The light is blinding today…today…what day is it? What year is it? And what happened to Fillydelphia?
Honk!
“Ah!” Twilight shrieked. She spun around, face to face with a strange wagon. “Is that wagon moving…without anyone pulling it?” She cocked her head to the side, confused but oddly intrigued.
The wagon growled ferociously. Its rear wheels spun rapidly as smoke spewed from beneath them. Twilight jumped to the side as the wagon peeled away, smothering her with clouds of burnt rubber. The stallion inside yelled at her as he flew by, in what sounded like a foreign language.
Twilight coughed up a storm as she ran from the heavy smoke, pulling the hood of her cloak over her muzzle. “What was that for?” she wheezed. Fillydelphia is a lot less inviting than it used to be.
She remembered the tagline a stallion once told her the first time she visited this place, Welcome to Fillydelphia: Home of the friendliest equines in Equestria! Her eyes rolled as fast as the wagon’s wheels spun. “Friendliest equines in Equestria my flank.”
Twilight made her way into town as her ears were bombarded by the sounds of the roaring city. Ponies walked around with weird looking devices, tapping on them with their hooves and talking into them.
The longer she walked the streets, the more apparent it was that she couldn’t understand any of the signs. Equestria couldn’t have changed that much…right?
She tried to get the attention of a few mares as they passed by in hopes they could help her find the nearest tavern.
“Hey girls! Mind telling me whe―” They kept walking with their eyes locked to their devices. She froze, her left eye twitched as she tried to assess what just happened. “Did they…did they just ignore me?”
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. ‘Alright Twilight, it’s fine. Let’s just try to find somepony who isn’t glued to those insufferable bricks.’ Her eyes swept the area, and came to the realisation that this was going to be harder than she thought.
Twilight kept up a brisk pace, scanning for any signs of a sane pony. “There!” she exclaimed breathlessly. She quickly trotted across the street, an oncoming wagon screeched to a halt behind her.
She herself slid to a stop, startling the young mare. “I’m…sorry…” she panted between each word, “hold on…just a second.”
After Twilight composed herself, she smiled at the young mare, who responded with a cocked head. “Can you give me directions to the nearest tavern? You wouldn’t believe the experience I had today!”
The mare cocked her head to the other side.
“Oh, did I say something wrong?” Twilight asked, now a bit confused herself. “I just need directions to―”
The young mare backed away in fear. Her eyes were wide open, giving Twilight chills down her spine. The ponies in the area started to crowd over towards the scene.
Why is she looking at me like that? Twilight reached out towards the frightened mare, “Don’t be frightened! I didn’t mean to sca― “
The mare spun around and ran away, screaming and yelping.
“Come back!” she called to no avail.
She looked down at her hooves. Great…
Her ears perked up. Is that…whispering? she glanced ahead to see that ponies were crowding around her, giving Twilight scathing stares.
She backed away. What do they want?
Thump!
Twilight spun like a top and jumped to her side.
“Please just leave me alone!” she shrieked.
The crowd kept their distance, but continued yelling and pointing at her. Their incomprehensible cries echoed in her head, only matched by the growling wagons that passed by.
Twilight’s legs wavered. “Please…just go awa― ah!” she reeled back in pain at the sudden impact, a yellow liquid drizzled down her forehead to her muzzle. She tasted it hesitantly. ‘An…apple?’
Her legs stopped shaking. Her body still as a rock. Her hood slid down, leaving only her expressionless muzzle exposed. “Go away.” she said impassively. The crowd continued on, pieces of apple dropped to the ground.
“Go away.” Her voice grew louder, but the crowd carried on.
“I said,” she stepped back, placing her hoof on a parked wagon. Twilight cleared her mind, cancelling out all the noise around her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Byre Clæppetung!”
The air around Twilight was suddenly still. Then, instantaneously, the wagon shot up in the air at inconceivable speeds, crashing into the building adjacent to Twilight. Sheets of glass came crashing down to the paths below. Ponies in the area scattered, running frantically in all directions.
Twilight stood there, panting. Her heartbeat skyrocketed.
Her hind legs gave out from under her, and she looked around in a daze. The sound of sirens blared as flashing wagons came around the block ahead. The world spun around her as she reached out for the flashing wagons. Then the world faded to black.
When I make it all the way up there, Twilight, will you come fly with me?
“Aaugh…where am I?” The world slowly materialized around her. Twilight struggled to lift herself off the cold floor. When she finally had the strength to lift her head, she was greeted to a door made of steel bars. The light just outside flickered like a dying fire.
“Oh no…” Twilight muttered. She fell back against the cold wall, resting her head on the even colder bars. “Great…good job Twilight. Once again you screwed everything up.” Her words cut into her own heart.
In the dismal silence, she played a melancholy rhythm: her head being the stick, and the cell door the drum.
Hoofsteps echoed through the hallway. Please, don’t come over here. She pleaded. But to her dismay, the guard stopped under the flickering light she’d grown accustomed to.
He leaned in and examined her, resting his hoof against the bars of the cell door. He whispered something to her as he cocked his head to the side.
Twilight let out a somber breath. “I can’t understand you. I’m sorry.” Her forehead hit the bars of the cell door. “Just leave me alone…”
“Now why would I want to leave my dear old friend alone, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight jumped back, stumbling back on her hooves. “W―what? You can understand me?” she stammered, her heartbeat pounding a mile a minute.
The stallion pressed himself against the bars, his body spilled through into a puddle on the ground. “Could you have really forgotten about me?” The puddle rippled and splashed, droplets suspended into the air. An amalgamation of a creature stood before Twilight, his arms crossed.
“D―Discord? How did you find me?” Her eyes locked on the old draconequus in disbelief.
“Well, it was hard not to find you after your little incident in the city was all over the news! Heck, you’re even trending on HoofBook right now!” Discord exclaimed.
Twilight shook her head and took a deep breath. “This is all just crazy. I can't recognise anything here! I can't even understand what anyone's saying! Did the world change that much?”
Discord threw his head back and laughed. “Oh Twilight, Equestria has surely changed a lot since we last saw you. But I can assure you that the dialect hasn’t. The same can’t for you though.”
“What?” Twilight cocked her head to the side, “What do you mean I have the dialect issue? I can read, write, and talk as well as anyone else out there! I've written at least four spell books as of late!”
“Let me make it easy for you.” He sat down in front of her, now at eye level. “You're not speaking modern Equestrian. I don't know what happened to you the past sixty years, but it looks like during that time you've forgotten modern Equestrian and replaced it with Old Ponish.”
“What? No. That can't be.” She pulled on her cloak and looked down at her hooves. “You're telling me I can't speak or understand modern equestrian anymore?”
He stood up and pulled a paper and pencil out of thin air, and quickly wrote something on it before he placed it in front of her. “Well?”
Twilight looked down at the paper. She traced the word with her hoof, then looked up at Discord in dismay. “I…” she dropped her head, shaking it slowly.
“Fluttershy.”
“W―what?” her heart skipped a beat.
Discord turned away. He grabbed onto the bars of the cell door, pressing his head to it, “The paper. I wrote her name on it. It's the first thing that came in mind when I went to write on it.” He closed his eyes and let out a subdued sigh. “…She's always the first thing that comes to mind.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. Her breath came to a halt as she stared down at the paper. A tear escaped, landing over her old friend’s name. I forgot how to read her name…
Discord cleared his throat and spun around, his bottom half still facing the cell door. “Well, now that we have that settled. It's time to go. Celestia is waiting on you.”
“No.” She pulled her hood over her eyes. “I'd rather rot in jail. I can't face her after all of this…”
“Don’t be like that.” He floated over to Twilight, “The sisters miss you!”
Twilight turned away, tugging at the end of her hood. “Leave. Please.”
“Well fine, I’ll leave then.” He snapped his fingers, rope slithered from the ground around Twilight, tying her hooves together.
“What are you doing!” Twilight shrieked. “Let me go!”
Discord took the end of the rope in hand. He lifted her up and swung her over his shoulder. “Time to go!”
“Wait sto―” And with a flash, they were gone.
I’ve been ruling for almost sixteen hundred years, and I’ll be damned if I go a day without dealing with trivial arguments.
“Thank you for resolving our haydog stand issue, Princess! I don’t know what we’d do without you!” the stallion said as he bowed in respect. His grease-stained apron fell to the floor, leaving streaks on the marble.
“You’re very welcome. I hope your haydog stand does well!” Celestia said with her Pan Am smile. Now if you can leave I’d like to get back to my cake.
The haydog stallion said his goodbyes before he left the throne hall. The beautifully engraved, gold accented doors closing behind him.
Canterlot Castle, unlike the rest of Equestria, hasn’t changed since the day the castle was built. Stained windows spoke stories of heroes who risked their lives protecting Equestria for the sake of its inhabitants. Her gardens grew the most beautiful flowers and held praise from many visitors. The royal guards that patrolled the castle still adorned with armor of yesteryears. The throne hall, where Celestia holds most of her royal duties, underwent one of the only changes to the castle. Luna’s throne.
“Vanilla raspberry cake this time?” She took a small bite of her cake, “Mmm! Guessed right! I think I’m starting to like this monthly CakeBox service!” Celestia’s mouth watered as she levitated a big slice of cake up to her muzzle. She scanned the hall to make sure none of the guards were watching and opened wide. Down the hatch you go!
Mid-bite, she was blinded by a flash of light, followed by an explosion of confetti. “We’re here Tia!”
Celestia choked on her cake and leaned over the edge of her throne. “Why can’t you use the door like everyone else?”
“Why can’t you eat cake like everyone else?”
Celestia shot Discord cold stare, until she noticed what he had behind him. “Is―is that who I think it is?”
Discord pulled Twilight over his shoulder from behind, she dangled upside down in front of him.
“Twilight!” She exclaimed, shooting up from her throne. “Oh how I’ve mi―” Her eyes hovered over her. Her cloak was pulled down, exposing her back. “Discord. If you think taking her wings is a joke then you’re not going to like my punchline.”
“I would never!” He objected. “She’s had that cloak on since before I grabbed her. So excuse me if I didn’t notice it at first.”
Twilight looked around.
Celestia made her way down to her wingless friend. “Oh Twilight, what ever happened to you?”
Twilight looked at Celestia, the back up at Discord. “Rúmgál mec!” she yelped.
Celestia gave Discord a perplexed look. “Did you understand that?”
“Ah yes, she told me to release her.” He said with confidence. “As you know, I can speak over two hundred languages.”
“First off, put her down.” She demanded. “And second off, what language was that?”
Discord snapped his fingers and Twilight floated down to the marble floor. She struggled to stand up, her body noticeably shivered under her cloak. “She was speaking Old Ponish. And as hard to believe as it is, she’s completely forgotten how to speak and understand Modern Equestrian.” He returned the same perplexed look Celestia gave him a moment ago. “What’s also hard to believe for me is that you couldn’t understand her, being well over a thousand years old.”
Celestia took a step back, getting a better look at Twilight, who in return pulled the hood of her cloak over her eyes. “Yes, back then I was fluent in Old Ponish, but that was back then. I haven’t spoken it since I was about three hundred years old.”
Discord pet the top of Twilight’s head. “I would talk to her, but I don’t think I’d get through to her as much as you or Luna could.”
“Brád onwegbacraut.”
Discord swiftly pulled his hand away and stepped to the side. “Someone’s still grumpy.”
“Do… do I want to know what she said?”
The doors to the throne hall blew open. “I heard there was a situation, is everything okay sister?” The intruder scoured the room, ready to attack. Her eyes darted left and right, then locked onto Twilight.
“Ah, nice of you to join us, Luna! Just in time actually. We’re going to need some…assistance with our grumpy little friend over here.” Discord gestured toward Twilight, who turned around to look at Luna.
Twilight pulled back her hood just enough to reveal her face. She looked at Luna with wan and bleary eyes.
“T-Twilight, is that really you?” Luna stammered, rushing over to the sickly mare.
“She can’t understand us, dear sister. She seems to have forgotten how to understand our modern equestrian.”
“Then how can I be of assistance, Discord? I can’t read her mind if that’s what you’re asking” Luna wrapped her foreleg around Twilight’s neck, pulling Twilight into her chest.
“I wouldn’t do that! She almost bit off my ha―” He watched in disbelief as Twilight clung to Luna. “Never mind.” He muttered, then looked back at Celestia. “Anywho, that does prove my point from earlier, Tia. She’d be more open with Luna than yours truly.”
His eyes went back to the hugging mares. “As for your question, Luna, the reason we need you is because I believe you’re the only one who she’ll talk to. And one of the only ponies here who can speak Old Ponish. It seems that’s the only language Twilight can comprehend currently.”
Luna held her tighter, “Oh Twilight…I’ll take her to in my living quarters.”
“I believe you’d be more comfortable talking alone for now.” she whispered into Twilight’s ear, who kept her eyes to the ground as they made their way to the doors.
After they left, the guards closed the doors behind them. Celestia took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh. “I hope Luna can help her. I feel useless not being able to talk to her.”
“There is one way you could help our dear old Twilight.”
“How so? I’ll do anything to help her!”
“Go down to Fillydelphia and talk to the mayor. You might want to pardon Twilight for her multiple accounts of civil destruction and attempted murder.”
“Oh dear…”
“Your room hasn’t changed much since the last time I was here.”
Luna closed the door behind them. “My room hasn’t changed in over a thousand years, Twilight. I like to keep things simple. All those devices and gadgets ponies use nowadays are merely distractions. And you wouldn’t catch me dead in one of those cars.”
“Cars?”
“Never mind that. The more important issue at hoof here is you, Twilight.” She gestured for her to sit on the bed next to her. “You’ve been gone for sixty years. You look like you haven’t eaten in months”— she pulled Twilight’s cloak to the side —“and as I feared, you lost your alicorn magic. If you still had it I would have known straight away it was you. I would have felt your presence.”
“Not just my alicorn magic,” Twilight said, pulling her hood back off her horn, “all of it. I’m an earth pony with a stick jutting out of my head.”
Luna’s eyes grew wide. “But how? Only Tirek has that sort of power, and he’s been locked away in Tartarus since he was defeated.”
“I...” she hesitated, before continuing. “I thought I could bring them back with a spell! All those years of suffering would have meant nothing of I could see my friends again. But I was wrong!” A tear ran down her muzzle. “My blood boiled under my skin as my magic was ripped out of me. He pushed my head into the ground”―her eyes filled with rage―“telling me he wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of being with my friends, dead or alive.”
Luna pressed her hoof against Twilight’s foreleg. “It’s not your fault, Twilight. He played with your emotions. Your mind wasn’t in the right place.”
“He didn’t play with them. He used them as a leash and controlled me with them.”
Luna paused for a moment. “I know this is hard for you, but this stallion, what did he look like?”
She spoke in a sombre tone, “He wore black robes and hovered above the ground. That’s all I could see of him.
“I see.” Luna mulled over the description of the stallion, looking at the floor as she dug through her thoughts, but nothing came to her mind. “This is perplexing. I’ll have to ask my sister if she knows anything about this flouting equine.”
She turned back towards Twilight. “Where have you been the past sixty years?”
“After that night, and after the fight Celestia and I had earlier that day, I just couldn’t face her. So I ran. I ran far away. I didn’t stop until I found an abandoned cottage in the middle of Haysead Swamps. That’s where I spent the past fifty eight years.”
“And what of the two years before that?” Luna leaned in closer.
“I ran.”
Her eyes traveled down Twilight’s body. ‘Twilight…’ Scars ran up her legs. Her hooves were blackened and cracked.
Twilight pulled her hood back down over her face. “I couldn’t sleep for months. Every night I laid on the cobblestone floors awake.”
Luna pressed her hoof to Twilight’s foreleg again, brushing over her scars. “I’m sorry Twilight… I can’t imagine the pain you went through…”
“I wanted to die, Luna.”
Luna shot up, locking onto Twilight’s cold, glistening eyes.
“Every day I wished that I'd drop dead. That I’d see my friends again. I'd dream almost every night that I was with them, finally happy. Only to wake up alone in that empty cottage.” She leaned in closer. “Do you know what kind of hell that is?”
A flood of tears ran down her muzzle. Luna pulled her in and held her tight. Twilight pressed her forehead into Luna’s chest. The room filled with her muffled cries.
“Why…why does it hurt so much?” she cried, her voice muffled under Luna’s neck.
She sat silently, running her hoof up and down Twilight’s back.
“I just want to go back… Is that too much to ask?”
“Well you two took long enough.” Discord remarked.
Luna closed her bedroom door behind them. ”She’s asleep, so lower your voice.”
His mouth separated from his head and floated down to the floor. “Does this please you, princess?”
She shook her head, then turned towards Twilight laying on her bed. “This is terrible. Twilight has been through so much hardship in the past sixty years. Her body is frail. I couldn’t count the scars she has on her legs. And none of them compare to the scars she has on her heart.”
Discord sat in the air and rubbed his chin. “No, that doesn’t sound good at all. Did she happen to tell you what happened to her wings?”
“A mysterious stallion stole them. He tricked her into shooting her alicorn magic into a scroll, saying it would bring her friends back to life. Instead, the scroll swallowed it, and then took the rest of her magic.”
“Did you just say the rest of her magic?” His eyes hovered over the sleeping unicorn.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. Using her friends against her like that is unforgivable. I’ll be sure he atones for the crimes he committed against my Twilight.” Luna said fervently.
Discord chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Luna.
“What’s so funny, draconequus?” her eyes pierced through him.
“Oh, nothing,” he stepped down from his invisible chair, “just didn’t know she was your Twilight.”
Luna flushed. “N-now Discord, it’s nothing like that!” She stammered. “Twilight is my only friend. I care for her just as much as my sister. I hate seeing her like this, it hurts that I couldn't have been there for her during all that time.”
Discord floated over to the foot of her bed. “She's lost all her magic, she can't speak and understand modern Equestrian, and the perpetrator who brought all this upon her has had sixty years to cover his tracks!” He snapped his fingers, and in a cloud of smoke appeared a top hat and a monocle. “Quite the perplexing pickle we're in my besotted friend!”
Luna rolled her eyes. “I’ll go wait in the throne hall and convey the information to my sister when she gets back. If you’re not too busy I’d like you to watch over Twilight. I don’t think she can handle being on her own for now.”
Discord rested his paw on the edge of her bed. “Do I look like I have anything better to do?”
She left the room, closing the door behind her.
“You know you’re going to have to tell them soon.”
Twilight rolled over and looked towards Discord. “Tell them what? You know I couldn’t understand what you two were talking about right? Old Ponish dialect over here. And how did you know I was awake?”
“That’s easy. When you sleep you snore like a bear.”
Twilight blushed a bit and looked away. “Anyways, what do I have to tell them?”
“What you did today was no normal magic. Luna said you didn’t just lose your alicorn magic, you lost all your magic.”
She sat up and looked a her forehooves. “Yes, I did.”
“Then what in the world was that out there? From what I saw on the news, all you did was put your hoof on the car and it shot into the third floor of a building!”
Twilight sighed. “It’s probably the reason I’m stuck understanding Old Ponish. Over the past sixty years, I studied, perfected, and even started building up on an ancient form of magic. Magic that has been dead for longer than Celestia has been alive.”
“And that would be?”
“Earth Magic. Magic that was used by ancient earth ponies.”
“That’s impossible! And this is coming from the embodiment of chaos himself!”
Twilight closed her eyes and raised her right foreleg, resting her left hoof on top. She cleared her mind, focused on the end of her hoof, and took a deep breath. “Cáfnes Flán Gearwung!”
The room illuminated with a bright light that emanated from Twilight’s extended hoof. “Still don’t believe me Mr. Chaos? It’s a ball of pure energy.”
He rubbed his chin, examining it. “Impressive, but I’ve seen better from baby unicorns.”
Twilight smirked. “Then how about this?” She focused harder, “Ætíecnes!”
A whirlwind blew around Twilight. Her cloak flowed behind her like a cape. The small ball of energy grew to the size of a boulder. Streaks of energy trailed around it.
Discord stood back dumbfounded. ‘This is a whole lot more powerful than I imagined.’ He thought to himself. “Unless you plan on destroying Luna’s bedroom, and possibly most of the castle, you might want to cut it off!” He shouted. Not that I’d mind
“Undón!”
The air around Twilight stood still once again as the ball of energy dissipated. “I’m a mare of Science and Magic. If I claim something is real then you bet your flank it is.”
“I’d rather not bet my best quality.”
She looked down at her hoof while she fixed her cloak.
“Hey… can I ask you something, Discord?”
“You just did.”
“Why can’t I remember?”
“Remember what? Modern Equestrian?”
“Why can’t I remember their names anymore?”
Trending now, a cloaked unicorn caused havoc in Fillydelphia earlier this morning. According to eyewitness reports and viral videos, the cloaked unicorn, believed to be a purple mare, launched a parked sedan into the side of Hoofstead Bank’s office building. Ponies fled from the scene soon after.
“Mister Coil, who’s that pony on the TV?”
“Her.”