Starswirl sat in his recently renovated hydroponics/sewing room, located where the sisters' first shared bedroom had been, thinking about the long journey he had taken to arrive at this point. What had started so long ago as an on-the-fly emergency escape from Canterlot and the four-day journey to South Sea Post, followed by six surreal days living in the town, had culminated in the reluctant casting of his latest magnum opus; the 'hyperbolic time bubble'. Reminiscing on this bizarre series of events, a small, smokey-blue filly entered the room, derailing his train of thought.
“Whatcha doin', Uncle Shtarshwirl?”
“Oh, Luna, good morning.”
Six years had passed since that fateful day Discord discovered their location, necessitating the conjuring of this self-imposed prison, with its walls erected from time itself, like ice from water. Despite understanding the scope of what he was about to do, nothing could have prepared him for just how long the experience would actually feel. He had already lived a long life, and it was safe to say that he was in his twilight years even before the casting, yet never had he felt the sand slipping from his hourglass so keenly as he had during these last six. Perhaps it was because he was trapped inside a small house with nothing to do but stay alive and hypothesise anti-Discord models, or maybe it was a byproduct of living two young fillies; watching them learn and grow every single day for so, so long...
“What'sh dat?” the younger Princess asked, tilting her head.
Starswirl looked down soberly, angling his sewing project for her small frame to see more clearly. “This is something that has been on my mind for a long time. It's a 'cilice' of sorts.”
“What'sh a silish?” She reached up to the folds of blue fabric and swatted one of the brass bells adorning its hem, which released a pleasant tinkling sound.
“I've always hated bells,” he mused, wistfully turning to the blue-green vista outside his south-facing window; seeming more like a monochromatic painting than reality. “A cilice is a garment of repentance. One bell for every regret—for every mistake I've made.”
“But dat's a lot o' bellsh! Dis' is really gonna annoy you!” the filly announced with concern, as though the elder unicorn did not already know.
“I have to find a way to repent. I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive myself or atone for what I have done, but until I do, this shall be my suffering.” He looked down at one of the numerous bells he had formed on the table and magically nudged it with disdain.
“Wow... That's shad...” Luna looked up at him with giant, quivering eyes. A lesser pony's worries might have melted at the sight alone, but Starswirl was far too invested in his cycle of self-loathing and failed atonement.
“Perhaps; but not as sad I will be if you have not written that one-hundred word report on the applications of potion-making by this afternoon.”
Luna's jaw dropped, having clearly forgotten about her homework until this reminder. Aghast at the possibility of upsetting her carer and mentor even more, she immediately spun and ran back to her room as fast as her little legs would carry her. Starswirl smiled as she left, amazed at how Luna's purity had persisted through her formative years, despite the hardships around her. It felt like only yesterday she was a hoof-sucking newborn in swaddling—and technically it had been, according to the natural world's flow of time. He sighed, returning to his tailoring as his mind drifted back to thoughts of self-persecution.
The dusky-blue Princess galloped into the room she shared with her sister, which had once been Stargazer's master bedroom, and skidded to a stop across the central rug, causing it to bunch up against her sudden arrival. She balanced on her hindlegs to grab a workbook off her bedside table with her mouth, while gathering her quill and ink with magic. Dropping back to the wrinkled carpet with a small thud, she sprawled herself across the floor and began to hastily—and messily—get to work. Celestia, who was reclining on her own bed while reading, peered from behind her floating book at the melee of blue magic and black ink.
“Have you still not done your report? I told you to do it sooner,” she chastised, eyebrow raised.
“Nuh-uh! I got plenty o' time anyway.” She continued to scribble away, her tongue out in concentration as she blotted ink in all directions.
“Whatever. Just don't get ink on the rug.” The lanky pre-teen rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the well-read pages of her favourite Summer Twinkle novel.
Given the girls' age and Starswirl's propensity for spending most of his time in his tower anyway, the wizard had decided to move back into his old sleeping space and give the sisters a little more room. Magically restructuring the house to now connect the tower to the upstairs hallway, rather than the bedroom, the room itself had also seen a significant makeover to suit the Princesses' tastes. Split in half like an Eastern yin-yang design—introduced to Equestria by Ambassador Mistmane from Neighjing—Luna's half was painted dark-blue with silver accents and a moon, while Celestia's side was white and gold with a sun, mirroring the eternal celestial equinox right outside their coastal-view window. Over the last six years, Discord's looming visage had slowly faded from the sky, though the bizarre yet beautiful duality of the sun and moon remained, albeit spoiled by the time-bubble's sea-green tint.
The glacially slow progression of time outside the house had reached the point of Goldcrest Finch's shocked reaction to the large bag of grain in his mouth suddenly disappearing, having been carefully extracted by Starswirl years ago, allowing them to cultivate and maintain their own food supply through propagation and harvesting. Water was a little more complicated to manage, as time-frozen chunks of sea water had to be carefully teleported long distances—to avoid creating a tidal wave after the spell ended—to be boiled and stored in newly constructed vats for consumption and washing, while waste was similarly filtered and repurposed. This was by no means a desirable way to live, but with resources made finite by the time dilation, there simply was no other option. On the other hoof, an unintentional byproduct of boiling the water was a constant supply of salt licks.
Having continued sewing for a few more minutes in relatively peace, it was now Celestia's turn to interrupt the wizard.
“I've finished this book for the bajillionth time, and the last lot were all duds, so I'm going to head out and get some more, okay?”
“Already? While I laud your prolificacy, there are a finite number of books at this outpost. Can you not re-read some of the older ones we have?”
“I still remember them all.”
Starswirl sighed, not for lacking pride in his studious ward, but the circumstances that had conspired against such blossoming intellect. It was truly incredible the amount of information the young Princess was able to absorb and retain, having read through every one of his personal collection and drained the meagre reserves of the school's library. Indeed, the pink-haired mare had taken to raiding private residences in her search for fiction and non-fiction alike, almost relishing the chance to go out on another treasure hunt and recreate the peril of her foalhood hero, Summer Twinkle.
Leaving their bubble of isolation for this task was no mean feat, as speed and physics had to be carefully taken into account when venturing into the time-vacuum. One could not simply walk outside, as such seemingly tame movement when translated into the natural flow of time would cause a catastrophic explosion large enough to level the entire outpost. No, one could only move about with teleportation and but the slightest of bodily movements, considering that no object—regardless of size, mass, or regular mobility—can be moved. Leaves in the wind may as well be a fence of wrought iron, while doors and windows are no different to the solid walls beside them. Translocating into and around buildings was often blind, which in itself is potentially fatal enough, without every materialisation rendering that spot too dangerous to return to, due to the vacuum one's presence creates. Starswirl had formulated an 'air bubble' spell of sorts to harvest the time-frozen oxygen around the caster, which allowed for limited breathing, so long as they focus on maintaining the spell and keep moving. Air would refill these voids after some time, of course, but every further excursion became more and more dangerous to traverse, pockmarked with points of suffocation, as well as the diminishing returns of loot. Yet none of the risks and warnings would dissuade Celestia, who remained as stubborn and horizon-hungry as ever, if not more so now that she'd had a brief taste of freedom.
“And there are still places you have yet to sack?”
“There are a couple of houses, and some parts of others I didn't get a good look at.” She pivoted her forehoof on the floor, overtly projecting that she was bored of this interrogation.
“Well, alright. I know there's nothing I can say to dissuade you. Do be careful, and don't stay out too long,” he sighed. “I hope you're making notes of who to return these to after we leave.”
Celestia rolled her head as she turned from the room, calling back: “Assuming Equestria still exists.”
He frowned, knowing how poorly this situation was affecting the young mare, though unable to do anything to remedy it—it's not like he was free from its burdens himself. He couldn't help but feel deserving of every ounce of that ire that slowly grew within her, knowing he was responsible for putting them all in this situation to begin with. Still, it was his duty as guardian and teacher to keep them alive and prepare them for their eventual standoff against that otherworldly creature. He wasn't here to make friends, and so long as everypony survived this ordeal, he would accept any personal cost to reach that end.
As Celestia stepped out of the house, she took a breath and cast the blue, oxygen-collecting bubble around her head. Approaching the edge of the turquoise time-sphere, she looked down the sloped, sparsely-cobbled street towards the town square, planning her route of consecutive jumps carefully. The houses she intended to visit today were on the outskirts of town, so it was important to make the fewest and furthest teleports to make the most of her limited time. Closing her eyes for a moment to steel her nerves, she made the first jump, all the way down to the now familiar bushes, benches, and weathervane, picking a spot she had yet to occupy. One could almost see the hazy outlines of where she had been before, having displaced the ultra-slow atoms with her body, while sucking in a halo of air with the spell. Given the constant cycling of new—albeit salty—oxygen thanks to Starswirl's spell, the air on these journeys was far less stifling than the atmosphere in their house, which barely managed to osmose enough while stationary thanks to its size. For her, the risk out here was worth it just for the fresh air and solitude, with any new books being a bonus.
Travelling outside the hyperbolic time bubble was extremely disorientating at first; not only was everything coloured similar shades of cyan, but everything around you flickers and blurs as though it were moving at incredible speeds, despite you being the one moving faster than light. The whole experience is quite nauseating and panic-inducing, which causes you to consume even more of your precious oxygen, leading to the first few attempts being very short-lived. But this wasn't Celestia's first rodeo; she had learned to stay calm, collected, and focus only on where she was going—something she had read in a book about deep-sea diving, courtesy of the fisherpony brothers. She had lost count of the number of expeditions she had made at this point, each more ambitious and to-the-wire than the last. She couldn't help but picture Summer Twinkle in 'The Temple of the Nautilus', having to brave the unexplored depths of the sea with nothing but her wits and magic. It wasn't the adventure that she had hoped for, but it would do for now.
The next day rolled on as it inevitably did, though there were no means by which to measure it; time had begun to lose meaning even before their isolation, made worse now that stagnation hung heavy all around them. Celestia's adventure had awarded her little more than a diary to assuage her lust for reading, but that wouldn't stop her from trying again this evening. First, though, was breakfast and morning study, which was held on the floor of the living room for lack of a better space.
Stargazer's house had been almost entirely overhauled during the trio's time-isolation, increasingly favouring practicality over aesthetics. The downstairs lounge was now filled with boxes and piles of Celestia's scavenged books, along with various copper pipes running between the water purifiers outside and their various outlets; the latest of which was the upstairs hydroponics room, where they cultivated fungi, vegetables, and even some fizzlepop berries, just for a little variety after years of living off hay and oats alone. A number of small, potted trees had been placed in and around the house to help with oxygen production, leaving Starswirl's study the only unmodified part of the building since their arrival. Given their newfound abundance of time, the wizard's research had become increasingly secondary, instead leaning towards his role as caregiver for the girls. The Princesses' tutelage had more-or-less returned to the curriculum Starswirl had originally devised at Canterlot Palace; teaching knowledge in all areas, with an emphasis on comprehension and practical application, as well as the duties of their other tutors. Despite his specialisation in spell formulation, Starswirl had always sought answers to the 'why's of the world since his earliest years, and it was this appreciation of history and fact that he wished to pass on to the fillies.
“And for his tireless perseverance in the face of adversity, Commander Sombra was awarded dukedom of the 'Crystal Outpost' and the Crystal Spire at its centre, renaming it to the 'Crystal Observatory' as a place to watch over the Frozen North and maintain relations with Yakyakistan.”
“Sho dey never went home after that?”
“That was their home now. Of course, anypony who wished to return to Canterlot was allowed to, but there was also a mass migration to the new settlement, as well as an influx of historians wishing to uncover the lost history of the ancient 'crystal ponies'.” Starswirl lowered his reference book to the table. “Any more questions?”
“Is it normal for a regular pony to be given their own nation like that?” Celestia asked, which had become unusual for her, given her ever-growing understanding and cynicism.
“It's not a common practice, no, but this was a largely unexplored land, and with pre-existing buildings it made sense to occupy it as a hub for future exploration. Sombra had displayed his aptitude for leadership during the war, so the King and Queen had full confidence in his ability to manage the new settlement justly.”
“And he continues to do so?”
“Well... I suppose so. To be honest I've not heard anything of the Crystal Observatory since then, which I can only assume is a sign of content progress. It's impossible to know how they've fared since Discord's usurpation, though I expect they remain in blissful ignorance.”
“Do you think he found a pwincesh to rule da Cwystal Obserbatowy wiv?” Luna inquired, her eyes glistening with the kind of fairytale wonder that Celestia's never had.
“Technically she would be a Duchess, not a Princess, and I honestly can't say. I expect we would have had word of the Duke's engagement had that been the case.”
“How do two ponies make a baby?” The filly's sudden question caught Starswirl so off-guard that he found himself choking on his own saliva, much to Celestia's amusement.
“I- Well, that's...” He cleared his throat, unsure how to broach the topic. It certainly did fall within his duty as the girls' sole educator to teach them of such things, though it was not a topic he had prepared himself for. “Um, well, when two ponies love each other very much-”
Celestia audibly rolled her eyes, earning a scowl. No, there was no reason to get flustered, he simply had to state the facts historically and practically. He could do this.
“Let us begin with pre-historical practices-”
“If it's pre-historical, how do you know what happened?” Celestia interrupted again, receiving another cold look.
“During what we refer to as pre-history—when ponykind lived isolated in three separate tribes—birthing was a rudimentary practice that often only succeeded in certain pairings, regardless of affection, outside of the unicorn race. Birthing has always been a magical affair in regards to unicorns, with any couple capable of having a child, regardless of biological compatibility or health. It wasn't until the merging of the pony races—known and celebrated now as 'Hearths Warming Day'—that terrans and pegasi were able to partake in such a ceremony, allowing not only same-sex births, but now mixed-race births as well.”
Luna blinked, clearly overwhelmed by the long words and uncertain terms. “So... it'sh magic?”
“Well... yes and no. Couples can—and likely still do—procreate naturally, but with it comes certain restrictions and risks. Your... uh... Your mother was the last notable natural birth, with her passing spurring the normalisation of the magical practice.” The mood of the room dropped like a sudden plunge into ice-cold water. Still, it was important for the girls to know the facts of life... right? It felt like he was crossing a line every time he mentioned their parents, yet if he did not relay such information, who would? There was nothing more important than informed opinions, after all. “While the Queen's passing was never made public knowledge, her sudden disappearance after the much anticipated pregnancy fostered rumours, some more accurate than others. Since then it has become a far more common practice for any loving couple wishing to procreate to seek out a unicorn, and have a prodigy spell cast on them. Biologically the child is no different than a natal one, and there is no need for a lengthy gestation period...” His voice trailed off, having slipped back into more scientific terms as the room felt more and more uncomfortable.
“I hope it was worth it,” Celestia grunted into her crossed forelegs, clearly directing the remark at Luna.
“Celestia!”
“If she hadn't been born, none of this would have happened!” she shouted, standing from the floor.
“CELESTIA! That is your sister! Apologise immediately!”
“NEVER!” she screamed, galloping to the front door and slamming it behind her with her magic.
The awkward silence lingered, now mixed with a shot of adrenaline.
“Luna, I'm so sorry-”
“Was I a mistake?” Her voice was flat and dry, already familiar with this accusation to the point of acceptance.
“Elysium no, Luna.” He moved beside her and sat, resting his hoof around her small, bundled frame. “Your mother and father were so excited for your arrival, they spoiled your sister rotten while they were waiting. What happened was not your fault—Celestia knows this, she's just upset and lashing out.”
What had begun years ago as an awkward and involuntary fostering of these two foals, had steadily evolved into a genuinely caring relationship that he had never thought possible from himself. Not knowing how to care for the girls and being trapped behind his own stilted language felt like a lifetime ago as he held the dusky-blue filly close, his heart breaking for her. Just like when she was first born, Luna still never made a fuss, even as the tears rolled down her cheeks. He wanted to chastise Celestia, of course, but he couldn't help but feel responsible for her steadily increasing frustration. Here he was, the last grains of sand draining from his hourglass, while the sisters were losing out on the best years of their life, stuck inside this cell of his creation. It was only natural that a life devoid of social contact and exploration would lead to emotional stagnation, and there was only so much venting one can do into a journal. It would likely pass by this evening, or at worst the day after, just like every other time, but one thing was for certain; their entries would be colourful tonight.
Time continued to tick on for the three ponies, though the mundane routine of their lives caused days to blur into weeks, and weeks into months. With no formal structure to day or night, it wasn't unusual for waking hours to desync within the house, which offered some desperately needed reprieve from the constant social expectations of living in close proximity with others. Starswirl had finished stitching his belled hat and cloak of repentance, though there was little reason to wear them within the confines of the house, so turned his attention back to studying possible counters to Discord's magic and researching the mysterious time-travel scroll, though neither avenue bore fruit. As his high standards steadily began to degrade over time, he started leaving longer and longer gaps between shaving, eventually resulting in quite an impressive length of beard. The hair on his chin grew in as streaky-white as his mane, still bleached by that fateful mirror spell oh-so long ago, earning him the nickname 'the Bearded' from the girls.
While there were still good days, Celestia's temper grew only worse as she traversed teenhood, leaving the wizard utterly overwhelmed by her erratic mood-swings and emotional outbursts. For the periods when she couldn't become lost in a novel or leave the house, she had taken to casting an opaque, soundproof bubble around herself, just for the sake of a little privacy. Luna had also reached the cusp of teenhood, though unlike her sister, this manifested itself through increasing introspection and curiosity about the heritage that she had never known. Despite being more interested in historical accounts and scientific papers than Celestia, she'd never had quite the same capacity for retention as her sister, though attempted to make up for that with copious notes and long, daily entries in her diary.
“Tia, have you read this book before?” Luna asked, raising the cover from the ground with her magic to show her sister, who was currently reclining on her bed.
She looked down from her own book, disinterested yet still engaging. “'A History of Royal Etiquette' by Pedigree Pomp? Yeah, I read it, though I prefer fiction.”
“But this is our history!” She replaced the book and continued to obsess over it. “It even goes so far back as pre-Equestria unicorn decorum!”
“Yeah; I read it. History is fine and all, but it doesn't do us much good in here.”
She looked up. “But as princesses, we should learn how to rule correctly—how to speak properly with our subjects.”
“Right, and you can't be a princess without subjects. I don't know if you've noticed, but there are only three of us here.” The elder sister turned back to her book, eyes still cold with disillusion.
Luna huffed and went back to reading, though she couldn't focus on the words anymore. After a minute or two, she looked towards the window and its cyan sky. “Do you remember what it was like out there?”
Celestia lowered her book, blankly annoyed for a moment before actually thinking about it. “No, not really. Not much.” She leaned forward to see through the window as well, haunted by glimpses of freedom from her past. “Mostly feelings. It's hard to know what you remember and what you imagined sometimes. The wind in your mane on a cart; the cold, damp air of a stone room; the sounds of other ponies' voices.”
“I wish I had memories like that.”
“You're better off wishing.” She slumped back, head heavy with glimpses of memories she would have rather not stirred up.
Starswirl had been happy to oblige Luna's thirst for knowledge at first, though her insistence on using the Royal Canterlot Voice at all times since learning about it had hastily lost its charm. This began to be the cause of many a squabble for a while, made all the worse by the two sharing a room and having little space to retreat within the time-bubble, leaving their mentor all the more glad he lived on a separate floor separate from the main building.
As the girls grew, so did their eagerness to leave the time-bubble—a state of being that Starswirl had almost come to accept as normality now, not that he wouldn't give it all up for a new book. Every day presented the same chores: wash, teleport salt-water from the sea and into the boiler for tomorrow, harvest breakfast from the hydroponic cultivation and meagre oat crops surrounding the house, fill the day with reading, sewing, research, or lectures—which had steadily become more informal and anecdotal as untapped subjects dwindled—harvest dinner, then bed. Both girls had now advanced to more intensive magic lessons, with Celestia naturally being further ahead given her age, though progress hindered by the limited space afforded them within the house. The Princesses were now competent in levitation, teleportation, basic potion-making, basic spell-writing, and as well versed in destructive magic as they could risk; though how well this preparation would stand against the otherworldly forces Discord wielded was yet to be seen.
A total of twelve years of hyberbolic time had now passed, and the girls still showed no signs of discovering their cutie marks, let alone their alicorn destinies. This was not wholly surprising to their mentor, as he expected the necessary scope of self-discovery and charity required to achieve such milestones were almost certainly beyond what they could achieve within this quarantine, though this didn't stop the sisters from complaining about it. It was not unheard of for late-bloomers to be around Luna's age, but the same could not be said for Celestia, who was six years her senior. However, as easy as it was for the Princesses to overlook their day-to-day growth, they were both inexorably closer to self-sufficient adulthood, with the elder now almost equal to Starswirl's height, and the younger about half that. The wizard's advanced age had taken its toll with the years spent in isolation, feeling as aged and haggard as he looked, with the remaining streaks of his greyish-green mane now faded to white and deep bags beneath his eyes. Still, he had fulfilled his role during this interlude—even if he collapsed the moment this time-bubble lifted, he had equipped the future Princesses of Equestria with everything he was capable of providing in these circumstances. In the end, really it would all come down to their ingenuity and strength of heart to prevail over Discord's unpredictable chaos magic.
“I fear this is as much as I can teach you,” Starswirl sighed, closing the book he held aloft with his aura while addressing the two seated mares.
“Pray, what dost thy mean?” Luna boomed, choosing to take herself extremely seriously while implementing the strictest of Old Equestia's outdated royal etiquette teachings.
“Luna, stop yelling all the time; I can't handle you right now,” her sister hissed, covering her ears as she splayed across the floor.
“We are merely utilising proper royal etiquette, Big Sister. Dost thy not find value in Our shared heritage?”
“For the love of Gusty, shut up!” With a flick magic, Celestia flung her notebook at Luna, who barely deflected in time with a barrier.
“Hey! That could've hurt, y'know!”
Starswirl stamped his hoof on the hardwood floor, causing his inattentive students to jump. “Girls! What have I told you about bickering? How do you intend to reunite Equestria when you cannot even maintain peace amongst yourselves?”
“But she started it!” Luna pointed to her sister, who swung her long, pink mane into a barrier between them.
“Luna, I celebrate the interest you show in your origins, but not even King Sol spoke in the Royal Canterlot Voice at all times—only during formal hearings—and doing so here is quite disruptive.”
“But-” Sensing no likelihood of winning this argument, she snorted in frustration and turned away from the two, feeling thoroughly ganged-up on.
“Anyway, like I was saying,” Starswirl continued, “I could cover the contents of these books a hundred times over, lecture until I was blue in the face, and have you practice magic until the walls were dust; but true understanding comes from practical application and worldly experience. Time and time again, ponykind has made its greatest advances when the stakes were the highest, and I have no doubt the same will be true of you two. Nopony has ever found their destinies within the confines of four walls.”
The sisters subconsciously looked back at their own flanks, which remained as bare as the days they were born.
“Finding out who you are is a natural part of life; it comes with understanding the world around you and your place in it. There is only so much you can learn from the pages of a book before you must put it into practice yourself, and there are some things a book can never teach you.” His face softened, thinking back over all the years they had spent together. His disgust over having to tutor children back at the palace felt like a lifetime ago, though it had technically only been a matter of days in the outside-world. Saying that he loved the girls was a bit more of a commitment than he was willing to make, but having sunk so much care and effort into their wellbeing, the thought of pitting them against the monster that had killed their father was almost unbearable, lest he lose them too. Nevertheless, he had no say in the matter. Equestria needed them more now than it has ever needed a saviour, even if it felt like mercilessly tearing a fledgeling from its nest—the sisters had no option but to learn to fly on their first attempt, or the whole world would fall with them.
“Starswirl, will you tell me about dad again?” the younger sister mumbled, gazing solemnly at the floor.
“Again? Now?” Lost in his memories and concerns for the future, her unexpected question left him mildly disorientated. It was always a strange sensation to be reminded that he wasn't the only one with an internal monologue of thoughts and feelings. Was he also guilty of these non-sequitur outbursts?
Luna's preoccupation with the past of late had brought up many questions about life before the time-bubble. From social gatherings and the activities of regular ponies her age, to royal etiquette and stories about her parents, she desperately clawed to relive a past she had never experienced. When historical documents could no longer satiate her appetite for nostalgia, she had turned to Starswirl for firsthoof accounts of her parents, even if it was the same stories retold time and again. Telling a child about their departed parents never became easier, but over the years his own nostalgia had grown, and he couldn't help but find a similar comfort in the old days, back before this house—back before Discord. And as those large, glistening blue eyes looked up at him, how could he deny her tales of the heritage she had always deserved?
With a wistful sigh, the old unicorn lowered his haunches and ran a hoof under his long, white beard, readying himself for the trip down memory lane. Even Celestia could not resist the lure of the 'good old days', peeking from beneath her flowing mane to take part in the hazy, bittersweet distraction.
“Your father, the King, was a great stallion. Noble, proud, kind-hearted, and always supporting the ponies of the realm. He loved you both very much, and would do anything for your family. Ponies would travel from far and wide to have an audience with him, trusting his ruling on any matter; and he would listen to them all, no matter how inconsequential the dilemma.”
“And mum?” Celestia asked under her breath.
“She was beautiful, kind, and would do anything to ensure everypony around her was happy. She was a proud mother, and the one who named you both. No pony in the land was as empathetic as she was, spending much of her time tending to the sick and caring for the needy. I haven't a doubt that she would be overjoyed to see the mares you have grown into today, despite all your hardships.”
The girls remained silent, staring vaguely at the floor; Luna smiled weakly to imagined memories of a loving family, while Celestia's eyes welled with tears over the few traumatic moments she could recall.
“Then Discord took them from us,” she snarled.
Starswirl had intentionally withheld information about Discord's arrival and the King's involvement in it—that was his burden to bear, not the fillies'. It was already bad enough that they had gleaned the Queen's fate from his recounts; the last thing the sisters needed right now was to learn the true scope of their father's fall, not to mention the part he himself had played in the current state of Equestria. For now, that dark truth would remain secure in his personal journal. Let future historians judge him all they want after he has long passed this mortal coil. In the meantime, if believing that beast is the source of all their woes, having a little more motivation to defeat him certainly isn't a bad thing.
He sighed. “Discord took many things from many ponies. You cannot let hatred blind you when you eventually confront him; restoring harmony to Equestria is your destiny, not revenge.”
A sudden, sharp, cracking sound rang throughout the house, raising all their ears and bringing the bearded unicorn back to his hooves. The omnidirectional splitting and splintering reverberated against the windowpanes and vibrated uncomfortably within their stomachs, sounding not unlike the thawing of thick ice.
“What in Equestria-?” Celestia also jumped up in panic, followed by her sibling.
This was it. He had felt it this morning, even noticing signs of it last week, but now was the moment: the spell was ending. He took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, overwhelmed by almost stage-fright-like anticipation. With a flash, he teleported his belled hat and cape from the tower and onto his body—this was his battle armour; a symbol of perseverance and lessons learned.
“This is it, girls. Everything we have prepared for has led up to this moment.”
“W-What?! Now?!” Luna screeched, her voice breaking from fear.
“Yes. You have trained for this your entire life. Together, we can do this, we can beat him.”
In truth, he didn't believe that at all. He was about to end a twelve-year sabbatical with no more knowledge or confidence than when he had started with two helpless foals. It's not like he had any choice in the matter; the spell was ending, ready or not. Here he comes...
A bright teal light began to glow through the windows as they rattled; the cracking sound almost deafening as it surrounded them. As the light became blinding, forcing them to cover their eyes, the pitch of the noise began to rise and was joined by a sort of sucking sound. Intense nausea hit all three, dropping them to their knees as the cacophony of sounds belted their senses, before the air pressure around them suddenly released and all was silent. Rising to their hooves once more, for the first time in over a decade they felt like they could breathe freely, as multicoloured hues filled the glass beyond their four walls. Steeling themselves, the group cautiously exited the house and were welcomed by a deep breath of fresh, cool, salty air. Gone was the recycled, dusty and stale air of the house, which they hadn't realised they had become so used to. This was the taste of freedom.
The group rounded the corner of the house to view the South Sea to the east. So many years ago they had fled the looming visage of Discord in the sky, looking down at them menacingly. In the minute or two that had passed during their stay in the bubble, the draconequus' face had slowly faded, ultimately replaced by a small, nondescript flash of light. Outside of the bubble, it was clear what that flash had been: Discord had arrived, and was currently floating down towards them in real-time. To their left, Goldcrest Finch was still flailing in confusion after the bag of seeds he was bringing to the house had seemingly disappeared into thin air, having not yet noticed the near-instant ageing of the house next to him. It was hard for the three unicorns to truly grasp how their lives had passed within the literal snap of a finger, while its owner descended upon them like a herald of the apocalypse.