Stargazers
Chapter VIII - Understanding
In the small cavern beneath the Everfree Forest two alicorns stood and watched the third, waiting for an answer to the question of who she was. Twilight’s mind was going overdrive. Not only did she change, she was somehow seen by ponies in the past. But Zecora told her that would not happen!
What if Twilight made a mistake and said something that would change the future? Her last experience with a time paradox was still fresh in her mind and she didn't want a repeat here. She decided to do what she thought best and act as if everything was as it should be. It helped that her future bond with Luna somehow existed, and even now she could feel the confusion emanating from this younger version of her future beloved.
Twilight slowly turned away from the alicorn sisters and faced the tree which confused her so much. It felt familiar, as if her friends were right there, waiting for her to join them. The lavender alicorn found herself being drawn to the tree and step after step she approached, until her muzzle touched the bark of the tree.
In that moment, time stopped as Twilight sat down on the ground beneath the tree, her wings drooping and her eyes filling with ethereal power. Her mind was assaulted by ghosts of the past and visions of possible futures. She was struggling to comprehend everything even with her superior intellect. After uncountable minutes, Twilight understood.
Breaking away from the tree with a tear in her eye, Twilight spun around to face the sisters and with an almost inaudible ‘pop’, vanished.
Left alone in the cave, the two remaining alicorns watched the spot where the other alicorn just stood with bewilderment, awaiting her possible return. But after fifteen minutes passed with no sign of her, Luna gave up.
“Who do you think that was, sister?” – She asked.
“Whoever may she be, I think that she is somepony very significant.” – Celestia replied, looking up at the tree.
The tree was in full bloom.
Twilight appeared elsewhere, but knowing how she was looking and being prepared this time, she cast an invisibility spell. She watched as the sisters approached Discord, sitting in his insane throne, throwing seeds everywhere. And she understood.
When the sisters tried to activate the Elements of Harmony, Twilight felt a new connection between her and the artefacts. The Elements were asking her if they should activate. Almost instantly, she agreed.
As much as she wanted to step in and congratulate the sisters of successfully deposing the self-appointed Lord of Chaos in a slab of stone, she now had a purpose. Without another sound, she vanished again.
Unseen by her, Luna turned to the direction where Twilight once stood, feeling the fading affection from the link.
Twilight’s knowledge didn’t prepare her for the assault of negative emotions coming from Luna’s direction as her beloved finally lost grips on her sanity, eclipsing the sun with the moon and in the process releasing the Nightmare. The last feeling that came through the closing link as the Nightmare forcefully possessed Luna was confusion and overwhelming fear. A tear dropped from Twilight’s eye as the link died completely and she forced herself to watch the ensuing battle between the two sisters.
Twilight vowed to herself that she would ease Luna’s pain even more after she returned. A pony should never be forced to feel such feelings.
Finally, the decisive moment came and she felt the Elements asking her for permission to activate. Knowing full well what she was about to do, Twilight agreed and watched as the rainbow washed upon the monster that was possessing her beloved moon.
Having seen enough, she turned away and once again vanished into the time stream, the Elements turning to stone as according to her wishes.
Twilight watched silently as her past self fruitlessly tried to activate the Elements. She watched as Nightmare broke the shells that the elements became after she left them the last time. She watched as her friends galloped back to help her and in that moment, she touched her horn to her past selves horn. A spark passed between them.
Fully knowing what happened next, Twilight turned once again and vanished.
Twilight watched as Discord once again was turned into stone. She vanished again and observed her past self her friends using the Elements to release Discord in order to reform him.
With the last ‘pop’, Twilight appeared once again in the clearing near the Everfree Forest from where her journey started. Her friends gathered around her, asking what happened.
“What the hay happened to you, Twi. You have these huge wings now! How will you keep up with me if they keep slowing you down?” – Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well Ah'll be, those there be some of the biggest muscles Ah’ve seen on anypony! With dem legs you could buck mah entire orchard bare in a day!” – AJ remarked.
“How was your trip through time, Twilight? Did you see me, did you, did you?” – Pinkie inquired.
Twilight looked to her friends, smiling sheepishly. Now that she knew who these ponies really were, she appreciated them even more. She opened her wings completely and scooped all her friends into a group hug.
“It was just a little while, but I missed you girls so much. I know what we have to do now and how to save Luna and Sunny.” – Twilight replied – “We will have much more time for questions later. But first…” - Twilight turned to Discord.
“…it’s time to take out the trash” – She finished. Discord looked at her with disinterest.
“Why would you call me names, Twilight? I thought we were friends now that I am reformed!” – He floated to Fluttershy – “Isn't that right, dear Fluttershy?” But Twilight wasn't fooled.
“Oh, yes, you are reformed. But your magic isn't. And it’s time I took it back from you.” – Twilight explained, charging her horn.
Discord looked at her with a bit of annoyance, snapped his fingers and… nothing happened. He kept trying and trying but nothing was happening. Finally, Twilight was ready and released her spell. It hit the draconequus and a glowing orb formed around him. It swirled around a few times and returned back into Twilight’s horn.
Standing where Discord was floating a second before was a slightly confused pony with a goatee and a magic swirl for his cutie mark. Twilight’s friends looked confused at this turn of events.
“Who is that stallion with the dashing beard, darling?” – Rarity asked. – “He couldn't possibly be that brute, Discord, could he?”
“Umm, Twilight… what did you do to my friend… if you don’t mind me asking?” – Fluttershy asked nonetheless.
“I introduce to you – Starswirl the Bearded, first archmage of Equestria, mentor to Clover the Clever and inventor of the omnimorphic spell. A spell, which allows the caster to change his or her shape to anything he or she wishes. Rings any bells, girls?” – Twilight said while her friends showed different levels of understanding. – “He was Princess Celestia’s first student and he failed the spell which I succeeded in completing.”
“You mean to tell us that guy was Discord all along?” – Dash finally understood.
“Yes and no. He failed the spell and the resulting clash between the harmonic field of Equestria and the chaotic matrix of the spell caused him to… well, let’s say go looney. But now that I’ve taken back the magic, he should be himself again.”
“An astute observation, young mage. If you like stating the obvious. Now what year is it and where can I find Celestia? I still owe her a report from this failure.” – Starswirl said. – “And, as a matter of fact, who in the blazes are you? I remember there being only two alicorns…”
“Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Alicorn of Magic and Stars, Celestia’s 375th and latest student. Oh, and not to forget, Luna’s wife. As for the year – it’s 1004 PNMM, but that won’t tell you much, so in the old calendar it would be 1574 AU.”
“It’s been over a millennium since I last saw Princess Celestia, then. And that’s a lot of titles for a pony your age. Unless you always looked like this and I'm making a fool of myself. Nevertheless, lead me to Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight.”
“Very well. And please, my friends call me Twilight.”
Twilight gathered her friends together and led them through the forest. It was a safe and quick trek as anything with half a brain avoided the powerhouse that was the lavender alicorn while she used her magic to destroy the chaotic vines. There was a small incident involving a Cragadile but Twilight simply teleported the beast away.
Finally, the group arrived at the cave underneath the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters and inside they found the root of all of the vines, along with the Tree of Harmony. Twilight used her magic to clear away a path to the tree, while her friends batted away at the smaller vines.
At the base of the tree, two cocoons split under the lavender alicorn’s assault and from within two ponies emerged; Luna and Celestia, the latter still in her Sunny Skies disguise.
"Luna!" - Twilight exclaimed as the vines began to unravel.
"Twilight! Is that you?" - Luna asked in wonder. Twilight began to run to Luna as she opened her arms to embrace her marefriend. But she hadn't counted on Twilight's enthusiasm. Taking a flying leap, Twilight launched herself in Luna's waiting arms, knocking them both to the ground.
"I. Was. So. Worried. About. You!" - Twilight said, between kisses. She was perched rather awkwardly atop her marefriend, not that she noticed - or cared - in their moment of passion.
"What took you so long? I swear, if I didn't play solitaire in my head, I'd be bored out of my life right now." - Luna's complaining was cut short by Twilight planting her lips on Luna's. Reciprocating the gesture, the two shared a deep and passionate kiss. Even if it had only been a short time, each had been very worried about the other.
The two broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes for a few moments. Then Luna took notice of the lavender alicorn's new appearance.
"Ooh, this new mane you have is very pretty!" - Luna said, admiring Twilight's flowing, multi-colored locks. "And you have bigger wings now!" Luna stretched one of them out. 'She's as big as I am now.' - She mentally corrected herself. - 'I am going to have so much fun with those wings!'
"And you have a long flowing tail too..." - she trailed off. Looking past Twilight's tail, she saw somepony she hadn't seen for a millennium. "Ewww, where did you find him? I thought I'd seen the last of him during that Discord fiasco."
Twilight looked behind herself and noticed Starswirl kissing with Celestia. Suddenly aware of the rather compromising position she and Luna were in, she blushed and stood aside, allowing Luna to come to her hooves.
"Well, it's quite obvious to me that you don't like Starswirl. Why the animosity?" - Twilight asked.
“She walked in on us while we were engaged in… research…” – Celestia said. – “The old castle needed new windows after that shout.”
“It’s not my fault! I thought he was assaulting you!” – Luna defended herself with a pout that Twilight thought was adorable.
“Oh yes, his assaults were quite… vigorous… considering his age.” – Celestia teased.
“TIA! I still haven’t got the old images out of my head and you’re trying to drive them back in!”
“Oh shush you, stop being so easy to rile up. It’s not like I complain about what you do with my student! Speaking of which... Twilight, are you the one I have to thank for having my beau back?” – Celestia turned to the lavender alicorn, this time having to look up. – “Oh my, it seems you hit a growth spur- Wait. I recognize you now. It was over a thousand years ago, right in this place! You charged the Tree of Harmony!”
Twilight beamed down at Celestia.
“It was accidental that time. But this time, I must do it on purpose. Now that all of the bearers are assembled, it should be quite a bit more powerful. Now, girls, formation.”
Twilight’s friends gathered around her and the group floated up. This time Twilight heard all of the girls in the spell and when the question came from the Elements, all of them answered. The rainbow coalesced and charged into the bark of the tree, invigorating it. It also had a side effect of temporarily washing away Twilight's spells from Celestia. Finally, after the magic subsided, the necklaces and tiara floated away from the group, the jewelry vanishing, while the gems set back into the tree.
“How will we defend Equestria now, without the Elements? I'm ready to kick major flank by myself, but what about bad guys like Discord?” – Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s simple. Applejack, tell me – what do you feel when you touch the tree? As a matter of fact, you all can touch it and tell me what you feel.”
The group of friends touched the tree one by one and each of them understood. Their bond was what gave life to the Elements, they didn't need any jewelry to use the magic of friendship.
The entire group left the cave, Twilight leaning into Luna, enjoying their shared height and thinking how things were going to change now. Following them, Celestia was back in her Sunny form, leaning into Starswirl. Surrounding them all of the ponies cheered for another successful adventure.
Back in the cave, unseen by anypony, the tree produced a box. It fell down and rolled under one of the roots, to lay there forgotten.