The Tower

by the7Saviors


Reversed

Things don't always go the way you plan, but that's okay, Twilight thought.

The mare had learned long ago to accept that life had its ups and downs and that sometimes there was nothing you could do to stop the 'downs' that cropped up every now and then. Sometimes the only thing you could do was try to make the best of a bad situation, and as the years went by, Twilight learned to do just that. It used to be that even the slightest error in judgment—the slightest mistake made in what she thought was a foolproof plan would send the mare mentally reeling off the deep end, but time, experience, and a group of wonderful friends had changed all of that. Her neurosis and obsessive-compulsive personality had faded almost completely away and Twilight truly believed she'd become a better mare than she was before she moved from her hometown and met those five wonderful friends.

But they were gone now.

They'd all passed some time ago, and that was okay, Twilight thought. It wasn't as though she hadn't expected as much to happen. Everypony meets their end at some point eventually; unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi... not alicorns though. When she took on the role as sole ruler of Equestria after Celestia and Luna abdicated, Twilight did so with the knowledge and expectation that she would outlive her friends. It certainly caused no small amount of heartache, but after talking to Celestia about it, they both decided it would be best if Twilight and her friends all sat down to have that conversation together. That conversation was long and far from pleasant to be sure, but it was necessary and in the end, it did Twilight a world of good.

After all, her life may have outstripped theirs by an immeasurable amount, but even Twilight's light would fade one day, and she could join the rest of her friends in those eternal Elysian fields... or so she was told. But no, that wasn't the case and that she hadn't realized sooner was her own fault really. She had talked to Celestia and when her long time mentor and mother figure had stood there and smiled her impossibly warm smile while lying through her teeth, Twilight had devoured her explanation no questions asked, and that was the problem. She hadn't asked any questions; she was afraid to ask any questions. The one that had been at the very tip of her tongue at the time she'd bit back at the last second.

Deep down she knew the answer to that one simple question could very well have destroyed her, and looking back, perhaps that was why Celestia lied in the first place. Twilight couldn't fault her if that was the case; she'd made great strides in shedding herself of her old neurotic tendencies, but it wasn't like they didn't still lurk somewhere beneath the surface. Had Celestia been honest, Twilight wasn't sure all that progress would hold up against the weight of her words. Of course, there was always the possibility that Celestia would have lied again, but at the time, Twilight couldn't shake a horrible sense of foreboding—the feeling that she wouldn't have liked Celestia's answer if she had asked that one simple question... so she didn't. Instead, she buried her doubts deep within the recesses of her mind and accepted her previous mentor's words as truth, and that was her folly.

She'd smiled and said nothing about it. She'd taken up the throne she'd been groomed for. She held that throne for decades with her faithful assistant and royal advisor, her brilliant student that reminded her so much of herself back all those years ago, and of course, the welcome council of her friends. For a long while, everything had gone exactly as she hoped it would after she'd taken the throne. Things had gone so smoothly for so long that it was like a beautiful dream that would never end, but though she'd learned to loosen up and go with the flow of things, at her core, Twilight was still a rational mare, and rationale dictated that no dream could last forever—or rather, that no dream could be allowed to last forever. She'd asked Luna about that at some point, but the mare had—in no uncertain terms—warned her that to extend one's dream beyond what their mind could handle would be a mistake of the gravest kind.

She hadn't explained any more than that, and having not learned her lesson then, Twilight left it at that and asked no more about the matter. She had her reasons for asking and maybe Luna refused to speak too much about it because she had picked up on those reasons. Twilight couldn't fault her if that was the case; her old doubts had resurfaced and though it was only a brief moment of weakness, that brief moment was enough to drag the question out of her. She'd come to her senses soon enough and realized what an absurd and irresponsible turn her thoughts had taken, and there was no real need to push the issue anyway, or so she told herself. She still had her friends, her student, and her royal advisor, though her friends had all gotten on in years and Spike had chosen to scour the Dragonlands in search of his parents, something Twilight was more than happy to let him do at the time.

And then, one by one they passed on, leaving Twilight behind before she knew it. It hadn't been just her body that had gone through drastic changes, but as the years passed, so too did her perception of time itself begin to change. In the blink of an eye it seemed, she'd lost all but one of her friends, and it was only by the grace of Discord's meddling that Fluttershy managed to live as long as she did, but Fluttershy was a smart mare—perhaps smarter than Twilight herself the Princess began to think. At the very least she was more perceptive, or perhaps it was simply that she was more willing to accept the inevitable. No... if Twilight was being honest with herself, she knew; she'd known all along what Discord had done.

To take it a step further, she'd already had a strong feeling he'd work his own brand of magic to squeeze out a little more time with the mare he loved... and Twilight, knowing this would be the case, had chosen to turn a blind eye. But Fluttershy...

Sweet and kind and caring Fluttershy...

It took her some time, but once she realized what Discord had done they both had a long talk not unlike the one Twilight had with her and the rest of her friends so long ago. It was a talk Twilight was familiar with; it was a talk of love and acceptance. It was a talk about respecting one's wishes and letting go no matter how much it hurt. It was a talk Twilight desperately needed to hear again, but sadly, that day, she hadn't been around to hear it and perhaps if she had, things might have turned out differently than they did in the end. Perhaps if she'd heard it from Fluttershy or even Spike, then maybe it would've meant more. As it stood, and with no small amount of reluctance from Discord, Fluttershy too was allowed to finally pass on, leaving Twilight to grieve the loss of the last of her closest friends.

As it stood, with Spike still absent from her side, it was Celestia and Luster Dawn who'd taken up the role of consoling Twilight in her time of need. While both did an admirable job, in her sorrow, Twilight couldn't help but compare the two. Luster Dawn was already well past her prime and in complete contrast, Celestia was still just as eternally beautiful as ever—an immovable stone that refused to be eroded by the sea of time. Though her parents and brother were long gone, and Cadence had abdicated her own throne to let Flurry Heart rule the Crystal Empire in her place, her sister-in-law looked just as radiant as Celestia, Luna, and Twilight herself. Twilight had no doubt that Flurry Heart would end up much the same, and with these thoughts in mind, the distraught Princess could no longer hold back the question she'd refused to ask all those years ago.

If they weren't immortal, then just how long did alicorns live?

Regret filled the mare almost immediately at the question, but she pushed it aside and focused on Celestia's reply, and Celestia, having long since prepared for the question to arise simply replied that an alicorn would live as long as they were needed. It was an answer that said little but implied much—far too much for Twilight's liking. It was an answer that horrified her the more she thought about it. She looked into Celestia's warm and sympathetic magenta eyes and pleaded the mare to explain, but Celestia, in her own gentle but firm way, refused to say more. Desperate for an answer, she asked Luna but was given the same reply. She asked Cadence and even Flurry Heart, but both mares were just as clueless as she was.

Neither Celestia nor Luna had told them anything, and it was then that Twilight finally had to accept what she'd already suspected in the very beginning. The two sisters enjoying their retirement were clearly hiding something from her, something fundamental about alicorns and how they functioned, Twilight was certain of it. Thinking back on it, Twilight never really understood all that much about alicorns in the first place. Twilight knew from a story she'd heard from Celestia long ago when she was still a filly studying under her mentor in Canterlot, that she and Luna weren't born in Equestria but were sent here by means unknown to her from a land far away. When the filly had pressed, Celestia had claimed that she remembered nothing about that land and that Luna had no recollection whatsoever either.

They'd been far too young to remember how and under what circumstances they'd arrived in Equestria. Celestia had even admitted that them being from a faraway land was only pure speculation born of a feeling she couldn't quite place but was enough to convince her nonetheless. Most of what Celestia and Luna remembered of their foalhood years involved Star Swirl finding, raising, and tutoring them. That story had been told to her what already felt like ages ago, and now with what Celestia had told her, Twilight couldn't help but wonder just how much of it was true. How much did Celestia and Luna really know?

Just what was an alicorn?

It was a question Twilight should've asked long ago and was both surprised and upset with herself for not asking sooner. Outwardly she let the matter rest, assuring her concerned predecessor that she needed time to think, but otherwise, she was okay. From the moment she realized Celestia was keeping secrets, she chose to keep her own true thoughts and growing distrust hidden going forward. She played the role she was meant to play as the ruler of Equestria—the role she was groomed for by her long time mentor. All the while those hidden thoughts spawned more and more questions and doubt; like a small seed sprouting into a grandiose tree, so too did her troubled mind grow ever more restless. For so long, Twilight simply took whatever Celestia told her at face value, never questioning or wondering at her true intentions, but now...

Now she wanted answers, and she had managed to convince herself that she wasn't going to get them from Celestia or Luna. Not only that but with Celestia and Luna choosing to travel the world in their retirement, Twilight didn't always have access to the two sisters. Certainly, they made time to visit Canterlot and Twilight herself every now and then, but there long stretches of time where Twilight had no contact with them at all. With that in mind, she decided to take matters into her own hooves and investigate. If neither sister wanted to answer her questions honestly, then she'd simply have to find her own answers. What else could Twilight do? It wasn't like she could let the matter rest now, though she'd changed much over the years, it still wasn't in her nature to ignore such a profound problem.

While there may have been some questions she could overlook as unimportant in the grand scheme of things, there was one question she had to know above all others, one question she felt could answer so many others all at once, one question she was disgusted at and almost hated her past self for not asking back then. That place... that alien void of memories where she'd met Celestia and ascended to the mysterious being that was an alicorn... what was it? Where was it? How did Celestia get there? How did Twilight herself get there? She didn't know, but she vowed that no matter how long it took, she would find out.

Despite her suspicions, she had asked Celestia about that place but the answer she received had been just as vague as her reply to the lifespan of an alicorn. She claimed she wasn't certain of the details, but that it was known as the 'Realm of Ascension'. Dissatisfied, Twilight pushed for more information, but her predecessor dismissed the subject entirely. The years continued to pass and Twilight's peaceful reign continued unhindered. Decades came and went; Luster Dawn had finally shed her mortal coil and Spike had returned from his journey—sadly, with nothing to show for his efforts. Still, the Princess was glad to have her royal advisor back all the same.

But even his presence wasn't enough to staunch the continued flow of unrest in Twilight's heart and mind. Much like Spike's attempted search into the whereabouts of his true parents, she herself hadn't made any progress in her mostly hidden research into what it meant to be an alicorn. There were no written records or documented theses that even attempted to explain an alicorn's origin. Even searching the restricted archives, Twilight found nothing at all about alicorns or their supposed homeland, but how can that be? Celestia had mentioned long ago that an alicorn was a creature blessed with the unique gifts of each pony tribe, and from what Twilight had experienced, this did indeed seem to be the case.

That was a truth that Twilight had been able to confirm herself, but then if Celestia knew that much, then what else did she know? Why hadn't she documented as much? Twilight understood that such a conclusion that an alicorn held the traits of all pony tribes could be reached with simple experimentation, but what of an alicorn's biological makeup beyond that? There had to be more, Twilight was sure of it; the question had to be asked: How does slapping earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn magic together into one being give you a lifespan stretching into thousands of years? How did that work, thaumatologically speaking? Brilliant as Twilight was, she couldn't wrap her head around it, and she'd spent more than a few sleepless nights trying. If she could solve that mystery, then perhaps it would be possible to isolate the gene that gave alicorn's their long life and...

But no, she was getting ahead of herself.

It had taken some time, but Twilight eventually moved past the death of her friends and the mare that was her student once upon a time. That said, she hadn't gotten that close to anypony else since—not counting her long-lived royal advisor—and she had yet to take up another personal protégé since Luster Dawn, much to Celestia's concern. Twilight had taken over Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns at Celestia's request, but whether she took a student under her wing was something the mare had left to Twilight's discretion. Twilight had meant to at some point, but her increasingly obsessive thoughts took precedent over the molding of the young minds of Equestria's unicorn population. In the presence of her subjects, Twilight hid it well enough but frankly, the lack of progress made in her endeavors was driving the mare to madness.

She'd already confided in Spike, and her now much larger royal advisor and friendship ambassador, in turn, had—as he'd always done, and would always try to do so long as they were together—attempted to be a calming voice of reason to the mare when she felt there was no reason left to be had. Though Twilight felt she'd made a very good case when speaking about her ascension and Celestia's apparent non-understanding of the mechanics behind the phenomenon, her oldest confidant's response was less than ideal in her eyes. Try as she might to explain the best she could, and though Spike tried to hide it, Twilight could read the skepticism on her advisor's face clear as the day she brought about at the end of each night.

A withering glare was enough to get Spike to amend his imminent dismissal of Twilight's worries. Rather, he tactfully but somewhat disappointingly stated that even had Celestia and Luna been hiding something about the process of ascension and what it meant to be an alicorn, perhaps it was for a good reason. After all, it hadn't been the first time Celestia had hidden something from her faithful student in the past for her own good—far from it. Did it hurt Twilight to learn much later that she'd been led on by the mare she trusted above all others? Sure, but with time, Twilight understood that it was never done out of malice or distrust. It was always to help her grow as a pony, to give her the space she needed to accomplish the innumerable feats she knew she might not have been able to had she simply been given all the answers on a silver platter.

This though? This was different. This felt different.

On the surface, Twilight couldn't explain just why she felt so strongly about the issue when she'd already learned to accept that some things were best left unsaid, but deep down she knew exactly why. She knew that Spike was almost certainly right to suspect that Celestia and Luna had their reasons to hide the truth, and even knew that they were probably very good reasons. Had she not been the one to ascend to alicornhood, then perhaps she could've let the matter go like Celestia, Luna, and Spike wanted, but it was because she herself had become the anomaly that she couldn't. She couldn't say that she wasn't grateful for what she'd been able to do since becoming a Princess, but it was also true that her life had been unalterably changed against her will.

She'd gone along with it in the past largely because Celestia deemed that it was a good thing—and ultimately it was in the end—but the questions remained nonetheless and they repeated themselves over and over again in her mind without end. What was she? What was Celestia? What was Luna? What was Cadence? What was Flurry Heart? What was an alicorn? Twilight knew that the answers to those questions and that of the entire process of ascension all lay within that ethereal dimension where she stood alongside her mentor and her own memories. If Twilight could figure that out, then perhaps she could finally find some sort of closure. She just needed a lead, but there were none to be found no matter where she looked and no matter who she asked. Unsatisfied with Spike's response, she began to feel as though she had nowhere left to turn—as though she was slowly losing her mind.

But what the beleaguered Princess didn't know was that, in spite of her attempts to hide her consternation, there was one who'd taken notice. What nopony knew was that a certain spirit of chaos had grown discontent with a world that was practically drowning in its own saccharine peace and prosperity. Though Twilight claimed she'd overcome the grief of losing her closest friends and loved ones, the spirit of chaos who was so discontent and unhappy with the world, had most definitely not. That spirit of chaos had, in fact, never felt the terrible sting of losing a loved one until recently in his long, long life. He'd learned of friendship, he'd learned of love, but the loss of both was still a foreign concept to the embodiment of chaos. He'd toed the line of losing his friends before a couple of times in the past, yes, but it had all worked in his favor in the end.

Now, without Fluttershy by his side, that colorful world full of life and peace and magic had quite literally become grey and lifeless in his eyes. He'd let Fluttershy go for her sake, but in reality, acceptance was too much to ask; he couldn't do it. He didn't want to accept it and so he didn't, nevermind the heartfelt and emotional discussion between him and Fluttershy about that very subject. With his first and only true romantic partner dead and gone, Discord—a creature who often went out of his way to be the center of attention—had seemingly vanished from the face of Equestria. Most took no notice of his absence but those few who knew him as more than a mild nuisance figured it would be best to give the draconequus some space. Perhaps he needed some time alone to process his loss, they thought. Maybe he has his own way of grieving and would rather nopony see him in such a state. Even a powerful chaotic spirit such as himself had a sense of pride after all, fickle and strange as it may have been from time to time.

As more and more time passed, even those who worried for Discord had not so much forgotten about him, but rather became accustomed to his lack of presence in the world. Some were even relieved that he had vanished without a trace, with a few hoping he would never return. Even if anypony wanted to look for Discord, nopony knew where he had gone or how to contact him. Twilight herself surmised that he had shut himself up in his own realm of chaos, but with no way to enter without Discord's assistance, there wasn't much she or anypony else could do if that was indeed the case. There were a few ponies who claimed to have stumbled into Discord's dimension in the past, but beyond the extremely rare cosmic fluke, there was no known way to enter willingly without Discord's say so.

This had suited the draconequus just fine.

Where once he secretly longed for the company of another in that isolated plane of existence, now he wanted nothing to do with Equestria and its inhabitants. More specifically, there was never a day spent in Equestria where he didn't feel ill at ease or like a stranger in his own skin. It had already been said before, but Discord was a spirit—more specifically, a spirit of chaos—and as such he was sensitive to the subtle shifts in the balance between harmony and his own namesake. As things stood, ever since the whole of Equestria had banded together to defeat Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow, that balance had slowly been shifting more towards the former, and it was quite literally making him nauseous.

There hadn't been another major or even minor villain since those three were turned to stone and without some chaotic element beside himself to shake things up, Discord was finding it harder and harder to live in Equestria. He found he had to spend more and more time in his own realm and not too long after Fluttershy's passing, he stopped appearing in Equestria altogether. He could no longer bear living in that place not only because everything seemed to remind him of his lost love, but because it was—in his own words—bad for his health. It had gotten to the point that he would need to revert back to his old ways to survive, unleashing his full chaotic might anywhere and everywhere he went. Unfortunately, Discord was no longer that inconsiderate and though he had admittedly given it some thought, he couldn't act on those thoughts without seeing the disappointed and betrayed visage of that mare in his mind's eye.

So he took his melancholy and bitterness and ruminations and fled into his own realm of chaos. There he remained, watching the increasingly dull and monotonous events of that peaceful world unfold from afar, his disinterest with Equestria and the creatures within it growing more by the day. Then, by pure chance, Discord just so happened to come across the former and current Princesses of Equestria in the middle of a heated discussion. Unable to help himself at such a rare sight, he listened in from his isolated home within that chaotic void and for the first time in a long time, Discord felt a tiny spark of interest. It was so minor he could only just barely feel it, but for the first time in a long time, he could sense the beginnings of cosmic unrest seep back into the land of Equestria.

If he focused, he could see the threads—the tendrils of chaos writhing and twisting restlessly, desperate to reach back into Equestria and spread their influence. With a slight shift of perception, he could even trace those threads to their point of origin. Discord couldn't help but laugh and smile wryly as he watched each and every thread converge on the one pony whose responsibility was to uphold the peace and harmony her kingdom so enjoyed. A warning would have been prudent no doubt; a discussion with the current Princess about her growing obsession with the truth about alicorns and their nature—and oh what a truth it was, Discord thought. Discord—the timeless, ageless being that he was—knew enough of that truth to know that the answer would surely break the poor misguided mare.

Celestia and Luna had certainly been right to hide what little they did know from the nosy Princess. Just thinking about how unnatural alicorns really were and about that place and the thing living there was enough to send chills down even Discord's spine. If that was the subject that lay at the heart of Twilight's obsession, then it was no wonder the threads of chaos were gathering around her. Yes, it would surely behoove him to step in and turn Twilight away from the path she was beginning to tread, but Discord found he didn't want to. The promise of that wonderful chaos he so dearly missed making its way back into Equestria was too tempting to ignore after so long. If anything, his chaotic nature was telling him to fan the flames, to push the boulder of chaos down that hill and watch as it crushed flat the harmony Twilight and her friends had worked so hard to build.

He could no longer resist, he no longer cared to, and with that in mind, he decided to pay Twilight a visit. Ignoring the now distant and muffled voice of the mare that had become his conscience, he fought through the sickening haze of harmony to give the Princess a bit of friendly advice, and not a moment too soon. It was just as Twilight had decided to give up and accept that she would never find the answers she sought that she was granted a boon in the form of an old friend she hadn't seen in roughly a century—an old friend she was ashamed to admit she'd completely forgotten about as the years went by. That old friend took no offense and, after a few pleasantries and some catching up, the desperate Princess decided to open up to Discord about her dilemma.

Who better to ask now that he was here than an ancient and powerful being like Discord, Twilight thought with a burgeoning hope filling her chest. Much to her delight, and much unlike Celestia or Luna, Discord admitted to having some knowledge of an alicorn's true nature and was more forthcoming than those before him. Of course, Discord being who and what he was, he refused to give the mare the answer outright, much to Twilight's chagrin. Rather, the wily spirit made good on his promise to give the mare some friendly advice. With said advice given, Discord abruptly went on his way, vanishing from sight, disappearing once again from Equestria for who knew how long. With his sudden departure, Twilight was left to ponder over his oddly innocuous counsel—completely ordinary advice made less so by a small, mysterious smile upon the spirit's face as he spoke...




"What is an alicorn you ask? Where did they come from? How do they work? Well... if you're having trouble finding the answer to your questions, then perhaps you should sleep on it. Maybe then you'll find the answers you seek."