//------------------------------// // The Twilight // Story: A Twilight Princess // by Mekon //------------------------------// A Twilight Princess Disclaimer All respective characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro. OC's created by me. Summary: Magic is a peculiar force. It lives in and through everypony, but none more so than Twilight Sparkle, the famous element of magic. In her mission to ascertain the true nature of magic and its most basic origins, she accidentally finds herself in a new plane of existence where light and dark are neither the same nor different. The world of twilight opens up to her, unleashing her true power and self. But in the process a shadow creeps forth, threatening to forever eclipse the land that is Equestria. What does it truly mean to be A Twilight Princess? Rating: Teen “ ” = Talking ' ' = Thoughts Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω Darkness and light. Light and darkness. Everypony always thought about them in the same way, separate and opposite. It was always the same. Books, plays, paintings, and legends all discussed how they were never to mix and eternally fighting. The light was salvation, beauty, enlightenment and the symbol of all that was good and right in the world. The darkness was damnation, monstrous, confusion, and of course, evil. No pony ever seemed to see differently. Everything was either black or white. Even the royal pony sisters, the goddesses of the sun and moon, were viewed differently. Celestia, the shining and glorious leader of Equestria, was the epitome of all beauty. Her heavenly features gleamed as if the very angelponies themselves had crafted her graceful form out of the purest marble crafted lovingly by the hands of the Earth itself, devoid of cracks, errors and malformations. She was the light, imposing, yet delicate, like the morning rays of sunlight filtering through one's bedroom window while asleep. The Sun Goddess was perfection given form, light given a face and hope given a voice, and just as her sun watched over Equestria, Celestia watched over the kingdom in all of her radiant glory. The Moon Goddess, on the other hoof, was viewed differently. Though she had demonstrated her true nature, perception of the lunar goddess had yet to fully change. Equestria knew that Luna was anything but evil now, however, that didn't stop anypony from fearing her. A thousand years of dark legends are hard to live down. To the populace, Luna was quiet, mysterious, mystical and reserved. Her arcane blue coat and flowing mane of dancing stars mirrored her night sky and its wonders, seemingly distant and cold. She was a enigma, something out of the legends of old, like watching a dream come to life from the darkest shadows. Ponies were hesitant to approach and even more apprehensive to interact. Luna's true self only shined through to those who had come to know her well. She was a mischievous trickster, full of life and twinkling ambitions, an embodiment of the truth behind her night sky which only wished to be embraced and accepted. And just as the night sky kept its celestial secrets close and hidden, only discernible to those who looked hard and long, Luna hid herself, fearful of the possibility of rejection, revealing her inner secrets to a select few who had pierced the veil. These few knew the true Luna, privileged and happy to know the real Lunar Princess. Oh, and of course, she was gorgeous as well. Twilight giggled to herself as she thought of these things, her eyes were trained on the setting sun. Idly, Twilight wondered why everypony seemed to see one as better than the other, just like how they saw a supremacy between light and darkness. To her, both of them were wonderful, both with their own special little quirks, oddities and weaknesses. Light and darkness were her friends, and the lavender unicorn loved them both. She had had experienced memories in the light and in the dark that she would not have traded for the world. Twilight shook herself, reminding herself why she was standing outside in a field on the edge of the Everfree Forest, surrounded by a array of six perfect gemstones, three shining diamonds and three starless onyx. It was almost time to test her theory. “Spike! Ready?” Twilight called over her shoulder, a bit anxious about her newest experiment. “The gems should be aligned perfectly Twilight!” Spike said with a claws up, “Though, can you remind me why we are even using these....delicious...gems in your experiment?” Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. “I told you. I'm testing the feasibility of spell decompilation, sentience transport and magical tracing through complete magical etherealization,” the lavender unicorn answered, “The gems are going to be used to focus my magic because out of all the other gems, these two produced the best resonance frequencies and positive interference interactions. That way, I'll be able to pull together enough magic to, theoretically, etherealize.” Spike just nodded mutely, not even attempting to translate what his sister had just said. It had taken months of research, weeks of calculations, and a bit of complex math to triangulate the perfect position for the perspective to be just right. It would all culminate into the next few minutes when the setting sun would perfectly match the rising moon. Twilight hoped that all of her hard work would pay off. “So wait...why are we all the way out here in this field then? Why wait for the sun and moon to match? Couldn't you have tested this theory closer to....you know..the library? You did with all of the other spells we practiced and all of the other crazy experiments,” Spike asked, a bit unsettled with being so close to the Everfree Forest near nightfall. She sighed and quickly looked up at the sun and down to the horizon. There were about five minutes left until the alignment would begin. “Because Spike! Since it takes so much magic to cast the spell, I'll need the biggest target to hit since it will be more than likely that my control will be extremely weak after casting. My magic could be so sporadic that it couldn't hit a side of Applejack's barn!” Twilight exclaimed, “So instead! I decided to go for the sky. When the sun and moon sets and rises, Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's magic will be at its peak. It will be the best chance I'll ever have at proving my theory. The chances of the moon and sun perfectly aligning again within my lifetime is close to point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero one zero two two five percent. This is quite literally, a once in a lifetime event, so I have to do it now out here.” Spike's eyebrow rose. “And what does Princess Celestia and Princess Luna think about this? From what you told me earlier. This spell can unravel how to actually cast the spell you tap and the history behind it. Isn't that like....an invasion of privacy?” “Oh, it won't be harmful. I don't think they will even notice!” Twilight said quickly, trying to reassure herself of her sentiment. “You haven't told them yet have you.....” Spike deadpanned. “Well....no. But! I will eventually. I really don't want to bother them with an experiment that could completely fail. I don't want to waste their time. They are very busy after all, being the princesses and whatnot,” Twilight evaded, trying to ignore the look that Spike was giving her at the moment. “They're your friends Twilight. I'm sure that if you told them, they would have been happy to....” “Shhh Spike. I need to concentrate now,” Twilight interrupted, dismissing her number one assistant. Spike shook his head, sighed and took a few steps back. It had begun. The now orange sun dipped below the horizon, sending up shades of lavender, pink and red light, painting the blue canvas of the sky. The moon, reflecting the vivid display of colors, amplified the dancing lights, its surface bouncing the rays of the sinking sun back to its sender. Twilight began channeling her magic into the gem formation, the three diamonds facing the sun and the three onyx facing the moon beginning to attract the arcane energies. The tendrils of magic snaked out of her horn, wrapping themselves around the attuned stones. Slowly, just as Twilight had predicted, the magic began resonating with the stones, creating a constructive wave the continued to build up magical energy. The air around the unicorn began to cackle and crackle with magic, causing Spike's spines to rise up in warning. Finally, the magical focus completed its shape, a circle with a six-pointed star inscribed inside. Spike noticed that it was strangely similar to Twilight's cutie mark. Spike didn't have a moment to ponder the strange coincidence because, moments later, Twilight's magical focus exploded as a beam of the brightest violet magic struck the sky. The blast sent the small little green and purple baby dragon tumbling into a nearby tree, the collision producing a dull thud and a grunt of minor pain. Spike was more focused on what was happening to Twilight, however, and ignored the pain. The magic continued to rise and conglomerate, becoming more and more dangerous with each passing second. The air seemed to protest as well as it hissed and screeched as if scalded by a magical branding iron. Then, everything went quiet. Spike pried himself painfully off of the tree bark and wasn't surprised to find a small shape of a dragon imprinted on the wood. He looked himself over. No splinters, no cuts, and no broken bones. He was a bit sore, bruised and disoriented for sure, but he'd live. “Did it work Twilight?” Shaking himself to correct the spinning ground, he looked towards Twilight, only to find the spot absent of one lavender unicorn and occupied by an enormous crater. He didn't remember Twilight talking about any sort of explosion. “Oh...ponyfeathers...I probably should have paid more attention...” Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω 'Ugh.....dear Celestia...I don't think I'll be trying that again anytime soon....' Twilight thought out slowly. She had never summoned that much magic before and for good reason. The mental and magical exhaustion that she was feeling now was definitely not worth it. However, she looked herself over to assess the success of the experiment. She was completely translucent, almost ghostly. Looking up, she gasped. She could see it, the crisscrossing of magical spells that spread across the sky and celestial bodies that kept the “natural” order of the world in check. Curiously, half of the sky was occupied by one web which was a brilliant white and held reigns upon the sun, guiding and directing its path. That was, no doubt, Celestia's magic. It was effective, ordered and did it's job perfectly without any troubles. Looking across from the sun, a similar structure was brushed in the night sky, much less ordered than Celestia's. It reminded Twilight of a painting. Luna's magic was layered and natural, the edges and vertices converging and diverging at various famous constellations and star formations. Indeed, upon closer inspection, Twilight could literally see the brush strokes of magic that Luna had laid upon the dark, a labor that was unfortunately missed by many ponies. And of course, Luna's moon hung in the sky as a magnificent centerpiece, surrounded by a thin layer of magic. Twilight marveled at the two distinct regions of control, both of which resembled the royal pony sisters perfectly. Truly, she could understand why Princess Celestia was referred to as the Sun Goddess and Luna, the Moon Goddess. Knowing she had little time, Twilight floated up one of Celestia's lines of magic. Being purely ethereal had its benefits; gravity definitely had no purchase upon her being. Hesitantly, Twilight synced her presence with the Sun Goddess' magic. Instantly, her consciousness was thrust back thousands of years to the moment where Celestia had first crafted the spell, and she was able to pick apart every little component of her mentor's creation. The spell was precise, collected, and very efficient. There was a strange aura of calmness that was imbued into the incantation, which Twilight found to be almost exactly like her beloved teacher's presence. Pulling out of the older princess' magic, Twilight reveled in her success. 'Etherealization.....check. Magical decompilation....check. Sentience transference....check. Magical tracing.....check,' Twilight thought to herself gleefully, her mental checklist now complete. The experiment had been a complete success! The lavender unicorn gave herself a mental pat on the back for her achievement. Her eyes began to wander towards the lunar princess' magic, however. 'Well a good scientist doesn't take just one sample. I'm sure Princess Luna won't mind. This is for science!' Convinced by her own convictions, Twilight flew over to Luna's side of the sky where she proceeded to probe a patch of magic that was on its way to the Andromeda Galaxy. Just as Celestia's magic had shown the history and components of the spell, Luna's magic began to spill out its secrets. It had been reforged recently, which made sense seeing as Luna had just returned. However, what struck Twilight the most were the emotions and passions laced in the spell. It was very different from Celestia's spell. She began viewing the piece of art, one layer at a time. At the base, a layer of sadness and regret was present, painted over by a layer of intense loneliness. As she continued to plow through the levels, however, the emotions began to change. She felt Luna's happiness and joy. Finally, at the tip, desire and admiration rounded off Luna's creation. Twilight quickly cut herself off from Luna's magic right after that, feeling a bit embarrassed for prying into such intimate details. Content with her new-found knowledge, she began moving down to the ground to corporealize which she hoped wouldn't be as difficult as etherealization. Something caught her eye as she crossed the sky, however. At the border between night and day, Celestia's and Luna's magic met and mixed. No resistance from either side was apparent, and it puzzled Twilight greatly. It was a very smooth transition. Light to dark and dark to light. She moved to it and observed the strange synthesis of opposite energies. It was a strange phenomenon; one would think the energies would have just canceled out. Twilight noticed that there seemed to be a small chasm present between the two sides of the sky. Curiously, Twilight prodded the junction, attempting to discern what the strange anomaly was. She suddenly gasped as her ethereal body began being pulled into the chasm, like a ship in a whirlpool. She tried to pull back and escape, but it was too late. Equestria faded from view. Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω Meanwhile Near the Outskirts of Ponyville “Oh what a glorious sunset!” a certain white unicorn exclaimed as she turned to take in the full effect of Celestia's falling star. Today had been simply perfect, and Rarity felt like a million bits. As per every Sunday afternoon, she had met her dear friend Fluttershy for their weekly spa appointment, and as expected, it was marvelous. “Oh yes. It's very nice,” Rarity's pegasus companion, Fluttershy, agreed quietly, “It's...peaceful.” The shy yellow pegasus softly smiled as she also turned to face the sinking sun, basking in the warm afternoon rays. “It is indeed the small things in life that really let you know you're still alive, “ Rarity sighed contentedly, “You just don't get this kind of serenity every day, especially for ponies as busy as ourselves.” Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, usually something strange or exciting happens by now...” Fluttershy added, thinking about all of the crazy things that happened to them and their friends almost daily. “Let us hope nothing of the sort occurs. This magnificent sunset is simply divine. Celestia forbid.....” Rarity began, wishing for the moment to last. Fate just didn't want to see it her way. Without warning, a deafening boom steamrolled over them as a brilliant beam of purple magic burst into the sky, causing Fluttershy to squeak out of fear and lock up. Rarity shrieked as the abrupt blast of air tousled her mane, causing it to stick out in a strange angle. Immediately, she began freaking out, trying to frantically re-style her disheveled locks. The ordeal went as fast as it came, and the quiet returned, save for Rarity's panic attack. Fluttershy regained control of her body and slowly wobbled to her feet. She looked around cautiously. Everything seemed to be calm again, well except for Rarity. What was that strange explosion? “Um..Rarity?” “And I just got this done! Oh the hours of time I'll have to spend to get it just right again!” “Rarity!” Fluttershy said louder, attempting to be more assertive. It didn't work; she took a deep breath. “And then I'll have to brush it and curl it, and then make sure that the color is just right! AH BUGS!” “RARITY!” Said white unicorn sky-rocketed high into the air, extremely startled by Fluttershy's loud outburst. “What! What! What happened!” Rarity exclaimed, shifting back and forth rapidly as if preparing for an attack. All she saw was Fluttershy. “Um...If you're okay...Shouldn't we go see what happened?...If you think we should I mean,” the usually-shy yellow pegasus answered, her voice returning to it's normal volume and timidness. Rarity blinked slowly, processing the events of the last few minutes. She gasped, “Of course! It would be completely irresponsible not to!” With a flick of her head, her mane returned to its usual perfect state just like magic. Unknown to Rarity, Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I was hoping for something exciting to happen today.” Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω With Twilight “Ooo...my head,” Twilight groaned, placing a hoof on her face. “Wait....hoof?” She looked at the offending appendage and gasped. She was real again! However, that wasn't the only surprise. Twilight was gray! Alarmed, Twilight looked herself over to find that her entire body was grayed, like a Sunday newspaper comic. Various shades and hues coated her, corresponding appropriately to her body, like someone had sucked the color out of the world, leaving only a black and white photograph. “What's going on! Where am I!” She looked up and her eyes met black, white and gray. That's all there was. Blobs of darkness and light floated around, swirling and purling in harmony like a vast ocean. Pockets of gray dotted the vast sea of light and darkness. “Okay..calm down Sparkle. Assess the situation.” The lavender unicorn rose to her feet, finding that there was a very strange sense of “floor.” She looked up to see a similar sight to what she saw in front, more whirlpools of light and darkness. It was strange to see the concepts of light and dark mix like colors. “One, I seem to be corporeal now....Two, I'm definitely not in Equestria....Three, the environment seems to be....” “Rather strange yes?” A voice called out from no particular source, finishing her sentence. Twilight screamed, and feeling “startled” would have been an understatement. “Oh dear, I do hope you're alright. I didn't mean to scare you.” “Who are you! What are you! Where are you!” Twilight yelled, jumping left to right to down to up, still extremely alarmed by the unexpected voice. A small chuckle, resounded throughout the empty landscape. “Where am I! What did you do to me!” “Please do calm down my dear. I do no mean to hurt you at all. I am merely intrigued,” the voice answered, amused by Twilight's antics. “Answer me!” She wasn't about to just believe the strange voice on a whim. “Do not worry dear princess. I shall answer your questions. Do forgive my ramblings. I haven't conversed with another friendly soul in many a millennium,” it answered back pleasantly. “I swear on Princess Celestia, that if you try anything funny, I'll blast you to Princess Luna's moon and back,” Twilight threatened, not about to let her guard down by any amount of flattery. “Oh how are Celestia and Luna? Do they still fight a lot? It's been ages since I've seen them. I do miss them very much,” the voice said, a tint of sorrow underlined in its speech. “That's Princess Luna and Princess Celestia to you!” Twilight snapped reflexively. It laughed, not a mocking laugh, but a genuine joyous laugh. “Ha. I've never quite called them that. It would be strange to refer to one's sisters that way. Don't you think so?” the voice continued, shocking Twilight into near silence. “si..si..sisters!???” she exclaimed, unable to believe the idea, “Lies! That's Impossible!” The voice sighed, “Perhaps we should start from the beginning.” Twilight was about to ask it what it was talking about when suddenly, the gray began to conglomerate and form a shape. She watched, stunned, as it started looking like a....pony? It began to tower over her, and with a pop, the form solidified. Twilight's jaw could have literally hit the floor. The gray wisps had formed an alicorn, a male one. “Hmm? What's wrong?” he asked, noticing the bewildered look plastered on Twilight's face. She continued to stare. He was as tall as Celestia, if not taller, and like the rest of the world, his coat was various shades of gray. Strangely, she found that it seemed to fit him to a tee. His mane, rough and wild, was three different shades: white, black and gray. He had all the characteristics of any other alicorn, well the three that Twilight knew, long horn, powerful wings, and a very impressive stature. A sleek modest crown adorned his head, the left half filled with white gems and the other with black. Sneaking a peak out of curiosity, Twilight found his cutie mark to be very peculiar. It looked like the sun and moon layered over each other and cut in half diagonally, so that the moon pointed towards the ground and the sun towards the sky. Perpendicular to the cut, a halo of stars surrounded the strange combination of celestial bodies, twinkling even in the dark. “Are you alright?” Twilight shook her head, refocusing. “I...I guess...Who are you?,” the lavender unicorn answered, picking her mouth off of the floor. Twilight's hostility had been completely replaced with confusion and surprise. “Oh where are my manners? I am Prince Caesius, but call me Caesius. I'm well past all of the titles. I am Luna's and Celestia's older brother,” he said, ignoring the apparent shock still filtering through Twilight's face. “And you are my dear?” “Tw...Twilight Sparkle,” she answered, her mind telling her to get a grip. Caesius' eyebrow rose up in questioning as if scrutinizing the unicorn in front of him. “How peculiar...” “Excuse me...but where am I?” Twilight continued, finally coming to grips with the current situation, her voice becoming a bit more demanding. “That is what is peculiar my dear, because you see Princess Twilight, you currently reside within THE twilight, the realm that lies between the night and day. Few ever see it as it is fleeting and short,” Caesius responded with a cheeky smile. “How strangely coincidental...” The pony, Twilight, looked at him strangely. She could derive what he meant by “within the twilight”, after all she had been messing around with the magics of the night and day. But princess? “I'm not a princess,” Twilight responded, her face scrunching up in confusion. Caesius grinned, finding her continued confusion endearing. “My dear, if you are not a princess, why do you wear a crown?” “Huh?!” She looked up for the first time, and saw it. Her crown, the element of magic, was currently residing on her head, and Twilight wondered why she hadn't noticed it before. “Oh...it doesn't mean I'm a princess. This is just the element of magic.” Caesius' eyes widened. It was now his turn to pick his jaw off of the floor. “The element of magic. I SEE! It seems the spark was finally revealed,” he said and then chuckled to himself. “What?” Twilight demanded. “Spark...Sparkle. How appropriate,” he said, covering his laughs with his left hoof, finding the pun hilarious. Twilight frowned and facehoofed. Here she was in a strange, mystical and faraway land, and a strange “prince” that claimed to be Celestia's and Luna's brother was making jokes! “I'm sorry about that. It was just so funny.” Twilight let out a long sigh, her patience wearing thin. “Anyways, no matter what you say Twilight, no pony is just granted a crown.” Α~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ω Well there we go! First chapter! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. *Cover pictures and marks made by me! Thanks for Reading -Mekon