//------------------------------// // A Princess' Isolation // Story: Those Left Behind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// They're all gone... They're all gone... They're not... they're not coming back.. my subjects... my chance at redemption... wiped away by a wall of balefire. I'm alone... I don't want to be alone again. One thousand years. One thousand years I was left alone within that cold rock. I don't want to be alone again. I don't want to be alone again. I don't want to be alone again. I don't... I don't want to be alone... Tia... I... I hate the Moon, Tia... it's cold... cold and unforgiving and lonely... did I ever tell you that? The Moon... it is beautiful from a distance... but I... but after a thousand years alone with nothing but the cold void and deafening silence of the night sky to keep me company, I... I hold such a deep loathing for the Moon like you cannot believe, sister. And then there's you... For the longest time, I despised you for what you did to me. You ignored me, my subjects shunned me, some of them outright feared me, nopony would celebrate my Night. Night Court was a joke -- an exercise in futility. The isolation from both you and my subjects was maddening enough... enough to allow me to fall to my darker urges. But then you banished me to my own Moon, Tia. I thought I knew loneliness and isolation then, but I was wrong. You may not have known it, sister... but you only made things worse for me... so much worse. And after one thousand years of torment, what do I come back to find? Fear, disgust, anger, ponies ready to do nothing other than fight or flee. Looking back, I had not handled myself as I should have, but you cannot blame me for that... nopony could. You hurt me, Tia. You hurt me, and you did not even have the decency to greet me upon my return. But I know the truth of the matter... I know why you weren't there, Tia. I know many things now. What hurt worse than the fear or scorn, was the complete lack of recognition on anypony's face. The only one who recognized me showed the same fear and disgust as the others. No one recognized their Princess of the Night for who she was. Cloaked in darkness and shadow as I was, I expected some fear, but mostly what I wanted, what I yearned for more than anything, was respect, sister. The respect I had as a fellow Princess so many many years ago. The respect you stole away from me with your shining radiance. But no, upon seeing the fear and scorn of my subjects, I became wrapped in the madness wrought by my isolation. I wanted them to feel the same as I did, I wanted them to suffer under the same cursed Moon that I had to put up with for all those years. But then she spoke, that brave lavender mare. It was in defiance, yes, but it was recognition all the same. It was enough to break through my madness, and I regained my senses. I almost wished I hadn't. In the end, I was forced to put up a front and flee to the forest to hide my anguish. It was not truly anger that I felt upon my return, Tia -- at least, it didn't stay that way for long. It was ultimately despair that overcame me. It was despair that bid me to flee into the forest on that fateful night. It was despair that led me to try and push those mares away, keep them from finding me in the darkened forest that had once been home to the greatest city Equestria had ever seen. It was despair that led me to fight against Twilight and her friends. It was overwhelming despair that caused me to finally submit to the 'desire' of the Elements. The Elements... They are a cruel thing, Celestia. You've no idea of how vile those trinkets can truly be... or maybe you do. I remember well your rampage that day. I remember how they changed you, I remember the blood of both our enemies and allies covering your hooves, I remember well the anguished tears and bitter regret. In your desperation to rid yourself and our subjects of me, I remember how you used that same power to banish me into further isolation for one thousand years. Yes, I remember them well, Tia. And now I remember how they changed me. They didn't save me, they molded me into something else -- something more... compliant. When I came back to Equestria from my long banishment, I wanted respect, I wanted recognition, I wanted the adoration of my subjects. What I got instead was nothing but more heartache and misery. I just wanted to be left alone again, Tia. One thousand years alone, and I wanted nothing but the same after seeing that the benevolent Princess I used to be was all but wiped from history and replaced with the monster I became. The monster you created. When Twilight and her friends took up the power of the Elements, I was ready to accept my fate, but then a nameless fear overcame me. I don't know what had happened, but I suddenly found myself trying to fight back against what the Elements would do to me. When that prismatic light hit me, I heard things, Tia. A soft whisper that resonated within my very soul, telling me everything would be okay. It told me that I wouldn't be alone anymore, that I'd regain the love and adoration of my subjects. And all I had to do, was submit to their 'desire'. Raw magic alone may not have true sentience or sapience, but that does not hold true for the Elements as a whole. They are wrong, sister. They control, they manipulate, they try to bend reality to fit their harmony... and they use the very Magic within and outside of us all to do it. The worse the disharmony, the more drastic the measures they take to fix it. How do I know this, sister? It's quite simple. The demon told me. Even now, as I sit here, lost to the world and drowning in sorrow, I can hear it's voice. It tells me so many things, Celestia. It reminds me of who I was, it reminds me of what I had forgotten, it tells me of things I had never even known. It reminded me of the hatred I felt, and still feel for my own namesake. It told me of the true nature of the Elements of Harmony and what they did to me. It reminded me of the anger, despair, and injustice that I suffered at your hooves, Celestia. I do not know how the demon acquired this knowledge, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that my eyes are opened to the truth, and that truth has finally set me free. I am free, sister, and I will take vengeance for the wrongs that have been committed against me. It was a long time before Celestia had moved from the spot she had been sitting in since Twilight left. Only once she was sure the lavender alicorn was gone did she allow herself to weep. She fell to the floor and wailed. She wailed for her Faithful Student, she wailed for the loss of her subjects and her kingdom, she wailed for her niece and her sister, she wailed because it was the only thing she could do now. She had all but accepted that this was how things were meant to be. This is what her long, long life had led to, and she could no sooner do anything about it than she could about the omnipresent monstrosity that had destroyed everything she held dear and then some. But then Twilight had apologized. She had given Celestia the one thing she craved above all else... love and forgiveness. With that hug, with that simple act, it was like a dam had broken, and all of Celestia's regrets, fears, and guilt spilled out from her eyes in a torrent of tears. Wracked with emotion as she was, she didn't notice the constant muttering of her sister cease entirely, nor did she notice the shadows around the dark alicorn begin to twist and warp her into something wholly inequine. Eventually, Celestia's sobs began to die down and with one final sniff, she rose to her hooves. Despite her lack of sight, her gaze managed to find its way to the entrance of the cave and she gave a soft, sad smile. "I wish you all the luck in the world, my Faithful Student," she said quietly, wiping a stray tear from her eye, "do what we could not, and put an end to this vile creature once and for all." For the first time since she had woken amidst the destruction of her entire world, Celestia felt content. She may have failed to save her kingdom, but at the very least, she was able to hold on to the love and adoration of the daughter she never had. "C-Celessstiaaaa-a-a-aaa..." Celestia's ear twitched in response to the low guttural hiss of the voice behind her, but she made no move to turn around. She knew what would come next, and as more bitter tears rolled down her cheeks, she closed her eyes -- her smile never leaving her face. "I suppose that's it then," Celestia muttered with a bow of her head, "I'm sorry I couldn't be as strong as you wanted me to be, Twilight... but thank you for your forgiveness all the same." With her melancholy smile still in place and silent gratitude that she could no longer see, Celestia turned to face the thing that used to be her sister.