//------------------------------// // Forgiveness // Story: The Unforgiven // by Dillena Monger //------------------------------// After Twilight finished the history to Daring Rose, the Princess herself took the unicorn to a tour through the ruins, pointing most of the places and saying where (and what) a shop was even when they reached the main destruction site. The sight of the destruction surprised Daring Rose more than she thought it would. A deep groove seemed to extend from close to the castle to the edge of the town, which could be about fifty meters across, probably larger. “And right there…” the Princess stopped and pointed at a crumbling house at the edge of the groove in the side they were now, “is the house where I grow up. Of course, it was a couple millenniums ago, but it’s still there, surviving for a couple meters only…” “Wow… The house where one of the Princesses were born…” “You said you were an archeologist, right?” Twilight asked. She then looked at one side where, instantly, Discord appeared. “Discord, go back to the castle and bring them.” The Draconequus nodded and disappeared again, puzzling Daring Rose. He wasn’t gone for long, though, before he appeared again, bringing a box and presenting it to Daring Rose, “I believe these would have a better use in a museum.” Using her magic to open the box, Daring Rose’s eyes widened even more. Inside the rather large box where the regalia of three from the four Princesses of Old Equestria, only Twilight’s one missing. The sets were complete, from the regal and large golden set of Celestia, the outstanding black set of Luna and the more delicate golden set of Cadance. And as she was impressed with the sight, she barely noticed a fourth set being added to their proper place inside the box. Looking at the silver carver set of the Princess of Friendship, Daring Rose raised her face to see Twilight, now without a piece of her regalia. “But…” “I have no need for these anymore, Daring Rose,” Twilight stopped her. “I lost my friends, my family and my home. I even lost the right to rule over my little ponies. You’re doing fine without me, I assume?” “Well… The Equestrian Trinity Parliament is not flawless but the system works rather fine…” “Trinity?” Twilight ignited her horn, her magic quickly restoring the building that once was her home as she easily remembered it. She pointed at the table where both of them sat, the box being placed aside. Discord served both of them more tea as Twilight looked at Daring Rose. “Please, enlighten me.” “Well… History shows the change of the Military Hierarchy to an earlier form of our actual parliament still under the rule of Shining Armor. Along the years, the system refined itself and grew stronger and more consolidate. Actually, the Trinity represents the three classes of Equestria and its three tribes, which places a total of nine parliamentarians: three pegasi, three earth ponies and three unicorns; one of each representing the aristocracy, one the common citizen and the last the military. Recently the parliament added three more beings and they are now known as the ‘foreign tribes’, tribes from other races not from Equestria, like the crystal ponies, thestrals, zebras, minotaurs, griffins… you name it. “Aside from these, called High Parliament, there are the Noble Parliament, where only the elected ones can enter and discuss new laws and actions; and the Common Parliament, where any citizen can join to propose laws and courses of actions.” A chuckle escaped Daring Rose’s muzzle, “You could say that the ponies now have a more active political lives.” “And what about the crystal ponies?” Twilight enquired. “Why they don’t have a proper seat in the parliament, but are placed with the foreign?” “They emancipate after their Royal Family’s death. The Crystal Republic is now home to the crystal ponies,” Daring Rose said with a smile. “Most of them still value the lessons from their last Crystal Princess or something.” “Cadance,” Twilight smiled. “She was well known in the Crystal Empire as the Crystal Princess.” “And it was thanks to the gems of Equestria, the crystals from the, now called, Crystal Republic and the crazy machinations of both earth ponies and unicorns that Equestria discovered a new kind of science: technology!” Daring Rose said with a smile. “We have plenty of useful tools and devices now, both for work and for fun! Well… at least those which works outside of ancient and dangerous ruins…” Twilight actually chuckled at that one. “And what’s so interesting about this ‘technology’?” “Mostly that it’s accessible to all races and tribes without constant supervision of unicorns,” Daring Rose said with a smile. “With it, we can, for example, follow things happening in the other side of the world almost in real time in the comfort of our home! “There’s also the possibility to chat with people far away as if they’re just at your side! Documents, messages, even images can travel the whole world in matter of seconds! And no talking about the games and other recreational technologies!” Twilight smiled at her, “It really seems imposing. Maybe you could send me one of those devices so we can keep contact?” “Well… I could but… these devices have a little… problem…” Daring Rose said a bit embarrassed. “They need to be recognized officially… so you need to come and get one yourself…” “Oh… that’s a problem…” Then Daring Rose had an idea, “Maybe, Princess, that’s actually a solution!” Twilight looked at her curiously. “I mean… from what you told me until now, everyone knew what needed doing and no one blamed you… only yourself. Maybe it’s time for you to forgive yourself and move on? Come with me! I’ll take you to a tour across the New Equestria and you could see it all with your own eyes!” Twilight looked at her, “I’m not sure, Daring Rose… I mean… the moment I announce I’m alive…” “Ponies will respect you, Princess, but I don’t think they will hand over a system that works so well to return to the Princess time! Maybe build a Castle for you and keep you as a royal figure, but without any major political influence!” “Somehow I don’t believe that gonna happen.” “But there’s a possibility, Twilight,” Discord said. “You could disguise yourself as a unicorn and walk among them, learn their new culture and determine for yourself if it’s going to happen or not.” “And how do you suppose that I hide this much power?” Twilight asked. “The moment I step into the city, everypony will notice my presence, regardless of my actual form!” “Well… After what they call ‘The Great Massacre’, the kitsunes developed a new kind of spell to seal their power away. They are afraid that if any of them acquire power equivalent to more than three tails worth, the ‘Shinigami’, their version of the Reaper for what I know, will come and take them…” Daring Rose commented. “They call it a Hoshi no Tama or something like that. It’s translated as ‘Star Balls’ or something alike and I saw one once. They are really shining spheres that conceal their true powers. Most kitsunes just create and destroy these just in case the Shinigami decides these counts as their power as well.” “See?” Discord said with a smile. “I can go and learn this spell and then bring it back to you. No harm done and you seal enough of your power to pass as a common unicorn. And don’t give me that look, Twilight!” Discord called as soon as he saw Twilight’s disapproving gaze upon him. “You know that hardly a unicorn could match your magic as a unicorn!” Twilight let out a long sigh. “You won’t let me leave this with a ‘no’, right?” she asked and received three nods. Looking at Philomena she raised an eyebrow, “Et tu Brute?” The phoenix looked embarrassed but held her decision. Daring Rose giggled, “And you can take Philomena as a pet! It’s a given that phoenix are rare, but if they are in a family for generations, as is almost your case, they let it slip. And by the way she acts around you, you can pull that one!” Philomena chirped some and nodded. Twilight finale agreed, “Fine. I’ll cast this Hoshi no Tama spell. Discord, you’ll help me get a disguise that won’t directly give up my identity and you’ll keep close, in case I need to get my full power again.” “Agreed, Your Highness,” the Draconequus agreed. “If you allow me, I’ll go burrow a book about this spell…” “Actually, it’s more of a ritual than a common spell,” Daring Rose said. “A friend of mine asked my help with that one a while ago.” “A… friend?” Twilight asked not sure if she heard right. “As in a kitsune friend?” “Yes, Princess. Remember? The races now live in peace, and there’s quite a number of kitsunes living in New Canterlot now actually,” Daring Rose answered. Twilight let out another breath, “I suspect times have changed… So, you know this ritual then?” Daring Rose smiled and nodded softly, “There’s a little variation for you have a horn only instead of multiple tails, but my friend also said this spell was compatible with unicorns. Powerful enough unicorns are supposed to undergo this in order to visit the Kitsune Empire, due to their mythology and believe.” “They don’t want to call the wrath of their Shinigami?” Discord chuckled, but a look of Twilight shut him up. “Sorry.” “How is this ritual supposed to be?” Twilight asked. “When I read at the script, I noticed a lot of it was only for culture and a waste of magic. It seems the reason for kitsunes being averagely more magical than unicorns is because they need to be artistic when using it…” Daring Rose explained. “Let’s respect tradition. Tradition is important on a spell, as much as knowing it right and in a ritual so much more,” Twilight said with a smile. Daring Rose nodded. “I see. Well, you must start by painting your seal with your own magic. The seal can be anything you want, something that symbolizes you. You must understand that kitsunes don’t have cutie marks, so I guess these seals work as a substitute.” “I suppose it’s not an indoor ritual, right?” Twilight smiled. “Well… yes and no… That varies with the amount of magic you’re sealing… which is quite a lot in your case…” Daring Rose agreed. “Well, there’s something you want to do it?” “May I suggest a place?” Discord asked. ================== They were back where Daring Rose has saw Twilight rise the Moon. She had to agree that there was no better place in all of Equestria to place a ritual like this. “Well… let’s take it piece by piece again,” Twilight said from the ritual. “First, my seal; then the ‘flames of soul’; the vows of sealing; expanding my magic; and finally condensing it?” Daring Rose nodded, “Shokan explained to me the meaning of each step. The seal is the expression of your soul, your individuality among your own kind, kinda like our cutie marks as I said. “The Tamashi no Hono, the ‘flames of soul’, is summoning fire balls that will keep an orbit around you along all the ritual. Each ‘flame’ will hold a portion of your magic. On kitsunes, it’s proportional to their tails. In your case, you can share however you feel like, so you can have a better grasp of what magic you’ll seal and you’ll retain to yourself. “The vows of sealing refer to the moment you can reclaim your powers. You can set different vows for each fraction of your magic, so you can reclaim them if a situation calls for it. It’s mostly the reason why the Tamashi no Hono are also called ‘flames of truth’ some times. “Expanding your magic outside your body represents your trust in the elements and in the others around you to protect you while you’re totally powerless. It’s also a preparation for the last step: condensing your magic. “As a guide, you use the ‘flames of soul’ to gather and hold your magic within. When your magic reaches a certain point, it becomes physical, a crystal, and can be held and protected for whenever you need to recall them. Remember to focus on the magic you want to return to you after the ritual is finished, or else you’ll be utterly powerless!” Discord was scratching his beard during the whole explanation, “Hmmm… a ceremony full of meaning. I believe Tirek would love to be present with all this magic roaming free…” Even Twilight chuckled at the thought, “Not mentioning the chance to get revenge on me. After all, I would be utterly powerless. Well… time to start working…” Twilight then closed her eyes and focused her magic. Her horn lit and just behind her, a purple light just like her cutie mark appeared and she began floating. Then she opened her eyes and wings, ten large fire balls started spinning around her slowly and, after they were in a consistent orbit around her, Twilight declared her vows: “I, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, vow to only reclaim this magic under circumstances that would endanger Equestria or a portion of its population.” Unexpected to even Twilight (actually only Daring Rose expected it) the ten flame balls pulsed a little and shone a bright golden for less than a second. Following up with the ritual, Twilight externalized all of her magic, something she was afraid to do for quite a long time. Her own magic, even after all these years, was able to part what portion of it belonged to each of her friends, separating it slowly. It turned out that Twilight would retain enough magic to be half way into the power of an alicorn and the rest of it, even her own magic, would be sealed way. Guiding each group of magic to a particular flame, Discord pointed at each vividly colored magic amalgam in a very specific order, yellow, dark blue, cyan, red, blue, purple, orange, pink, and finally a pale pink color, calling respectively, “Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight herself and Fluttershy.” “And the tenth magic group?” Daring Rose asked. “That’s also Twilight’s magic. She’s parting a part of it so she won’t have the magic of an alicorn, but only a very powerful unicorn,” Discord answered. “The tenth group is the magic she’ll return to herself.” Looking back at the Princess, Daring Rose noted that the flames had died and, in their place, where softly glowing crystal spheres, only one of them floating back to Twilight, breaking up and fusing back to her owner. The others were quickly enveloped in Twilight’s magic aura and kept floating as she gently lifted back to the floor and touched it. Only then her seal faded. The shining orbs were still glowing in the same colors Daring Rose saw the magic parting while Twilight was condensing it. Nine orbs, nine magic powerful enough to protect the world against utterly anything. Discord snapped his bird-claws and a case appeared over it with precisely nine round padded slots on it, each one of them with a cutie mark belonging to those same beings. Twilight smiled, “Well thought, Discord. Thank you.” As the orbs floated to their respective place, Discord looked at Twilight with a touch of concern, “How do you feel, Twi?” She just smiled at him, “A bit tired, I guess. Or not. I mean, I know my magic is at the full but…” “You know you’re still missing a large part of it, right?” Daring Rose took this long to say something because, now, she could look at Twilight and even with horn and wings, the mare was just another pony. Her hair wasn’t ethereal anymore, probably by Twilight breaking the spell to not consume any more of her, now smaller magic reserves. “Shokan says it’s the worst part of the ritual.” “Wait, says?” Discord asked. “I thought you said kitsunes broke theirs!” “They do. But when your body is adapted to an amount of power, it finds its way to grow into it again. Your magic grows faster to restore that amount of magic you once had, or so she says. That’s why kitsunes must do it frequently after they do the very first time.” “I guess I understand,” Twilight said. Flapping her wings and noticing she would not be able to fly anymore. “Good bye, pegasus magic.” Discord then snapped his fingers again and both wings simply disappeared, “Now that you only have unicorn magic again I can do that and more. Let’s work on your disguise, Twilight?” After about two hours of trying new colors for coat, mane and tail, Twilight was turned into a dark blue coat mare, remembering a bit Luna’s coat, with a dark-silvery mane and tail. Her cutie mark, though, wasn’t touched by magic, so she became Twilight Star. She smiled and then presented herself to the others, which agreed she was beautiful in that new form of hers. Philomena then flew over her and softly landed on her mane, just above her horn. “Hmmm… You sure there will not be problems if I brought Philomena with me?” Twilight asked. “Legally? Very few. Of course we would like to take you to register her as a pet or something quickly enough or else she may end up ‘disappearing’ due to her feathers.” Twilight looked at her puzzled, “What do you mean?” “That phoenixes are an almost extinct species nowadays…” Daring Rose said in a sad tone. “And then I shall go with you,” a male childish voice said from behind the sun in the altar they were. Twilight quickly recognized it though. Much to Daring Rose’s puzzlement, a new phoenix flew and joined Philomena for a little before they parted, the newcomer decided he wanted to know the new person there. “I thought Peewee had returned to his parents,” Twilight asked and looked in Spike’s direction. “I suppose you’ve felt the magic distortion?” “Hard not to feel it. Just took time to be presentable and teleported in. And about Peewee, we met each other a while back and he recognized me before I did. We’ve been together since then.” The small purple dragon finally appeared and Daring Rose’s first word to describe him was ‘cute’, being small with greenish belly and green spikes and eyes. “Oh, and who’s the new girl?” “Her name is Daring Rose,” Twilight answered. “I thought you would be more surprised in seeing me as a unicorn, and a very different one at that…” “Nah, your cutie mark gave you away. You know, if you wanna go to the New Equestria, you’ll need to change that cutie mark, Twilight. That one belongs to a Princess of Equestria, it is a dead giveaway!” “But… My cutie mark is who I am!” Twilight tried to fight back. “That’s the spot, Twilight!” Spike continued. “If you go there, the ponies will expect you to return to the throne and rule them again. That is whom you are! Princess of Friendship! If you want to go there unnoticed, you must be not you! And it must start by your cutie mark.” Twilight thought hard on that and answered back, “But there’s no magic strong enough to change a cutie mark!” “Illusion!” Spike, Discord and Daring Rose said together, making Twilight’s ear fall down in embarrassment. “FINE! Fine… I’ll… change my cutie mark…” “What name you picked?” Spike asked. “What’s about the name now?” “Knowing you, it would be something like ‘Twilight Star’, or ‘Crystal Sparkle’. You’re never good with names,” he answered. Daring Rose and Discord only chuckled at that as Twilight got even more embarrassed. “Hmmm… these colors… Why not Star Stream? Then your cutie mark can be a silver six pointed stars with a cloud of smaller ones following it. Like a shooting star or something.” “It’s actually a very good name and idea,” Discord said with a smile. “And I’ll do one better than a simple illusion.” At the snap of Discord’s fingers, Twilight felt something strange on her flanks and turned to see what was going on. She could see a second coat cover growing over her cutie mark, hiding it completely without making it disappear, and then the new fake cutie mark appeared above it. “There are spells to look over an illusion, but nothing will notice a coat hiding her cutie mark.” “Thank you Discord,” Twilight said. “And Spike, even if you want to come and protect us, I can’t let you. You would be another dead giveaway…” “Actually, not that much,” Daring Rose said. “Equestria is also home for young dragons from time to time. It just happened you met outside the city while moving there.” “Fine then. But it would be better if you camouflaged yourself too,” Twilight called. With a snap of his fingers, Discord quickly changed Spike into another baby dragon, one red with yellow belly and golden spikes. Daring Rose let out a low whistle, “Forget Philomena’s feathers. They’ll be coming for Spike’s scales!” “And I’m not Spike anymore. Call me… Crimson.” “I won’t accept any more remarks about my choice of names after that, Crimson,” Twilight chuckled. “Okay, Discord, you’ll have the power to lower the sun and the moon in my absence. Please, for all that you praise and love, STICK TO SCHEDULE!” “Don’t worry, Twilight. I’ll keep things running smooth, I promise,” Discord said with a smile. “Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye,” he said as she danced with the little rhyme. Daring Rose blinked, “What was that?” “Pinkie Promise. Long story short, created by Pinkie Pie, the most random pony in history of Equestria,” Twilight explained. “And nopony breaks a Pink Promise EVER.” “Anyway, better we go then, right? New Canterlot isn’t anywhere near there!” Spike called, jumping on Twilight’s back. He then chuckled, “Like the bad old times, right Twilight?” “Only this time I’ll need your help with magic more often than not,” she smiled. “But silly as he is, Spike… better, Crimson is right.” “Kinda…” Daring Rose smiled. “If we follow the rails, we’ll reach a small station to a village settled at the foot of this mountain. Besides people avoid Canterlot and Ponyville Ruins, they recognize the need to grow in their direction a little. They just respect the peace.” “I bet all my spikes that ‘Ponyville Ruins’ can be translated as ‘Everfree Overgrown’…” Spike whispered to Twilight and both of them shuddered at the thought. “Well, by hoof, we’ll not be able to reach the foot of the mountain before sunset,” Twilight said. “One last night here, at Canterlot, and then tomorrow morning we head down to this village you said.”