clearly evident that Twilight had teleported to who knew where.

“She’s gone!”  Velvet cried, rushing back to Night Light.  The couple embraced tightly while small tears ran down their cheeks.  Spike walked up to them and tugged on the end of Velvet’s dress.

“Um…I bet she’s in her room, and I can take you there.  I suppose we should…um…go find her.”  Spike said timidly.

Night Light nodded and let Spike lead the way with Velvet hugging his side.  Shining Armor was soon to follow with Cadance trailing behind him.  Luna opened the door so they could be let by into the hallway.  

Once they were all through, Luna saw Celestia try to follow them, but Luna tugged firmly on her sister’s dress with her magic.

“Wait ‘Tia!  Let them take care of Twilight.”  She advised.

“But—“

“Right now Twilight needs to be with her family.  You and I will just be in the way.”

Celestia frowned determinedly and continued to look down the hallway towards where the group had departed.  Luna thought her sister was going to argue with her and go to Twilight anyway, but she let out a defeated sigh and followed Luna back into the dining room where Twilight’s friends stood awkwardly.  

“So…um…what can we do to help Twilight?”  Fluttershy asked into the descending silence.

Applejack perked up immediately.  “Why, she needs to be wit her family of course!”

“But she doesn’t know who her family is, that’s the whole point.”  Rarity chimed in.

Applejack scowled fiercely at Rarity and lowered her hat until Luna could barely see her eyes under the rim.  “Family is more than just blood!  It’s about the ponies yah care about!”  

“Yeah!”  Piped up Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash flew in a circle lazily about the room as her scrunched her eyes in thought.  “But that doesn’t help Twilight right now.  What we really need to be asking is how that noble—“

“Former.” Corrected Rarity primly, sipping from her tea.

“—former noble got his hooves on that certificate.”  The blue pegasus finished.

“That’s a good question.”  Fluttershy said, she looked up at Luna and Celestia.  “Um…how would Coal Dust have found that certificate?”

Luna thought Celestia would start explaining, but she noticed that her sister was lost in thought again as she stared at herself in the mirror Tragulidae had given Twilight as a gift earlier.  It was still sitting there, as Twilight had not yet moved the massive scrying mirror anywhere else yet.  Since Celestia said nothing, Luna spoke to the others.

“That certificate was probably Canterlot’s copy for the public archive.  The city keeps track of all adoptions in case any legal issues arise later on.  There would have been three certificates total.  The one Coal Dust produced was the city’s record, which he could have had access to since he was a public official.  Velvet and Night Light should have another, because they adopted Twilight.  The third would have been the original which the orphanage would have kept for their records.  Theirs should be the most detailed since it was they who found her.”

“Which orphanage?”  Rarity asked.

Before Luna could answer, Celestia seemed to speak automatically.  “Tender Heart Orphanage.”  But she blinked a little before adding hurriedly.  “It was on the certificate Coal Dust had.” 

“Oh, I see.”  Fluttershy said.  But she continued to look nervous and looked around at the others.  “I hate to be the one that brings this up, but will this have any effect on Twilight’s crown?”  When the others gave her incredulous looks she clammed up defensively.   “It’s just the poor dear worked so hard and the nobles just can’t take it away!”

“Yeah!”  Affirmed Rainbow.  “Twilight has more than earned her wings!  I don’t care what those stuffy nobles say!”

Luna sighed internally.  It was obvious that neither Fluttershy nor Rainbow Dash possessed any real knowledge on how Equestria was ruled.  She opened her mouth to speak but a large white wing fanned out stiffly as Celestia stood up in anger.

“No.”  She said firmly.  “Twilight will never lose her crown.  The nobles cannot touch her, no matter who her family is.  She was destined to be the Alicorn of Magic, just as Luna and I were destined to bond with the Moon and Sun.  It is her birthright, and no amount of petty squabbling will ever take that away from her.”  Calming down from her outburst, Celestia refolded her wings and sat back down next to Luna.  “Besides, only a few of the unicorn nobles care about who a pony’s family is, and they don’t even represent a majority of the nobility as a whole.”

“That’s right.”  Luna said.  “Before Celestia and I were given the throne, the three tribes were ruled by a triumvirate.  Princess Platinum of the Unicorns, Commander Hurricane of the Pegasi, and Chancellor Puddinghead of the Earth Ponies.”

“But all that’s just ancient history.”  Rainbow dismissed quickly.

Choosing to ignore the ‘ancient’ part of that statement, Luna continued.  “But you see, each tribe had a different culture, and therefore a different way of choosing nobility.  When the three tribes settled in Equestria, each tribe still built their own different cities even though they were united.”

“Ah don’t see what you mean Princess.”  Applejack said, scrunching her brow in confusion.

“Take Ponyville for example.”  Luna told her.  “What tribe of ponies founded it?”

“Why that’s simple!  My family did!”

“And your ancestors were…”

“Earth Ponies!”

“And how do you choose Ponyville’s leader?  I believe the current one is Mayor Mare, correct?”  Luna asked, leading Applejack along a certain line of thought.

“Sure is.  We elect her every few years, same for all our mayors.”  Applejack replied.

Luna turned to Rainbow Dash.  “And how is the consul of Cloudesdale chosen?”

“Eh, I don’t know.  We get a new one every few years.”  She replied idly.

Luna looked across from her to Rarity.  “And Canterlot, how do the dukes and duchesses come into power?”

“Why, the nobles pass down their titles from parent to child, and it has always been that way.”  She replied stiffly.

“The point I’m trying to make is that the way nobles are chosen differs from city to city, depending on which tribe founded it.  Canterlot was founded by unicorns before Celestia made it the capital after the castle in the Everfree Forest was destroyed.  Cloudesdale is a pegasi city, put together by one of Commander Hurricane’s legions at the founding of Equestria.  Ponyville was founded by earth ponies.”

“Ah still don’t understand.”  Applejack intoned, rubbing her head with a fore hoof.  

“You see, each city in Equestria was founded by a different tribe, with different ways of choosing their nobles.  Unicorn cities like Canterlot and Fillydelphia have always been ruled by the Unicorn Noble Houses, like Blueblood’s House Platinum or Coal Dust’s House Obsidian.  The ancient pegasi were militaristic, so the Commander-in-Chief of the nation would appoint rulers over their cities, usually retired military.  Celestia, Cadance, Twilight, and I are Equestria’s Joint-Chiefs when it comes to our army, so it is up to us on who becomes the consul of Cloudesdale, Rainbow Falls, and Los Pegasus.  Usually we hire retired pegasi guard ponies to fill in as consuls, though we usually let the ponies of those cloud cities choose from a few candidates.  The earth pony cities like Ponyville and Appleloosa elect their nobles, like Mayor Mare and Sheriff Silverstar.  Together, all those nobles come together to form the Council of Confederate Nobility, which acts as a senate or a parliament to voice concern to us, the princesses.”

Rainbow huffed impatiently.  “Go on!  Get to the point already!  What’s this got to do with Twilight!”

Luna frowned firmly at the shorter pony, she was enjoying relaying these interesting facts.  “The point is that most of the nobles won’t give a flying fig on who Twilight’s parents are or aren’t.  The only block-headed nobles that would be imbecilic enough to doubt Twilight’s legitimacy are the unicorn nobles, like Prince Blueblood and former Duke Coal Dust, who absolutely depend on their ancestry to be a noble.”

“Well can the unicorn nobles do anything to Twilight?”  Rarity asked pointedly.

“No.”  Luna replied.  “Nopony can remove Twilight from her throne.”  But Luna winced a little as she remembered her time as Nightmare Moon.  “As—um—as long as she doesn’t do anything crazy like…refuse to lower the moon.”  

Luna felt a large white wing wrap around her tightly, and Luna leaned into Celestia’s comforting embrace.  She felt her big sister sigh heavily.

“Does anypony else have any other concerns or worries?”

A chorus of shaking heads answered.

“Then let us wait for Twilight to come back, I’m sure she’ll need your help to get her to through this revelation.”  Celestia told them.  But then in a quiet voice that Luna was sure only she could hear, Celestia added an amendment to her statement.  “And the revelation that will come.”





Castle Aurora

Immediately After Twilight’s Teleport

Twilight





With a bright flash of purple light, Twilight crashed heavily onto her large bed, sending pillows flying and ruffling her normally orderly purple bed sheets.

But she didn’t care.

Sobbing heavily into her pillow while fresh tears stained it, Twilight burrowed herself into her bed, trying to sort through the feelings that tormented her.

Twilight whimpered as hundreds of different scenarios played through her mind.  

She didn’t know what to do, how to react towards the terrible revelation.  Was she no longer a part of the Armor family?  Did this not make Shining Armor her brother, or Cadance her sister-in-law?  

Was she…alone?  Without a family?

Inexplicably, Twilight’s thoughts turned to who she actually came from.  It was clear whoever her real parents were didn’t want her, as they had abandoned her to an orphanage without even acknowledging that she was their daughter.  Was she the result of something terrible?  Was Twilight such a burden on her birth parents that they left her in the care of some random orphanage?

Maybe…maybe they were ashamed of her, that’s why they abandoned her.  Or perhaps she was an unwanted mistake or the result of a careless fling.  A burden.  A nuisance.

An unwanted child.

Twilight closed her eyes and sobbed pitifully deep into her pillow, not caring to dry her eyes or wipe her nose.  She tried to find comfort in her soft and warm bed, but nothing would calm her and relaxation seemed to elude her, letting her drift with her treacherous thoughts.

A soft knock interrupted her sorrow.

“Twilight?   Are you in there?”

It was Spike.

“Go away!”

…

“Um…your parents, Shining and Cadance are here with me.  Do you want to see them?”

“Go away!  They’re not my parents!”

Twilight heard Velvet whimper on the other side of the door.  Instant guilt panged her heart at the sound, but Twilight tried to ignore it and busied herself by burrowing further into her bastion of pillows.

As she softly cried, she heard the door open.  Twilight’s ears flickered as she heard the soft pitter patter of what was the tell-tale signs a baby dragon walking towards her.  She didn’t look up from her tear-stained pillows, and only mumbled roughly at where she thought Spike would have been standing.

“I said go away, I don’t want to talk to anypony.”

Spike didn’t immediately answer, instead the small drake crawled up onto the bed and waddled through the sea of overly-fluffed pillows until he sat down next to where she was laying.

Turning away from him, Twilight thought Spike would go away if she ignored him long enough.

“Does that mean I’m not family?  That I’m not your little-brother?”  He asked quietly.

A sudden stab of pain lanced through Twilight’s torn heart at Spike’s words, and she instantly tried to batter away her guilt with words.

“No…I…uh…Spike…” she tried.

He continued, battering down her defenses with his hurt-filled words.

“Because I’m not related to you or them by blood.  We’re family Twilight, it doesn’t matter if we’re not related by blood.  Because you love me, and I love you.  And I know you still love your parents.”

Twilight couldn’t ignore him anymore, as his words tore a new hole in her heart.  She turned her neck around and looked up at him since he sat on a mountain of pillows, and her head was still lying on the bed.

His words made sense, and Twilight berated herself for not working it through earlier.  Of course they were all still family, and Shining was still her brother, Night Light and Velvet were still her parents, and Cadance was still her sister-in-law.  Family was more than blood, it was about the love and care put together with unbreakable bonds.

And Spike would always be her little-brother.

Spike only sat sagely, regarding her calmly.  For being such a young dragon, she still surprised him with his insightful wisdom.

No words were needed, Twilight knew what she must do.

Getting up from her bed, she made her way over until she could firmly embrace Spike with her hooves.  Brining him in close until his scales pressed tightly in her fur.

“You’ll always be my brother Spike, and I’m sorry for being such a…a…”

“A pony?  You have feelings too Twilight, don’t think that just because you’re a princess that you’re invulnerable to being hurt.”

Spike, will you never cease to amaze me? 

“Thanks Spike.”  She leaned down and nuzzled him, letting a small smile brighten her face a little.

“You’re welcome.”  He replied. Spike then left her hug and clambered off the bed, heading towards the door.  “But I think you should talk to some other ponies too.”

Nodding her head, she too climbed off her bed and joined him as they headed towards the doors.  Once they were there, Twilight lit her horn and opened them slowly with her magic, revealing four other ponies waiting patiently on the other side.

…

“Mom, I’m so sor—“

Velvet leaped forward and hugged her tightly, large tears of happiness matting Twilight’s fur.

“I’m still your mother Twilight, and I love you.”

Twilight leaned into the smaller mare and grasped her tightly, almost afraid of letting go.

“I love you too mom.”  Twilight replied, burying her muzzle into Velvet’s mane.  Her large magenta eyes looked up to spot Night Light.  
Without needing any prompting, the blue stallion joined Velvet and together they embraced their adoptive daughter.  After a minute, they released her only for Cadance and Shining to also hug her.

“You’re still my little-sis, nothing is going to change that Twily.”  Shining whispered.

“Thanks Shiny.”

After a bit, they released and they all sat together in an impromptu circle.  Small smiles lighting each of their faces.  Twilight could only bask in her family’s love, she had been foolish to think that would ever change.  

However, she still had questions.

Facing Night Light and Velvet reluctantly, Twilight shyly implored them.

“So…um…do you know…who, um—“

“I’m sorry Twilight, but we don’t know who your biological parents are.”  Night Light told her.  “The orphanage didn’t know anything either, they just found you on their doorstep.”

Velvet came up and hugged Twilight again fiercely, trying to comfort her.  “You were such a beautiful foal Twilight.  Night Light and I had been thinking about adopting a new-born foal, and so we went to Tender Heart Orphanage in Canterlot.  We were looking for a small, young filly to take care of, and the orphanage introduced us to you, and we just couldn’t leave you there.  You were the cutest and most adorable foal we had ever seen, and we adopted you then and there.”  Despite her calm demeanor, a note of suppressed anger entered Velvet’s tone.  “I don’t understand why any self-respecting mare would ever give you up Twilight.”  But her tone softened a little.  “But I’m glad she did, for if they had not you would have never been a part of our family, Twilight.  And you have been a blessing to us all the days of our lives.”

More tears flushed Twilight’s eyes, but this time they were tears of happiness and gratitude.  She then hugged Velvet firmly, trying to convey her love to her.

Even so, I want to know.

“There may be,” Twilight began.  “a way for me to find out.”

Velvet leaned back and looked up into Twilight’s face with a concerned expression.  “How?”

“After you all went to the ball, I received several gifts from our foreign friends.  The deer gave me a scrying mirror which will show me my past.  It’s still sitting in the dining room with the princesses and my friends.  I might be able to use it to find out.”

Night Light also looked concerned.  “Are you sure Twilight?  Knowing won’t change anything, and the truth might not be pleasant.”
Now reassured of her family’s love, Twilight had a burning need to know where she came from, and why her parents gave her up.

“I’m sure.  I want to know.”

Despite their obvious reluctance, her family supported her decision, and Twilight led them back towards the dining hall.

Towards the truth.






> Chapter 5:  Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Aurora

Three Hours After Sunset

Luna





With a determined shove, the doors opened behind Luna and her sister as the Armor Household returned from their brief sojourn.  

Putting a hold on the conversation about nocturnal creatures she was having with Fluttershy, Luna turned around to get a better look at her friend.

With all that had happened, Luna was glad to see that Twilight and her adoptive family were mostly none worse for wear.  Red eyes that had most certainly cried were shared all around, but each pony seemed to be acting in accordance with their own reactions.

Velvet and Night Light were obviously relieved to have reconciled with Twilight so quickly.  Their postures were more relaxed than the others and it was evident that the revelation of Twilight’s adoption had made them very, very tired.  Though they smiled and supported Twilight unconditionally, the dark bags beneath their eyes told Luna that they desired rest and that they had had enough excitement for one night.

Shining and Cadance wore different reactions to the recent events according to their own perspectives.  From the way he carried himself, Shining was shocked to find out that Twilight was not his blood-sibling but from his stiff posture and determined stance, Luna could see that the information didn’t change how he felt about his adoptive sister.  Even now, Luna observed as Shining carefully eyed Twilight as if afraid she might get hurt.  It was evident that he still had that big-sibling protective instinct that was hard-wired into older siblings.  Luna knew how strong such bonds were from first-hoof experiences with Celestia.  Cadance, on the other-hoof, seemed absolutely delighted.  No doubt because of her empathy magic she could feel the love the Armors had for each other, and was infinitely glad the revelation had not shaken that foundation of love.  While she and Shining stood side by side, she seemed excited as if to see what other events might transpire, only for love to conquer all.

Spike was perched up on Twilight’s back, like the dragon-riders of old, except reversed.  He smiled and seemed very happy.  Luna wondered if he was privately glad that he was not the only adoptive member of the Armor family, and the thought that he and Twilight were adoptees together probably brought a large amount of peace to his mind.

And then there was Twilight.

Her friend was the exact polar opposite of her adoptive family.  While the others were tired and relieved, Luna’s friend was revitalized and driven.  Twilight was producing this fierce aura that she carried whenever she was faced with a problem she was determined to solve.  Luna had witnessed this phenomena several times when Twilight confronted such obstacles as Sombra and Tirek.  It was almost scary how single-minded Twilight could be, it was as if she was once given a task to accomplish, or a mystery to solve, nothing and nopony could stop her.

Quickly and without even breaking a stride, Twilight strove past Luna and Celestia and walked firmly towards her friends behind them.  
They rose up to greet her, happy to see her in a better state than in which she had departed.  Luna watched patiently from afar as Twilight relayed what had happened, and was pleased to see her friends support her.  Next to her, Princess Cadance took her place on Luna’s left while Celestia sat silently on her right.  The rest of the Armors walked with Twilight towards the mirror on the other side of the room, like moths attracted to a lantern.

“What are they doing?”  Luna whispered to Celestia, eyeing the large mirror curiously and Twilight’s sudden fascination with it.

“Twilight is going to try and find out who her real parents are by looking into the scrying mirror.”  Cadance answered excitedly, bouncing with energy.  

Luna pursed her lips but nodded in reluctant approval.  “While I support this venture, I am afraid it will only bring Twilight sadness.”

Celestia’s ears flickered in Luna’s direction and she frowned a little at her sister.  “What do you mean sister?”  Cadance grimaced up at her curiously as well at Luna’s statement.

“Well,” Luna began frankly.  “surely whoever her parents are must be dead.  Twilight has been a princess for over a year now and nopony has come forth as of yet claiming to have given birth to her.  And even before her coronation Twilight was famous for her many adventures and triumphs.  If her parents were alive, they would have come forth by now and claimed her.  I know not of any sane mare that would not want to be known as the mother of Twilight Sparkle, the hero of Equestria.”

Celestia pursed her lips, and looked away from Luna and back to the gaggle of ponies on the opposite end of the dining hall.  Luna could see Twilight talk firmly with her friends and family as she examined the mirror critically, probably trying to figure out how to work the scrying mirror’s magic.

Cadance was not so easily dissuaded as Celestia.  “Don’t be such a Negative-Nancy Aunt Luna!”  She reproached sterfully.  “Perhaps they were scared to reveal themselves or didn’t recognize her.  Twilight Sparkle isn’t exactly a rare name.  I mean look at Velvet, even her first name is Twilight!”

“My point still stands.”  Luna asserted.  She would not put up false hopes, though she wished it were otherwise.  “There can’t be that many ponies that share Twilight’s exact age, exact coat color, and even exact race before she ascended for there to be more than one!  If her parents are alive, they would have already come forth already and revealed themselves.”

Cadance snorted in disbelief and stared away from Luna, while Celestia said nothing.

That’s odd.  Usually ‘Tia is more talkative. 

Her musings were interrupted however, as she noticed that Twilight was quickly approaching the three aloof princesses.

“Princess.”  Twilight said, obviously addressing Celestia.  “Are you familiar with using scrying mirrors?”

Celestia seemed to mull it over a little before speaking reluctantly.  “A little, mostly from when Starswirl and I use to experiment with them and mirrors like them a long time ago.”

Twilight nodded and seemed to file away that bit of information in that remarkable memory of hers.  “Can you help me then?  I’m trying to use the mirror in order to find out who my birth parents are.”

Celestia, her face calm and neutral, nodded her head slowly.  “Of course.  I would be glad to help.”

And with that, Celestia and Twilight walked side by side as they approached the scrying mirror, Luna and Cadance following close behind.  When they got there, the Armors and Twilight’s friends had formed a rough semi-circle around the mirror so they could let Twilight and Celestia have some space as they examined it.   Luna, along with Cadance, sat down patiently with the other ponies as they watched the pair look into the mirror.

Celestia, calm as ever, pointed out to Twilight the frame surrounding the mirror.  “The runes along the frame help stabilize the enchantment so that it can discern the images and information it picks up from the magic fluctuations in Equestria’s innate magical energy.  Usually, it has to be near a great source of magical energy in order for it to work properly and without error.  Canterlot Castle is but one such place, and so is the Crystal Spire in the Crystal Empire.  The old castle in the Everfree would probably have the best connection, since it sits right above the Tree of Harmony.  Castle Aurora probably has similar properties since it came from the Tree.”

Twilight had been nodding her head all along.  Luna had to stifle a giggle, despite their equality in in status and power, she could easily see that Celestia and Twilight could still fall easily into their old mentor-student relationship.

Luna knew this constant mentor-like affection irritated Celestia.  Though ‘Tia had never voiced her displeasure to Luna, the moon princess could easily see that Celestia had hoped that their equal standing as princesses would lead to something akin to a strong friendship or family.  Not that Twilight didn’t love Celestia, that was undeniable, it was just that Celestia seemed to want something more than the bond they had of master and apprentice.

Snapping her attention back to the scene in front of her, Luna shook her head and flicked her ears as Twilight spoke once more.

Twilight pointed at the runes at the base of the mirror.  “I recognize those symbols as ones used to recognize the caster of a spell, like rune circles when placing a unicorn enchantment.  I assume I need to place my hooves there in order for it to recognize me.”

Celestia nodded, a quick and almost bird-like motion.  “That is correct.  This mirror was built for earth ponies and by earth ponies, and so the owners of this mirror would have to use their hooves in order to channel their magic in it.  This is the same for Alicorns that want to use it.”

“What then?  Do I cast a spell or chant an incantation?  I’ve only had earth pony magic for a year and I still haven’t found out all its applications.”

“No.”  Celestia answered shortly, shaking her head a little as she gazed down at Twilight.  “You ask it.  Earth Ponies don’t use their magic like unicorns, as you well know, so they would have to fashion the mirror so that it would respond to verbal commands.”

Twilight nodded in understanding and approached the mirror, visibly steeling herself as she prepared to confront the mirror’s hidden mysteries.  Celestia stepped back and took a spot next to Luna to watch Twilight.  Her face was the very epitome of calm and neutrality, an odd face to pull in this situation, Luna thought.  She would think that her sister would be more encouraging and supportive of her prized apprentice in trying to find her birth parents.

Luna put away her thoughts for the moment as irrelevant anyway, and instead watched intently as Twilight placed her hooves on the mirror’s base.  The frame seem to shine with an inner brightness and the mirror’s surface shimmered a little upon Twilight making contact.

And they waited.  Nopony seemed to breathe, or otherwise move.  For all intents and purposes, they could have been statues.

Twilight stared at her reflection intently and seemed to wage an inner debate with herself.  No doubt trying to decide on what to ask or command.  But then she took a deep breath and gazed bravely into the glass.

“Show me my mother.”

As soon as the words finished departing from her lips, the mirror glowed fiercely with a bright inner-light and the surface swirled in a mix match of colors and images, like a whirlpool of different colored paint.  It was slightly dizzying for Luna, and probably doubly so for Twilight.  But instead of looking away, Twilight tried to capture what the mirror was doing as if afraid she would miss the image of her mother.  In the heart of the swirling colors though, Luna started to  see a scene being formed and brought to the surface of the mirror like an approaching train.  Twilight and the others stared intently at it as it fast approached.

Luna peered closely, squinting her eyes to get a better look.  It was still very small but she could make out a few colors and the vague shape of a pony.  Pink, white, and—

SSSSSSSCCCCCCRRRRRRREEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHH!!!!!

Luna covered her ears at the unexpected and very loud sound.  She winced in pain as the noise was akin to Tirek clawing a chalkboard.  All around her, ponies also covered their ears with their hooves or wings and tried to shake off the painful screech.  
Through the daze of pain, Luna blearily saw Twilight rear back in surprise and pain as the bloody sound assaulted her eardrums, violently shutting her eyes as hooves clamped her ears in an effort to suppress the piercing wail.

And just as it had come, it was gone.  The silence almost abnormal in the absence of the screech.

Luna grimaced back at the mirror as she tried to decipher what had happened, and as she did, Twilight did the same.

The mirror was now a puzzle of different images thrown about in a random and undecipherable order scattered across the reflective surface.  It was as if somepony had taken the mirror, shattered it, and then put it back together into the same shape, but now all the pieces of the image were in no discernible shape of recognition.  She suspected it was still one image, but broken as to be unrecognizable to all that looked at it.

Twilight desperately put her hooves on the mirror and looked feverishly at the mess of cumulated images, her face drawn up in horror.

“What…What is this?”  She cried.  “What’s happened?”

Luna stepped forward and joined Twilight in front of the mirror, her horn scanning it for an enchantment.  Behind her, she heard the doors on the far side of the room open and close, and the recognizable clip-clop of the iron shoes her Night Watch used.

“Your majesties.”  Luna recognized the voice as belonging to Noctis, her captain.  “I heard a terrible noise come from inside, is everything alright?”

“Calm yourself Captain.”  Luna asserted calmly, still scanning the mirror.  “Nothing dire has happened, but please stick around.  We may have questions that need answered.

“Yes your majesty.”

Twilight looked intently back and forth between the mirror and Luna.  “Well?” she asked.  “What is it?  Was the mirror like this to begin with?  Is it broken?”

“Your questions would best be answered if they were given to me one at a time.”  Luna told Twilight gently.  She then finished her spell and Luna stepped back, eying the mirror warily.

“Captain?”  She addressed Noctis.  Luna needed some answers from her captain before she voiced her theory to Twilight.

“Yes?”

“How many ponies have been in here since after our dinner with the foreign dignitaries?”

Noctis was silent for a moment, and Luna could see his face scrunch up in thought as he mentally crunched the information and numbers in his head.  After a short pause, he spoke reluctantly, his face grim.

“Hard to say, there hasn’t been any sentries guarding anything in this part of the castle, and the room has been open since your dinner concluded with the foreigners.”  He paused again, letting out a deep sigh.  “The best I can guess is perhaps 800 to 1200 ponies.  Perhaps more.”

Luna frowned firmly as Twilight sat heavily down next to her, the former thirsty for further information on the mirror’s mysterious condition.

“Why do you ask this Luna?”  Twilight asked quietly.  

“Because the mirror was fine when Celestia and I scanned it after Tragulidae gave it to you.  And the enchantment that has been placed on it is a cypher spell.”

Twilight shook her head, not understanding.  “I don’t know that one, and I’ve actually never heard of it.”

Luna opened her mouth to explain but stopped as her sister spoke up finally.

“It’s an old spell Twilight.” Celestia said, walking up behind them.  “Not one used very much anymore since these mirrors are not as common as they once were.  It’s actually very simple, but difficult to undo, and doesn’t require much power.  What it does is that instead of completely blocking an image on the mirror, it divides the image into thousands of pieces and displays them randomly across the surface, rendering it unreadable.  The mirror has defensive magic designed to counteract enchantments blocking images, but this spell doesn’t block it and instead rearranges it.”

Twilight nodded along, disappointment dripping clearly from her face.  “Does it target all the images, no matter who is using it?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”  Celestia told her firmly.  Luna didn’t bother to confirm her sister’s statement.  Though she was not as familiar with the spell as much as Celestia obviously was, Luna could tell that such an enchantment would be almost impossible to target a certain pony or image.

Twilight sat down and put a hoof beneath her chin, thinking quickly.  “So that means somepony between the time you two scanned it and now enchanted the mirror so that nopony could read it.”  She shook her head despondently.  “That doesn’t seem plausible.  Nopony should have been able to predict that this mirror was coming tonight, and shouldn’t have had the preparation for casting such an old spell.  And then why?  Why would somepony not want anypony to use it?”

Celestia didn’t say anything immediately, so Luna spoke up.

“Perhaps somepony didn’t like the idea that one of the princesses could look anywhere at almost any given time in the present and view events.  Criminals, conspirators, and just plain ponies wanting their privacy could have cast the spell.  We can narrow it down a little, as only a unicorn could cast a spell like this.  But that still leaves several hundred ponies.”  A thought struck Luna suddenly.  “You didn’t by chance post a guest registry for ponies to sign as they arrived did you?”  Luna asked Twilight.

Twilight shook her head despairingly.  “I did for those ponies I invited.  But it’s an Open House, so anypony can come.  I didn’t want them to feel like only a select few could come so I made it so that anypony in Equestria could come if they wanted to.”

“Ponyfeathers.”  Luna swore.  “Then there is almost no way for us to catch the perpetrator.”

“Is there any good news?”  Twilight asked the two eldest alicorns.  “Can we undo the spell?”

“Not really.”  Luna answered frankly.  “This particular spell is called a cypher spell because when cast, the castors magic forms a key in which to lift the spell but if another pony attempts to lift the spell, like to pick a lock, the magical lock will rearrange itself and to confuse almost any attempt to unlock it.  It would be best not to attempt to unlock it right now until we have a better way of solving this puzzle.”  
Luna cocked her head to the side.  “But fortunately, the cypher spell has a time limit.  The energy infused into it will only last so long before fading away and then the mirror will perform perfectly again.”

Twilight stared sternly at the mirror, as if it’s refusal to cooperate has insulted her.  “How long then?  Were you able to tell from your scan?”

“Yes.  A great deal more energy than usual was put into this one.  Perhaps two months…maybe three.”

“Three months?!”  Twilight groaned.  “Well that’s just great!”

Twilight then stomped off to talk with her friends and the Armor family, leaving Luna and Celestia at the mirror.  The other ponies in the room had been listening intently to their conversation but now the Armors tried to comfort and help Twilight.  Ponies began chatting in different groups behind them as Twilight and her adoptive parents delved deeper into conversation.

Luna looked up at her sister beside her, as they stood in front of the enchanted mirror.  Luna could see that Celestia was looking very tired, and sad for some reason.

“There, there ‘Tia.”  Luna tried to soothe her, patting her gently on the back with a hoof.  “I’m sure we’ll find a way to lift the spell soon.  There’s no reason to fret.”

But much to Luna’s surprise, Celestia brushed off her soothing words and shook her head wearily, her wings drooping at her sides..

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”  She said quietly.  Celestia then turned around and headed back towards the door into the hallway.

“Where are you going?”  Luna called after her, still sitting in front of the mirror.  

“To bed.”  Celestia said simply, her eyelids drooping with exhaustion.  Even her mane seemed exhausted, dragging itself behind Celestia instead of billowing in the cosmic wind.  “I am so, so tired and I can’t…I don’t want to do anything else tonight.”

And then she was gone, leaving a very confused sister behind.

Luna shook her head in frustration, she had never seen her sister have such a lack support or energy for a mystery such as this before, especially when it concerned Twilight.  Turning around and examining the mirror critically again, Luna wracked her brains for why, how, and when somepony would tamper with the mirror.

It wasn’t like these mirrors were very well known.  The chances of somepony knowing about one, finding out Twilight had received one, having the ability to cast the spell, and then actually doing it were very, very, extremely small.

Luna just couldn’t quiet put her hoof on it.  She could tell that something sat right on the edge of her awareness, an answer that was just beyond her reach.  But for the life of her, she couldn’t figure it out.  

With all the facts stacked against her, Luna just couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation.  In fact, if she didn’t know any better, she would have thought that the only ponies that could have known about the mirror and have the ability to cast the old spell would have been either herself or…Celestia…

Luna’s line of thought screeched to a halt, and she reexamined what she had just pictured in her mind.

No.  It wasn’t possible, and it should have never have crossed her mind in the first place.  Luna berated herself for the ridiculous line of thought her musings had taken.  She should never doubt her sister and think Celestia of all ponies could have cast the spell on the mirror.  What reason could she possibly have that would drive Celestia to enchant Twilight’s mirror?   The only thing she could think of was that ‘Tia had been jealous of Twilight trying to figure out who her birth parents are.

Celestia would do everything to help Twilight, and to think otherwise is to court foolishness.  

Luna smiled, chuckling to herself at the absurdity of her thoughts.  She could not see Celestia try to keep such knowledge from Twilight for any reason.   Luna would have had to have been deaf and blind not to notice just how much her sister cared for the young alicorn.

Why, Twilight is like the daughter Celestia never had!

…

…

Luna blinked.

…

…

Her blood then ran cold as her thoughts began forming a different picture, and her heart beat slowly, thundering in her ears. 


No…It’s…It’s not possible…

But as if against her will, Luna’s neck creaked like a rusty gate as she turned her head to stare at the small lavender alicorn.

Twilight was now discussing things with her friends, a frown firmly plastered to her face and her wings ruffling in agitation.  So deep in discussion she was with them, Twilight did not notice the disbelieving stare Luna was giving her.

Now that Luna thought about it, there were several things Twilight and Celestia shared.  She had known Celestia since they were fillies together, and that meant she knew the younger Celestia better than anypony alive.

Luna realized that Twilight…that Twilight was a mirror of that young Celestia.

It was uncanny.  They were both exceedingly intelligent, wise beyond their years, and with a magical might that was unchallenged save for Luna and Cadance.  Luna remembered when she and her sister had ascended to the throne all those years ago.  Celestia had been so nervous back then, so scared to make mistakes, constantly seeking the approval of their mentors, Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever, just like Twilight had been before her own coronation.

They had both wielded the Element of Magic, and after the incident with the vines in the Everfree Forest, Twilight and Celestia were the only ponies that Luna knew of who had ever wielded all six elements by themselves.

Even more disconcerting was that Twilight had a lot of quirks that were similar to Celestia’s, and before now Luna had thought it was because Twilight had practically grown up beneath Celestia’s wing.

But perhaps, there was a different…more maternal reason.

Then, there were the physical similarities.  If Luna had not been looking for them, she doubted she would have noticed them and put two and two together before now.  On top of that, it was hard to compare the smallest and youngest alicorn to the largest and oldest, but Luna had known the young Celestia.  If Luna took Twilight and dumped white paint on her, plastered Celestia’s sun over Twilight’s stars, and then dyed Twilight’s purple mane pink before fluffing it a little, the two would have been twins.

In fact, now that she thought about it, the pink stripe in Twilight’s mane was offlly similar to Celestia’s mane when she wasn’t powering it with magic.  And like Celestia’s, Twilight’s mane was parted into different colors.

Then there was their body build.  Cadance was similar to Luna in that regard, while Twilight shared a lot more body shape to Celestia.

Although their wings were quite different, but that hardly mattered since Luna could see that Twilight’s wings were similar to her own, and she was Celestia’s sister.

And then, there was their eyes.

Celestia and Twilight had the same magenta eyes.

Luna didn’t know how she didn’t see it before, she must have been blind or stupid.

Or deliberately deceived.

There was no denying it anymore, Twilight was Celestia’s daughter, Celestia was Twilight’s mother.

And Luna was Twilight’s unsuspecting aunt.


“I see you’ve finally figured it out.  Took you long enough.”  Said a wiry familiar voice.

Luna jumped, she had thought she was alone.  But it would take more than a thousand years to forget that voice, or its owner.  She looked around hesitantly, trying to find the source of the voice.  The other ponies were oblivious to Luna’s revelation however, and they seemed to have also not heard the voice that had startled her.

“Nuh uh.  Up here Moonbutt.”

Luna felt a claw rap her skull and she immediately looked towards the ceiling, but she still didn’t spot the trickster.

“Nope.  Bit lower.”  Another rap on top of her head.

Luna rolled her eyes until they almost disappeared into her forehead.  She scrunched her teal eyes in annoyance and glared at her black crown, which looked back down at her.

“Discord?  Are you in my…crown?”  She asked the crown with eyes.

“Pfffftt!  Don’t be silly!  I am your crown!”

Luna quickly suppressed the sudden urge to face-hoof.

“Then where is my real crown?”  Luna asked, annoyed.

“In the bottom drawer of your night stand.  I simply transformed myself into your crown so I could get front row seat tonight.”  The crown made a munching noise that sounded suspiciously like popcorn.

“You’ve been sitting on top of my head this whole time?!”

“Of course I did.”  Munch, Munch, Munch.  “How else was I going to go to the ball?”

“I thought Twilight invited you.”  Luna grimaced as a discarded popcorn kernel bounced off her nose.

“She did, but where’s the fun in going like everypony else and dressing up all fancy?  Besides, I even did get dressed!  I’m fit for royalty!”

“You’re a crown.”  Luna said flatly.

“There’s nothing more royal.”  Discord snarked.

“Point taken.”  Luna conceded.  She then lowered her voice.  “So…you knew Twilight was Celestia’s daughter?”  She eyed the crowd of ponies several yards away from her warily, afraid they might overhear their conversation.

“Don’t worry, they can’t hear you talk to your crown.  And yes, I did know.”  Discord said smugly.  Luna didn’t know how it was possible, but her crown seemed to sit up on her head proudly.

“How?  I doubt ‘Tia told you.”  Then her own statement sent a pang of disappointment and betrayal through her, and Luna wilted a little.  “She didn’t even tell me…”

“Well, it’s simple really.”  Discord continued, oblivious to Luna’s sudden sadness.  “I tasted the rainbow.”

“You what?”  Despite herself, Luna couldn’t ponder and wallow in Celestia’s betrayal while Discord played word games with her.

“Uugghh!  Do I have to explain everything?!”  Discord whined, Luna’s crown shaking slightly.  “Look Moonbutt, every time I got blasted with the Elements I tasted it, for kicks.  Well all that sticky power of harmony is channeled through whoever is wearing the princessy magical tiara of doom!  And each user of Magic has its own taste.  Oddly enough, Celestia’s and Twilight’s rainbows tasted the same.  Different kinds of bubblegum and raspberry with a hint of vanilla.  That was my first clue.”

“And your second?”

“I had an interesting conversation with myself while imprisoned after I tasted Twilight’s rainbow.  I was a goody-two shoes mind you, and I had my doubts.  But time and space paradoxes are like chicken and dumplings with a side of crunchy blue-boxes to me, so I rolled with it.”

“I am very lost.” 

“Are we?  I thought we were in Twilight’s castle?”  Discord said.  Her crown then produced a large periscope through which Discord’s yellow and red eyes shone through as it peered about the room.

“Right.”  Luna face-hoofed.  “You talked to yourself?  And that’s how you found out Celestia was Twilight’s mother?”

“Kinda.  We pieced it together you see.  I told me my experiences on this side of the timeline, and I told me my experiences in my version of reality.  It was incredibly fascinating, I couldn’t stop yammering about Twilight’s father.  Meh meh meh meh meh meh!  And then I would whoosh back to my flawed version of Equestria saying, ‘Captain Good-Guy, Away!’”

“My head hurts.”  Luna groaned, rubbing her head with a hoof.

“It’s me isn’t it?”  Discord lamented, and a tissue dabbed her crown as if it were crying.  “Being reformed has done nothing good to my digestive system.  Pretty soon I’ll be as round as Sunbutt before she squeezed out Twilight.”

Luna shook her head and pressed on to her next question, her curiosity piqued.

“Well,” Luna huffed in exasperation.  “can you still talk to this…uh…other you?”

“Hhhmm.”  Discord pondered.  “You know I haven’t tried since the Elements repaired the space time continuum, just give me a moment.”

A small pause, leaving Luna to ponder over Discord’s jumbled words.


Ring Ring Ring, were the sounds her crown emanated as it shook.  Luna raised her eyebrows as it gave a long beep, and then very tinny female voice spoke. 

“We’re sorry, but the number you are trying to reach no longer exists in this level of reality and/or alternate timeline.  Press 1 if you want to try again.  For more information on Starswirl the Bearded’s Magical Mirror catalogues, press 2.  If you are unsatisfactory with this service, press 3.  If you are interested in purchasing fur—“

Her crown beeped again before Luna heard Discord grumble.

“Stupid voice machines, and there goes my last quarter…”

Luna felt an odd mixture of confusion and disappointment flash through her.  She quickly dismissed the feelings and pressed on to a more troubling issue.  It was strange to her that Discord, since he had known Twilight’s true heritage, had not caused trouble using the valuable information.

“So why didn’t you say something to Twilight about Celestia before and after you were reformed?”  Luna asked pointedly. 

“First rule of Chaos:  Disharmony is best sown over long periods of time, like tomato soup cooking over a lava oven.  And then the rule before that is that there are no rules.  Go figure.”  

“That didn’t answer my question.”  Luna growled, her patience starting to run thin.

“Oh I did answer your question,” Discord said sagely.  “just not in the way you expected.  But anyway, I thought if I let the secret simmer, it would explode in their faces at just the right moment.”

“And now?”  Luna pressed.

Discord paused, looking to all the world to be Luna’s dainty obsidian crown.  

“Fluttershy did reform me, truly.”  His voice had lost its trademark snark.  “But it wasn’t until Tirek that I finally and fully understood what friendship meant.”  Discord said, but then let out a fierce growl.  “I hate it that the oversized hunk of goat took my magic!  He chewed it up and then Twilight made him spit it back out!  Do you know what regurgitated magic tastes like! It was like maregolian barbeque dipped in the burning rivers of Tarturus!  I couldn’t use my tongue for days it was so spicy!”

Luna shook her head, trying to banish the repugnant imagery his words conjured and tried to steer the conversation back on track.  “We’re getting off topic.”

“Oh right!”  Discord exclaimed, the crown making the noise of snapping claws.  “After Tirek, I knew I couldn’t do it for the same reason you won’t tell Twilight.”

That sounded offlly ominous.  “And why is that?  ‘Tia hasn’t told her and Twilight needs to know.  It’s her right to know who her parents are.”

“Ah, but here’s the clincher.  Twilight does have a right to know, but whose responsibility is that?  Yours Auntie Moonbutt?”

Luna wilted, realizing the truth in the trickster’s words.  “It’s Celestia’s.”  But she was still determined despite the warning.  “But she still hasn’t told Twilight yet.”

“That’s right, and Sunbutt better hurry up and spill the beans too.  There’s almost nothing that can stop a Starbutt on a quest for knowledge.  Trust me, I’ve been there.  Got the t-shirt too.”  

Luna nodded, Discord was right on the money.  It was a well-known fact that Twilight was a fierce researcher, especially when something of this magnitude troubled her this deeply.

“You are right of course.  Now that Twilight is looking, it is only a matter of time until she discovers the truth.”  She picked up Discord/her crown and nodded her head to him/it.  “Thank you Discord, you have been most helpful.”

The crown didn’t answer, so Luna shook it a little, frowning at the lack of a response.  “Discord?”

A claw tapped her shoulder.  Luna turned around only to crane her neck up to gaze up at the much taller draconeques.  Discord was wearing an outfit that was ballerina for the bottom half and tuxedo for the top, complete with a rotating disco ball on top of his head.  He had high heels on his feet and his face was decorated like a clown, complete with a large red rubber ball on the end of his snout.

“Luna?”  He asked curiously, his eyes twinkling with mirth.  “Why are you talking to your crown?”

Luna looked sternly from Discord then back to her crown, trying to make sense of what had just happened.  Then she gave up trying to understand it and firmly plopped the crown back onto her head.  She turned to face Discord and gave him a small, but genuine smile.  Luna would have probably been more enthusiastic if she were feeling better; but having her sister deceive her over Twilight’s true relation to her hurt Luna deeply.

“Thank you Discord, you have a wonderful night.  I must find my ‘dear’ sister and talk with her.”

Discord opened his fanged mouth to reply but a curious voice behind Luna pre-empted him.

“Talk to her about what?” 
Luna froze, but then quickly relaxed her posture so as not to signal anything or look suspicious.  Turning away from Discord slowly, Luna gave a hesitant smile to the pony surrounding her inner turmoil.  

Luna was deeply conflicted and wasn’t sure how to proceed.  On one side, she resented Celestia for not trusting her with the truth about Twilight’s relation to them.  Luna didn’t like feeling so bitter towards her sister, it reminded her of the dark feelings she had possessed, though not nearly as strong, before becoming Nightmare Moon.  Inside, Luna felt betrayed that Celestia didn’t trust her enough to tell her she had a niece, and it burned her that her trust was so unvalued and belittled.

Luna wanted to tell Twilight.  She could see that Twilight was disappointed and hurt by not knowing, just by the way Twilight looked tired and frustrated.  Luna could tell her, right now, that Celestia was her mother and end this pointless search.  

But Luna had to be honest with herself.  If she did tell Twilight, Luna’s feelings of betrayal and anger towards Celestia would only make the reveal painful and bitter.  Also, Luna recognized that it was Celestia’s responsibility to reveal it to Twilight.  It pained her to keep the deception, especially from Twilight of all ponies.  The lavender alicorn had done so much for Luna over the last few years, and now she was forced to deceive her.

Before Luna had discovered her familiar connection to Twilight, she had already considered her to be family, like a little-sister in fact.  Being in the exclusive club of alicorn princesses meant that they would share a great many things together.  Finding out that Twilight was in fact her niece shouldn’t change how Luna felt towards Twilight, since she already loved Twilight as family.  However, now Luna was in the awkward position of deceiving Twilight further or revealing the truth, neither of which she was inclined to do with her current disposition.  

Luna inwardly cursed herself as she decided to maintain the deception, at least until she got answers from her sister.

“Ah, Twilight.”  Luna said as if greeting an old friend, not her recently discovered niece.  “I was talking to Discord about…um…”

“Gummy Bears.”  Discord added helpfully.

Luna grimaced a little.  “Right…uh…gummy bears.  We were talking about them because…because…”

“Because Luna has an incurable sweet tooth.  If not for her workout, she would be all flabby and pudgy like an old pillow.  But thankfully for her, raising and lowering the moon every night burns a lot of calories.”  Discord smirked, giving Luna an encouraging nudge with his claw.

Twilight didn’t seem to be making any sense of the conversation.  “And what does this have to do with Princess Celestia?”  

“Um…”  Luna searched furiously for a reasonable explanation.

But as always, Discord was only too happy to lend a helping claw.

“Because Sunbutt is a notorious sweet hoarder.”  He leaned down and whispered closely so that only Luna and Twilight could hear him.  “Legend has it that the vaults beneath Canterlot are filled to the brim with cakes that would make Pinkie’s cupcakes taste like spinach.”

“Oh.”  Twilight said, blinking furiously.  “I…uh…right.”  She finished lamely.

“Better believe it Twilight.”  Discord stated bluntly.  “Oh, and the moon is made of cheese.”

Luna frowned.  “No it’s not.”

Discord snapped his claws.  “It is now.”

Luna face-hoofed again, groaning in frustration.

“Right…”  Twilight said carefully, as if a ticking time bomb sat in front of her.  “I’ll just…um…go talk to Applejack…over there…about stuff.”  She then scurried off and left the two of them alone again.

Discord nudged Luna firmly, pushing her towards the door.

“Go on, I distracted her for you.  That won’t distract her for long though, eventually she’ll come back with Pinkie Pie and ask what kind of cheese the moon is.  It’s swiss by the way, with a blue tinge to it.  I aged it just right so it’s the good kind of stinky cheese.”

Luna nodded but grimaced slightly.

“You…uh…will change it back, right?”  She asked hopefully.

“Probably.”  Discord said, munching on some popcorn.  “What good is the moon being cheese if nopony can dip nachos in it?”

Luna started towards the door, intent on finally confronting her sister.  “Right.  Thank you Discord, you’ve been most…helpful?”

“You’re welcome, now go do some sisterly bonding/fighting/hugging/forgiving thing or whatever it is that siblings do.  I have a cow to fetch.”

Despite herself, Luna glanced back at him, confusion reigning supreme.

“A cow?  What in Equestria for?”

“To jump over the moon with of course!  It's the only way to travel!  Now all I need to do is find a big enough trampoline and earn a doctorate in physics at Canterlot University.  Now go on!  Scat!”

And with a final shove, Discord pushed Luna through the doors out into the empty hallway, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Shaking off Discord’s antics, Luna straightened her crown and reorganized her ruffled feathers.  Gaining a sense of where she was, Luna turned around and headed towards the doors Luna recognized as the ones Twilight had pointed at to them as Celestia’s guest room for the night.

Stopping outside the doors, Luna suppressed her anger and steeled herself for the coming confrontation.  She didn’t know why Celestia hid the truth from Twilight, but she was going to find out.  Reaching out with a silver hoof, Luna rapped firmly on the thick crystal door.

To her surprise, instead of the door refusing to budge, it opened up to reveal the bedroom inside.  Luna poked her head in hesitantly, disturbed slightly by the lack or resistance.  Her ears picked up a faint sound that crushed her heart.

Celestia was crying.







> Chapter 6:  Tears of the Sun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Aurora, Guest Room

Midnight

Celestia





Why do the shadows of lie and deceit eclipse the glory of the sun?

Why does she continue to weave her web of deception over her pride and joy?

Because I am a coward.

Celestia lay prone on her borrowed bed, not possessing the will to move any further.  Her beautiful mane lay lifeless across her head, her tail similarly limp.  Her large white wings were ruffled in a large disorganized mess caused by her anxiety, but she didn’t have the sanctity of mind to preen her wings.  Her eyes were shut closed and her face scrunched up as if in pain.  Celestia breathed heavily and failed to control the sobs that racked her frame.  Large tears welled up in her eyes before rebelliously streaking down her face.

And her heart ached as if it had shriveled up inside her because of fear and old pain.

None of that really mattered, Celestia knew she deserved this pain for what she had done. 

A small, fragile voice cut through her misery, suddenly sharpening her senses into high alert.

“…sister?”

Luna? I can’t let her see me like this!

Before turning towards the door through which her sister probably stood, Celestia quickly erased any trace of tears on her and quickly smoothed out her feathers with her magic.  She summoned a serene mask cultivated over a thousand years and lifted her head to face Luna.

Her sister seemed both determined and cautious, her face flashing through different emotions that Celestia couldn’t identify fast enough.  Luna stepped fully into the room and seemed to gather her wits once more, ruffling her wings as if in preparation to give a lecture.  But even so, her teal eyes betrayed the hesitancy with which she approached Celestia.

“Luna!”  Even after years of hiding her true feelings, Celestia couldn’t stop a slight tremor from entering her voice.  She didn’t know if Luna had caught her crying or not, and the thought terrified her.  “Y-You surprised me!  Is everything alright?  I thought you would have stayed up longer and enjoyed more of the ball.”  To try and strengthen her mask, Celestia formed a small smile on her face.

But Luna was not so easily deceived.

“Sister, you told me the night I returned that there would be no lies between us.”

Celestia felt her face falter and her heart miss a beat.  There was only one thing Luna could be referring to.  There was only one thing she had kept secret from her sister.

Luna paused and seemed to chew on something, her jaw working up and down as she sorted her thoughts.  Finally, she locked eyes on Celestia and spoke with the conviction only a little-sister could have.

“Twilight is your daughter, isn’t she?”

Six simple words, but they were enough to bring Celestia’s fragile mask crashing down.  Feeling her lips tremble against her will and her eyes blur with tears again, Celestia wilted as the secret she had held close to her heart for more than twenty years was finally uncovered.

A desperate fear gripped her, prompting her plea.

“Does…Does she know?” 

Luna shook her head.  “No, not yet.”

…

“How did you…find out?”

“I realized that it was you who had enchanted the mirror, and there was only one reason you could have done that.”  Luna replied.  “But you’re stalling.  Tell me Celestia, tell me why Twilight doesn’t know the truth.  Tell me why you continue to deceive her.  Tell me why you lied to me.”

Celestia sighed heavily, the familiar lump of guilt rising inside her.  “I never lied.  Nopony ever asked, and I never volunteered to tell anypony.”

Luna snorted angrily.  “And that’s an excuse.”

Celestia blinked back tears.  “I know.”

Luna pointed a wing at her accusingly, her teal eyes narrowed and angry.  “I’ve been back for four years, and not once did you even hint that Twilight was in fact your daughter.  Not once!”  Luna yelled furiously.  “What is your game Celestia?  Are you ashamed of Twilight?”

“No.”  Celestia said firmly.  “Never.”

“Then is she just some tool for you to use?”  The blue alicorn was becoming increasingly agitated.

Luna’s accusation sent a fresh lance of guilt right through her heart, and Celestia tried feebly to defend herself from Luna’s attacks.  “Twilight means more to me than the sun itself.”  Celestia sobbed.  “I would never use her.”

“I find that hard to believe.”  Luna stated bluntly, scowling at Celestia.  “It seems like every time something happens, you send her straight into the fire.”

“Don’t!”  Celestia said angrily, her own temper rising.  “Don’t you dare suggest I brought Twilight into this world just so she could fight my fights for me!”

“Then what kind of mother sends her own child to face Tirek!  To face Sombra, Discord, and ME!”  Luna shouted, tears of her own threatening to break her composure.  Celestia knew Luna still felt guilty for becoming Nightmare Moon.  “Do you have some perverse delight in sending Twilight into death traps?!”

It was too much.  Celestia crumbled underneath Luna’s words and sank down onto the bed.

“I was desperate.”

“More excuses.”

“I know.”  Celestia cried violently, trying to escape Luna’s piercing glare.  “There…there is no justification for what I have done to Twilight.”  She pleaded like a mare trying to escape the death penalty.  “Please…please listen to what I have to say.  I know I can’t justify my actions, but I can at least tell you why I did it.”

Luna sat down heavily and continued to stare at Celestia with contempt.  “Tell me everything.  Start at the beginning.  And then I will decide whether or not to tell Twilight.”

Celestia gasped, leaning back up to stare slack-jawed at her sister.

“You—You wouldn’t!”

“I will.”

“You can’t!  I won’t let you!”

Luna’s eyes shimmered dangerously as she leaned in closer to her sister.  “Try me.”

Celestia sucked in a ragged breath and looked away.  She ground her teeth as she desperately sought a way to escape the noose Luna had tied around her.  Time was her enemy and secrets her closest ally.  

“Fine.”  Celestia grinded out.  “But promise me you will let me tell her in my own time.”

“I make no promises.  Twilight has lingered in the darkness long enough.  It is time for the truth, you owe her that.  If you will not have decency to tell your own daughter who her mother is then I will do it for you and damn the consequences.”  Luna leaned back to give Celestia some space.  “Now, let’s start at the beginning.  Who is Twilight’s father?”

…

“Celestia?”

“Do you…Do you remember the incident with Starswirl’s mirror that occurred a few months before the Plunder Plants kidnapped us?”

Celestia watched Luna scrunch up her face in concentration as she searched for the memory, and then her jaw dropped in sudden realization of the identity of Twilight’s father.  Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

“No.”

Celestia dropped her head in shame.

 “Sombra!?”  Luna gasped.  “The…The Sombra from the mirror world is Twilight’s father!?”

“Yes.”  Celestia admitted, avoiding Luna’s shocked expression.

“I mean…but how!?”  Luna paused, and she seemed to come to a sudden realization. “So that’s what Discord meant.”

Celestia snapped her head up in surprise at the mention of their ancient foe.  “Discord?  What does Discord have to do with…”  A dreadful thought popped into her head.  “Luna…you didn’t tell him of all ponies that I’m Twilight’s mother did you?”

“What!?”  Luna snapped her attention back to the here and now.  “Of course I didn’t!  He already knew!”

Celestia gaped at her, and her eyes narrowed as she searched her sister.  “What do you mean he already knew?”

Luna wasn’t even fazed by Celestia’s scrutiny.  She waved a hoof in dismissal of Celestia’s concern.  “Discord said he recognized that your magic and Twilight’s were very similar.  He also mentioned talking to himself from another time, which I know realize was his counterpart in the mirror world.”

“He’s not going to—“

“No, he’s not going to tell Twilight.  Discord explicitly said it is your responsibility.”  Luna said.

Celestia snorted in disbelief.  “I bet he doesn’t even know what responsibility means.”  Celestia then paused as the severity of the situation came back to her.  “But…I suppose that’s fine as long as he doesn’t say anything.”

Luna nodded and her face turned stern again.  “I don’t understand the mirror world.  You and Starswirl knew far more about it than I ever did.”  She cocked an eyebrow as she appraised Celestia.  “You did tell the mirror Sombra that he was Twilight’s father didn’t you?”

Celestia sighed heavily and curled up in the blankets.   Old memories swam in front of her, reminding her of her guilt and shame.  “No, of course I didn’t.”

Luna’s voice cut through sharp and clear.  “Why not.”

“At first, I didn’t tell him because he would have insisted that he meet Twilight, and that we raise her together.”  Celestia mumbled into her pillows.  “But you saw the mirror world, it was a wasteland, and I didn’t think Twilight would have been safe with an evil Celestia hovering constantly over Sombra.  Twilight would have been in great danger if the evil me of that world had ever discovered that Twilight was the mirror Sombra’s daughter.”   Then Celestia recalled the discovery she had made after the mirror was destroyed.  “And I’m glad I didn’t, because none of them were real.  Not even the mirror Sombra.  That world never truly existed.”

“That’s not possible Celestia.  I was there, same as you.  I saw the two worlds merging before the Elements separated them.  And the pain I felt from getting hit by your evil doppelganger was real enough, I assure you.  And if the mirror Sombra were not real, than Twilight shouldn’t be either.”

“That’s not how the mirror worked Luna, and I would know, I helped Starswirl explore its mysteries after he built it.”  Celestia said reluctantly.

“Enlighten me then.”  Luna hissed.

“When Starswirl finished constructing and enchanting the mirror he said, ‘Every bit of magical knowledge in Equestria wrapped up in a reflective package.’  He meant that literally.  What the mirror did was take those that entered it to an Equestria that could have been.  The worlds we traveled to with the mirror were Equestrias that could have happened, but didn’t.  The mirror was Starswirl’s way of exploring the different magical and technological advances that did not happen in the real Equestria’s time.  From this, different technology like the train were made available to us.”

Luna looked confused.  “This isn’t making any sense to me.  If those worlds were not real, but only a reflection of what Equestria could have been, then how does Twilight exist if the mirror Sombra wasn’t real?”

Celestia calmed herself and looked straight into her sister’s eyes.  “Luna, after I…I banished you.  The mirror was my way of dealing with my guilt.  Using it, I could see you again…or at least a version of you that I could talk to.”

Luna frowned firmly, her wings ruffling in obvious agitation.  “Glad to know that I was so easily replaced.”

Celestia shook her head.  “No Luna.  None of those mirror Lunas were you.  Each one was fundamentally different from you in some way and no amount of pretending could ever change that.”  A fear tears ran down her face as she looked pleadingly at Luna.  “I…I missed you so much Lulu.  No duplicate could ever replace you or the fill the hole that was my heart.  Please, you have to believe me.  The mirror…the mirror is my shame, and it is my fault that the mirror world almost merged with the real Equestria.  I’m so sorry Luna.”

Luna reached out with her wings and hugged Celestia tightly.  “I forgive you.  I understand that you must have been desperate.”

Celestia held Luna tightly, basking in her forgiveness.  “Thank you.”

Luna let go and leaned back again.  “Alright, let’s get back on track.  You were explaining how the mirror Sombra was not real, but that Twilight still exists.”

“Right.  The worlds the mirror conjured were unstable by their very nature, so the enchantments had to focus on something stable and real.  That something was Starswirl and I when we visited them.  By visiting those worlds, they formed around us and our interactions with it.  By visiting these alternate timelines, we made it real, and so anything we did there became real.  We couldn’t interact with these timelines unless they reacted to us.”  Celestia blushed deeply and she averted Luna’s gaze again.  “This…uh…includes Twilight’s conception.”

Luna blushed herself and looked away sheepishly.  “Yes…ah…moving on.  I don’t need details.”

Celestia let out a breath in relief, all too eager to quickly change the subject.  “You remember when the two worlds began merging, and events that happened in the mirror world affected us here?”

“Yes?”

Celestia bowed her head guiltily again.  “That was entirely my fault.  Several years into the project, just before your banishment, Starswirl and I began to notice different anomalies with the mirror.  It seemed that the more we visited a world, the more tangible it became.  This was especially true for the world with Twilight’s father, since it was the one we visited the most.  For example, if we borrowed a book there, its counterpart here disappeared.  It was small things at first, but Starswirl picked up on them quickly and immediately decided it was too dangerous to continue the experiments with the mirror.”

“What did he do?”

“He didn’t want to destroy the mirror, as it was his prototype for the mirror we placed in the Crystal Empire.  Instead he burned all the spells necessary for traveling to the worlds.  But unbeknownst to him at the time…I kept one, my favorite world.  By then, you were gone and I was in a very deep depression.  That particular world was my way of dealing with the pain and loneliness.  The mirror Sombra was kind and rather dashing, the complete opposite of his true self.  Ironically, I met the mirror Sombra a few years before we defeated the real one in the Crystal Empire.”

Luna shook her head in despair.  “How could you fall in love with a reflection of that monster Celestia?  He wasn’t real, none of them were real.  Why did you treat them as real though?”

Celestia peered across the room at a plain mirror hanging on the wall.  “It wasn’t until after the mirror was destroyed several months ago that I realized that the world wasn’t actually real.  I went through Starswirl’s old notes to see what he had discovered and not told me.  All this time, this whole past millennium, I believed that the mirror Sombra was real.”  Celestia shook her head in internal rebuke.  “I should have known better.”

Luna looked lost.  “Wait a moment.  If Starswirl knew the mirror’s worlds were not a true reality, then why didn’t he tell you?”

“That too, is my fault.”  Celestia admitted wearily.  “A year after your banishment, Starswirl and I had a falling out.”

Luna’s jaw dropped in shock.  “What!?  Starswirl was the closest thing to a father we had!  What did you do to make him that angry?”

Old guilt from centuries past rose up again inside Celestia as she recalled the painful memory.  “I betrayed his trust.  He caught me visiting the mirror world with the spell I had managed to salvage from his burnings.  After that, he placed a binding spell on the mirror so that I couldn’t use it again.  Starswirl was beyond disappointed, and our relationship was never the same after that.”  Celestia’s shame threatened to bring more tears.  “Even after his rebukes of my foolishness, I still went around his back to go visit the mirror.  Eventually, I found a way to get past his wards and renew my visits with the mirror Sombra.  I…I could never bring myself to tell him, even after he tried to make amends before he died.”

“I’m so sorry Tia.”  Luna said quietly.

Celestia shook her head.  “It’s not your fault.  All of that was my doing and mine alone.”

“So the issue Starswirl was concerned about was the merging of the worlds that almost took place half a year ago?”  Luna implored.

“Yes.”  Celestia confirmed.  “Hindsight is such a wonderful and terrible thing.  I should have heeded Starswirl’s warnings long ago and not continued my visits.  But with him gone, and you banished, I sought comfort by visiting the mirror Sombra and Luna.  I thought I would have nothing to worry about if I only visited the one world, and only rarely, but my visits only worsened the situation.”

Luna nodded and a thoughtful frown fell across her face. “I see.”  

“As you know this climaxed several months ago when I sent Twilight and her friends into the mirror world.  I foolishly thought that the Elements could stabilize the mirror and prevent any further complications.  And…And I may have wanted Twilight to meet her father, at least only once.”  Celestia tried to banish the old feelings of shame at her deception over her daughter.

“Oh Tia…”  Luna soothed gently, looking at her sister with pity.  “I wish you had told me this long ago, I would have helped you.”

Celestia turned away from Luna slowly in shame.  A stray tear rolled down her cheek.  “I know, but it was my burden to bear.”

“Some burdens must be shared, so they do not crush us.”  Luna said sagely. 

Celestia grunted reluctant agreement.  “Then you know what happened with my pitiful attempt to fix the problem I caused.  The mirror was destroyed, and the Elements erased the mirror world completely from existence.  It was the only way to restore the balance of reality.  Because I visited that world so often, it slowly anchored itself to me and the real Equestria.  The Elements destroyed that corrupted world the mirror formed so that Equestria wouldn’t destroy itself in the time paradox I had caused.”

Celestia smiled sadly, fond memories of a certain purple filly dancing through her mind’s eye.  “I know I should feel guilty, and I do.  But if I could go back in time and stop myself, I would not undo a single thing.”

Luna was perplexed.  “Why not?”

“Because I have Twilight, and I love her so very much.  When I gave birth to her, I saw how beautiful she was, and I couldn’t help but give her my heart.”  Celestia flicked her magenta eyes to look earnestly at Luna.  “I wish you could have been here Luna when I foaled her, she was so beautiful.”

“I can imagine.”  Luna smirked.  “She does take after her mother after all.”

Celestia chuckled weakly, though her guilt still threatened to smother her.

Luna smile vanished slowly and then the discussion quickly became sober.  “I know you love her Tia.  I can’t imagine then why you didn’t keep her.  Was it you that put her in this ‘Tenderheart Orphanage’ in Canterlot?  The orphanage Twilight’s Adoption Certificate mentioned.”

Celestia felt weak and her heart constricted as she remembered the horrible night she left Twilight to cry on the doorstep.  “Yes…that was me.”  She said weakly.  “It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made.  The only other one that can compare was deciding to use the Elements on you.”

“Oh.”  Luna mumbled.  Her ears flickered in obvious discomfort.  “Why made you decide to give your own daughter away Celestia?”

Please don’t ask me that.

Celestia could feel a cold sweat break down her back and her heart started to beat faster.  There was a very specific reason why she had decided to leave Twilight at the orphanage.  A reason she was desperate to not tell her sister.

Though she despised herself for trying deceive her sister again, Celestia didn’t want to make Luna feel guilty for her decision.
Celestia tried to calm herself, and sat up a little straighter as she turned to fully face Luna.

“I was so happy when Twilight was born, but I was so scared.  I wasn’t afraid for me, or for my reputation.  I knew some of the more radical of the unicorn nobles would have been outraged if I had revealed Twilight as my daughter, but I didn’t care about them or their bloated opinions.  I wasn’t going to play politics with my own foal.  I was a little concerned when I thought about how to explain who Twilight’s father was, as many ponies would have been afraid of her if they thought she would turn evil like the actual Sombra.”

Luna interrupted her with a raised hoof.  “On that note, does this mean the real Sombra, not the mirror one, is Twilight’s actual father since the mirror one turned out not to be real?”

Celestia frowned firmly and her tail flicked in agitation.  “Absolutely not.  Despite their distinct physical resemblance, Twilight’s father and the real Sombra were complete opposites.  Even then, I don’t think they would even be biologically related, though that is now impossible to prove since both the mirror is destroyed and the real Sombra is dead.”  Celestia’s brow furrowed in thought.  “There were two large differences between the mirror world and the real Equestria I could never decipher.  One was that there was no Crystal Empire in the mirror world and the other was that the Tree of Harmony didn’t exist either.”

Luna also looked thoughtful, but she motioned for Celestia to continue with her original explanation before Luna interrupted her.

Celestia took a deep breath, steeling herself to say what needed to be said.  “What I really wanted, was for Twilight to be happy.”

Luna frowned a little in disappointment.  “Were you afraid that Twilight would have turned out like Blueblood or the other unicorn nobles if you had raised her yourself?”

Celestia felt slightly affronted.  “I hope I would have been a better parent than that.  I was determined for Twilight to be happy, and ultimately, I decided she would be happier if she was not with me.”

Luna looked aghast.  “But why!?  You love her Celestia!  Why did you think Twilight would be happier if you weren’t her mother?”

It was getting harder to breath as Celestia felt her chest constrict with old pain from remembering her separation from Twilight. She struggled to not break down and weep as old wounds were freshly torn open.  “I…I was so afraid that she would be miserable growing up as my d-daughter.  I was afraid she would be burdened with the knowledge of who she really is, and that it would stifle her, smother her.  I couldn’t give her a normal childhood and I couldn’t give her a normal family with a mother and a father.  And then, I was afraid she would feel overshadowed by being my daughter.  I didn’t want ponies to say, ‘There goes Celestia’s daughter.’ I wanted ponies to say, ‘There goes Twilight Sparkle.’    I wanted them to see her as something special and beautiful because of who she is, not just because I am her mother. And to achieve that, I was willing to sacrifice my own happiness.”

Celestia paused and waited for Luna’s verdict, hoping beyond hope that she was be satisfied with the answer.  Celestia hadn’t lied, she had indeed worried a lot over those things and had earnestly believed Twilight would be happier without her, but that hadn’t been the biggest reason.

And she didn’t want to tell Luna.  Celestia wasn’t ready to tell her, and she doubted she ever would be.

But fate was against her that night, as Luna narrowed her eyes and frowned firmly.  

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”  Luna said quietly, her eyes boring into Celestia.  “I understand your fears, but I know you love her too much to have given her up for those reasons alone.  There’s something you’re trying to hide from me, for even after a thousand years you are still a terrible liar.  At least to me.”

Celestia had to stop Luna from digging any deeper, before she was forced to reveal her final secret.  “I didn’t lie.  I—“

“Omitting even part of the truth still makes the whole statement a lie.”  Luna reproached.  Her teal eyes lit up with a righteous anger as her lips curled back in a slight snarl.  “I have so far tolerated your evasions, but try one more time to conceal the truth from me and I will have Twilight wring the truth from you tonight.”

A cold naked fear swept through Celestia at the thought of Twilight finding out about her true parentage.  Celestia had no doubt Luna would carry out her threat too, as she was stubborn like that.

Celestia tried one last time to halt her sister’s prying.

“Please Luna.”  She begged.  “I…I had my reasons, you must b--believe me.  Please don’t make me tell you.”

Luna scowled and swiftly returned to her hooves and turned around before walking intently towards the door with the mission of revealing everything to Twilight.

Celestia panicked.

“I did it because of you!!”

Luna stopped in shock, her whole body going rigid.  Celestia couldn’t see her face as Luna didn’t turn around to face her.  Luna’s starry mane and tail lost their energetic movements and fell limply, devoid of life.

Luna’s voice, scared and hurt, cut like a knife through the silence between them.

“Were…Were you afraid of what Nightmare Moon would do to her when I returned?”  Luna whispered.

“…yes.”

The sounds of Luna sobbing, amidst the bells of falling tears crushed Celestia’s heart.  But now that her last secret was out, Celestia needed to push on.

“Twilight was born seventeen years before the one thousandth year, and I was getting desperate.  On his deathbed, Starswirl gave me his last prophecy.  He said, ‘On the longest day of the thousandth year, the Stars will aid in her escape, and She will bring about nighttime eternal.’  But he spoke of other things as well.  He told me that one day my greatest student would succeed where I had failed, and use the Elements of Harmony to free you, and that this same student would ascend to become the Princess of Magic.  But he warned me that all was not set in stone, as proven by our experiments with the mirror, and that all could still be lost.”

“When Twilight was born, I still had no idea who this student was that Starswirl prophesied of, and I feared what would happen to Twilight if I failed to find this ‘student.’  Fear of failure, and of Nightmare Moon’s retribution, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  I…I realized nopony could know I was Twilight’s mother if she was to be truly safe, not even her.”

Luna still hadn’t turned around.  “Sunset Shimmer?”  The unspoken question.

“Sunset Shimmer was my foolish attempt to force the prophecy.  In my arrogance, I dangled ascendance to princesshood in front of her to motivate her, not knowing if it was her destiny or not.  And because of that, my attempt to control the prophecy blew up in my face.”

Celestia couldn’t stand it any longer.  She leapt off the bed and picked Luna up in her limbs before hugging her little-sister like a large teddy-bear.

Luna didn’t protest, but neither did she attempt to reciprocate Celestia’s affection.  She shook her head and more star-like tears fell to the floor.  “I…I’m so sorry T—Tia.  This is—“

“No.”  Celestia hissed, pulling Luna closer to her.  “It’s not your fault.  If I had been more attentive to you, then the nightmare would never have taken you.”

Luna remained content to dangle in Celestia’s hooves.  She sobbed harder, refusing to meet Celestia’s magenta eyes.  “I—I’m so sor—“

Celestia squeezed tighter.  “Not your fault.”  There had been a time where Celestia might have tried to blame Luna, but she knew that would have been folly.  And to blame Luna for something beyond her control would have forever destroyed their relationship.  There was no room for a grudge between them, not after all that had happened.  

Luna managed to turn around while Celestia hugged her and buried her muzzle in Celestia’s coat and finally hugged her big-sister in return.  Celestia held her until, Luna ceased crying.

Luna looked up to her.  Her voice quiet and small as if they were in a library.  “If…If you were afraid of what Nightmare Moon would do when I returned, then why did you take Twilight as your protégé?  Wouldn’t she have still been in danger?”

“Circumstances changed.”  Celestia replied, closing her eyes bitterly.

“How?”  Luna squeaked.

“First, I want you to understand something.  Although I had decided to remove myself from Twilight’s life, I wasn’t content to trust her to fate.  In my free time, when nopony at the castle knew better, I would disguise myself to go watch over her.  I was always making sure she was safe from harm, and when the Armor family wished to adopt her, I checked to make sure they were a good family.  I never intervened directly, or let myself be known to Twilight, though it was very hard not to.  I was only ever watching her if things went wrong.”

“Mother hawk.”  Luna teased weakly.  It seemed some of her humor had returned.

Celestia laughed a little.  “I suppose, I wasn’t going to let just anypony take care of her.  Eventually, before Twilight earned her cutie-mark, Cadance ascended.  She was too old for me to hide like I had Twilight, and she needed help controlling her new alicorn powers.  So I took her to Canterlot Castle and proclaimed her as my adopted neice.  Although Cadance was fun, I never desired to raise her like I had with Twilight.  Then, Cadance met Shining Armor at Canterlot Academy by sheer coincidence, and I may have suggested she foalsit Twilight to get on his good-side.”  Celestia said slyly.

Luna giggled.  

Celestia nuzzled her.  “It was helpful and encouraging when Cadance would come home and tell stories about Twilight.”

…

“You mentioned that the circumstances changed?”  Luna prodded.

“Yes.”  Happy, wonderful memories danced in Celestia’s mind as she remembered when Twilight returned to her, in a fashion.  “It was when she earned her cutie-mark.  You know, most parents can only dream to be there when their child earns their cutie-mark.  I was fortunate enough to point it out to her.”

“Lucky.”

“Very much so.”  Celestia confirmed.  “I’m sure you’ve realized this, but the star in the middle of her cutie-mark matches the one on the Tree of Harmony alongside ours.  She was at an entrance exam for my school, and I realized that all along, Twilight was the student Starswirl had prophesied of.  Though I doubt the old wizard had known that Twilight would also be my daughter.”

“Once I saw her cutie-mark, I knew Twilight was doomed to face Nightmare Moon.  I had to do everything I could to prepare her, and so I named her my protégé.  I knew that with or without my help, Twilight would one day stand in front of Nightmare Moon regardless of my wishes, and I was determined that she would be ready when the time came.”

Still in Celestia’s embrace, Luna looked up earnestly at her.  “Why didn’t you tell her then you were her mother?”

Celestia shook her head in despair.  “You don’t know how desperately I wanted to, but at the same time I thought it may have been still too dangerous for her to know.  And…And I was reluctant to shatter her innocence.  I didn’t want her to bear the pressure of being my daughter would have entailed, and…and I didn’t want her to have to choose between me and her adopted family which she had grown to love.

“I think there’s more to it than what you’re telling me.”  Luna spoke softly.

The old fear resurfaced.  “I--I was scared she would c--choose them over m--me.”

“Oh Tia…Twilight loves you.  You must see that.”


“I know.”  She released Luna and turned away softly.  “Sun and moon above I know.  And that’s why I’m scared of telling her.  She doesn’t love me as a mother, at least not in the way I’ve always wanted.  To Twilight I am not ‘Mother’ or ‘Mom’ or even ‘Celestia!’  Her name for me is ‘Princess!’”  Celestia spat bitterly.  “When I took her as my student, I convinced the Armors to let her stay in the castle with me.  For a brief moment, I thought I was going to have back everything I had given up.  How foolish I was.  Even though I helped raise her, it was not me she went to for comfort.  It was not me she wanted to spend family times with.  I was her hero, her mentor, her teacher, somepony to hold on a pedestal and look up to.  I wasn’t somepony she could relate to.  I was the picture perfect princess she grew up learning about in her books, not the mother I wanted her to see me as.”

Finished, Celestia realized she was breathing heavily, and she hadn’t noticed she had started to cry again.  She wiped her tears away bitterly as she mourned for all that could have been, but was not.

Luna walked up to her and draped a blue wing over her in comfort.  “How long has it been since you thought about all this.  This couldn’t have been easy for you.”

Celestia laughed sorely.  “I’ve tried not thinking about it, but I can’t help but be proud of what all she’s done.  I can’t tear her out of my heart, even when the pain becomes too great.  I can’t help but love my wonderful Twilight.”

…

“There’s one thing that still bothers me.”  Luna said reluctantly as Celestia winced.  “If you were so afraid of Twilight getting hurt by Nightmare Moon, then why did you proceed to send for her when the other dark forces came?”

Celestia gave a long suffering sigh.  “With Nightmare Moon I had no choice.  Twilight would have faced you regardless of my meddling.  With Discord I was never afraid of Twilight getting hurt.  Even at his worst, Discord never maimed or killed, he was really just a powerful and out of control prankster.  Besides that, I couldn’t stop him, and Twilight and her friends were the only ones who could.  The changelings caught me by surprise, and I ended up on the floor of my own throne room underestimating Chrysalis and limiting my power when confronting her.  I had to point Twilight in the right direction and retrieve the Elements so she could protect herself.”

Celestia eyed Luna sternly a little.  “When I received word that the Crystal Empire had returned, you and I both know that we still thought Sombra’s prison in the Arctic North still held firm.  I originally sent Twilight because I thought…well if anypony could undo Sombra’s Dark Magic safely and save the Crystal Heart, it would have been—“

“The future Princess of Magic herself.”   Luna finished for her.

“Exactly.”  Celestia affirmed.  “If I had known Sombra had escaped, I would have never sent her to the Crystal Empire.  I would have gone myself to confront him, and I’m sure you would have come too.”

“Yes, and I would have gladly smashed the shadow spawn right back into the ice.”  Luna growled, but her face turned thoughtful.  “And what about Tirek?  I know we both didn’t expect Discord’s Plunder Plants to spring up.”

Celestia huffed, slightly annoyed at Luna’s continued pestering.  “Twilight asked to go find Tirek initially remember? But I sent Discord instead.  And when that failed, you don’t call giving Twilight the magic of four alicorns protecting her?  I gave Twilight every chance for success against that wretched centaur.”

“Oh…well when you put it that way…”

Luna trudged off into silence, all of her questions answered.  She retracted her wing and moved in front of Celestia, looking her full in the face with eyes filled with nothing but love and concern.

“You have to tell her.”

Like an ice bucket getting dumped on her, the fear of Twilight finding snapped Celestia back to her senses.

“No.”

“Tia…”   Luna warned.

“I’m not ready to tell her.”  Celestia protested.

“You’ll never be ready.”  Luna chastised.  “That’s why you must do it now!”

“But if I do, she’ll hate me.”  Celestia whimpered.  “My only child will hate me Luna.  I couldn’t bear that.  I would sooner go back to Tartarus.”

“You don’t know that.”  Luna tried to soothe.

Celestia nodded feverishly.  “She will.  I just know it.  And then I’ll lose what love I have left of my daughter.”

Luna prodded Celestia’s chest firmly with her hoof.  “Do not think so little of Twilight’s heart, sister.  She loves you.  Deeply and profoundly.  Has it not occurred to you that she might be happy with you as her mother?”

“That is a far off dream and a long forgotten hope, buried beneath a thousand fears.”

“Horseapples!”  Luna shouted.  “Even so, you have to tell her.  Now that she knows she’s adopted, she is not going to stop until she uncovers you!  Better to tell her now than to let her discover your lies for herself.”

“I can’t lose her!”  Celestia screamed.  She fell into a heap onto the floor, her strength leaving her.  “I…I can’t lose her.  Not again.  I’ve come so far…but now I’ll lose everything I have left.”

“Or gain everything.”  Luna added softly.

…

…

“Give me…Give me tonight.  Please?”  Celestia pleaded.  “Let me t—t--tell her tomorrow morning.”

Luna was silent for a moment, her expression neutral.  But then she nodded her head.  “Alright.  The sooner the better.  I’m only trying to help you sister.”

Celestia said nothing, the urge to sleep was quickly overcoming her after all she went through tonight.  She felt Luna’s magic encase her and levitate her onto the bed, before tucking her in.

“Sleep well Tia, your fears will not come haunt you tonight.”  Luna whispered.

Celestia blearily watched as Luna turned around and left, closing the door to the chamber softly behind her.

As her mind verged on entrance to the realm of dreams, Celestia, mother of Twilight, had but only one thought.

I am a coward.






> Chapter 7:  The Mirror's Reflection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Aurora, Twilight’s Chamber

Sunrise

Twilight





A bright light threatened to awaken Twilight from her sleep, along with a slight pressure of her horn as the sun rose and the moon set.

“Nyeh.”  She mumbled, and rolled over in her bed.  Unconsciously, she reached out with her magic to the two celestial orbs and murmured irritably in her sleep.  “Five more minutes mom…”

And the sun obeyed, dipping back down below the horizon.

It was about ten seconds until Twilight realized what she had done.

Sitting up suddenly in her bed, Twilight stared through tired eyes out her window at the sunrise she had just reversed.

Woops…

Releasing her magic from the sun, Twilight watched as the sun started its second rise today.  With her new senses of feeling the sun and moon, due to her brief possession of Celestia’s and Luna’s magic when Tirek attacked, she now felt every sunrise and moonrise.

It was an interesting side effect, and Twilight had yet to fully explore her modified magic.  But she understood she needed to learn how to control her new abilities, so that she didn’t cause any accidents.

Like preventing the sun from rising for example.

Twilight marveled that a year and a half ago, she would have panicked and probably returned Ponyville to the stone-age from the fallout.  Now, after a few calming techniques that Cadance had taught her, she managed to calm her nerves before she went to Twicon 1.  Also, she had thrown the sun around a lot while possessing Celestia’s magic.  A brief delay of the sunrise was almost nothing compared to that.

Almost.

Granted, she hadn’t had her morning cup of coffee yet either, so her mind wasn’t fully up to speed either.

Like a zompony, Twilight groaned as she reluctantly got out of bed and walked towards the mirror in her bedroom.  Staring into it, she could see how horrible she looked.

It was clearly evident that she hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night.  Her eyes drooped with black circles under them and her mouth felt dry.  Her mane was in all sorts of disarray as if she had used one of Discord’s Plunder Plants to brush it.  Her magenta eyes were red with exhaustion and frustration.  Her wings needed some desperate preening, as many of her primary feathers were out of alignment after last night’s anxiety.  Her fur was matted and sticky with sweat from her tossing and turning in bed.

She hadn’t had any nightmares, Twilight just couldn’t find any peaceful sleep.  All of the fiascos during the Open House Ball had left her physically and mentally drained.  Sleep had just simply eluded her.

Twilight glanced at the clock hanging above her dresser and decided she had time to wash up and clean herself up before heading down to breakfast.  There were several things on her to-do-list that would soon need to be done.  

It was going to be a long day.  
__________________________________________________________________________
After Breakfast





“Are the mops cleaning the ballroom?” 

“Check.”

“And Captain Noctis has confirmed that everypony but our guests have left?”

“Check.”

“Good.”  Twilight sighed.  She and Spike were standing at Castle Aurora’s front entrance, preparing to give a warm good-bye to their guests who had stayed over for the night.  The castle, predictably, was messier than it had been before the Open House Ball, and the enchanted cleaning supplies were hard at work.

Thank goodness for magic.

Breakfast had been great.  Twilight Velvet had insisted on cooking her favorite pancakes this morning, and Cadance had assisted.  While Spike and the enchanted kitchen were great at cooking, you just couldn’t beat a meal made by your mom.

A separate breakfast had been provided for the foreign royalty.  It wasn’t that Twilight didn’t want to eat with them, but that her guests had preferred to eat alone in their rooms while they packed for the return trip home.

Her friends had already gone home for the day, probably as tired as Twilight was.

Curiously enough, she hadn’t seen Princess Celestia and Luna all morning.  She had been keeping an eye out for them so she could apologize for her tampering with the sunrise.  When they didn’t show up for breakfast, Cadance had explained to her that they wanted to share a sisterly meal together in Celestia’s guest room.  Since then, Twilight had been too busy cleaning up the castle to go and find them.

Twilight peered out the door as the carriage for Grand Duke Tragulidae pulled up to the castle.  Her ears flickered and she felt Spike tug on her wing.

“Look, here they come now.”

And sure enough, the foreign dignitaries had arrived in the entrance hall to make their departure.  The deer from Cervidae stepped forward first.

“Well Princess Twilight, you have a wonderful home.  Thank you very much for inviting me to come.  I hope you will find the mirror to be useful.”  Tragulidae said regally.

Twilight bowed politely.  “I will.”  Eventually.  “Thank you for coming as well.  Will you be at the United Kingdoms meeting in Manehatten this year?  Or is your ambassador filling in this year?”

“I normally don’t come personally, but I think this year will be the exception.  As I understand it, you will be representing Equestria for the first time at the United Kingdoms.”  Tragulidae nodded respectfully.  “Word of advice, drink plenty of coffee.  Diplomacy during the General Assembly is like speed dating.”

Twilight laughed a little.  “Thanks.  I’ll remember it.  Have a safe journey back to Cervidae.”

“Thank you.”  And he departed.

Twilight turned her attention to Cheiftess Mali as the elderly zebra made her way carefully towards her with her guards.  

“May kindness guide your mind, so that only peace will you find.”  The old zebra rhymed, gazing up at the lavender alicorn with near-blind eyes.

“Your wisdom is precious to young ears, it shall guide me for many years.”  Twilight replied, choosing to respond with a Zebrican rhyme as a sign of respect.

The crinkled face smiled and Mali made her way towards the carriage that awaited her and the robed guards outside.

As Twilight watched the zebras depart, smooth talons grabbed her and pulled her in to a tight embrace.

Can’t…breathe!

“I am so sad to be leaving your grand fortress ‘Little Spark!’”  High King Horus laughed as he suffocated Twilight.  “You must promise to come visit my grandson and I in Griffonia!  And bring Starfell!  We shall teach you to properly swing that dazzling sword while we battle those pesky Diamond Dogs!”

When Twilight didn’t immediately reply, the graying griffon looked into her face to see that she had turned blue from the lack of oxygen.  He chuckled and let go.

“Sorry.  I forget my own strength sometimes.”

“It’s…O.K.”  Twilight wheezed.  She took a moment to catch her breath before replying properly.  She stood up straighter and smiled at the kindly king.  “I’ll take you up on that offer.  Perhaps you and Princess Luna can give me tips when we join you for the annual visit to Griffonia for the NETO summit.”

“Good!  I look forward to it already.”  Horus boomed.  He gave her a friendly nudge with his closed talons and a wide smile split his beak.  “May your hearth always be warm and your swords sharp!”  

Twilight smiled at the traditional Griffonian good-bye.  “And may your armor protect your heart and your home.”

Horus nodded in approval and then he and his guards moved out onto the castle’s front lawn.  Unlike the others, a carriage did not await them.  Instead, they unfurled their wings and leapt up into the air, catching the wind as they flew to the east.

“That’s everyone.”  Spike said.  “If you need me Twilight I’ll be in the kitchen.”  

Twilight watched him go, before turning back around to shut the doors.

A polite ‘ahem’ spoke up from behind her as Twilight closed the castle doors.  Turning around, she saw that it was Princess Celestia and Luna.

“Oh!  Good-morning Princess, did you sleep well!?”  Twilight asked.  But she frowned a little as she took in her mentor’s bearing.

Princess Celestia looked tired, and if that wasn’t strange enough, she also looked wary.  Her mane didn’t flow as smoothly as it normally did, and her smile seemed to be brittle and irritated.  Her wings were slightly agitated as they ruffled at her sides.  
And her crown was crooked.

Luna, on the other hoof, looked impatient and irritable.  She was slowly tapping her hoof as if waiting for something and she kept looking from Twilight to Celestia with an undisguised glower.

Celestia smiled weakly at Twilight.  “I slept like a rock.”  Her voice sounded careful and measured.  “That is to say, I didn’t sleep.  Because rocks don’t sleep.”

Twilight wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“Ummm…”

“What my sister means to say Twilight is that she’s been doing a lot of thinking.”  Luna gave Celestia a rough nudge in the ribs.  “Right, sister?”

Celestia sighed.  “Right.”

Twilight cocked her head to one side in confusion but remembered why she had been looking for them earlier.

“Oh!  About the sunrise this morning…I, uh…I’m sorry for—“

“There’s no need to apologize, Twilight.  I’m sure it was an accident.”  Celestia smiled gently.  “It takes some getting used to when you don’t wake up with the sun, but the sun wakes up you.”

“Umm…yeah.”  Twilight said awkwardly, a grimace forming on her face.  “Still…I’ll try not to do that again.”

“It’s alright Twilight.  I could do with a couple more minutes of sleep myself.”  Celestia said wistfully.  “It’s been several centuries since the last time I slept in.”

Luna’s frown deepened and her impatient hoof-tapping increased in speed.

Celestia’s nervous expression returned as she glanced quickly at Luna before returning her eyes to Twilight.  “Anyway…I came to find you because…because I found out a way to fix the mirror.”

Despite herself, Twilight felt a gleeful smile erupt across her face and she got up excitedly.  “You did!?”  She squeaked.  “That’s great!  How in Equestria did you get past the defense mechanisms embedded in the enchantment?”

Celestia shook her head a little and turned around, motioning with her wing for Twilight to follow her.  “I’ll explain later, but please come with me.”

As she, Celestia, and Luna walked towards the room where the mirror was, Twilight couldn’t contain her excitement and had to fold back her wings multiple times after failing to hide her enthusiasm.  Oddly, neither Celestia or Luna seemed keen to engage in conversation and remained silent for most of the trip.

Soon enough, the three alicorns had arrived at the doors.  Celestia turned towards Luna. 

“Sister.”  Celestia spoke cautiously.  “Would you mind if you stayed outside while Twilight and I examined the mirror?”

Luna looked up at her taller sister with a frown threatening to dominate her face.   Twilight watched patiently as the two sisters had a silent conversation of facial expressions that only they could understand.  Twilight didn’t know why Celestia wanted Luna to stay outside but she assumed it had to be for a valid reason.

After a minute, Luna nodded firmly and gave a slight huff of acceptance before resigning herself to sit in the hallway.  “Very well.  But keep in mind Celestia of what I spoke of earlier.  I fully expect you to keep your promise.”

Celestia bowed her head slightly.  “Of course.”  Her magenta eyes flashed in Twilight’s direction.  “Come along Twilight, there is much to discuss.”

Slightly puzzled by how her mentor chose to phrase her words, Twilight walked into the room and shut the doors quietly behind her.  Across the room, the enchanted scrying mirror that had rebuffed her efforts last night sat innocently on the other side of the room.  Twilight and Celestia walked up to it silently and sat next to each other facing the mirror.

Twilight looked up at her mentor and noticed that Celestia was staring at her own reflection in the mirror.  “So,” Twilight broke the silence.  “How did you dispel the enchantment?”

Celestia shook her head and still refused to meet Twilight’s questioning gaze.  “I haven’t yet, I just wanted to wait until you were here.”  And with that, Celestia’s horn lit up as she began dispelling the enchantment that hindered the scrying mirror.  Yellow light engulfed the frame and washed over it completely.  After a few minutes, Celestia sighed deeply and let her magic fade, leaving the mirror whole and intact.  “There, ask your question.  The mirror will answer you.”

Still she did not look at Twilight.

Twilight, repeating the actions of the previous night, put her hooves on the mirror’s base and channeled her earth pony magic, filling her words with power necessary for the mirror’s magic.

“Show me my mother.”

Once again, same as before, the mirror became a kaleidoscope of images and color that flitted faster than Twilight’s eyes could track.  Blooming in the center of the chaos was a bright light as if an image was coming forward from the center of the deluge of pictures.  Twilight peered closer and narrowed her eyes as the image she couldn’t discern zoomed in closer and closer.  Sooner than she realized, the bright light encompassed the whole mirror and Twilight had to look away as the light was too bright.  Once the light faded away, she quickly turned back to the mirror to find…

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The mirror just reflected Twilight and Celestia as they were, sitting and staring at the mirror.

A wave of disappointment and annoyance welled up inside her as she stepped back angrily and scowled at the mirror.  “Darn it!”  (That was the closest Twilight ever came to profanity)  “It didn’t work!”

Celestia said nothing, she continued to stare at their reflection in the mirror.

Twilight continued to frown as her mentor failed to react to this disappointment.  She kept flitting her eyes back and forth between the mirror and Celestia, waiting for one or the other to change or react.  

Celestia sighed deeply, looking very tired and worn, as if she shouldered a great weight.  “No Twilight Sparkle, the mirror worked perfectly.”

Twilight’s frown deepened as she stared back at the mirror, which only showed their reflections.  Did Celestia see something that Twilight could not?  Confusion dominated Twilight’s mind as she tried to figure out what she had missed.

Slowly, as if afraid of what she would see, Celestia turned until she was directly staring into Twilight’s magenta eyes for the first time since entering the room.

"Twilight...I am your mother."

> Chapter 8: Lullaby of Loss
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Aurora

Two Hours After Sunrise

Celestia





There it was, the secret of her heart and mind was out in the open for her daughter to finally know.  She had put this off for far too long.

The silence was suffocating.

Her heart was beating fearfully in her chest, almost deafening in the silence that had descended.  Celestia hadn’t felt this vulnerable in centuries.  Every second of nothing that passed seemed like a year of agony as she awaited Twilight’s reaction.

Her daughter gasped as if stabbed and flinched back.  “What?”  She squeaked.  Twilight stared up at her as if she didn’t recognize her.  Then she looked back at the mirror, where their reflections still showed, and then back up at her.

Twilight started trembling, as if in her own personal earthquake.  Her lip was shaking as she whimpered.

“I-I don’t understand!”  Twilight stuttered.  Her tail curled up and she started stroking it with a shaking hoof.  “That…That’s not possible is it?  N-N-No!  That’s not possible!  You…You can’t be my mother!”

Celestia winced.  “I…I’m sorry.  I should have told you a long time ago-“

“Told me!”  Twilight yelped.  “I should have never not known!”

Twilight was getting more frantic with every second.  Her wings unfurled and then retracted repeatedly as her panic grew.  She turned around to where Celestia couldn’t see her face.

Twilight started crying.

“I…I wish I didn’t know…”

Celestia could feel her heart start to break.  She reached forward to touch Twilight, but as soon as her hoof touched her daughter’s shoulder Twilight brushed off Celestia violently.

“Don’t touch me!”

Twilight still wouldn’t look at her.

“Twilight…Twilight please, I’m sorry!” Celestia begged, tears leaking down her face.  Her fears were being realized.  “I just...I didn’t…”  She just wanted to see Twilight, see her face, see the magenta eyes that were just like her own.  

She just wanted to be a family.

Mother and daughter.

Was she too late?

Celestia reached out with her wings to embrace her.  She wanted to just…hold her wonderful, beautiful daughter.  To feel her heart beat against her own.  Celestia needed to let her child know how much she loved her.  “Twilight…Twilight I-“

And in a poof of magic, Twilight was gone.

“…love you.”  Celestia finished weakly.

She remained where she was, wings reaching out to embrace the empty air.

Twilight…had rejected her.

Twilight didn’t want her.

Twilight didn’t love her.

And Celestia’s heart broke.

Letting out a heart-wrenching sob, Celestia closed her eyes bitterly and bowed her head as she wept.  Her mournful keens filled the forsaken room like a the echoes of a long forgotten ghost.  Tears flowed freely as they fell like rain to the unfeeling stone below.

I’ve lost her…

Celestia felt her heart beat weakly in her chest, as if it had lost the will to continue in the wake of Twilight’s rejection.  Her mind was numb.  What would she do now?  What could she do?  Did she even want to do anything?

She didn’t know.

Did she care?

Wishing…begging for Twilight, Celestia turned her torn mind to happier times.

Celestia remembered when Twilight was a small filly, barely tall enough to reach her knees.  It was when Twilight had first moved into the castle.  Celestia had been so happy then, to be so close to her only child.  And yet it was also torture, to be so close and still withholding her true feelings towards Twilight.  Celestia would smile every time Twilight came to her, whether it be for lessons or advice.  But then she would cry herself to sleep every time she left the castle.  It had been like Twilight coming home, only for her to turn away and return to another mare that she called ‘mother.’  Celestia spent many a holiday alone, unable to retain her composure when she desired her daughter’s presence.  Twilight would go home to her adoptive family for Hearth's Warming Eve, leaving her alone in a cold castle with nothing but bitter regrets.

Mother’s Day was the worst, when Twilight would ask her for advice on what to give Velvet.  It was days like that when she longed to reveal herself to Twilight.  To finally be recognized as the mother of her beloved child.

But she never did.

Celestia cursed the day she left Twilight at the orphanage, even though she knew there had been no other way.

The broken alicorn stood up as if carrying the weight of her sun.  She didn’t know what to do.  Should she go find Twilight?  No…Yes?  No.  Twilight didn’t want her.  Twilight didn’t want to know that Celestia was her mother.

A dagger digging out her heart could not have been more effective.

Celestia pushed open the door, flinching in the bright light that suddenly invaded her eyes.

“Celestia?”

It was Luna, still sitting patiently outside the door.  Her sister peered over her shoulder into the empty room behind her.

“Celestia…where’s Twilight?”  Luna asked carefully, her face scrunched up in concern.

“Gone.”  She sobbed.

“I…” Luna said in realization.  “Oh sister, I’m so sorry…”

Celestia stared through her, as if she wasn’t there.   Nor did she react to Luna’s apology.  Instead she walked on as if Luna was a fixture on the wall.

“Sister?”  Luna asked, her face a mixture of worry and guilt.  “Should I go find-“

“No.”  Celestia interrupted tartly.  “She doesn’t want me.”

“I don’t think that’s-“

Celestia held up a wing to silence her, not even looking back at her sister.

“I… I want to be alone.  I deserve to be alone.”

Luna looked panicked, so she walked faster as she tried to catch up to Celestia.  “Tia, I think we need to-“

“To what?”  Celestia snapped, turning her tear-stained face to glare at her sister.  “To do what Luna?  Twilight rejected me.  She wished she didn’t know I am her mother.  What more should I do?  What more can I do?  Anything I do will only make her unhappy, and I…I don’t want to make her sad.  But it would seem that I have failed in that regard.  Again.”

Luna frowned sympathetically.  “Sister…I don’t know what to say-“

“Then say nothing.”  Celestia said flatly, turning back away from Luna.  “I’ve already said enough.”

And before Luna could reply, Celestia charged up her magic and returned to her guest suite in Castle Aurora.  She sluggishly returned to the bed and fell heavily onto it, crying all the while.

I deserve to be alone.

Celestia didn’t deserve Twilight as a daughter, she was a terrible mother.  Twilight had only ever admired her as a mentor and a princess.  Now Twilight might not love her at all, not after Celestia admitted to deceiving her all these years.

Against her better judgment, Celestia recalled the brief time she had truly been Twilight’s mother, in the time before she had left her on the orphanage’s doorstep.

Celestia remembered when she first discovered she was pregnant.  The initial panic gave way to happiness and joy, only for doubt and fear to return with a vengeance.  She lovingly recalled the months she felt Twilight growing within her, her stomach growing as she became foal-burdened.  Celestia had to cast a enchantment on herself to hide her large pregnant belly from the guards and the castle staff.

When Twilight had been born, she had never felt so much love before.  Not since Luna had been banished.  To look into those small magenta eyes, just like her own, as they opened for the first time was more breathtaking than anything Celestia had witnessed in all her long life.  To hear her cries, and to feel her daughter’s love was something Celestia wouldn’t have traded for anything.

A song came to mind.  The first and only song Celestia had sang to Twilight as her mother.  With the voice of an angel and the sadness of a broken heart, she sang aloud her lullaby.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.  
You make me happy, when skies are grey. 
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.  
Please don’t take, my sunshine away…”