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Day 17, Month of the Winter Tempest
Year Two of the Second Age.
What have we done?
The Royal Guards are preparing themselves for the hunt. I can see them clamoring to position, tightening their armor, sharpening their spears and swords with sparks that pierce the night. The oil lamps along the wall have all been lit, stealing the shadows away from us. I can see the fire in their eyes from here in the East Tower. They haven't blinked once.
Canterlot is dancing with torchlight as they prepare for our flight. Celestia's love for us spares us from an immediate public execution, but her mercy has only spared us a day.
A day to run from Equestria, never to return.
If even Celestia can abandon forgiveness for madness then something is terribly amiss in Canterlot. Her transformation, her fury... Those were no transient things. She cast our spell, and afterwards snared a piece of her own sun and held it to our faces with eyes full of hate. She turned on us, after everything we did to complete her task! She was a mother to us both, but now?
We are her children no longer, for all our ties of fealty and love, for all our journeys together. We are dead to her, now and forever.
Star-Swirl and I have stumbled on something not meant to be found. The shrieks of stone on metal are evidence that our lives are the price of its uncovering.
Luna doesn't look like my teacher anymore. When Celestia cast the spell on her, it was almost as if her mind's slate was wiped clean of any trace of me, like these last few years as her personal student were forgotten. Her eyes flashed for a moment and then just died, the spark of life snuffed out to leave her in the dark.
Our adventures, our lessons, our midnight chats beneath her moon... All of them, gone.
It's just like losing Mom again, and I can't... I won't... fall apart. I just can't. He needs me to be strong. I know he does.
He keeps looking out the window and into the fires of the braziers along the wall. He hasn't moved since after the demonstration nor said a single word since Celestia's mane turned to fire. He's in his Library. I can tell by his silence. When he emerges, we'll have a plan and a place to go.
Star-Swirl won't forget me like Celestia and Luna have. He has lost a mother in them too, I can see it in his eyes. I can tell he's hurt, though he refuses to show it. I wish he'd let me in someday. I just wish he trusted me enough to tell me how he feels.
I can't keep being the only one feeling this way.
One of the guards by the door barked something, but I've been writing so fast I didn't hear him. Evidently it’s not fast enough. I blinked away the larger trunks and packed us some saddlebags full of food. Star-Swirl was right, you really can feel them floating around out there. I only hope I can recall them when need be. We'll have enough food to survive for a few days. After that, I'm not sure what we'll do.
He'd probably tell me to eat his rations, if it came to that. He would give that up just like he gave up his health for his princesses, his sanity for their project, and his levity with me in pursuit of his assignments. He's tired, physically and mentally. He relies on me more and more each day, now more than ever. It's only right I give my life for him after everything he has done for me.
Hopefully that's enough to make him see.
Our time is up. The guards have begun to get restless. Star-Swirl is crafting a spell to get us out of here as I write this. He has broken through her barriers before, but now her shield is unlike anything I've ever seen. All of Canterlot is encased inside of it, its boundaries rejuvenated by a steady beam of light near the North Wall. If we can't make it through we won't have time to make our escape, and if the guards get to us...
I've seen them lust for blood before. I can only imagine a special kind of lust exists exclusively for pretty little traitor mares with nowhere to run. To be passed around, tasted, and then invaded one last time with a spear through the neck? That is a fate worse than execution. I refuse to watch them watch me die, alone in the dark. I refuse to be their mounted trophy.
They'll find a fight waiting for them should it come to that. I've fought with Discord himself. I can handle them.
This will be my final note in this damnable journal until we're safe. I most certainly don't care about its original intention anymore. Being so-called Elements of Harmony has only led to our exile from our home, and I've begun to think that woe befalls any mortal who holds those corrosive stones. They are gifts only for the Immortal Sisters, and they are like fillies in their jealous withholding of their power. I'd shudder just thinking about what their theft might entail, but I can see it in every burning tongue of flame on the walls, present in every shout from the guards.
I saw it in her burning eyes as she stared at me, an Enemy of the Realm.
I wish I'd never earned the honor of being a Bearer. It has only led to disaster.
Virgil is gone. His cocoon was empty when we came back from Celestia's transformation. I never got the chance to see him fly.
He'll find his way back to me. All butterflies make their way home eventually. I'll find him someday, and then the three of us will be a family again.
I will press on with Star-Swirl and keep hope for our return alive. He'll need my help if we're to understand what happened to Celestia and Luna, how the Elements work, and how we can fix what has happened. He'll need his trusted assistant, now when the world has turned against us.
I have to help him. It's the only way we'll ever come home. It's the only way he'll ever love me.
Until the day comes when we can return to Equestria, I will believe that Star-Swirl can save us.
Until that day comes, I'll stay by his side no matter what.
-Clover the Clever
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