Final Chapter: The Empty Throne
Twilight and Ace appeared in their usual flash of light within Canterlot Castle, or more specifically, Princess Luna’s bedchamber. Twilight was looking around the well-kept room as Luna entered from the balcony, having just raised the moon as nighttime fell across Equestria, a smile attempting to combat the solemn look on her face.
She looked for a moment to each of them, looking a bit closely at Twilight’s reddened eyes, nearly making her shy away from the Princess. “I take it she now understands the direness of your situation in full, my brother?” Ace averted his gaze with a sad nod. “’Tis for the best; ‘tis better that she find out before rather than after should something happen.”
Ace nodded once more before returning his gaze to his well-meaning sister. “Still, I would much prefer no risks need be taken, should I be able to avoid them. Speaking of avoiding trouble, have you prepared yourself for thine own perilous task?”
Luna nodded her head with much more confidence than Ace had as she pointed a hoof to the large circular bed. “Remembering our old lessons, I have practiced focusing my magic more delicately with small, precise crafts.” Upon the bed rested a set of four dolls of varying colors.
Ace smiled at the precious cloth dolls as Twilight moved towards the bed for a closer look. “I see you made it a point to include the whole family,” he said as Twilight picked up one of them, now noticing it was crafted in her very likeness; the mane was cut even above the eyes with three different colors, her horn poking out between two of them, and a matching tail.
The other three dolls each resembled Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Ace – with the red Al Bhed eye rather than his glasses. Ace took his doll-based doppelganger in his magic, bringing it closer to examine the stitching and other details before smiling with a nod and taking the Twilight doll from her hooves.
“Perhaps we should trade,” he said as he placed his doll in her hooves and examined hers closely as well. Once his inspection was complete, he cradled the doll to his chest lovingly as he spoke to Luna, “The craftsmanship is quite well. Be that as it may, practice will only reach so far. Are you certain that you are prepared to aid our sister?”
Princess Luna only stared for a moment before noticeably steeling herself with a nod. “If this is what must be done to help Celestia, then no trial or test shall be too difficult nor too trying.” Ace nodded with a proud smile before bringing the Twilight doll to rest upon the top of his head. Twilight giggled slightly at the silly, yet endearing gesture.
“Then let us away,” he said as he took the Luna and Celestia dolls in his magic, bringing them to float before Luna as he continued, “but first, would you be so kind as to spread your wings?” Luna was surprised for a moment, but nodded as she complied. As her wings unfolded, Ace laid one of the dolls on each, making certain they both faced the same direction as her. “Then we are prepared; let us go.”
Twilight mimicked what Ace had done, resting his doll upon her head as he opened the door and left the room ahead of them. She followed closely behind, but Princess Luna was having a bit of trouble figuring a way through the door without folding her wings or removing the dolls.
Ace sat for a moment with a sigh as he watched her attempting to overcome the absurd challenge. She first attempted simply walking through – likely already forgetting about her wings, - which only caused her to bump against the frame with a flush of embarrassment. After that, she attempted to leave the room sideways, which worked as far as bringing a single wing through, though it was only the Luna doll and not Luna herself who made it through.
Twilight could not help but laugh slightly as she watched the normally regal princess fluster herself with such a trivial affair. “Thou art not to laugh at thine Princess, Twilight! ‘Tis not proper!” she exclaimed in her frustration, making Ace shake his head at the affair.
After a couple more tries, Luna finally decided to pass through the doorway sideways on two hooves, her wings still being held straight out as she carried the princess dolls. As she placed her front hooves back onto the ground, she looked to each side to confirm that each of the dolls were still in place, a triumphant smile on her face.
Ace only shook his head slowly, being careful not to allow the Twilight doll to fall out of place on his head, before turning back down the hallway as the three continued on their way, though Twilight could tell he was smiling as though he was planning another trick. Usually finding his tricks entertaining, she could not help but smile as well as she fell into step alongside him.
The three of them walked through the carpeted corridors of the castle in silence for a time, Ace making no effort to hide the interest or disinterest that befell his features as he admired various paintings or mosaic windows along the way.
Finally, Luna broke the silence as she asked a question that likely had been bothering her for quite some time. “Pray tell brother, you intend to perform the ritual this year, do you not?” Ace only nodded slightly, mindful of the Twilight doll. “With or without sister’s help?” another nod, “knowing the danger? Knowing that you may very well die in the effort?
Ace growled slightly in his throat – a sound that intimidated even Twilight with its primal, animalistic tone and depth – with yet another small nod. “And what would you have me do differently, my sister? For near to a century I have awaited Princess Celestia’s aid, having requested such after the first earth pony soul, and have yet to receive it.
“Now she is no longer in any such condition to be of any help to anypony, and I will die most assuredly before I have the chance to perform the ritual again should I wait any longer. I beg of you, if you can see an alternative that I am blind to, please give voice to it.”
Relenting for the first time in her assault over his situation, Luna visibly retreated from the conversation, causing the ponies to walk in silence for a time once more. This time, however, Ace did not look as though he was paying much attention to the artwork or décor of the castle, seemingly lost in his own thoughts as his eyes passed over the panes and canvasses.
Unable to take the brooding atmosphere any longer, Twilight broke the silence on a happier topic. “The dolls look really nice, Princess Luna. You both mentioned that you made them to practice your magic?” Luna perked up at the change of conversation with a delighted nod and smile.
“Indeed. You see, when the three of us were traveling together, brother noticed that I had trouble controlling my magic properly,” she said as she looked to the ceiling, as if recalling the memories. “As I recall, he said something along the lines of-“
“Thou allows thine emotions to run over into thine magic,” Ace interjected, “causing the magic to grasp at thine wishes much too firmly, making the magic nearly subservient to thine subconscious desires. Without proper care, thou may lose the control of thine magic completely, causing it to react only by thine emotion, not by thine command.”
Luna nodded with a smile. “Yes, precisely that. Later that evening, I asked what I could do to prevent such an outcome as we prepared our camp. What I had expected was meditation, or perhaps a spell. However, he asked me to do all of the chores myself, using only my magic.” Ace stifled a laugh with a hoof as she glared at him.
“Thankfully,” Ace said as he picked up the story, “she did all of them before questioning me – and question me she did – to which I replied that I simply wished for her to do my chores for me,” he said with a shrug, making Twilight laugh a bit as well as Luna continued to glare.
“After hearing that,” Luna said as she resumed her portion of the tale, “I nearly lost my temper, making my horn glow as I prepared to… I do not recall, really, but I had intended to do something to him, I am sure… Regardless, it was then that he pointed a hoof to me and said,”
“There!” Ace said, pointing a hoof at her as they walked. “’Thou art angry, and so thine magic is angry as well. Thou must dissociate these feelings from one another through delicate, precise manipulation of thine magic,’ I told her. Once I had, I fetched a canvas cloth and a needle from our bags, taking some cotton from a nearby field and presented it to her.”
“Though I had detested the idea that he may have been tricking me once more,” Luna began, “I decided to trust him once more. He told me to make something that pictured what I felt at the time, and so I made a rather crude representation of him, though it truly was no work of art.”
Ace nodded as he smiled, his gaze wandering to the doll that rested on Twilight’s head. “I must say that her skills have vastly improved since then. The most noticeable improvement is that all of the stuffing manages to remain within the dolls, now.” Luna fixed him with a gaze that somehow exemplified both malcontent and sisterly care, though he only smiled it away innocently.
“Brother was most callous in the way that he treated the admittedly inappropriate figure,” Luna said, still staring at him, “as he appraised its worth before setting it ablaze with his magic!” Ace nodded, his smile almost appearing larger.
“That is correct, and just as the flames that reduced the plaything to ash, so too did your temper rise. As I recall, you insulted me roundly and brought my methods into question. I then asked for you to, precisely, cleave a rock in two: would you care to tell Twilight the fate that befell that poor stone?”
Luna sighed before she muttered almost inaudibly, “The stone was blasted to rubble, only causing me to become ever more enraged by my inability to control my magic in my anger.” Ace nodded.
Twilight started to tilt her head to the side before remembering the Ace doll still laid against her horn. “But I thought that making the doll was meant to help her control her magic, what happened?” Ace shook his head with a shrug.
“Sister Luna did not focus on the task, instead just rushing through it for the sake of doing it.” Ace looked back to Luna with a playful grin once more. “After that, I made a bet with her: I would do the dishes in her stead for a week if she could make a high quality plaything.”
Luna nodded with a smile before it faded back into a still-caring frown. “I had accepted the challenge, and had won, though it was of little consequence… What I had forgotten was that each day that ‘tis my turn to do the dishes are the nights that brother prepares the food. Each night that week he would need to do the dishes, he made simple hoof-held foods to save himself the effort.”
Ace covered his muzzle as he laughed while Twilight made no effort to hide her own enjoyment of the tale. “Let that be a lesson my student: Always examine any bet closely.” Twilight nodded, still recovering from her laughter while Luna just glowered at the pair.
“Nevertheless,” Ace said as he continued the story, “after she had focused intently on the craft of making a doll in her own image, her anger had faded, leaving her without an emotion strong enough to affect her magic. Afterwards, she found she had much better control of her magic.”
Luna nodded with a sigh. “Sadly, I do not have many hobbies to focus mine attention upon, though sewing has always been the most effective,” she said before raising her wings to look closely at the pair of princess dolls she carried. “Speaking of such things, why must I carry the dolls like so?”
Ace looked over at her, raising his eyebrow in question before looking between her and the dolls. “I never said it was required for you to carry the dolls like so, I was merely giving them to you so that you could carry them… Though in hindsight, that was not needed, either.” Luna’s jaw dropped as she looked at her brother in disbelief as Twilight stifled a laugh at the simple trick.
“Brother!” she said as she regained her composure, “Our sister ails and yet you continue to make fun at my expense! Why, if somepony did not know better, one might be led to believe that you care not for our dear sister!” she said, now stopping to turn and glare in his direction. Not much further ahead of the trio rested the grand double doors of the Sun’s Bedchamber.
Ace continued to walk past, Twilight hesitating for a moment before following behind him as well. “You insult me, dearest Luna. While ‘tis true I have played a harmless trick on you that does not mean that the dolls will not serve a purpose,” Ace said before halting a moment to turn his head and throw a reprimanding look to his sister. “I assure you, I can find use or meaning in the smallest of things, and this situation is no different.”
Luna’s eyes widened slightly in shock before she hung her head with a nod, remorseful that she had doubted not only her brother’s judgment, but also his love for their sister. Ace motioned towards the doors that led to Celestia’s room, a guard on either side of the door, brining Princess Luna forward at a slightly mopey pace.
At first, the guards appeared as though they had wanted to stop the group from entering, but then thought better of it as they watched the Lunar Princess proceeding towards the room as well. Instead of barring their passage, the guards each took a door in hoof and opened it, closing it again as the three ponies entered.
What the trio found within was a room that appeared to be more battleground than residence: the bed was in tattered shreds - likely torn asunder by Celestia’s horn, - the opulent curtains were pulled from their mountings and thrown into the floor to create a makeshift bed. Around the room, both on the furniture as well as walls and floor, there was varying shades of stains where soup or other foodstuffs had been thrown. Nearly anything that could be broken within the room – lamps, pillows, food trays and a stuffed animal somepony had sent as a get-well gift – as Celestia rested fitfully on the drapery-turned-bed.
Luna hung her head with a sigh as Ace and Twilight entered the room, looking about at the damage wrought by the enfeebled princess. “I fear that mine sister has grown more and more aggressive in her episodes… I must admit, the treatment you administered helped tremendously, though others may not see the results so clearly.”
Ace nodded solemnly with a sad smile at the praise before moving to Celestia’s impromptu bedside, Twilight and Luna following behind him. As they crossed the large room, they noticed that Celestia was not only fitting in her slumber, but also sweating profusely and taking short, shallow breaths.
Ace hurried to her side, a hoof rising to move her disheveled mane from her face to check her temperature as Twilight and Luna bore a look of shock. “She is suffering increasing levels of withdrawals,” he said in a whisper as he turned to face them. “Her horn likely causes her no small amount of pain as it works to balance her mind and her magic, which would explain the thrashing.”
Luna stepped forward, laying the two dolls she carried beside the curtain-bed, out of the way. “If I am not mistaken, treatment is to begin with 35 artices per treatment, two treatments a day, with a decrement of two artices every other week, yes?” Luna asked with a look to Ace who nodded. Her horn started to glow as her face was set in concentration.
Ace’s gaze met with Twilight’s as he spoke to her telepathically, ’An Artix is a single unit of magic, my dear Starlight, though ‘tis not oft that magic is measured in modern times, such affairs calls for such. A single Artix is the amount of magic required to use levitation magic on a single unit of air. For further reference, your flash-teleport spell requires nearly a thousand artices.’
Twilight’s mouth nearly fell in awe as she admired Luna’s determination before she replied. ’So then, for Luna to apply the treatment for Celestia, she has to manipulate magic twenty-eight times more sensitive than my teleport spell, without using too much magic, and eventually work the magic down to a thousand times more precise?’ Ace nodded.
Ace watched closely as Luna’s magical glow faded from around her horn, as well as Celestia’s head and horn. Luna relaxed with a sigh, though Celestia seemed only scarcely better. “Dearest Luna, do try to aid her recovery with sedative and fever reducing spells.” Luna’s eyes went slightly wider for a moment before smiling sheepishly as her horn alit once more.
Luna looked at the princess dolls before glancing to the Twilight and Ace dolls as she spoke. “What purpose do you have in mind for our plush counterparts? I can think of no spell nor magic where they would be needed…”
Ace rose an eyebrow to his sister before taking the princess dolls in hoof and gently setting them beside Celestia on her bed. “’Tis no magic, but rather a small gesture to show her that we are still here for her,” he said as he took a step back to admire the scene with a soft, sad smile.
“There will be small windows of time when she will awake as herself, and during such times, being alone will be devastating to her psyche. The dolls will grant her some small solace during these times, though I do wish that she need not suffer alone.” Luna started to reach for the Twilight doll that rested on Ace’s head, but he ducked and sidestepped away from the grasp. “If you would be so kind, dearest sister, I would like to keep this one…”
Luna looked at him with a small amount of surprise before looking to the Ace doll on Twilight’s head, leading her to take it and cradle it against her chest. Luna shook her head with a knowing smile. “As you wish, my little ponies. Worry not – I shall make more of the dolls when next I train my concentration.”
Ace smiled as he came to stand beside Twilight. “You have my thanks. With this, I believe that you are fully capable of caring for our sister should… the worst come to pass…” Twilight’s mood sank once more as she recalled why Luna had to learn to treat Celestia’s condition. “Did you have any further questions?”
Luna shook her head before Ace nodded once as his horn lit in its black glow, causing Ace and Twilight to disappear in a dark flash of light. Once they were gone, Luna turned to place a tender hoof to her sister’s chest with a sad look upon her features.
“Do recover swiftly, dear sister… I fear that our brother’s recklessness knows no bounds, and I cannot protect him without you…”
Ace and Twilight appeared in a dark flash that enveloped the second floor of the library they called home, making Spike roll over in his basket-bed. As Twilight regained her senses, Ace laid his Twilight doll on her pillow. Once Twilight had recovered her senses, she mimicked the action, placing the Ace doll directly beside his Twilight doll.
Taking precautions so as not to disturb Twilight’s sleeping assistant, Ace motioned toward the door that led to the observation deck, having a hunch that Twilight would wish to speak before they went to bed. She nodded and followed him as he made his way outside.
As they ascended the final step onto the deck, Ace placed his hooves over the banister as his gaze drifted over all of Ponyville as Twilight did the same. They sat in silence for a time as they each looked over points of interest, remembering the short time they had spent together.
After a time, Ace came down from the banister and laid down, still facing the town. After he had made himself comfortable, Twilight came down as well and laid against him, causing him to lower his head, kissing her tenderly before she nuzzled against him.
“The ritual…” she said against him, her voice reaching though his body as much as his ears, “is it truly the safest option? I mean… Is there any way you could wait another year? So that Celestia can help you?”
Ace shook his head as he wrapped a hoof around her to try to console her pain. “I am afraid not, my dearest Starlight… To go without the ritual would only seal my fate… The ritual is my greatest chance, and even so, ‘twill be a few months before that time comes. Until then, let us make the most of our time together.”
Twilight pulled her head away to look over her special somepony, her eye eyes still showing the sadness and fear that betrayed her smile. “Before we lock this discussion away, I want to ask you… You’re taking all sorts of precautions and setting a number of fail-safes into play already, should the worst come to pass… aren’t you?”
Ace smiled softly with a look of sadness in his gaze as well as he ran a hoof through her silky smooth mane. “You know me so well… Yes, you are right: even as we speak, I am preparing a number of events that will trigger should I die.” Twilight shivered at the morbid word, though she knew it was the truth. “Worry not my beloved Starlight, as I do not intend to die so easily; I take many precautions to prevent such a fate as well as account for it.”
Twilight was beginning to feel her heart sink even further the more they discussed this topic, so instead of pressing things further, she laid her head against him once more an closed her eyes as she started to feel sleepy. “I trust you, my Wolf, but still it does little to ease my fears…”
Ace wrapped a hoof around her before laying his head against her as well, the two resting peacefully beneath the stars as the light of the three-quarter moon shined upon them.
For a time, they simply laid together on the deck as the ever-watchful moon traveled across the starry sky. Ace lingered on the deck, basking in their joined embrace even after Twilight had fallen asleep, her breathing slowing as she drifted into peaceful slumber. Ace looked up to the moon with a sad look as he started to feel the wispy tendrils of sleep creeping over his consciousness.
’Lend me your strength, that I may overcome this ordeal…’
In an area separated from civilization, surrounded by overgrowth that had been untouched for millennia, in the center of a ring of stones – some standing, some fallen, and a few resting atop standing stones, - there opened a rift in the air that swirled on the inside with a black and white spiral. From within this eerie vortex came a single white dragon’s clawed hand as a face looked about on the cusp on view with a smile that emulated that of the mythical Cheshire Cat.
“As the king descends his throne,
The peasants will rise as the gold is thrown.
The blacksmiths forge weapons as the jesters smile in glee,
Down in the dungeons the uncouth criminals have been set free,
The power of order has been stretched thin,
Now is the time; let the chaos begin!”