//------------------------------// // Rehabilitation // Story: Luna's Student // by MyWorld93 //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I do not own MLP:FIM it is owned by Hasbro and Lauren Faust. The only thing I own are my OCs. Yes I have no idea how I wrote this as I don’t even have a computer, I think pie was involved though. Chapter 2: Rehabilitation Written by MyWorld93 Edited by Thunderdash I can’t tell how long I’ve been trapped in my stone prison, but can tell you that it is maddening. Most of the time I’m not even aware of anything going on around me, it’s only in the presence of another pony that can I think and function. If you’re curious as to why I can even do that, well… I’m a Pie and my family is weird. That’s all I’ve got. At the moment the only reason I am able to think is presence of my guest, the Princess of the Sun Celestia. “Well Dawn this is one of the strangest predicaments that I’ve ever found myself in. I realize that you can’t hear a word I’m saying, but I’m going to provide you with an explanation anyway. I think you deserve it. The Spell has been activated for the first time since its inception. Do you remember the spell placed on you when you were awarded the position of Luna’s student?” She looked at me like, I suppose she was expecting me to respond. Well guess what! I am not going to respond, stone can’t speak! So if you decide to wait, you’ll be waiting for quite a while. Yes, I do realize that I’m a little antagonistic; when you get locked in stone then you can tell me that you don’t have some feelings of misplaced aggression. Soon enough she seemed to understand that a response wouldn’t be forthcoming and continued regardless, “That spell had a special component in it, if the student’s teacher, i.e. Luna or myself, was somehow rendered incapable of her duties then that student would be locked into a form of suspended animation until the teacher is able to return to her duty. It was designed to make it so that the student would always have their teacher available to mentor them; so that power would be maintained between us. Hopefully you understand.” I really had no idea how that explanation made any sense whatsoever. Couldn’t the student simply have studied texts while they awaited their teacher’s return? I mean come on, why would they even need a way to maintain power between them if only one of them was available to lead. However, my lack of arguing ability made my points rather moot. Celestia watched me for a little while longer, I really couldn’t tell you why, before trotting out of the room. I could see a small smile on her face and hear her excitedly muttering to herself about not having to deal with any more ruptured eardrums. She’s always been a little weird. You know, now that I’m stone I have a lot more free time to think. A few days after Celestia’s visit they moved me into the Royal Garden. At least the view is more interesting than the one I had while I was in stuck in my room. It also provided me with more time to think as ponies were almost constantly traveling through the garden, mostly during the day. The only part that I don’t like about being out here in the garden is my placement. They put me right next to one of the ugliest statues that I have ever set eyes on. It was made of so many random parts; I can’t understand why anypony would create a statue like this one. It was made up of a smorgasbord of different creatures: the head of a pony, an arm of an eagle, an arm of a lion, and way too many other parts. I was getting a headache just by looking at the thing. The thought of such a creature surviving its birth made no sense to me. It was a biological impossibility. The different parts would have rejected each other. The only saving grace was that I could only see it out of the corner of my eye, which saved me a lot of grief. The first thing I am going to do when I get out of this prison is research what that statue is meant to represent. I need to know otherwise I think it will drive me insane. The second thing I’m going to do is check up on Diamond. Actually I think I’ll check on Diamond first before I research that statue, priorities you know. The third thing I’m going to do is buck Princess Celestia in the face and make her tell me who created this incredibly unintelligent spell and freaking kill them. I know I should also blame Luna, what with her being the one to leave, but I can’t blame my incredible teacher. She’s basically my best friend. Of course it’s not all bad. I get to hear all the juicy gossip from the upper echelons of pony society. You’d be surprised how often ponies come here to have little trysts, the kinds where they do a little of this and a little of that, you know what I mean. You’d think they would avoid doing that kind of thing here, what with so many guards patrolling the area, but what do I know. At least I could use it as blackmail material when I get out, if they’re still alive anyway. Some of them are pretty old. Maybe I’ll just hold it over the heads of their descendants. I might need to get reintegrated into society and blackmail is one of the fastest ways in. Eh, I’m sure it won’t come to that. Luna will come back from wherever she went soon and we’ll be back to working on the creation of new spells together. Hey look its Diamond! Maybe she’s coming to visit me. That basket she’s carrying makes her look extremely, what with the red checker patter on the basket and blanket. Wish I could tell her that I’m sorry I won’t be able to make it to our date, but being made of stone and all makes it rather difficult. Diamond set out her blanket on the ground in front of me or to be more exact my statue. She sat down on top of the blanket and took out two sandwiches from basket she was carrying, keeping the other for herself and placing one upon my pedestal. It almost felt like a taunt, but I knew it was supposed to be a gesture of kindness towards me. I was touched that she went out her way to make me something, even as simple as a sandwich, even if I wouldn’t be able to eat. She held her sandwich with her magic and ate in silence. Finishing the sandwich she looked at me and I could see tears brimming in her eyes, “You know today was supposed to be our date… we could’ve had a wonderful time, but this had to happen.” Her tears fell silently and I felt the strongest urge to reach out and comfort her or at least weep tears of my own, but stone move and stone can’t cry. I could only feel miserable, nothing else. “I hope that you come back soon, but if I never see you again I want you to know that I think we could have worked out. I truly think I love you…” I heard her voice trail off into silence and felt at least partially responsible for her depression. I agreed with her and knew that the first thing I’d do after getting free from this prison was go see Diamond. I hope. She watched me for a long while, far past the rise of Luna’s Moon, simply sitting in silence. Eventually she fell asleep, not awakening until Celestia came to collect her. She gave me one last, long, pleading look before she reentered the castle. Every year since that day Diamond has brought a picnic out here, a sandwich for each of us. Generally the gardener or some pigeons would eat it after she had left. Those moments were some of the most interesting for me. She would tell me what happened to her in the last year and what news worthy events occurred. Each time she came she would always be alone, but it didn’t feel like long before she began to bring a friend with her, a stallion. I think it had been about five years since I’d been turned to stone. It was the anniversary of that date never to be. Diamond was trotting towards me and had brought her customary basket, but she wasn’t alone this time, she’d brought a stallion with her. He was a white Unicorn with a blue mane and a flank mark of a flower bouquet. The way she looked at him… I could tell that something had changed during the past year. She had found someone new to love and I couldn’t blame her for it. I could only hope that I still held a small place in her heart. Diamond looked at me, “Hello Dawn. It’s been a year since I last saw you. I’d like you to meet someone. This is my coltfriend Buxus Anchusa.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Buxus stated pleasantly, but I could tell he didn’t really believe that, he felt silly talking to a statue. He probably didn’t believe there was anypony inside of it. To be fair if I had been in his position I wouldn’t have either. Just the fact that he was willing to do this for Diamond, no matter how strange it was, gave me a good feeling about him. I was hopeful they would do well together. At this point I doubted I would be getting out anytime soon. The rest of the meal they just sat talking to each other. I heard very little of it, but at least they looked happy. I did get my customary sandwich. It had yellow tulips in it this time. I’ll admit that I was jealous of Baxus, he could be with her while I couldn’t even speak to her. I knew I felt that way and yet I still believed he was good for her, I knew he would do her right. He even came and asked me for permission to marry her, no matter how silly he looked. Diamond was with him of course. I knew that it was the anniversary of that failed date, but for some reason Diamond hadn’t shown herself at all today. Luna’s moon had already risen to its zenith. I wondered if maybe she had forgotten about me. Not that I would have blamed her, talking to a statue couldn’t have been that interesting. I found it rather odd that I wasn’t asleep, most likely a gardener was working nearby, out of my sight. There was still a little time left before the day ended so I still held some hope in my heart of her coming to see me, with or without her coltfriend. It seemed that my hopes would be answered because out of the corner of my eye I saw Diamond and Baxus trotting towards me. For some reason both were dressed in fancy attire. Usually they dressed in simple clothing, if they wore any clothing at all. In the moonlight Diamond looked radiant, the same as when I’d first seen her framed by her door frame on that night. Baxus also appeared to clean up nicely. Diamond carried a single sandwich, but didn’t seem to have her basket with her. I found that rather strange, what were they going to eat? “Come on, please, do it for me?” I heard Diamond softly say to Baxus, looking at him pleadingly. That was rather curious, I hadn’t seen that look since we were foals, but if it was anything like back then Baxus was going to do whatever she asked. Diamond was just amazing like that. “Fine, I don’t understand why I’m doing this, but if it makes you happy.” I heard Baxus reply, grumbling. Diamond gave him a kiss; I don’t think I’ve ever been so jealous of anypony in my entire life. Baxus trotted over to me. He gave me a rather strange look, as if trying to find some secret hidden in my depths. I wish he’d look harder, maybe he could find the magic speech button I seemed to be missing. “I don’t understand why I’m doing this, I mean you’re just a statue, but Diamond asked me to.” He took a deep breath, “I love Diamond Sparkle with all my heart and I’d like to marry her. Would you please grant me your permission?” I could tell that he didn’t think this made any sense. I didn’t know why Diamond would want my permission, but I had long ago given it, but it seemed that she was looking for something more concrete, more real. I’d did my best to give her a sign. I tried to channel any magic I could into my horn, it didn’t really feel like anything was happening, but something did happen. No matter how much I think about it, I’ve never been sure if it was something I did, if Luna helped me out, or if it was simply a coincidence. A small blue and pink flower growing at the base of my pedestal was hit by a beam of moonlight and began to brightly sparkle. Baxus looked down to the flower and slowly raised it to face height. “Is this what I think it is?” I heard Baxus say, “It is, it’s a Wedding Band flower!” No matter what it was, it was a beautiful flower, but I remember hearing about these. They were a very rare and special flower given to the bride after her wedding by family members or friends. It was utilized in a special potion that was… uh used for special purposes during the honeymoon. I think that’s specific enough. Either way it seemed that it was enough for Diamond to take as my agreement for their marriage. When Baxus gave her the flower, she had smiled broadly and kissed him again. I was glad. She deserved to be happy, even if I couldn’t be. This year the sandwich had two daisies, I wish I could have had a little nibble. A few years later, at least I believe it was a just a few years it is rather difficult to keep time without a calendar, I saw the cutest little Unicorn filly galloping around me laughing. She was such a little cutey, her magenta coat and blue mane were simply adorable. I felt that there was something familiar about her, but it was only when I heard someopony call out the child’s name that I realized who she was. “Zelda dear, come here please, I don’t want you to get hurt.” It was Diamond and Baxus, the little filly must be the newest member of the Sparkle family. She had grown up so fast, it was only last year, at their previous picnic, that I had heard Diamond was pregnant with a foal. The resemblance was strikingly obvious now that I knew what to look for. The little filly galloped back to her parents, who were sitting on that same blanket as they did every year. They just looked so happy together, smiling and laughing. I really wish that I could have been a part of that little family, even if I was only there as a friend. I may have given him permission, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t wish I was the one in his position. I still got my sandwich, just like every other year. Little Zelda brought it to me. She placed it at the bottom of my pedestal as she couldn’t reach up high enough to place it on top. She had looked adorable trying, her face scrunched up in the cutest look of determination that I had seen. I wish I could have patted her on the head or at least given her my thanks. I pretended I could anyway and even though I knew the smile that blossomed on her face had nothing to do with me I took it as a job well done. The sandwich was filled with dandelions this year, it had been my favorite. It was quite the treat, even if I couldn’t eat it. They continued to come every year after that. I saw little Zelda grow from a cute little filly grow into a beautiful mare. Everything I saw made me think that she was very similar to her mother; she was outgoing and didn’t let others stop her from doing what she wanted to. They all looked so happy together. Which is why I found it odd that only Zelda and her father came to see me this time, Diamond had never missed a single one of these little outings. Zelda placed the customary sandwich on my pedestal. It was made with black lilies. It made me wonder. You see us ponies can’t actually eat black lilies, so why would she give me a sandwich with one of them inside? The only time we ever used black lilies was when… oh… The red and puffy looks in their eyes made more sense now. I felt like crying, but my stone nature once again denied me that release. I knew that she was getting older and that the time was growing closer, ponies didn’t exactly have long lives, but I hadn’t expected it to be this soon. I didn’t only feel a sadness of loss for myself. I also felt a sense a loss for these two. I may have been her best friend, but this was her family. They had to be hurting at least as much as I was. I felt I’d come to know them as family even if they had never come to know me. I wish I could have given at least one tear for their grieving as well as my own, but my stone nature once again defied me that release. We were there in silence well beyond the setting of Celestia’s sun and the rise of Luna’s moon. While my own mourning would remain with me for the rest of my life, one can never forget their first love; I would always wonder what they were thinking as they sat there, eyes still puffy with fresh tears. I had hoped to, maybe, be released before the funeral took, so I could have at least have a closure with my first love, but it wasn’t to be. Zelda brought her own family each for a picnic each year, first with her father, and soon after with her own husband and children, giving me a sandwich on each time. Somehow though, I really don’t think they believed I was anything more than a statue. It had merely become tradition for them, one that I still appreciated. Unfortunately for me, just like every mortal pony Zelda fell to the ravages of time as well. Her children continued the tradition and their children as well. It had become a part of the Sparkle family. It was simply something they did and I appreciated the company. The tradition continued each year until I was released from my stone prison. You know you’ve been alone for too long when you start to see things, especially when you’re just a statue. It’s been almost 986 years since I was trapped here and I think I’m starting to go a little insane, I keep seeing a bouncing pink pony that tells me that I’m going to be released pretty soon and that she’ll throw me the best “Getting Released from Stone Party”. Honestly she reminds me of my sister, she was a rather strange one, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Many ponies still came to visit me, but mostly to look at the beautiful scenery of the garden and maybe learn a little bit about the history of the statues. My own history had been altered greatly over the years, which is strange as Celestia knew exactly what had happened. Maybe ponies just didn’t believe her when she told them or she just hadn’t told them at all. I’m not really sure which I prefer. Honestly I’m surprised at how popular my statue is, apparently they really like to look at me… or maybe they like that mixed up statue, no it’s probably me. Just looking at that thing could scar a pony for life. Diamond’s descendants still come and have a picnic at least once per year. I’m amazed that the tradition is still continued almost a thousand years later. I thought that it would eventually die out a couple hundred years back. Those brief visits are still the highlight of my year. Their last picnic was one of the nicest. The entire family was able to come. At least one member of their family always comes, but often the others were busy and weren’t able to make it. The Sparkle parents are generally the busiest and the least likely to make the trip to see me, most of the time they’re out of the country itself conducting business meeting. Their children though always seemed to have the time to come visit. I’ve learned quite a bit about them from those little gatherings. The elder child had gained the prestigious position as head of the Royal Guard. His preferred name of Shining Armor seems to fit his position, although I doubt that it was his real name. It’s rather incredible that he’d been given such a prestigious position at his age, but he had come from a rather incredible history, but it was his younger sister Twilight Sparkle that interested me more. She was only six years old, but she reminded me a lot of Diamond. I mean I realize that they are related, but there should have been far more genetic drift. There were differences in her look compared to Diamond, she had a purple coat instead of magenta and a magenta mane instead of purple one, but otherwise she looked like an almost exact duplicate of the long-departed Diamond Sparkle when I had first met her as a colt. The biggest difference was her flank marking, in the shape of magenta star surrounded by six white stars, which doesn’t really mean much as even twins have different markings. From what I understand, her marking is meant to relate the concept of magic, which seems rather vague to me. Although honestly I couldn’t really complain, my own marking was rather vague as well. If it had just been the uncanny resemblance to Diamond, I wouldn’t have thought any more into. There was more however, she had also garnered the coveted position of Celestia’s student. The same one that Diamond had been given, even at around the same age. Apparently she had released a huge magical bolt, enough to turn her parents into plants, and had attracted Celestia’s attention. Honestly, I’d known that she had some major power, but I hadn’t realized just how much. I remember one time she had come to visit and practiced her levitation. On that day there was nopony else in the garden, so until Twilight arrived I wasn’t really cognizant of anything going on around me. It seemed to me that she had run ahead of her family on their way to their annual picnic. I watched as she ran around, playing in the flowers excitedly enjoying her short freedom from her parents. She eventually stopped in front of my statue and pointed her horn in my direction, scrunching her face into the cutest look of concentration that I’d seen since Zelda had been a filly. I thought that maybe she was trying to practice her magic on me. I wasn’t worried about it. Foals her age couldn’t lift things anywhere near my own weight before I was a statue, let alone now. It was rather strange though, the purple glow of her magic wasn’t covering me at all. Instead it seemed to be wrapped around that annoying statue; I guess she needed to work on her aim. I watched as she began to try harder, putting more power into her horn, but that didn’t hold a candle to what was going on behind her. The statue that has been annoying me for years was floating into the air. If I could have dropped my jaw I would have. There was no way she should be able to do that, there was no way such a small body could have had that much power. I was suddenly very glad that her aim was so poor. “Twilight! Where are you precious?” I heard her mother call out to her and watched as Twilights eyes shot open, the glow disappearing from her horn and the statue falling back onto its pedestal with a thunk. It seemed that Twilight had missed the entirety of her amazing feat and instead thought herself a failure. Her face was the picture of disappointment as she trotted dejectedly back to her mother. I wish I could have pointed it out to her. The sandwich had pink roses in it this time. I think I was probably the only one at the time that knew how much power Twilight held in that small frame. That kind of power had made her perfect for Celestia’s form of magic training. Maybe I should take a moment and give a little background about how Unicorn magic works. There are two different forms of Unicorn magic, power magic and control magic. Celestia is a master of power magic, which as the name implies requires prodigious amounts of energy. The spells they use tend to be used in large scale works, affecting many ponies or objects at once. It’s actually harder for them to only affect a single target than it is for them to affect ten. They tend to fail spectacularly when they try, often affecting a much larger area than they meant to. Control magic on the other hoof is under the purview of Luna and as you can guess is my specialty as well. Our spells tend to work best on the small scale, but we tend to lack the power needed to affect a large number of targets at once. We can utilize it to alter the genetics of a creature down to the very last genome or move single pony or objects across very large distances, generally with far more precision than our power counterparts. This isn’t to say that ponies that are in the control group can’t use power spells or visa-versa, it is possible to do so; it’s just not something that can be done without a lot of practice. Finally, we control and power Unicorns can link together to get a project done. Often the power Unicorn provides the energy for the spell, while the control Unicorn performs the actual spell. When using this method, the magic that can be performed is on another scale entirely. I was hoping I would get out here soon; I really wanted to meet this generation of Sparkles. I think I would have some fun at least. A number of years passed quickly. I think this is the thousandth anniversary of that day. Also for the first time in those thousand years none of the Sparkle family came to visit me. They were all very busy, the Sparkle parents had to go out of the country for some meeting and both Twilight and Shining had work to do for the Summer Solstice. Twilight had been sent to check on the preparations of the Summer Solstice in Ponyville, wherever that was while Shining Armor was in charge of preparing the entire Royal Guard for its ceremonial jobs at the Summer Solstice in Canterlot. This is the first time that the Solstice had ever fallen on this day. It was rather strange that I was even conscious of what was going on around me, there wasn’t anypony else around. I think that the entire garden had been abandoned in preparation for the party later today; even the gardeners had been invited. I wonder if it meant anything. Perhaps today was the day Luna was going to come back and I would be released from my prison, but it seemed rather unlikely, the sun was quickly setting and the moon quickly rising. It looked like it would be just another day of being stuck in stone. A rather odd sound reached my ears, it sounded almost like a crack. My back hoof felt a little odd, like a weight had been removed from it. I was a little worried that maybe my stone had started to erode and that I would soon fall to pieces, but that’s when I felt an actual breeze moving across my hoof. A feeling of hope rose in my heart, but before that hope got too large I had to make sure that I wasn’t setting myself up for disappointment. It was possible that the feeling was simply a phantom sensation that my mind was producing, it had happened before after all. I tried to move my hoof slightly, the lack of actual receptors in my hoof making it impossible to tell simply by touch if it had broken free, but the distinct clop sound that I heard made my heart soar. I began to struggle, trying to hasten the destruction of my stone prison. Even with my struggles it was slow going, the moon had easily risen to the top of its arc by the time I had been mostly released. Strangely, the moon had been at its zenith for quite a while. The only piece of my stone prison remaining was the bit on my horn. I raised my head high and rammed it into the ground to break it off. Finally, after a thousand years of imprisonment I was finally free! My body may have felt stiff and my magic slightly weak, but any sensation at all felt glorious. I began galloping around the garden, reveling in the feeling of freedom that I had not felt for a thousand years. I even took a bite out of the plants near my pedestal. Yes it’s mine now and I’m going to keep it as a souvenir. I’ll probably use it as the cornerstone of my house. The flowers tasted like ambrosia flower covered in golden honey, it was the best thing I had ever tasted. I wish I had gotten my sandwich, I could only imagine what it would have tasted like. Soon enough I began to fall from my high on freedom. The more I calmed down, the more I felt a strange strumming on my horn. It felt extremely familiar, and slightly awkward, like something I’d felt long ago but had nearly forgotten about. It felt like, like… it felt a lot like my teacher. I remember now, it felt just like when she had raised the moon. It had felt just like this, which meant that Luna was here! My teacher was back, which in retrospect should have been obvious. I mean Celestia told me that I would be released when Luna returned, but to be fair to myself that had been a thousand years ago. Not that any of that matter anymore, I was going to see my wonderful teacher again for the first time in a thousand years. We would spend time getting reacquainted and then we would work together to learn the spells that had been created since my imprisonment and begin to craft new ones. It would be perfect. I mean it wasn’t like something strange had happened since she had gone… wherever it was she had gone. I couldn’t help imagining the tantalizing details of how the world had changed since my imprisonment. I had only able to see what occurred in a small part of the garden, it was a rather limited view, and learn what others said around me, so I really have no idea how the world had changed. We would get to explore it together. I gathered magic into my horn, preparing to cast my first spell in a thousand year, teleportation. It was an amazing rush, almost like the time when I first accessed my magic. I began to alter my focus, pointing it towards the energy of my teacher. With a pop of displaced air, I was gone. Author's Note: Edited slightly for the grammar and the like. Please tell me if you see any problems.