“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”
― Frank Herbert
The Next Day, Celestia’s Room, Canterlot...
I was not quite sure as to why I said yes to Celestia and Luna, which I found odd, yet I was absolutely confident that it was the right choice. Only the future would tell if I would regret my decision or not, but for the moment it was time to face the immediate consequences of my decision.
As stated by Blueblood, I would have to present myself to the public, not only to announce my own recovery, but also to declare my decision to take the throne as Equestria’s third princess.
It was all rather daunting for a changeling who’d just recovered from a hole being blown into her chest.
Luckily, there were a few other things to do before we announced my full recovery and my decision to ascend to Equestria’s throne. One of the reasons was sitting across from me now on one of the cushions in front of my fireplace.
“We must admit that we are rather surprised that thy room has so many motifs of the sun,” said Celestia as she glanced around my chambers.
I chuckled. “I had to act the part at all times, Celestia. Though I must say I have grown rather fond of them myself.” Though now that I didn’t have to act the part, I suppose I could redecorate my room. Perhaps a few more greens and some darker tones?
I shook my head. This won’t do. I was getting distracted from the elephant in the room, so I sat myself down on my cushions and across from Celestia.
“When you forced your memories into my mind, you promised me that you could remove them, and that I could punish you for doing so in the first place,” I said slowly.
Celestia nodded, but Luna, who was seated next to her sister, cringed. “What do you suggest, Alternia?”
I glanced at Luna reassuringly. I had no intention of harming my co-ruler after all or breaking the heart of her sister.
“A simple transfer. You take your memories away, and I give you a copy of my memories for the last thousand years.”
After pursing her lips briefly, Celestia nodded. “That is fair.” Understandably though, Luna was still worried and she spread a wing over her elder sister protectively.
“You will have great trouble with these extra memories though,” warned Luna.
“And I will help her deal with it. These memories are not simply punishment for what Celestia did to me, they are necessary to help Celestia understand everything that she’s missed,” I pointed out. I glanced out of the window into the noonday sun.
“Equestria has changed drastically in these last few years. Luna’s return, the Elements of Harmony rediscovered, Discord’s release, the changelings revealing themselves…” I turned to the alicorn sisters, my eyes narrowed slightly. “At this rate, I fear that the next crisis will be upon us before we are sufficiently prepared to tackle it. Taking on my memories will be a faster way for Celestia to learn and understand the changes that have happened for this past millennium.”
Celestia nuzzled Luna’s ear in a comforting gesture. “Alternia has a very good point, sister. I committed a horrible crime on Alternia. It is as well that I know her pain, and learn from it at the same time.”
A frown still on her features, Luna closed her eyes in thought, and sighed.
“Very well. We do not quite like this, but let us begin.”
Luna’s Room...
“Do you need to lie down, Celestia?” asked Luna.
Clutching her head in one hoof, Celestia trotted into Luna’s dimly lit chambers, eyes squeezed tight. She was guided by Luna who walked by her side.
“We did not expect the weight of the memories to be so… confusing,” said Celestia in a rasping voice.
Luna swallowed, worryingly, and started for the door. “I will ask Alternia to—”
“Nay!” Celestia grabbed her sister and pulled her close. Luna was initially startled as her sister’s hooves encircled her neck, but she quickly returned the hug, holding her elder sibling as she struggled to rein in the influx of memories.
“We deserve this, Luna. Besides, Alternia has given us instructions on how to control them.” Celestia looked at Luna then, her eyes moist.
“Celestia?” asked Luna, in a quiet, tremulous tone.
“We art fine. We are just…” Celestia swallowed, her tears pouring down her cheeks as she looked down at her sister. “So glad, so, so glad that thou art unharmed.”
Smiling, Luna sniffed and let Celestia bury herself into her shoulder, not caring as the sobbing alicorn’s tears matted her fur. “It was thanks to you, Celestia. You chose a good proxy.”
Canterlot Dungeons…
From my experience, the memory transfer tended to make a changeling, or in this case, an alicorn very emotional for the next few hours. Hence, I had plenty of time to make one more visit before I reunited with Luna and Celestia to speak to the Equestrian public that were invited to gather outside of Canterlot castle.
For safety’s sake, I asked Shining Armor to accompany me, and while he seemed to wish to talk to his wife, he obeyed without hesitation. The pair of us trotted down a flight of stairs and entered a room I had thought I would never seen again.
As I entered that dimly lit, grey room, I swore to myself that when I was finally coronated I would renovate the Canterlot dungeons. While an interrogation area was required for the base, the conditions and security of this dungeon needed to be upgraded, seeing how we have been using it so frequently as of late.
The thirty-five ponies that had attacked the treaty signing had been separated and imprisoned in various rehabilitation and correctional facilities across Equestria, but one was currently imprisoned here, in Canterlot.
Said prisoner was nowhere to be found at the moment, but there were five Royal Guards in the area that stood to attention as we entered.
“Captain Armor, and uhhh—” The guards stared in awe at me, not knowing how to respond.
I smiled. “At ease, gentlecolts. I am just Alternia. There is no need to stand on ceremony for me.”
The guards seem to blanch as I spoke, their jaws falling agape.
“Your highness…” whispered one of them reverently.
I blinked. My natural voice, with the characteristic dry rasp of every changeling, was still somewhat unfamiliar even to myself. Did I still speak so much like Celestia?
“You’ve recovered from your injuries, your highness?” asked another guard eagerly.
Nodding, I kept smiling, even though I was very much confused. “Yes, I have. What are your names, gentlecolts?” I asked.
The sergeant of the group stepped forward. “I’m Sergeant Gullwhacker, this is Private Steadfast, Private Fireheart, Private Greystripe, and Private Ringer. What can we do for you, your highness?”
“We would like to know where the prisoner, Golden Star, is, Sergeant Gullwhacker,” I explained.
Gullwhacker grimaced and gestured over his shoulder. “He’s in the interrogation room, your highness. Generals Caesar Salad and Hanna Belle have insisted on interrogating him personally he moment he recovered from his injuries a few days ago. Unfortunately, despite sitting him in that room for a few hours or so every day, he’s not saying anything.”
That caused me to blink again. Hanna Belle and Caesar Salad? I knew that my former student used to have a crush on the old general, but that was a long time ago. These days they could never work together, so I never expected them to jointly interrogate a prisoner.
“Thank you, Sergeant Gullwhacker,” I said sincerely. “We’ll use the observation room.”
“Right this way,” said Gullwhacker. Trotting to the door next to the interrogation room, the sergeant unlocked it and opened it for me. I nodded in thanks and trotted in with Shining, shutting the door behind me with my magic.
“I wonder why they kept addressing me as ‘your highness’,” I said aloud to Shining Armor, glancing at him.
The Captain of the Royal Guard chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “I might have made a little speech to my guard saying how Celestia and you were one and the same, and that they should treat you with the same respect.”
I raised an eyebrow, but giggled softly as I turned on the lights in the room and activated the switch turning on the magic one-way glass leading to the next room, as well as the audio spells.
“Thank you, Shining,” I said to the stallion, before focusing my gaze on the interrogation. Shining grinned and nodded before he did the same.
Golden Star was chained to the table by his forehooves, glaring mutinously. A magic suppression ring was affixed to his horn. Caesar was seated across from Golden Star, hooves on the table, his eyes narrowed. Hanna Belle stood next to Caesar, a snarl on her features.
“My patience is wearing thin, Golden Star. You will tell us where the remaining members of Equestria First are,” said Caesar in such a low tone, it came out almost like a growl.
Undaunted, Golden Star scoffed at Caesar. “I won’t tell you anything, you traitor—”
There was a bang, causing everybody to jump, including myself and Shining. Hanna Belle had slammed her hooves on the steel table, uncontrolled fury on her features. She seized Golden Star by his black-and-white prison garb.
“Traitor? You dare to call us traitors, Golden Star? You attacked not one, but several delegations of peace, launched unprovoked attacks on innocents, and that’s not counting the ponies your organization murdered so as to preserve your little secret!”
My eyes were wide. I knew Hanna Belle had a temper, but I hadn’t seen anything set her off like this for a long time. If she didn’t calm down…
To my relief, and to my pride, Hanna Belle threw Golden Star back in his seat, taking deep, calming breaths.
“And then you and your cronies nearly killed Equestria’s ruler, my mentor! I don’t care if she threw herself in the spell’s path! You were the ones who cast that monstrous curse. We’re lucky only Celes”—Hanna Belle coughed—“Alternia was hit. You could have hit Princess Luna, Cadance or Blueblood, the Elements of Harmony, the changelings whom we swore we’d protect, or an untold number of civilians!”
I frowned as Golden Star’s only response to Hanna Belle’s fury was to sneer.
“And what of it? They, and all of you, deserve to die. You, Caesar, Luna, Celestia, Blueblood, Cadance, Shining Armor, and most of all those despicable changelings.”
“That bastard!” spat Shining Armor, his eyes glowering. He made for the door, but I grabbed him.
“Sit down, Captain,” I ordered calmly, even though I shook from anger just from listening to the madpony across the one-way mirror. Golden Star wasn’t finished, though. His eyes glinting, he stood up and leered at Caesar and Hanna.
“I mean, you’re just going to let this… Alternia go! I did you a favor! I revealed her deception. She’s tricked us ponies for a thousand years! Fed off of your love, exploited your lives! She’s probably thrown her ponies’ lives away on mad quests in a vast scheme to kill us off one by one, enough so that she can cast off her disguise and reign triumphant over an Equestria of changelings, where she’ll sit upon her throne and reign with her sisters, while we ponies work as her slaves—”
“Enough!”
Caesar’s voice, though not loud, cut through Golden Star’s rant like an axe through wood. The general was sitting calmly on his chair, hooves crossed and eyes narrowed, but not angry.
No, there was no anger in Caesar.
“There is no such conspiracy, Golden Star. Besides, her highness would never have done such a thing,” said Caesar, the firmness in his tone the definition of confidence.
Golden Star cackled. Throwing his head back, the stallion guffawed for a long second, before looking Caesar in the eye.
“And how do you know that, Salad?”
My eyes widened as the old general smiled.
“I trust her.”
That caught Golden Star off guard, though I was equally surprised. “What?” he exclaimed.
“I trust her.” Caesar leaned back on his chair, placing his rear hooves on the table. “You see, I’ve served Celestia—well, Alternia—for a long time, and a lot of it at the highest level. Regardless of whether there is such a conspiracy, Alternia has never thrown lives away carelessly, and while there were better decisions she could have made, every time she made a call, it was for the good of Equestria.”
Golden Star frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but Caesar cut him off.
“Before you discount what I’m telling you the basis of mind control, I had Meringue and several other trusted ponies check me out. Besides, you’re in the logistics division. You should know that casualty figures, army purchases, and even the Royalty’s purchases are made public record after a set period of time.”
Gritting his teeth, Golden Star spat onto the table and growled at Caesar. “That changes nothing! The fact that you would submit yourself to this changeling queen is treason to Equestria! You’re betraying your fellow pony!”
“Enough, Golden Star. Tell us whether there are any Equestria First members left,” said Hanna Belle in a cold voice.
“There are none left, you #*$&! Those were the last of us!”
Golden Star clamped his hooves to his mouth, his eyes wide, as Caesar and Hanna’s eyebrows rose. Behind the glass I sighed, my hoof over the mailed part of my chest.
“And how do you know?” asked Caesar.
Squirming in his seat, Golden Star’s shoulders slumped and the stallion placed his forelegs on the table.
“I am the Grandmaster of Equestria First.”
“Since when?” asked Hanna Belle.
“Since the last Grandmaster and his immediate successor were killed in the skirmish at the hive close to Camp Draco. Then the arrests began and our numbers were reduced to us thirty-five. I couldn’t even gather them quickly enough to mount the attack before the treaty was signed,” Snarling at my generals, Golden Star sneered. “Are you all happy now? You’ve destroyed the last bulwark of defense against the changelings, the last light against a darkness that will fall over Equestria. Heck, if that conniving schemer Alternia could see this, I bet she would be cackling with joy.”
“But I take no pleasure from this, Golden Star.”
I had, quietly, as Golden Star had made his confession, opened the door to the interrogation room and trotted in. The occupants in the room jumped to their hooves, but I waved Caesar and Hanna down, my eyes on the shaking Golden Star.
“You… you trickster! Foul deceiver!” Golden Star lunged at me, but his chains held him where he was. He tried to use his magic, but the suppression ring kept his horn unlit. Only then did the stallion see the futility of his action, and he grouchily sat back down in his seat.
“Damn them all for bringing you back to life,” hissed Golden Star murderously.
I sighed. There was no reasoning with this pony. I had seen that from behind the glass, and I should have known my being there would change nothing. Still, I wanted to speak to the one who had nearly assassinated me.
“I hope for your sake that you will one day learn your lesson, Golden Star,” I said. I managed a small smile, turned away, and walked from the room. Caesar and Hanna Belle followed me, shutting the interrogation room behind them.
“Your highness, it is good to see you have recovered,” said Caesar, the moment the door was closed.
I turned to the general and smiled, though I raised an eyebrow as well. “It is good to be back, though you need not call me your highness anymore.”
“Not yet, anyway,” said Shining Armor in a cheeky voice, making Caesar’s eyes narrow at me.
I glared at Shining Armor. “As glad as I am for your convincing of Hanna Belle and Caesar that I am me, would you please be quiet, Captain?” Cowed, Shining stepped back.
“Teacher…” said a soft, shaky voice.
I faced Hanna Belle. My former student’s eyes were moist, and her lower lip was trembling. Like Caesar, she was surprisingly undisturbed by my change of appearance, although I supposed the month that it took for me to recover allowed her to come to terms with it.
“Do you mind if I hug you?”
I shook my head, smiling serenely. “Of course not.” Scarcely had I finished before Hanna Belle, General of the Equestrian Foreign Legion, one of the toughest ponies I knew, wrapped her hooves around my legs. She squeezed tightly for several long seconds, before parting with a cough.
“Not going to hug your old mentor a little longer, Hanna?” I asked in a teasing voice.
Hanna Belle straightened her armor and grinned cheekily. “Your legs are a bit harder than I remember, so no.”
A giggle escaping me, I lowered my head to Hanna Belle’s level. “You do know I could take on Celestia’s appearance right?”
Caesar the old coot, snorted. “With all due respect, Queen Alternia, we can’t have two Celestias running about. One is already too much to handle,” he said in a wry tone.
Laughter broke out in the dungeons, as Sergeant Gullwhacker and his stallions lent their belly-deep chuckles to our giggles.
Well, at least I had ponies I knew I could trust when I became princess.
I would later learn that Golden Star was to be sent off to Equestria’s Dominion. It was also our chief rehabilitation centre for serious inmates, the city-state of Venetia, but at this instance, I had other concerns.
Such as the crowd waiting for me to trot out onto the Canterlot castle balcony and greet them. To explain the deception that had fooled them and their ancestors for the past thousand years. To assuage their fears and show that it was really me, wearing the mask of Celestia.
And of course, I had to tell them I was accepting Celestia’s and Luna’s offer to become the third ruling princess of Equestria.
Indeed, I wasn’t worried at all.
Oh horsefeathers. Who am I trying to lie to? I could feel my carapace practically shaking as Celestia and Luna joined me in the waiting room.
“Dost thou have a cold, Alternia?” asked Celestia, examining me with a concerned gaze.
“No!” I exclaimed, a little too loudly as Celestia stepped back, her eyes wide.
Luna had the nerve to giggle at my plight, and to my horror, she wrapped her right wing over me and guided me to the draped entrance to the balcony.
“She is just nervous, Celestia. Help me get her to the balcony,” said Luna, winking at me. I glared at her, and cursed silently as Celestia’s larger body pinned me from my left side.
I tried to shift away, but my adopted sister and my soon-to-be co-ruler bullied me to the balcony entrance. Their bodies prevented me from escaping, and they were too close for me to use magic to teleport or portal away.
“Luna, Celestia, this is a terrible idea,” I grumbled as they paused by the entrance. Clearly they were expecting me to trot forward, and… part of me did want to, but I was also terrified.
There would be no mask this time, no borrowed identity to hide behind, to act as. A changeling queen was going to face these ponies, not an alicorn or a changeling-in-disguise. As confining as being Celestia had been, there were things I could do as Celestia that I could never do as Alternia. For the first time ever, I wished for the liberation that Celestia’s mask had given me.
“Alternia, you can do this,” whispered Luna, her voice doing a little to soothe my racing nerves.
I sighed and nodded. “I think I can.” I’ve done it before anyway, just never as myself.
“Do not think thou can perform, simply do,” said Celestia primly. With that she nudged me forward and into the sunlight.
I must admit, I was paralyzed for a second, as the trumpets blared to announce my arrival. There were so many ponies, more than I could ever remember, every shape, color, and gender. Without my mask, I felt naked, alone.
But as I watched the crowd, and the crowd watched me, I started to pick out familiar faces. Belladonna, Simulacris, Chrysalis, and her daughters were all hovering nearer to me, right in the corner of my right eye. They each wore expectant smiles that stretched across their faces, showing me that I had family I could rely on. In the balcony across to my left were Twilight, her friends, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Blueblood. Their waving hooves and shouts of encouragement reassured me.
And my ears picked up a soft cheer from the mass below me. The cheer was like the ones that usually greeted me when I wore Celestia’s mask. The cheer told me that things had changed, but that some things, like the friendship that bound my ponies, and me, would always remain present.
There was a chirp and I felt a familiar weight on my back. It was Philomena, my phoenix, my faithful pet. I felt her beak brush through my mane, giving me the final boost of confidence that I needed. The last push for me to open a new page in Equestria’s history, to a new dawn.
I smiled brightly.
“Good morning, my little ponies.”
A/N: And that’s a wrap. More detailed author’s notes after…
Wait, what’s this?