(Note: This chapter is very different in terms of tone and lesson. The promise in the description does not apply to this chapter.)
Celestia sat quietly behind her desk, waiting patiently. Shining Armor was dead. It was only a matter of time until the chain came full circle. In the distance, she felt a pulse of magic, and idly wondered how Luna was handling the problem. A few moments later, her patience was rewarded with a knock on her door.
“Come in,” she called, watching the door swing open. A dejected, tearstained Twilight slowly stepped into the room.
“He’s gone” Twilight sobbed.
“I know,” she answered simply. Slowly standing, she embraced Twilight.
“How do you do it?” Twilight asked.
“Do what?” She replied, feigning ignorance.
“How do you deal with this sadness?”
“Let me tell you a story,” Celestia answered gently, “It’s about a pair of young sisters. Your answer lies at its end. However, the second you interrupt is the moment I stop telling the story. So listen, Twilight, and listen well.”
Releasing Twilight, Celestia began to recount her life story,
“Many hundreds of years ago, two sisters lived in the small village of Canterlot. In those days, Canterlot was a small mining town on the outskirts of Equestria and the capital was actually where Everfree is now. We two sisters were already as different as night and day. My every waking hour was spent deep in study, completely isolated from others. I only emerged from the library once or twice a week, just long enough to secure necessities. On the other hand, my sister spent her days adventuring in the caves with her surveying party. They were the closest of friends. Inseparable. I suppose that when I first saw you, I wanted to see a bit of my sister in you, which is why I sent you to ponyville. It would have made things far less interesting if you had merely become me.
And so we lived in the same house, catching glimpses of each other’s lives. Personally, I never felt any desire to share my sister’s fate. I’m sure she felt the same. We lived that way for many years. While she wooed and eventually married Topaz Shine, I mastered advanced spell forms. When she found the richest deposit of magic crystals in two centuries, I devised several dozen new spells that baffled even the magic professors fifty years my senior.
Then, the game abruptly changed. Princess Emerald Growth arrived in our little town. I sought her for a time, seeking to show her the results of my studies. I saw her once during her trip. She took one look at me, turned and practically ran the other way. Somehow I had done something to scare her, or perhaps, to offend her”
Celestia paused for a moment at Twilight’s barely stifled gasp, before continuing,
“The next day, my sister was gone, now an immortal alicorn princess. It wounded me more deeply than you can imagine. My sister, had been chosen over me. While my sister sought to master her new power, I redoubled my studies, seeking the spell that had been cast on my sister. I poured over every book in the library, just looking for a single lead.
After years of searching, I finally found what I had sought. Forcing my way past Cerberus, I delved into the very heart of Tartarus in search of Nightmare Fury. The mere sight of him still haunts me. He was a pillar of absolute heat, shining like the sun. My strongest ice magics were swept away like sand in a gale. It was all I could do to keep myself from igniting. Any lesser being would have been less than ash in seconds. The mere idea that something of his strength and raw unadulterated power could be chained terrified me. And where the princess had shunned me, the fallen destroyer addressed me, offering what I had sought in exchange for a single task. I was to carry a message to the Princess from the Nightmare.”
Stifling a chuckle, she noticed the increasingly horrified look on Twilight’s face,
“You cannot begin to imagine how good it felt. I basked in his flames for hours, feeling them burn me, but knowing that they could no longer destroy me. And so, I walked to the capital city. I’m sure that my scorched coat looked anything but majestic. However, it was my moment of victory. I had sought immortality and won. Nothing could possibly detract from it. The princess received me, if reluctantly, and I delivered the scroll. I still don’t know what was on it. I merely know the look on the princess’ face, the very picture of raw horror and despair. Whatever was on that scroll wounded her deeply. Three months later, Nightmare Plantae created the Everfree Forest, generating an environment uninhabitable to intelligent life. She was locked away under the palace she once ruled from, where she remains to this day.
And so, the years passed. Every day, I learned just a bit more about governing Equestria, while my sister chose to fade into the background more and more. According to her, the sight of mortals was wounding her deeply, and she could no longer bear to face them. Her condition only worsened with the following years. I thought she would simply overcome it with time. After all, I had no problems doing so. Only when she began to transform into Nightmare Moon did I realize the severity. She was my sister. I had to do something. Little Luna was never too great with magic. She never stood a chance. I forced her to revert, ripping out every memory in her head in the process. It was the most terrible mistake of my life. Although she was free, she was nothing more than a shell, devoid of her former passion. Like the new moon, she was barely noticeable. I think I preferred her that way. As accepting as she was, It was easier to ignore her. She was the very symbol of my crime, a thing I could no longer face.”
Noticing the freely flowing tears, Celestia cut off the suspicions immediately,
“I wouldn’t be too worried, Twilight, you did not share in my crimes. However you managed to revert Nightmare Moon, it was not by my technique. Regardless, fate wasted no time punishing me. As though sensing my weakness, disaster struck a few years later. The Discord you faced was weak and unfocused, a mere shadow of his former self. From the time he appeared, to the time he had all of Equestria under his control was something like five seconds. He was very romantic in his approach. I seem to remember it involving a literal mountain of cake. Admittedly, it was dumped on my head, but it’s the thought that counts. Long story short, I gained his trust, married him, and hit him with pure harmony magic at the first available opportunity. His face was priceless. Unfortunately, he cast one of his spells before being entirely reduced to stone. It would be another hundred years before I fully realized the implications.
Discord’s vengeance happened so subtly. It was completely unlike him. I had grown accustomed to my sister’s impassive, unresponsive life. When I first heard that she was walking again, hope filled me. But when I next saw her, she strode past me without so much as a glance. For the next century, she walked the halls in silence, eyes unfocused. Occasionally, a maid would find her with her head braced against one of the newer walls, trying to keep walking. Eventually, I concluded that fate had merely decided to remind me again of my crime, to make it an inescapable thing. Then, one night, I woke with a stabbing pain in my forehead, and my horn lying in a corner of the room. Above me, Nightmare Moon stood in all her glory. Discord had returned some fragment of her memories, but he had returned all of the wrong ones. She was a monster of my own creation. All of her former pain, combined with centuries of my neglect had reforged her in a new and dangerous way. Her patience had been unending, carefully seeding her vengeance completely unnoticed. Every last guard, precaution, or piece of protective magic was gone. I was utterly helpless. Her every second since Discord’s fall had been devoted to this moment. She was the embodiment of every last crime I ever committed, and my punishment had come to me. And then something happened. I don’t remember what. All that I knew was that she was gone, and would be back someday Others tell me that they saw me strike Luna with some kind of magic, which I attributed to the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight’s eyes had become glassy and unfocused, devoid of their former life. Ignoring it, Celestia finished her tale,
“And thus, my solitude began. You are still too young to relate, but time is something that changes as you grow older. In my youth, a year felt so long. Now, it seems that weeks pass every time I so much as blink. If I had no interest in interacting with the mortals before my ascension, I had even less now. Why should I care about what happened to them? They would be gone before I could even realize that they were there. They can do nothing for me but provide amusement. Let me tell you, Twilight, every century, there are dozens, if not hundreds of ponies with the potential to become immortal. I chose you out of all of the last millennium's worth for a reason. I chose you because you remind me of myself. As immortals, we play a game with the world, and I have searched for centuries to find a worthy opponent.”
As Celestia recounted her tale, Twilight felt something odd. A growing numbness flowed over her, washing away her sadness. Slowly, she became aware of the tears flowing from her eyes.
Was I crying? Why would I cry?
For a moment, she tried to recall, but then decided it didn’t matter.
What is sadness, anyway?, she wondered absently.
Suddenly, she got the joke, and the world was suddenly hilarious. Her laughter stopped abruptly as she forgot what humor was.
Have I been laughing?, She asked herself idly.
She couldn’t remember. Detachedly, she became aware of Celestia’s spear protruding from her chest, but she felt nothing. Where had the pain gone? Then she finally lost what little feeling she had left, her thoughts decaying into a loop.
Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who- I? W-
As Twilight faded entirely, she heard someone answer. “My name is Nightmare Harmonia.”
“I thought you were stronger than this, Twilight,” Celestia sighed, slowly standing. Then she chuckled, a feral grin stretching across her face, “Well, this isn’t any fun when it’s too predictable. Let the games begin, Harmonia”