My little Sunspot

by LSTS Connor


12-Through the Looking-Glass

12- Through the Looking-Glass


The main 6, plus Luna, stood there in shock on one of the hills overlooking Ponyville. For what they had just witnessed shook them to their very core. The event was over. There was no longer a ball of fire in the distance but they still stood there in shock. The ground was no longer shaking, yet they could still hear the panic from the ponies below. The devastation such an event must have caused brought an ache to all their hearts. The first to recover was Luna who then quickly brought the rest of them out of their stupors. They all wore different expressions of shock and Fluttershy seemed particularly pale with an empty look in her eyes. Nopony could blame her for that reaction as they all wore the same expression albeit at differing levels of severity. Luna, however, kept her composure, it wavered only slightly as centuries of warfare had since desensitized her to such devastation, but even after that what she had just witnessed, not even the most stone-faced battle-hardened warrior would keep their composure. 

The first pony to break the relative silence of the hill was the lunar princess bringing the main 6 back to reality. Luna knew what had happened. Hell, she had even told Celestia that the ring must be removed the morning after her invasion of Jolyne’s mind. But all Celestia could hear was how she had used the highly dangerous mind magic. Luna argued and argued, telling Celestia that it didn’t matter as nothing had gone wrong and that Jolyne’s magic should be returned before something out of their control did it for them.

And all she gave was a non-committal answer in the form as ‘later’. Just thinking about how her sister acted then brought feelings of anger and a small feeling of confusion to the Lunar Princess. But now was not the time for petty anger between siblings as said sibling she was mad at, was -most likely- located at the epicenter of the ground-shaking explosion. The wellbeing of her sister first, telling her ‘I told you so’ second. With, now, the former elements of harmony brought back to reality, their hearts full of determination to help Celestia and any creature affected by the event.

Luna readied a teleport spell as she surrounded all 7 of them in her midnight blue aura and disappeared in a flash. Their destination?

Ground Zero.


In a flash of blue light, they reappeared but not at their originally intended destination. But at its edge. Surrounding them was sand in all directions with the mountains of the Macintosh Hills visible in the far distance with the town of Appleloosa spreading on the plains below them. Luna had already sent a message to the captain of the guard to maintain order across the Equestrian continent while she investigated the source of the event.

Confusion reigned as to why they had appeared in the middle of the desert and not next to Celestia and Jolyne. Using her magic, Luna scanned the surrounding magical field and found out about the unique magical interference that permitted the surrounding area. Twilight had also done the same with identical results. Teleportation was out of the question now. So they walked towards the source of this strange field.

Something was off however, every now and then something seemed to sparkle in the sands, or at least that’s how it looked like to them. The real surprise came when they had scaled one of the many hills in their path. Their jaws dropped once they saw what was on the other side of their vantage point. There was no more sand...no more dirt or even stone. 

What there was in its place… was an endless field of glass. 

Where trees once stood, only stumps were left as jagged spikes of cracked and cooling glass were all that remained of the once abundant plant-life. The ground was full of cracks as the glass cooled causing jagged shards to stick out of the ground. Losing your footing here would pose a serious health hazard. There was no life in this desert of glass as an uncomfortable silence hung throughout the plains. Not even insects lived through this devastating blast. 

The 7 of them stood shocked at the sight of this destruction. They knew it would be bad but this...this was something else entirely. But seeing this destruction reinforced their resolve. They would not back down. Their Princess needed them and nothing, not even a desert made of glass, would stop them. The first to take a step forward was surprisingly Fluttershy as she began to descend into the plains, the rest of them following shortly behind.

And so they walked through the desert of glass. Twilight and Luna periodically sent out locator spells, searching for any indication of Celestia’s current location and or heading. Silence reigned as everypony simply walked, glancing at all the different formations of glass the only sound being made is one of hooves hitting, and sometimes breaking, the impure glass underneath them as they continued ever deeper.


They may have been walking for minutes or hours, nopony could tell as they scanned the glass for any signs of life sweating under the blistering heat of this new environment. Their coats were soaked in their sweat, but they continued onwards at a steady pace. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were flying high above them getting a pegasi-view, looking high and low for any signs of Celestia, getting blinded every now and then by the now reflective terrain beneath them. And finally, after hours of searching in the blistering heat Rainbow Dash had spotted something flying in the distance.

“Hey, guys!” Rainbow called out grabbing the attention of the rest of her friends as they all looked up at her. “I think I can see something!” She said pointing into the distance. They all followed her hand and looked into the distant sky. At first, nothing was visible against the light blue sky but as they all squinted in the direction Rainbow pointed out a figure slowly came into view. Pinkie, suddenly pulling out a pair of binoculars from...somewhere, gasped and shouted: “It’s the Princess!” wearing her trademark smile. 

“Is it?!” Yelled Twilight in surprise as she grabbed the binoculars from Pinkie and looked through them herself. After being blinded shortly by the glare created from the now reflective ground Twilight looked back towards the rapidly approaching silhouette. And low and behold it was a flying Celestia carrying what appeared to be an unconscious Jolyne. “It is!” Shouted Twilight, a large smile now on her sweat-soaked face.

Hearing this news their spirits soared at the information that the princess was fine as they doubled their pace towards Celestia with now renewed vigor. Rainbow Dash flew ahead closing the distance between them in less than a minute.

As the multicolored form of Rainbow Dash appeared in front of the flying Celestia a smile graced her features. The rainbow-haired pegasus spoke at a mile a minute as she seemed to zip around the princess, making sure that the centuries-old alicorn was fine. Celestia chuckled slightly at the actions of the pony in front of her, but that small moment of normalcy in the desert quickly vanished when Rainbow finally noticed the state the small alicorn, Celestia was carrying, was in.

Her hair was dull and grey having seemingly lost its saturated orange coloring whilst her fur seemed even whiter than before as her horn was covered in a tight golden yellow seal, where a large crack was visible through the semi-transparent shield. Her clothes were soaked in her sweat and certain parts of her clothing had black scorch-marks covering it. Dark bags visible under her closed eyes as her chest weakly heaved in her strained and shallow breathing. Seeing this Rainbow stopped and simply hovered there. Whether it was out of shock at seeing Jolyne’s current condition or Rainbow connecting the dots over how they now found themselves in this desert of glass, it was impossible to tell as she simply stared at the unconscious alicorn.

“Sister!” A shout was heard from below as a blue blur suddenly enveloped the larger alicorn in an embrace. Celestia was momentarily surprised before she leaned into the sisterly embrace as they both began to descend back down to the ground where the rest of the main 6 were waiting below. “Oh we art so glad that thou art unharmed,” Said Luna, as the pair touched the ground, momentarily slipping back into the old equestrian dialect before releasing her sister. As she took a step back from the larger alicorn the smile on Luna’s face began to fade as she saw the state smaller alicorn Celestia was holding was in.

Luna’s heart ached at the sight of Jolyne but deep down, no matter how hard she tried to fight it, she was glad that this nightmarish body was so badly hurt. Luna hated this feeling, she knew that this wasn’t an actual nightmare. But no matter what, looking at Jolyne all Luna could see was the nightmare known as Daybreaker. She looked away from the sight of the broken Jolyne in Celestia’s arms, the shame of feeling glad that she was in such a state forcing her gaze away from the child. This luckily went unnoticed as the rest of the main 6 gathered around Celestia, asking her whether she is alright and what happened whilst fussing over the child in her arms.

Luna watched from the side-lines, equally happy and relieved that Celestia was fine but ashamed at her feelings towards the injured child in her arms. But now was not the time to mope, a child was injured and this desert wasn’t going to get any colder. So with the group’s mission complete and the Princess found they could finally leave this hellishly hot wasteland of glass.

During the trek out of this wasteland, no words other than general complaints were said as they all focused on putting one hoof in front of the other as the temperature began to soar once the sun reached its apex in the heavens. The alicorns of the group were not as affected as the rest of the group but they were still ‘feeling the heat’ just as bad as the rest of them. Luna, with her dark blue fur, was starting to get jealous of Celestia’s white coat. They tried to cool themselves down with the use of cooling spells and flapping wings but nothing worked to quell the hellish heat they were feeling. In fact, casting any spells at all seemed to become impossible as time went on as this magical fallout effect fully developed as it began to react with the environment's magical field. 

Any time the magic users of the group tried to weave a spell, the surrounding magical fallout would instantly scramble any type of magical matrices they used to a point that they would no longer work, preventing magic from being cast. However this effect only seemed to affect spells in the process of being cast, spells that were already active, before this new fallout effect began to manifest, were completely fine e.g: The containment seal on Jolyne’s horn, the hair shine spell Rarity uses and Twilights ‘Cornea surface polarizer spell’ (A.K.A a sunglasses spell to any normal pony) she had cast several hours prior still worked as intended.

And so they walked through what, to all intents and purposes, could be only described as an oven itself. The minutes turned to hours as their stamina slowly drained but finally after what felt like days, the edge of the wasteland came into view. Their hooves ached and their clothes were soaked in sweat as dull headaches began to manifest from dehydration as nopony had brought any water. But with the edge so close, such things didn’t matter now, as once they left the area of effect of this ‘fallout’ a teleport back to Canterlot castle was in order. And teleport they did once the hard glass beneath their hooves turned back into soft golden sand.


The nine of them appeared shortly afterward in Celestia’s personal chambers back in Canterlot castle. The second everyone got their bearings most of them collapsed onto the nearby furniture but not Pinkie Pie as she just fell straight down onto the carpeted floor of the room whilst Celestia teleported, Jolyne still in her arms, towards the Castle infirmary while also making sure to tell the staff that lots of water was to be brought to her chambers. 

Once Celestia walked through the door to the infirmary she was instantly noticed by the receptionist and was swarmed shortly afterward by the nurses and doctors on duty. Jolyne was then taken from Celestia’s arms and brought into one of the nearby trauma rooms. Celestia wanted to stay and make sure Jolyne was okay but her student and her friends probably have a lot of questions that require answers. And Celestia would be the one to give them.
She walked through the many halls of the castle back towards her chambers making sure to reassure any and all staff she saw that everything was going to be fine as they all looked pretty shaken up by what they had experienced. She also made sure that a full report from all guard garrisons in Equestria is to be brought to her attention so that the full scale of the event could be made known. Knowing that their current predicament came into being because of her mistake, bought a feeling of sadness to her mind’s surface. Because of her actions… her subjects...her little ponies thought the end was near and feared for their lives causing nationwide panic and lawlessness. But now with the princesses back in Canterlot and the day/night cycle back to normal the ponies of Equestria were beginning to calm back down. A public address would be needed to completely alleviate fears of the end times but that would come later as right now she had reached the entrance to her chambers. A press conference could be done later, this cannot be postponed.

Walking through the doors of her chamber distant sounds of conversation could be heard. As Celestia began to get closer certain words could be made out.

„I knew that a cracked horn was dangerous but seeing one do... that...“ Came the voice of Celestia’s former student, it sounded as if she were in shock now that the information began to sink in that Jolyne had caused the creation of the wasteland. 

“If that had happened in Ponyville...I-I don’t even want to think about what could have happened. Thank Celestia that the vines didn’t do the same to you and Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.” Celestia cringed a little at hearing this, it wasn’t the vines fault… it was hers and hers alone for the crack in Jolyne’s horn and the subsequent creation of the desert. Luna seemed to have to as well as when Celestia entered the room she was fidgeting in her seat so very slightly that only somepony who has known her for millennia would notice. 

Celestia wanted to interject but Rainbow Dash beat her to it, “You see Princess! Jolyne is too dangerous to be left alone. If she can do that to a whole desert, she should be locked up. What if it was her plan all along? A plot to destroy the Elements and Princesses so she can rule Equestria alone. She probably cracked her horn on purpose!” The multicolored pegasus said in an accusatory tone, the group seemed to be taken aback by Rainbow’s proclamation. Rarity was the first one to respond. 

“Rainbow dear,” Began Rarity sweetly, ” you may not know this, but a cracked horn is an extremely dangerous injury darling. No pony would willingly crack their horn. Every Unicorn is taught about how dangerous any type of horn injury is. If they aren't dealt with fast it will kill them. The literal first spell they are taught is one to deal with a cracked horn until a grownup comes along.” Rarity takes a sip of her water, “ They are a lot more common than most ponies would think, just...never at this scale before, darling.” Finished Rarity putting her glass back down onto the table in front of her. “What I’m trying to say Rainbow dear is that these things happen just never like that before. It isn't her fault, it's those dreadful vines.”

“Rarity is right, Rainbow. It isn’t Jolyne’s fault for getting hurt. And it most certainly isn’t some plan to take over Equestria.” Added Twilight looking towards the rainbow-haired pegasus who deflated slightly after hearing the fashionista's reasoning.  

“Yeah well… I still don’t like it. I may feel sorry for her but knowing that she could do that just… doesn't sit right with me.” Rainbow sighed. “ I just… with the elements returned we can't just blast her if she does turn out to be evil. And seeing her do that as a child as an accident no less.” Her face began to soften. ”I’m just worried that we won't be able to beat her when she’s grown up and really does turn out to be evil.” Rainbow finished softly her eyes glued to the ground. 

She was then quickly wrapped up in a hug by the shy yellow pegasus sitting next to her. 

“Don’t worry Rainbow, that won’t happen as long as she is in a good and loving family and is taught the right things something like that won't happen.” Said Fluttershy quietly sending a glare towards princess Luna that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone except its recipient who quickly looked away in response. The rest of the main 6 continued to discuss between themselves about their views on Jolyne and whether it was her fault or not involving the princesses every now and then as to get their opinion on the event. They never took a side when questioned as from Celestia and her sister’s point of view it was her fault.

Meanwhile, Celestia moved to join the group as she sat down in one of the empty seats near her sister as her mask began to crack slightly with every remark that the disaster was somebody or something else’s fault. Fortunately for her, the truth was about to be revealed a lot sooner than Celestia had hoped for when a certain God of Chaos made his appearance.  

“Well well welly, well well... well,” Said a voice seemingly coming from the very walls around them. „What do we have here?“ Said Discord as he appeared floating above them, sitting in an upside-down chair of glass. His legs were crossed and he had a smug grin on his face as he sat upside down, floating in mid-air as if this was completely normal. Well, to Discord there is no concept of normality so to him this was another day in the life of a god of chaos. 

Oh well what’s the fun in being normal.

Oh for the love of… Discord! I draw the line at breaking the fourth wall! Now get the hell out of my narration booth!

Said the narrator. Narrating menacingly.

Out!

*poof*

Discord reappeared back in his chair after vanishing shortly „I apologize for my sudden disappearance but a wall needed to be broken. Now…“ A glass of chocolate milk appeared in his hands, it’s contents defying the laws of gravity as they refused to spill out of the upside-down glass. „I see that my back-up plan seems to have had a beautifully chaotic side-effect“ Discord appears down on the ground gesturing towards the now upright and grounded chair made of glass. „Just take a look at how it sparkles. I simply must thank you for allowing the creation of such beauty.“ Finished Discord with a bow towards a shifting Celestia before sitting back down

„Wait“ began Twilight as she processed what Discord had just said. „What do you mean ‘back-up plan’ and just why did you just ‘thank’ Celestia for the chair?!“ Discord just began to laugh before a familiar potion vial appeared before Twilight. „For the first part, drink that and for the second part… why don’t you ask good ol‘Sunbutt over there? Toodles!“ And then he was gone, his chair and glass gone as well, leaving no evidence that he was ever there other than the potion Twilight was holding and the memories of his antics. 

With little hesitation, Twilight drank from the potion. To Twilight it felt as if she were teleported somewhere but to an outside observer, her eyes glowed a bright white. Being that this was the first time the two princesses had witnessed such a thing happening they were rightfully worried for their fellow alicorn. Minutes as Celestia and Luna start getting ancy, but just as Celestia was about to speak up the glow in Twilight's eyes subsided as she began to blink rapidly.

“Are you alright Twilight?” Celestia asked, concerned. In response, Twilight groaned in annoyance. “Yes yes I’m fine but…” Twilight took a deep breath, “DISCORD! I know you can hear me and do you have ANY idea how much easier it would have made if you just told us from the beginning!? Now come back here and clean up your mess!” Twilight shouted at the ceiling. 

“U-um Discord please come back and help clean up..um... o-or your not invited to our next tea party” Added Fluttershy meekly after several seconds of silence. 

“Oh, all right,” Said Discord as he reappeared in the room holding a feather duster whilst wearing a maid costume. “But I don’t do windows. Oh, and before I leave you might want to check back at the tree.” He snapped his fingers and he was gone again presumably to help with the clean-up effort but with Discord, one could never know.

“So, Twilight dear, what did that potion tell you?” Asked the fashionista curiously. And so Twilight explained what she had seen. The final battle between the sisters and the god of chaos, the seeds he spread around, and how they were kept at bay by the harmonious energies emitted by the tree of harmony. “We should have known that Discord would have had something like that up his metaphorical sleeve in case he were ever defeated.” Stated Celestia before her horn started glowing. “Everyone gather round lets see what Discord wants us to see at the tree of Harmony.” 

Everyone did so before they disappeared the sound of a teleport echoing through Celestia’s room in their wake. They soon reappear back at the tree where a strange hexagonal shaped box with several different keyholes was waiting for them.

Everyone was rightly confused as to why the tree did this but soon a plan of action was to be decided. The box would stay there and the former element bearers were to keep their eyes peeled for anything that could relate to opening this box. But after that was set and done one last question still remained. And just as the group was about to leave the cavern underneath the everfree castle Twilight asked said question.

(Optional mood music !Use at own risk! I however think it fits)

“Princess Celestia?” Asked twilight, grabbing her attention. ”Yes Twilight, what is it?” Said Celestia in response. She knew what the question was going to be and she had two choices. Tell the truth and try to explain that she never intended something like this to happen or lie and forever live with the guilt that she had almost killed a fellow alicorn because of her own foolish mistake. And contrary to popular belief, Celestia might be the best liar and manipulator in Equestria as with most rulers on Equis but when it came to friends and ponies she considered family she could never lie to them. With nobles in Canterlot she can deal with no problem but when it came to the closest thing Celestia had to a daughter, lying was out of the question. 

“Why did discord thank you for that glass chair he had?”

So, with the question asked, Celestia, steeled herself for what she had to do next. With a sigh, she began talking to the group. “This is no place to answer that. Everyone, please gather around. I shall bring us back to my quarters and there I will answer your question in full.”
They did as instructed before all were once again enveloped in Celestia’s golden aura. Her teleport spell brought them back to Celestia’s private chambers.

When they reappeared all was silent as Celestia walked towards a nearby window. “What I am about to tell you will not be pleasant. I myself now realize how foolish of me it was for allowing this to happen. You may hate me once I tell you this but I can only hope you understand why I did what I did and how I never meant for any of this to happen.” Celestia sighed deeply, still looking out of the window her back towards the group.

And so she explained everything from what happens to a nightmarish entity’s magic when sealed with a magic inhibitor ring to how the ring exploding damaged Jolyne’s horn. She told them that because of her mistake and deeply ingrained fear of being taken over by that nightmare again Jolyne almost died and that because of her. Not Discord or his vines but that because of Celestia’s mistake an entire new desert had been created. And once She was finished all was silent as not a word was said from either party. The sound of a pair of hoofsteps towards the exit broke the silence as five more pairs of hoofsteps following shortly after. Celestia said one last thing to the leaving ponies before they reached the exit.

“Jolyne is currently in the infirmary being treated.”

A door being slammed shut signaled to Celestia that she was alone with her sister once again as the main 6 left for the castle infirmary. Luna put her hand on her sister's shoulder as they stood there. Celestia broke the silence once again by asking her sister a question.

“Tell me, Luna… Do you think they understood why I did what I did? And do you believe they will ever forgive me?” She said looking over her shoulder towards her sister. Luna sighed heavily in response.

“Only time will tell dear sister…Only time will tell.”


“Ah can’t believe that the Princess would do something like that! What was she thinking!“ Fumed Applejack as the group made their way towards the castle’s infirmary where Celestia said Jolyne was being treated for her injuries. “With Princess Luna, Ah can understand but now Princess Celestia as well? Why, Ah otta-” Applejack said clenching her fists before she was stopped by a butter yellow hand on her shoulder. “Applejack no!” Began Fluttershy forcefully, surprising the orange Cowpony as well as the rest of the group before continuing. “I know you're angry about how they’ve treated Jolyne since we found her, we all are, but violence is not the answer! What we need to do is get Jolyne as far away from them as possible. Isn’t that right girls?” Asked Fluttershy who in turn received a chorus of affirmatives from everyone, other than Twilight who was still silently walking. 

This didn't go unnoticed by the group as Rainbow Dash spoke. “Uh, Twi? You there?” That seemed to get her attention as she looked towards the hovering Rainbow Dash. “Hm... what is it? Oh! Right yes, I agree. Jolyne can’t remain here with them.” Said Twilight oddly emotionless in her tone. This once again didn't go unnoticed by her friends as Rarity spoke up.

“Are you alright darling? You’ve been oddly quiet since we left.” Rarity asked concerned for her friend. Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath stopping in the middle of the corridor they were walking through. “ I’m fine I just… I just don’t know what to think anymore. The first time we saw Jolyne I attacked her and scared her half to death. Then not even a day later she is almost killed by Luna a-and I… I slapped her and I still can't believe that I, as the Princess of Friendship, could do such a thing. And now...and now because of Celestia Jolyne is once again hurt. I-I just don't know whether to be angry or sad or betrayed that even my mentor could hurt her.” Twilight stomped her hoof against the stone ground cracking it slightly. “I want to do nothing more than to go back there and yell at her for doing such a thing and being such an idiot! But ARGH!” Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself back down. “I can’t deal with all this right now this is too much... Let's just go see how Jolyne is doing, I can shout at her later.” Finished Twilight before continuing on their journey towards the castle’s infirmary, her friends following her close behind once again.

They all had mixed feelings towards Celestia after hearing her explanation of why she allowed such a thing to happen but after hearing Twilight's thoughts they mostly felt sorry for her now. Out of everyone, Twilights was hit the hardest by Celestia’s answer. She had thought for the longest time that Celestia was perfect, that she could do no wrong. She was the wise and benevolent, millennia-old ruler, teacher, and de-facto mother of Equestria. How could she ever do such a thing? But she did, and Twilight didn’t know what to think anymore. 

Their Journey continued on in silence with the occasional grumble against the Royal Sisters being said as they walked. Pinkie Pie was the quietest of them all as her hair had gone completely straight and flat. Her party plans were thrown out of the metaphorical window as new plans… new party plans for a very mean princess were being crafted by Pinkamena Diane Pie. Props would be needed… very sharp props would be needed ‘Yes this will be a party fit for the roya-’

Their arrival in front of the castle infirmary's big double doors banished Pinkamena’s dark thoughts out of her mind as the group entered and walked up to the nearby receptionist’s desk. Seeing the group the receptionist was momentarily surprised before she was asked where Jolyne was being treated. Not wanting to disappoint the Princess and her friends she quickly looked through her files and directed the group to room 5... in the ICU. Now with a destination in mind, the group walked faster than usual towards the ICU ward of the castle infirmary. Their anger against Celestia rose slightly once they reached the door to room 5 as muffled sounds of medical machines could be heard through the door.

Twilight was the one to open the door. Her breath hitched in her throat once she saw the bed containing an unconscious Jolyne. They all knew she was hurt but the true extent of her injuries wasn’t known until now. Her hair was still grey and straight and her fur was just as desaturated seeming like an even lighter shade of white than before. Her horn was still surrounded by Celestia’s golden magic and an oxygen-mask was attached to her face. The beeps of a heart monitor and the whir of a mana infuser breaking the silence of the room. As the group approached, the shallow rising of Jolyne’s chest was the only movement made as Twilight pulled up a chair next to the bed as her friends gathered around the pair. Once she sat down she hesitantly reached out and took hold of Jolyne’s hand and softly said.

“We won’t let any more harm come to you. I won’t let anybody else hurt you. I promise.”