//------------------------------//
// Part 3 
// Story: Daughters 
// by Charlie Herrs 
//------------------------------//

Daughters, Part 3



Celestia stood on her balcony, overlooking the city. Night was falling, and as her sun set, the shadows of the buildings and trees seemed like they would continue to grow on forever. By her will, darkness would soon envelope the land for another night. On evenings like this, she often thought of how her sister had so enjoyed raising the moon every night. And of how, even on the cold, starless nights of winter, Luna had felt no less at home among the silent darkness. Celestia had, at times, worried about her sister and her strange interests; for what being could derive so much joy from so much lifelessness? For nearly a thousand years, she had wondered with sickening guilt if this disconnection from her sister was what had, in the end, caused her betrayal.
But such thoughts were far from her mind that evening. Because now she was faced with a new uncertainty, one that could pose a threat larger than she could fathom. A threat to Canterlot, to Equestria... and everything beyond it.
Celestia sensed a presence approaching, and turned just as one half of the double doors opened behing her and a large, black-coated Colt stepped out onto the balcony.
"Tantalus," The Princess said, "Did... I'm sorry, I didn't summon you, did I?"
"You did not, your Majesty." Tantalus said, his voice formal and slightly accented.
Celestia hesitated. "Ah, I see," she said, "What is it you'd like to speak of?"
"This matter you've been overseeing," Tantalus replied, "What do you expect to come of it?"
Celestia was quick to answer. "I expect nothing more than for Rose to investigate these unusual events." She paused, "When her task is complete, successful or not, I will handle things from there."
"And what has this pony discovered?"
The Princess briefly contemplated telling him that Rose and Twilight hadn't reported in yet, but dismissed it. She sometimes forgot how powerful Tantalus was for a mere Unicorn, even though it had been the primary reason she had chosen him to be her Royal Advisor. By his tone, he must have sensed that letters had been exchanged. "They believe Rose's cutie mark may have something to do with the Old World, and so I have sent them to find the Elements." She said.
"The Elements of Harmony?" He said, surprised. "You don't think that's a rash decision, considering what little we know?"
"Perhaps." She said, "But I would rather err on the side of caution than to be caught unprepared."
"I see. You are most wise, Princess." Tantalus said, bowing.
"Thank you for the complement," Celestia replied, her voice light-hearted, "But you know as well as I that this Kingdom would have fallen apart long ago without you by my side."
Tantalus continued bowing as Celestia approached him. "I am humbled by your praise, your Majesty." He looked up to see her standing over him.
"Your council is invaluable to me, Tantalus," she said softly, "But I can handle this matter on my own. At least for the time being."
Tantalus gave a simple nod, and the Princess began for the castle to turn in for the night. As she neared the door, Tantalus, still standing on the balcony, turned his head back towards her. "I only hope that you are not putting innocent young ponies in unnecessary danger, your Highness." He said.
"Don't worry," she replied, her voice soothing, "This will be over long before it comes to that."
And as she closed the door behind her, she wished with a deep sigh that those words were true.

Twilight began to read the spell from the Princess's letter. Almost immediately, Rose felt a strange calmness come over her, despite still being terrified of what the spell might do. What if it caused her to remember her crime? Now that she was free, she realized she might not want to know what it was.
Suddenly, a blinding white light filled the room. Rose closed her eyes and covered her face with her hoof, but she could still see the brightness through her eyelids. When the light faded into a mild glow, she forced her eyes open again, expecting the room to have returned to normal. Instead, she was shocked to find that the roof of the library had disintegrated, replaced by a beautiful star-filled sky. She looked down to see Twilight, who seemed to be completely unphased by what was happening. Then Rose could see a small crowd of ponies seem to fade in around Twilight: a white Unicorn, two Pegasi, one a light shade of yellow, the other a bright turquoise, and two Earth ponies: one a dark orange with a blonde mane and tail, and one pink.
Very, very pink.
All of them, including Twilight, began glowing brightly, as if there was some kind of small sun inside each of their chests. And then they exploded.
Rose was thrown backwards through the air a good four meters, smacking hard against the wall. If she had hit the wall any further to her right, she would have smashed clear through the massive window overlooking Canterlot. She barely had time to clear her head of the blow before she was up again, trying to assess a situation which had clearly just spiraled out of control. She looked up, trying hard to see through the haze in her eyes to find out what had happened to Twilight and the others. As her vision cleared, she saw Twilight.
Sitting on the floor, looking very confused.
"What did you do to me?" Rose demanded.
"I... I'm not sure." Twilight replied, sounding more curious than worried. "I did everything right. The instructions weren't that hard, and--"
"This is such garbage!" Rose cut her off. "I knew this was a bad idea. You and your precious master. It's probably all some elaborate prank or something. Just to mess with my head, is that it?"
Twilight stared at Rose, wide-eyed. "Um... Rose," she said, apprehensively, "I don't mean to be rude, but..."
Rose was pacing the room, angry. She looked at Twilight. "But what?" she said, her tone still fierce.
"You are." Twilight said.
"I am what?"
"Being rude."
Rose stared back at Twilight for a moment, then dropped her head. "Look, I know I'm kind of blowing up at you here, and... and I'm sorry. But so far all we've got from all this is some mumbo-jumbo about ancient history and possible brain damage on my end. Not to mention some serious public property damage fines for the roof."
Twilight thought about this for a moment, then looked back at Rose. "Wait, what about the roof?"
Rose's head shot back up to Twilight. "What do you mean, 'what about it'? It's totally--"
She looked up to see the ceiling, the same as it was when she arrived.
"--Gone."
Twilight stared at Rose, who in turn stared at the ceiling.
"Did you have a vision or something?" a voice came from behind one of the bookcases.
Both of the ponies looked back to see Spike, peering through a gap in one of the rows of books.
"Spike, what are you doing back there?" Twilight asked.
"Well, I figured I should..." he began, "Okay, when Rose's eyes started glowing I got scared and hid. But she's the one who was locked up in the castle dungeon!"
"The castle doesn't have a dungeon, Spike." Twilight said, condescendingly.
"My eyes were glowing?" Rose asked Twilight.
"Yeah, after about a minute." Twilight said, still looking at Spike. "Spike, what was that you said about a vision?"
"Oh, yeah!" Rose interjected, "I did see something. I think it might have been those ponies the Princess was talking about."
Twilight turned to her. "Really? Do you know where to find them?" She asked.
"No, I just remember they--" She thought about the vision. About each of the ponies she had seen, so she could describe them. But as she focused her memory on the first, the Unicorn, she was hit with an overwhelming amount of information: the pony's name, her home, even some of her memories. But as soon as these things arrived at the forefront of Rose's mind, they slipped away again, leaving only one piece: where the pony was. The process seemed to double Rose's already splitting headache.

"Nevermind," she said, through clenched teeth. "It looks like we're going to Ponyville."