//------------------------------// // Chapter One, Part One: Opening Gambits // Story: Fireflight // by Tangent //------------------------------// Princess Twilight smiled sadly as she observed her student, her daughter, and her former self read over the book that had set her on the path to becoming the Bearer of the Element of Magic all those years ago. She still missed the friends she had lost when she had become detached from her original causality, but she had grieved and moved on with her life, making new friends and starting a family of her own. The Princesses (Celestia and herself) had initiated a discrete search for the young filly Twilight would end up taking in and raising as a beloved daughter shortly after the transtemporally displaced alicorn's arrival. A search made difficult by having only a name, coloration, and the name of a friend named Sunburst who would have just entered the magical education system. A search made tragic as by the time the young filly had been located, young Starlight Glimmer had just become even more alone in the world due to the loss of her parents. Princess Twilight was still not sure if the search itself had somehow butterflied into the events leading up to the accident, or if the Starlight Glimmer she had fought simply hadn't gotten around to ranting about that part of her tragic past. Whatever the truth was, the revelation that Starlight the younger was now an orphan had removed any remaining desire Princess Twilight had harbored about sneaking into the palace gardens with a sledgehammer and crushing a certain statue into fine rubble. Spike, or rather Spikoran now (to differentiate himself from his newly hatched and named native analogue), had been dubious about her adoption of the grieving filly, but the three had ended up bonding over their shared grief and had grown close as they finally put their pasts behind them and moved on with their lives, with the young Starlight Glimmer becoming Princess Twilight's very first personal student. And a rather surprised Sunset Shimmer becoming Twilight's second personal student shortly afterwards, once the Twilight Princess had realized that the angry young mare hadn't run off through the Mirror Portal yet. Princess Celestia hadn't initially known how to take the fact that her older student had been poached out from under her but, after seeing an immediate improvement in Sunset's attitude with the difference between her teaching methods and Twilight's, had graciously accepted that it may have been for the best. And Sunset herself had... Whups! It looked like the little study group was splitting apart, with young Twilight and Starlight rushing off to no doubt inform Princess Celestia of the impending return of Nightmare Moon. And her own apprentice no doubt seeking her out to accuse both Princesses of meddling. Again. Which, to be fair, they were actually both guilty of this time, even if the cause was a good one. “I know you’re watching this!” Sunset Shimmer called out as she looked around. “You can’t help looking in more personally whenever the two of you are up to something, and this has your hoofprints all over it!” “I suppose it does at that,” Princess Twilight admitted as she dropped the invisibility spell and emerged from behind the bushes. When one has a purple coat, it was prudent to take that extra step when you wanted to be stealthy. Not that it always helped. “I notice that you don’t seem to be too upset with us this time.” “It helps that you at least explained why the two of you need to be mysterious and ambiguous sometimes, even if I don’t always get the direct answers I want,” Sunset commented. “And, I suppose, it also helps that you have more free time to take a direct hoof in our studies. Thanks again for taking me on as your apprentice, by the way. I know your time with your daughter is precious to you.” “Yes, she is,” Princess Twilight admitted easily. “But you, too, are my precious student. How could I not take you as my apprentice, having seen the potential you can reach? And… well… I may not have been as close with your other self as I was with my other friends, but we were still friends. And I like to think that we have become friends as well.” “Tell me about her,” Sunset asked. “The other me, I mean. Sometimes I feel like I’m being set on a pedestal, and you’re holding me to some perfect standard or something. It’s kind of hard living in my own Shadow, y’know?” “Why do you think I try to stay out of my younger self’s life so much? She has her own life to live. She shouldn’t be worried about trying to be me,” Princess Twilight stated with a slight smile. “But no, your other self was hardly some perfect paragon of virtue. She started out every bit as angry, frustrated, and resentful as you were when we were introduced. In fact, from what I was given to understand, she ran off to another world altogether shortly after I was taken on as another of Celestia’s personal students.” “I ran away?” Sunset asked, having a hard time picturing herself doing such a thing. “No,” Princess Twilight corrected, “she ran away. To another whole world slightly out of sync with ours, where time flowed more slowly than it did in the part of Neverwhen we came from. So she was still an angry teenager when I first met her. Granted, given that the portal transformed me into a teenage version of the local dominant species, and Spikoran became a dog, it might have just been that the portal itself was unstable.” “What species did you turn into?” “Something called a human. We don’t have them in our world. Picture a creature with the upper body of a hornless centaur and a lower body like an ape or monkey and you’ll be pretty close. Or like a smaller, less scary looking troll. Only generally skinnier for their size.” “Weird,” Sunset commented as she tried to imagine what humans looked like. "And you probably should have started with the comparison to trolls." "Probably," Twilight agreed, seeing her student's point. “Anyway, I got used to it pretty quickly. The hardest part, besides figuring out how to walk on just two legs, was dealing with hands. Imagine that, instead of having hooves at the end of your forelegs, they ended in a sort of flat panels with five wriggly miniature forelegs attached to them. Totally creeped me out the first time I saw them in place of my own hooves.” “Don’t Spike and Spikoran have hands pretty much just like that?” Sunset asked, cocking a brow. “Yes, yes, I know they do. Still freaked me out to actually have them myself though.” “And, if I may note, we’re getting a little sidetracked,” Sunset observed. “Should I be worried about what you aren’t telling me about my other self?” Princess Twilight sighed before responding. “Not really, but before I do tell you, I need to show you something so you can have some perspective. Walk with me.” Sunset Shimmer trotted alongside the purple alicorn quietly until they eventually stood before one of the statues in the Palace Garden. “Tell me, Sunset, do you know who this is?” “This is Despair, right? I mean, the statue is called Despair of Loneliness, so that’s her name, isn’t it?” “It is now, although she never went by it. She had another name once, but it was changed to protect the innocent.” “Who was she?” Sunset asked. “The history books don’t say.” Then a disturbing thought occurred to her. “She’s not my other self, is she? I don’t see the resemblance.” “No, she’s not your other self, although this could have potentially been her fate had she not realized how far she had fallen and reached out for help when she did. No, Despair was another pony altogether. One who had lost the only friend she ever had and had never made another afterwards to fill the gaping void left behind in her heart. One who blamed Cutie marks for this loss, and after her first plot was stopped, engaged in a mad scheme of revenge to wipe out the friendships she saw as the cause of her failure. Despair was a madmare, and a very powerful unicorn, and she tried to rewrite time itself, dragging Spikoran and myself along to rub her revenge in our faces.” “Then why make a statue of her?” Sunset wondered. “I never really understood why such ponies or creatures got immortalized in stone in the Palace Garden alongside great heroes and historical figures.” “Funny you should mention that,” Princess Twilight commented. “Immortalized in stone, I mean.” “Wait… This is actually her!? The real Despair?” Sunset exclaimed in shock. She had heard rumors, of course, that some of the statues in and around the Palace had once been living ponies or monsters, but she hadn't thought that any of them were actually true. “Yes,” the Princess explained sadly. “As I said, she was a madmare in complete denial on top of being a powerful and resourceful unicorn of with a truly great magical potential. And she had enough skill and knowledge to modify one of Starswirl the Bearded’s time spells. Princess Celestia had no other choice, as much as I would have wished otherwise. Despair was too much of a danger to Equestria as a whole to entrust to any other form of incarceration, including Tartarus itself. She had, after all, already broken causality, or Spikoran and I would have been able to return to our own time long ago instead of being refugees of Neverwhen.” “Had…” Sunset began to ask hesitantly. “had I gone mad?” “Eh, little bit,” Princess Twilight stated, wiggling a hoof. “The other Sunset stole an artifact of magic, took it to the other world, and used it to try to turn a school full of humans into a demonic army to bring back to Equestria. However, unlike Despair, when the other you was defeated, she knew enough to reach for help and accept it when it was offered.” Sunset fell over at that particular revelation, then stood up again and got in Princess Twilight’s face. “Wait, what!? You’re telling me that the other me tried to raise a demon army to take over Equestria!?” “Yes.” “A demon army transformed from the student body of just one school?” “Yes.” “Are humans some sort of super creature or something?” “Not really. They seem to be generalist omnivores for the most part, and what studies I’ve been able to do on them suggest that they used to be gatherers and persistence hunters before they became civilized.” “Okay, so they aren’t a super powerful base species to make demonic soldiers from. Was the school really large?” “Not really, no.” “Was she planning on converting the rest of a city’s worth of humans or something?” “Not as far as I know. The portal was kind of right there, and she was just going to come straight to Equestria with what she had at the time.” “Was the other me some kind of idiot?” “Hardly,” Princess Twilight denied. “But she was already kind of mad for power and she did try to misuse a magical artifact against it’s known purpose in a bid for power. That sort of thing tends to affect the judgment of anyone attempting such things. Once she was separated from the artifact, her reasoning cleared right up again and she saw what she had been doing.” “Ouch,” Sunset winced. “Well, I know the lesson that I’m taking from this one: I’m never touching any magical artifact I ever come across!” “That’s not the lesson I’m trying to teach here, although it does highlight what can happen if you misuse powerful magical artifacts,” the princess pointed out. “I actually do expect you to use such artifacts from time to time, but only as necessary, and hopefully in the way that they were intended to be used.” “Don’t try to take over a country with just an army made of one school’s worth of transformed monkeys?” “While that is a tactically sound conclusion, that’s not the lesson either,” Princess Twilight chided. “Don’t mess with time travel if I can at all help it?” “I’ll give you extra credit for that bit of wisdom, but that’s not it either.” Sunset thought for a moment before trying again. “That sometimes redemption is possible, even when the crime seems great, so it should be offered when possible, but sometimes… Sometimes redemption just isn’t possible, and the hard choices must be made for the safety of everyone.” “Yes. That’s the one,” Princess Twilight agreed. “That said, I fully expect my younger self to be heading off to Ponyville soon, on the pretext to ‘make some friends.’ Although, given that this version of me already has friends, that particular bit may be more straight forward than what I had experienced. I am sending you to Ponyville as well, to help her and make sure she doesn’t get it into her head to try to fight off Nightmare Moon by herself.” “So Nightmare Moon is returning!” Sunset concluded. “Wait. Are… Are we going to have to kill her?” “I should certainly hope not! Princess Luna became a friend of mine!” Princess Twilight proclaimed. “Besides, I think Princess Celestia would get more than a bit upset if you committed regicide against her sister.” Sunset Shimmer fell over again at that bit of news. “Just try to help my counterpart solve the problem, and don’t let her (or anyone else, including you) face Nightmare Moon alone. Think more ‘adventuring party’ than solo or squad mission, and apply the sort of thinking that helps in those situations.” “So, dangerous, but not specifically life threatening?” “More or less. You will find suitable ponies in Ponyville to become boon companions for your upcoming quest. Princess Celestia has slowly been guiding such ponies there ever since it was founded.” "One of her long games, huh?" Sunset observed dryly. "Pretty much," Princess Twilight nodded. "Annoyed me too, the first time I found out about that bit. Even though I know why she did it that way." “This is one of those things that won’t work if you tell me everything ahead of time, isn’t it?” “Unfortunately, yes. It is. I can give hints, and you can guess, but if I flat out told you or you went in knowing everything ahead of time, the chances of success drop significantly. I'll be able to explain it all in full once certain conditions have been met but, until they occur, you are just going to have to wait.” “And this is why I like being your student! You at least tell me these things instead of just being enigmatic and saying that I would understand later." “To be fair, I do that too.” “Yes, but you also tell me why you tell me things like that! Princess Celestia used to drive me up the wall because she wouldn’t even tell me that much!” “You’re welcome?” Sunset chuckled. “Well, I suppose I better get going. I have a quest to prepare for after all.” “Good luck. Oh, and you’ll have a mission budget and a billet assignment as well. Just stop by my office and ask either Spikoran or Stella for the papers before you leave.” “Got it! Thanks!” Sunset called back as she began to trot off. Once she was sure she was alone again, Princess Twilight looked up at the stony form of Despair as the petrified madmare stood silently on her pedestal. "My student looked right at you and saw no resemblance between you and my precious daughter. Sunset would have said something if she had. I'll take that as a good sign." Princess Twilight still couldn’t see how her precious Starlight could have become the raving madmare that her counterpart from Neverwhen had been, but it just highlighted how important friendships could be, and how losing even one friend could cause enough despair to drive a pony crazy. Hmmm, maybe it would be best if she told Starlight that two of her friends were just being sent away on tasks rather than abandoning her or some other silly notion like that. Might be a good idea to make sure that Starlight could attend Moondancer’s party too, and pass on the message to the rest of their friends. *O-(A Short Time Later, in the Palace)-O* “YOU WHAT!?” It had been a long time since Princes Celestia reflex-teleported out of fear. At least several centuries at a minimum. (And not last Tuesday because she was absolutely not scared of the big hairy spider that she found hiding in her closet. Because that never happened. Ever.) *ahem* Perhaps she should have informed Princess Twilight that she had decided to send Starlight Glimmer to Ponyville along with their respective students before they actually left Canterlot? “GET BACK HERE! I’M NOT DONE YELLING AT YOU YET!” Well, on the bright side, Celestia was now a lot less nervous about her sister’s impending return as she currently had an entirely different angry alicorn to worry about now... *O o O o O* "Looks like we have a Royal Guard chariot coming in," Firefly commented as she and Fluttershy flew safety patrol. Being a small rural town so close to the capitol, Ponyville didn't have a dedicated Guard force as such, instead having a volunteer militia. Granted, as Ponyville was situated right on the edge of the eldritch, monster infested, Everfree Forest, these volunteers were mainly comprised of reserve and auxiliary members of the military. Case in point being Firefly and Fluttershy, who were both members of the Junior Air Auxiliary despite having moved to Ponyville some time ago for reasons that she was still not clear on. Something about the experience being good for them, which sounded awfully suspicious to her, but it did seem to be working out well so far. So, meh, whatever. Firefly still wondered how she and Fluttershy ended up living in the same cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest that Fluttershy had in the show (albeit without the associated animal occupants). Granted, it had been available, and between the two of them they had been able to buy it outright instead of having to rent-to-own two separate homes, so there was that. "I see them," Fluttershy acknowledged. "They're brining in three unicorns... and a baby dragon?" "Seems so," Firefly agreed. "Want to meet them at their landing point and see if they need anything?" "Yeah, but Mayor Mare assigned us to Safety Patrol for the Celebration." "You know as well as I do that it's make-work, Firefly. Everypony is too busy helping to set things up for the Summer Sun Celebration to get into trouble. Even the fillies and colts. Besides, according to the clock tower, our assigned patrol time just ended." "Well, that's not suspiciously convenient or anything," Firefly snarked. "Oh hush, you. Mayor Mare probably just wanted to surprise us. Let's go see if they need anything." "Sure." *O o O o O* Twilight cocked a brow upon seeing a pair of pegasi mares wearing Air Auxiliary armor flying in to meet them at their projecting landing point. "Looks like Juniors," Sunset commented. "I didn't think Ponyville even had a dedicated Air station for them to be assigned to." "As far as I know, it doesn't," Twilight replied. "According to Shiney, Ponyville should only have a volunteer militia force at most. Proper support for a Junior Air Auxiliary program isn't in the town's budget. They most likely commute to Canterlot for the program there. However, there are a lot of members of the reserve and auxiliary forces living here. I just thought they were mostly unicorns and earth ponies. Air Auxiliary posts tend to be located in mountain or cloud communities, or in more isolated villages farther away from potential reinforcements." "Or, you know, they could have been part of the program somewhere else and then moved to Ponyville at some point after earning their armor," Starlight pointed out. "Once it's theirs it's theirs. They proved their trustworthiness." "Wanna recruit them for the quest?" Spike asked. "The party could use some armored flankers. We're a bit heavy on the glass cannon side of things." "This isn't Ogres and Oubliettes, Spike," Twilight admonished. "And I still can't believe Princess Twilight told you to recruit an adventuring party for me, Sunset. Why not just give the quest directly to you?" "Because I've already been on missions for Princess Twilight, and she assigned me to assist with the assignment that Her Momjesty gave to the two of you. You need the leadership experience." "Would you please stop calling Princess Celestia 'Her Momjesty', Sunset?" Twilight complained. "What if she heard you?" "She'd probably laugh," Sunset retorted. "She's got a point, Twilight," Spike agreed. "I still can't believe that Mom is interfering with one of Princess Celestia's plots like this," Starlight commented. "I can," Sunset countered. "Princess Twilight is very protective of her family. And it makes even more sense if she agreed to let Celestia assign both of you to whatever this mysterious task is." *O o O o O* "I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING SOMEWHERE IN HERE, CELESTIA! HOW DARE YOU SEND MY DAUGHTER OFF ON A DANGEROUS MISSION WITHOUT TELLING ME FIRST!?" "Should... Should we do something?" One of the palace guards asked another as Princess Twilight ripped yet another set of thirty hoof tall reinforced oak doors off of their hinges with her telekinesis and tossed them aside like they were made of balsa wood. The other guard looked back at the hoofprints leading across a trail of now shattered marble tiles, several wrecked doors left in the Twilight Princess' wake, and the growing collection of guards cautiously following the angry alicorn, then shook his head. "Nah. They got it covered. Let's stay at our post. That's even more important now that there isn't an actual door here anymore." "Fine by me." *O o O o O* "I suppose," Twilight admitted grudgingly. "Although it would have been nice if Princess Celestia had actually told me that she already knew about the impending return of Nightmare Moon instead of letting me think she was blowing me off." "I told you what I safely could, Twilight," Sunset reminded her younger friend. "Yeah yeah, it's one of those stupid missions where actually knowing certain things ahead of time reduces the probability of success for certain parameters," Twilight recited. "Which, since Princess Twilight told you as much as she did, actually disqualifies you from being the mission leader." "No. The fact that the Twilight Princess assigned me to be your support disqualifies me from taking mission lead. This is your mission, Twilight. Princess Celestia gave it to you fair and square. Besides, the experience will be good for you!" "Are you sure it's not too late for me to switch over to being one of Princess Twilight's personal students? At least she gives you actual mission parameters when she sends you out to do something. All Celestia gave us was 'You will go to Ponyville to oversee the setup for the Summer Sun Celebration. Oh, and try to make friends!' I have friends! And most of them are back in Canterlot! We're missing Moondancer's party because of this mess!" "Try to look on the bright side, Twilight," Starlight advised. "There's a bright side to all this?" "Maybe in Ponyville you can finally get away from that persistent rumor that you're an obsessively dedicated Princess Twilight cosplayer that misplaced your fake wings. Mom still gets giggle fits over that one whenever she hears it." "One time!" Twilight exclaimed at the reminder of the pet peeve. "One time at a birthday party when I was nine years old! How does that make me an obsessive cosplayer!?" "I still can't believe that the cosplay rumor is more popular than the illegitimate daughter one," Sunset remarked. "Mom and Dad sued the paper and forced a retraction, with proof of my lineage, for that one," Twilight replied. "Now the papers just speculate whether or not I was named after her or if we're related in some other way whenever the topic comes up. Which is usually only once or twice a year now, unlike the cosplay one which seems to come up at least once a week every time I go out to do my own shopping." "At least no one thinks that you're just a pet or costume accessory," Spike stated, putting his own two bits in. "'Nice purple iguana you got there. Did you get it for your costume?' my scaly ass." "Language, Spike," Twilight admonished. "Yeah yeah." "Might want to cut this particular conversation short if you don't want those rumors spreading to Ponyville," Starlight interjected. "We're about to land, and it looks like those two are planning to meet us." "All right, everypony," Twilight started as she regained her composure. "Get your game faces on, and..." "Hah! I knew it!" Spike declared triumphantly. "Starlight, you hit the local shops for gear, and I'll see if I can find a place that sells chips and soda..." "WILL YOU STOP TRYING TO TURN THIS INTO A GAME OF OGRES AND OUBLIETTES ALREADY!?"