//------------------------------// // Equality 1 - A New Spell and Harmony for All // Story: Those Forty Years // by Spell Writer //------------------------------// It's been a few alicorn years since the… incident at the Crystal Empire. In the meantime, Equestria has gone through a few troubles, the only ones being a short scuffle with the Dragon Empire and a new treaty with the Griffons that took ten years to get right. About… two generations of ponies have passed already, and to say the least, Twilight now realizes the fundamental differences between Alicorns and Normal ponies. Longevity and a slower aging process are just the obvious ones, but there's so much more. The Eternal Queen sighs as she writes in a small journal, noting all the little things she's observed throughout the last few years. Mumbling to herself while no one is around in the earliest hours of the day. "Note that Full blooded alicorns like Celestia and Luna actually mature physically and mentally on Alicorn time, while introduced Alicorns like myself only begin to mature at the same rate as a full-blooded alicorn after the first A-Year has passed. Other ponies seem to have increased longevity based on their exposure to Alicorn magic and their continued proximity to Full blooded alicorns." Twilight says out loud as she writes in her book. She then continues. "Unfortunately, this does mean the first alicorn year we, erm, I went through was about as lengthy as you'd expect. I do miss the friends I made when I first came here, but I can take solace in the fact that we were friends for many, many years. As expected, science and magical studies have improved and pushed us into a new era. We are finally getting something akin to trains and vehicles for ponies. However, I am cautious since the great calamity was only known to be triggered once our technology hit a certain level." The lavender pony then taps her pen to her chin. 'Pens really are more convenient than quills. Shame that they don't have them in the future... Maybe I can learn how to make a few and take it forward.' After a moment of contemplation, she continues to write, idly flicking her wing and casually knocking out the fifth assassin this week with one swift, pegasus-powered blow. This one was another dragon. 'How sad…' she thinks to herself. Sighing a little bit to herself. At this point, people just came after her life as the ultimate challenge. Still, after surviving three wars and several assassination attempts throughout the last few years, she's effectively the best of the best when it comes to fighting… although it didn't come without a cost. "Celestia still continues skipping magic lessons to go out with her friends. I'd scold her on it, but she's heard it enough times that she's stopped going to plays without at least doing some supplementary studies. She's old enough to make her own mistakes now, so I can't hold her hoof. I can just be there for her when she stumbles and help her get back up. As for Luna, she's finally a proper teenager, even if she has lived longer than anypony alive, aside from me and her sister. The alicorn aging process is very fascinating, and hopefully, I'll have some time to be able to explore it later. Either way, Luna is actually quite the happy girl, a pretty big difference from modern times… I think." Twilight sighs a little bit. "I actually can't really remember the time period I actually come from anymore. Not too well, at least. Days and Hours feel like nothing now, but before what I dub the 'alicornification' process completed, the last few generations worth of standard years were slow." Twilight looks over to her desk, a memory crystal lying on the side, which she picks up with a gentle cast of her horn. Completely transparent magic envelops the crystal and the ivory horn on her head. Twilight's magic has gotten to the point where she no longer needs proper, written spells in most cases. She can now simply just will the magic to do the result she wishes, something she learned from her now countless years of practice with her horn. Of course, this raw power doesn't come without its downsides. While she may be able to weave whatever spells she likes, her ability to control traditional magic spells has waned significantly. This resulted in much of her older, weaker, yet fun and helpful magic being inaccessible, such as her old teleportation spell, or even just a fun spell like making a specific book fly to her. Granted, she can copy the effects with her new casting methods, but as she learned when relearning teleportation, that is easier said than done. The purple alicorn looks into the crystal and sees an image of six ponies and a dragon smiling together. She can recognize one pony, being her old self, but the others just don't ring a bell anymore. Even without her memories of them, though, just seeing the picture pulls on her heart, a gentle pang, a want to see them again. She's long forgotten why she kept the crystal there, but no force in Equestria would get her to move it from her desk. Just seeing the picture of herself and what she can only assume were her friends, well, it fills her with hope. Not just any hope either, but a particular hope, a hope in the knowledge that once this is all done, she'll have a home to return to. Even then, though, the fading of her old memories does nothing to stem the pain her heart feels about them and for them… especially for her little brother. How did she end up with a dragon little brother? Twilight doesn't even remember that story too well. Luckily, Celestia and Luna have told her the tale plenty, with varying degrees of correctness. Once they realized that Twilight had fully 'experienced' their first alicorn year together, the duo was glad to share all the stories their mother had told them when they were fillies. It became a fairly common thing to see, Twilight asking Celestia and Luna about the stories she used to recount to them when they were younger. Some of the stories definitely sounded like they broke some sort of timeline rule. Still, in reality, Twilight had long realized that any changes to the past can't have an effect on the future because once you change something, everything course corrects to the right point in time. Even if it simply is by removing the traveler before significant events happen or having the traveler fix their own changes. The only pony that would be affected by this is herself and anyone directly affected by the changes upon herself, meaning mainly Celestia and Luna. "Mngh," Twilight says as she closes her journal. Standing up and stretching a little bit before glowing brightly with magic. The sun and moon obey her as she shifts the time of day from early morning to a much more gentle and sunny morning. The pegasi scheduled a sunshower today, so Twilight begins her morning rounds with a soft step and dragging the would-be assassin behind her. After all, today is the unveiling of the new peacekeeping spell that she and Uni made together, and she can't be late. Breakfast was bland. Although, that's what happens when all you have time to eat is oats and a cookie. Twilight quietly walked to the reformatory after seeing if any of her daughters wanted to come with her to the unveiling (neither did, they both had plans for the day.) While she never really enjoyed the reformatory's existence, for some reason she can't really remember, it has been invaluable in teaching ponies and creatures better ways than crime. It's also much more preferable than execution or turning them to stone. As she enters and has a guard process the dragon, she meets Unity in her warden's office. The pair would chat for a few minutes, mostly small talk and how Unity was doing with her family. The Spirit pony may be cold and calculating at work, but she managed to net herself a Stallion a few years back and has been there for all her descendants as a wise yet intense ancestor they can call on. Either way, the pair would go to the cell blocks where only the worst of the worst ponies are held. Getting everything ready. Two hours later, Twilight and Unity stand together in front of the high-security prisoners. Unity speaking first. "Alright, you ingrates. We're here because you're the worst of the worst, ponies who don't want to learn the way of harmony and don't even make an attempt to put your talents to good use. It took a while, but we finally devised something special for you all." Twilight then speaks, her voice loud and booming so all the ponies can hear. "We have developed a spell that will help you all realize what you have done and what is at risk for you. The spell will only be undone once you all stop being malefactors that could and will be a problem for Equestria. Till then, though, you all will suffer the same fate." She says dryly. Her heart had long forgotten the idea that all ponies have some good in them. After all, many of the ponies in this room have attacked her directly in some manner, or her guards trying to get to her. It is tough to forgive someone who wanted to hurt you in such a manner. After all, the nobility really does not like Twilight. The guards quickly restrain the ponies with magic. Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her horn begins to gently shimmer as it glows with her old magic aura, although it is much more intense and powerful than it once was. The spell casts on all the prisoners in the room with a bright white flash of light, lifting up all the ponies in the air. With a small pluck, all their cutie marks are removed and replaced with a simple equal sign. The idea of it being to make sure the ponies cannot use anything more than their natural abilities. No talents, no skills. They would have to learn as effectively as blank flanks. Although, Twilight herself only fully understood the effect of equal marks once it was far too late. Many of the prisoners panicked or screamed, but they fell on deaf ears. Twilight and Unity exit the room with poise and return to the warden's office. Before finally, Twilight exhales and lays her head on the desk. "That. Was horrifying. We are never using that spell outside of emergencies, and when its use is vital, got it?" She says to Unity with a glare. Unity just shrugs. "Eh. It was whatever. I still think we shoulda replaced their marks with a Harmony symbol or something. That way, we could just send them back into the world without worrying about them." She says as she goes over some papers. Twilight glares. "We aren't brainwashing ponies! We're here to teach them and hold them if they truly can't be reformed. At some point, I'll just banish them from Equestria if necessary." Twilight mumbles to herself in worry. Looking at Unity putting the glowing marks away into a small vault. Unity shrugs. "Relax, we're only doing it to the worst of the worst, as we agreed. It's better to have and not need it rather than need it and not have it." She says with a shrug and giggles. "Now excuse me, Your Magesty~. I have some ponies to teach." Unity grins to herself as she leaves. She always enjoys this next part. After all, all those who oppose harmony are her enemies! Twilight sighed and headed home for now. Mainly to get the day's work done. News of the new spell leaked out the very next day, with many ponies now fearful of what was to come. If only they knew. Twilight would sit down at her desk. Celestia and Luna both sleeping on her bed. The night sky gently shines through a window, peering into the room and letting a gentle, yet cool air flow in. The Lavender alicorn smiles at the sleeping pair. The two had played all day and completely ignored their magic lessons again. She did scold them a little bit for doing so. After all, they need to know their way around magic better than anypony, but Twilight couldn't stay upset with them. The Eternal Queen would then grab a blank book, gently casting some magic on it. The book would glow gently, with a soft, almost warm light glowing off of it, a title appearing on it. "To My Friends. By Twilight Sparkle." "To my friends in the future. I hope you get to read this book at some point. I'm writing this book to let you know that I'm doing okay, things always change around here, but I'll be back soon. I can't divulge everything since this book will have to survive. Who knows how long to get to you. But I did include some fun stuff with it." She then grabs a little bag enchanted with a stasis spell on it. "Firstly, some snacks of my era. I have a feeling one of you would love to try some more than anything. Next, some lovely magic thread and sweet zap honey jam. Share the jam with everyone! Next up, some local noble ponies and I are starting something called the Wonderbolts. Dunno, if they'll last till modern time-" Twilight then hesitates a little. Before erasing that last part. 'I don't want them to know that I can barely remember them.' She then continues. "Next, a Mark I Wonderbolts flight suit! Probably belongs in a museum, but ya know. Something special." She says as she puts the purple and blue flight suit into the bag. "Next, a book on ancient animal diets and feed, and last but not least." Twilight sighs a little. "I'm sending a plushy of myself... I hope it makes the trip. It's not well made, but it's the best I can do." She writes in the book. Her ears flattened down before finally writing. "I miss you all. Till we meet again. - Twilight Sparkle"