//------------------------------// // Revelations Past Due // Story: A Letter and Wild Ride // by dah884 //------------------------------// “And that’s why the guards eyes are enchanted blue, as a reminder of the blue eyed-demon who summon Kaze dragon of the wind.” “Or atleast that‘s how the griffons tell it.” Added Luna with a smirk. “Gilda actually came to Equestria because she wanted to meet her. Unfortunately, the other foals made fun of her for believing such old mare’s tales.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “The pegasi that eventually arrived on the scene couldn’t believe it either even with the evidence of the destruction.” Luna claimed. “I mean an earth-pony causing a tornado, let alone one of that size, would be hard to believe for anyone who didn’t know the pony in question.” “Wait she was originally an earth pony?” Twilight asked in surprise. “Not quite,” smirked Celestia. “She had to become an earth-pony first.” “So she was an alicorn who became an earth pony that became alicorn that went back to being an earth-pony?” Rainbow asked confused. “No originally she wasn’t even a pony, she was a human?” answered Discord. “Humans why does that sound familiar?” Rainbow Dash said as she rub her chin with a fore-hoof. “Anypony else hear that noise?” Asked Twilight at a low rumbling that was steadily getting louder. “I know I’ve heard it before,” mumbled Rainbow Dash. Just as the sound reached right outside the castle, THUD! The castle door shook with the force of the impact. “Um, should someone get that?” Asked Pinkie. As the door swung open it revealed an aquamarine unicorn with a white and cyan mane, and lyre cutie mark. After peeling herself off the door she marched right up to Celestia and pointed a hoof accusingly. “I knew you have been keeping the truth of humans a secret!” Declared Lyra, her golden eyes trying to bore into Celestia. “I have done no such thing.” Admitted Celestia. “Its just that as the popularity of the origins of ponies dwindled they fell out of circulation. The few remaining copies are in the preservation wing of the Cantorlot Royal library. You could have acquired a copy of anyone of them by submitting a request and paying the manufacturing fees which consist of a twenty percent mark on costs. Twenty-five on an illustration heavy volume.” Celestia quoted. Lyra just stared there balking. “But, but…” Celestia just smiled like a mother to a child who made an obvious mistake, “did you inquire with the library?” Lyra looked down, her cheeks burning with embarrassment, “Um, actually… …” she mumbled too quietly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that,” Celestia stated kindly. Taking a deep breath, Lyra steeled herself, “I said, I kinda thought you were conspiring to keep the information from the public and didn’t want to let you know that I knew the truth.” Her cheeks turned bright red again. “And, it never occurred to me that you would consider those books valuable and free, relatively speaking, to the public.” “That’s okay, my little pony, we all get carried away at times,” Celestia continued to smile in that motherly way. Whack! The hoof a tan earth-pony just smacked Lyra in the back of her head. Everyone turned to look at the mare with her cobalt blue and pink mane and tail as her arctic blue eyes narrowed at her target. “That’s for not listening to me. I told you there was no conspiracy.” “Um, sorry Bonbon,” apologized Lyra. Whack! “And that is for leaving me at the restaurant.” “It good to see you again, agent Sweetie Drops,” Celestia greeted notices her three wrapped candy cutie mark. Bonbon froze and gulped, “I’m think you have the wrong pony, your highness.” “No, I am pretty sure… oh, this is about that whole plausible deniability thing, right?” Bonbon stiffened further. “That was Top Secret’s idea, Torchwood was an official agency of the government and it’s paperwork was done in triplicate. Well, duplicate after Top Secret burned the files. Red Tape and Busy Work were not happy getting it back in triplicate.” Bonbon just face-hoofed, “you’ve got to be kidding me!” “Wait what do you mean by origins of ponies?” Twilight asked in confusion. Stopping Bonbon’s rant about injustices and paranoid ponies. “Well you see her old master, Happi, got his hands on a magic sword that granted him three wishes, any three wishes,” Luna began. “His third wish was that every human look like mother.” At her audience’s blank faces she elaborated, “the problem with that is that mother’s human name roughly means ‘Wild Horse’ and wishes tend to be quite literal to screw with their victims.” A smirk crossed her face, “it’s not just the jinn, even if they enjoy it just as much as the magic.” “Wait but wouldn’t we all be earth ponies?” Rainbow Dash asked to the shock of most of the others. “Well you see, her master was a stickler for challenges,” supplied Discord. “And, after witnessing how much ‘fun’ mother experienced at the hand of magic he used his first wish to bring forth as much magic and mythological beasts he could into the world.” Discord explained. “As for his second wish, it seemed to have been forgotten by history by the time we were growing up and mom never wanted to talk about it.” “Wait, wait, wait!” Lyra exclaimed. “What are we talking about here?” Everyone in the room blinked, and then blink again. They explained the letter and it’s contents to the light aquamarine unicorn. “So if this is your,” she indicated the three immortals, “mother, then who’s the father?” Lyra asked as Twilight brimmed with curiosity. Said immortals blinked, blinked again, stared at each other, looked back at their audience, then blinked again. Everyone was waiting with rapt attention. It started with a twitch, followed by a quiver of the lips. The spasms only got worse. They put forth a valiant effort but the battle was already a lost cause. All at once they burst out laughing with Pinkie rolling on the floor laughing her tail off. Twilight had to rub her eyes to make sure that wasn’t literal. “Mother,” Celestia snorted and the young ones’ mouths hung agape, “with a male?” The siblings burst out laughing all over again. “Ms. ‘laugh snort’ amongst ‘snort laugh’, herself?” Luna tried to get out, to another round of laughter. And, the confusion of those out of the loop. “Did she ever… tell you about her… relationships, before?” Pinkie managed between giggles. Everyone paused at the silence, then the laughter began again. Luna and Celestia both banging their hooves trying to catch their breathes. “Relationships? More like cautionary tales.” Snorted Luna. “Like,” Pinkie added, “never chose food over friends?” “Or, victory may be worse than defeat,” supplied Discord. “And, beware fools baring bad poetry,” finished Celestia. The rest blinked clearly out of the loop. After the last round of laughter, curiosity burning Twilight tentatively began, “if there was no ‘father’, then another mother, perhaps?” Twilight was excited to know more about her mentor. “Not quite,” replied Luna. As a grin broke on the other threes faces. Confused even more Twilight couldn’t help herself, “how?” Discord’s grin was down right predatory. “My dear little pony,” he began, “reproduction is magic.” The sound of Twilight’s face fault echo throughout the castle. “That was priceless,” agreed Pinkie. “Will you be serious?” Twilight mumbled as she picked herself up. “I think, I will handle this,” answered Celestia around a soft smirk. “It started years ago, centuries before she became the first princess of the Crystal Empire.” “Wait, what? How’d that happened?” sheiked Twilight, as Dash and Lyra picked their jaws off the floor. “You see it began when mother defeated a demi-god and came in possession of two magical weapons and a barrel of water saturated in chaos magic.” Celestia sighed softly. “She’s always been like that, picking up stuff from her adventures.” “Misadventures,” interrupted Luna. Chuckling Celestia continued, “misadventures, and it only increased when she learned the hidden weapons technique. She kept the weapons to keep them from being misused by the demi-god’s people. As for the barrel, she kind of just added it to her growing collection of magical items.” Discord began blushing. “Well some centuries later, far to the north and back when the three tribes were being driven off by the Windigos, mother declared that she could defeat them.” Those new to the story stared at her in slack jaw awe. “But no one would listen to a simple earth-pony claiming to be able to do what the mightiest of pegusi, or the most powerful of unicorns could not. “As she was about to leave with the others, news came in about a village trapped in the ice and snow. The other ponies had abandoned them to their fate.” At her audience’s horrified disbelief, she stated, “it was not one of ponykind’s best moments. Mother, however,” a warm smile gracing her face, “charged to the rescue.” “How many of you have heard the story of Fleet Foot the Lion?” Luna interrupted. “The earth-pony and village idiot, who charged a storm only to survive by dumb luck and fate?” Rainbow asked. The grimace of Discord, Celestia, Luna, and Pinkie told her she both got the right answer and the wrong one. “Yes,” Luna continued through gritted teeth, “that cautionary tale was loosely based on this story as a means to mock her in an attempt to lessen their shame for abandoning their fellow ponies.” “The truth of it is,” Celestia continued, “the storm in question was the blizzard of the Windigos and a variation of the technique she used on the Griffons. She unleashed the technique in the valley outside of the village, and it feed upon the ice and cold of the Windigos which in turn feed on the negative feelings of the entire pony race. To say it was stronger than before would be a grave understatement.” Her face fell a little as if disappointed in the ponies of the past. “The dragon unleashed defeated the Windigos which gave the fleeing ponies their reprieve, and saved the village. But, that same dragon powered by not one, but two separate races threatened to consume the village and the lives within.” A warm smile crossed Celestia’s face. “So she did the only thing she could think of to save them. Something incredibly stupid and foolhardy. And, absolutely brave. She pulled the energies into herself.” Twilight gasped in horror, “but, but… the level of magnitude would tear her apart.” Twilight paled, and whispered, “atom by atom.” “A lesser pony would have been destroyed,” declared Celestia with pride before her face fell. “And, she was, as you said ‘atom by atom.’ It was not a quick procedure,” everyone gulped. “The energies of the storm resonated with the water within her weapon-space and echoed off the weapons. They and the storm merged with her, the water becoming her horn, and the weapons her wings. But, even then there was still to much energy. The results,” a smile spread on Celestia’s face, “the village became the first crystal-ponies.” “You should have seen the look on her face when she found out,” Discord interrupted. Twilight tilted her head, “how would you know? I thought this had something to do with your birth?” “Oh, that’s easy,” he said as he pulled a beautifully crafted painting out of nowhere. The alicorn’s face was set in a slack-jawed stupor with her eyes pin-picks and almost rolling up into her head. “I thought she destroyed all of those,” Luna added. “Oh, she did, he just kept painting them,” replied Discord with a smirk. “Ahem,” coughed Celestia politely. “Back to the story. So she staggers into the village after literally being rebuilt to check on them. After a few misunderstandings…” “If you can call them accusing her of cursing them and attacking the village in the first place, a misunderstanding,” Discord added. “She always likes looking at that as a challenge. Facing unicorns, pegasi, and all those earth-ponies without hurting anyone, she had a lot of fun.” Chipped in Pinkie. Twilight was aghast, “they didn’t… she didn’t?” “Yep.” Beamed Pinkie. “Side stepping the paranoia of ponies,” continued Celestia. “Because, they had been abandoned by their respective leaders and she was the only one to come to their aid, they made her their Princess much to mother’s protests. But what truly annoyed her…” “You mean pissed her off and almost put her in a homicidal rage,” Luna corrected. “Happened about a month or two after her coronation,” finished Celestia. “Oh, and what could put somepony who could face down Windigos and angry mobs without breaking a sweat into such a state?” Lyra asked her curiosity overriding any worry about whose presence she was in. As Celestia open her mouth, “she found out she was pregnant,” shouted Pinkie and Luna together. Celestia frowned at the two but smirked a moment later. “But, wait… what? How?” several ponies voiced simultaneously. “Well the artifacts were so ancient they refused to be completely consumed.” The audience was stunned. “And so, fifteen months later…” “Um,” Twilight hesitated. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but, don’t you mean eleven months. That would be normal.” “And what exactly, of everything you’ve recently learned about mother, has been normal?” asked Discord with a toothy grin. “Point taken,” Twilight turned to Celestia nervously. “Sorry for interrupting.” “Oh, it is most understandable. Mother would often complain about it when she thought we weren’t listening. Mainly worrying it would happen again.” Celestia shared a chuckle with Discord and Luna. “So, fifteen months later she gives birth to triplets. A Draconequus, and two alicorns. The eldest Jusendo, the Prince of Madness, Kinjakan, the Princess of the Day, and Gekkaja, the Princess of the Night. Heirs to War n’ Peace, also known as War Party, Queen of Harmony.” The siblings were all smirking. “She always thought it was terribly ironic. She would bring harmony to everyone else but chaos would never leave her alone.” “So who is Jusendo, Kinjakan, and Gekkaja?” asked a confused Lyra. “They are the names of the artifacts, our birth names, and our oldest titles. Mother somehow knew where we had come from.” A fond smile cross their faces. “So Discord is your elder brother?” Asked a curious Twilight. “Which is why when we had killed mother, Discord became ruler of the empire and Equestria which had eventually decided that the living embodiment of the harmony of the three races should be their leader.” Bonbon and Lyra blinked. “Unfortunately, the guilt from killing mother got to him.” Luna added. Lyra and Bonbon looked at each other. “It was just so much easier to give into chaos. I mean mother was dead, the constant gone, the world didn’t make sense anyway.” Discord sighed. “Wait, wait, wait! You,” Lyra pointed at Discord, “you,” Luna, “and, you,” Celestia, “KILLED YOUR OWN MOTHER!!!” Both Lyra and Bonbon looked shocked and appalled. “We’ve already covered this,” stated an annoyed Twilight. “Can we please move on to something important?” Everyone gasped. “I am most disappointed that you would dismiss murder as unimportant,” Celestia stated sadly. “T’is a most shameful act,” stated Luna with a hint of anger. “Have you no heart?” asked Discord seriously. Twilight’s mouth hung agape. “But, but , but…” she stammered in defeat. Her hoof pointed at Pinkie, “she was laughing at it.” Celestia sighed, “Pinkie was laughing at the good news that it was a misunderstanding, not dismissing the concerns of others so casually.” “I would never treat something so serious like that. It would be like laughing at cupcakes!” Everyone looked at Pinkie in confusion at her statement. Lyra’s and Bonbon’s ears perked up. “You didn’t kill her?” Lyra asked hopefully. “No, no, no! That was a misunderstanding about a training accident. But, for the longest time we had believed we had.” Answered Celestia Bonbon and Lyra both let out a breath. “I can’t wait to see what new technique she’ll teach me,” chirped Pinkie gleefully. “She teaches you martial arts?” asked Luna, shock on her and her siblings faces. “Well, yeah! She teaches anyone in the family who wants to learn. Me and Maud are her best students!” Beamed Pinkie Pie. “Do you think she’ll take me on?” Asked Rainbow Dash hopefully. “I don’t know, but I can…” Pinkie began. Celestia’s face visibly paled, a feat in and of itself. “Wait! Pinkie, let me see that letter again.” As she reread it, horror etched itself on her face as her magic holding the offending piece of paper winked out. “Oh, no!” she breathed as her legs failed her. “What is it sister?” A worried Luna beat everyone to asking. “Mother thinks you’re my student,” she declared pointing at Twilight. “But, I am, or I was, but still am… kinda,” Twilight stated confused. Celestia’s siblings both shared a glance and then their looks mirror their sister’s. “Yes, in magic and general. But, she thinks you’re my student in martial arts.” Celestia sighed in defeat, “this is bad. Very, very bad.” “Oh! Come on,” Spike began. “Twilight’s beaten Tirek and he had most of the magic in Equestria. Well, until he cheated, but she still had him beat. And, you said it yourself she had no magic, how bad could it be?” Everyone cringed at that last statement. “Spike, without magic, mother managed to sleigh, not defeat, but sleigh an immortal god who could regenerate instantly…” Celestia started, eye beginning to twitch. “She had a magical weapon,” supplied Luna unenthusiastically. “Do you really think that would have stopped her?” asked Celestia, panic in her vioce. “No, no, no she’s going to tear you apart…” she began mumbling, “this is bad,” as she started pacing. “Alas, poor Twilight I knew you well,” said Luna in defeat. “I got it!” Celestia exclaimed. “She can’t destroy you if she can’t find you, right? So, if I lock you up hidden away. No, that won’t work. Maybe, if I banish you to the far side of the planet?” Her horn aglow as a manic look entered her eyes. “No, no. I know I’ll banish you then hide you, but where? Oh, I know the sun, that’s it.” Her pacing picked up. “No, she’ll look there, it’s so obvious.” “Yes, that’s what’s wrong with that plan,” stated Luna flatly. Celestia ignored her as she continued pacing. “So… that’s where you get it from?” asked Rainbow of Twilight. “Wait! What about Cadence,” Twilight stated ignore her friend and her mentor’s deteriorating mental health. “If your mother is the first princess of the Crystal Empire, then wouldn’t she be…” Luna quickly put her hoof over Twilight’s muzzle, “don’t even finish that thought!” She quickly looked around before releasing Twilight. “Mother’s already going to destroy you, there might not be anything left if you ruin it after she finally found a way out. Celestia why didn‘t we think of that?” “Too, busy running the country to find a way free,” Celestia absently answered in the middle of her ramblings. The affect this one pony was having on the semi all powerful cosmic beings in the room was a little disturbing. Putting that aside Twilight turned to Luna, “um, so how did she make the Crystal Heart?” Discord started laughing with great mirth, soon Luna was joining him. “Actually that was the first wme she made. She got the idea from a movie she saw a long, long time ago in a place far, far away.” A smirk spread to his muzzle, “she liked to call it a Kyber crystal.” “What the hay is a Kyber crystal?” asked a curious Rainbow Dash before Twilight and Bonbon could voice their own curiosity. “It is a crystal that uses ki or life energy to…” Discord began. “It’s blood magic,” Twilight shouted looking quite sick. “And, we used it in against Sombra!” A shiver ran through her body before she whimpered, “All those crystal ponies.” “You misunderstand, young Twilight,” said Luna with the weight of experience. “Ki is all around us, it is as ambient as magic is. Most who wish to use it do not put forth the proper effort. They seek shortcuts and use the blood as a catalysis. And as you may know, shortcuts come with a great prize, but an even larger price.” Her smile turned sad, “mother sometimes used shortcuts.” As Twilight was about to voice her concerns, Luna continued, “they were usually not her choice and only carried great personal risk to her.” “Anyway, back to less severe topics,” Discord interjected. “As a Ki master, especially one who learned from emotional ki, which has it’s own dangers, mother with the help of an earth-pony stone framer managed to fuse the emotional life energy from love into a crystal.” “Someponies thought the Tree of Harmony was a more advanced version of the Crystal Heart,” Luna pointed out. “Well she kept disappearing for weeks at a time for several years, before announcing her big discovery.” Discord pointed out. “Wait, wait, wait!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “By ki do you mean that mumbo jumbo stuff my sensei is always going on about?” “One of these days I am going to find out why ponies can so easily believe in the extraordinary wonders of magic, but question the mere existence of ki.” Stated Celestia in exasperation. “You seem better,” pointed out Luna. “Yes I realized there is nothing I can do. Mother will do what mother does, Twilight will survive, mostly intact…” Twilight’s eye twitched as Spike put a sympathetic claw on her shoulder. “… and be better off for it. Mother will then give a tongue lashing to me for slacking as her instructor, I will explain that I was not teaching her martial arts, and mother will apologize for the misunderstanding.” Silence met her statement and Twilight hung her head in defeat. “By the way Lyra, how did you know we were talking about humans?” Twilight inquired curiously, head snapping up. “Oh that’s easy, Pinkie Pie pinkie promised me to tell me whenever anypony talked about them in Ponyville.” Stated Lyra matter-of-factly. “But, but, but she was here the whole time?” Twilight complained, the stress of the day getting to her. “So? She’s Pinkie.” Lyra stated as means of explanation. In the Ponyville dojo a short distance from the castle. An earth-pony mare with a sleek black coat and mane of fire red closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. “Ah! A proper dojo. Its has been too long.” The pony exclaimed as a smile grazed her muzzle. Opening her eyes to reveal crystal blue orbs which locked onto a brown coated stallion wearing a simple light-brown button-up shirt. “Sensei!” The mare said bowing her head in respect as she approached the pony, her eyes remaining locked on to his imperceptibly open eyes. “While this is our first meeting, I believe I should be addressing you as master.” The stallion stated as he bowed in respect and a smile crossing his own muzzle. “So what can an old stallion do for a lovely master such as yourself?” “Sensei, I would be honored if you would allow me the opportunity to test your students.” An intrigued smile crossed his face. “I am also looking for somepony, she is most likely one of your more advanced students or perhaps a teaching instructor. Her name is Twilight Sparkle?”