//------------------------------// // "...or their guilt that makes them royal?" // Story: What makes the Royal Family royal? // by KarmaSentinal //------------------------------// The evening twilight had given away to the dark sky above, providing the necessary backdrop for the thousands of sparkling orbs that accompanied the moon to make their appearance.  Each star twinkled and shined with a muted dullness that could be mimicked by placing wire mesh in front of a bulb or candle, but would never be as bright as the guiding lights above. For the citizens of the Equestria (and world) these little pinpricks of light held a mystery greater than what happened in the time before their rulers took leadership of the whole world. Most believe these lights are a product of some great invention only the royal family is privy to, but a daring few on the fringes of society would dare suggest these stars are lefts of the before times, directly conflicting with the royal family.  While the reason for their existence is questioned, every admirer of the night sky will admit it is a beautiful sight to behold. Taking a half hour to admire the subtle changes of the sky and compare it to the night before has been one passed down through the generations, but for one single family it is nothing more than a hobby of their mother.    Twilight Sparkle had left the meeting abruptly, and no excuse she could provide would fix the mistreatment of her longest friend, but the damaged alicorn trusted the pair to find their way out. This wasn’t the first time Copper Pouch had visited the castle before, so he shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding his room, but if he should then the old griff could ask one of the loyal Night Watch for assistance.  That was her reasoning for the hasty retreat, but during the final stages of purchase when one of the security wards went off signaling an arrival the alicorn feared and welcomed in equal measure.  It was also the main reason for the rushed night sky leaving the stars in nearly the exact space as before with only a few major differences big enough for ponies to notice. By no means her best work, but the alicorn had little time to waste if she were to meet the visitor on time, and while her stiff hobble slowed the Queen down, it didn’t stop the stride toward the preselected room.  Many of the senior Night Watch parted and greeted the rushed alicorn as she passed, and to Twilight’s great credit, always managed to greet them by name as she limped passed. Her destination wasn’t hidden by any means, but due the casting of a few spells she designed herself allowed the very hallways to lead away wandering eyes, and curious souls before they could find the lone double doors along that stretch of hallway.   Even before the castle’s reconstruction and revenavations, Twilight knew she would need a single room to call her own when the need to retreat from the reverence became too much. It was in this lone room Twilight stored her greatest treasures of vast wealth, and irreplaceable mementos of a bygone era, but always served as an oasis for her suffering mind.   Twice more she greeted a few early Night Watch walking to their posts, but eventually the cluttered halls full of doors: chandeliers, tapestries, artworks, ect were wiped away with a single hoof leaving a hall bare of any decor and fanfare. Looking to her left and then to her right, the Queen’s horn glowed with a brightly focused energy to disengage all of the wards that laced the old Manehattan style doors and metal locks before entering.  The moment she crossed the frame, Twilight was besieged with the stale and musty air of a room that has not been visited for some time. Along the left and back wall were literal library shelves of books lining the two walls only breaking to allow the lone window a chance to do its job, and let in the hazed grey of the moon. The other half of this private and mysterious room was left nearly bare save for the single large circular bed located in the direct center of the room, and the few personal effects that hugged the remaining walls.  A single family portrait painted a hundred years ago hung in the center of the right wall with eight additional photos, four on the left and four on the right. The four on the left were framed moments of the early years of rule with the top most picture of her marriage and the other three being the birth of her children. The four on the right of the portrait were special in the fact they weren’t of her family, but were considered family by her. The charred photo of her friends hung proudly at the top, with her parents, Spike Shining, and Cadence following next. The bottom two photos were of Twilight and her older children in one of their rare visits. To stand before this history filled her with both pride and heartache knowing her current family was only possible because of the sacrifices made to achieve it all, and that no amount of magic in the world could fix it. If it were at all possible to go back to that very moment of their battle, the alicorn doubted she would even change her decision; a terrible fault of hers if Twilight was honest, and it was that primordial fear of messing up that romanced the alicorn into striking that deal.  It spared Equestria and the world, but ultimately led to its destruction.  Everything she had ever known was lost that day, and replaced with the world she had grown to care for with the tenderness only a mother could bring while stilling the disciplinary hoof of its father. It had taken a number of decades to welcome the new standard, and with that accpantace the understanding of some sort of gallery should be erected to preserve what little of the past remained.  From this desire to retain a shred of her old self led to the birth of this time capsule.  Perhaps the only realm in existence that housed any definite answer to what happened before the deal was struck, but most importantly helped the damaged alicorn turned Queen remember where she came from. What she had to give up to become the cripled pony Queen of the world. Who she casted aside for the greater good… Her depression scurried back to the shadows when the restrained magic took hold of wards and locks on the doors, and began forcing them open. This commotion interrupted Twilight’s self pity earlier than usual, and for that she was thankful for the disruption.  Directing her attention away from the past, she stiffly began hubbling toward the door already knowing who it likely was. Of all creatures, there are only five that can unlock this door with only one of them being expected tonight, and that knowledge sent the alicorn’s heart in a flurry of excitement. A feeling she never expected to feel for the creature that became her husband, but to immortals like them all they had was time to live and forget.  The being that entered was taller than Twilight by a head and that wasn’t including the minotaur horns on his head. Usually, he would make himself taller than most three story buildings as a way to remind the populace of his authority, but on rare occasions such as tonight he adapted to a ‘normal’ height. Looking up into his eyes made her heart beat a little faster, and even more so when he adjusted his height once more to meet her eyes for a change.  “Hello, dear husband.” Twilight greeted the centaur as he approached.  He ignored his wife’s greeting as he kneeled before her, and with no resistance from the alicorn took her bad hoof into his hands to rub the hoof with his thumbs. The action caught Twilight off guard who nearly fell on her flank from the loss of balance, but managed to remain standing as she watched her husband with great interest.  “How’s your leg?” He finally asked with a lower pitch gruff than normal as he continued to tenderly massage the alicorn’s hoof.  “The same as last year I’m afraid, but not enough to impede my mobility.” “I see your bitterness hasn’t left.” He scoffed rudely as he carefully placed the appendage down to stand up, crossing his arms as he looked down upon her.  “And you still refuse to comb your beard and mane.” Twilight snarked as she turned around to make her way toward the large bed. This blatant display of disrespect had its intended effect on the centaur whose red fur became brighter with rage.  “DON’T YOU DARE TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!!” His bellows echoed off the walls with enough strength to rattle the old library shelves, but as a testament to their build remained firm against the assault.  Thankful for the silencing wards in the room, Twilight wasted no time whipping around to confront her rude husband. She stomped over to him, ignoring her bad leg as her damaged wings flared in defiance as she leaned in to match the centaur’s stare.  “Don’t you ever raise your voice to me.” She hissed “I fought you once, and I’ll fight you again dear.” How much of the threat could follow through was unknown, but for the two long lived beings that had taken part in the conflict knew the stakes. Both knew the power the other wielded and the centaur king (out of fear) respected his wife’s combat prowess while the alicorn queen worried if she could even muster the strength to survive a prolonged engagement. Against the differences in opinion, the two shared a devotion for the other that made mortal acts of violence toward their spouse near impossible to achieve, but little expressions like this one were encouraged.  Boredom in prolonged life could destroy the very mind of the unprepared, and to combat this the pair often encouraged ‘heated’ exchanges to excite and release possible tensions one might have accumulated during their absence.  Their postures remained tense as the two gods continued sizing the other for potential weakness, or signs of further aggression before settling down once more. Terik’s breathing became less ridge as the adrenaline circulating through his body weakened with each pass. Twilight’s own reaction gradually softened as her body realized the damaged wings were flared, and dormant nerve endings began firing in agony from the stress of miss use. The subtle flinches in her face as muscle contracted alerted the centaur of her pain, and further desculated the tension as his worry for the alicorn took over, forcing him to approach.  “You shouldn’t have done that.”  “I know that dear, I’m not stupid.” her tone had lost the venom, but still held an irk strain behind them.  “Here…”  “Stay back...wait!” she cried as her husband reached out and picked her up off the ground, careful to cradle Twilight just under the barrel and rump. There was a mild cry of surprise as the centaur carried his wife toward the large circular bed that had provided them a familiar comfort for many decades. For a bed meant to support royalty, it was remarkably plain in both design and appearance to garner questions about its actual origin, but its appearance isn’t the reason for its inclusion to the hidden room.  Likely the last one in existence created for the sole purpose to support the highest echelons of society, the cloud bed still retained the original clouds the pegasi stuffed into the mattress and pillows centuries ago. The last of its kind, and a perfect match for a couple and their room of obsolete ways.  With practiced motion, the centaur king placed his broken wife on the surface, taking great stride not to upset her old injuries. When Twilight didn’t complain or express her displeasure, Terik took his own seat on the edge of the bed to the alicorn’s right.  The old familiar sting of silence filled the void of sound yet again as the two lolled on the bed unsure how to proceed. It was only when Terik felt the damaged wing of his wife being draped across his back did the spell end.  He quickly found his shoulder becoming the perch for  Twilight as she tried snuggling closer to his left side in preparation for what was to come.  “ Let’s read our favorite story, dear.” She whispered as a coat of exhaustion weighed her tired frame down.  The Mighty King didn’t reply nor make a move to remove his exhausted wife from his side, but instead lifted a finger toward the third bookshelf from the left, second row from the top, and first book on the left watching it glow red as his magic grasped it. With surprising carefulness that would worry every creature (including their children) in the world, the ailing book was pulled toward the pair until it left the shelf and floated their way with a practiced motion derived from nearly 300 hundreds years of practice.  The book was showing its age, but the spells placed upon the binding and pages had done their job to slow the process down all these decades, but it would be time for a special reprinting of exactly one copy very soon. Opening the worn hard cover, the lord felt his wife fully leaning into his side as she settled in for the story and possible nap… “StarSwirl’s necessary guide to Magical Effects, and everything else.”  His deep, imposing voice rumbled with a suppressed anger he only did for his wife. The King did not hate this, but found it difficult to read without sounding frightful, and angry, but thankfully his alicorn wife paid it no mind as the soundwaves reverberated throughout her body.  Closing her eyes with a sigh of relief, and contentment of the moment, Twilight found herself drifting off to sleep as her husband Terik continued reading the table of contents from the sole remaining copy of magic left in the world. The damaged alicorn tried to not think of her failure that led to the current world today, and truthfully, spending rare moments like this with her husband, the very being that nearly crippled her, and stole all of the magic in the world should have felt so wrong, but it didn’t.  There was another feeling that followed her everywhere now like rain clouds to ruin any thoughts she ought to have about the centaur she was snuggling against. The years come and go, and eventually so did her hatred of the beast she called her husband to be replaced with a feeling the alicorn never expected to feel again after betraying Equestria in order to save it from complete destruction.  “Forward. The creation, donation, and compilation of every spell, potion, rune…” Tierk read on with the same pace he found soothing, almost forgetting about his wife by his side.  Twilight inhaled a deep breath, taking in some of his and the book’s scent with it and smiled as she expelled the calming mixture from her body. “...relaxing.” It had taken many decades to grieve, and hate before she could accept her role in the creation of this new world, but through all of that Twilight managed to find a small amount of comfort in this alien world. A sense of familiarity with the centaur she had helped in destroying everything she loved, and ironically it’s because of this shared history that made this union possible.   In the end, they were two souls belonging to a world that would never come back.