Awakening: Scars
When one fails to learn the past, they are doomed to repeat it.
When one gazes on the future, they forget what lies in the present.
When one focuses on the present, they are destined to forget the past and continue on the future.
Luna did not bring Twilight pleasant dreams. For a second, she thought she was back to being in the comatose state for the past thirteen years. In that time, she was not aware of her death, but she did felt dreams.
However, those were dreams of happiness, of joy, of knowing that one did not cause the demise of millions as well as the world.
No, the dreams she had were not pleasant, nor were they nightmarish. They were filled the memories of her family, her friends, and the princesses. They were all sad that she had passed and moved on.
They were broken versions of themselves, all of them.
Her friends, were no longer friends amongst each other.
Her family, were separated and can no longer go on.
Spike… the one who she treated like a baby brother, was miserable without her.
The princesses, Celestia and Luna were shadows and lost versions of themselves.
All of them like that because of her. She never knew that so many depended on her. So many would fall because without her, she could lift their spirits, or give them hope and so on.
She sniffed in the bed, having already cried all night. Slowly awakening from her dreams, a grey dawn had greeted her from the windows. The window showed greyish skies with the exceptional few blotches of blue.
At least it was not raining, she thought to herself.
Slowly looking around, she found herself in a guest bedroom. Rising from her bed, she landed her hooves onto the floor and walked into the guest restroom.
The light automatically turned on, which really did not surprise her for she was in no mood and looked at the mirror.
The mare stared at something alien and yet so familiar. The color would never change from her mane, fur and cutie mark, but it was because of that she was able to tell that she was still herself.
Her horn was longer than normal, she was the height of Luna, if not a little bit bigger. Her mane and tail extended longer than before, not knowing how she has not tripped on them now. They were a bit fuzzy, if not disorganized with puffs of mane hair sticking out.
If Rarity saw her like this, she would pass out.
Her body was toned if not showing any sign of fat, but neither giving her a complete skinny figure. In fact, she looked well fit with thick and curvy hind legs that were meant for running or bucking.
Her eyes that once carried beautiful intelligence, despite her them having sadness and regret in them, carried a bit of a more sheen to them.
With a heavy sigh, she decided to wash her face and go see Princess Luna, if she was available.
Five minutes later, her face washed and her mane combed, Twilight walked out of the room and into the hallway. She saw a few palace staff walking about, doing their primary jobs. Once passed by, immediately seeing Twilight awake.
She was a cream colored unicorn mare with sky bluish mane and tail with a broom for a Cutie Mark.
“Greetings Twilight,” she spoke in a sweet voice. “Princess Luna had sent me to retrieve you so you may join her breakfast.”
With a small smile, Twilight nodded.
“Thank you…”
“Sweepy” she bowed.
“Thank you, Sweepy.” She paused and looked around. “I hoped that in the time I have been de… gone, nothing has changed in the castle in where the dinning rooms and all that has changed. Right?”
Sweepy gave a small smile. “A lot know of your… return, Miss Twilight, and though I have worked here for a number of years, I can say that very few things have changed.”
They strolled down the halls, Twilight watching as some of the several of paintings stayed the same. Clover the Clever, Starswirl, Marevelous and so on; they remained on the wall.
The statues and so on, however changed. Reaching the lower part of the castle, Twilight saw that many of them carried Celestia. Some with a few poses while others were gray head but details surpassed many well-known sculptures.
Twilight stopped in front of a particular painting. One she was all too familiar with and one that instantly broke her heart.
In it, was a picture of Twilight and Celestia. Rather, a younger Twilight was seen with her mentor, trying to teach her how to levitate stones. It was the first few months after her "incident" and she was accepted into the academy.
Sweepy came back after missing a few steps.
“When you had... died, Princess Celestia had decided to hang any pictures of you and her that she had. She was... happy that she got to know you.”
Twilight's throat felt tight and she felt the urge to cry but held back.
“Wha... what did she do after I... died?”
Sweepy sighed.
“She became withdrawn from everypony. She blamed herself for your death, for not being able to stop or help you. She stayed in her room for weeks on end.
When Discord returned, she had lost hope and hardly fought against him, already thinking that maybe he could end her, but like the monster he was, he enriched himself in her sorrow and grief. When he removed them from Equestria, he put them into a prison of their own, much like he was.
After that, the two years of torment was unbearable. Many lives were lost and it was a long time before any hope showed up. When the new ‘Elements of Harmony came’, their hearts were in the right places but their minds were warped and filled with anger because either Discord had killed their families or he did something personal.”
She paused, slowly letting it sink in before she side and she began again, this time with a much different tone. It wasn’t anger or sadness but rather… pity.
“Those poor souls… too young to be filled with that much emotion. The Elements, once thought to bring peace and harmony, somehow they… corrupted the Elements and when they used them on Discord well…”
She stopped. Twilight couldn’t help but answer. “They killed him.”
Sweepy nodded. Twilight couldn’t help but feel fear, knowing that the Elements could be corrupted by the user’s emotions. Is that what happened to Twilight in the future? Did something happen so that she became corrupted and killed the pony race? Did she loose someone so close or maybe she was corrupted?
Sweetie Belle or future Sweetie Belle’s letter said that she had studied the Elements and became corrupted. Corrupted how?
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Sweepy interrupting her thoughts. “But Princess Luna is expecting us.”
Twilight nodded. She gave one last look of Celestia and her younger self before continuing to walk the hall.
If she was to know what had happened during her time… dead, she had to get all the information as possible. Though one thing that made her think were the Elements and the second was how Sweepy knew so much about them.
“Sweepy,” she asked the mare. “How is it you know so much of what happened to the bearers of Harmony?”
The mare stopped and although Twilight couldn’t see her face, she could see pain and sadness. Immediately she realized that maybe she was actually there or knew somepony that was one of them.
Speaking with a shaky voice, she spoke. “My brother… he was one of the Bearers.” She gave a small chuckle. “He wasn’t the smartest of us… heck he was barely above grade point average in Ponyville Elementary but his heart was always where it should be, with his friends. He was the Element of Loyalty.”
Twilight let out a shaky sigh. “I’m so sorry Sweepy, I didn’t know.”
Sweepy turned to her and gave her a teary smile.
“It’s fine.” She rubbed her eye with her hoof. “When he received the Element of Harmony, we all had found hope with him, as well as the others.
But Discord got wind of it and tried to corrupt my brother and the others. Hoping to turn them gray like you guys, when you and your friends encountered him, he ended up killing mom.
Despite not having the… smarts to know about a lot of things, he knew what Discord did to mom. His heart was so lost… I was also shocked, too scared to do anything.
When my brother did turn gray, he and the others banned together, still holding onto their Elements. They remained loyal, kind, happy, truthful, and generous. They all felt that, even though they were facing Discord himself. They knew that if they could defeat him, peace would come back.”
She paused, more tears coming through. Twilight wanted her to stop if it was too much, but she shook her head and continued.
“When magic came into play, she was the most distraught out of all of them. Discord had not only killed her own mother and sister, but he tortured her with the body of her mother.”
Twilight gasped, feeling tears came into her own eyes.
“He tormented her, playing with her body like a toy puppet on strings… I have never seen a child so… hurt. So… much in pain and suffering. She begged… literally crying out to let her mother go, but he laughed it off, only to finally throw her torn body in front of her. Her heart, despite being innocent from the start, had endured so much hate, anger, pain and everything else worse you could imagine.”
She stopped, catching her breath before continuing.
“When she came as well as my brothers and the others, Discord didn’t feel threaten because he knew he corrupted them. However, he didn’t know that by corrupting them, he also corrupted the Elements as well.
When they used them, he tried to defend himself but… he couldn’t. At first, he as well us all thought he would be turned back to stone. But… no it didn’t. I don’t know how to describe it but when the Elements fired, they didn’t just covered him in Rainbows, they literally tore his body.”
She shook her head, trying to forget the memories but she knew they were still there.
“I never heard of a cry of a creature like that. His pain… the pain that he had been feeling was probably more pain than anything else anypony or anything could deal with.
His body… slowly disintegrated… almost like every little skin particle was slowly being… erased. He screamed and screamed, begging for mercy and all that but… I don’t think my brother or the Bearers heard him, or didn’t want to.
It was a slow process, though it was over in a matter of minutes. Still though… many ponies were around when he died and I am pretty sure that everypony will remember his pain, either joy for it or the fear it drove.”
She sighed and lowered her head, shaking it to the side.
“When Discord died, the Elements had used so much energy that they absorbed the Bearers’ life forces. I don’t know what happened after that, for everything had changed back to normal. Except that from the Elements, none of the Bearers were there, just scorched marks.
I am guessing my brother and the others died, seeing the Elements took away their life force. At least…. That is what the Princesses told us.”
“Celestia and Luna?” she asked. “They got out of their prison?”
She nodded. “Right after that, they came to town and saw that the Elements were in the same spot they were used to kill Discord. They told us that they used so much power, just to get rid of Discord, which is why they took their bodies to replenish their magic.
We were saddened to hear that but they told us that my brother and the Bearers had died saving the world, despite a heavy cost. Than they told us they went to go return the Elements to their original place… which I don’t know where.”
It was silent when she stopped, Twilight feeling quieter than ever and emotionally distraught. The Elements becoming corrupt, Discord being killed… was this really a better future?
Sweepy than looked panicked and quickly grabbed Twilight’s hoof, almost completely forgetting about the story.
“I’m so sorry but we are going to be late. I promised Princess Luna that I would have you in for breakfast.” She pulled Twilight down the hall, almost half running. Twilight quickly regained her hoof and paced with her.
They were at the entrance, with two guards waiting for them. Sweepy nodded to them and they both nodded back, before opening the door for them. Inside, a large table awaited where Princess Luna sat. Sweepy gave a bow to her before turning to Twilight and giving her a bow.
“Thank you for listening. I haven’t been able to tell for 11 years.”
Twilight nodded. “Thank you for sharing it though. I am truly sorry for your brother. I wish there is something I could do for you.”
She gave a warm smile. “You being here is all that matters. If you can help us all in our time of need, than it would be the best gift of all.”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “I know that you don’t want to say more but may I ask this quickly? Who was your brother? And did you happen to know of the other Elements?”
She gave a sad smile and a nod.
“My brother was Snails. I don’t know if you knew him or not but he was in Ponyville like you were. As for the others, I didn’t know them much but I knew that the Element of Honesty was a young colt named Pipsqueak, The Element of kindness was to a young mare named Peppermint Twist and the Element of Magic was Dinky Doo. The daughter of Ditzy Doo, the town’s local mail mare.” She sighed. “All of them… so young and innocent lives. Taken away so harshly.”
With that she turned away, heading out the door; the doors closing right behind her.