Secrets
“Many ponies know about the prophesy telling of the arrival of an alicorn with strength not yet seen. This prophesy was predicted by the last Princess before her death more than 1000 years ago, as is customary for the rulers. Celestia received this message and relayed it to Luna when she was old enough to understand. This prophesy told that a pegasus and unicorn would give birth to an alicorn of unnatural magical and physical strength. This pony would be a mare, and would be given the name Lightning Aura Strike. She would find fault with the leaders of the world, lead a rebellion against them, and be successful.
For 1000 years, Celestia and Luna searched Equestria for a cross-species family with the name Strike, but to no avail. But early in the search, Luna attempted to assume control of Equestria and was banished to the moon. Celestia knew that there was no hope of finding such a family by herself, so she prophesied early that Nightmare Moon would return after 1000 years. The year Luna returned would give the two sisters five years to search for the hidden family before the baby was born. So after 1000 years, Nightmare Moon escaped from the moon, and the six ponies bearing the Elements of Harmony defeated her, bringing balance between the Sun and Moon.
After the return of the Moon Goddess, Celestia devised a new plan that she believed would be more effective than searching for a single family; she would target any pregnant pony and by using magic, neutralize any triple-gene DNA. This rare bonding comes from a pony who carries a double-gene bond, either Pegasus/Earth, Pegasus/Unicorn, or Unicorn/Earth. The other pony can only have single-gene DNA of a different species, such as Pegasus/Earth with Unicorn. Even with these requirements met, it’s almost impossible to get an alicorn offspring. The three types of DNA have to bond seamlessly. Any loose ends and the pony would just be an ordinary pony. In theory, all ponies can produce an alicorn baby, but the chances of those two ponies meeting are also almost impossible as Equestria is so large, and there are even more lands over the sea.
Celestia gathered all her strongest unicorn guards and the palace medic pony and having them all combine their power, created a holographic map of Equestria which included places such as Ponyville, Manehatten, Las Pegasus, Baltimare, and beyond. From there, the medic would pour special magic into the map, and it would show the current location of registered pregnant ponies. Since the prophesy, Celestia had decreed that all pregnant ponies register themselves. As they were located, Celestia and Luna would fly to the location and, telling the mare they were vaccinating the fetus against dangerous diseases, would split the ends of some DNA strands to ensure that the newborn would never be an alicorn.
This continued for five years. All the time, they would ask the families if they knew anypony by the name Strike. All the ponies they visited declined having any knowledge of this family. Until one day, a young couple entered Ponyville, the female obviously pregnant.”
At this point, Lightning stopped talking. Twilight looked up from her notepad on which she had been taking notes. Lightning was looking at her with intensity, as somepony would before asking somepony else to do something completely ridiculous.
“Is something wrong,” Twilight asked, concerned. Lightning gulped slightly before voicing her request.
“I cannot go on verbally. If you wish to know the true secret, you need to do me a small favor. You need to remove this collar.” She nudged the magic restraining collar around her neck.
Twilight recoiled in shock. “I can’t do that! It’s illegal to remove a prisoner’s restraints without permission or removal by a Princess or a pony of similar rank and status. If Celestia knew I removed it, I’d be joining you in here.”
Lightning’s gaze turned cold with calm fury. “Imagine this, Twilight Sparkle: Everything you learned from Celestia is wrong. You spent, what, most of your life studying under her? You said yourself that your favorite subject is History and Historical Figures, ergo you learned the basics of the past Princess and her prophesy. But you only learned what the Princess told you. She didn’t show you anything. That’s why I need this collar removed. I can show you everything. I can show you what can’t be spoken.”
Twilight bit her lip and looked between the collar and Lightning’s piercing gaze. She started to back away, but she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her violet eyes again, and approached the prisoner.
“Very well, I will remove your collar, but your wing restraints and shackles stay on. If I see you trying to remove them either by magic or other means, the collar goes back, I leave, and Celestia is notified. Is that understood, Lightning Strike?”
Lightning’s yellow eyes blinked, and for a second she didn’t move. Then she nodded her head and said in a voice that radiated control and command. “I understand and comply with your rules and demands, Miss Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight looked at the scarlet pony for a second longer before she bowed her head and a purple aura enshrouded her horn. For several seconds nothing happened. But then Twilight started to rise from the ground and she opened her eyes. Her eyes had gone pure white with light from the amount of magic she was using. Her magic aura suddenly shifted from purple to a golden yellow. Lightning recognized that color. She had been cloaked in that aura when she was being carried from Twilight’s ruined library. It was Celestia’s aura.
The lock on the collar around her neck clicked open and fell to the stone floor. She removed the collar and dropped it next to the lock. She shook her head and her mane flowed and crackled lightly. “That feels so much better. You have no idea how heavy those things are.”
Twilight replied in a slightly disgusted voice, “I believe I do.”
Lightning looked over to Twilight and asked, “Are you ready to see what really happened?”
Twilight gulped and nodded. Lightning fixed her eyes on Twilight and her whole body went rigid. If Twilight went over and pushed Lightning, she would have fallen to the floor. Lightning’s body began to go through a process similar to when she attacked Twilight back at the library, but this time, her cutie mark didn’t spread to the rest of her body. It remained in its fixed position on its owner’s flank and shone brightly, pulsing slightly.
Twilight suddenly felt like she had been hit in the face with something heavy. She stumbled back a couple of steps as some blood trickled from her nose. She looked around and realized she wasn’t in the dungeon anymore. She appeared to be standing outside of a hospital. Something moved beside her. She turned quickly to see Lightning fall out of a tree. She shook herself off and went to stand next to Twilight.
“I haven’t practiced magic much. It usually happens unexpectedly. Pegasus magic can be rougher than unicorn magic. Hold still, let me fix that.” She gestured to Twilight’s nose. Twilight shook her head vigorously. The pegasus looked at her in slight exasperation. “I may not have practiced magic much, but I can control healing magic.”
Twilight sighed and closed her eyes. Lightning concentrated on Twilight’s nose and her cutie mark flashed quickly. The small trickle of blood from Twilight’s nose stopped and the trail running down her face slowly vanished. “There we go,” Lightning replied happily. Twilight turned and scowled at her. “Do you have a bipolar disorder?”
Lightning shrugged and looked around. Without warning, she grabbed Twilight and pointed out two ponies walking toward them and the hospital. One was a small female, heavily pregnant, and the other, Twilight guessed, must be her husband. The male was strongly built, with large black wings and a neck length black mane. His red eyes shone intimidatingly under his black bangs. The mare was a lavender colored unicorn with a short brown mane. Her brown eyes were tired but determined.
“Those are my parents,” Lightning said quietly. Twilight turned to her and saw a tear slide down her face. “I never got a chance to meet my mom. She died when I was born.” Twilight put her hoof over Lightning as the pony couple passed.
They entered the hospital, spoke to a nurse by the name of Redheart (Twilight noticed she was younger than she remembered), and were asked to be seated in the waiting area. They did as they were asked and didn’t have to wait long until they were both led to a room. The stallion helped the mare onto the stainless steel table, and squeezed her hoof. She looked at him and smiled tiredly, and he returned the smile. With a soft creak, the door opened and Princesses Celestia and Luna entered. They both greeted the couple, and the two ponies returned the greeting.
“This is what your Princess never told you about. Watch carefully,” Lightning breathed in Twilight’s ear. Twilight watched as the two Princesses approached the couple. Luna asked the black stallion to join her and the two ponies exited the room. As Lightning and Twilight watched, the pregnant pony and Celestia exchanged some words before Lightning’s mother gave Celestia permission to give her a vaccine. The Princess lowered her head to the purple pony’s swollen belly.
As Celestia’s glowing horn made contact with Glimmer’s skin, the pony’s body suddenly and violently stiffened. Her eyes rolled back as Celestia started pouring magic into Glimmer’s body. She tried to scream, but all that escaped her throat was a gurgle. She convulsed on the table and tried to fight the Princess off. Celestia summoned ropes that held Glimmer’s arms and legs down. Now that the pony was tied down, Celestia could finish her spell. Glimmer continued to spasm under the ropes and realized something: this must have been a setup. This wasn’t the hospital. While she had been thrashing, she caught a glimpse of another hospital out of the window. This was a trick and they fell right into it.
Lightning directed Twilight’s shocked stare to Celestia’s face. There was a demonic smile plastered there and small pupils. Twilight had never seen the Princess like that before. So this is what power hunger looks like, she thought. She’d never be able to look at Celestia the same way. As she started thinking that she would have to have a talk with Celestia when she got back, Lightning nudged her. “You can’t tell anypony about this. I trust you to keep quiet about this.”
As they watched, the spell the Princess had left on Glimmer’s body finally took effect. The belly shimmered and turned transparent. Lightning moved forward and motioned Twilight toward her. They both stood on a stool on the other side of Lightning’s mother. They peered into the body of Glimmer. Twilight took on a slightly green hue and started to back up. Lightning walked over and pulled her back over to Glimmer. “I felt the same way when I first saw this.”
Twilight quickly calmed down and started recognizing the various organs. She owned several books on anatomy and could name every single internal organ she saw, including things such as the aorta and other veins and arteries. Her gave traveled down to Glimmer’s womb and froze. The spell had moved to the uterus and exposed what was in there. A tiny pony was curled inside. Even inside a dimly lit area, she had prominent red fur, and light yellow mane and tail. Twilight’s mouth was hanging open in awe and amazement at the sight before her. She had seen plenty of pictures of ponies who had passed on and donated their bodies for science, but this was a new level. She could see everything work on a living specimen. She could see the heart beating just behind the two large lungs, which expanded and contracted with the mare’s breathing. She could see the arteries darken slightly as fresh blood was pumped through them. But the little unborn foal intrigued her. Twilight saw the tiny thing move around and saw two odd bumps on its back. It took her a second later to figure out that those nubs were wings. She continued to observe the fetus as it shifted and turned its closed eyes towards her. She gasped. It all made sense now: how Lightning could use magic, the special cell, the collar. She was looking at a small horn protruding from the baby Lightning Aura Strike’s forehead. Lightning was really an alicorn.
===
“You’re an alicorn!” Twilight exclaimed. She grabbed Lightning’s head and started knocking on the spot where Lightning’s horn should have been.
“It took you this long to figure it out?” Lightning asked, struggling to get free from Twilight’s hold on her head. “You need to finish seeing this.” Twilight let go and continued to watch the Princess with the next phase.
Celestia levitated a strip of cloth over to the mare’s mouth. Glimmer tried to pull away, but with little success being tied down. The cloth made its way between her teeth and tied itself behind her neck. The mare gave a terrified squeak and started panting with fear, tears streaming down her face. Celestia ignored her and turned herself to the mare’s exposed insides. She focused her sights in the slowly rotating foal in the uterus. As she lowered her glowing horn into the mare, Glimmer through the cloth was clearly panting the word “No” over and over.
Celestia’s horn passed through the mare’s transparent belly and made contact with the uterus. It started pulsing as magic was pumped to the unborn Lightning. Glimmer was covered heavily in sweat, but whether it was from pain or fear was not apparent. Lightning and Twilight stood on the stool again and peered inside to see what was happening. A ribbon on yellow light from the Princess’ horn was squirming near the foal. It made contact with the baby and started worming its way into the fetus, eventually disappearing from sight.
Twilight gasped. The baby had started to glow and the horn was shrinking back into the foals head as they watched. It completely vanished within seconds.
“Princess Celestia, what did you do,” Twilight yelled at Celestia. The Princess didn’t appear to notice Twilight.
“Twilight,” Lightning said, “it’s no use. This is just a memory. We don’t exist here right now. They can’t see us or hear us.” She moved a hoof toward Celestia. “We just go right through them.” She moved her hoof, and although it appeared to be touching the Sun Goddess, she paid them no notice.
Without warning, Glimmer opened her mouth and, past the cloth, let out a scream. Lightning motioned to Twilight. The unicorn joined the pegasus on the floor and watched as the small yellow ribbon of magic emerged from the other side of the table. As it fell to the ground, it left a gaping hole in the table and, past that, a hole through the body of Glimmer.
“Celestia didn’t turn off her magic. That particular piece of magic is fatal if not terminated after its initial purpose. I believe Celestia let it run on purpose, just to kill my mother,” Lightning growled through clenched teeth. The two ponies stood again and watched as the transparency on the mares stomach faded to its normal opaque lavender color. No sign of trauma was evident.
The door behind them exploded, wooden shrapnel flying everywhere. Takedown raced into the room, red eyes alert and scouting. He saw his wife gagged and his very body seemed to glow as fury filled him. “What did you do to MY WIFE!!” he roared and flew at Celestia, catching her squarely across the body and sending her smashing into lockers full of medical equipment. Luna was in the room by now, and rushed to her sister’s side.
“Sister, are you alright,” Luna asked concerned. Celestia spat some blood out of her mouth and glared at the black pegasus before her.
“How dare you attack a royal Princess! Are you aware that the penalty for attacking a member of the royal family is death?” she shouted. She fired a blast at Takedown. He covered himself with a wing and the spell bounced off. Celestia and Luna were stunned.
“Sister, we should leave before we cause any more damage,” Luna reasoned. Celestia looked once more at Takedown before flaring her wings and flying straight through the roof. Luna followed suit, gracefully flying through the hole her sister made.
The room started to get fuzzy. Twilight looked a Lightning, confused. There was a WHOOSH, blurred lights, and they were back in Lightning’s cell.
“That was all the Princess showed me,” Lightning gasped. She wasn’t used to traveling through memories, and the experience left her feeling nauseous. “Everything after that my father told me.”
Twilight still seemed a little shaken by the sudden change of location. She blinked to clear her eyes. “What happened to him? Your father, I mean.”
Lightning shrugged. “He disappeared a couple days before I went to the Gala. He didn’t say he was going anywhere, but he rarely did. His job required immediate action. He didn’t have time to tell us bye whenever he left.”
“I need some time to think this over,” Twilight muttered, more to herself than to Lightning. She started pacing the dungeon floor. She suddenly stopped and faced Lightning. “We need to get you out of here. I can’t do it right now. You need to wait for me to come get you.” She used her magic to slip the collar back in Lightning and lock it again. She kissed Lightning on the forehead and knocked on the cell door. The guard appeared and opened it, letting Twilight out and reclosing it, leaving Lightning in darkness.