Concepts & Creations – TvE: At The Mausoleum of Twilight · 7:55pm Apr 5th, 2020
We return to my TvE continuation concepts. Today, at long last, it’s time to talk about the perky purple protagonist herself. As always, the material in this blog will explain a lot of things from the TvE universe, and a spoiler alert is now in effect. Out of all the stories, this was to be written last, for it would possess the Big Reveal™ that would lead to the ultimate conclusion of the TvE series. Get a snack or something, folks, cause this is going to be a long one.
First, what we already know from the existing TvE series. For that, we begin with Princess Twilight Sparkle. This version of Twilight hails from the Fleur-Verse, which I explained some in the Agent Fleur C&C blog. To summarize, the TvE universe is split into three timelines: No Heroes, Trixie vs. Equestria, and the Fleur-Verse. That last one is the closest to canon, although it stops following said canon sometime between Seasons 3 and 4. So in this timeline alone, Twilight ascended and became an alicorn.
Princess Twilight, tired of having to face ancient threats with no idea they’re coming, decided to start studying major past events by travelling through time and witnessing those events herself. She figured if she could catalogue past threats, she could better prepare for them. As a sort of trial run, she tried the spell first on a well-known point in time: Discord’s defeat. Unfortunately, she used the Element of Magic to power the time travel spell. The Elements of Harmony that defeated Discord in the past went haywire thanks to there suddenly being two Elements of Magic in their midst, and things went very wrong.
What follows is the events of Twilight's Inferno, in which Princess Twilight finds herself in the TvE universe and trapped in Tartarus. While down there she meets fellow prisoners, such as Prince Blueblood, Cadance and Shining Armor, my OCs Reddux and Tazel Wyrm, Sombra, Chrysalis… and, most important of all, Starswirl the Bearded and his creation, Ne’er-Do-Well. Each of these would leave some mark on the Princess, some more than others.
Now, let’s pause here and take a look at the TvE universe’s Twilight Sparkle.
TvE’s Twilight starts off similarly to the canon one: she earns her cutie mark hatching Spike and becomes Celestia’s protege. Only this time Celestia is Evilestia, a foul product of Discord’s last act before death. Evilestia took one look at filly Twilight and knew she was the same pony who appeared at the battle against Discord over a thousand years ago, until then only known as The Unknown Princess. Evilestia faced a serious problem: this filly might be the only pony in the world who could legitimately threaten her rule, but if she didn’t let Twilight reach her full potential and ascend, Evilestia herself might have never existed. The flaw here is that Evilestia thought her Twilight Sparkle and Princess Twilight Sparkle were the same pony. This mistake is the only thing that kept TvE’s Twilight from being killed while still a child. Evilestia had Twilight’s single-parent mother killed and from then on raised her as her own, believing that if Twilight cared for her as a mother then she’d never betray her.
Her plan both failed and succeeded. It failed in that Twilight came to know Evilestia and feared her rather than loved her. It succeeded in that Twilight was so terrified of the princess that she was convinced Evilestia was untouchable, and so acted her entire life according to her will.
When Evilestia brought Princess Luna / Nightmare Moon back from exile (as she does every century or so to toy with her), Twilight found herself caught up in a romantic tryst with Evilestia’s little sister. Amused by the development, Evilestia allowed this romance to play out until, just when it was getting to a potentially serious stage, stepping in and ruining everything. She threw down an ultimatum, and Twilight was forced to abandon her relationship with Luna. To add salt to the wound, Twilight was given the title of Gatekeeper of Tartarus, a dead end job far away from civilization. She held the position for years, and this can easily be considered the low point of her life. Twilight spent a lot of time looking for ways to somehow redeem herself or, at the very least, be allowed to leave the Gates.
It is under these circumstances that Princess Twilight and TvE Twilight met. At the end of Twilight’s Inferno, the broken and defeated Princess managed to reach the Gates from the other side. Twilight, aware of the Princess’s presence, was overcome with curiosity and facilitated the mare’s escape. Princess Twilight was, at this time, but a shadow of her former self, physically and mentally tortured to the barest resemblance of a pony, yet still making the delusional claim of being from another world. Not wanting to risk Celestia’s wrath by helping the Princess any further, but also unwilling to force the wretched creature back into Tartarus, Twilight instead let the Princess leave on her own and prayed Evilestia wouldn’t find out. Princess Twilight would go on to find Trixie and try to pass the buck for fixing the world onto her in a last, desperate gambit before succumbing to her injuries.
Now we get to the new stuff. That’s right, all of that was just setup.
After the events of Trixie vs. Equestria (and also Order of Shadows), Twilight finds herself in a bad place. She grew up under the shadow of Evilestia, and did terrible things for her based solely on a belief that the wretched princess was an unstoppable force. Now with Celestia properly on the throne, she can only wonder if she might have made a difference earlier had she only tried to. Worse, she sent Princess Twilight, a perfectly innocent pony from another world, to die. She might have been able to save the princess, but didn’t even try. And now she’s being hailed as a hero for having a part in Evilestia’s defeat? It all seems like a bad joke. She returns to her demesne, Ponyville, intent on never taking up any sort of leadership role again.
But a few months later, she is approached by the princesses Luna and Trixie (the latter now an alicorn). They recognize Twilight’s feelings of being a failure and, wanting to help her, offer her a very special and personal job. In TvE, Trixie honored Princess Twilight by burying her in crystal within the caverns beneath Canterlot. Nopony really knows the full story of the princess, but they all agree that had she not given Trixie that little push she might never have started on the path that would defeat Evilestia and freed Luna from the Nightmare. She deserved greater recognition as the catalyst of the world’s ongoing changes.
To this end, they offer Twilight the chance to design and build a grand mausoleum to house Princess Twilight’s body. Twilight, seeing this as a chance to maybe make peace with her past actions, accepts.
Work begins immediately, and Twilight designs a great structure in Princess Twilight’s name. Our story covers the three or four years that pass as she puts her everything into making the structure perfect, obsessing over little details and frustrating the crews working under her. Indeed, the story was intended to show several stages of the construction, from Twilight’s initial designing of the architecture to the near-completed mausoleum.
But it wouldn’t be an interesting story if it was just about that.
Acting as a sort of psychological thriller, the story follows Twilight’s mental state, which deteriorates at an ever-increasing pace as the mausoleum is built. She begins to wonder about what her life could have been had circumstances been different. She visits the princess’s crystal tomb many times for inspiration and reflection. The princess hailed from another world, another timeline, and she’s an alicorn. Does that mean Twilight should have been an alicorn? Had she been robbed of her destiny? Was the broken princess’s appearance fate’s way of mocking her for being so undeserving?
It would be easier if she wasn’t hearing the whispers. If the visions would quit coming. Visions of another Twilight, a happier Twilight, one that seems just as shocked to see her in those fleeting moments. Twilight wonders if she isn’t going insane, but there’s evidence; other ponies are reporting the same things in the presence of the body. Voices in their heads, a strange feeling of weakness, visions of other versions of themselves, some wonderful and some terrible. And these effects are expanding worldwide as similar hallucinations are reported by every race and nation.
But nopony has time to look into it. Equestria is facing economic collapse. Both close to home and in the rurals, the lower classes are nearing a state of open rebellion. The elite classes are corrupt and actively resisting improvements to the system. Enemies old and new are attempting to rally against the crown. Nations once kept in check by Evilestia’s iron grip are beginning to test their newfound freedoms. Celestia, Luna, and Trixie have so much on their plates, dealing with mass hallucinations simply can’t rank high on their priority list right now.
So Twilight faces her demons alone, gradually coming to fear and hope that maybe the deceased Princess Twilight is punishing her for her failures. Perhaps she doesn’t deserve the Element of Magic. Maybe she’s just a stupid unicorn, unworthy of her gifts and responsibilities. Maybe she’s going insane as one final, well-deserved punishment for never becoming the pony she was meant to be. But she will finish the mausoleum. She owes Princess Twilight that much. When that’s done, she’ll disappear. That’s probably better for everypony.
A couple months before the mausoleum is to be completed, Princess Twilight is exhumed and moved to her final resting place. She is kept in the crystal, since it will preserve her indefinitely, and placed where all who visit may see the pony who saved Equestria… so to speak. The hallucinations are getting stronger, the very world feels like it’s in a state of tension and ready to explode.
Twilight visits the body daily now, begging for forgiveness she never expects to receive. The work crews are getting scared, both of and for their boss, but also of the strange happenings of the mausoleum. Stories circulate of the body… watching ponies, despite the eyes being closed. More whispers, louder and more insistent. Workers leave the site feeling drained and weary. Twilight, convinced that this is punishment hoofed down by a vengeful wraith, begins begging for the princess to spare the workers and only punish her.
Then the day comes when a worker is found dead near the crystallized body.
And another.
And another.
Construction is halted. Twilight is horrified at the possibility her work could be stopped, that the wraith can never be appeased. She demands of Celestia, Luna, and Trixie to resume construction immediately so that the Princess can earn her rest. They refuse, and try to have Twilight sent to a mental hospital. But Twilight is Twilight; she escapes and returns to the mausoleum to once more beseech the body of Princess Twilight, to beg to receive her final punishment so that the rest of the world can be spared.
Then the body’s eyes open.
And they are yellow.
Yikes. Ne’er-Do-Well lives again! Or by proxy. You never specified if Starswirl was ever released from Tartarus. This all could be the long-play for his return. Or something else even more nefarious.
Looking like this leads into a story that may tie this all up or make things worse. I wonder if even the Elements of Harmony even work anymore. The new timeline Princess Twilight created can't seem to catch a break.
Man, you put an insane amount of work into fleshing out every idea in the best possible way. You could probably take the most asinine concept and make a gripping narrative out of it.
Dammit. The time I read thise stories it was agonizing over Princess Twilights fate and Trixies journey. And you would think poor Twilught would get to rest when she is dead.
Silly girl. No rest for the wicked.
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What you call "an insane amount of work", I call "having a lot of fun brainstorming".
I like to think that any idea could potentially be a good one if worked from the correct angle and written in the proper manner. That said, I'm confident there are things that could stump me.