In the distance, Twilight could've sworn she heard what sounded suspiciously like Celestia yelling, "To the moon, bitch!", followed by an explosion and quite… presidential scream.
She shook her head.
Twilight knew what they had been getting into. She knew what the consequences could be. And so did everyone else.
Her friends had their own reasons for assassinating Celestia. She wouldn't have been able to talk them out of it. In fact, if she hadn't have helped, they probably would have died trying.
Compared to that… things didn't end up so bad, right?
…right?
............
Of course, that just raised more questions. Why didn't things end up so bad? Twilight had heard of people executed for walking across the Royal Grass wrong. One would assume assassinating the monarch of the largest country in the world would carry similar consequences.
Unless… these were similar consequences.
Twilight sighed, and laid back on the bed. It was useless to think about it. Celestia always had a plan. Even when she made things up as she went along, it all fit together somehow. There was nothing Twilight could do now but sit along for the ride.
When Celestia invited you to her bedroom, there weren't really many other options.
Then, Twilight heard something. A rhythmic tapping. Surprised, she turned towards the window, and saw…
"Luna?"
Luna, hovering just outside, motioned for Twilight to open the window. Twilight focused her magic and pushed the handle out.
"What are you doing here!?" Twilight yelled, squinting, her face buffeted by the high altitude winds. "And why are you sneaking around like t—!?"
"There's no time to explain," Luna said in a tone that precluded any argument. She stared daggers into Twilight. Her usual stoic expression was gone, replaced with an unsettling combination of anger, desperation, and fear. "I have an offer to make you, Twilight Sparkle."
"What!?"
Luna inhaled, and hung in midair for a couple seconds.
"I… I can kill you."
Twilight stepped back. "W-What?"
"Is Celestia's planning what I think she is, then—!"
Celestia, of course, chose that exact moment to intervene. "Twilight? Who are you talking to?"
"No one!" Twilight yelled, too shocked to come up with anything better, then turned back to the window.
Luna was gone.
"Well," Celestia said, suddenly breathing into Twilight's ear, "what did Luna want?"
Twilight was one of a select few who barely flinched when Celestia did that. "How did you—?"
"Alicorn's intuition," Celestia said. "And who else would— or could—come up here if they knew I was alive?" She stood up, raising her head high. "Anyway, out with it. What did Luna want?"
Twilight got the impression she wasn't supposed to tell Celestia, but she wasn't about the risk her life protecting Luna when she didn't even know what she was after. "She asked me if I wanted her to… kill me."
Celestia's eyes narrowed. "I see." She turned around, and sauntered towards her bed. "I'll have to give her a good… talking to later."
Twilight was pretty sure that meant exactly what she thought it did.
Celestia extended her wing, motioning for Twilight to lay under it. Twilight obliged, used to this part, at least. She crawled underneath Celestia's massive wing, and Celestia pressed it, and her body, against her. From anyone else, it would have been a very paternal gesture.
As Twilight felt Celestia's warm fur caress against her, it dawned on her that, as punishments went, this was actually quite effective.
"Ask a question," Celestia said.
"What?"
"Ask a question," Celestia repeated. She looked into Twilight's eyes. "I'll give you three questions. I'll answer anything you ask as straightforwardly as I can."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
It was best not to question Celestia's whims, especially when she promised to actually make some sense. Twilight had hundreds of questions, but at the moment, one seemed particularly urgent. "Okay. Why did Luna ask me that?"
"Because," Celestia said, "she thinks death is preferable to what I'm going to do to you. That's another question, by the way, if you want to know that." Celestia looked away. "She must just be trying to ruin my fun. She's been a bit different since she came back from the moon."
She paused. If Twilight didn't know better, she'd say Celestia had a very vacant look on her face for a couple seconds. It quickly passed, though. "I suppose I can't blame her, really. All those moon rocks tempting her and all."
Twilight wasn't about to waste a question asking what that meant. Asking Celestia what she was planning to do to her also seemed pointless—after all, she'd find out in a couple minutes, and it was probably just going to be some kind of horrible maiming she didn't even want to know the details of.
She might as well find out what was behind some of her nagging doubts before she died. "Next… I want to know the answer to what I asked earlier," she said. "What is wrong with this world?"
"You're going to have to be more specific than that."
Twilight thought. There was one thing that had been bugging her for a bit now…
"How… how could Fluttershy be your head torturer? She's the Element of Kindness, right?"
"That's a good one," Celestia said, pleased. "To understand that, you first have to understand the Elements. First of all, disavow yourself of the notion that they are somehow tied to the inner magic of this world or something—they are just weapons. Extremely powerful weapons, but still just weapons. But… unlike most weapons, when Starswirl designed the Elements of Harmony, he tried to make them only work for 'good.' Each one has a different safeguard to prevent them from being used for 'evil.'" Celestia smiled. "Safeguards that… are pretty flimsy."
Celestia looked up. "Who's kinder than a serial killer that lets hundreds of potential victims pass by every day? Who laughs more than a madwoman? Who's more generous than a mare that puts herself out? Who's more loyal than someone that would betray her country for love? Who's more honest than a pony that… okay, Applejack's pretty normal, actually," Celestia said. "You see, the Elements determine what virtue you embody by looking at what you think of yourself. In theory, that sounds great, but think about it. Someone that's actually kind doesn't believe it. They constantly look for ways to be more kind. And so, the Elements only work for people who embody the exact opposite qualities than what Starswirl intended. After all, how do you think I was able to use them all simultaneously on Luna?"
Twilight gaped.
Celestia noticed. "Your element's fine, though," she added. "It just tests how strong your magic is. So, if you're strong, you can wield it. Fitting, isn't it?"
Twilight was silent.
"Now, your question was a bit ambiguous, so I'm going to answer the other interpretation as well," Celestia said, "which is, 'How could Fluttershy get away with her torture to begin with?' "
Twilight actually wasn't wondering about that, but since Celestia was offering…
"I don't pretend to understand why she chose to change the direction of her life so drastically," Celestia said, "but regardless, when she did, she saw the fundamental truth of the world. Specifically, she saw the mind control magic I have networked across this entire world."
Twilight just about jumped out of her skin. With great effort, she stopped herself from saying anything, lest Celestia consider it another question.
"You noticed it yourself, didn't you? That people have the utmost faith in me until you give them the tiniest doubt," Celestia said. "That's because everyone, by default, is under my spell—a spell just strong enough to make my life a little easier, but weak enough to not override free will. I don't want a nation of slaves, after all. Why do you think me and Sombra got along so poorly?" She looked ahead. "Of course, the system has some side effects. If you want the details, that will be another question, but basically, Fluttershy and the other members of the Three have the ability to leverage my magic to do whatever they please," Celestia said. "Although Rarity's family throws a bit of a wrench into that. But I'm getting off track. Next question."
Leave it to Celestia to answer a question begetting more questions. Twilight desperately wanted to know what the Three was and what Rarity had to do with it, but this was her last question. It needed to be something more important. Because… those were worldly concerns. If she was going to die in minutes, as she strongly suspected she would…
…there was one thing she had to know.
"Celestia… what is your goal?"
Celestia looked a bit surprised. "What?"
Twilight looked down. "You concoct these elaborate pranks, you single-handedly run just about every country in this world, you brainwash the entire population… but for what? What's your goal? You have to have one. Just… what have you been trying to achieve all this time?"
Celestia paused. She seemed to be thinking about it.
Then… she started uncontrollably giggling.
Twilight winced. She had heard that sound echo through the castle a couple times. It was the kind of thing that crept into your nightmares.
"Oh, Twilight, Twilight, you give me too much credit!" Celestia said, still not completely composed. "I have no plan. I have no goal. I just have urges. Urges that, unlike most people, I can give into with no repercussions whatsoever."
Twilight gaped. "No," she said, slowly. Then, it sank in. "No, that can't be! All those laws! Your… your pranks! Aren't at least some of them—!?"
"All just spur of the moment nonsense," Celestia said. "Have you read the laws? They're complete gibberish! Half of them contradict each other!"
"But some of them have gone on for years!"
"When you live millennia, 'spur of the moment' starts meaning something a little different."
Twilight shook her head. "I can't… haha, you're screwing with me, aren't you? There's gotta be something!"
Celestia paused. "Well, I suppose there's one goal."
"What?"
Celestia turned to Twilight. She smiled, baring her all too sharp teeth. "To not be bored," she said.
Twilight froze.
Celestia continued. "Why do you think I haven't just blown this world to ashes? I could, you know," she said. "It's because it would be too boring. And, you see, I live forever. I would be bored for a very, very long time."
Twilight worded her response carefully. "So that's the only reason you keep us alive?" she said. "As entertainment?"
"Yes."
Twilight had hoped Celestia would try to deny it, even if it was a lie.
She hoped wrong.
Celestia folded her wing up and began to get off the bed. "I believe those were satisfactory answers," she said. "You asked the wrong questions, by the way. Time to get to business."
Now that was the Celestia Twilight was used to.
…including some parts she didn't like. Celestia stopped, halfway up, and touched Twilight's shoulder. "But first," she said, "would you mind… when you're still like this… one last time…?"
Twilight got a rush of memories clouded by drugs, alcohol, and magic. The little she saw, she didn't like. She shook her head emphatically.
Celestia got up fully. "Okay then," she said. "I can have my fun later. Follow me."
Celestia led Twilight out of the bedroom to her main room. Unlike the way it was when Twilight entered, it was now almost completely empty, aside from a small table and chair. On the table, there was a plate. And on that plate… was something red.
Twilight would always remember that shade of red. It was such a bright shade of red. It was like blood, but it somehow gave the impression that, even now, it was still alive, still part of some living thing… or things. What, exactly, the food was supposed to be, she could not tell from under that thick, viscous substance. It seemed to move occasionally, but she wasn't sure whether it actually moved, or whether it was just a trick of the light.
"Now," Celestia said, her wings splayed, her head turned up, with a voice more commanding than any voice she had used in the last 3000 years, "eat it."
From the tone of her voice alone, Twilight could tell there was no choice. She would eat that thing no matter what. If she ran away, Celestia would catch her and jam it down her throat. If she committed suicide, Celestia would resuscitate her just long enough to force it into her.
There was no escape.
There was no other option.
Twilight took a bite.
– – – –
What happened next, Twilight was never entirely sure. She saw things she could not account for.
She remembered a vision of five spheres, one empty, but drawing on things around it to become filled.
She remembered unimaginable pain, but had trouble remembering what it felt like.
She remembered images of utter and complete destruction, many images of different places, one of them with her standing on top of rubble, next to some other figure…
Regardless, the next day, she awoke, completely unaware of how much time had passed. She got up, but even that only revealed just how wrong everything had become.
Because when she did, she immediately hit her head on the ceiling.
"Ow! What?" she said, and then stopped.
Her voice sounded different. Deeper. More mature.
She looked up.
The ceiling was visibly cracked where she hit it, and some chunks were falling to the floor.
Celestia was lounging on the opposite side of the room, watching. "So," she said, "you're awake."
Twilight turned, surprised, but felt an odd sensation coming from her sides. She bent her neck to take a look, and…
"I'm an alicorn," she said. "What. What!? I'm an alicorn!?"
"Yes," Celestia said. "You are an alicorn now."
Twilight looked at Celestia. "This is your punishment for me?"
"That's right."
Twilight paused. "I'm not like… completely immortal, am I? I don't really want to outlive everyone I know for thousands of years, and…"
"That's for you to figure out," Celestia said, touching one of Twilight's impressive wings. "I'll tell you this much, though." She paused, and gave a smile that seemed a couple thousand years in the making. "I always save the best for myself."
Twilight was unsure for a couple seconds, but then, she began to smile. "Celestia, I…" she said. "This means… this means I'm a princess now, right? That I can change the world? Make it a better place?"
"We'll see," Celestia said. She turned around and started walking towards a door Twilight was reasonably sure wasn't there before. "Now why don't you come outside? There's something I want to show you."
Twilight followed as best as she could. Her brain had not quite caught up to her new, much stronger, much larger body, and she found it difficult to take a step without breaking through the floor.
Once there, Celestia opened the door, and motioned for Twilight to walk through it.
She obliged.
– – – –
Once outside, Twilight was on some sort of stage, and surrounding it was one of the largest crowds she had seen her entire life. They were awkwardly talking amongst themselves—she, with what she could only assume was enhanced hearing, could make out a couple conversations in which people wondered what they had come out here for.
The more visible she became, though, the quieter the crowd got, until finally, they were completely silent in amazement and confusion.
Celestia followed, and faced the crowd. She cleared her throat, and said simply, "Twilight is one of us now. I am sure she will make an excellent addition to the royal family."
The crowd was still for a couple seconds longer, then burst out in cheers and applause. Suddenly, confetti rained from the sky, and fireworks went off, bright fireworks that lit up everything even though it was broad daylight. In the distance, Twilight's tower, the abominable machine that rose the sun, fell to the ground.
Twilight was taken aback, but eventually let herself succumb to the moment. She smiled more than she had in years.
It was over.
The struggles were over.
She could save her friends and improve Equestria from the inside.
It was all possible now.
Anything was possible!
Anything!
Tears of joy began streaming down her face, and she waved to the ecstatic crowd.
Celestia also was happier than she had been for thousands of years. She looked on, lightly smiling, using all of her strength to not let the extent of her ecstasy show.
It's so easy…