//------------------------------// // Not as Planned // Story: The Price of a Wish // by Silver Scrolls //------------------------------// Twilight lounged back in her throne with a sigh and blew a tuft of her mane out of her eyes. “Bored.” She elongated the words as she slipped sideways to lay lengthwise in the chair. “Stupid map, stupid throne, stupid memories.” Briefly she growled at the map and then sighed again. “Two weeks and not a mission from the map or word from Luna.” The purple alicorn’s eyes drifted closed as she lazily swung a hoof off the side her makeshift lounge. Lilac eyes full of pain and betrayal flashed through her mind again causing her eyes to pop open. “Tartarus, why won’t you leave me alone?” Ever since she had woken up and seen that resplendent alicorn die at the sound of her words it had haunted her. Who could have guessed not remembering somepony could devastate them so much. Twilight shook her head and looked up at the chandelier made from the ancient oak she had first called home when she had arrived in Ponyville. Each crystal filled with a single memory between her and her friends and to her irritation Celestia appeared in a few. Those weren’t the only hints either, little things around the castle. Photos of them together, books signed by her and even a few letters. Rainbow Dash walked in followed by Rarity and they both paused to look at the sprawled out alicorn. “Hey, you okay over there Twi?” Twilight looked over and grunted. “Uh huh, so getting a bit of cabin fever I take it?” Another grunt. “Maybe you should leave the castle or something.” “Tried that, but there’s nothing to do around here.” Twilight paused and glanced around like she was looking for somepony. “And Pinkie keeps trying to throw me a good morning party, every morning.” Both Rarity and Rainbow lifted and eyebrow and then let it sink in. “She’s just showing that she’s happy you woke up, in her own special way.” Rarity put on the sincerest smile she could and looked around the room. “Not that a party is a bad thing but every morning is a bit excessive.” Twilight nodded. “You’re telling me. It’s getting harder and harder to avoid them. She ambushed me in the shower yesterday and this morning she was waiting for me in my bedroom. Standing there, hovering over me like a vulture waiting for it’s meal to keel over from exhaustion.” She shuddered at the memory. “I keep telling her I’m fine but I might as well try and solve her pinkie sense again for all the good it does me.” “Poor thing did take it pretty hard.” Rarity walked over to the map and looked down at the rock farm Pinkie had called home once. “We were all worried at first but she visited her folks and came back cheery as ever.” Rainbow passed Rarity and moved around the table to Twilight. “Well not really, I caught her in the Cake’s kitchen zoned out a few times. Hair deflated and everything but she would bounce back like nothing happened. So Twilight,” she paused and smiled. “Never mind, looks like you're needed.” “What?” Just as she spoke her cutie mark floated up and zipped over the map and came to rest over Canterlot. “Oh.” Twilight shifted so she was sitting up right and Spike came running in. He stopped next to Rainbow Dash and bent over with one hand on his knee and the other held up with a claw extended. After a minute he stood up and held out a scroll. “Luna’s seal but I think it might be from Celestia.” “Thank you Spike.” Twilight took the scroll in her magic and unfurled it. “It is from Luna, seems her sister has been acting strange for the past week and a half.” She looked up a worried look on her face and gulped. “I guess I have to go face the mare in question.” Her ears flipped back as she remembered how much she had hurt the mare. “Wish me luck.” ~ ~ ~ The soft silver chariot glided gently down through the clouds as the two bat ponies pulling it descended. Behind them in the chariot sat a very nervous purple princess who eyed the castle they were heading for with a cautious eye. Between the letter and the map she had every reason in the world to be very unsure of what was about to happen. Only the slightest of bumps signaled their landing and Twilight jumped out quickly and spied Luna approaching. “How bad is it Luna?” Twilight trotted up to Luna as she spoke and Luna turned to walk alongside her. Luna took a moment to collect her thoughts and find the right way to phrase it. “She, well really I’m not sure.” Luna sighed lightly and shook her head. “When I got back from the hospital after you had woken up she seemed fine and only a little distracted. As the days wore on though she she got more and more, erratic. Finally just a few days ago she locked herself in a new wing of the castle that had sprung up overnight and I haven't seen her since.” Twilight let the information absorb for a few minutes as they walked. “And you have no idea why?” “Quite the contrary, you’re the reason.” Twilight’s steps faltered but she managed to keep walking. “Oh.” She dropped into silence as they walked, her trepidation turning into full blown worry after what Luna had said. This Celestia, as she was called, seemed to have fallen off the deep end over her for some reason and, hopefully, this wasn’t related to the map sending her here. Even if it wasn’t it needed to be dealt with if she was a princess of Equestria, though Luna did a fine job of ruling by herself. A gentle tap on her shoulder stopped Twilight from knocking on a set truly massive doors with her face. She craned her neck back to look at the doors as she stepped back a little to see them easier. Made of a dark wood she couldn’t place they were carved with her cutie mark in the center of each door. The handles were creepy busts of her cast in gold and carved with such care that one could almost count the individual hairs in her mane. Twilight glanced over at Luna who just shrugged and motioned to the doors. “I have been unable to open them. Seeing as you seem to be the cause of her...eccentric behavior, perhaps you can open them.” Chuckling dryly Twilight grabbed the disturbingly lifelike handles in her magic and took a deep breath and whispered under her breath. “Please please just be a normal room.” She pulled and the doors swung open with ease and both Twilight and Luna stepped back in awe as they saw inside the room for the first time. The ceiling was made of a purple tinted glass casting the entire room in a gentle purple color but that was only the beginning of the purple. Purple rugs, purple columns with stripes of pink, torches in purple holders, purple pillows with pink trim holding artifacts. If it could be purple it was and if it wasn’t purple it was some other color that adorned Twilight’s furry body. Glass cases lined the walkways that moved throughout, like a large museum dedicated to one individual. The closest one contained the first test she had ever taken in the school for gifted unicorns and presumably the rest contained similar articles if the banner hanging from the ceiling that read Early School Days was to be trusted. Twilight leaned in to look closer and saw Celestia’s name written under the teacher's name, yet another notch in the story about their shared life or whatever it had been. The soft sound of hoof steps filled the room and Twilight looked up to see Celestia trot into the room from one of the side rooms. The marble colored mare took a seat at the far end of the room, her wings fluttering slightly and Twilight couldn’t be positive but she swore there was an eye twitch. “Twilight!” Celestia smiled wider than Twilight would have believed possible as she happily greeted Twilight. “Welcome to, well I haven’t thought of name yet. I didn’t expect you so early after all.” There was a definite ear flop and no doubt about an eye twitch this time. “You'll have to excuse some of the mess, I haven’t finished polishing up all the exhibits yet.” It took all of her willpower not to take several steps back and slam the doors. “It’s fine, Celestia.” Twilight flinched as the owner of the...fine exhibits jumped to her hooves in excitement over her name being used. “So what is all this exactly.” Celestia wiggled her rump in excitement and skipped over to Twilight and draping a wing over her back. “This my wonderful student.” The disturbing smile grew wider as Twilight was pulled deeper into whatever this room was. “Is a monument to our life together. All your memories and my memories of everything we have ever done.” They stopped in front of a display with a rubber ducky resting on a pillow. The plaque read The Quacken, defeated year 989 of Celestia’s reign. “Take The Quacken here, you used to battle him every bath night.” Celestia sighed wistfully and Twilight pulled herself free from underneath the unhinged rulers wing. “Yes, I do remember him fondly. Quiet the bathtub terror.” Twilight watched the other alicorn very carefully as she spoke, her expression akin to a pony watching a basilisk facing away from it. “Of course, those baths were always taken with my parents at home.” Celestia whirled around to face Twilight causing her to back pedal towards the safety of the exit. “Of course, of course you wouldn’t remember over just a silly rubber ducky. I must show you more if I want you to remember.” As the word remember rolled from Celestia’s mouth Twilight swore there was a clap of thunder somewhere and her whole body shivered. Before she had a chance to react a wing had draped over her back and pulled her along to another case. “How about instead we take a look at some of your old tests.” “You know what, as much fun as this is, I do have some important friendship work to get to. I can’t neglect the duty of the map after all.” Twilight tugged away from the feathery prison draped over her back and turned to make a run for it. All of five steps, that was how far she made it, only five small steps before a golden glow captured her and she was yanked back to the side of her captor. Like a balloon Twilight floated over Celestia as she skipped past everything else in the room and into another hall. “Perhaps you need something stronger than those silly little things to help jog your memory.” They passed an archway made of two Twilights standing on their hind hooves and pressing their front hooves together. “How about the hall of snuggles.” Nope, that was the only thing in Twilight's mind, just nope. With a burst of magic she teleported free and landed by the archway. “Look, Celestia, this is all very...flattering but, yea.” She started walking backwards as she spoke, her horn charged for another spell just in case. “It’s all a little much. I can’t say I’m not flattered, it’s not everyday the ruler of a country gathers things from your childhood and puts them on display like this after all. It’s all just a tad, much.” Twilight’s resolve faltered ever so slightly when Celestia began to deflate. “I just need time to process all this okay. Like I said it’s,” She tried not to choke as she said it, “endearing but it’s just a little much. Maybe after I have had some time to process it all you can show me some more.” “Yes, of course, who wouldn’t need time to process. You can’t be expected to just remember suddenly because you’ve seen it all.” Her smile returned in full psychotic force. “You take some time to let it all in and maybe remember a few things then come back to collect a few more old memories.” Celestia seemed to skip in place with excitement over the idea. “I’ll be here ready to show you more whenever you want.” Moments later Twilight appeared in a bright flash outside and grabbed Luna’s face. Luna was still trying to process the room and barely noticed as Twilight landed beside and grabbed her face. She heard the words and saw the lips move but she hadn’t completely rebooted from the shock of so much purple in one place and could only nod as Twilight spoke. “You, me, somewhere else, NOW!” Another flash and they both vanished and the large doors to the Twilight World exhibit swung closed of their own accord.