Seeing the look of horror on Twilight's face, Azure continued her explanation, "Well, not really. It's not exactly your doing." Twilight let go a long breath of relief. "Everything happened because you became an alicorn. That was the trigger for everything else."
"What?" asked a surprised Twilight, the horror back in her mind.
"Not only that... but the terrorists... The rebel unicorns... I'm sure you remember them." Twilight nodded at the not so happy memory. "They don't like alicorns very much. Probably because of what happened with Celestia and Luna... Well, I don't know how long ago that was. So you can understand that three new alicorns showing up in the span of a little bit over a decade did nothing to alleviate their fear."
"I... what?" Twilight asked, confused.
"Celestia was alone for centuries. They were used to her, to manipulating her, or at least dealing with her. Then Cadance became one. Luna came back from being sealed on the moon and finally, you ascended too."
Twilight sat down abruptly, shocked by the revelation. How could she have missed that, it was so obvious. She had never given it a second thought after her ascension. For her, gaining wings was obviously special, but it wasn’t meant to affect how others treated her. In a sense, she thought about it as if it was a doctorate; she had learned enough about a special kind of magic and gained a degree. As for princess-hood, she saw that as a formality; every alicorn was a princess. It was a tradition, even if she thought it was old and backwards. She had no intention of taking any political or leadership role. She should have understood that others might have taken it as a threat to their standings. After all, Cadance never displayed any wishes to lead anypony, but she still ended at the head of an empire. How long before destiny forced Twilight into a similar position? After a moment thinking with her head low, she fixed her eyes on Azure. "There's more, isn't there?"
Azure smiled weakly. "Probably a lot more, but I only know what little information I managed to gather." She sighed loudly. "I found an old historic tome before Canterlot fell. It mentioned that the Princesses never needed their food tested because poison had always been ineffective against alicorn physiology. From what I understand, it’s similar to earth ponies’ natural resilience."
Twilight frowned as she remembered details about alicorns being generally more resistant, displaying the advantages of the different pony kinds. "Then how?"
"How were you all poisoned? I don't know," she explained, her voice shaking at the memory. "While I struggled through the aftermath, I was never let near you or Luna. Your agony lasted a week, tens days for Celestia, and..." A tear appear in her eye. "If I had been allowed to see you... I... I would..." Twilight interrupted her with a hug.
"Shhhh..."
After a moment, Azure pushed Twilight back gently, her emotions in check again. "While I don't know how that poison managed to work, who made it, or who administered it, I do know that the country fell into civil war shortly after your death. While we were fighting against each other, every other country took a stab at us, too. The zebras attacked and managed to reach Canterlot in a matter of months. Even the northern dragons and the griffons did some raids. After two years of fighting, the zebra invasion was at the gates of Canterlot. None of the attackers were able to breach the force field your brother had put in place, so they blew up the city's supporting structures instead."
Twilight shook her head. "Wait, I don't understand. What do the zebras have to do with this? They live on the other side of the world. On another continent! As far as I know, we are on good terms with them and all our other neighbors." She didn't mention the dragons, who lacked any kind of structured government. If they saw Equestria weak or wounded, an attack from them wasn’t surprising.
"I'm not entirely sure. I never managed to ask any of them," Azure answered, apologizing for her lack of knowledge.
"How is that possible? If they invaded us, they should still be around! There's no way they could be responsible for such destruction!" Twilight said raising her voice. She felt her heartbeat increasing once again.
Azure swallowed, obviously uneasy with some of what she had to say. "There were a lot of soldiers around and most didn't care about what a filly was asking them. But... A few years after Canterlot fell, a raid tried to capture some ponies hiding in the Everfree forest."
It didn't take long for Twilight to understand who would hide there. "Fluttershy?" she asked cautious.
Azure looked away. "She died. Discord didn't take her death too well. He had never been emotionally balanced, but she had brought a stability to his life unlike anything he’d had before. I'm not sure if there are any zebras left alive." She pointed at the window. "That devastation, he did it in a blink, a single instant of rage. I managed to save the library by hiding it in a dimensional bubble with the help of my husband. But... While the rest of Equestria doesn't look much better, I'm not sure what the rest of the world looks like."
Twilight looked at her unfamiliar hooves. It was a lot to take in in such a short time and she knew time was against her, pulling her back. With her death, there would have been no Elements of Harmony to stop Discord. At any moment she could be brought back to her own body. She had to ask the right questions, gather the right information. "You sound like you have reasons to think the zebras were behind the assassination? Or at least part of it?"
Azure shrugged. "Their invasion happened a bit too quickly. The others took much longer before attacking us. They were waiting for it, knew about it. They reached Canterlot so quickly. They were prepared, had planned it in some way! Also, zebras are experts in potions, so I would guess they are the obvious culprits behind the idea of a poison deadly to alicorns. I know this is all conjectural, but in retrospect, that’s a lot of points against them."
Twilight closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts. "But... why? As far as I know, we have always been on good terms with them."
"I'm sorry. I don't know," Azure replied, disappointment tainting her voice. "After your death, I was kicked out of the castle and never managed to further search Canterlot's library for any information. Maybe Luna or Celestia would have known, but I was not allowed to see them."
Something ticked in Twilight's mind. "Why? Why prevent you from seeing them?"
Azure shrugged. "Again, I don't know. My guess, someone high-ranked tried to protect you. It could have been simple security measure put in place automatically. I never managed to figure it who gave the order."
Twilight raised a hoof and her voice; Azure's theory didn't sound right. For some reason, raising her hoof required her more effort than usual. "How is that possible? Why would my brother allow something like that to happen? I'm sure Luna - or even I - would never allow something like that!"
"Your brother couldn’t reach Canterlot in time. You were all dead before he was able to reach the city," Azure replied plainly.
Twilight recoiled. "What? How? It only takes about two days by train to make the trip between the Empire and Canterlot. Less if there is no stop along the way. With the time to communicate the news to the Empire, he should have been here within four or five days!"
"All I know is that he had some kind of accident," Azure explained. "I guess it wasn't really one, but in the end, it took him over two weeks to reach the capital."
Twilight took a deep breath, suddenly feeling as if the whole world was against her, as if nothing she could do would change her fate. She could feel something pulling on her mind, more and more insistent. The clock was ticking and only seconds were left. "Wait! If all the princesses are dead, who's raising the Sun?"
Azure shook her head. "Rumors go that Celestia and Luna used their remaining strength to put the planetary system in the most stable orbit they could achieve." She smiled weakly. "They managed to do it with relative success. I'm no astronomer, but from what I observed the Moon's orbit is slowly degrading. In a few centuries, a millennium at best, it will collide with our planet," she explained. "I guess the unicorns planned to resume the task they used to perform a long time ago, but they didn't expect the civil war or the invasion to turn out so badly. Even now, I'm not sure there are enough unicorns left alive to push the Moon back in orbit."
"If I do manage to change the past... my future... This future will never happen. You, your husband... Your son! You... They might never..." Twilight said concerned, fully aware of her time running out. Her sight was blurred and she was feeling lightheaded. Reality was dissolving in front of her eyes.
Azure raised a hoof to interrupt her. "We—all three of us—decided a long time ago that this future was not worth living," she said closing on Twilight. She stared deep in her eyes. "We put all our time and effort into achieving this very moment; a chance to change it all." A smile appeared on her lips. "Besides, if there is really such a thing as destiny, I might still meet Sunny..." Her lips trembled at the name. "My husband, even if the world doesn't come to an end. I’m really sorry that we couldn’t do more than give you this message."
Twilight closed her eyes, but she wasn’t able to reopen them.