//------------------------------// // Lingering Bitterness // Story: Little Keys // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Canterlot loomed ahead of her. The city on the mountainside was bathed in the divine radiance of the sun, causing it to glow as if it were, itself, a source of light. A gentle, serene breeze washed by, tickling the edges of Twilight’s senses with its phantasmal touch. Twilight gazed at the city gates, her eyes wide in confusion. “W-what…?” How and when had she gotten here? She looked from side to side, taking in the landscape. It was just as she remembered it; not a blemish or mark in sight. The small stream that ran down from the mountain slope and widened to form the city’s primary moat stood off to her right, as it always did, its currents lapping softly at the shore. Trees on the far side of the stream wavered in the breeze, lending their own quiet rhythm to the ambiance. But… where were the birds? Twilight couldn’t hear a single bird singing their customary song right now. It was just the wind, the water, the trees, and her own confused, rambling thoughts. Something rustling caught her attention. Twilight looked down at her hooves to see a sheet of paper pinned to the dirt beneath her, fluttering erratically in the wind. Her brow furrowed, and she lifted it up to her face in her magic. Her eyes widened as she recognized her mother’s letter to her from the other day. A tiny chuckle escaped her. “Of course… how could I forget?” she asked as it all came rushing back to her.  After getting this letter from her parents, she had spent hours anguishing over the fact that she hadn’t been able to return to Canterlot of her own will for so long. She had vented her frustrations to Rainbow Dash, been consoled by Spike, and gone to sleep fitful and restless. When she had awoken, though, it was with a resolution burning in her heart. Everypony kept telling her that she couldn’t come up to Canterlot, that she had been exiled, but what could any of them realistically do to stop her if she tried? She was an alicorn, and even before that was the case she had ranked among the top ten most powerful magic users in modern Equestria. The number of ponies that might have had the power to oppose her was few, and even fewer of them would be willing to use force. What would it hurt to drop in for a quick, quiet little surprise visit with her parents? Just a little drop-in, an hour or two to catch up, and then she’d slip away before anypony could be any the wiser. It wouldn’t hurt anypony. It would barely even ruffle any feathers. If Celestia and Luna caught wind of it, they would probably give her the mother of all lectures via letter, but Twilight could live with that. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anything left for her to be punished for. She had learned her lesson already, hadn’t she? The point of punishment was to make sure somepony did not commit the crime again when it was over. To teach them the consequences of their actions and dissuade them from doing it again, often by encouraging them to pick a better path and choose a better fate. And she had been doing just that. Sure, she hadn’t totally purged Midnight from her mind yet, and that stupid, pointless chest was still sitting and collecting moss back in the Everfree Forest, but who cared about that rotten old thing? With a deep breath, Twilight readjusted her wings at her sides and tucked the letter away under her wings. She then spread them wide and took to the sky, aiming to fly high over the wall and duck into an alleyway before anypony could notice her presence. She closed her eyes and let off a content hum as the wind washed over her face and her mane, awakening her senses and purging her melancholy. And then she flew into something. Hard. Twilight cried out as an invisible barrier intercepted her course, knocking her back with a crackle of energy. She flailed wildly as she tumbled down before, eventually, finding her center and righting herself in the air. She snapped out her wings and entered into a circling glide, glaring at the city with cold contempt. Of course it wouldn’t be that simple. Why would it be? Nothing ever was. Not when it came to the princesses. Twilight’s hooves found purchase on a grassy ledge overlooking the city from up the mountainside. She glared down at it, indignation and frustration burning away at her core. She drew one of her hooves back, creating a trench in the dirt, and blew out a snort of anger. Who were they to keep her from her home? From her family? Her horn began to light up with magic. Fine, then. If they wouldn’t let her come home quietly, she would just have to make a bit of noise first. She angled her head down, lining up the shot, and fired off a pristine bolt of cyan magic. It struck the dome with a flash of light and a distorted, high-pitched boom, like static feedback and shattering glass. Much to Twilight’s frustration, however, the dome held firm, flickering at her as if to taunt her. It was blue. “Luna…” Twilight seethed, spreading her stance. “Let! Me! IN!” She fired off shot after shot, pouring more power into each one for every word she spoke. Each one was just as ineffectual as the last, only heightening her growing anger. She just wanted to pay her parents a visit! Was that so much to ask for!?  With one last shout, Twilight reared back and fired off the largest beam of magic she could. The winds shifted around her. No longer were they whispering for her to stop. No, now they were telling her to tear the wall down. To break through and reclaim entry to her home by force. It was her home! She would not be kept from it by some high-and-mighty princesses who barely had grounds to criticize her in the first place! She remembered perfectly well the sneer of Nightmare Moon in the Castle of the Two Sisters, and the malevolent glare of Daybreaker in the Empire. They had both fallen just as surely as she did! In fact, they had fallen first! They had no right to condemn her for the very folly they themselves had committed! NONE! The beam struck its mark. The barrier flashed brightly in retaliation, but it did not give away under Twilight’s assault. She let loose a billowing shriek of rage and poured more power into the spell, growing desperate. Suddenly, the dome flared and pulsed. A wave of arcane light expanded outwards from it. Twilight’s eyes widened. She didn’t have time to react, only to lift a foreleg over her face in a feeble attempt at defense. The expanding wave crashed into her like a tsunami, hurling her off her hooves so she tumbled head-over-hooves through the air. Twilight screamed and flailed, beating her wings frantically against the galeforce winds in a desperate bid to regain control of herself before she hit something. She met the ground before she could make any progress. The wind was driven from her lungs, sending Twilight sprawling along the ground for several yards before finally coming to a rest. Her entire body throbbed with pain, and a low groan of discomfort snaked its way out of her throat. She lifted her head to glare at Canterlot. She blinked. “W-what the hay?” She wasn’t in the mountains anymore. She was in the cave with the Tree of Harmony. And to her combined shock, shame, and irritation, Princesses Celestia and Luna stood in front of her, looking down on her with disappointed expressions. “Not until your work is done,” Celestia stated in a cold, distant voice. Twilight’s coat bristled. She forced herself back to her hooves, trying and failing to reign in her flaring emotions. “And who are you to make that decision?!” she spat venomously, fire flooding her veins. Celestia lowered her eyes to meet Twilight’s directly, her expression hardening. “Your teacher. Your mentor. I expect you to do as you’re told.” Twilight scoffed, her eye twitching. “Oh, do you? Well, what if I say no?” she demanded, scraping her hoof along the ground again. “What if for once in my life, I decide that your word isn’t the law I should live my life by?! What if, for once, I decided there was something more important than you?!” Celestia’s eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth to speak, but Twilight was no longer willing to listen. She kicked off the ground and threw herself as the sun princess, her darkening hooves outstretched, her growing fangs bared, and her glowing eyes wide with fury. It was only when her hooves found Celestia’s neck that she realized what was happening. Twilight screamed. “Wha-huh?! Twi! Twilight, hey! Wake up!” Twilight awoke with a panicked scream, jerking her hooves back to her chest. Her eyes snapped wide open, darting this way and that in a frantic daze. In a moment, she felt a familiar pair of hooves on her shoulders, drawing her attention. She looked up, gasping frantically, into a calming pair of tired, cerise eyes. Twilight allowed herself to get lost in those eyes, and her frantic breaths started to calm back down. Rainbow loomed over her, looking to have just woken up herself. It had been her voice that called Twilight out of her panicked nightmare. Judging by the faint orange light on the side of her face, the sun was only just starting to come up. Twilight swallowed heavily, shivering as she realized how cold she suddenly felt. “R-rainbow…” she stammered out. “You okay?” the pegasus asked in a lower whisper, lowering herself down somewhat and wrapping her forelegs tightly around Twilight’s body. “You started screaming really loudly… you kept saying ‘no,’ and ‘I’m sorry’ and stuff like that.” Twilight returned the embrace, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. “I… Y-yeah. I think so. Just a nightmare.” “Kinda figured,” Rainbow replied, a small edge of humor in her voice. She leaned back after a moment and planted a tender kiss on Twilight’s lips before she could say anything, cutting her off and serving to further cool the flames of fear in her gut. Once Rainbow pulled away, she readjusted to get more comfortable and idly stroked Twilight’s mane with a hoof. “Wanna talk about it?” Twilight hesitated. She opened her mouth to speak, to explain what had happened and what she had seen, but no words came. She stared into Rainbow’s eyes, the words only becoming further entrenched halfway to her lips. How could she tell Rainbow that her nightmare had ended with her strangling Celestia, Rainbow’s adoptive mother, to death in front of the Tree of Harmony? She couldn’t even begin to fathom how she should word such a dream to anypony else, much less Rainbow. She felt sick to her stomach and shivered again. She shook her head. “N-no… I’d rather forget it,” she said weakly. Rainbow eyed her a moment longer before conceding. She pulled Twilight closed, nuzzling affectionately into her neck. “Well, if you change your mind, I’m right here,” Rainbow said softly. The two fell into silence after that. Twilight was numbly aware of Spike opening the door at one point to check on them, Rainbow assuring him that all was well, and then it closing again. The silence dragged on after that, allowing Twilight’s mind to wander and race. She closed her eyes and tried to get some more rest. They had an hour or so before they had to be up, after all, and it wouldn’t do to get up before she was ready. She tried to focus on anything other than the dream she just had in the hopes of finding her comfort again. She walked through the breathing exercises that she knew as well as she could without disturbing Rainbow, she tried to clear her head as Luna had taught her. But leaving her thoughts empty only served to allow the visceral memory of her nightmare to return in full force. “Why would I do that?” she thought, her stomach churning with disgust. She didn’t hate Celestia. She didn’t even dislike her! In all of Twilight’s years, she could maybe count the number of times she had even remotely been upset with her on her hooves. What, then, would drive her to try and grab at her throat? She tried to dismiss it as simply an oddity of her nightmare, but she couldn’t do that anymore. She knew well enough by now that dreams so pointed and visceral had more to them than met the eye. Unfortunately for her, her passenger had something to say on the matter. “Maybe you don’t hate the princesses. But they have both certainly earned your ire for more than a few reasons,” Midnight whispered into her mind, drawing a withering gasp out of Twilight. “They are afraid of you. They are afraid of what you did. They are afraid of what you will do again. And so they keep you at a distance. They keep you under strict watch. And they keep you away from their precious little ponies. Your parents included.” Twilight began to curl up into a ball, trying desperately to drown Midnight’s voice out. But the dark voice would not be denied. It kept on going, its words starting to blend together, but being no less hurtful for it. Twilight’s body began to shiver with fear, anger, grief, rage, sorrow, frustration, guilt, and countless, countless other emotions as Midnight went on and on. “Twi?” Rainbow whispered from behind her, her voice laced with concern. Twilight saw a chance to distract herself, to drown Midnight out, and she took it. She quickly rolled over and threw herself against Rainbow, pinning the pegasus down and mashing their lips together. A surprised squeak came from Rainbow, but Twilight didn’t care. She couldn’t care. She just needed something, anything, to distract her. And right now, Rainbow fit the bill perfectly.