//------------------------------//
// Twilight Sparkle Confronts Celestia's Curse 
// Story: It's About "Princess Twilight Embracing The Dark Side" (And Raven Inkwell Gets Spiked) 
// by SparklingTwilight 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle Confronts Celestia's Curse

The dark side of the bit, the reverse that tended to face away from the sun, failed to shine even when it faced the light. It had been minted to reflect Princess Luna's dark night as a contrast to Princess Celestia's bright day. Numismatic circles (and squares, in areas with too few enthusiasts to form a proper circle of discussion) celebrated the denomination and its special traits that the mint had imbued. Twilight Sparkle knew all that from reading her books. But Spike, who had visited the mint, claimed no procedure had been employed to intentionally brighten any side. 

And so Twilight, her schedule already mostly cleared by Raven's adjustments the previous night to account for a friendship emergency (which ended up being solved in record time by Maud Pie and Cheese Sandwich without need for much input from Twilight. Twilight's eyes narrowed, recollecting that), had Spike completely cancel what little remained. 

Grinning wider than she had in months, with Spike at her side holding a subsidiary stack of reference materials, Twilight turned to books to solve the mystery of coinage, tackling a mystery together with her best friends, just like old times. 

Twilight paged through a tome. "This is nice, Spike. To do this again. Everything's been so busy; I need to help so many ponies."

Spike nodded and set his pile down beside her. "Should I get another few?"

"No, not yet," Twilight shook her head. Then she stopped. "It's been busy and although I like this... I'm thankful that Raven reminds me when I need to get back to my duties. I just want to drown in a sea of research. Well, in a bubble, protecting me from the murky ocean of books, but a cozy one. Just me, and the books." Twilight stuffed her snout down in studies for a while. Then she raised her head to continue the thought. "Since she's not here, could you remind me to take a break and deal with whatever else needs to get done? And... and since Raven's... temporarily incapacitated like you said. Can you send a runner to let her know she may--should take off the entire day? I don't want her to think she's expected."

"Sure thing Twilight." Spike nodded again, hoping to encourage her. Twilight grinned.

And she turned back to her books.



Hours later. 

Twilight stretched her shoulders and cracked her neck, which resounded like a shattering sheet of bones. "Thanks for the water, Spike. This is really like old times."

"Exactly! Nothing's changed." Spike eagerly took the glass of water back from Twilight, though to be fair, she didn't usually take extended breaks like this in the "old times". Spike wasn't sure if these newfangled breaks were due to Raven's influence or if Twilight needed more breaks due to her more advance age. But the latter of those hypotheses couldn't be true since her Alicorn powers strengthened each day. This extended 'breaks' policy must have been one of Raven's ideas... designed for Twilight to needlessly draw out her meetings and accomplish less... accomplishing what exactly for Raven, though? Spike's thoughts were dark.

"I feel so comfortable and less tense." Twilight trotted in place and did some eye exercises, looking close, then far. "I probably won't even need my hour and fifteen minutes with Bulk Biceps straightening my spine today." The muscle-bound expert, transplanted from Ponyville, had been her personal masseuse for the past few months. 

"I... could help you with a shoulder rub?" Spike suggested.

The things he would do to recover his position at her side. 

"What?" Twilight asked, in her peeved questioning voice. "Since when are you licensed?"

"I'm not--" Spike started.

"Don't worry yourself. No need." Twilight shook her head. "Raven said I required an officially licensed masseuse or else shoulder rubbing might do more harm than good."

"Darn." Raven was still one step ahead of Spike. "She might not be right--"

"She is. I looked it up in a treatise."

"...Not everything written down is right."

Twilight affixed Spike with a threatening stare, then turned back to her books.

After an awkward silence, Spike rattled off a quick, "how's the research going?" 

Twilight sighed. "We may need to enter the special collections, from when before Nightmare Moon assailed Luna. If this sparkling phenomena isn't created by the mint, then maybe there's a magical explanation? Celestia should know, but she needs to enjoy her retirement and I need to demonstrate I can rule on my own!"

"I can imagine how that is." Spike glowered, considering Raven.

The special collections consisted of dark books from the era when the Two Sisters ruled Equestria as one. After Nightmare Moon had taken over the personality of Celestia's sister Luna, these books had become corrupted and dark. They rested in a dank cavern at the hoof end of Canterlot. One vault containing many had been destroyed during the explosive Changeling invasion years ago but another vault survived and a treatise on coinage might be among those surviving neglected tomes.

"But you're looking forward to reading them?" Spike asked.

"Of course!" Twilight brightened. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You sighed..."

"Oh, yes. I mean, it will take time to digest and I have responsibilities. Many responsibilities." Twilight looked around the chambers, empty now of petitioners.

"But," she grinned at Spike. "I've also wanted to investigate these special collections and feel the books' spines with my hooves and smell their musk--dusty old books rescued! It doesn't matter that they're supposed to be cursed or if they're infested with mold! This is a great perk of Princesship. Celestia didn't mention them to me when I was her student and I've been so occupied with everything since I found out about them--I can't believe I was able to push all thought about them out of my mind." She narrowed her eyes. "Celestia wouldn't make me... Luna might have altered..." She shook her head. "Anyway, this is my first opportunity to read them! I can find all sorts of secrets within the dark records." Twilight laughed.

"Dark records?"

"They're stored in the dark; inaccessible by anypony; they're occluded--hidden." Twilight nodded. "Scholars have speculated and Celestia denied they existed even when I asked! But they must be under Canterlot. Her diaries have hints. And when I brought it up to her-- nevermind. Without Raven around, I can do this! It's important to take a break from routine Spike, right?"

Spike nodded enthusiastically.



Soon, they descended into the dark, under stalactites and past stalagmites. Twilight's magic helped them evade or squash the local dangers: giant arachnids, ravenous roaches, and shrieking silverfish and other creatures so strange that Spike didn't know what they were called.

After much searching, and passing through no fewer than six illusions, two traps, and three sealed doors: a long hallway and an everfir door loomed. Twilight forced the door open with an awesome display of colorful magic.

Hours later, Twilight was still poring over the dusky decaying books.

"I never knew this!" She eagerly turned a page with her magic. "Spike; I want to know about all these things. I'm gonna pull an all-nighter."

"Uh, Twilight." Spike said. "We've been down here for hours. Maybe take a break?"

"No time." Twilight shook her head. But she went through the motions and lowered the sun with her magic, then raised the moon. At least, she probably did that. Spike recognized the motions but the celestial bodies weren't visible to confirm.

It was well past bedtime for Spike and Twilight and she was still furiously hoofing her way through the books.

Spike took a nap, although there were few acceptable places to rest--the cavern's mold and dripping liquid was a bit all-encompassing. It may have been daytime when he awoke, but the moldy cavern lacked natural light for him to judge the time an easy way. There was just the glimmer of Twilight's horn, glowing as she lowered the moon and raised the sun in accordance with her internally-plotted schedule.

Twilight's studies went on for so long that nearly the entire second day was spent. A second day where strange sounds echoed and dark fog accumulated, obscuring the room, but that wasn't a concern for Twilight, who held back the non-pegasi-created clouds with a minuscule redirection of her magic. 

Twilight mumbled to herself and translated the books' Old Ponish, chanting like a dark age monk. She scrawled notes and knitted her brow, pursued circuitous paths of inquiry and discovered strange old lore that had nothing to do with her purpose in delving deep.

And tendrils of darkness emanating from the books gathered around Twilight, who dismissed Spike's fears as hallucinations. She saw nothing insidious and she would not move. Her breath came hoarse, from magic or mold, Spike couldn't be sure. What he could be sure about, however, was that Twilight was losing her mind. And Spike couldn't save her; not on his own.

Spike would have to reach out to Twilight's friends: the sorceress unicorn Starlight Glimmer probably could brute force her way past the terrors and traps and illusions to get through to Twilight. And there were others. Spike had options. But before he left, he pleaded again for Twilight to accompany him.

"... no time. I've uncovered something terrible about our currency and I need to undo it."

"What's that?"

"This." Twilight turned a blackened, burned, and smudged book to Spike. The script was unreadable--Old Ponish. Twilight turned it back around. "Understand?"

"I can't read Old Ponish."

"Ah." Twilight turned a page. "I had confused your skills for Raven's."

Spike resisted the urge to snort smoke and flame. Igniting the books would solve the temporary problem of Twilight's derangement, but destroying ancient lore would anger her deeply and it would be an anger that could be difficult to dispel. He swallowed his disgust. "What does it say?"

"Oh. Yes!" Twilight blinked, then shook her head. "Celestia's curse on the coins. It's why she--her image that is--shines so brightly that the bits catch the light, temporarily blinding ponies to make them walk in darkness, like Nightmare Moon stalked on the dark side of her moon, divided from her sister. Removing the curse could cause a great--well, a terrible disaster!"

"What?" Spike sauntered over to Twilight's side.

"Nightmare Moon cursed our coinage when she possessed Luna's body. Celestia blunted the curse but she couldn't eliminate it entirely."

"But we defeated Nightmare Moon."

Twilight nodded. "And her magic remained."

"But why would removing this curse cause a disaster? The curse was already blunted?"

"This book doesn't say, But, we need to be careful about altering the coins."

"Okay." Spike nodded. "So, don't replace the coins. Easy."

"No. No. No." Twilight shook her head. "We must change the coins."

"Why?"

Twilight fixed him with a stare. "I thought that was discussed at the currency redesign meeting?"

"Maybe before I got there."

"You were tardy?"

"...Yes." Spike hung his head.

Twilight sighed. "Spike, you never change."

"Yes I do!" Spike said. "I'm responsible."

"Responsible for being late!" Twilight paused, then blinked. "Sorry. I know you're studying to be better--"

"You don't know what I've been going through! Raven sends me from one meeting to another with no briefing, no help, no nothing. I have to figure out everything and for any questions she just directs me to her Rules of Order."

"I'm sorry you feel that's bad." Twilight said. "It's what you'd do if Raven wasn't here."

"What?"

"If she wasn't here, you would have to complete all of those responsibilities and hers without help."

"Yeah," Spike said. "But I don't have much help now--"

"And while you learn, she's at my side helping. I've been thinking maybe I should have two Chancellors. The task is already too much for you, and Raven can't address everything she did when she was young. I remember when I was training at Celestia's side and Raven was managing three ambassadors, two soirees, and a royal feast! There seemed to be nothing she couldn't do!"

Spike snorted smoke.

"What's wrong?"

"Raven isn't the Chancellor. I am!"

"Indeed you are!" Twilight insisted, a bit of iron on the edge of her voice, whether from annoyance, exhaustion, or the hideous dark tendrils spreading around the room, Spike couldn't be sure. He hoped it was due to the tendrils since maybe then Twilight wouldn't be expressing heartfelt anger--she'd just be doing whatever the terrifying magical appendages was forcing her to do. After a moment, though, he realized Princess Twilight falling to the dark tendrils' influence would probably be worse.

"Equestria's always had one Chancellor. One."

"But we can do better; there's no reason to run yourself ragged, arriving at meetings tardy." 

"No!" Spike insisted. "I'm the first dragon Chancellor--not a pony--dragon."

"Yes..."

"It would be shameful to say that I, a dragon, couldn't do the job a pony could."

"You have different talents--"

"No, Twilight!" Spike insisted. "Raven's manipulating you and me. She doesn't want to go away. She's inventing complications and trouble and keeping me away from you."

"Spike." Twilight took a deep breath. "I need to concentrate on this problem. If we don't change the coins within a certain time after Celestia's retirement, then I will have failed a promise I made to the ponies of Equestria and our Princess!"

"You can just do it later."

"No, Spike. I will not be a failure of a Princess by being tardy--"

"Being late's not so bad. You even had a friendship lesson about it years ago and--"

Twilight glared. "And that's not all." She gestured to another book. "This other tome on coinage indicates there is a mystical link between coinage and Equestria's stability--Equestria's stability! If the coinage is not stable and if it does not properly reflect Equestria, then the entire country could collapse!"

"What?"

"It's true," Twilight nodded. "And it's probably why Princess Celestia made me promise to remake the currency, emblazoning on it my image. In Old Ponish this book says: 'what is constructed without clarity, without relation to truth and justice and honesty and integrity, will collapse.'"

"That's ambiguous." Spike noted.

"No, it's not!" Twilight's wild eyes fixed a glare at her Chancellor. "It's idiomatic. It's saying Equestria was stable during Celestia's rule because her coinage reflected her power. But, during my apprenticeship, her power waned, evil forces assailed Equestria, and our coinage became corrupted. Celestia's care became Celestia's curse, blinding ponies who stared, struck by its reflected glare. And the back became more inky, more obstinate, more... dark."

"So, we'll change the bits when we get back."

"No, no, no!" Twilight insisted. "The curse must be exorcised. I must stay here."

"But what about the petitioners? We need you to rule."

"No." Twilight shook her head. "Celestia left before, for weeks. Raven covered. You and she, you'll cover for me."

Spike took a step back. "Uh...."

"I need you to do this, Spike."

He watched Twilight read, feverishly. The Old Ponish was small, cramped, blurry, damaged, harder to read even than Raven's Rules. Spike shivered, not wishing the pain of reading something worse than that on anyone, and he noted that Twilight's breaths were coming ragged.

"Are you sure you'll be safe? The mold--" Spike started.

Twilight magicked personal bubble barriers around each of them. "That will keep us safe. Good point, Chancellor!" She forced a smile, then resumed reading. Dark tendrils swept around her barrier. Spike could barely see her through the blackness.

"And you need to sleep."

"Not yet." Twilight said. "I am more powerful than ever, so I need less."

"But you will need it."

"Yes. Yes." Twilight dismissed Spike. "Make the arrangements. I must solve this dilemma posthaste; to be tardy would be a terror."

"Our friends could help?" Spike suggested.

"Sunburst and Starlight... perhaps." Twilight mentioned the headmistress and second-in-command of the School of Friendship. "But the new semester--"

"Is less important than this Kingdom-ending problem--" Spike added.

"No, no... I will solve this on my own, Spike. I should. Celestia did."

"But she didn't completely resolve the curse." 

"No. She didn't...." Twilight trailed off. And she was lost to Spike.

"I'll be going now," he said. 

"Yes, yes." Twilight waved a hoof in his direction. He ran up, hugged her while she dropped the protective bubbles for a moment; then, without a bubble, he left.

Stomach queasy and eyes darting around at shadows he thought--but which couldn't be--ominous dark tentacles creeping through the caves, Spike pondered his course of action. 



But when Spike reached the surface, popping his head out of a trapdoor hatch, a glowering, squinting Raven Inkwell was there, flanked by bulky armored guards hoisting sharp halberds pointed at Spike's tiny dragon-Chancellor head.