//------------------------------// // Celestia Unplugged // Story: Last Sparkles Of Time // by torrentialCAM //------------------------------// “No, no, no, no, no. Nuh-uh!” Rainbow Dash manically shook her head, and her wings at the same time, as she paced the hall outside Twilight’s suite. Two passing royal guards briefly gave a glance in her direction, only to keep pacing off shortly afterwards. “It’s not gonna happen,” Dash said to the other four. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack had congregated here not long after the Princesses had taken their leave; Twilight, meanwhile, was still behind a firmly locked door in the suite, despite Spike’s best intentions. Dash grunted, “It’s not gonna happen. How do we know any of this – ANY of it – isn’t just some unicorn screwing around with us, like the world’s sickest practical joke?” “Cool your jets, gunner-gal. We’ve just been given a narrative-“ Applejack gave a sharp look to Rainbow Dash when it looked as though the Pegasus was about to say something, “And we’d best follow it. Okay – according to these…vision-prophecy-whatchimadoodads that are at least bein’ sent through the Princess, Twilight…” She stared down at her hooves for a moment before choking out, “Twilight is s’posed to –“ She shook her head, “And that’s the thing that sets off all the other things, or…somethin’. Now – can someone please get that unicorn to open up her door? Can’t think straight like this. Figures that the smartest one o’us would be the hardest hit.” Wordlessly, Rarity slipped past the earth-pony, opening the door into the suite with her magic and heading to the back door into the bedroom. “Don’t get your hopes up, Rarity,” Spike said, his fists evidently exhausted from pounding on the door, “She’s locked down tighter than Tank in a rainstorm.” Rarity gingerly placed her face up to the elaborate bedroom door, “…Twilight?” She said in a sensitive, yet melodic tone, “Twilight, dear, I know you’re frightened…but we need you right now. I know it’s hard, but there’s much more at stake here than one life…please come out, why don’t you?” Slowly, the door swung open. Twilight attempted a weak smile to the fashionista, but Rarity could see the lavender mare’s eyes welled with tears. “T-Twilight, now…” Rarity moved in closer, “Crying doesn’t fit your complexion at all, dear…I must be entirely honest: I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through.” “I can’t let it end like this…” Twilight started, “I’ve only been in Ponyville a few years! The vast majority of my life, I…” She sighed, “I can’t have found – found all of you, only to…” She shook her head vehemently, “I won’t let this happen.” “Then please come to the hall, dear,” Rarity said, leading Twilight back through the bedroom, “We’re trying to, erm…’hash’ this whole thing out, and we could use your help.” As soon as the others caught sight of her emerging, Applejack shouted, “Twi!” Fluttershy made some kind of airy noise that may have, under the right circumstances, been interpreted as a little, ‘yay!’ Applejack adjusted her hat, “Now, Twi…we want to hear your interpretation of that…thing that just happened.” “Um, well…” Twilight traced a little path on the floor in front of her with one hoof absently, “Apparently, ponies of different races were fighting. Not just fighting – waging all-out war! It seemed almost to return to how things were in the pre-Equestrian period, after the paleo-pony period when the various races splintered off.” Twilight swallowed a deep breath, “Then, that’s supposed to take place after…” She coughed up the words, “After I die. And, apparently, my – that – that event has some direct correlation with the ponies fighting, and with – I can’t believe I’m saying this – with…Discord.” “Now, how do we know that was actually Discord?” Rainbow Dash crossed her front hooves in front of her, flitting in midair. “How many other draconequuses do you know, who look and move exactly like Discord, RD?” Applejack shot her a glance from the side. “Well – the obvious solution is to keep whatever’s supposed to happen to Twilight, from happening!” Rainbow Dash said, “We stand guard around here at all hours. Nothing gets through.” “Thanks, but I really don’t think that’s necessary…” Twilight managed to chuckle softly, “Guys…I’ll be fine. Sorry for locking myself in the back, there, it’s just…I needed some time to come to grips with all this.” Her courage bled through her words. Rainbow Dash whispered in Fluttershy’s ear, “She goes completely horseapples at being late for an assignment, and is all peachy about this whole prophecy-thing?” Fluttershy, as Rainbow may as well have expected, merely made a little mumble in response. “However, I would like to talk to the Princess about this,” Twilight said, to which the others collectively nodded. But at that very moment, Princess Celestia’s concerns were more immediate than visions that may or may not come to pass. Standing at the helm of her throne room deeper in the Castle, she stared down three gryphons: heavily armoured and with eyes that shone greedily through their helmets. Their royal armour was in some respects similar to Celestia’s own royal guards, but for the sharper-edged shoulders and the ruby trim around the flanks. “Once again, I am truly sorry,” Celestia said with a regal air about her words, “But I simply cannot approve your Chancellor’s requests to grant him ownership of the Ragged Mountains five miles from the Everfree Forest.” “This needs not be difficult, Princess,” One of the soldiers authoritatively said, “You know as well as we that we need those mountain landscapes as a training ground; efforts to exterminate the Manticore hordes on our west fold have proven unsuccessful, and we need to expand! You have turned us down the last four times we’ve approached. This is your last chance, Sun Princess.” “I understand your concern, gentlegryphons, but I shall explain this once more,” Celestia said, “There are certain herbs that grow on the face of those mountains that prove vital to pony health. Even the common cold can be lessened by these herbs’ effects. If we give you the mountain faces, then we’ve placed a political obstacle between ourselves and being able to freely retrieve these medicines. Ponies will die while we wait for bureaucracy to work through the motions!” “Then you give us no choice,” One of the gryphons said. As Celestia watched, something seemed to be emerging from his armour: between his wings, what appeared to be a built-in bow and arrow operated entirely by those wings. Celestia gasped; this was no negotiation! The other two rose similar devices from their armour, all pointed at Celestia; they wouldn’t. These fools wouldn’t. Celestia bared her teeth, standing her ground. They wouldn’t put up such a futile attack against the Sun Goddess of Equestria, would they? No. Unthinkable. It was a desperation move, and all she needed to do was demonstrate a sudden surge of power, and then they would… “Not on my watch! Get yourself ready for the winged warpath!” The gryphons turned, confused, to the cyan Pegasus zooming from the hall into the throne chamber, and below her on the floor, the orange earth-pony with the blond mane. “Y’all aren’t gonna be layin’ any paws or claws on our Princess, ya hear?” Applejack said, while Rainbow Dash dove at the gryphons. In athletic swoops, she kicked from above at the arrow launchers, managing to break apart the flexible wood of one of the launchers with a single kick. “What the-“ One of the gryphons swiped unsuccessfully at the dashing Dash, “Celestia’s technicolour battle brigade?!” Celestia couldn’t help but grin for a moment, “No, just some little ponies protecting their princess.” She thought the circumstance over for a moment, “…by attacking emissaries…of an independent province….” She suddenly shouted, “Wait! STOP!” But in the frenzy, nobody heard her, and the next move came too quick for anyone to react: one of the gryphons swiped at Rainbow Dash and sent her flying until she slammed hard against the wall; sticking for a moment and then gradually sliding down like a sticked pancake that had been flipped with too much fervor. Applejack was headed towards that very gryphon, lasso in mouth (Celestia did not pause to ponder on where the earth-pony acquired it since the last time she looked), only to hit an invisible wall between her and her target. She looked back to the Princess, who worriedly shook her head, sustaining the magic wall with seemingly no effort at all. “No, Applejack. Let me clear this up.” Celestia said, finally calming herself, only for- “Leave Rainbow Dash alone!” Twilight shouted from the threshold at the sight of the crumpled Pegasus by the wall. Applejack wasn’t sure why, but the sight of Twilight leaping into the fray caused Celestia much more visible distress than the other two. As the gryphon trio turned their full attention to Twilight, the lavender unicorn broke into a full gallop for the large, strong soldiers – but with every swipe they made in her direction, she teleported from them at the last second, ending up either behind them or a few feet away. At one point, she teleported right above a gryphon soldier moving in for the strike, and came down hard on his flank with a two-hoofed buck; she may not have been the strongest or most athletic pony in the chamber, but the sheer surprise of the action knocked the gryphon to the ground. But as soon as Twilight landed, she stared down the arrow-launchers of the two gryphons whose weapons hadn’t been smashed by Dash. She put up a sheepish smile, “H-Hey, guys, maybe we should just cool it for a sec…” Celestia, meanwhile, stared between the two and Twilight, hoping that this meager peace gesture would diffuse the weighty air. But Twilight screamed when the arrows came shooting through the air, and she teleported a few feet away from their trajectory. How did this happen?! The very first thing that she does after letting Celestia’s vision sink in is to jump headlong into a life-or-death situation? “Y’know, guys, I met a gryphon once, and she was, uh…interesting, so-“ Another dual arrow brigade was met by another teleport, “Seriously, I-“ But the next two arrows came so quickly that she could only close her eyes in deep consternation…only to find that, after a few seconds, there was no pain. Twilight cautiously opened her eyes to find the arrows floating in midair, inches from her, before being tossed to the side like so many used chopsticks. At this, the gryphons looked at each other unsteadily, fearful of this purple unicorn. “BE THEE GONE, INTERLOPERS!” Celestia’s use of the Royal Canterlot Voice took everyone in the chamber off-guard; she had almost never used it in Twilight’s memory. Almost as though a sympathetic reaction to the Princess’s anger, the sun outside seemed to grow to unbearably bright levels, beaming in through the windows until only Celestia’s imposing silhouette was visible. But it was effective enough, and the gryphons made haste out as the light from the windows gradually returned to bearable levels. Celestia’s voice softened, but her expression remained hard as she turned to her student, “Twilight Sparkle, you will come with me right now.” Though Applejack had been tending to Rainbow ‘I’m not sore, I’m just fine! Leggo!’ Dash, their attentions were drawn to Celestia’s tone of voice. Applejack immediately said, “Um…Your Highness? Twi was just trying to help…gee, if you should blame anyone, then-“ “I’ll be fine…” Twilight said over to the two in the corner as she trotted, gradually, to Celestia. The Sun Princess turned and started a course to her private chambers, and Twilight followed suit, trying not to look at anything. The words burned in her mind: she screwed up. The Princess had brought her here for her protection, only for her to rush headlong into a dangerous situation that Celestia had under control. She hadn’t intended to, but once she saw Rainbow Dash get hurt by those armoured brutes, something in her just snapped. “I don’t have long, Twilight, but we need to talk. It’s…it’s serious.” Twilight immediately wished Celestia hadn’t said anything at all; she felt an invisible tug at her heart, and a pit growing in her stomach. As she stepped into the luxurious confines of Celestia’s study, she barely let out a breath, seemingly afraid of whatever punishment Celestia might decide to mottle out. “…Twilight? What’s wrong?” “I know I messed up!” Twilight blurted out, “I’m sorry! I really am!” Celestia’s expression gradually softened, and she blinked with those more sympathetic eyes, “Twilight, you’re…you’re not afraid of me, are you?” But the Princess knew from experience: Twilight, as promising as she was, was wholly self-critical to an unhealthy extent. Celestia still remembered the infamous ‘don’t send me back to Magic Kindergarten!’ incident; as overblown – and even dangerous, towards its end – as that particular episode of hers was, it concerned Celestia to know that, to her faithful student, such concerns were dead serious. So the next thing Twilight felt was the warm, feathery embrace of one of Celestia’s wings covering her flank and moving her closer to Celestia herself. “You’re not in trouble, Twilight.” The princess thought to herself afterwards, At least…not with me. “I…I’m old, Twilight Sparkle. You know this. I may not look it, to mortals, but I have seen generations upon generations pass the veil. That’s why it should mean something when I tell you, with all sincerity, that you are special to me.” Twilight was silent, but she looked up at Celestia as the both of them took seats on the floor. In her gaze, she felt like a little filly again, in the presence of much bigger things. “I’m so very sorry, Twilight, that I didn’t have it in me to tell you the full extent of why I took you on as my personal pupil. But now, I think it’s important that you know.” “Princess…?” “When I saw what you did at that entrance examination, I knew without a doubt that you were the Element of Magic. Do you remember what I told you about your skills, then?” “You told me…” Twilight thought back, “You told me you hadn’t seen anyone with my ‘raw ability’.” “Now, consider how old I am…” Celestia said, “Though I am an elder of this realm, my memory does not wax and wane as mortals’ do. Do you understand what it means, now? Remember, Twilight. Luna and myself knew the arcane legends in the flesh. I am well aware of the feats of Starswirl The Bearded, for he presented himself to me numerous times in his life. Out of all mortal ponies…it’s you, Twilight.” The purple unicorn felt a chill slowly run down her back, until it quaked her legs and settled in her hooves, as she took in what the Sun Princess was telling her. She wasn’t sure how to react; it wasn’t being spoken of in a definitively good or bad light. “But raw power is only a means to an end…so it pains me to need to tell you that I took you in, not entirely out of the promise of your talent…but to mould you. To keep your raw, unprecedented powers from being used by the wrong hooves. In those first moments, I thought…” Celestia swallowed the lump in her throat, “I thought I should control you, rather than not.” “W-Well, that’s not something to be ashamed of,” Twilight said, breaking into a relieved smile, “Whatever you did, you raised me right. I’m still young, I mean…I’m getting better with magic all the time, but the idea of hurting anyone makes my mane crawl. You really don’t have to worry.” “I’ve become quite accustomed to putting on my bravest face, Twilight.” Celestia said, turning her eyes ever so slightly away, “Truth be told, I was getting a little worried at the difficulties you experienced in my care in making friends. You seemed to find more in common with the authors and wizards of ages past than with fillies your own age, in the here and now. I did want to help you, Twilight…after all, the Element of Magic is little without its counterparts, as you proved with your friends. But as well, it pained me to see you so isolated all the time.” “But I wasn’t alone,” Twilight smiled, “Like you said – authors and wizards were keeping me company. Even though we existed hundreds of years apart, they still managed to make me feel at home. It’s like they were speaking to me, personally.” Her eyes took on a dreamy state, which a brush of the Princess’s wing shook her out of. “I remember nights when you would just be curled up in the library, a pile of books by your side, nose buried in the pages. For all practical purposes, Twilight, you were isolated. You had love to give, this I know; I saw how you poured it into those books, and even into that ‘Smarty Pants’ doll you used to hold so dear.” “B-But…” Twilight sighed. She closed her eyes softly, “The other fillies just didn’t understand…was it my fault for not seeing the appeal of jumping rope or ‘tag’? I just – I don’t get why they didn’t understand…I spent my days expanding my mind to new worlds, letting new vistas of thought open up before my eyes…how is that not worthwhile?” “It is, Twilight,” Celestia gently swept Twilight closer to her still, “But you now know the value of friendship; you’re learning more every day. I’m not saying this to make you regret your past choices, not at all; I’m saying it to illustrate a point for you. I felt for you, Twilight…in the same way that a mother feels for her foal after the first day of school, when the filly comes home having made no new friends.” Twilight paused. Could…could it be? Was the Princess of the Sun really looking upon Twilight as…a daughter-figure? “You can understand how conflicted I was. I knew that I had to train you, and make sure that your powers did not end up being used to wreak havoc. But at the same time, more and more – and this was completely unintentional – I ended up…well…I love you, Twilight Sparkle, as anyone should love their family.” Twilight was – and she was sure, understandably – unsure of how to react. But the Princess continued, “So know this, Twilight: you have not disappointed me yet. All the same…a part of me fears how powerful you might grow, eventually.” “Princess Celestia…I understand your concerns, but I think I have more on my plate right now than being – well, as Rainbow Dash would say – too awesome for my own good…I’d better be prepared to deal with this vision – prophecy – thing, make sure it doesn’t come to pass.” Twilight said. As she did, Celestia gently stood up. Despite herself, Twilight almost wished for the warmth of her mentor’s wings to stay. “Twilight, I will move the heavens and earth to ensure this turn does not come to pass – and you know I’m being quite literal. Equestria cannot fall, Discord will not reign, and you will prosper…but for now, I must depart.” “Depart? But Princess-“ “An earth-pony and Pegasus from my domain just lashed out against emissaries from a sovereign province, and now I’ve to attempt to smooth things over with the Chancellor of the gryphons. I just hope I’m not too late.” “So…you’re really leaving?” Twilight repeated, trying unsuccessfully to hide the unsureness in her tone. “I will return. I know the world looks bleak through your eyes right now, Twilight, but you must remember: you have talents to face any tribulation that may be thrown your way. I believe in you, and so do your friends.” With no more words, the Sun Princess strode from her study.