Twilight sat, alone and dejected, in her cell. They had done it. They had convicted her. In less than a day, she would be strangled by her own body weight acting against her, gasping in front of the thousands who would be cheering on her death. Half a day after, and her slow choking would be plastered in gruesome detail on the front page of every newspaper in Equestria. And in no more than a week, her body would be returned to her parents for burial. Assuming that it was not desecrated in any way, or that the court casters did not purposefully ignore her body and allow it to decompose to the extent that it would have to be burned on the spot. She wasn’t even sure she wanted her body to be returned to her parents, for how could they bear to look upon a daughter who had done such wonderful and terrible things?
She looked at her surroundings and found them as bleak as her emotions. The cell was about three times the size of a broom closet, meaning she had a little room to move around if she so chose. In one corner sat a small stool, ordinary in every way except that it was bolted to the floor and severely rounded so nopony could get the idea of forcefully bludgeoning themselves to death and denying the court whatever it was due. In another corner sat a bucket, obviously to be used in the event that the prisoner needed to ‘dispose’ of waste, although it was thankfully empty. And in the third corner, she saw… no.
In the third corner shone a single beam of moonlight, dust motes swirling through its path, lending it an ethereal quality. To any other pony, this small beam would have seemed insignificant, serving only as a small source of light and perhaps an unusual decoration for the bleak cell. But to her, this column of light was a mocking presence, reminding her of what had taken place to bring her here, what she had lost, whom it was that she had killed. She stared at the spot where the beam ended for an eternity, before she finally managed to bring herself to raise her neck and look outside. Up her gaze went, traveling over the high walls and past the grate that served as the ceiling, until she had looked beyond it to the top of her cell. Her gaze went further still, searching the cloud cover that hung above Canterlot until she found it, a break in the barrier between her and the heavens, and she looked upon Luna’s creation.
There resided the moon, peeking halfway out of the clouds before giving way to a night sky full of stars. With a sob, Twilight beheld Luna’s last token to her subjects, her last memorial, her last message to a world that mourned her and the unicorn that killed her.
Not many ponies knew, but almost all of the night sky around Equestria, and indeed the entire planet, was only an illusion, detailed and beautiful but still an illusion. Eons before the two sisters had even come to be, ponies had been fearful of the nighttime, as it was both sinister and absolute, with only a few stars feebly glimmering and offering no guidance whatsoever. Besides the glow from a few small villages, no light was alive at night to find one’s way home, and a pony that was lost in this time was most assuredly lost until daybreak. Initially, the Sisters had sought only to keep their ponies safely indoors during this time. However, their subjects were a strong species, and being reduced to shivering and cowering before the cycle of days and nights was not to the satisfaction of many.
Finally, at the end of one day, Luna had struck upon a solution. Looking to the sky, she had seen the small glimmers of stars far away, and had decided to build upon the faint beauty she saw there. And thus, the night sky was born. Gone were the days when ponies would cower in fear from the darkness that would overtake their settlements. From the end of that day onward, the night was a time of wonder, as ponies would look out in awe at Luna slowly completing her night sky piece by piece, drawing out intricate constellations and planning majestic events to take place in the coming years. As a final masterpiece, she had created the moon, a beacon that she knew paled in comparison to her sister’s sun but that she hoped would bring her subjects some final comfort, so that they would know that the night was full of opportunity and wonder instead of just fear. She had finished off her greatest creation by establishing the lunar cycles, modeled after her cutie mark, so that her subjects would also be reminded that they and their dreams were under her protection.
This mighty tapestry that encircled the planet had become most hated by Luna during the time before her transformation into Nightmare Moon, as it was a stark reminder of all that she had done for her subjects, and only fed her sense of betrayal at having her beautiful creations so casually shunned. She had maintained some control of her work even after her banishment, allowing her to escape captivity inside of her own creation. Yet despite Celestia’s knowledge of Nightmare Moon’s capabilities and eventual escape, she still chose to maintain the night sky just as it had always been. She had told Twilight, in a moment of secrecy and trust long ago, that there were two main reasons why she had not sent the moon away to a far corner of space, to be forgotten forever. She had initially wanted to maintain some sense of normalcy for her ponies, since they had just experienced a severe disruption in their system of government, and the moon was just one more facet of the life that they had previously known. But more importantly, she had maintained the sky because she had believed, even all those years ago, that her sister would return. Keeping Luna’s night sky just as it was had been her way of comforting herself, and assuring that when her dear baby sister returned everything would return to normal and be exactly as it was. Luna’s moon and stars had served as reminders of love and beacons of hope.
Now they served as reminders of Twilight’s failure. Gazing upon Luna’s immense gift, Twilight felt the weight of her prison cell come crashing down on her. She felt as if the entire city of Canterlot was being pulled into her tiny cell, as if everypony out there was being dragged in here specifically to torture her with their hateful stares. With a gasp, her emotions crashed in on her helpless mind; she felt tears come unbidden as she relived every detail of the trial, the countless ponies who had been willing to offer their small but effective testimony against her, the pitiful defense not so much erected to protect her as thrown against her, the stony look of sorrow on Princess Celestia’s face as Twilight’s sentence was pronounced fit and just. She felt grief, kept locked away during the trial, stab at her mind, bringing down the countless walls she had erected to prevent herself from breaking during her sentencing. She felt loneliness, as she was forced to confront – again – the terrible truth that after what she had done, most if not all of her friends would outright despise her. She even felt a tiny spark of hatred, at all of the ponies who had spit upon her these past few days, justified as they may have been. Alone and condemned, her mind did the only thing it could do to pull itself away from the burning fire of her own emotions. It retreated into her memory.
With a growing horror, Twilight felt her surroundings fade away as her mind reconstructed, in detail, the horrible night that had brought her here. The night that had changed her entire life. The night that Luna died. Memories flashed by at the speed of light, allowing her only a brief glimpse at one moment before she was forced to look at yet another. She remembered the fading of the day, as the sun had breathed its last rays of light upon Ponyville. She remembered Luna stepping off of her chariot, smiling and asking Twilight how she was. She remembered her own emotions, tinted with fear, guilt and apprehension, as she considered what must be done. And she remembered Luna’s eyes, filled with shock and pain, as the beam from Twilight’s horn pierced her side and burned its way to her innermost organs.
Twilight’s memory seemed to slow down, almost maliciously, as if it wanted to torture her. She remembered it all. Luna’s dying scream as she breathed her last, causing those who had been asleep to wake up, unaware of their impending destruction. The new scream that had shattered windows and deafened ponies all across town, created not of Luna’s own will but rather that of her body, as the massive magical potential she had previously contained sought to release itself through any medium possible. The dull roar that had grown in intensity until it seemed as if the very air itself was seething with hatred, as if a hundred dragons had attacked the town at once. The brief glowing of Luna’s body as her cells prepared to release their magical energy in the most expedient way possible: explosively.
The actual decimation had been as brief as it was devastating. Within the blink of an eye, the entire town seemed to shift from a state of normalcy to a hellish parody of reality. Almost every recognizable structure had vanished. Buildings on the outskirts of the blast burned steadily and created a ring of fire that circled most of the town. Closer to the center of the explosion, there were no buildings to speak of; only foundations remained, some staying solid and some losing their shape as their liquefied forms oozed and moved through any channel available. And in the epicenter there was nothing except a large crater, simmering and glowing, leaving no evidence of the alicorn that had been at the center of all of this destruction. Luna’s innate magic, previously used to maintain herself and kept under strict control at all times, was now gone. Twilight’s fatal wound had unbound this powerful reservoir, leaving behind destruction on a scale unimaginable.
Twilight fought to bring herself back from the brink. The terrible memories continued to circle her, however, snapping at her mind like timberwolves ready to seize upon helpless prey. They came closer and closer to her consciousness, and with each passing second Twilight felt as if her head might explode from the agony of remembering. She could feel herself slipping down deeper and deeper, further along the slope of her own self-loathing and despair. With a final gasp of thought, she wondered if this was how it would end. If she would spend her last hours not as a pony, aware and regretful of her actions, but as a madmare who would rant and rave at anything and nothing, too caught up in her own world of personal torment to care about what was around her.
With a quick thought, she decided to face this loss of herself with a small bit of dignity; she would cower before her own actions and their consequences, but she would not cower before herself. She calmed and allowed herself to fall deeper and deeper into the abyss, the shadows in her mind growing darker and darker by the second. She began to hear a deep laughing, terrible and unearthly…
With a start, Twilight was partially yanked back into reality as she felt and heard the door to her cell slam open. Was it really already morning? Her thoughts, however, returned to the hole that was even now pulling her back. The laughter was now very much alive and animated, seeming to bounce from one side of her head to the other, almost as if it was playing inside of her skull. She sighed; they would have to execute an empty husk, a mare only a shell of her former self. She would have laughed bitterly, if she had but the strength; it appeared that life would not even allow her that one, final solace, of facing her death as herself, after all she had been through. Perhaps she just didn’t deserve it.
She almost let herself go yet again, almost let herself be drowned in the currents of her own mind, before she realized that the mental abyss was no longer wide and open, ready to swallow her whole. Instead, she felt almost at peace. She also realized that the laughing, powerful as it was beforehand, had vanished. That brought her back fully very quickly, and she looked around, wondering what had stopped her from being claimed by the monster that was now gone. She found nothing, until she turned around.
There stood Princess Celestia, still looking disheveled and sad as before, but now with a hard look of determination on her face. Her horn glowed, and with a start Twilight realized that she could feel a warmth flowing around like liquid in her chest. She looked down and affirmed that her coat did indeed seem to be glowing. Slowly, she reached up a hoof and poked her chest, and almost immediately felt something stir within. With a growing horror, she watched as Celestia’s magic pulled something black and flowing out of her chest. It seemed to writhe and wither as it touched her magic, and she even thought she heard a small screech escape from the black mass that was now leaving her body. With a final pull, Celestia succeeded in removing the substance from Twilight’s body, and for a moment the two stood there, not as murderer and final judge, but rather teacher and student.
Twilight, even after all that had happened, could not fight her old instincts, and gave in to the urge to ask a question. “What is it, Princess Celestia?”
Celestia seemed unwilling to take her eyes off of the twisting evil before her. “Nightmare forces, called into existence during times of great fury, or grief. The same ones that created Nightmare Moon.” With a final, hard look, Celestia proceeded to incinerate the black form before her, causing it to squeal as it slowly burned away. When nothing remained but ash, she let her magic fade, and they both watched as the ashes fell to the ground.
Twilight tried to hold herself back. She desperately wanted to push all hope out of her mind; it was inconceivable that her atrocious actions could really be passed off so easily. Yet, she had to know. “Is … that what caused me to —”
With a voice that seemed equal parts despair and anger, Celestia cut her off. “No, you have just barely played host to these demons. I could sense them from the entrance to the dungeon; in a body such as yours, they can do nothing but rage and scream at the world, and are not very good at hiding their presence. I was unable to save Luna…” at this Celestia’s voice broke, “but I refuse to leave another pony in their hooves. Such a fate is worse than death.” She spoke the last sentence with a conviction as hard as iron, as if using it, depending on it, for a reason to stay sane, a reason to continue to talk to her former student.
With a sigh, Celestia turned to Twilight, her eyes reflecting light in a way that indicated she was close to tears. She spoke only one word, posed as a question, demanding an answer. “Twilight?”
Twilight. That one simple word devastated the purple mare more than a thousand curses, accusations and glares would have. In her times of need and sorrow, Celestia had always referred to Twilight as ‘my faithful student’. A few times, Celestia had used her real name, as if to encourage her to find a solution herself. Always, however, when Twilight was so troubled that not even she knew what could possibly be done, Celestia had referred to her with what most ponies would consider a diminutive, given her position and power. Yet somehow it always gave Twilight hope. It would always remind her that no matter what, she was under Celestia’s protection, and that the Princess would keep watch over her and stand with her when she needed it.
Looking into her eyes now, however, Twilight saw that though it pained the alicorn to do so, she would not attempt to stand by her former student this time.
Twilight was unable to stop herself from asking what came next; she was hardly aware that she had spoken it herself. She had to know if, somehow, someday, she would find some form of redemption. “Princess, can you ever… forgive me?”
Celestia looked at the mare with something akin to longing, hatred, and desperation mixed into one. They held each other’s gaze for several seconds before Celestia spoke. When she did, Twilight wished she had never spoken at all.
“No, Twilight Sparkle. She was my sister, my dearest companion, my most trusted friend, my longest company. For many millennia we have grown close together, Twilight; nothing can describe what it feels like to have that taken away. When you killed her, I… I felt her scream, I felt the magic burning her from the inside out, I felt her agony in her last moments, I felt her sense of betrayal.” Celestia’s voice rode on the slender line between power and pure hatred, and seemed to be unsure of itself, ready to teeter either way. “Never before in my life have I been so devastated, Twilight. We were supposed to continue together, Twilight; we were supposed to keep each other company…” Celestia’s voice now faded to nothingness, her last word but a soft sigh escaping from quivering lips.
For a minute, neither ponies dared speak. Then, something unexpected happened. Celestia stepped in front of her, and Twilight heard two horrible, tragic, terrifying words come from her mentor's mouth.
“Kill me.”
Twilight fell back, aghast at what she had just heard. “Wh… what, Princess?”
Celestia stood resolute, seemingly unwilling to yield any sort of response to her student save a cold stare. “I said kill me. You did it with Luna, and you can do it with me; to my knowledge, you are the only pony alive who both knows the complete spell and wields the power necessary to use it. Why not just end my misery?”
Twilight almost retched right at Celestia’s hooves upon hearing such an idea. “Princess, why would I do that? You… you’re Celestia! I can’t… I can’t kill you!” Twilight was now moving from shock to grief, grief that her own mentor would want her to do this, and it was showing.
“And why not, Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia spoke her name with a biting edge to her voice. “You have removed from this world the only companion I ever have had for certain; not even Discord is guaranteed to stay forever. Tell me, what is there left for me in this world, that I may go on?”
“I…” Words failed Twilight. She couldn’t bring herself to imagine a world without Celestia, without the sun shining down, the respect and affection the alicorn’s presence seemed to summon for everypony around her. She couldn’t fathom killing her mentor. Knowing she needed to provide an answer, Twilight looked the elder pony in the eyes and gave the only one she knew in her heart for certain.
“You’re… Celestia. You’re… my teacher. And I am… was… your faithful student…”
Instantly, Celestia’s expression seemed to melt. Something that existed in Twilight’s face, voice, and words had moved as one and struck a chord deep in Celestia’s heart, so deep that all of her rage, pain, and agony was instantly silenced. With a small flicker, those emotions were replaced with something warm, something that wanted to reach out to her student. She remembered back to the trial, Twilight’s testimony, barely an hour before. She remembered exactly what Twilight had said.
'I’m sorry.'
Celestia knew what had to be done.
Bringing her expression back to a mien that she hoped was not as enraged, Celestia continued to gaze at her student as she spoke. “Do you have anything else you wish to say?”
With eyes that were becoming blurry through tears beginning to form, Twilight stooped her head down low to the ground and sobbed once. “No, please Princess, leave me alone. I’ve betrayed everyone in my life; I’ve killed Luna and one of my best friends, Ponyville’s a crater, and now the most powerful protectors of harmony are gone because of me. And you… you want me to kill you. So just… just let me die for what I’ve done.” With that, she turned her back to the alicorn, and prepared herself to feel the door slam shut and to hear hoofsteps walk away.
Instead, what she felt was a large wing extend and wrap around her form, and what she heard was Celestia speak. “Oh Twilight, though I may never be able to forgive you, that does not mean I cannot love you still.” With a voice that sounded close to breaking, she continued. “You have defeated Discord, and then you helped reform him. You gave up your own glory to save the Crystal Empire and defeat Sombra. You repulsed an army of changelings, even when we were all against you. You and your friends made the Grand Galloping Gala very interesting. And… you brought my dear…” At this, Celestia’s voice, gradually growing more and more delicate, finally broke, and Twilight saw a few tears fall to the ground beside her. It took the alicorn a moment to continue. “And, you brought my dear sister, my precious Luna, back to me, if only for a few years. Twilight, if I were to ignore your actions on behalf of Equestria, I would be remiss as a pony, and unfit to rule as a leader.” Celestia gave the smaller mare a gentle squeeze, before drawing her wing back and folding it to her side.
Twilight sniffled, and continued to stare at the ground. “Thank you, Princess, but… you don’t need to make me feel better just because I’ll be dying tomorrow, or because you feel like you owe me something. You were right; I robbed you and a lot of other ponies in this world of something valuable. What I did is terrible, Princess; I don’t deserve kindness.”
Celestia sighed, before reaching over with a foreleg and shifting Twilight’s face so that the two could look directly into each other’s eyes.
“Twilight, I do not think you understand. What you did was indeed terrible; nopony can deny that. Your reasons were unjustified, and I only wish I had taught you better, so that maybe we could have avoided all of this. You will receive your just punishment tomorrow for your actions. But know this, my little pony. Though you may have committed an atrocious crime, deep in my heart, I will always love you. And no matter what, I will always wish for another student just like you.”
Twilight’s heart was uncertain whether it wanted to leap into her throat or sink down to her stomach. “Do you really mean that, Princess Celestia?”
Celestia nodded once, before looking away. “I can never forgive you for the death of my sister. What she meant to me cannot be described in words; to have had her back again, only to be taken away, has torn my heart apart in ways that I never thought possible.” She turned back to Twilight. “But I cannot bring myself to hate a pony who has also done so much for us. Such a pony may still have light in their heart, even after acts such as yours have been committed.”
Twilight sunk down onto her stomach and stared at Celestia, mouth wide. “Thank you, Princess Celestia. Th…thank you.”
Celestia simply lifted her up with a hoof. “You are welcome. Now, would you like to get anything else off of your chest?’
For the next two hours they talked about anything and everything with a freedom that had not been present even in their close relationship previously. Twilight confessed to all of the emotions she had been feeling in the time that she had killed Luna; and though it obviously pained Celestia greatly to do so, the Princess listened and talked with Twilight about them. They talked about all of the adventures Twilight had undergone with her friends in Ponyville, including the one where Rainbow Dash had competed with Mare Do Well; Celestia laughed, and Twilight cried. They talked of Luna’s humorous problems while adjusting to life after a thousand years, including the time she had almost sent a guard out the window with her Royal Canterlot Voice; Twilight laughed, and Celestia cried. Through it all, the two took comfort in each other’s presence, and allowed the fact that Twilight was set to die soon pass from their minds.
Eventually, though, they ran out of events and various ponies to talk about. They spent a few moments in silence, neither willing to move. With a deep breath, Celestia rose to her hoove and walked slowly towards the door.
“Twilight, though it pains me greatly to say so, I have enjoyed these moments. They may not make up for Luna’s death, but they soften the blow, if just a little. Now I must go, however; you have others waiting to meet you as well.”
Twilight looked at Celestia with a mixture of hope and fear. “Others? You mean…”
“Yes, Twilight. Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, even Pinkie Pie are all here to meet you.” Her eyes looked to a point far in the distance. “Although I do not guarantee that what they will have to say will warm your heart, I believe it is your duty to hear what they feel. Do you agree?”
“Yes Princess, I’ll stay and take whatever they want to give me. I deserve it…”
Celestia nodded. “I will let them know they can come in, then.” She moved to the door, opened, it, and slowly closed it behind her.
But before it shut, Twilight could have sworn she heard something. She didn’t believe she had heard it; not even Celestia would be so capable, after what she had done. She refused to believe what her heart was desperately hoping to be true.
She refused to believe that, just before closing the door, Celestia had whispered something.
“Goodbye, my faithful student.”