//------------------------------//
// In the Gardens 
// Story: Her Most Faithful Students 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

It was a beautiful day, the birds were singing, the Sun shone bright in a cloudless sky, and a gentle breeze drifted through the trees. Twilight had spent the majority of the day exploring the castle's gardens, and now she was focused on a particular statue she'd never noticed before.
It was the statue of a unicorn, male, with a short mane, rearing on his hind legs. He wore a strange expression that Twilight failed to decipher, and his cutie mark appeared to be a clock. What spurred Twilight's interest was the position of the statue. Isolated, at the end of an otherwise empty path in the maze-like structure of the park's hedge, there was no tag or indication to specify who the unicorn was.
Twilight was leaning closer to it, trying to get a better look, when she heard the clacking sound of hoofsteps approaching from behind her, the distinct depth and metallic ring they possessed telling her who she was about to meet without the need for her to turn.
"Twilight! I knew I'd find you here," Celestia said, approaching the younger alicorn.
Twilight turned around and went to hug her ex-teacher. "I wanted it to be a surprise. How did you know?"
"One of my guards saw you at the train station. It was considerate of you to wait for me to finish taking care of my duties, Twilight, but you should know that I can always make time for you." The princess returned the hug.
Twilight let go of her and turned back towards the statue, still interested in it. She was about to ask, but the other princess preceded her.
"I believe you must be wondering who this might be," she said, walking closer to the statue. "I must admit, not my fondest memory."
"You knew him?" Twilight asked, curious.
"He was my student. A long time ago." Celestia stared at the statue with a sad smile, reminiscing. "This is Diode Branding. He was a promising young unicorn when I took him under my wing, one I had hoped would be able to ascend, in time, if properly directed." She sighed. "Alas, things didn't turn out how I had envisioned them. He became obsessed with power. He kept talking about transcending his nature and becoming more than a pony, becoming something beyond, awakening his true hidden potential. He dabbled in dark arts, and eventually gained the power to stop the flow of time for everyone but himself for short periods. A remarkable achievement, but one sadly used to further his selfish goals. It pained me, but I had to stop him." Celestia looked away.
Twilight, who had stared at Celestia while she was telling her story, now returned her gaze to the statue, fascinated. "What happened to him? And why is there a statue of him here in the gardens?"
"I believe I have told you already, this is Diode Branding," Celestia replied.
Twilight cocked her head to the side. "You did. But what does that-"
"No, I mean, this is Diode Branding."
"Oh..." The true meaning of Celestia's words finally hit Twilight, and she nervously glanced back at the petrified pony. "Oh..."
"I got over it," Celestia said, walking up to Twilight and ruffling her mane.
Twilight looked down. "You know, now that I think about it, a lot of your students seem to have gone astray. Sunset did, he did, Hope, well, she-"
"Resurrected a tyrant who unleashed monsters over Equestria and almost caused its end?" Celestia looked at Twilight.
"Yeah, okay." Twilight walked closer to the statue. "It's kind of weird to think about it. I'd never read about them. I mean, I can see why, but it's still strange." She turned back towards Celestia. "I never heard about any of your other students, now that I think about it."
"I've had a lot. Hundreds, probably," Celestia said, turning around and beginning to walk away. "But sadly many of them fell to the dark side."
Twilight followed the alicorn. "How many?"
It was an innocent question. An instinctual one. One she had every right to ask. And while she hadn't though much about it, no matter how much time one could have given her to reflect upon it Twilight would not have found a reason not to ask it. It was a simple question. And one she would regret asking ever since.
Celestia stopped and began to rub her chin, thoughtfully. "Hmm. You know, now that I think about it, you were the first one who didn't turn out to be a complete disaster. All of them." She resumed her walk.
Twilight froze for a moment, her right eyelid slightly twitching, hoping with all her heart she'd misheard. "What... did you say?" she asked, in an unnaturally high-pitched tone.
Celestia turned back to look at Twilight. "I said all my previous students became evil." She studied the purple alicorn for a moment. "Twilight? Is everything alright? Are you sure you haven't caught something?"
Twilight was dimly aware of a tall white alicorn speaking to her from somewhere immeasurable lengths above the edge of the pit her conscious mind had fallen into. With great effort, and a considerable amount of time, she managed to climb out of there, and found herself producing some semblance of coherent speech that seemed to take the form of a question. "How?" the purple princess croaked, fully aware her brain was in no condition to process any possible answer.
"Well, it just sort of happened. I just did my teaching thing, and the next thing you knew they were all trying to take over the country. Good thing I finally found the right student for my methods." Celestia affectionately patted her ex-student's head.
It could have been a number of things. The realization that Celestia was a terrible teacher. The thought of her nation's history being riddled with countless of her predecessors, Celestia's students, who had all become evil. The resurfacing memory of Celestia's classes on such topics as 'Why Being an Alicorn Gives Me the Right to Rule' and 'Why Strength is the Foundation of Justice'. The fact that, out of hundreds, the one unicorn who’d accomplished something had been the one with the Tree of Harmony's mark stamped on her butt. The way Celestia casually mentioned her failures, and the damage they brought. The way all those ponies had been erased from the country's memory. The nagging doubt sparked by the remarkably low number of statues in the gardens. Or maybe, the way they'd all seemed to be older than her when they'd snapped.
Celestia never had a chance to ask Twilight what made her pass out there in the gardens. She was just mildly annoyed that she had to carry her away.