Princess Celestia strode regally through the palace hallways. Flanked on either side by her guards, and with Twilight following close behind, she couldn't have felt more secure.
She was the soul of calmness. With a stoic composure, she held her head up high, nobly lifted up like some force of nature, walking with a unbreakable determination.
It was only the lone cry of a single voice that caught her attention:
“Princess!”
Her entourage immediately stopped as the Princes looked around.
“Who calls?” she asked. “Reveal yourself!”
“As you command.”
From the shadows, a cloaked unicorn with a withered and ghastly appearance emerged – his eyes white and glossy.
The guards immediately lowered their spears, but the Princess motioned them to let him be.
“Who are you?” the Princess asked.
“A humble servant,” he replied. “Tiresias is my name. I've come to humbly beg for an audience with your majesty.”
“You have chosen a fine time to do so,” the Princess remarked. “Do you not know that my sister's funeral is today?”
The old pony nodded.
“Aye, I did, your grace.”
“And you still had the audacity to bother me?” she asked, as she started to resume her path.
“Wait!” the sage exclaimed, bounding towards her. “Never in my life have I asked a favor of the crown or of your person, O wise Princess! But grant me this one small favor, and allow me to speak my piece, that my words of wisdom and warning may fall upon your noble ears!”
Twilight Sparkle took her cue to interject.
“We don't have time for this today,” Twilight said angrily. “This beggar obviously snuck into the castle to ask a favor of you to better his own position, by exploiting your grief, no doubt. Let me deal with him,” she offered. “And you go on.”
“Wait,” Princess Celestia said. “I want to hear him.”
“But...Princess...”
“I want to hear him,” the Princess asserted again.
“But he may try to harm you...”
“I am in no danger,” the Princess said. “He only wants to speak – so let him speak. I shall indulge his petition. It is my royal duty.”
Twilight gave a hesitant sigh.
“Fine...”
“You go on Twilight,” Celestia commanded. “And prepare my way. I shall talk with this fellow a moment and be along with you shortly.”
Twilight nodded obediently.
“As you wish...”
Twilight grudgingly departed their company, leaving the Princess alone with old pony.
“Now,” she said, turning to him. “What is it you wanted to ask of me, sirrah?”
“Your kindness is much appreciated,” the sage began. “Such kindness as befitting of the crown, which you wear upon your head. But mark my words, if you wish to keep it so: Through marvelous visions, it has been said, that ponies can see into the future. So it is with me. After I lost the use of my eyes in the service of your majesty, I have been beset by strange and horrible visions of what is to come; which is why I come to you today: to warn you, Princess.”
Celestia raised her eyebrow. She had often heard of many types of unknown magic in her many years, but never the ability to see the future. Such an ability was far beyond even the most advanced ponies – she knew, because she had tried it herself. And yet, here stood this humble figure, this withered, beaten appearance, telling her that he knew? Surely it was jest. But at the same time...maybe he had discovered some ability that gave him clairvoyance?
“Tell me then, old pony, if what you say is true, how did you acquire your practice? And how can you tell the fate of ponies?”
“I do not know how,” the blind sage confessed. “The means are far beyond my petty power to understand, such is the way of magic, but what I do know is this: your life is in grave danger.”
“Grave danger? Grave danger from what?” Celestia asked.
“Listen to my words and know: things are not what they seem. Words are hollow, and emotion insincere. Many plot against you, so take heed; but beware most of all of the one you hold closest to you – she seeks to end your life.”
“Who? Twilight?”
“Aye, Princess.”
“I-I don't believe it! I've heard this claim before and I didn't believe it then either! What game are you playing? Who are you working for?!”
“No game, your majesty,” he said solemnly. “I serve only you and Equestria. And I tell you truthfully: Twilight will betray you.”
Celestia eyed the blind pony suspiciously.
“Betrayed....by Twilight...”
The Princess shook her head.
“Betrayed by the one I love most...the little filly who I poured out all my soul for to teach and care for...”
Tears started to race down Celestia's cheeks.
“It's not true...it simply can't be true...”
“Your majesty, please, I beg of you, listen to my words. Your life is in great peril, but it is not too late. You can still save your kingdom from ruin, but only if you act in the greatest of haste.”
Princess Celestia stood up firmly, and looked straight into his unseeing eyes.
“If all is as you say, if my former student is plotting against me and seeks to end my life, and if you truly can see the future as you claim you can, then answer me this one question: will Twilight be the one who takes my life?”
The old pony shook his head.
“No, your majesty...”
“Then I don't need to hear another word,” she said, a slight anger gathering in her voice. “You say that my successor wants me dead and that my life is danger, but she won't be the one to kill me? What am I to make of that? What you say is foolishness, old gelding.”
“Not foolishness, your majesty– truth.”
The Princess heaved a weary sigh.
“Even if it were true, what reason do I have to be afraid? Will a monarch kneel before subjects in cowardly fright? No,” she said, turning towards the window and pointing to the dim reflection of the sun in the sky. “I am like the morning star, which I command – an ever steady fortress strong and brave. I fear nothing, not even death itself. Come what may, I shall not diverge my course. Guards! Sound the trumpets to announce my entrance, and let all the world marvel or tremble – whichever they prefer.”
“Yes, your majesty!”
The two guards departed, their Princess trailing fast behind them, leaving the old pony alone.
“What I fear is what is to come,
A furious deed soon to unfold;
Where rash action will make loud voice dumb,
and wreak bloody chaos untold...”
The seer turned to make his way out, before leaning on his cane.
“Thus here to I prophecy:
In these walls, the sun, will die.”
~
Celestia stormed away angrily down the hallway, her rage blinding her to little else.
The insolence of such a brazen colt on the day of her sister's funeral was more than the Princess could bear. She was in no mood for games, or to hear the outrageous lies being perpetrated against her former student and now successor.
“Twilight wants to kill me, but she won't do it,” Celestia griped under her breath. “Well, I wanna kill a lot of ponies too sometimes, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do it. Hearsay, nothing more.”
Besides that, Celestia knew better than to take him at his word. After all, did he really have clairvoyance, a skill that even eluded her powerful understanding of magic? It was doubtful. And even if he did, what difference would it make? She wasn't going to die – at least by Twilight's hoof.
The thought of her former student even committing a violent act, let alone doing so against her, was a scenario that the Princess found highly unlikely. After all, Twilight had always been a pacifist – that was just her nature.
As the Princess' feelings of rage began to subside, and her more discerning instincts returned, she began to wonder.
“Pride does hide its immodesty...” she mused silently. What if Twilight really was hiding a deceitful nature under a facade?
“If she has, she's in the wrong profession – would make a good actor, if it were true.”
The Princess laughed passively at that comment, remembering the reenactment of first Hearth's Warming Eve Celebration and then stopped dead in her tracks.
“But...she is a good actor...Could she..?”
The idea seemed implausible, but at the same time, she had been twice warned now – by a stranger and her closest blood.
Maybe something was amiss. Maybe Twilight was planning her downfall, but how could she? It just seemed so fantastical...
“Twilight has always been ambitious, true enough, but Twilight is an honorable pony.... Yet as I think how she received my sister's death, how she comforted me and gave me condolences, how she wept with me in my own private confidences, I begin to doubt. Surely ambition is made of sterner stuff...”
The Princess sighed.
“It's all too much,” she said resignedly. “Twilight the Ambitious – Twilight the Traitor? Twilight...”
She shook her head.
“How many times have I said that name with loving adoration – lavishing her with praise while instilling those virtues closest to my heart in hers. She is as close to me as if she were my own child. More so, even, I dare to say. Since she was a child, I have tested her honor and her strength, time and time again, and she always demonstrated herself to to be of the finest character – never wavering in her devotion to magic or to her friends, and always passionate about whatever her mind could grasp. A curious, loving soul – is that the soul of a traitor?”
Celestia was jolted out of her meditation by the presence of one of her guard.
“Your majesty, are you okay?” the guard asked.
“Yes,” she replied slowly. “I'm fine, just...thinking.”
“They're ready for you now, Princess. The trumpets have announced your entrance.”
“Very good,” Princess Celestia said, coming to. “Then resume your post – as I will, mine.”
The guard bowed, and departed.
“We shall see if this seer was correct – and all is lies and delusion. If Twilight were ambitious, surely she wouldn't reject the crown...”
The Princess readied herself, straightening her posture before stepping past the opened double doors onto the balcony beyond, where below, a whole host of ponies stood chatting. As soon as her royal presence was gleamed, however, the noise instantly died away, leaving a breathless silence in the room.
Celestia eyed the crowd – panning over the various faces. Some were familiar, some were not; some filled with anguish, others calmly reserved; some disinterested, some already lending their full attention. In short, the entire spectrum of pony kind was assembled here, and now the spotlight was on her.
The Princess cleared her throat as she stepped forward to the balcony, and began to recite the speech she had composed the night before:
“My Loyal Subjects,
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I stand before you today on this solemn occasion to the mark to the passing of my beloved sister, taken too soon from this world. It is only right, that we are gathered here to pay her tribute, and to honor all that she gave for her country and fellow ponies. And while I am grieved, I am comforted also – for just as the sun must set and the moon must take its place, so every day, and every night must end. It is only natural. And so let us not be disparaged, for as all things live, so must they die. It is up to us, the living then, to remember and give thanks for all the good times that we shared with the deceased, and to cherish and honor those memories, as we continue with our own lives.”
The Princess took a deep breath as she fought to hold her stern complexion.
“Let us, therefore, take a moment to reflect on what she mean to each of us, and all that she did.”
A tense moment of silence passed, the seconds ticking by hours as Celestia herself thought about her life and what little time she had actually spent with her sister. How she wished in that brief moment of reflection, her mind filled with regret and sadness – but she dared not let it show. Such thoughts were worth meditating on and expressing, but not today; not in front of her subjects. That would have to wait.
As the silence ended, the Princess continued:
“As you you know, my former student and now fellow-royal, Twilight Sparkle, was one of the few companions, along with myself, who shared her company in her last hours. But these two especially have shared a close, mutual relationship. It was Twilight Sparkle who, not only rid my sister of the evil that had consumed her, but likewise befriended her and helped her adjust, after a thousand years of banishment. For that, she has my eternal gratitude and thanks.
“Over the years, Twilight has demonstrated to me that she more than capable in a role of leadership. And it is only because of her persistent loyalty and devotion to my sister, even unto death, that I now, feel confident in the decision that I about to make now. Let the crown be brought forth.”
Murmurs began in the crowd as a guard brought forth the former Princess of the Night's crown atop a silk pillow – much like the one that was used to end her life.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia began, levitating the crown from off its pillow. “In honor of your faithful service and dedication, I offer you, with the power conferred upon me by my own Royal Title and with all of these subjects as witnesses, the crown and position of Princess of the Night, along with all privileges and responsibilities that it entails. Would you honor the memory of my sister, by taking this position by my side?”
A tense moment of silence passed as Twilight looked around the room, surveying the many faces that looked upon her – waiting for her to speak.
The young mare approached the balcony, a slight tremble in her step as she turned towards the crown that now was both physically and literally within her reach.
Now was the hour she had hoped for. Now was the deciding moment. She could take it or leave, but in this split moment she had a choice to make.
It had already been made...
“Your Majesty is very kind. Much too kind for mere words, I'm afraid; but you've always been kind to me. Your offer is beyond generous, and I would be amiss if I did not, at least, consider it. That being said, I think before I give you my decision, I would say a few words about the one who lays before us today.
“Princess Luna was a good friend. I have known her ever since her return from her thousand year banishment. I was there for her when she needed someone– I helped her to adjust and to make friends after living in darkness for so many years.
“But not only was she was one of my dear friends – she was an excellent Princess. With her solemn devotion to her post, she conferred a sublime dignity to the Night, which she ruled over. Her dedication to her rank and responsibilities, as well as those close to her, make her passing a moment of truly great sadness.
Twilight paused a moment, before turning to the crown, slowly lifting it into the air with her magic.
“That being said, it is with the most solemn dignity and respect towards the dead that I stand before you now and declare my undying allegiance to her. I vow to uphold the mission and purpose which she set forth, and to bear the torch into the darkness, as she once did. It is with the same sense of duty and purpose that I must, unfortunately decline the Princess' offer.”
There was a collective murmur as Twilight placed the crown back on the pillow.
“The task of being Princess of the Night is something that I do not feel I am worthy enough to accept, for it would take one greater than I to fill such a position. That being said, I will continue to dedicate myself to the upholding of my duties that I already maintain to preserve the unity and harmony of the Kingdom and my subjects.”
Twilight stepped away solemnly from the balcony and took her place next to Celestia as the crowd stirred until a thunderous applause filled the room, shaking the room as cheers rang out: “Long live the Princesses! Long live Equestria!”
This continued for several moment as Celestia gazed at her former mentor with a look of satisfaction.
That was the Twilight she had always known...
The Princess allowed the cries to die down before taking to the stand, once again, to address the crowd.
“In accordance with the Princess' wishes, let us trot now in solemn procession and carry forth my sister to the afterlife with her due honor that she deserves. Strike up the drums! And let the sound of our trumpets announce our way! Hail Equestria, free forever!”