Chapter 7: A Time for Explanation
"Citizens of Ponyville, my heart grieves for the loss of so many innocent lives," announced Celestia. "Rest assured that you will receive all the help you need, it is in these times that we must look to each other and help our neighbors, our friends. There will be Royal Guards stationed here until I deem the threat to be truly over. Be vigilant my subjects, and don't lose heart!" The crowd of ponies stamped their hooves on the ground repeatedly letting out cheers for their Princess.
Celestia had visited Ponyville the day after everything happened. Luna was still recovering in the royal palace, her forced transformation from Night Mare Moon and back to her original form had taken its toll on her, both mentally and physically. Her little sister was never far from her thoughts. Upon getting the damage reports from her Royal Guards Celestia decided that she should make an appearance to her subjects in order to reassure her subjects that everything would be alright. As she walked the streets of Ponyville, surveying the damage, despite the loss of life, it wasn't as bad as Celestia had prepared herself. At best she expected the death toll to be in the hundreds, but it was more like in the low tens, the number of ponies injured and property damage was higher. "Your Highness…your Highness?"
Celestia snapped out of her trance and looked down to the gray mane pony, Mayor Mare. "Y-yes, sorry about that, what was it you were saying?" asked Celestia genuinely sorry for drifting off into her own world.
"No problem your Highness, this sad event has affected us all. I was wondering when you might give your eulogy to the deceased," asked Mayor Mare.
"If the preparations are made I can deliver my eulogy right away," said Celestia.
"Thank you Princess, please this way."
After giving her eulogy to the ponies that lost their lives in the attack, Celestia proceeded to Twilight's house. For one thing the Elements needed to be returned to their chamber back at the palace, and to also finish her story about Arion. Arion...That name alone made a tear appear in Celestia's eye as she walked through the streets to the library. How do I even begin to tell her, or any of her friends about what happened, what I told Twilight was only half of the truth, thought Celestia. Before she knew it Celestia was at the doorstep of Twilight's house. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Celestia could hear small hoof steps coming closer to the door, when it opened there was no one there. "Princess Celestia!" Celestia looked down to see a small earth pony colt, his emerald eyes big and in awe at seeing the Princess before him.
"Um hello there little one is Twilight at home," she asked.
"Yes Princess she is, and so is everypony else," said the young colt.
He opened the door wider upon which Celestia saw Twilight's friends. They were all talking, but stopped as soon as they saw Celestia in the doorway. The five mares, Spike, and even the young colt bowed as she entered the library. "Please rise, all of you, this is an informal visit," said Celestia.
"Not to seem rude Princess, but what are y'all doin here," asked Applejack.
"I figured that you all deserve to know the truth about what's going on, actually you all being here makes it easier…" Celestia scanned the room and noticed that somepony was missing. "Where is Twilight," she asked.
The others nudged their heads in the direction of the study. "She's been in their since we've been here," said Pinkie Pie.
"Even longer than that, I don't think she even went to bed last night," said Spike.
With a bit of concern, Celestia walked to the study door. She was about to push the door open, but stopped when she sensed something odd. A shut out spell, why would Twilight use that spell? Celestia turned around, "Has anypony tried to open this door," she asked. They all shook their heads. Celestia concentrated; her horn began to glow and in a flash of yellow light disappeared. She then reappeared on the other side of the door where Twilight was. There were books scattered all over the place, notes written on parchment, and Twilight herself at her podium, the quill pen scribbling away at the parchment paper in front of her. "Twilight…Are you alright?" Twilight jerked her head around, Celestia gasped. Her mane was frizzy and unkempt; Twilight also had a crazed look in her eyes.
"Oh I'm fine Princess – Great in fact!" Twilight began to laugh hysterically a bit, "Actually since you're here maybe you can help me out with something!" Twilight rushed to a chart she had made, on the side were all manner of equations and hypothesizes, in the center was a picture of a small earth pony, and around it the figure of an alicorn. "You see I've been up all night trying to make sense of it – I mean quite frankly it's downright impossible! See," Twilight pointed to the chart for effect, "Ponies are either born one of three ways – They're born as a pegasus, a winged pony, a unicorn, a horned pony, or an earth pony, with neither, right!?"
Celestia's eyes darted from the chart to her faithful student, but due to her own curiosity she answered, "Yes…"
"I know – well you and Luna and Cadence are the exception of course – so you agree that an earth pony transforming into an alicorn is physiologically and magically impossible, it just doesn't make SENSE!" Twilight panted; apparently the events of yesterday had taken their toll on her.
"Twilight exactly what are you doing, and how long have you been in here," asked Celestia concerned for her students mental health.
"Oh since last night, late last night – actually I never went to bed," Twilight's left eye began to twitch.
"Twilight it's time I filled you and the others in about the Daemoni, as well as Arion. Maybe if we all talked this out you might be able to make more sense of – well – all this," said Celestia.
Twilight let out a sigh, "You're – you're right Princess, sorry you had to see me in such a state," said Twilight.
After Twilight explained why she had shut herself up in her study Princess Celestia ushered them to the upper level of Twilight's house. Once upstairs Celestia found a nice spot and sat down on her haunches, "Please sit," she asked. Every pony did the same, as casual as this was she could see that they were all anxious to hear the reason for her visit. "What I'm about to tell you all must be kept a secret, whatever is said in this room stays in this room, do you all understand," they all nodded, "Very well, I'm sure Twilight has told you about the incident concerning Luna," again they nodded in conformation. "I'm sorry to say, but what most of you know about Equestria, about our history and heritage, is only half of the whole story. For you see my little ponies Equestria was known by another name, Alogotha."
Twilight was surprised, but not as much as her friends since she had already heard a bit of this from before. Celestia went on to tell them about the creation of the world, about the first alicorn to have ever existed, Epona. How her divine power formed the very land and gave life to each of the pony races. Celestia also told them of her and Luna's birth, and how they had an older brother named Arion. "I don't understand, how did Arion change," asked the little colt. Bright Blade, she remembered. This was the question that Celestia had dreaded; even talking about her past now was still painful, Arion's name brought both good and bad memories.
"When Arion returned the kind, gentle, and strong brother that Luna and I loved had…had become cold, distant, and angry. Somehow our mother's all-seeing gaze would lose track of him from time to time, even Luna and I couldn't find him, either during the day, or the night. Then came that day…the day that I can never forget, no matter how many times I wanted to!" Celestia closed her eyes, tears began to stream down her face. The others felt sad, they had never seen the Princess cry before, they realized then just how painful even talking about this was. When she opened her eyes the earth pony colt Bright Blade had a handkerchief and held it up to the Princess. Celestia smiled and used her telekinesis to take the handkerchief and wipe the tears from her eyes, "Thank you…" Bright Blade smiled and returned to his sitting place beside Spike and Twilight. "We eventually found out what Arion was doing. The times we lost track of him he had gone and killed entire villages of ponies, and using whatever dark power he had gained, transformed them to the creatures you now know as the Daemoni."
"Hold up, you're saying that the monsters that Bright Blade destroyed were once normal ponies!" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Not just ponies, but unicorns and pegasi as well, soon Arion turned all the inhabitants of Alogotha into those, things," said Celesita.
"What did you do stop them," asked Pinkie Pie.
"Arion, after committing this horrible act, challenged our mother for the right to rule over the new world he had created. She vehemently refused to fight our brother, and so did we. So he attacked, the fighting was fierce, Luna and I tried to help our mother, but Arion's power was much greater than we thought, he was actually at the same level of power as our mother, maybe even stronger. In the end, our mother Epona, called upon the deepest resources of her divine magic and her own life force to create the Elements of Harmony." At this they all gasped, Celestia's mother was the original creator of the Elements. "By using the Elements as conduits, Epona released a powerful blast of light that completely destroyed Arion, forever…" Celestia sighed heavily, and then took a deep shaky breath. "My mother had used almost all of her power to destroy our brother, but there was still the matter of the Daemoni. Together with Luna, we drove the creatures into a part of Alogotha that no pony dared to enter. A place called the Nevermore Planes. Once this was done, my mother used the last ounces of her power to rekindle life on Alogotha, and with that she faded away." Celestia looked down for a moment, then raised her head, "You – all of you – and every pony that exists today are only the second civilization of ponies, without any knowledge of the past you renamed this land Equestria. Luna and I decided that this was for the best, better you all started off with a clean state."
The room was silent; a bombshell had been dropped on the ponies. Everything they've known about their world was only half true and half lies. Celestia decided not to say anything yet, letting them absorb that information, and waiting for the barrage of questions that would inevitably come from her subjects. She also mentally prepared herself a verbal beating, having kept such a big secret from the ponies of Equestria, a heritage and history that would someday come back to bite them in the flank. But the beating never came, possibly out of respect for her royal title. "Princess is something wrong," asked Twilight.
Celestia cocked an eyebrow, "Well…um…yes, aren't you all mad? Don't hold back any of you," said Celestia.
"Princess, we understand. It's pretty clear that talkin' about all this wasn't exactly easy fer ya, and considerin' what happened it's no surprise you'd want to keep it yourself," said Applejack.
Celestia looked around the room, and it appeared that the others shared the same sentiment. Celestia felt ashamed for thinking that her subjects, her friends, would be so callous as to give her a verbal tongue lashing. All of sudden Rainbow Dash quickly said, "Hold on a second! Princess you said that ponies of Ala – Alg –"
"Alogotha," helped Rarity.
"Yeah, yeah, Alogotha, you said the ponies were transformed into those Daemoni things, exactly how many are we talking about here," asked Rainbow Dash.
"The entire civilization…"
"Which is how many," asked Pinkie Pie.
"Nearly three hundred…" the others sighed in relief, they didn't know exactly how many of them invaded Ponyville, but they were pretty sure it was a large amount. At least to them, this meant that the remainder of the enemy was at least manageable, "…trillion."
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"THREE HUNDRED TRILLION DAEMNONI," they all shouted in unison.
After dispelling any lingering doubts about Daemoni attacks, Celestia took some time to answer questions about the first civilization of ponies, as well as the differences between Alogotha and Equestria today. Once that was done Twilight's friends all left to go about their business, and to help any way they could with the repairs to Ponyville. Twilight had Spike and Bright Blade go out and spend some time with their friends, having to doubly make them swear to secrecy for good measure before sending them off. Celestia was in Twilight's private study, organizing and reading over her various charts and notes that were scattered about. What Celestia read intrigued her, she had heard from the citizens of Ponyville about a young colt who had transformed into an alicorn like herself, and defeated all the Daemoni that invaded the village. So that was the one they call Bright Blade…I still can't believe that such a small colt really transformed into an alicorn, and by the looks of it neither can Twilight. Now that little episode she had earlier makes sense. "Princess Celestia…?" Twilight walked into the study, a worried look on her face as she saw Celestia reading her notes. "I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier, a lot's been happening."
"Not at all Twilight, I must say though when I heard the news about how the Daemoni were defeated I was quite surprised. Now after seeing him for myself I find it hard to believe that such a little colt could become – well that," Celestia pointed to one of the charts Twilight had made showing the contrasting earth pony form to an alicorns.
"Believe me Princess it was as much a shock to you as it was to me," chuckled Twilight nervously.
"Still, I'm curious, when did you take in Bright Blade," asked Celestia. There was a shocked expression on Twilight's face which puzzled Celestia, "Twilight…?"
Twilight shook her head for a moment before answering, "Sorry Princess, what was the question?"
"I was asking when you took in Bright Blade, I don't remember receiving any letters about him," said Celestia.
"I – I – are you sure I didn't?" asked Twilight.
"None that I remember, might I have missed one," asked Celestia, rubbing her chin.
"Oh well he's – he's – my little cousin!" she blurted out. "Yeah, Bright Blade is my cousin, from my father's side of the family. He's visited Ponyville a few times, but he couldn't stay long, that's why I never wrote about him to you!"
"Oh, okay, well you certainly have a special little cousin Twilight."
"Thanks…How's Princess Luna," asked Twilight.
"She's still weak, and resting in the palace. For now I'll be raising the moon until she regains her strength, which reminds me I should head back." Twilight accompanied Celestia to the balcony, with the Elements in their chest being held by her telekinetic grip; she gave her faithful student an encouraging smile, flared her wings, and took off into blue sky.
I wonder why Twilight was acting like that, Celestia thought.
*** Back at Canaterlot Palace ***
Celestia knocked on the bedroom door of Luna's room. "Come in," said Luna. Celestia opened the door with her magic and walked inside, Luna was lying on the bed with her forelegs folded under her. The Princess of the Night immediately shot a worried look at her older sister. "How's Ponyville, are Twilight Sparkle and her friends alright, are the Daemoni still around!" Luna was about to get up, but felt woozy upon doing so.
"Easy Luna," Celestia rushed to Luna's side, putting a consoling hoof on her shoulder. "Ponyville still stands, granted there was some loss of life, but Twilight and her friends are all alright."
Luna sighed in relief, but at the same time her heart was aching, knowing that she had a hoof in bringing about the siege. "It's all my fault if I hadn't been consumed with revenge for the deaths of my soldiers I would've left and come to warn you, and maybe…maybe none of this…" Luna began to cry.
Celestia moved to the bed, she laid next to Luna and placed her right wing over Luna in an attempt to comfort her little sister. Luna didn't fight it, she leaned into her older sister's shoulder and continued to cry, her tears felt warm against Celestia's coat. Celestia lowered her head and nuzzled Luna's forehead. "It is not your fault, you tried to halt the Daemoni's entry into our world," said Celestia softly.
"When…When I became Night Mare Moon, I felt trapped, watching myself fight against you! Then when I saw my horn pierce you, I cried…I cried out for my other self to stop, to spare Twilight at the very least!" Celestia was surprised. Oh Luna, you even in such a state you tried to save your friend, thought Celestia. "I – I saw mother Celestia…"
Celesita brought up her head and looked down at her little sister surprised, "Luna, you – you saw our mother!"
Luna looked up at her older sister, a smile arching across her face. "Yes I did, when the circle was activated and Night Mare Moon was separated from me, for a brief moment, I saw her. She said 'Luna I love you, look after each other, and keep each other strong,'" said Luna. Celestia began to shed tears, both of them hadn't thought of it in a long time but they missed her, they really missed their mother, Epona. Just then a thought popped into Celestia's head.
"Luna, when you burst into the throne room you said you couldn't forgive me for what mother and I did to Arion. Why, of all things, did you say that," she asked.
Luna seemed confused; she tried to think back, even though she hated remembering what she did. But unfortunately she was drawing a complete blank. "I'm sorry sister; I don't remember saying that…" Luna tried to think harder, "I honestly don't remember much up until the fight we had in the skies above Canterlot."
"Never mind then, rest Luna I'll be here," Luna nodded, closed her eyes and laid her head down. Celestia kept her wing draped over her little sister, watching her as she slept peacefully. But all the while her mind was busy contemplating everything that had happened. Who or what was strong enough to force Luna to become the dreaded Night Mare Moon, and to control the Daemoni? She may have answered some of the lingering questions of the six mares in Ponyville, but Celestia still had many questions of her own.
The threat of the Daemoni has passed for now, leaving the citizens of Ponyville and their Princesses to lick their wounds. For now…