//------------------------------// // The Journal: Part 2 // Story: Blood Ties // by bestponydash //------------------------------// The doors to Celestia's chambers slide open and a shadow snuck in with little more than a breeze in the air. The dark figure crept along steadily until it cast itself over the princess of the sun. Celestia's chest rose and fell in heightened intervals and her brow creased as her head turned this way and that; light illuminated the bed and Celestia's twisting body. There was a pause before a ray of magic traveled passed her face and targeted her pillow, quickly retreating back into the darkness thereafter. The shadowy figure floated back out the way it came and the door closed, leaving only silence. From the hallway, the shadow rushed onward until it reached the Canterlot library, where few ponies would venture this hour. Once passed the entrance and secured in a far corner away from any chance of detection, the figure lit up the area once again and brought out two old books with impressive locks. The light revealed the pony's purple coat and main. Twilight set the books down before her and held up her hoof. She stared at the weightless string of pink, yellow, and blue she held. Magic coated the hair and placed it within the lock of the journal inscribed with Celestia. When she did so, the book snatched the hair from Twilight's grip and it disappeared. The book began to lift from the ground and vibrate vigorously, it appeared to possess its own source of magic as it lit up the entire room with an impressive display of colors. After a few seconds the book ceased its movement and fell back to the floor in a small heap of smoke and dust; the lock now open and the pages free to explore. Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes in preparation for what she would discover. As she began to read, the rest of the world faded from thought and sight. "Entry 1, I don't quite understand the reason for this journal or why it has such a complicated lock attached, but I guess I should use it since it's here. Mother and father are having the guard and other, more foreign ponies teach Luna and me how to behave as worthy princesses should. How to speak when addressing your betters as well as those which you rule over. Which if you ask me is a load of manure; all thou's and thee's and 'we' instead of 'I'. I don't get it but mother says it's required so....yeah........" Twilight smirked at the sight of a frustrated and rebellious young Celestia writing in this journal, but knew that this was not where she needed to be; so she pressed on through the pages. "Entry 37, Today is our birthday. A joyous occasion most years, but this particular celebration will be more than cake and congratulatory guests. Mother and father will announce thy role as a princess and many responsibilities thereafter. We doubt it will be as extensive as mother and father's duties, they mustn't think a mare as young as thyself could handle the entire day and night cycle. However we don't presume to think it will be an easy task either; we are, after all, going to rule one day.........." "Entry 70, This marks the day of thy dear sister's ascension to her royal duties. We remember our day long ago and are fully aware of the anxiety and nervousness that is attached to this fateful birthday celebration. It brings joy to our heart to see our young sister growing into a fine mare and taking on the world as we have done.........." "Entry 100, It seems that the never-ending list of responsibilities and niceties associated with the royal title of princess is just that, endless. Luna and thyself have been exhausted for the past three weeks and we haven't the slightest clue as to why we are working so diligently. The guards say that this is an important time in thy life, but we fail to see the significance of the situation. Perhaps mother and father will provide a better explanation." "Entry 135, It has taken us quite some time but we are finally getting rather skilled at the increasingly difficult tasks being presented to us. We are also glad to see thy sister faring just as well. We believe that, based on what mother and father told us some time ago, Luna and thyself will be stepping into a 'new league' as it were, in our titles of princess. And yet we fear that there is more to what mother and father told us than meets the eye. The sound of their voices was......concerning; we can't say for sure but we suspect something else is going on." "Entry 137, We are sure of it now, something important is happening. The entire castle is talking about.....something. Nopony seems eager to tell Luna or thyself no matter how hard we press them. But we will not be so easily dissuaded; the truth will be revealed in time, a very short amount of time." "Entry 140, Mother and father have passed." "Entry 141, It has been quite some time since my last journal entry; I could not bear to put my thoughts to ink for they would surely cause this book to wither and decay, as Luna and I have at our great loss. The both of us have continued our studies, learning how to take over the day and night in our parents' place. And we have continued to speak proficiently in public, something I have come to despise and refuse to do in this journal anymore. It seems that the ponies of Equestria feel the loss of their rulers, but only for the span of a funeral. They expect my sister and me to show no weakness from this event. No sign that anything has happened at all. I can't stand to look at any of them at the moment." Twilight couldn't imagine the feeling of losing a parent, let alone two at once. Her ears lowered themselves as she envisioned the two sisters going about their duties every day, hiding everything they felt just to save face. It does not surprise her in the least that the two sisters chose never to tell her about this; it was hard to imagine even coming up with the words. She read on. "Entry 182, I would be reluctant to say that things have gotten easier but what I will say is that Luna and I have ceased our crying and carrying on when we are alone and have become more focused with the present, not the past. I now realize that we need to focus on our duties to help Equestria; after all, a ruler should live not for themselves but for the ruled. At least that is what we are told by our advisors." "Entry 190, Our lives have become a routine which I desperately seek refuge from. Every day is the same as the previous and every day things become more and more tedious. Official greetings, public appearances, brunches with local ponies and aristocrats, all boring and monotonous. And to top it all off Luna has started to take her job more seriously as well; it seems as if we never see each other anymore. She is either working through the night or she's sleeping; if by chance I do manage to see her during daylight hours, she is quiet and her eyes are bloodshot. If that is not enough, we have been told that our workload will be increasing soon and we will need to appoint a replacement head advisor since our current one is in bad health and must retire. I can already see a difference in the amount of time between these very journal entries." "Entry 195, Finally, everypony has come to an agreement on this new advisor; I swear this entire ordeal has been a nightmare and no pony is trying to make things simple. So much time put into appointing a unicorn to stand next to us in court and whisper unimportant details in our ears. Well, I hope he finds his new job more exciting than I do; Luna and I are supposed to get better acquainted with this Lennox tomorrow to assess how he will be put to the most use." "Finally," Twilight thought; now we get to the real story of these pages. Now we will know exactly what happened and why. "Entry 210, More an more changes every day; I don't even recognize this place anymore. Ponies are bombarding my sister and me with so many annoying little details that need to be changed: more advisors in the court, more surveyors to scour the land and expand the territory, more of what is effectively propaganda in the everyday goings-on. I can't take it any longer; I swear I'm this close to just throwing everypony out so it's just Luna and myself. And speaking of Luna, I can see that all of this is weighing her down as well; she seems constantly annoyed by who knows what and spends more and more time away from the court, can't say I blame her. And to top it all off, I've been having these strange dreams as of late and I can't make sense of them. For the past few nights I've woken up in a cold sweat; just a bunch of images clouding my mind. I don't know what they are or what they're about but I have a feeling that they are some sort of nightmare. There was one time recently when I could focus on one of the images long enough to begin to see it clearly; I saw a winged creature flying overhead. I don't think it was a pony but again I couldn't make out much of it. I think I just need a break." Twilight stopped to think. "Strange dreams?" she wondered. "Winged creatures? Dragons?" Like the words on the page, Twilight could not make sense of what was going on, but she knew she was just a few entries from the truth. She read on. "Entry 215, Finally, things have calmed again and I have some time to think and relax. No pressing matters, no crises, nothing urgent at all and it feels great. And I'm not the only one who's happy at the quietness of the court; for the first time in a long time, I actually saw my sister laugh. She and Lennox were having lunch and talking earlier today...as a matter of fact, it wasn't the first time I've seen the two together. Well, if I do say so, it is about time Luna found a friend to spend her time with; she was never one to be overly social when we were growing up so it's good to see. I just hope this peace and quiet will last; my visions are getting more detailed and I have a small fear that they are trying to show me something terrible, and besides that, a surveying team hasn't reported in in a while. This is normal but some ponies are beginning to worry something has happened to them. But I won't allow myself to be brought down by these details, I'm going to make this warm feeling of calm last as long as possible." "Entry 216, I had totally forgotten about this book; it's been so long since my last entry. After we sent ponies out looking for our missing surveyors and ended up finding the dragons I had no time to think. I just had to focus on convincing the creatures not to eat us all, but things have come to a relative peace between our two species, a peace I hope we can continue. These dragons are rough, angry, unruly beings and sometimes it seems like all they want to do is fight and steal gold and gems...The court has suggested that we send one of our own to serve as a foreign diplomat. The first choice was Lennox and I would agree based on his temperament and personality but Luna disagrees. She posed some good points for another pony, a member of the royal guard, but I think she just doesn't want to say goodbye to her closest friend. Anyway, the decision is practically made already and Lennox will soon depart for the dragon homeland." "Entry 217, FORTHEGOODOFEQUESTRIATOSECURETHEFUTURETOESTABLISHTHEELEMENTSFINDITTAKEITFINDITTAKEITSECURETHEFUTUREFORTHEGOODOFEQUESTRIAFINDITTAKEITFINDITTAKEIT What the buck happened to me last night! I woke up with this book next to me and this strange writing in it. I'm scared and confused. Did I write that? Did something make me? I had another vision last night and I think this time it was more than just flashing pictures and sounds. For the good of Equestria, to secure our future, what is that suppose to mean? Find it, Take it? what? I don't know what's going on or what these visions are supposed to mean. And the scariest part of all this is I can't bring myself to tell anypony else no matter how much I want to. It is as if something is keeping my lips sealed; I wonder if it is some kind of magic or spell that has been cast on me. I don't know what to do anymore but hope all this stops and goes away, but I have a strong feeling that won't be the case." As twilight began to read the next few entries, her mind soared with possibilities, theories, hundreds of different emotions, and above all curiosity. As her eyes zoomed from left to right, again and again, they grew in size. Twilight's mouth gaped and her brow creased, her hooves fiercely gripped the journal until the cover creaked in stress. After a few moments, she threw the book away in a huff and stood up panting and rubbing her head. She looked around to see if anypony was around, "I have to tell them," she said to herself. She ran from the library and burst through the doors of the guest room her friends were sleeping in, very effectively waking them up with quite a fright. "I know what happened!" she screamed. "What who where why?!!!" Rainbow jumped from her bed in alarm. "Twilight?" Fluttershy wearily said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Twilight continued, "Everypony follow me, I think I have the whole picture now; I know what happened." "Know what happened? Darling, what are you talking about?" Rarity asked. "I'll explain once everypony is together, now come on," she beckoned with her hoof and zoomed away to wake the princesses while her friends stared at one another in confusion and mild annoyance.