The Last Student

by Tofazz

The Truth Revealed

It had been one month since the incident in Canterlot castle, and Twilight was still trying to wrap her brain around the whole concept. But it was troublesome as there were no books about the subject, or anyone else knowing about it for that matter. It made it very hard for Twilight to figure out anything at all.

She had been woken up today by ‘Ponyvilles’ loving mail-mare Derpy. She, for some reason, had decided to use Twilight’s bedroom window instead of her door. Not that she complained; she did get her mail. But she would rather not be woken up by the sound of Derpy crashing through her window and making a mess out of her library. Twilight took a quick glance around the main reading room. All she could see was a cloud of dust and a big pile of books with a grey leg sticking out of it. After a while, Twilight managed to get Derpy out of the mountain of books she had gotten herself buried under.

Twilight sighed as she looked around them, every book she had, was shaken out of place. Even her small figurines had been shattered from the crash. And in the middle of all the chaos, Derpy sat with a forlorn and teary face. She looked at Twilight. “I’m sorry Twilight, I just don’t know what went wrong.”

Twilight could not help but to do anything than to smile at the little grey pegasus. It was true that she made a mess, but, as always, her intentions were good. “It’s okay Derpy, I needed to re-shelve my books anyway.”

Derpy quickly sprung up on her hooves and reached into her post bags. “You have mail!” Derpy passed her the letter and quickly flew out the window again.

It wasn’t until Twilight watched Derpy fly away she noticed what a great day it was. The pegasi had outdone themselves today: not a single cloud in the sky. As the sun rose up over the horizon, the sunlight shone through the countless dewdrops, making it a truly majestic sight full of vivid light and color. Twilight got a feeling that it was going to be a great day as she heard the birds chirp to welcome the sun.

Twilight took a quick glance at the letter Derpy had brought to her. Only then did she realize that it bore the royal seal. Twilight quickly sat down and started to read the letter.

As Twilight finished reading the letter, she quickly muttered to herself. “By Celestias mane… she even writes in the royal voice.”

Twilight trotted out around the train station both eagerly and a little bit nervous. She was looking forward for a trip with her friends, and it had been too long since their last adventure. But at the same time, Twilight was anxious about what Luna wanted, and why did she want her to tell everyone what had happened. She had been under the impression that it was not to be known by any other pony than her. So why would she need to tell everypony about it now?

Twilight took a quick glance around, there was no pony in sight. But at least the day was still warm and free from clouds. The flowers had started to open up, as well, leaving a good scent of spring in the air. Twilight took a look up to the sky. “A great day for adventure.”

Twilight heard a faint noise of someone playing a tuba. Looking around the area she quickly discovered the origin of it. It was some kind of contraption coming closer; the closer it, got the more of it Twilight could see.
As the... thing stopped in front of her, Twilight could pick up more details. The whole contraption was like an explosion of colour, though mainly in green with pink doodles. A huge, golden-brass instrument stuck out from its side mounting, and Twilight could pick up the sweet, sugary smell of baking goodness from the back of it. It seemed as though whoever designed this intended to bake while on the move, and there was only one pony she could think of who would want to do that.

“Pinkie, what on Earth have you made now?”

As the door opened up the tuba stopped playing, a pink fluffy head poked out of it, looking around. Pinkie Pie gave off a huge smile when she saw Twilight. “HI! How did you know it was me in there? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

Twilight had to hold back her smile. “How many ponies would make such a thing?”

Pinkie looked at it for a little while, circling around it. “Why wouldn’t they? It’s a super-duper awesome party wagon!”

“What the hay have you made now Pinkie? Is that some sort’a fancy contraption of some kind?”

The orange pony was standing in the doorway to the train station, with the natural farmer-like posture. She lifted up her brown Stetson as she took a closer look towards Pinkie Pie’s contraption. Within seconds, she looked more than perplexed by Pinkie Pie’s ride. Pinkie was quick to run over to her friend. “Applejack! You like it? It’s my super-duper awesome party wagon!”

“I guess…”

“Oh shush, Applejack. Why do you have to be so crude? Let her have her fun.”

From behind Applejack, a white unicorn emerged, wearing a gown woven from the finest material in Canterlot. She was resplendent in her yellow gown, which had just the deftest highlights of green, and a hat that contrasted it elegantly with the opposite pattern of colours. A red feather stood up at the very top of her headpiece, which she had angled so her eyes only just peeked out from the bottom. The white unicorn looked around the train station, clearly not pleased with what she saw. Or rather who she didn’t see. “Where is my little Spikey-Wikey?”

“I told him to stay home, Rarity. The library needed some cleaning.”

Rarity seemed almost insulted; she put up a big frown, thrusting her lower lip forward. As bad as it looked, Twilight was sure of her decision. Spike was too young to understand any of this.

“Seems like we’re only missing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and they should be here any second now.”

Suddenly, a multicolored beam raced between them, stopping in a great cloud of dust. As the dust settled, a blue pegasus formed from the gloom, with what appeared to be another pony strapped to her back. Or one that was refusing to let go. “Fluttershy… you can let go now. We’re at the station.”

Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of the cloud, her posture as proud as always. Her rainbow colored mane lay down to rest as they stopped, making the colors align perfectly once more. Twilight always wondered how it did that; normally, the colors would become mixed in-between each other. Twilight thought that maybe the proud blue pegasi put more into her looks that what she liked to admit.

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Gentle as always, she let go of Rainbow Dash. She didn’t make a sound as she jumped down from the blue pegasi’s back, and she looked around the train station with great concern. Her pink mane folded over her face as usual, making it impossible to see more than half her expression. She bowed towards Rainbow Dash and the others. “Um… thanks, Rainbow Dash. Hi everyone.”

Twilight looked around at her friends, thinking how great it was to be able to go on a trip together again. It had been too long since last time. They rarely got together like this anymore.

In her dreamy state she realized that she hadn’t explained why she had asked them here on such a short notice. “Well, everyone, let’s get on the train and head to Canterlot. I will explain everything on our way there.”
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All that could be heard inside the wagon was the faint sound of the train wheels hitting the rails. A dimmed light shone through the windows of the cart. The cafeteria in the next cart left a smell of newly baked gods, and you could hear faint chatter from the tables there. But in the carriage of Twilight and her friends there was nothing to hear.

Everyone was completely silent as Twilight had just told them what happened one month ago. Twilight started to get a little uncomfortable; they all stared at her, their muzzles wide open.

She folded her ears backwards and looked to the floor of the cart. “Um… Say something,” she said in an attempt to break the silence.

Rarity quickly stood up, in an unusually unladylike way. “Did Luna give any explanation on why she has revealed this to us now? At this time? Why not a month ago, when it all happened?” The white unicorn was trotting back and forth in their cart, clearly very frustrated. As her trotting became more and more intense, she started to huff and puff.

Applejack quickly interrupted her trotting. “I’m sure the Princess has her reasons, There’s clearly a reason behind it. Or else we wouldn’t be on our way to see her, right?” Even though she said it with great confidence, Twilight could still see the fear pooling in Applejack’s eyes.

“Look… I don’t know what’s going on; all I know is that Luna told me to gather you guys and tell you what happened. I’m sure she will give a proper explanation once we get to the castle.”

The rest of the trip towards Canterlot was quiet, and barely a word was uttered. Twilight sat in her seat and looked out over the passing fields. She got a tear in her eye as she thought back on her years as Celestia’s pupil. Even though she knew the Princess wasn’t dead, it still felt like she was. Like there was a big, raw hole in the middle of her chest, like there would be in the Princess' memories...

She still carried the last letter with her, as a memento of her teacher. She took a quick glance at it and whispered to herself, “I will always be your faithful student…” With that, a tear ran down her chin as she dozed off.

“Sugarcube, wake up. We’re here.”

Twilight quickly opened her eyes, just as the train stopped at the station. Canterlot was busy as always, and everything seemed normal. As if no one knew that the princess was gone. The sun glared through the spires of Canterlot castle, leaving a huge shadow over the city, and almost leaving the whole merchant quarter in darkness. The ponies didn’t seem to mind. They continued with their business as per usual.

As they passed through the merchant quarter and got closer to the gates, they could see that everything was the same. No signs of Celestia’s departure were to be seen. The banners with Celestia’s mark hung proudly on the walls. The spire reached for the skies with Celestia’s flag, almost as though it was pointing to where its rightful princess was.
As they reached the gate, they were met by a gray unicorn. He was dressed in pure white and had a mane blue as a velvet sky. His eyes were almost completely black, with only a little white in there to hint towards where he was looking. “Princess Luna is awaiting your arrival. Please follow me.” His voice was truly hollow, deep and melancholy; it gave the feeling of loneliness.

As they walked behind him through the halls of the castle, some chattering wafted out of the chambers to their sides, but only a few times did it drown out the sounds of their own hooves. The castle was as impressive as always, with huge pillars supporting the whole structure. No banners, though; they had been taken down. The red carpet that usually was in the middle of the pathway had been replaced by a deep purple one. As they walked behind the grey unicorn, they noticed that his velvet blue mane gave out a dark and cold fog behind him, dampening the sound of hooves hitting the stone floor.

All six friends looked at each other and shivered.

As they reached the throne room, they saw Luna sitting on the throne in a black gown. She also wore Celestia’s jewels: a golden tiara encrusted with opals of every colour. The throne room had Luna’s banners hanging up, which raised the question as to why it wasn’t changed throughout the rest of the castle. As they got into the middle of the room the gray unicorn addressed Luna with the same hollow melancholy voice. “The ponies of harmony have arrived, my Princess.”

Luna stood up and greeted them with a look of concern. She tried to smile at them, but Twilight thought that it didn’t seem sincere. She seemed almost as hollow as Celestia had seemed six months ago. She looked over each and every one of them. “We hope Twilight Sparkle took the proper precautions and briefed you all on your way here?”

All of them quickly nodded to the princess.

“Then you will have to excuse us, for we must sit down. We are still tired from the ordeal one month ago. Please… have a seat with me.” Luna gestured them to follow her towards a neatly set up table. No food, just a table with what seemed to be a red colored drink.

The grey unicorn that lead them through the castle stood motionless near the door of the royal chamber. Twilight found it difficult to tear her eyes away from the grey unicorn, as though he would mysteriously vanish to some bizarre duty her mind could only begin to imagine if she did.

“Princess… if you don’t mind me asking… who is that?”

Luna stared at Twilight with a confused look as if she had no idea who Twilight was asking about. Twilight glanced over towards were the grey unicorn had been standing, only to see that he was gone.

“Ah… you must mean Greymantle. He is not with us anymore; what you met was but a sprite of him. He was my old servant 1000 years ago. We merely made a mirage of him…” Luna looked down towards the floor as she struggled to finish the sentence. “We made a mirage of him to soothe our loneliness, we miss our sister… and we miss our old friend.” Luna started to sparkle in her eyes as a lonely tear took the path down her chin. She quickly wiped it away and hinted for Twilight and her friends to sit down.

Not even before they had sat down Rainbow Dash was about to open her mouth to ask a hastily question. Luna raised her hoof before anything could be said.

“We are sure you all have a lot of questions, but let us fill you in first.” Luna’s horn started glowing as she poured the red liquid into everypony’s cup. She looked around the table to see if everpony was paying attention, eventually stopping at Twilight, and piercing her with a cold stare, making her rather uncomfortable.

“Twilight Sparkle, what you heard from Terra is not the whole truth. There are some things he left out. We asked you all here to fill in those gaps and give you an assignment.” Luna took a sip out of her cup before she continued. Twilight looked around, and was astounded to see Dash and Applejack looking on, completely silent and enraptured.

“Twilight, it is true what Celestia told you about Nightmare moon. It is but an old pony tale. We were not banished to the moon; we were sent up there to be reborn. Just like we did with Celestia one month ago. Terra felt that it would be safer to tell everypony that we had turned against our sister, and thus became banished to the moon because of it. He also believed that the embodiments of harmony could not be found unless they did not know of it. The fear of having somepony without pure intentions stepping forward to take on the job guided this decision.” Twilight glanced over towards Fluttershy and Rarity, both of the looked at Luna with a terrified stare. Fluttershy was at the brink of tears.

Luna took a small break as she stood up. She trotted around the table. All that could be heard in the whole castle were her hooves hitting the floor, echoing through the halls. Twilight could feel her heart rate rising, and she started to become warm.

She could not completely grasp the whole concept. She turned towards Luna as she waited for her to continue the explanation. Luna stood by the tinted window of the royal room, just so one could barely see her looming shadow engulfing the room.

“Terra never explained why the alicorns need to be reborn. It is not because we lose power; it is because we become corrupted by power if we are alive for too long. Celestia battled this corruption for a long time. As her grasp of who she was slowly disappeared, she needed to cut her ties to you.” Luna turned around and looked at Twilight and smiled with sincerity.

“Celestia thought she could hold on until she received your last report, but she could not. You became witness to the death of an alicorn.”

Twilight could feel the tension rising in the room. She knew that, any moment now, one of her friends would blabber out the question they all wondered about. To her surprise, it was Fluttershy who spoke up. “But...Um…What does this have to do with us? If you don’t mind me asking.” Even posing the question seemed a massive struggle for Fluttershy. She could barely look at the Princess, instead shying behind her mane, while her voice wobbled and her hoof scuffed along the floor, nearly muffling herself completely.

As if Luna got a little miffed that it was Fluttershy who asked the question and not Rainbow Dash, she took a while to respond. “We have two sets of elements, but only one is known. The pair used to return an alicorn back to its previous state is called elements of Memory. They are what you have been told are the Elements of Harmony, the other set are the true elements of Harmony. Terra does not know of these elements, as they are only used to bring an alicorn into slumber.” Luna walked over to a chest lying next to her throne. “We would normally do this ourselves, but we are weak after the ordeal of putting our sister to rest.”

In anticipation of what Luna was about to say, all of the ponies around the table froze. No one uttered a word, and Twilight could hear the faint chatter from the merchant quarter under the royal chamber. A faint smell of night wafted into the castle, signalling the end of another day.

Luna walked towards the window again, looking out over her beloved Canterlot. Twilight heard the Princess sighing as she turned towards her guests. Her face showed signs of pity, it was obvious her words were acid; she neither wanted them to pass her lips nor burn her throat. “Terra has been awake for too long, and thus… he is now corrupted. For the sake of us, Celestia and our kingdom… you must put Terra to sleep so he can be reborn.”