Magic’s Dawn
The two sisters stood on their platforms. They spread their wings out as their horns glowed. It was that time, when the light of the sun dimmed to make way for the moonbeams. Princess Celestia had controlled the cycle of day and night for a millennium, but Princess Luna was just as able to do it now as she was before her imprisonment. Though they were the representations of the light and the dark themselves, Celestia suggested that the chore could be shared, to avoid the conflict caused by feeling jilted by their subjects. Luna was happy to be back by her sister’s side again, and agreed to share the responsibilities.
As the sun dimmed below the horizon and the moon peeked up, the sky started to darken. Looking over the kingdom as they performed their task, a chill started to fill the room. The alicorns looked at each other in concern, just before they were thrown into the walls as a result of magic recoil.
Luna was the first to pick herself up. She hurried to check her sister. “No, that event can not be coming to pass now! It’s too early!” She tried to continue the daily ritual, but her magic would not work. Time was essentially frozen, the sun and the moon barely showing along the horizon.
Celestia shook her head and stood up as a green fire appeared before her. This letter wasn’t from her faithful student, but her assistant, Spike. “Luna, let us make haste to the throne room. We are about to receive an important visitor. The hour of twilight is upon us.”
The alicorns raced through the palace. Their arriving guest would be the most important pony in all of Equestria, even more than the two of them. As they approached the royal seat, a loud crash could be heard on the opposite side of the door. They threw the doors open, and looked at the crumpled heap in the corner, surrounded by shards of glass from the broken window. The figure started to rise. She was easily as tall as Celestia. Her horn glowed brightly, her purple mane flowed behind her, accented by her pink and lavender highlights, and her purple wings twitched violently.
“You certainly know how to make an entrance,” Celestia smiled, “Twilight Sparkle.”
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, please...please help me...” cried Twilight. She was understandably panicked. She’s never read anything about anypony changing form before, other than for medical reasons, typically a wing got infected or a horn got cracked beyond repair, but she GREW wings, and that’s not even to mention the unexpected growth spurt, and her mane had just started sparkling like a field of stars.
“Tell us what happened to you.” Celestia asked. Her sister had started to clean the wounds from the student’s unexpected crash.
The purple alicorn was still sobbing heavily. She tried to use her magic to lift up her drink, but the glass instantly shattered.
“You need to calm down,” Luna commented, “the strength of your magic is several hundred times more powerful than you’re used to, and even as Celestia’s star pupil, there’s no way you’d be prepared for this at your age. Let me help you with that.” She poured another cup of water, and levitated it to Twilight, who took a sip.
“Alright,” she sniffled, “what happened was...”
“Are ya sure this is going to work, sugarcube?” queried the white unicorn.
“Yes, PLEASE hurry Twilight.” whined the fluffy pink-maned earth pony, “Applejack is getting my body all sweaty!”
“You didn’t complain about me getting you sweaty last night darlin’.” Rarity tried to stammer a reply, but the most she managed to get across was through the heavy blushing showing through her pink fur.
“Guess what! I can hang streamers and balloons and I don’t even need a ladder and I can do it super fast!” Pinkie Pie was the only one of the group who didn’t seem to mind their predicament, zipping around the room in a rainbow-colored blur.
“How can you even fly with these things, Fluttershy? My wings are getting sore just hovering here! And seriously, you need to go on a diet!” The yellow pony had been complaining since all of this started.
Sticking out from under Twilight’s bed, an apple-marked flank was quivering.
“I’m almost done. This trueform potion recipe I got from Zecora should do the trick and turn you all back to normal. I just need to add a pinch of this powder, and it should be ready.” Twilight’s horn glowed as a small bit of the dust floated up, and sprinkled into the bowl. As a mist billowed from the mix, the voice of the young dragon was heard from the top bookshelf.
“Hey Twi, maybe you should let me give that to them?” the young dragon watched from the stairs, “That potion looks kinda dangerous...”
“Don’t be silly, Spike, I’ve handled things like this before.” Smoke rose from the bowl. “Alright, I just have to carefully pour a drop on everyone...” Twilight levitated the bowl off of the table.
“Seriously, I think you should let me do that...” Spike reached for the bowl, but it was held just out of his reach.
“What’s gotten into you? You’ve never been like this over anything I’ve made bef...” the purple unicorn started to feel a bit lightheaded, and she started to feel weakened. Her knees started to buckle, and she fell to her side, dropping the bowl. Once the potion splashed onto the floor, the smoke started to fill the library.
Spike pushed open the nearest window, letting the fog drift out of the building. “Twilight! Are you okay!?” He tried to find her in the clouds, but his vision was heavily obscured.
“Is everypony okay!?” called out the familiar accent of the farmpony.
Rarity coughed heavily, and her horn lit up as a beacon to the others. The light was accented by quick flashing lights.
“Can’t have fog indoors without strobe lights!” exclaimed the party pony.
“Fluttershy, help me clear the room!” Rainbow Dash flew near the window, and beat her wings to send the smoke outside, but even with two pegasi, there seemed to be no change in visibility.
The light of Rarity’s horn faded as a stronger light filled the room, spinning around, gathering up the smog, and dispersing it.
“Wow Twilight, I didn’t know your magic was that powerful!” Fluttershy surprisedly
exclaimed.
Rarity noticed Spike with a look of worry beyond any she’d seen on him before. “What’s wrong?” He continued to stare in the direction of his charge. She followed his gaze, and stepped back with a gasp.
“Twilight!” Applejack ran over to her, “Wake up Twilight!”
She opened her eyes, her dusky mane blowing to her side. Odd, because she didn’t feel much of a breeze. As she lifted her head up, she felt a strong outburst of magic from her horn, knocking over an entire bookcase. There was something sticking to her back. She tried to use her magic to remove it, but it was like she lost control of her powers, and she blasted a hole through the wall.
Rainbow Dash zipped away from another falling bookshelf. “Twi, stop! You need to stop!”
“What’s wrong with me!? I can’t control my magic! This has never happened before!”
The meekest of the group spoke up, “Twilight, stay calm. You should...probably look in a mirror...” She quickly returned to her hiding spot under the bed.”
“A mirror...? What are you talking about...?” She glanced over towards a mirror that Pinkie had pulled out. Her eyes widened in terror. It was easily seen that she had become much taller, and her horn was grander. She could clearly see the objects on her back now, a pair of wings. Her eyes started to glow a with a lavender light, starting to envelope her entire body.
“I can’t reckon what’s about to happen, but I think we should RUN!” Applejack took the lead to the door, followed quickly by the others. As the group stopped, a large explosion was heard. The roof of the library was disintegrated. A fading trail of lavender glow flew northeast towards the horizon, accenting the sun and the moon opposite each other.
While she was much calmer in the presence of her mentor, her magical ability was still unbridled, occasionally firing off a random spell. Celestia tapped her horn against her student’s, putting a bind on it to prevent it from casting.
“I just wanted to help my friends...why would a potion to make ponies revert to their normal form do something like this to me?”
Celestia sighed, “The purpose of a trueform potion is exactly as you described. And that is why you have turned to this body.”
Twilight looked up at Celestia in surprise. “What do you mean!? I’m a unicorn! A UNICORN! My parents were unicorns, their parents were unicorns, my entire family tree is full of unicorns!”
“Dear sister, please go start preparing the ceremony room.. It is time. I will try my best to explain to her.” Luna nodded and left the room.
“Explain!? Explain what!? I don’t know what’s going on! THIS DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!”
“Calm down, Twilight. Let me explain my part to you for now.”
“But...my family...are...”
“Not related to you.”
“...what?”
“Have you ever considered what your name means, Twilight Sparkle?”
“I’ve looked up the meanings before. Most commonly, “twilight” refers to the light from the sky between full night...and sunrise...or between sunset...and full night...” her voice slowed more and more as she realized where this answer was going.
“Correct. You are a child of the light and the dark, the sun and the moon.”
“But what about my parents?”
“The children of celestial beings must know the workings of the world and the universe. As such, they are raised by normal families. The true parents can pick the form their child takes, as it would look quite odd for a winged unicorn to be living among the normal populous. I was raised as a pegasus, and Luna was an earth pony.”
“So...you two chose the one that neither of you were?”
“It is not uncommon for that to happen,” Luna’s voice came from the doorway, as she set the book in front of Twilight, “the knowledge is easily passed to the offspring from the true parent. It is typically known from birth.”
“Did my parents...I mean the ones that raised me...did they know?”
“No. The memories of your family, as well as anyone you have been in contact with, have been altered.” Twilight felt a wave of sickness wash over her as Luna’s words came out.
“I am going to go finish preparing the ceremony room while you finish explaining everything to her. Twilight, listen carefully to my sister, much like you do to anything I have taught you.” Celestia trotted out of the room.
“We are the first generation of alicorns to have two incarnations. The power of the sun and moon together create the next generation, but our mother decided it would be best to split the individual powers. You’ve seen for yourself how that originally turned out...” Luna bowed her head in apology. “If it would not have been for you and your friends, the world would’ve risked a cataclysm.”
“Yet you’ve just made everything I’ve done over the last several years pointless! We may have prevented the end of the world several times, but what was the point of sending me to make friends? And all of those friendship reports! I was supposed to learn EVERYTHING about friendship JUST TO HAVE IT TAKEN AWAY!?” Twilight stood up, her wings flaring out. Her horn was glowing brightly, shattering the magical block that her teacher had placed on her.
“Twilight Sparkle, you need to calm down and listen! There is more I need to tell you!” The lunar mare was being backed into a corner. When the secret revealed itself, it caused the two goddesses to weaken, as their powers were being transferred to the next generation. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to, by herself, take on the fury of a deity with no restraints. “Sister! Celestia! HELP!”
Upon hearing her sister’s cry, the white alicorn bolted from the ceremony hall and charged down the hall. As she approached the royal chambers, she was knocked back as the wall bordering the royal chambers collapsed. Celestia looked up as the dust settled, to see two lavender eyes glowing brightly, and then disappearing. A whimpering was heard as the last of the dust fell, coming from her sister, whose leg was trapped under the rubble. Celestia pushed the stone away, and helped Luna up. She sighed.
“We need to summon the remaining wielders of the Elements of Harmony.”
To Be Continued...
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