//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Dreams About Friendship Are Magic // by Soft Story //------------------------------// “Nightmare Who?” The silence that followed was unnerving. The tick of a nearby clock rang out, sounding a hundred times louder to Celestia. Her gaze slowly moved from Spike to Twilight, back to Spike, and finally stopping on Twilight. She had first thought Twilight to be confused after waking up, but this was a bit more serious than just mild confusion. Twilight’s jaw opened and closed several times before her voice started to function again. “Nightmare Moon! That’s what Luna called herself when she went all evil and tried to bring about eternal night!” There was another silent pause before Celestia turned her head slightly to address the young dragon sitting next to Twilight. “Spike... Who is Luna?” “I’m not sure,” Spike replied. “No pony I’ve ever met.” Twilight’s eyes widened and her jaw went slack as she stared at Celestia. How could she forget her own sister? How could she forget banishing Luna for a thousand years? Celestia turned back to Twilight. “Are you sure it wasn’t from a dream you had while you were out, Twilight?” “A dream!” Twilight shouted. “This is your sister! Princess Luna! She’s not part of my dream!” Spike and Celestia flinched at her outburst. With a calm voice Celestia simply said, “I don’t have a sister, Twilight.” Seeing Twilight’s confused face turn into one a pure disbelief she continued, “I am as old as the world itself, and have been watching over it since then. The sky is a part of me and I keep the sun and the moon running smoothly across it. I have no family, aside from those I take in. I know you’re confused, Twilight, but please try to remain calm. We will answer any questions you have.” In a very soft voice Twilight asked, “Princess… Are you saying that Luna isn’t real?” Celestia nodded. “I am.” Twilight closed her eyes and muttered to herself, “This has to be a prank. Discord must be behind this.” “Who’s Discord?” Spike asked, his question ignored by the two ponies. With a practiced move, Celestia hopped onto the bed next to Twilight. “What’s the last thing you remember before waking up here, Twilight?” Twilights gaze looked off as she recalled the last few weeks and the adventures she had been on. “We had just gotten back from the Crystal Empire two days ago. Yesterday, Spike helped me tidy the library and do some shopping. We had gone up to the Crystal Empire to meet the Equestria Games Inspector, as it was the chosen host for the games. We ended up meeting the wrong pony, though everything worked out in the end. Before that, we had spent a week reforming Discord. It was mostly Fluttershy who achieved that, though. That’s why I think this must be his doing, we released him and he lied to us about being reformed.” “Tell me about Discord,” Celestia said softly. “Pretend I don’t know anything about him.” Twilight turned to her, about to say something about the Princess’s memory, when she noticed the look on Celestia’s face. It was a mixture of concern and understanding. But her eyes had that look that meant she expected Twilight to do as she asked even though she had objections. She was very familiar with that particular look from her days as Celestia’s student. Twilight sighed softly. “Discord is a being of pure chaos. He actively seeks to cause chaos and undo the harmony of friendship between ponies and all other things. His appearance is rather monstrous, being made up of many animal parts. He has nearly unlimited magic, I don’t think there’s anything he couldn’t do if he wanted to, except resist the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia nodded. “Magical artifacts of great power, I imagine.” “Yes. Kindness, Honest, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic. Six virtues that make up the best in ponies. I hold the Element of Magic, and my 5 friends each have one of the others. We used them to save Princess Luna, and encase Discord in stone when he broke free not too long ago,” Twilight explained. The lack of any recognition from her mentor and Spike was concerning, but for now she needed to figure out why they didn’t remember any of this. After a pause to recall her encounters with Discord, she continued, “Last time Discord was free he spread chaos all over Equestria. Dirt turned to soap, the sun and moon changed positions every few minutes, and the laws of nature stopped working! He even managed to corrupt my friends’ minds and make them unable to use the Elements of Harmony. I had to use a memory spell to… A memory spell!” Celestia blinked, surprised at the sudden outburst. “A what spell?” “I developed a memory spell to help my friends come back from Discord’s corruption. It helps bring back shared memories. Things we did together. If this is something Discord did, it will allow you to remember the proper past!” Twilight leaned forward and touched her horn against Celestia’s skull, and without waiting, cast her spell. A moment later, Twilight’s magic died off abruptly. Celestia blinked a few times. “That was fascinating, I’ve not seen a spell like that before....” Tears were forming in Twilight’s eyes. “It… It didn’t work… Your memories aren’t gone… They never existed in the first place…” Celestia grabbed Twilight in a hug, pulling the crying mare to her chest. “I know it’s hard, Twilight. I promise you I’ll be here to help you adjust back to your life here.” Spike joined in the hug, not wanting to see Twilight so sad. Celestia nuzzled her former student and whispered softly, “I’ll protect you this time.” When Twilight woke up the next morning, she had a request: Parchment and quills. If her memories were wrong, or something else was going on, she wanted to know the truth and she wanted to document all of it. Celestia carried several stacks of parchment and a dozen quills with numerous ink bottles in her magic. Spike was riding on her back, reading her the newspaper headlines. “Dream Wish’s funeral is tomorrow, just outside city borders.” “Make a note that to alert the citizens that no protesting or riots will be tolerated. He has paid for his crime, and it is time to let his family and friends mourn,” Celestia commented, keeping her own emotions from rising up. Spike scribbled out a note and turned back to the paper. “Manehattan had a small riot. Looks like an Anti-Griffon group and an Anti-Twilight group were protesting on the same day, and things got out of hoof. No deaths, but several injuries and property damage charges.” Celestia shook her head to express her disappointment, but didn’t comment. Spike continued, “Speaking of Griffons. There’s a note here, looks like that the Canterlot Inquirer is hiring a Griffon author to do a column for them. Goldia Swift. She just moved to Equestria. They have a good photo of her as well, she’s very pretty.” “Perhaps once Twilight is back up to speed, we can invite Ms. Swift over to the palace for formal introductions,” Celestia commented. Spike scribbled out a reminder. “Of course. Assuming Twilight even wants to. She’s seems a bit different.” “Spike.” Celestia stopped walking, just a few steps from the door. “I know this is tough, but she’s still Twilight. The last thing she needs is for us to treat her differently.” “I know, but… She’s not the same Twilight that threatened the Griffon Prime Minister. She probably doesn’t even remember his name.” Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle at that memory. “Actually, Spike. I believe she is. Just because she doesn’t remember doesn’t mean she wouldn’t make the same choices given the situation. Let’s just give her some time to recover.” Spike sighed, “Of course.” She continued to walk back to her room. “Now then, while I talk with Twilight, can you start writing up a draft for the announcement that Twilight has started to recover? No details, just let the population know that she’s awake again.” “Sure thing, Princess,” Spike replied calmly. Celestia’s magic grabbed the door and pushed it open as she approached. Twilight was sitting up in bed, a tray of nearly eaten food next to her. In her magic she held a fork and knife as she worked on her pancakes, cooked by Spike earlier as the palace staff had been given the day off. She looked up as Celestia walked in. “These are good, Spike! Really good!” “Thanks, Twilight,” Spike said. He jumped off Celestia and headed over to the large writing desk across the room. “I’ve brought what I hope will be enough parchment for you,” Celestia said with a grin as she floated over the large stacks. Twilight’s magic wrapped around one of the stacks and one of the quills, taking them from Celestia. “Perfect, thank you!” The Princess set the rest down before climbing into bed with Twilight. “Now then. Where did you want to start?” “My foalhood. You don’t have a sister, Princess Luna, but is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza real? She prefers to be called Cadence?” Celestia shook her head. “So Cadence wasn’t my foalsitter when I was small?” “No, she wasn’t. I don’t know of any pony by the name of Cadence. As far as I am aware, you never needed a foal sitter. Your parents work allowed them to be with you,” Celestia answered. Twilight scribbled down some notes. “Is my father still an astronomer?” “Yes, he is.” “And my mother is still a teacher?” “Well, she’s a professor at the Academy. She’s in the magical research department so she doesn’t do much teaching,” Celestia explained, watching Twilight’s quill write out the details as she said them. Twilight’s face scrunched up in thought. “Academy? Is that what you call your school? I assume I attended it.” “And graduated with multiple degrees with honors,” Celestia said proudly. “It’s the Celestial Academy for Magical Studies. You got a degree in Theoretical Magic, Magical Research, and Applied Magics.” Spike chimed in from across the room, “You also have minor degrees in Cultural Studies and Library Sciences!” Twilight’s eyes sparkled. “Wow! That’s amazing, I assume it’s unusual to have so many degrees at my age?” Celestia nodded. “Very. Most ponies your age only have one, if that. Your family was very proud of you. As was I.” “So I attended the Academy, but I was also your student, right?” Another nod from Celestia. “Yes, Twilight. During your first year at the Academy, I felt a strong surge of magic. A colt in your class had attempted to overpower you and use a form of mind control magic. It’s called the Simple Suggestions spell. Do you remember it?” Twilight shook her head no. “The target remains conscious and seemingly normal, but the caster is able to plant suggestions into the target’s mind. For example, I could implant the suggestion that Pegasi are lesser beings than other ponies, and you would start to act racist towards Pegasi without realizing you were under the effects of the spell.” “That’s horrible! Surely such spells are illegal?” “They are horrible and they are illegal. This colt had managed to figure out the casting based just on a description of the spell from a book. He attempted to use it on you to make you do his homework for him. Thankfully, your magic was able to stop him from tampering with you…” She paused. “However you experienced a magical surge. You started casting a number of spells at random without control. No damage or harm was done, but it frightened the students from becoming your friends after that. “I felt the surge and came to find you. I offered to teach you control, as not many unicorns have the magical strength that you have. We became friends, and I decided to take you as a full-time student. Your passion for learning was unmatched by any unicorn in the past hundred years. I have great expectations for the things you will create in the future, Twilight.” Celestia gave her a warm, friendly smile. Twilight’s quill jotted down all the information before she forgot any of it. “Wow! That’s so different than… My version.” Her gaze drifted over to Spike. “What about Spike?” Celestia gave a knowing smile, “During the first few months of my tutelage, I had you attempt to hatch Spike. Doing so is perfectly possible for me, but beyond all but the most powerful of unicorns. The fact that you were able to do so on your second try, and at such a young age, was one of the reasons why I took you as my full-time student.” Spike was suddenly at the bedside, holding up several pieces of parchment, “If you’re done talking about me like I’m not here, Princess, I have a draft for you to review.” “Thank you, Spike. You’re a huge help,” Celestia replied with a small laugh, taking the parchment from his grasp.