From an indistinct mass of haze within Twilight’s memory, the vista faded into a new room.
The walls were made of giant, interlocking stone plates of varying materials that came together to extend beyond the scope of the room. It was like standing between the faults in a colossal mosaic. Twilight had the oddest sense that the entire palace looked much the same, however her attention was taken in by an argument between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, of all ponies.
"How could you defend them?" the pastel yellow mare demanded.
"Fluttershy, it's what they eat! Griffons can't live on just plants, they have to eat meat sooner or later."
"They are taking innocent lives!" Fluttershy cried.
“Ahem” came a familiar voice from the doorway and Twilight saw her past self.
"I couldn't help but overhear you two arguing, what's going on?" past-Twilight asked her friends, causing her future-self to snort in disbelief.
Couldn't help but overhear my flank, they are arguing right outside your/my door.
Her status as a Princess had delegated her friends to stay in adjoined quarters. Thus the room her companions were staying in acted as a buffer between hers and the rest of the castle, likely as a feature to protect her from potential harm.
Interesting, it appears they are being housed in servant quarters she noted with a tinge of trepidation. She had never really considered any of her friends servants, technically however, as citizens they were bound to serve the crown, and thus her.Therefor, It would make perfect logical sense from a foreign perspective to house them thusly, however uncomfortable she was at the notion.
I wish I could remember how they reacted to the setup, or if they cared at all. They most likely didn't, seeing as they would either be amused at her discomfort over being treated as royalty or apathetic, aside from Rarity, at least. The mare acted as a force neigh unto nature when it came to romanticizing a situation, and had taken to doing so with Twilight’s princess-hood at every opportunity. It still would have made her feel a lot better to know she hadn't offended the ponies closest to her.
Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted as Fluttershy, having spotted a potentially sympathetic ear, bolted to her past-self, wrapped her hooves around Twilight’s neck, and began to cry, her quiet sobs muffled by Twilight's mane.
Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. "Shy found out what griffons like to eat for lunch," she muttered.
Her past self only made the slightest wince of understanding which was mirrored by the present. That would certainly explain why Fluttershy was as upset as she was.
The memory of herself lifted Fluttershy in a magenta aura and placed her gently on one of the beds in the quarters before speaking.
"Shh okay, okay, why don't you take a deep breath and start at the beginning."
The shy mare quietly began. ""W-w-well, th-they offered to let m-me and Rainbow v-visit the kitchens when she comp... m-mentioned she w-w-was hungry. When we got th-there, they had a cage of cute little bunny rabbits and... and.." Fluttershy began to tear up again, hiding her face behind her mane as she did.
Twilight hopped up beside her on the bed and draped a wing comfortingly over her back.
"I think I understand" she said so her friend wouldn't have to continue.
Rainbow Dash meanwhile took the opportunity to appropriate a chair from a nearby work desk and plopped it in front of the two so she could sit as well.
"Fluttershy," Twilight began, "What did you know about Griffon eating habits before we came here?" She asked as gently as possible.
"Umm, they can eat desserts...and apples according to Pinkie."
Twilight nodded, "Fluttershy, Gryphons are omnivorous, meaning to meet their dietary requirements they nominally eat both meat and plants to meet their dietary needs.. The energy return between the two however is slanted heavily towards meat, as it has a much higher yield. Because of the greater energy and due to their large size, return they place a greater focus on their carnivorous aspect. "
Rainbow Dash chimed in to both the other mares supplies."Yeah, It's one of the reasons there are so few Griffons in Equestria.The only thing they can really eat there is fish, and thats just as bad for them as eating nothing but hay is for you."
Fluttershy looked at Dash in a mildly accusatory manner, "You already knew?"
Dash shrugged, "Found out a lot about Griffons from Gilda when we hung out over summer. She complained all the time about how all she ever got was fish. She used to mess with me saying how it’s too bad pony taste terrible, but that it was probably for the best, because I'd probably be too chewy anyways.
The shy pony shook a bit at the thought of being eaten but seemed to steel herself, willing to give them at least that much of the benefit of the doubt, for her own sanity at least. "But they were talking about eating them right in front of the poor bunnies!" She Flutter-shouted in distress, placing it at just below normal speaking volume.
"And those bunnies probably didn't have a clue what was going on, nor why you were upset" Twilight cut off before continuing. "Fluttershy, there are a lot of species in equestria that are only intelligent because pony magic has made them that way."
"We tend to Equi-morphize them and over hundreds of generations our magic starts slowly making them able to understand us to a degree. It's why Applejack helps keep an eye on the local cows. It’s also why your local forest animals tend to understand you better than the ones further away. Your own personal magic affects them and makes you especially easy for them to understand."
"Outside of Equestria most quickly lose any higher functions magic might be helping them attain, right along with their ability to speak." Both mares seemed surprised by this.
"Fluttershy I understand you're upset and why you might have reason to be. But the griffons haven't really done anything wrong. They have dietary needs to be healthy, and they really shouldn't be considered doing anything bad for keeping themselves healthy. It's up to us to be understanding and recognize that different species have different needs, even if we don't like them. The problem with being friends with a snake and a mouse is sooner or later you're going to lose a friend. " Fluttershy seemed to be mulling it over for a bit before eventually nodding in understanding, if not agreement.
"Now I'm going to guess that you ran out on the chef and probably left them very confused. If you feel up to it, why don't you head back after dinner and explain what happened. They make desserts so why don't you ask if you can see the cows and chickens they have for milk and eggs?" Twilight suggested, causing Fluttershy to brighten up abit before she took off with Rainbow in tow.
As the two Pegasi left, the room quickly melted away, only this time an eerie wisp of purple light leaking into the edges of her vision.
The light receded as the room misted back into existence. The stone walls, this time, looked sharper and more detailed than they had before.
Twilight watched as her past self walked back into the adjoining room where the rest of her friends had gathered around the blue pegasus who was lying on a bed against the far wall.
Twilight quietly entered to room before asking "How is she doing?" Before the assembled mares could answer however the chromatic pegasus spoke up angrily. before turning herself rightside up to meet the purple pony with a wince. "She's fine!" she shouted in the third person.
Twilight felt a bit chagrined about speaking as though she hadn't been there but she simply smiled apologetically before pressing onwards into the room.
Rainbow's left side and up to the base of her left wing were wrapped in white strips of bandages. which made Twilight wonder if was even a good idea for her friend to be sitting upright. She realized however that there wasn't much she could do as she was viewing something that had already happened.
Rarity however decided to respond to her earlier question as well. "She isn't taking it well" she stated offhandedly, to Rainbows ire. "That jerk cheated! I would have won no problem but then he decided to attack me mid race out of nowhere!"
"Ain’t he gonna at least get into trouble Twi?" Applejack questioned.
"Unfortunately not." Twilight stated unhappily. "Griffons traditionally allow full contact during most competitions where everyone is acting at the same time." She trailed off before looking at Rainbow, Twilight felt her past selves regret surge, as the lavender mare apologized. "I'm sorry Dash, I had no idea he would actually attack you even after we made it clear that no physical contact was to be allowed. He broke a verbal agreement even though he didn't actually break any rules. He might have lost face, but he won't likely get in any direct trouble."
Rainbow simply lets out a sigh before adjusting herself to a more comfortable position. "Nah, it's fine Twi. He barely even clipped my wing so I ought to be able to fly by tomorrow.
Fluttershy quietly interjected, "Dash, Um, the Dr. said you shouldn't do any flying until you fully recover" Rainbow smirked before replying. "Actually he only said I should keep off my hooves, didn't say anything about staying off my wings." She replied in mock of an actually valid argument.
Twilight felt she should at least try to intervene on her friend’s behalf. "Rainbow, he clawed you fairly deeply. You're really lucky nothing got infected, or you would be much worse off. Fluttershy's right Dash; you really should stay in bed."
Rainbow looked like she wanted to argue however between The two mares pressuring her, and the rest of their friends nodding in agreement she eventually caved. "Arrg... fine, it's not like there’s anything else to do. I just wish that jerk hadn’t won. Now you and Celestia are going to have to deal with that smug jerk." she said looking a bit despondent. While it was clear the pegasus wasn't happy to have lost, it was now apparent that it was bothering her more that she ended up creating trouble for friends that losing to a cheating Griffon.
Twilight's past self interrupted the pity party before it could get started. "Rainbow I really hate seeing you get hurt, but if that’s what is bothering you then politically the way things turned out actually might be even more beneficial than if you had won. Granted it would have been nice if you had actually managed to pull out a win despite your injuries." Rainbow let slip a look of hurt that had nothing to do with her injuries but Twilight barreled onwards.
"The fact of the matter is that even after breaking his word and injuring you, he almost didn't win . It looks really bad, especially once it became public knowledge that we had agreed to no physical contact. Blacktalon is really cheesed off about the entire thing, because it makes the griffon nobility look bad from a lot of different angles.” Twilight gives off a smirk that had very little to do with positive thoughts towards the Griffon ruler.
"Is that a good thing?" Fluttershy asked, to which Twilight gave a curt nod while smiling preditorially.
"It's a very good thing. It gives Equestria a better stance next time we return to negotiations. Blacktalon is at least indirectly responsible for his peoples actions and one of his people attacked a foreign party unprovoked during a contest. Even if it's against normal Griffon practices, it was well understood between everyone that aggression would not be acceptable. It could be a massive boon to negotiations if properly utilized. "
Rainbow seemed to be placated, and even slightly smug. She might have hated losing, but she didn't really consider it a fair contest so it didn't bother her nearly as much. Twilights mood however took a moment to turn sour, before she continued.
"That is, of course if Celestia actually decides to use it to our advantage..." she trailed off, a muddle of negative emotions weakly leaking over to her future self.
Pinkie Pie was the first to notice, "Everything okay, Twilight?" she asked, hoping they could help.
Twilight let out a sigh, "I just wish they would listen to me more. I know I don't have much experience in politics but it’s so aggravating. The Emperor treats me like a filly who wandered into the room whenever I try to add to the negotiations. And Celestia just lets him do it!" She crescendoed as she went, on ending in a low shout which unnerving her friends.
Twilight wasn't prone to yelling and was generally very even tempered and analytical. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with a hoof as she settled herself, letting out a sigh. "Sorry you two, I've been trying to keep it from getting to me but it hasn’t been going well, and I didn’t want to make anypony to worry about me." she ended smiling apologetically.
Rarity spoke up "Why that sounds simply terrible darling, didn't you say earlier Celestia was doing better at negotiations? "
Twilight nodded, "That's the worst part because she was! but then the High King started getting just a little too aggressive for comfort and she just sorta eroded back to her old self as I watched!" Twilight fumed.
Fluttershy walked over to sit right next to her friend, nuzzling her slightly, to offer physical as well as moral support "It will be okay Twilight. You can't really expect her to change after just a few weeks. Just keep on trying your best and you can work out a better plan next time."
The purple mare let out a sigh "I suppose you're right. I just wish I could do more." she said, as the conversation seemed to peter off while her friends watched the young spellcaster sympathetically. They all wished they could help, but there wasn't really anything they could do.
Purple haze filled her brain, and magenta light eroded into the edges of her vision, as the memory shifted once more from one to another.
'Strange, is the light getting stronger?' Twilight wondered briefly before watching the memories pass before her.
Twilight saw her mirror self walk into her room where all of her friends were all chatting on her, admittedly softer, oversized bed. Rainbow seemed to be back to full health, and although the tiniest of scratches were still visible, they were healing cleanly.
"Applejack darling , I simply must ask, where did you learn to politic? You've been handling the griffon peerage better than even myself!" Asked Rarity only slightly in awe.
Applejack adjusted her stetson, which she had been forced to leave in the servant's room of late. "Well, I might have mentioned before that when I was trying to find my cutie mark I moved to Manehatten. I ended up having to go to a lot of fancy fru-fru parties, and its more or less the same thing. I just try to keep from drawing attention, and if I do, just get them talking about themselves, and then act as interested as I can."
Twilight realized she hadn't ever actually seen how Applejack would compose herself at a fancy party. At the Gala she had opted to try and do business instead of actually socialize. It was a nice surprise but Twilight felt the tiniest twinge at having forgotten what apparently had been Applejack doing so. Rarity seemed to find this new side of her vastly interesting to say the least, as they had butted heads before on matters of sophistication.
Twilights memory-self was apparently an escape from the conversation as Applejack called her attention to Twilight.
"Hey sugarcube, ya got a minute?" asked the rustic apple farmer said, drawing attention away from herself.
The memory smiled at her friends "Sure thing AJ, just let me put away some notes," she said as she slid away a rather sizeable pile of papers. Rainbow let out an impressed whistle, "So what were you doing that needed you to write a book for?"
Past-Twilight rolled her eyes good naturedly, "I was talking with the Gryphon Carvers, they had a lot of material on earth magic. Actually I even learned some things that I might be able to use to help Equestrian farms in the long run. Although it will be a long time before they will be anywhere near ready for actual testing. First of course I’ll need to prove some of these papers and get them put to the scientific community for review, then I-" Applejack decided to cut her off before she accidently signed herself up for a two hour lecture on the process for advancing a field in Equestria, magic or otherwise.. "That sounds interesting and all, but we actually all had a question we've been meaning to ask you ever since we got off the boat." she stated, apparently the impromptu leader of the conversation.
Twilight finishing storing her work, hopped up to a chair that she pulled up to the now semi circle of mares on her bed. "Of course, I'd be glad to help in any way I can" She beamed.
"Well, the thing is, we was wondering what the Emperor was talking about when he kept referring to you and Celestia as goddesses. he seemed to be speaking a bit more than just tongue and cheek. And we've noticed a few of the nobles hinting at it as well."
Both Twilights flinched slightly, and her future self suddenly was very glad she didn't have to do any explaining, however she then realized she had to worry about how her past self had handled it.
"Oh um...well... are you sure you wouldn't rather talk about something else?" She asked weakly.
Twilight's her forehead in exasperation, 'Ohh buck me, theres no way Applejack would let that one go.'
Applejack might lie so poorly that anyone half paying attention would catch on, but if she thought someone was trying to be deceptive, she'd immediately go on the offensive.
Applejack narrowed her eyes, "Nope. I already asked your brother but he said he couldn't say. Then I asked Celestia and she said it would be best to ask you instead. I don't like how no one will give me a straight answer. What was he talking about Twilight."
"Applejack, I really..." Twilight buffered weakly
"An why won't anyone answer me when I ask."
The other girls quietly watched on
Past-Twilight sighed, looking away and mumbled.
"What was that?"
Her past took a deep breath before nervously meeting her friends eyes. "They didn't want to tell you that it's technically true..."
Applejack nodded before double taking, "Thats what Ah...Wait, what?" Her assembled friends seemed just as completely stunned by the revelation as their spokesman.
"Alicorns are the physical manifestation of entities who, when outside of the physical plane, could be classified as deific in nature." Twilight repeated.
Rainbow dash chimed in "Man, sure wasn't expecting that!" she remarked.
Rarity nodded as well, "I must admit, I was caught a bit off guard myself" she said unsurely as she still processed the statement.
"Well what were you expecting?" Twilight asked curious and still unsure
"For you to say no you’re not, and then have some really interesting story about something Celestia did long ago for the Griffons to think that or something" Applejack replied before pausing "So...should I start up a religion or something"
"There are already a few, please don't start another." she deadpanned
"We could have Fluttershy sing your praises!" Rainbow added unhelpfully.
"No, Rainbow Dash." Twilight replied exasperated.
'Perhaps a little shrine?" added Rarity only half-joking, and not quite suppressing her smile at her friends expense.
"Please, enough!" Twilights memory half begged, half demanded.
"Sorry Twi, I guess it's jus’ a little hard to believe. We weren't exactly waitin here expectin’ to find out one of our friends up and turned immortal and we just didn't realize it. Sorta feelin’ a bit unbalanced by the whole thing. Why do y’all keep it so secret?"
"Theres not really a good short answer to that question Applejack," said Twilight
Applejack adjusting herself to a more comfortable position and replied, "Well I came ready for a bit of a yarn anyways, might as well get to it." she remarked.
Both Twilights saw their friends seemed quite ready to wait her out, so her past self sat up in what her assistant, Spike, would call her 'lecturing-posture' and began to expatiate.
"I guess it all started when Celestia was born and took hold of the sun. Before she came into being, a day could of lasted for only a few hours, to months. People would worship her, but she couldn't really do much to help ponies with their problems. She controlled the sun. Unless you wanted her to add or take away a couple of hours from a day she wasn't able to do much, because anything else in her domain would either trouble or hurt everyone in the area. When Luna came along Celestia was overjoyed at the company because she'd been lonely for who knows how long. But Luna had the same problem; unless you wanted her to do something with the night sky or the moon, she couldn't do anything realistic to help ponies either,all for the same reasons. And unfortunately ponies back then had a lot of problems. Predators, Food, Evil Entities."
"So both of them eventually decided they should make physical forms and simply live amongst the ponies so they could improve their lives. It worked really well for a long time, ponies were very practical in that time period. Befriending a goddess wasn't that strange a concept compared to not having to worry about finding food and shelter, and there were who knows how many evil entities running about that could probably qualify as gods or goddesses themselves if they had merely gotten their act together. Some may have even been in a similar situation."
"As society grew they became ever larger and more prominent figures, and more distant in the eyes of their subjects. It's fairly difficult to be friends with somepony who literally worships the ground you walk on."
"This is what, in the long run, eventually lead up to Nightmare Moon. Celestia spent the following century attempting to reduce those kinds of views in any way she could, including removing as much information about alicorns and their immortality as she could from the records.”
"Her influence however ends more or less at the equestrian borders, so anyone living beyond them, such as the Griffons, likely remember, or at least know of, the old stories. Most likely don't believe them and just think she's been put upon a pedestal or something like that. It's not like there aren't a sizeable number of unageing creatures, and ponies have always been highly magical, so they don't see it as much of a stretch."
"Some ponies know, Shiny was informed, as his status as the head of the Royal Guard means he’s of equal rank with the other heads of our military. Also Cadence wouldn't marry somepony without telling them beforehoof." Twilight finished leading to a somewhat protracted silence as her assembled friends assimilated the change in their world view.
"So do you hear it whenever ponies invokes your name? " Fluttershy asked to pierce the silence.
"If they're in the same room, and are speaking up, then yes." Twilight replied promptly.
Her friend snorted before giggling, or in the case of Rarity and Fluttershy let out small bits of laughter.
"You're all taking this rather well" Twilight noted both happy, and annoyed for some odd reason. In no way did it have to do with how “badly” she reacted at first. Screaming and running around in a circle for three minutes straight in a gibbering panic is a perfectly reasonable reaction to finding out you're now responsible for influencing a fundamental part of your worlds existence and some of the most important figures in your life have been immortal goddesses all along.
Applejack explained, "Well after making friends with Discord, who seems to be in charge of Chaos, the idea that you are in charge of magic doesn't really twist my tail too much. Kinda weird though."
Twilight smiled, "yes, Discord is a special case. We're fairly sure he is a god of chaos, but he doesn't tell anyone because he would be weakened by an organized following. "
This got a few snickers as well as the thought of a church of Discord was amusing to say the least.
"I can't say I recall any organized religion of princess worshipers." Applejack noted commented.
Twilight sighed "Yeah they are called the Worshipers of the Great Alicorns. They aren't doing anything illegal by meeting, and the only time Celestia can try to dissuade them is if they make images of actual alicorns because of some kind of 'ownership of image' nuance in the law. "
"Cadence, my old foal sitter. probably had the best way of handling her would be worshipers. She nonchalantly said that if anypony wanted to make her happy they would show love to others. If they didn't have someone special then they could help out with charitable projects. That was a couple of years ago and there was a noticeable spike in the activity. In a roundabout way it came back to help her because a lot of those organizations went in to help the crystal empire start getting back on their whooves. "
They all shared a comfortable silence that was interrupted by Rainbowdash. "So Twilight, any other deep dark secrets you want to share while we're all here?"
Twilight chuckled "No I think I'm done for the day. I don't think I could take another" she said before continuing. "Honestly you don't know how much I was dreading telling you, I was afraid you wouldn't want to still be my friends"
Rarity cut her off. "Twilight dear, I think by now you needn't worry about our being friends. We may not always be able to spend time with one another like this, but we will always care for each other." She stated with a finality that seemed to touch the assembled ponies, and filled her future self with a warm fuzzy feeling.
Pinkie set aside her bowl of popcorn, 'Wait, how long had she had that popcorn?' Twilight asked, and by the face of her former self, she wasn't alone as the pink party pony hopped out of bed and walked over to where her past self was sitting. With seemingly supernatural speed she enveloped Twilight in her hooves and called out, "Group hug!" After trading looks her friends got up and joined in the impromptu bombardment of affection. Pinkie was, after all, just being Pinkie.
Emotion surged through Twilight as the memory faded once more, the rush of joy distracting the mare from noticing the now growing glow tinging the edges of memory.
The light eventually receded and she found herself once again in her friends adjoined room. Twilight noticed that the room's stone walls now appeared more rugged and detailed.
'Huh, I never thought about it before, but I bet as experience is accumulated more details become apparent. I wonder if I forget details as well?' She pondered before her memories began to take action before her.
Twilight saw her past self dressed sharply in a well matched assortment of jewelry as she wandered into the room.
"Pinkie are you here? I never thought I'd say this but if you don't hurry you'll miss the party."
"I'm over here Twilight, I was just looking at the necklace my sisters gave me!" she said with an odd reverence in her voice.
Twilight blinked at the strange response, at least for Pinkie. Her past self walked over Pinkie what do you mean your..." she trailed off, as her future self gasped. "Oh Pinkie, it's beautiful!"
Pinkies necklace was one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry she had ever seen.
Dozens of masterfully shaped semi-precious stones had been carefully laid out to interlock with each other in a very simple band necklace. The stones themselves were all gorgeous shards of rippling color, each shaped in such a way that they acted as pivots between each other like stone hinges. Each and every surface was rounded to perfection and smoothed to the point that unless bent the stones looked as though they had been fused into a single stone.
"I didn't know Maud could make jewelry." she commented.
Pinkie shook her head energetically while waving her hoof in a tut-tut motion.
"Oh no-no-no-no, All three of my sisters made it, not just Maud." she corrected with no small amount of joy and pride.
Twilight smiled and decided to have some fun as the two began to make their way to the ballroom down the winding stone corridors.
"You know, griffons have a well known fondness for stone-working. I'm sure they will all Marble at the sight of it." she said playfully. This was apparently a minefield as Pinkies grin threatened to explode.
"I Shale certainly hope so Twilight." She responded almost teasingly.
'Oh? I'm game if you are Ms. Pie.'
"I wouldn't want to think myself at Fault for putting you under Pressure" Twilight remarked amiably.
"Thats very gneiss of you Twilight and while I appreciate the sediment, I can slate with the greatest a-shear-ity I wont be cracking anytime soon" Pinkie stated regally.
"Of quarts, I know your a tuff mare, but the thought of those Griffons taking any of you girls for granite aggrigates me no end. " said Twilight with a sigh before continuing, "I'm also worried that a cobble of Griffons might decide to not be pelite and try and start a quarry with one of you. We've received lot of negative reactions of late, the whole ore-deal is leaving me feeling a bit petrified." Twilight finished dramatically. Pinkie let out a brief snort, before breaking way into a peal of laughter, which quickly lead to Twilight losing her decorum as well.
"There were some real gems in that one Twilight, honestly Instant clastics." She snickered before continuing more thoughtful than normal "While this is certainly going to be the halite of my day, I'm curious how much of that was sar-chasm?"
'Leave it to Pinkie to joke with a serious question.' Twilight thought as she finished chortling at her past antics.
Twilights-pasts’ voice grew a bit strained however before letting out yet another sigh as she stopped walking. "I'm afraid caving-in to answer is going to erode the mood a bit." she chuckled weakly.
"There was some truth to what I was saying, but hopefully the Peerage will act with proper decorum. This is supposed to be the largest gathering of the year, their version of the Gala.”
Pinkie nodded before continuing with a smile. "Just remember the other day. I know what I said, I meant it. We will look out for each other so we should be able to head off all but the biggest meanies. And you just said, they are supposed to be on their best behavior, so everything should be fine!" Pinkie burst with optimism.
Twilight smiled as they resumed their trek to the ballroom.
"Well, I hope all this talking hasn't thrown you off your apatite"
"Nope, but if we keep digging for words, I’m afraid our jokes are schist going to start hitting bedrock.
Twilight nodded, “True, to think we could keep it up much longer would be the plateau of shelf flattery." They stared at each other straight faced for a full two seconds, before they both broke down in giggles before walking the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.
Twilight was happy to hear the exchange as she watched on, however light violently rocked her vision as her memory rammed against her conscious, not as it had been, but in a jumbled haze.
...Seeing Rarity in a beautiful gown...
...Talking with Celestia...
...Rarity crying as she ran out of the ball...
...Talking with the crying mare...
The light pulsed angrily as the memory that had been fighting its way to the front finally burst into her consciousness, dragging Twilight Sparkle’s mind into the moment that went down in history as the event that marked the end of the Empire of Griffons, and it’s kingdoms…