Awakening: Allies
Despite what you think you know,
You will always be blind.
You may learn about the vastness of the universe,
And still be blind.
There are things we were never meant to beware of,
Things that keep us from really knowing everything,
Things that keep us from losing the last bits of Sanity.
We will never really learn the whole truth.
For the second time since arriving here and now, Twilight felt lost and broken. First she knew that her family was dead and the second was knowing what kind of horrible future she would have created.
Waking up a few hours later, she found Luna right next to her, brushing her mane as she lay in her bed. The sun had started setting again. Seeing her awake, she spoke lightly and almost hushed tone.
“After the Elements were recovered, Celestia and I had returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony. It was there that we first discovered the Tree deep in the Everfree forest. We saw how much potential it had to bring peace to the lands and stop Discord’s reign. We used them, knowing, hoping that we could stop him and any other who tried to cause chaos and disharmony to our fellow ponies and the lands.
Me and Tia never knew where the Tree came from or who even created them. We thought our mother Faust had created them as well as other relics like the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire… but a lot of it seems to pre-date her.
When… I saw the video and heard what had happened to you and the Elements… I couldn’t believe what the Elements have done. I couldn’t believe that they would have corrupted you.” She paused, letting it sink in. Twilight gave a blink but never responded. Rather she moved her head closer and let Luna continue.
“I believe that you were not corrupted by the Elements themselves, rather you were corrupted and used the Elements themselves. When the foals that defeated Discord used the Elements, me and Tia found that they were only corrupted because of the users. They normally wouldn’t work if the user themselves had been corrupted.”
“How do you figure?” spoke Twilight.
“I… when I was Nightmare Moon, I tried to use them on Celestia. However, Celestia and I had used them at the same time. Since Celestia was still pure, half of them wouldn’t have worked but since the Elements of themselves were tended for uses of good, they wouldn’t work on me, even if I had tried to corrupt them. That is why I fought Celestia head on rather than use my resources, thinking I could beat her before she used the Elements. So, that comes up to my point. You weren’t corrupted by the Elements, you corrupted the Elements and something corrupted you.”
Twilight remained silent though her eyes moved back and forth, her mind trying to process all this information. So, she was corrupted and in turn, she corrupted the Elements, absorbed there magic as well as other beings and killed off everyone she has ever loved. If that was true, then why did Future Trixie say that she absorbed the Elements and became corrupt?
“I have thought of that too.” Spoke Luna. It was almost as if she had read her mind, but really, she was reading Twilight. She knew that Twilight was also thinking about what the future had told them.
“I believe that… you were either experimenting with dark magic and became corrupted or… you somehow made contact with an evil artifact and that turned you.”
“What out there could corrupt me?” she asked, slowly beginning to rise.
“There are so many factors in which can corrupt you, Twilight.” She held Twilight, not wanting her to leave yet. “I am pretty sure that Tia told you about Dark magic, right?”
Twilight nodded.
“That could be a factor.” She said.
Luna nodded. “You may have tapped too much of it and you let it consume you. Either that or some evil force changed you…” She paused, thinking of a few. “The Alicorn Amulet, Tirek, Discord, Sombra, or maybe that you have become so obsessed with learning that the very magic that you used, corrupts you and makes you seek more.”
Twilight gave a small smile to that.
“Well… I do like to learn a lot.”
Luna gave a light chuckle in return.
“Yes of course, but know your limits, love. Know that when you learn something that it can consume you, either in power or by its knowledge.”
Love… she hadn’t been called that in so long and just knowing that in this unsure future, Luna still loved her, it made it that much more bearable. Reaching up, she placed her lips on Luna’s and Luna returned the kiss. A kiss which she had not had in so long.
The touch of one’s lips on their own was unlike any other, especially after years and years without its touch. Oh, the kiss was passionate and so heart filled, Twilight could feel Luna’s heart beat through it and it was rising. Twilight’s heart rose to and she felt the wonderful feeling of love and lust return.
Oh, they never had sex before, true, but that hadn’t built lustful tensions throughout their time together. There were times when Twilight had masturbated right after their dates and so on, but never had they endured the pure passion of love.
Right now, despite all that has happened, Twilight would like do nothing better than to drop on to the bed and fu—
“Princess Luna?” came Mirage’s voice through the door. Their kissing stopped which they both sighed. Luna gave a small smile at Twilight’s groan.
“After 13 years, I finally get a kiss from you and all I want to do now is stay in bed with you. Now that is interrupted.” She said all that and her cheeks burned red, not fully knowing if Luna wanted her back.
Luna gave her another kiss before replying.
“You have me at ‘bed with you’, love.”
Twilight looked up. “Does that mean..?”
Another knock. “Princess?”
Luna smiled. “I miss you Twilight and I would have you back any day. When this is all over and harmony is fully restored, I promise that we will be together again.”
Twilight’s heart fluttered and she gave a smile that Luna missed dearly.
“I would love that.” She gave a quick kiss at her before she got up and headed to the bathroom. “I am going to wash up. You do what you need to do.” With that, she turned towards the bathroom and Luna went to her business.
Ten minutes and after a calm relaxing shower, Twilight emerged a fresh mare. Despite not doing any physical activities within the last two days, she felt exhausted and dirty with all the recent events.
She headed towards the throne room where Luna sat in a long table held by the council. There Luna and Mirage were speaking and nearby ponies were preparing for lunch. Twilight must have slept longer than she thought if lunch was being served.
Approaching, Luna already had two plates of food set up, one which Luna had by her and the other for Twilight. Despite 13 years passing, Luna still remembered her favorite food. A daisy hay sandwich and a tossed salad of diced tomatoes and carrots.
The food called to Twilight and her stomach growled in acknowledgement. Luna giggled as Twilight sheepishly sat by her.
“It seems that the beast within demands substances.” Mocked Luna.
“Yes, well,” countered Twilight. “It has been a… a long day and I think that maybe my beast could use food, though it seems you remembered what I crave.”
Luna gave a smile.
“My dear Twilight, I still remember a lot about you. The time we have spent together, I did all my best to remember everything about you. Despite us splitting up prior to the events before this, I still tried to keep everything about you safe in my heart.”
Twilight felt her heart rise and her cheeks grew read.
“Everything?”
Luna leaned in and gave her a seductive smile.
“Everything.” She nearly whispered. Just before she could lean in to kiss Twilight, somepony cleared their throat, causing both mares to sigh.
“Again,” almost growled Twilight. Luna gave a chuckle and she turned to a brown pony.
“Yes?”
“Sorry to disturb you, Princess Luna. There is a… ‘guest’ here to see you.” The word ‘guest’ made it sound like he wasn’t sure.
“Who is this ‘guest’ that has come?” she inquired.
“It’s a… Diamond Dog though he gave no name and wishes only to speak to you.”
“Oh good.” Quipped Luna, a bit upset that he decided to come a bit earlier than expected. She sighed. “Go ahead and bring him in.”
The pony nodded and left.
As soon as he left, Twilight questioned.
“A diamond dog? I know we have some relations with them but they never come to us.”
Luna gave a nod and slowly began to eat.
“Times have changed, dear Twilight.” She took a small bite out of her Breakfast Hayburger. She chewed a bit, thinking about something before she swallowed and continued. “After the defeat of Discord, not everything returned to normal. Despite several species staying away from his rule, many of them did get affected not by his own chaos but rather the effects of it.” She took another bite.
“When ponies were in hiding, many of them hid in caves and many of them happened to be where the Diamond Dogs lived. During Discord’s reign, ponies had to work for the Diamond Dogs to stay alive or hidden from his magic. The Diamond Dogs did keep them hidden but they made them work for it by digging gems.
‘At first, it seemed cruel but they kept them save and fed. They were mostly fed mushrooms, desert plants and some other food, it wasn’t a five star meal but it kept them alive. Unicorns helped marked the spots where they could find the diamonds or what caves looked ready to collapse. The earth ponies pulled the carts or helped grow what food they could. The pegasi weren’t much help since they were in the caves. What little ‘normal’ clouds they could find, they brought them down for water.
After Discord fell, the ponies quickly left the cave to get back to their lives. The Diamond Dogs saw that they were losing their most valuable asset and workers. Despite the Diamond Dogs treating them a little bit cold, they still thanked the Diamond Dogs for taking care of them.
Me and Tia personally thanked them for helping out with saving the ponies, so we created alliances with the Diamond Dog leaders. We even helped create jobs for both sides and provided Equestrian goods for some gems.”
“What did they get that they could possibly want from Equestria?” asked Twilight. “I mean, you’d figure if they wanted to have what we have they would have asked for a long time ago.”
“True, but don’t forget dear. They live under rocks for their whole lives… literally. What goes around Equestria doesn’t really concern them. When we did show them what we had to offer, they found that some things were worth having.”
“Like what?” she took her bite of her sandwich.
“Oh plenty of things!” said Luna, a bit excitedly. “When we first showed them the castle, they thought it was the most boring and ugliest place in the world.”
Twilight paused mid-bite. “Really?”
Luna nodded.
“Oh yes. ‘Why is it to colorful here?’” she spoke, trying her best to imitate a rough voice. “‘To much color!’ or ‘I can breathe! Awful smell comes from ponies!’ Of course at the time, they were talking about all the perfumes and chemicals we have on us. Just like dogs, they have sensitive noses, so they were a bit overwhelmed. When we showed them to the caverns beneath castle, it was like they were all going to die heart attack.
They literally begged for us to harvest and collect the gems here. We assumed at first that they dig for gems because they liked shinny things. That was a half truth… just like we use it as some currency or jewelry, they do the same. Show them to a loved one as engagements or for love, they have concepts much like us. Despite popular belief though, Diamond Dogs do have their own branch of magic.”
“Like digging and smelling the diamonds and gems out?”
A small nod from Luna.
“Some diamond dogs have harnessed the rocks into either energy and magic; much like the one that is coming now. I called him in because his unique… uses for diamonds and gems.”
“Like what?”
Luna would have commented but the doors opened to the end. At first, Twilight thought that a wolf had managed to get in, but then as the figure came closer, she saw that the wolf was said, a Diamond Dog. The only reason she could tell was that he stood on two legs and had a collar with a variety of colored Diamonds.
He was dark grey with pointed ears and a canine muzzle. His arms weren’t overly huge like some Diamond Dogs, but he did have muscles on them. His lack of lower pants made it all the more obvious but he did have a black jacket with whatever Twilight could sense, was magical.
“Anything, Princess.” He commented. He drew out two gems, both red. One he crushed in his paw the other, he threw on the other side of where they were sitting. The gem exploded in a red puff, startling Twilight as the Diamond Dog suddenly appeared from it. She quickly shot her head to where he was, not seeing him there quickly shot back to him.
His canines showed and Luna too was grinning.
“Your entrances never cease to amaze me Professor Lupus Captiosus.”
The diamond dog gave a bow.
“If it still impresses you, then I know I am doing something right.”
Last encounter with Diamond Dogs, Twilight knew that they had low intelligence and their words were rough… no pun intended. Yet, here she saw this Diamond Dog speak fluently in Equestria. Yeah, she could still tell that he had an accent, but he spoke almost as if he had years of practice.
Clearing her throat, she spoke.
“What did you mean by Princess?” She paused and looked to Luna, who gave her a quick look before facing him.
He paused. He looked towards them before his ears perked up.
“Ah… so she is… not your beloved that you spoke of before?” Luna raised an eyebrow. He then gave a nod. “You haven’t told her then?”
“Not something that NEEDS… to be discussed at the moment, but I will.”
Twilight heard the emphasize on ‘needs’ though that did begged the question why he still thought that she was a princess? Sure, she and Luna are back again as a couple but they weren’t betrothed nor was she a dame or consort.
“What do you mean though? Why would me and Luna being together make me a princess? We aren’t… fully together… especially after 13 years of being dead.”
Luna gave a glare to the dog but he gave an innocent grin.
“My apologies princess… but I believed that… you were already with the Princess and automatically became a princess in your own right.”
Twilight was no Applejack but even she could tell that was a bold face lie. She turned to Luna.
“Luna?”
Luna lost her sight towards Lupus before turning to her.
“I am sorry Twilight but fact is…” she wanted to try and say it but something held her back. “I can’t… I don’t believe you are ready for it.”
“Ready? Ready for what? Luna I thought you said I could trust you!”
The words burned in her heart and she quickly tried to counter.
“You can Twilight!” she begged. “But I believe that this situation is a bit… more difficult.”
“Difficult?” she half-yelled. “How could it be any more difficult then what it is now?! I killed myself thinking that I was the cause of a horrible future which I am a tyrant! I wake up… 13 years later! My family is gone, you still haven’t told me of Shinning Armor or Cadance, my friends, Spike or where even Celestia is at!”
At this point, Luna was trying hold herself together and Lupus was somewhat sitting nervously in the cross-fire between them.
“Why can’t you just tell me?”
Suddenly, a laughter echoed the room.
Luna’s teary eyes went wide and her heart beat stopped.
No…
The laughter rang out through the room, this time more of a laugh of a good joke, though it did sound familiar.
Please no…
Lupus knew of the laugh too and shrank down as he quickly hid from under the table, holding crystals close to him.
Please Mother Faust no! Please don’t let it be him!
Twilight to had a sudden dread into her heart, what made it worse, that laughter is what brought her shivering and had brought her Nightmares before.
Luna was shaking and despite being a near goddess herself, she was in dread.
Please for the love of all! Gods! Please!!!
A puff of pink smoke filled the room and the smell of cotton candy instantly caught their noses.
“Why isn’t it obvious?” spoke the devious voice. “You were supposed to be a Princess… and here I thought you were the smartest one!”
The devious and cunning voice could only come from one creature… a creature even Luna feared.
“My, my, isn’t so good to be back?!” he laughed. “Don’t you all miss your old pal, Discord?”