//------------------------------// // 1: Twilight's New Castle // Story: The Path of Twilight // by RDDash //------------------------------// Princess Celestia had been standing on the balcony of the 'Grand Canterlot's Castle'. She hated that name, as well as, the pompous unicorn architect that insisted to name her castle with that ridiculous name. Celestia shivered, maybe It was just the cold. Celestia took a very deep breath and then sighed. Her gaze was refocused on her sister's moon that had been hanging in the sky. Due to a very unique phenomenon on this very night, the moon had been bathed in the color of crimson red blood. Also known as a very bad omen. Also known as the night of the Blood Moon. "Tsk," Princess Celestia tsked in the disapproval. On nights like this, she especially hated the moon. On the contrary, she didn't hate her sister, that would be completely absurd. She hated that dusty old lifeless rock that's been hanging in the sky above. Which by itself had been serving a painful reminder to the loss of her dearest sister. "One thousand years ago, on the day of the celebration of the harvests, thanks to the accidental impulse of magic Princess Celestia, the greatest monarch of all the ponykind, banished an evil alicorn known as Nightmare Moon." Celestia quoted text from the very annoying little book, she would later say to herself 'with a spoonful of sarcasm'. The Blood Moon had been there on the day two weeks before Nightmare Moon rebellion. What a small little book that had been happily accepted by the EEA doesn't actually say, is that in addition to their overblown family drama there was also an entire forgotten history of the old city-states failing to recognize the legitimacy of Princess Celestia actions. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, " Celestia suddenly whispered to herself. "No, my little ponies are right, 'history belongs to the history books.'" Despite what Princess Luna thought about herself, she was, in fact, a very respectable member of society back in the day. It came to no surprise to everypony that Princess Celestia received plenty of resistance in the form of the very enthusiastic little ponies. Celestia smirked, then giggled, then burst out laughing. She couldn't help but remember a very funny moment when she herself had been observing misfortunes of a very grumpy earth pony general. Celestia frowned, "I can't. I simply can't sustain a serious face. I really don't know how my little sis can do it. All of that gloomy atmosphere that only she can pull it off." It took her some time but then she eventually managed to regain her senses. She breathed a sigh of relief when she imagined that a tiny little crisis had been avoided. Honestly, what would her little ponies think? The small little book also forgets to mention vast socio-economic issues of that era. Talking about politics in the book designed for little foals isn't that exciting as talking about the epic battle between two alicorns. Celestia took a mental note to put whoever wrote it into the dungeons... of fun and happy times. Celestia sighed, with the reduction of crime, as well as, thanks to Equestria's 'mostly' peaceful nature which resulted in fewer incarcerations for the ponies, it came to a nopony surprise that said dungeons lost their original purpose. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. The same exact Blood Moon sprang into existence several weeks before Sunset Shimmer's corruption. Princess Celestia should have known better. In her defense, It's not like she didn't pay attention. She just thought something else would happen. She wasn't really sure why did she have a sight. It wasn't perfect, it didn't happen that often, and it never told her that, at that time, her favorite student that she treated like a family is going to betray her. She breathed hard, she hated attachments The next time Blood Moon appeared was the day when the Sun failed to rise for a thousand's time. Celestia cringed at that one. The memory quickly sprang up into her mind. In it, a very enthusiastic Twilight Sparkle wrote what she thought a very fair warning to Princess Celestia. With the frown, Celestia recalled, "Twilight there is nothing to worry about it. I know that you think that what you are doing is important however I have something else for you to do." Throwing her only student at her mentally unstable sister didn't feel like the brightest idea at the time, but she needed to do something about it before Equestria once again could have been split in half by the warring factions, the blood could have been spilled. There are still plenty of dark magic users who would not hesitate to trot under the Nightmare Moon's banner. Tradition, diligence, glory, only the strong had the right to rule. Who would not want a life like that? "Stupid, stupid, stupid, " she whispered mostly to herself after all no other creature was around. Right now all of that didn't really matter, the past was in the past and there is nothing nopony could ever do about it. Celestia even remembered the time travel spell that Twilight had a pleasure of using it. Frankly, because she needs to know. At that very moment, Princess Celestia was just standing there on the balcony slowly hating the moon in the skies above... "Boring!" Discord just didn't give a buck to the narration. "You do realize that hating something is extremely unhealthy." He blinked, "Is that really what I wanted to say? Well, no matter," he shrugged it off. "What do you want?" Celestia sighed. "Are you really going to lecture me about hatred?" "I don't see why not? We are currently on the same team." Celestia spared a glance at Discord. For some reason, she thought he is going to be his usual chaotic self. However, she noted that he had been restraining himself for almost what seemed like half an hour. "I wish," Celestia gritted her teeth. "I could have gotten that memo from you when you decided to throw everything away when you started a tour de' Equestria with Tirek as your new bestie." Discord just made a face, "Details, details. Twilight Sparkle and her friendship squad..." he made a dramatic pause, "still managed to beat him, didn't she? All of that was part of the plan anyway. I mean really, you gave her all of that power and told her to hide?" A whole bunch of Discords in cheerleading outfits started jumping around, "Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Who is going to save the day? Twilight!" Celestia snorted in annoyance, "Believe it or not I am actually familiar with a certain dark alicorn who would be very delighted to know that Twilight could have been extremely brutal with how she defeated Tirek. Everything that you did wasn't exactly necessarily need it to be done. At least not when...." Celestia chocked on her own words. Fortunately for her Discord dismissed the cheer squad with a flick of his claw, it was only a one time use gag after all. "We can't have Princess of Friendship without a castle, can't we?" he said as if he was talking to no creature in particular. "Don't fail me again Discord," Celestia greeted through her teeth. She was about to say something else but Discord vanished into the thin air. "Tsk," once again she snorted in annoyance. Princess Celestia resumed fuming completely alone on the balcony of her 'Grand Castle'. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle had been spending her very first evening in her brand new castle. She didn't really have another choice, she sobbed as she remembered her beloved tree library that's been blown apart. Several hours later she had been sleeping in her own bed. She was happy because during the nights, at least for a brief period of time, she could finally relax from the stress of being a hero of Equestria. in the main hall, a very large crystal table flashed with bright violet light. On it, a very accurate map of Equestria popped into existence. A small string of light as thin as the laser connected the table and the bedroom where Twilight had been sleeping. Twilight Sparkle was in the castle of two sisters. She looked around, I guess I am still sleeping, but why am I here? She thought to herself. She then tried to fly, but then soon discovered that she can't, not yet at least. Must be the memory of some sort, or is it just how my subconscious sees myself. Suddenly, slightly hysterical laughter could have been heard from somewhere. That only made Twilight even more curious so she went to the source of the sound. What she saw next surprised her a little bit, in the same exact room where she first saw the elements she saw an afterimage of herself and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon. Once the rainbow beam smashed into Nightmare Moon the reality shuttered and then everything went white. Twilight Sparkle stood up she is now an alicorn. She relaxed a bit, she was slightly happier to have her own wings back. It dawned on her how strange it was for her to realize that her new body felt. It was almost like she was in another body. "Was I... Was I really that unhappy with my own coronation?" Twilight asked herself. "No, " an idea struck her. "It was just the wings." She looked around, this time she was in a completely new place. Sand, lots of and lots of red sand. That's how she would have described it to somepony if they had never been there. It was beautiful and scary at the same time. Twilight thought she could hear the cries of an animal somewhere she could no see. Twilight thought that maybe it's not really a good idea to stick around to find out what that animal was. By instinct, ponies were evolved from the herbivore species, and dragons weren't always eating gems. All of the evidence of hostile behavior points out that dragons consider ponies as weaker inferior species. It always puzzled Twilight how they just openly mocking Princess Celestia, who by their standards should be a symbol of strength and power. She saw a cave entrance hidden in the sand. Maybe she should go inside? At least she felt like something has been calling her. Once again she thought of why she was even here of all places. Where exactly here? Suddenly a small gust of air whispered softly inside of her head. "Why it's the place where I was born. It would be only natural if I invited the pony who defeated me here of all places." In the blink of the moment the whisper grew into the same sickening laughter she heard before. "Nightmare!" Twilight gasped."I defeated you." "Yes, you did! How did it felt child? Did you felt joy? Excitement! The Thrills!" After a moment or so Twilight heard mocking laughter "You are delusional, I only wanted to reunite you with your own sister!" Twilight blinked in surprise after the realization struck her. "Wait, what I am I saying? I knew you were dangerous I even tried to warn Princess Celestia about you." Twilight made a brief pause, "But then why was I surprised that you were her sister?" "Enough of your ridiculous rumblings, you are the one who is delusional!" Nightmare Moon screamed in anger, and then everything went silent. A smidge of a small smile was formed on Nightmares Moon face. "Tell me, child, how does it feel to kill someone, to rip their existence from the face of Equis? "I am not a killer, I never killed anypony!" Twilight slowly whispered to herself. "Liar!" One simple word infuriated Twilight and then the sparks of bright purple lightning run all over her's horn. One of the bolts collided with the wall with a loud cracking noise, more laughter followed. Twilight heard a loud banging noise which caused her to jump in fright. She turned around she saw how in the place where a there once stood a wall there was now an entrance to the small cavern which by the looks of it looked like a burial chamber. She carefully trotted inside and then pushed one of the tombs. She didn't know exactly why she just heard a barely audible whisper telling her to do it. It was just annoying to hear it, and so far she didn't see any harm in any of it. It was not unusual, just odd. Twilight saw a small metal cylinder that was mixed in with what looked like a bunch of very old armor and very old bones. That cylinder was very old too but somehow it shined like brand new. Taking a quick note that the grave probably belonged to some bipedal creature, more than likely an alien in origin. Twilight quickly grabbed it with her magic. On the side, there was a button which she then pressed. Almost immediately the thin beam of red light materialized on the single edge of the cylinder like if it was a blade. Be careful sugar cube, you don't want to impale yourself with that thing. Twilight blinked. For some reason, she thought that she heard the voice of a very familiar apple farmer just about now. Curiously Twilight swung it side to side of the stone floor, which resulted in the weapon to spark and hiss. "Hm, yes. why didn't I thought of it before? This thing must have been some kind of weapon." Twilight made an educated guess. "Although, I am not really sure why the, ..." she paused, "why the blade is red?" she frowned slightly. "No matter, it's not important right now." Almost immediately Twilight felt a pressure wave as if the cave itself had been judging an ignorant creature who dared to disturb the dead. "I said, I will figure it out later, " Twilight quickly stated in her defense. Uneasily the pressure wave relented. "I am sorry, " Twilight said nervously. The cave suddenly shook the ground and dust, as if to say: just go away already. Twilight switched her new weapon off and then she went outside of the tomb. "I wonder what's going to happen next?" With a cracking noise, the reality snapped again in a burst of glass and then reconstructed itself back up. She looked around to see her new surroundings. She saw herself in the human form, in the human world. She saw everything. She saw Sunset's transformation into the demon. She saw beams of light fusing into a rainbow and then striking Miss Shimmer in a brilliant explosion. Once again Twilight heard a whisper "You protected them even though you could have just let them be." "What are you saying? How could I have not? I am the one who is supposed to defend Equestria." With a grant of annoyance, the whisper continued, "What? Did you really think that idiot actually had any chance of succeeding in leading her little invasion army? More importantly, you could have just grabbed the crown and run." "Well, I didn't. Are you going to fight me on this?" "No, I wouldn't. But look at how your negligence and interference in that world changed their lives." The world reconstructed itself again and this time she saw sirens get hit by a rainbow alicorn "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything I was extremely useless!" The voice started to whisper again "You gave those three the power to do whatever they wanted, and then you just ruthlessly have taken it all away from them. How cunning of you. I am almost so proud of you." With every single whispered word Twilight's anger had been slowly burning inside of her. If anyone would have seen her right now, specifically anyone who weren't really familiar with her, they would be really confused by the smoke coming out of her right now. They would also smell a smidge of sulfur, although they would have been confused by it as well. "Who knows, you probably left those three for death. But, I never cared for the weak, I just thought that you might!" "Is that it? Are we done here?" "For now." The sharp whisper abruptly ended Twilights little outburst of anger. Twilight waited, however, nothing but the peaceful silence remained. This time Twilight slept without any interruptions. When she woke up she found out that there was an overly familiar metal cylinder that's been laying beside her bed. "For a moment I could have wished that the dreams stayed as dreams. Was it a dream?" Twilight beamed to herself. "In a manner of speaking." Twilight eyes widened, almost immediately she called the device to her side and then after activating it she aimed the crimson red beam in the general direction of her perceived intrusion. She visibly relaxed when she saw that her uninvited guest was no other than Discord. "Oh so hostile!" Discord mocked her." And you can use it too. How Mary Sue of you? But no matter." He utered the last words in bewilderment. He then casually walked to her and then grabbed the beam with his paw. Slowly inch by inch he pushed it into submission until the blade disappeared completely. "You know I have one of those toys as well, I never understood why everyone wants them." "Toys? Mary Sue? What the hay are you talking about Discord?" Twilight frowned. "Look, I really had a very strange dream, and I really don't want you to start anything... again." "Its nothing for you to worry about my dear. Let's just say I am willing to teach you. Are you willing to learn from me?" "Why the hey would I do that?" Twilight blurted it out. She quickly put it back on the ground. Discord is right, being a hostile would not do her any good right now. "Oh alright, fine, " Discord conjured up a chair and sat down. "Think of it as you taking advantage of a silly old me. Besides, I still think that I would rather prefer to give you a small little nudges from time to time. Twilight thought about it, "I...I already have a teacher, and she told me about friendship. There is nothing, not even that old hug from Tartarus is going to change that little fact." "Your confidence, that what I like about you. Bye bye!" he waved her a paw and then disappeared. "I will see you later, and I am oh so eager to see what will you do." Twilight sighed, she picked up the cylinder. "I better find something to attach it to. Maybe, I could ask Rarity to help me. She smiled quickly making a mental note to go to her best friend for advice. "But for now, this will do just fine." Twilight focused a bit mentally, focusing on the spell she wanted to do. Almost instantly a small portal popped up into existence. A private pocket dimension as it was widely been known in Equestria. "There, " with a brief smile Twilight casually tossed the cylinder. "All safe and sound, and it would not bother anypony else. I should go and wake Spike."