//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: The Shadow Keeper // by derpyland //------------------------------// CELESTIA STARED AT THE COFFIN and stamped her hoof in frustration. “Where are you, Keeper? Show yourself! I demand to speak with you immediately.” “Coming,” a deep voice bellowed. “Just hold on. I will be right there.” Celestia was startled. She looked around the room but didn't see anyone. Then she noticed that the coffin in front of her was starting to shake. As the shaking intensified, a brilliant white light shone out of the cracks in the coffin lid, momentarily blinding and disorienting her. A few seconds later the light went out and Celestia could see again. Without warning an unseen hand violently shoved the coffin lid aside. The lid loudly clattered onto the floor and broke into three pieces. Celestia screamed when a bony leg jumped out of the coffin. It was quickly followed by a stream of disconnected bones, all of which flowed out of the coffin and onto the ground. Once they were all on the floor they magically assembled themselves together into the skeleton of a unicorn. The skeleton looked at Celestia and waved a hoof. “Hello there! Sorry it took me so long to respond. It's been one of those days.” “Are you the Keeper?” Celestia asked. She was more than a little bit frightened. “You don't look well.” The bones shrugged. “Fine, fine. Give me a minute. Let me see if I can conjure up something that you might like a little better.” The skeletal pony's horn lit up. A moment later the pony changed form and turned into a brown stallion with a yellow crystal for a cutie mark. “How is this?” “It is you!” Celestia whispered. “Oh, friend, it has been so long. I was beginning to fear I had waited too long to return.” “It's good to see you again as well,” the Keeper replied. “So what brings you here?” “I want to reforge the broken shards and undo the damage that my father did to this world. I want to set things right – not by forcing a magical solution, like we attempted last time, but by reforging the shards themselves. I think I solved the energy problem. If I can channel the energy from the sun, we could use its focused rays to melt the shards and turn them into a liquid. Then we could use your records to reforge them and recreate it.” “It's a clever idea, your highness. The sun should certainly possess enough energy to liquidate the broken fragments. Now, do you realize what will happen once the crystal is reformed?” “Yes, I do!” Celestia said eagerly. “The world will be remade and all will be new again. Everything will go back to the way it once was.” “And all life that is in this world will die. The sky will be set on fire, the forests will burn, and the cities will be destroyed. All life – including pony life – will perish in flames. Only after the world is purged of all life will the crystal make the world new again. Are you willing to accept that?” “Of course! The fires must come first to purge the old and make way for the new. We always knew there was no way around that. But the crystal will bring life back and create a new pony race. When the ponies return I can rule over them and make sure that they never again threaten the crystal. It won't be like it was with my father.” “So you intend to survive the reset,” the Keeper said thoughtfully. “I suppose you and I could stay in the shadow realm while the fires rage. That should give us a hiding place. Is there anypony else whose life you would like to save?” “My sister Luna should be there. She remembers the old world and she mourns its loss. I should go get her before we begin. I had originally planned on bringing Twilight into the new world as its Element of Magic, but I now believe that would be a mistake. She doesn't trust me, and I can't have that. We need to start fresh.” “Is Luna truly the only one you wish to spare from the purging fires? Are there no other ponies among your subjects that you wish to save?” Celestia shook her head. “Look at what the pony race has done to this world! This entire modern generation is used to ruling over Nature. They cannot even imagine a different way of life. The last thing we need is to carry that same attitude over into the new world. That is exactly the sort of thinking that led to the crystal's destruction. It's time for a change.” “If you say so. I am just the Keeper, so I will not presume to tell you what is best. Speaking of your sister, I believe she has almost reached the Cavern of Shadows. If you step outside this tomb then you can tell her your plan. Once she has joined you we can begin. Let me know when you are ready.” “She's already here?” Celestia asked, surprised. But the Keeper had already vanished and the princess was alone. Celestia quickly walked out of the tomb and through the shattered magical archway. She hurried across the glowing blue star and out into the cavern. The cave floor was still littered with stone and broken debris. As Celestia looked up at the hole in the ceiling, Rainbow Dash flew out of the passage and into the cavern. “There she is!” the pegasi shouted angrily. Right behind her were six Wonderbolts and Princess Luna. Rainbow Dash flew past Celestia and headed straight for the star chamber. The Wonderbolts followed right behind her. “See?” Rainbow shouted. “Trixie's body is right here! I told you Celestia killed her!” Celestia was puzzled. What body? Trixie is alive. There is no body! The princess turned around and walked back into the star chamber – and what she saw made her scream. There, lying in the middle of the star, was Trixie. She was unquestionably dead. The stone dagger was impaled into her neck, and there was a large pool of blood underneath her head. A trail of bloody hoofprints led out of the cave and into the cavern. Celestia glanced down at her hooves and saw that they were stained red. “But that doesn't make sense!” Celestia exclaimed. “That body wasn't there a minute ago!” Rainbow Dash looked at the Wonderbolts and pointed at Trixie's corpse. “See? I told you! I told you she killed Trixie. What more proof could you possibly want?” The Wonderbolts glanced at each other, and back at Celestia. The pegasi then spread out and formed a perimeter around the princess. Luna, however, did not move. She gazed at Trixie's body with great sorrow. “I did not wish to believe it. I had sincerely hoped that Rainbow Dash was mistaken. But there is the body, and her blood is all over my sister's hooves. The evidence speaks for itself.” Celestia waved a bloody hoof in the air. “Look, this doesn't matter. They're all going to die anyway. This isn't important.” Rainbow Dash glared at her. “And what is that supposed to mean?” “It means I found a way to reforge the shards! Luna, listen to me. I have spoken to the Keeper and he said my plan will work. We can undo what our father did! We can put things back the way they are supposed to be. Isn't that wonderful?” “Wonderful? Is that what you call this? I fail to see anything 'wonderful' about what you have done here! You have killed one of Equestria's finest heroes, and you are stained with her blood – and yet you see nothing horrifying about this at all!” “Of course I don't! Trixie was just a unicorn, sister. She wasn't an immortal alicorn, and she wasn't even royalty. These common ponies are like ants – they come and go in just a few short years, and their lives don't really amount to anything. No one mourns when an ant gets stepped on. Don't you see? When the Keeper reforges the shards it will reset the entire world. The only way to fix the world is to destroy it first. Trixie's death doesn't matter because every living thing in this world is about to be wiped out. Trixie just happened to die first.” The ponies all gasped. Luna stepped back, overcome with horror. “You are planning on destroying the entire world?” “In order to save it, yes. It's the way it has to be. But don't worry – the Keeper said that you and I can stay in the shadow realm while the world is reset. That will allow us to survive the purge. Then we can rule over the new world that will be created.” Luna walked up to Celestia and slapped her. “You evil monster! You are the most abominable pony I have ever known. I am not going to allow you to destroy all of Equestria. This foolish plan ends now.” Celestia did not respond. She simply shook her head and teleported out of sight. * * * * * “So your sister did not wish to go along with your plan,” the Keeper commented. “A pity. Well, do you still want to go through with it?” “Of course! I have waited a thousand years for this moment. Today is the day that the nightmares will end. It is time.” The Keeper said nothing. The look on his face was impossible to read. He simply energized his horn and transported himself and Celestia to the top of a tall grassy hill. The afternoon sun hung low on the horizon. “The shards are in a cave below us,” the Keeper said. “All you need to do is pull the energy from the sun and send it to me, and I will handle the rest. The sun will be destroyed, of course, but it will be remade when the Order Crystal reforms the world. Proceed when ready.” Celestia looked up at the sun, and then out over Equestria. She could see the city of Canterlot off to her right. In the distance she could just barely glimpse the top of Twilight's castle in Ponyville. Not far from the castle was the Everfree Forest, and beyond the forest – out of sight – was the sea. All of these things were about to be destroyed. The forests would burn, the cities would turn to ash, and the very stones would melt. It would be the most nightmarish threat Equestria had ever faced. It's for the greater good, Celestia thought. But that thought didn't reassure her. She tried to focus on the pain of her nightmares – of seeing the crystal the Five had broken – but she couldn't. All she could think about was the new nightmare that she was about to create. The princess glanced down at the ground and saw that her hooves were still stained with Trixie's blood. The sight of that blood triggered a memory. It was vague at first, and then it came flooding back to her. She remembered the day Trixie had defeated the Necromancer. When Trixie unmade his crown, the explosion blew her into the air and broke her body apart. Rainbow Dash caught her before she hit the ground, but it was too late – she was already dead. On that terrible day it had broken Celestia's heart to watch Trixie die. She had cried when Rainbow Dash brought Trixie's corpse to her and begged Celestia to heal her. Back then Celestia would have done anything to bring her back to life – and now Celestia was the one who had callously killed her. But that was nothing compared to what Celestia was about to do. She was on the verge of destroying the sun itself. In fact, she was going to destroy everything. Every last pony in the world was about to be killed. All the families, the fillies, the young ones – they were all going to die. Because of Celestia. They're just ants, she tried to tell herself. Their lives don't really matter. After the world is fixed there will be a new race of ponies, and this will all be forgotten. It will be like it never happened at all. What I am about to do is deeply heroic. But she knew she was lying. Trixie was a hero; she had given everything she had to save the lives of others. Trixie had tried to stop monsters who endangered the innocent. Monsters like the Necromancer – and Celestia. The princess began to tremble. She stared at her bloodstained hooves, and then looked back out over her country. “The price is too high,” she whispered. “What's that?” the Keeper asked. “The price is too high. I can't do this. It would be better to never reverse the curse at all than to destroy the whole world in order to fix it. This is madness! Oh, what have I done?” “So you're not going to go through with it, then,” the Keeper replied calmly. Celestia shook her head. “I should never have even attempted to do this. Everything that I have done today has been wrong. Take me back to the Shadow Cavern. I will surrender to my sister Luna. It's time for me to face justice for what I have done. Trixie never should have trusted me.” “Oh, don't worry,” the Keeper said. “She didn't.” The world around them vanished, and Celestia and the Keeper appeared back in the Cavern of Shadows. There the princess saw Trixie and Twilight waiting on them, completely unharmed. “What?” Celestia exclaimed in shock. She glanced down at her hooves and saw that the blood was gone. Trixie spoke up. “The shadow realm is pretty disorienting, isn't it? It took me a while to get used to it. All the things you just experienced were images that the Keeper constructed for you. You didn't actually kill anypony and you didn't talk to your sister Luna. The stone dagger didn't hurt Twilight – except for emotionally, I guess – it just moved her into the shadow realm. Twilight is fine, and I'm not dead, and you didn't almost destroy Equestria. None of that was real.” “It was all Trixie's idea,” Twilight added. “She thought it would help you understand what you were doing.” Celestia looked at Trixie. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I am so sorry. I know that doesn't mean anything, and I know I have said that before. But I truly am sorry. You are a much greater pony than I am, and it is time I recognized that.” Trixie looked at Celestia suspiciously. “What exactly did you have in mind?” Celestia looked at the Keeper. “Is my sister Luna really on her way here?” The Keeper nodded. “She will be here in a few moments. The castle grounds have already been seized by the Cloudsdale pegasi, and Rainbow Dash is just waiting for Luna to arrive. Once your sister is here they will storm down here and arrest you for Trixie's murder.” “And I will surrender to her. I may not have actually killed Trixie, but I did try to kill her and I did intend to kill her. The fact that I failed is only a lucky accident. If I had gotten my way then Trixie would be dead right now. I am guilty and deserve whatever fate Luna decides.” Celestia turned back to Trixie. Her horn lit up. “Trixie, there is one thing I wish to give you before I am carried away. I believe it's time.” Trixie stepped back away from her. “Trixie does not like where this is going. If you try to attack her she will defend herself. Trixie may not be powerful but she does have friends.” Celestia's horn shone brighter. Magic streamed out of her horn and formed a ball of energy that hung low in the air. For several moments Celestia poured magic into it. When it was complete she carefully lowered the magical construct into Trixie. When the magic touched Trixie's horn the unicorn gasped. The entire sphere of energy instantly flowed inside her and filled her. Trixie's mane became magical and was filled with tiny sparks of energetic light. Her blood flowed through her wings – wings that she could feel. Trixie looked at herself in shock. “My wings – they're real! Celestia, what did you do?” That's when Trixie noticed that Celestia's cutie mark was gone. The light from Celestia's horn went out, and Celestia sank to the floor and lost consciousness. The Keeper spoke up. “The princess gave you her magic – all of it. You're an alicorn now. Like it or not, you have become the new Princess of the Sun. I suspect you will have to start raising the sun in the morning, for Celestia no longer has any magical power left at all. Her days of ruling Equestria have come to an end.” At that moment Rainbow Dash swooped down out of the ceiling. Princess Luna followed close behind her, and the Wonderbolts were right behind Luna. Rainbow Dash circled around the room and landed beside Trixie. The pegasus had a confused look on her face. She glanced at Trixie, and then at Celestia. “So, um, does anypony want to tell me what's going on here?” Trixie spoke up. “Trixie persuaded Celestia to surrender. Your army is nice, but Trixie didn't need it.” “But you were dead!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Trixie shrugged. “So what? Do you really think the great and powerful Trixie would let a little thing like that stop her? Have you not heard, Rainbow? I have tricks up my sleeve.” Rainbow smiled. “You certainly do. It's good to see you back from the dead yet again. Just, y'know, try not to keep dying, all right? It's not good for my heart. I'm sensitive, you know.” Luna spoke up. “I would still like to know what is going on. What happened to my sister?” “I believe I can explain,” the Keeper replied. “Please, take a seat and I will tell you everything.”