Chapter Two
The Letter, the Truth and the Hunt
“But that just makes the hunt all that much sweeter.”
“First off, how is there even another student? I worked hard to earn my spot, I read every diary entry, every story of the past students’ to get where I am now and here comes ole’ Miss Badass strolling in the door. I bet she doesn’t even know who Starswirl is.” Twilight muttered to herself, walking through an empty corridor of the castle. Twilight couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t. “Second, the ‘Elements of the Seven Deadly Sins? They can’t be real, I mean sure they were based on real artifacts, but the Seven Deadly sins? But, what if they are real? Queen Luna sure thinks so, but as a pony that relies on science, I- How- They just can’t be real!” She sighed greatly as she looked onto a giant wooden door. It had a gold plate that shined in respect of the candles that stretched the castle’s halls. The plate read, ‘Residential Wing’. Entering, Twilight continued, “Third, what’s with the time limit? If it's so important, why can’t this wait till after the celebration. Hmm, maybe because it's three weeks out. Well, that makes sense I guess. I wonder what Spike will think about this.” She walked past aging doors, some without name tags, some with old plates, some with brand new name tags. Wanting to get her mind off of things, she decided to start reading the doors at random. One read ‘Lyra Heartstrings’, another ‘Starlight Glimmer’. This one she already knew about since she made regular, but careful visits for ‘personal attention’. She moved to another. “Yikes, that's an oldie.” She whispered to herself. She, surprising even herself, hadn’t ever noticed this one. The door itself had clearly seen better days. I was rotten to the point that it started showing holes to reveal the mysterious inside. The name tag, as difficult as it was to read, Twilight admitted, was corroded over with a blue fuzziness to it, much like copper does with oxygen, and had been scratched out many times. “Sunset Shimmer. Hm, must have left or dropped out before I came here.” Moving along she continued this little trend of her’s. Vinyl, Sereth, Jeresu, Jeresu (Male)...? “Hmm must be one of those interchangeable names.” She was close to her own room, but before she took the few final steps that kept her from her room, she took an immediate right, opposite of her room. The name plate… was glitching? It was uncertain what was going on. It seemed to fade in and out of existence the closer she walked to the door. “D… Deanery? Dealer? Dreamless? Port? Portal?” Her eyes itched immensely, almost unbearably the closer she got. After aggressively rubbing her eyes, she looked back at the door. Now there was nothing. Just a wall stood before her. “What? I saw something though, it was right here!” Confusion started to take hold of her, wondering how she just made up thirty-seconds of a door. ‘But that would make the most sense. After all, the most probable solution is most likely the truth. I have too much to worry about then a hallucination’ She thought. She decided not to worry about it. Turning around, she almost instantly forgot about it…
Opening the dark oak door, Twilight could see a brightly lit room… in nothing but a mess. The kitchen was covered in some sort of green slime. The living room had pillows and blankets absolutely everywhere. The closet door was open with brooms, dustpans and other cleaning supplies sprawled out on the floor. Somehow all the paintings and picture frames were either crooked or just on the floor. I was gone for an hour. What happened? She thought in rather extreme worry. “Spike! Spike! Spiiiiiiiiike!”
The pile of blankets and pillows in the living room made a slight twitch. Then a small shuffle, having a small purple and green spiked head pop out. Sleepy jade slit eyes looked towards the silhouette that called his name. A long yawn emerged from the draconic character. His jaw extended out to an unnatural angle and his forked tongue curled at the end. While there wasn’t his normal green flame erupted from his throat, smoke did start spilling out from Spike’s muzzle. This slightly unnerved Twilight as she remembered all the times he would accidentally start fire in her room when they were both younger. “Yahhhhhn. Hugh. Who is it? Twilight won’t be happy if you're here uninvited. Well, unless you’re Starlight that is, heh.” He finished this thought with another yawn as another limb was brought from the comfy pile. Rubbing his eyes, he let out another yawn. Eyes now finally clear, at least enough to see somewhat clearly, he looked at the not-so-mysterious stranger that invaded his home. “Oh! Twilight. I-I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. Don’t your lessons usually last until Moon’s Dawn?”
Rolling her eyes, she responded. “Yes, they do. Normally I would be gone until the Moon was risen, giving way to the star-filled sky, but this wasn’t a normal lesson. Spike?” She questioned. Before continuing, she let a small pause of silence take the room. “What day is it?”
The lonely dragon scratched his chin, “Uhh, Friday?”
“And what days are Fridays?”
“Cleaning day…” He said with a slow huff.
“And what do we do on cleaning days?”
They both stared at each other in total silence for a moment. Then a minute. Then Twilight asked again.
“And what do we do on cleaning days? Spike? I wonder what we do on cleaning day?”
“You already know the answer. Why do you hurt me so with these trivial matters?” He changed his dialect to match those that live in the city below the castle, and that annoyed her to the very bone.
“And cleaning day is for what specific purpose?” She said with a slight tinge of anger.
Letting out a huff of annoyance, he gave up. “Cleaning day is for… cleaning. Are you happy now?”
“Yes. I’ve another question though. If today is Friday, which we’ve concluded is cleaning day. Why is the apartment a giant mess?”
With a quick retort, Spike raised his voice as if he was royalty. “Because my dear mother, I am a king. Should a king not have his own castle, his own domain? I think not! Royalty has flowed through my bloodline since the dawn of time. Now, bask in the aura of my beauty.”
He stood up from his soft forretress. For the rarer species he was, Rainbow Spine Tooth, his height for his age was around that of a normal pony, his length however, was around twice that of an earth pony. Stretching his scaly wings, his undertones of green on his wings shimmered in the light. When in the moonlight, it seemed as if you could only see green, but if you looked close enough you could see that the light refracted in just the right way to see a full seven colored rainbow. A seven colored rainbow of secondary colors odd enough. Twilight thought this was normal, as she lived with the self proclaimed ‘king’.
‘You’re kidding me.’ She thought to herself. “Spike. You might be of a rarer species of dragon, but by no means are you the ‘king’ of dragons. First off, you hatched under my care, making you a noble. Second, although we have a treaty with the Dragon Pit, you haven’t ever met another one of your species, let alone another dragon. Third, we only just found out what species you are.”
A pout of annoyance and anger emitted from the sole draconic. “I am a king and you shall respect me as such!” He roared.
Just as quickly, Twilight glanced at the cleaning supplies. Her horn lit up with a ghostly purple haze surrounding it, using a telekinetic power to grab the bottle that said ‘Water’. She then proceeded to spray the angered dragon. “No, no, no. We don’t yell in this household. Although not biologically, I am your mother and you shall treat me as such.” She mimicked. Spike, now completely woken up by the cold water droplets, had dove back under the pillows and blankets. “Good try.” It was to no avail, Twilight simply used her magic to lift all the pillows and blankets, revealing a purple dragon curling around himself. “What do you say?” No response except a slight whimper. “Spike. What do you say?” Again, nothing but a whimper. “Spike,” she said firmly and with complete dominance. “What do you say?” A strange muffled noise came from the purple blob, as if this meant he didn't want to give Twilight the satisfaction. Twilight thought to herself upon hearing this. ‘Hmmm. This feels like Deja Vu.’ “Sit up and say it again.” Still having the asserted dominance.
Finally sitting up onto his haunches from his curled prison, Spike had straightened his back. He was taller than the lavender unicorn, unsurprisingly. Certain species of dragons grew faster than ponies, Twilight remembered as she looked upon the towering child. His glassy jade eyes avoided the purple counterparts, looking in the direction of the couch. His wings tightly tucked behind his back, his front claws were folded together. “I’m sh-,” He let his voice trail off, hoping to be let off. However the face on Twilight didn’t seem satisfied. “I’m sho-,” Again, he let his voice trail off, and once again Twilight wasn't accepting this response. “Grrrrr. I’m sorry, alright?” He finally roared out into the dark castle.
In the dragonic societal hierarchy, you prove your worth by your strength, assertiveness and smarts. Although, it mainly and really only depends on your strength. Dragons act and respond to this out of pure instinct. So, when Twilight asserted her strength, Spike responded as such, knowing that her strength, assertiveness and smarts vastly overcame his own. Twilight had learned over the years of taking care of Spike that strength was the only way to communicate when the dragon was being overly and frankly unnecessarily stubborn.
“Spike,” the lavender pony continued. “I forgive you.” Her eyes, growing to a soft motherly love with her lips curling to a soft smile to match. “I have two things to talk to you about. One, this mess needs to be cleaned up by the end of the day and/or by the time we leave.”
“Leave?” The dragon questioned.
“Yes, leave. Queen Luna said that she sent you a letter earlier. It should have a red waxed crescent moon on the seal.”
“Oh yeah. She actually sent two of them. Here.” Reaching under his wings he passed the two scrolls to his mother. “One of them doesn’t have red wax, though. It's purple.”
He was indeed right, two scrolls were in front of the unicorn, and yet only one of them had the Queen’s official seal. The other? Twilight had an idea as to what it might mean. ‘Might be an unofficial seal? Or maybe she’s changing the codes again? She does like to mix things up once in a while.’ She thought quietly. Deciding to open the purple seal later, she took the red scroll in her hoofs. A small and brittle crack came from the wax seal as she opened it, waiting to see what the contents held inside.
To my dearest student, Twilight
In all my years of ruling over Equestria, I had never had a student as bright and studious as you. Although many of your peers had fought to get where they are now, none of them had the drive and ingenuity to claim the role that you have now. This includes that little mare friend of yours, yes I know about her. Really my pupil, you have the strangest tastes. Although her flank has something going for her, however, you already know that don’t you?
Twilight flushed upon reading this. How did she know about Starlight? She did whatever she could to keep their secret as well hidden as possible. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, this is her castle after all. She went back to the scroll.
However, that's not here nor there. I wrote this letter to you, to express my thoughts on you, about the future of Equestria, the Sin’s, their bearers, the truth of Nightmare Moon and finally my sister.
‘Sister?’ She thought to herself. ‘Queen Luna has a sister? Nightmare moon? And what about the Sin’s? How do they play into all of this?’ Too many questions, and not enough time. So she put those confusing questions in a box and locked it six feet below in her mind.
First, with Celestia. My sister. You know of the mythical tales of ancient Equestria, where two regal sisters lived in harmony? One rose the sun and one rose the moon. They’re real, every single story. This would include Discord, Sombra, the Sirens and finally Starswirl and his pillars. I know at one point in time he was your idol, Starswirl. Anyways, yes. I have a sister. She is the elder of the two of us. After our mother died, we decided to split Equestria in two. Not by territories or factions, but by a day-night cycle. Of course with Celestia and I having our destinies defined by our cutie marks at a rather young age, we agreed upon the obvious. As I lowered the moon, Celestia would raise the sun and vice versa. The problem was, I was the only one who enjoyed and basked in the light of my beautiful moon. With the ponies enjoying the sun during the day, playing and laughing, I was alone. Everypony loved Celestia, as she sat upon her throne overlooking the crowds that would cheer her name. Nopony ever noticed me, perched upon my balcony performing my duties of the night. I felt alone. I was alone. Or at least I thought I was. Celestia had tried to help, but how could she understand? I lived in her, quite literal, shadow. She was ignorant though. She thought that if I just showed my face into the crowd, they would love me. You see at this time, I was rarely ever seen outside of my room, only ever leaving to raise the moon, go to royal meetings and such. I was like you before you moved into the castle.
She felt a slight jab at herself when reading that part. ‘I wasn't a shut in.’ She pouted.
I, at the time, was filled with nothing but anger, fear and betrayal by my own people, my own sister… and yet here I am one-thousand years later. Wondering if maybe she was right. Maybe if I had just shown my face a little bit more, go to the gala’s that were hosted, meet new ponies. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so blind or so… susceptible.
‘Susceptible? To what?’ She paused, not sure if she wanted to read the next page. In all her time she spent with the lunar queen, twilight never found that Queen Luna had ever been ‘weak’ in any sense of the word SAsa. Whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally or whatever else. So to read it on paper, to read that she was hurt emotionally and mentally. It unnerved her. More than she thought it would. She went back to continue, but before she could, she saw her hoof was starting to shake, but she didn’t know the exact reason. Maybe it was the fact that Queen Luna was being vulnerable with Twilight. Or maybe it was the weight of the responsibility that was finally getting to her. Or maybe it was just her anxiety getting the better of her. Either way, she pushed on.
Susceptible to the darkness, to my anger, my fear and my pain. I gave up. On trying to be the princess that Celestia and everypony else wanted me to be. This darkness came in the form of myself. Only she was taller, black coated, and had a deeper resolve. Which leads me into the next topic. Yes, this darkness I speak of is her. The Wicked Mare of the Moon, Nightmare moon. Back then, when she spoke I believed every word she said. That I would be praised, loved even. That I would be the pony everyone looked up to. A pony that even Celestia could look up to. Oh how a young fool I was. She once controlled me, but given 50 years and a ton of regret. I gained control of not only myself, but of a new puppet. I hated her, you know? I hated her so much, but given time, she would be my closest ally, friend even.
‘You have got to be kidding me. She controlled the Queen? The Queen who killed the King of Dragons? The same Queen who had brought forth a striving nation? There’s no way!’ She was confused, frustrated and for some reason a little angry. At who or what? She, again, didn't know. ‘Twilight, focus.’ Levitating the scroll, she slapped both her hooves against her face, snapping out of whatever trance still held her.
It was odd. We both came to an agreement however. I would let her have free will once again, but only if she held a master-servant spell pact with me. This would prevent her from defying me, lying, allowing a psychic connection, etc. This is how I would trust her and her me.
Subject number three. The Elements of Harmony, rather the Elements of the Seven Deadly Sins. Wrath; Lust; Envy; Greed; Sloth; Gluttony; and finally, Pride. As I have said before, Wraith belongs to Fluttershy. Although the Element of Harmony she connects to is Kindness. Odd isn’t it? The Elements of Harmony and the Seven Deadly Sins are two sides of the same coin.
Wrath is Kindness. Fluttershy unbeknownst to even herself, and others for that matter, she expresses the utmost respect and courtesy when fighting her foes. No matter the power gap that lies between her and her target.
Envy is Honesty. The ability to feel a venomous jealousy and be able to truthfully tell others.
Greed is Generosity. A power that leaves the host contemplating the morales of their actions.
Gluttony is Laughter. An unstoppable feeling of hunger that leads their user to laugh at others' pain.
Sloth is Loyalty. This host will take things on step at a time, with the resolve equal to that of the world itself.
Lust is Empathy. An overwhelming passion for one or many, all while feeling the pleasures within it.
Finally… Pride is Magic...
Not much is known about Pride. All we know is that Pride and Magic are… how do you say. Obscure. All we know is that it exists. I believe you are Pride, but without a basis to make an informed guess, I am unsure. Regarding the two bearers in Manehattan and PonyVilla, you are going to want to find Rarity in Manehattan and AppleJack in PonyVilla. I’m sorry for not being able to give you the other three bearers’, but that just makes the hunt all that much sweeter.
Finally, I must tell you the future of Equestria. It will see nothing but conflict and peace in the future. You will see, hear and feel the pain, love, suffering, and care from all the ponies in the coming decade. For this, I’m sorry. You will understand when the time comes, but I’m sorry.
I must apologize, but this is all I can do for you now. Find the Elements, find the bearers’ and save Equestria… and if you can. Please save Celestia.
Below the final paragraph, Twilight saw the words ‘Your Trusted Queen’ were crossed out multiple times… along with the words ‘Your Mother’, but she chose to skip over the rest of the crossed lines. Instead the final words were read aloud by the dragon.
“‘Your Teacher and friend, Luna. Teacher. Yes, but calling herself your friend seems a little weird for me."
“Spike. Shouldn’t you be cleaning the apartment?”
Dejected, he looked around the room and sighed. “Yeah. I’ll get right on that.”