It was a late friday afternoon that the delivery finally came. In fact, Twilight made sure to sign for the large package herself. She smiled in anticipation as she resisted the urge to rush back into her castle. Settling for a springy trot, she levitated the package behind her. She had recently ordered a large number of books to stock her library, and she was sure that they were finally being delivered.
She set the package down on the cutie map, and fished out some scissors to begin the joyous process of opening it. As she paused to inspect the label, her smile faltered. Why is there no return address?
Unless… maybe this package isn’t my book shipment. Who would be sending me a package anonymously? Twilight furrowed her brow. She needed to be careful, the contents inside could be harmful. She gingerly floated the package into the air and decided on a new destination.
As she trotted through the castle, she called for Spike.
“What is it?” he yelled back.
“I’m going to the lab. If anything weird happens or you don’t hear from me in an hour, get the girls.”
“Sure… wait, what?! What’s going on?”
“N-nothing to be worried about! Just… maybe something to be a little bit worried about. It’s probably nothing but better safe than sorry.”
“...Okay, Twilight. Please be careful.”
“Thanks, Spike.” She trotted off into the lab. Most of the equipment that was stocked in her lab in the castle was new and unused. Nothing had survived from the old lab in the library tree, but obtaining new equipment was easy for one of the princesses of Equestria.
She placed the package onto the lab table. From a never-opened box (with the the words “Do Not Eat” scrawled in Twilight’s hornwriting on the side) she levitated out several crystals that had been enchanted to glow in the presence of nasty spells and to help to neutralize many of such magical hazards. Arranging them in a magic circle around the table, she carefully levitated a pair of scissors into the ring, the crystals glowing slightly in response to of the magically levitated shears. Slowly, she cut the tape on the the package’s lid. The enchanted crystals remained dormant, with not a hint of magic triggered by her action.
Satisfied it was not going to explode or otherwise ensorcel her, Twilight entered the ring herself and lifted the lid off the package, peeking inside. On top she saw a newspaper clipping pinned onto cheap cork board, yellowed with age and decaying at the edges. She levitated it out and read the article:
Sunset Shimmer disappears!
Today Princess Celestia announced that Sunset Shimmer has decided to travel to the distant land of Fancy for special training.
However, this reporter has been pursuing the mystery of Sunset’s disappearance...
Twilight chuckled to herself. Sunset really mystified Equestria when she disappeared didn’t she? Of course, Twilight knew where Sunset had disappeared to: she had fled to the human world and had been busy installing herself as queen of Canterlot High, a school in that world.
Twilight frowned. I shouldn’t think poorly of Sunset. Sunset hadn’t known the magic of friendship when she left Equestria, but now she has more than proven that she was on the path to understanding friendship pretty well.
Shrugging, Twilight returned to her inspection of the package’s contents.
Clearing out some packing peanuts, Twilight levitated the next item from the package. It was another newspaper clipping, this one was carefully framed and less yellow than Sunset’s clipping, and despite its appearance, was dated forty years ago!
The page featured an image with an immensely proud looking Celestia alongside a much smaller pony, who’s hair, made up into a bun, was pulled away from the horn also adorning her head. The photo clearly displayed the smaller pony’s lighthouse cutie mark, as well as the wings at her side.
Brilliant Beacon ascends!
The princess’s student defeats the mad unicorn Tirous the Unmentionable. After many years of faithful service to Princess Celestia and to the ponies of Equestria, Brilliant Beacon has ascended to alicornhood and has been awarded the title of princess! This is a fantastic day that will go down in Equestrian history!
Twilight placed the framed clipping down. I’ve never heard of Brilliant Beacon. She must have been Celestia’s student before Sunset Shimmer. And, just like Sunset Shimmer, I haven’t heard a single thing about her. Why?
Plumbing further, there was a second frame with another yellowed newspaper clipping, dated only a couple years after the first clip.
Brilliant Beacon dies in magical accident
Tragically, Brilliant Beacon, age 27, died today in a magical mishap of unknown origin. Princess Celestia, ever stalwart, had the following to say:
“Even as my protégée is now gone, we must carry on, and never forget her example or the place she had in our hearts.”
In this reporter’s humble opinion, the princess’s aggrieved comments failed to state just how important Brilliant Beacon was to Equestria. She was a hero and her name will live on, though her life was brief.
Brilliant Beacon was buried in a private ceremony with friends and family in attendance.
Her name will live on… the words echoed in Twilight’s head. Celestia had never uttered a single word about Brilliant Beacon. Twilight hadn’t even known there was one previous student, much less two. Neither had been mentioned a single time. As far as Twilight was aware, this was the only indication that Brilliant Beacon existed at all.
Twilight looked down at the package. She had barely sifted through a fraction of its contents. Was the rest evidence of more students lost to time?
Returning to the box, Twilight found the next item was a crystal case containing two ragged and heavily yellowed bits of newsprint in them. This was the same method used to preserve the oldest and most valuable scrolls. If the dates on the documents were to be trusted, these were both 90 years old. Twilight knew just how quickly cheap newsprint disintegrated over time. 90 years was an astoundingly long time for newsprint to survive, and the clippings was probably old when they were preserved.
They read:
Spectral Glint sent to Draconia
Spectral Glint, Celestia’s dear student, announced she was going to go to Draconia today for a diplomatic meeting. No specific reason was presented for the delegation, although tensions between our nations have recently been heightened by a trade dispute over the exploitation of gem fields in the eastern Unicorn range.
The next page was from only a week later.
Princess Spectral Glint dies en route to Draconia
The search for Celestia’s young apprentice-cum-princess ended today when her guards returned to Canterlot, confirming the death of Spectral Glint.
On the way to Draconia, a mysterious storm came out of nowhere and drove their carriage off a cliff. Stranded and alone, the party was beset by an ancient hydra, for which the guardsponies were no match. Spectral Glint attacked the hydra with a powerful spell, separating herself from her guards. Exhausted, she was consumed by the hydra, allowing the guards to escape.
The guards were all court martialed for inadequacy, but Princess Celestia intervened on their behalf, declaring that in memory of her student’s heroic action, they would all be honorably discharged without further prosecution. “It is what Spectral Glint would want,” said Princess Celestia.
Twilight felt a shudder run down her spine. Another dead student who perished on a mission for Princess Celestia! Being the Princess’s protégée must have always been dangerous work.
But… this was just an accident. And so was Brilliant Beacon’s death. Both of them were doing things that, by all rights, probably shouldn’t have led to their deaths, even though they were doing them because they were Celestia’s student. And Twilight knew what happened to Sunset, so the ‘mysterious circumstances’ were hardly mysterious to her… although it wasn’t an assignment from Princess Celestia…
Twilight steeled herself. There were still more items in the box. In the next layer she found an old journal, much easier to preserve than newsprint. Inside the journal were two bookmarks. Twilight turned to the first of them and read.
Today I have been assigned to the new Princess Star Glitter. She is the most beautiful creature I have ever met. I cannot believe a being with such grace only recently grew her wings; she already flies as if she had possessed them her whole life. I know a lowly guardsman like me has no chance with such a beautiful being… but I am just happy to be of service to her.
Twilight giggled. The writer of this document really sounded like Spike, completely devoted to the most beautiful mare he could find.
She read on… and many many entries were about the princess. Of her beauty and grace. Twilight wondered if a century ago this sort of distant admiration romance was the norm. It was certainly less common now, Spike being the only example she can actually think of.
Twilight turned the page to the second bookmark.
It has been two weeks since Princess Star Glitter’s disappearance, yet Princess Celestia has yet to evidence any concern. Her student just disappeared. She may be in danger… or even dead! And yet she seems more chipper and casual than ever, as if to mock those of us that worry for Princess Star Glitter.
How could she be so callous! I’m afraid I could not entirely rein-in my emotions, and accidentally let it slip that I was angry, an outburst that disgraces me as a guard.
She now watches me. I have earned the eye of the Princess of the Sun, and I am terrified! I do not know how much longer I have.
Reading back over my journal entries, I think I may come off as… obsessed with Star Glitter. These are my deepest thoughts, the things I would never tell another soul, and certainly not anything I would act upon. I am a professional and would never betray my charge in the least of my duties! I may have acted as a confidant, but I did not do anything untoward, my affection was hidden best it could.
What if Princess Celestia noticed my affection? What if she thought I forgot my place, and did the unthinkable?
Turning the page, Twilight found that all all the subsequent pages were blank. She furrowed her brow. Did… something happen to this guard? She checked the beginning of the journal, and it proclaimed the writer’s name was Solid Shield.
The name was unfamiliar, of course. Why wouldn’t it be? This guard was of no historical notoriety. Glancing through it, the guardsman didn’t even really seem to reference his family or any friends. The only pony that he had a close relationship with was, in fact, Star Glitter.
Most other ponies would not notice his disappearance.
Twilight threw that thought far back into the recesses of her mind, locking it in a safe, burying the key, building a house on top of that key, and moving into that house.
Right. Definitely not considering that possibility. That’s ridiculous.
The package, though, was still not empty. There were more documents. More evidence of disappeared princesses or students. Twilight swallowed roughly. She could choose to ignore its contents. All these items could be faked. She could put the box away, or ask Spike to burn it, maybe. Not the fire that would send it to Celestia, but the real kind that leave behind nothing but ashes.
… But Twilight Sparkle had never turned away from the truth. The truth existed, whether or not she knew it, so she reached her magic in and levitated the next item out.
This one was a history text, with another bookmark in it. Turning to it, Twilight frowned. There were annotations in the margins! The penmanship was wonderful, and this was clearly a rather recently printed book, and probably not hard to find extra copies of, but that was hardly an excuse to deface this text. Would it have killed whomever wrote these notes to write them on the bookmark?
The text was underlined for emphasis:
The leviathan in Horseshoe bay, which had been the bogeymare for the nearby population, was finally convinced to leave by the efforts of newly crowned Princess Buttercup.
Buttercup is an enigmatic character. She is known to be Princess Celestia’s former student, but there are no official records of her existence. Particularly, there is no report of her ultimate fate.
And in the margins:
This was about fifty years before the next disappearance.
Twilight stared at the word disappearance. Every case so far had been different, hadn’t it? But in each case there was no body found, and it was always possible that… something else happened. It never happened in public, and the only ponies who would know for certain were the princess and… maybe the guards, who would follow Princess Celestia’s orders for sure.
It would be easy for her to make her students disappear. The thought made Twilight cringe.
… No.
No!
It’s… it’s... ridiculous!
She snorted. The guardsponies would never allow something like that to happen, and Celestia would never do that in the first place!
No, the problem is that being Celestia’s student is dangerous.
Twilight nodded to herself. She had been put in many life threatening situations during her tenure. During the last few years, even! And Twilight had the benefit of the Elements of Harmony, both the magical rocks and the ponies that wielded them.
Now that she was a princess, she was bound to get into more danger… but surely, with her friends at her side she would be safe.
Besides, Twilight knew what happened to Sunset Shimmer, and it was nothing awful at all! What if some of these incidents are falling outs of Celestia, or the student retiring and asking to be put out of the limelight, and faking their disappearance is the safest way to hide them from their enemies.
Celestia waiting many of years before finding a new student is hardly unusual, after all.
Twilight inspected the interior of the box. At the bottom of the packaging there was a single sealed envelop remaining, with the words Princess Twilight Sparkle written on it in the same flowing script she had seen in the margins.
Twilight opened it up and read:
Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. As you may have noticed you were not Princess Celestia’s first student. Each of these records identifies a prior student of Princess Celestia’s.
And, as shocking as the evidence is on its own, I imagine you must be even more shocked to realize that each of these students were given the title of princess and earned their wings shortly before they disappeared or died.
Beyond that, Princess Celestia has taken pains to ensure that the very memories of her students were forgotten from history. Most history books lack even the barest mention of the princesses that came before you.
I am convinced that Princess Celestia has been leading her students down the path of destruction, and is concealing her actions through her control of history. I shudder to think of what an immortal mare, whose power eclipses any other in Equestria, must be capable of. Her power over history, over the very existence of her students is absolute.
I have sent this not to demoralize or destroy you, Twilight Sparkle. It is my sincerest wish that you will break the cycle of destruction that has befallen Celestia’s students. I cannot tell you what is the best way to do this, only that you must try. As to the other students of Princess Celestia, they deserve to be remembered. The world must know about them, and yours is the only voice they might believe.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Citizen
Twilight set down the letter and frowned. The letter said all the things she had been afraid of. And the things that she had already dismissed as nonsense.
What sense would any of this make? What reason could Celestia possibly have to constantly train new students, only to make them disappear after ascending. There was no rational reason.
Twilight resleeved the letter, and placed it and the rest of the evidence back into the box. The assertion that Celestia was secretly malevolent was ridiculous, and Twilight was done entertaining it.
But what to do with the evidence… Twilight considered destroying it, but if the assertion that these princesses were lost to history was anywhere near true, it was her responsibility to preserve this information. In fact, she could even bring it up with Princess Celestia. They’ll have a good laugh about how silly the notion is, and work on restoring the memory of her no doubt precious students to history.
Satisfied that it was a good plan, she levitated the box up onto a shelf, and got on with the rest of her day.
Canterlot castle was shiny and bright as Twilight trotted through it. Ahead of her, her longtime fellow student Sunset Shimmer was waiting at the door.
“Come on, Twilight. We don’t want to keep Brilliant Beacon waiting.”
Twilight smiled and sped up.
Inside the room sat another alicorn with her hair up in a bun, sitting at the tea table. “Sunset! Twilight! It’s so good to see you,” she said, throwing her arms around Twilight in a familiar hug.
“It’s so great to see you too.”
Sunset Shimmer grasped the teakettle in the table with her wings. “Let’s get this party started, then!”
Beacon laid a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder. “We are waiting for just one more.”
The doors flew open and in stepped Celestia, the final princess. “It is good to see you all here, my faithful students.” She trotted up aside her students, hardly taller than any of them, and took a seat alongside Beacon. “It has been too long.”
Twilight smiled up at her. “It certainly has been a long time since the four of us have been together.”
Celestia sipped her tea from the head of the table. “What do you mean, Twilight? There aren’t four of us here.”
Twilight looked around, and indeed it was only her, Celestia, and Sunset. She scratched her head. “Where did Beacon go?”
Celestia and Sunset both cocked their heads. “Who?”
“Brilliant Beacon! Celestia’s previous student?”
“What’re you talking about, Twilight?” Sunset asked. “It’s just been the two of us.”
Celestia was standing over Twilight, at least a head taller now. “Twilight, what is this about? I’m worried about you.”
“Celestia, she was just here. She was waiting for Sunset and me when we got here.”
Towering over Twilight, Celestia looked down upon her. “What are you talking about? Twilight, you and I are the only ones here.”
“No… no! No there… there were other students. Two others, right here.”
“Twilight. There were no other students. There never were. It has always only been you and me.” Celestia’s entire being shone with an uncommon intensity.
“That… that can’t be true. I know what I saw! They were just here!”
The terrible light shone brightly, overshadowing everything. Twilight shielded her eyes from Celestia’s light.
“Twilight… you are mistaken. I have no students.”
Squinting to keep her eyes on Celestia, Twilight said, “No… no, I can’t have been the only student. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Twilight, you are mistaken,” Celestia said, her voice was painfully plain. There was no malice, only the gentle tone of an adult who was correcting a child. “I have never had a student.”
“Never… never?!” Twilight said in a panic. “Then who am I? Aren’t I your student?”
“No, Twilight,” Celestia said, as her eyes darkened, the only thing visible on her face. Everything else was the terrible light. “You aren’t my student, and shortly, you won’t be anything at all.”
Twilight tossed and turned in bed. Cracking open her eyes, she glanced up at the moon shining through her window. Judging by where it was before… it had barely been an hour or two since she laid down for the night.
She hopped out of bed, too restless to stay down anyway, and started walking through the castle to the kitchen.
The evidence was circumstantial at best. So what if there were missing students? It’s not like they were covered up! Whoever sent her the package obviously had compiled it from somewhere, so the information was clearly still out there. And as Princess Celestia was immortal, she would have had years to eradicate the evidence. It’s inconceivable that things would fall between the cracks.
Arriving at the kitchen, she levitated glass from a cupboard and started filling it with water from the tap.
They were just… not in many books because they had these accidents. As a result they hadn’t had time to become all that important to history, and they unfortunately just didn’t have very many records for each.
Yes. It was a good explanation. She took a deep breath, put her hoof to her chest, and exhaled as she pushed it out. There was no reason to lose her head over this. That was what old Twilight did. That causes things like the want-it-need-it incident.
She downed her glass of water, and returned to bed.
It wasn’t even an hour before she was tossing and turning again. She sat up.
It was those damnable dreams. It every time Twilight closed her eyes there were visions of Celestia confirming that Twilight was going to disa —
No. No! This is ridiculous!
Twilight threw the sheets off of her once again and got out of bed.
Pacing around the room, she mumbled, “This is preposterous. These are exaggerations, given to me by a well meaning, but uninformed stranger. This pony doesn’t know the princess. She doesn’t understand the princess.”
She stamped down on the ground. “So why can’t I get this out of my head?!” she shouted to herself.
“Because the Princess was secretive?” she replied to herself.
“She runs a country, she would hardly do that well if she was an open book!”
“Because there were other students? Why wouldn't there be?!”
“Because they all died young?!”
Twilight sighed. Of course because of that. Because they were dead and nopony even knew they existed. How could Celestia allow this? Why didn’t she keep her old students in the history books? Didn’t they deserve it? It didn’t make any sense.
Unless… unless she had something to hide. Not just hidden from the world but… from me. Something that was dangerous… so dangerous she wouldn’t tell me, despite it applying directly to me.
She’s hidden lots of things from me, over the years. Things that were even about me. What if not everything she’s hidden was nice?
... That’s it, then.Twilight groaned and slumped back onto her bed. Somewhere deep down, that’s what she was afraid of. It didn’t matter how irrational it was, the fear had already set in.
… But laying in bed trying to think this away wasn’t going to work. Twilight had to do something about it. She got out of bed for a second time, and took to the dark hallways of the castle.
She had to… to prove those reports wrong! She had to prove that Celestia couldn’t have done those things.
She thought of her library. It had thousands of books… but it mostly had easily available books. There were some rare tomes from Canterlot, but they were all books on magical theory, not on history. If Twilight was going to find more information… she would have to find the rarest books. Which meant she’d have to go to the restricted sections, that only specially permitted ponies were allowed to access.
But Princess Twilight Sparkle just so happened to be one such permitted pony...
She looked out of the window of her own castle at Canterlot hanging off of Canterhorn mountain. Sleep can wait, but justice can’t.
The Histories, Journals and Musings of Mid-level Bureaucrats wing was empty in the dead of the night like this. Twilight hadn’t honestly spent very much time in this wing. For some reason, whenever there was a rare tome she needed, it was always in the Starswirl the Bearded wing. No need to go there tonight, though.
The night guards in the castle were no problem as Twilight knew they’d let her in this time. No silliness like before. She was going to approach this problem calmly and with an even head, even if she was losing sleep over it.
Twilight dragged a bunch of supplies from the back room, and set up a cork board in the center of the library wing. She put a scroll up horizontally and used magic to make regular marks on it. Starting on the far left, she pinned a paper labeled “Twilight Sparkle.” Next to that she pinned another labeled “Sunset Shimmer, disappeared through the portal to the human world.” She used thread and pins to stick the evidence from the package to connect to Sunset.
Up went the evidence of the prior students’ existences and disappearances, attached by pins and magic to the board. All according to the same pattern.
“There,” Twilight mused to herself. “Every half century, give or take a decade, a princess is a student to Celestia, and disappears around when she’s thirty.
“If this really is a reliable pattern, then I should be able to predict by going back another fifty years… which means if I find nothing, that the pattern was indeed false, and all that other evidence was just a coincidence.”
She slammed the biggest history book she could find onto the table. It was time for research. It was a lot of material, but Twilight had the benefit of years of research experience. Throwing the book open, she began her search.
She started with the thickest, most detailed histories she could find, organized by date. And, soon enough, there it was. Fifty years before Buttercup, there was a mention of the brief reign of a princess that suddenly decided to be a hermit.
The evidence went up on the board, and Twilight returned to the books.
Fifty more years back, three centuries. There were no princesses! But there was a hero. Described as a ‘close friend’ of Celestia, and an alicorn… and her demise was just as early and predictable as ever.
On the board it went.
Three and a half centuries ago, now. The treaty between Equestria and Griffonholm was signed by Princess Prism Shade. Twilight cross referenced the princess, finding precious few details about her. But she clearly was important enough to broker peace between ponies and griffons!
Fine then. Four centuries.
Twilight found, to her surprise, a lot of information about the Princess’s student for this generation, Aurora Borealis. Celestia’s student. She had an autobiography, even! She lived a rather long time, finally passing in her sixties.
“That’s it! The pattern is broken!” Twilight cackled wildly. “This student lived a long and fruitful life, becoming famous and having a family.”
Twilight sighed and collapsed back. “I knew it… I knew this whole thing was just… silly.”
Levitating the book back up, she read about the life of her longtime predecessor, Aurora Borealis. Becoming estranged from Celestia at a rather young age, Aurora went on to perform many feats of heroism, saving her town and the surrounding areas countless times. She had a big family and even in her twilight years was described as a lively and friendly mare until the day she finally drew away from the public eye to spend her last twenty years of her life in private, surrounded only by her family.
Twilight sighed to herself. A happy ending to a long life.
And, just as important, proof that Celestia’s student can have a long and happy life — Twilight furrowed her brow — if she became estranged from Celestia at a young age.
… Well, that’s a bit of a downer. The only student of Celestia’s that survived past thirty five was the one that hated her, who accused Celestia of holding her back.
Ah! In the very last pages of her autobiography it was clear that Celestia was present during Aurora’s funeral.
Maybe she reconciled with Celestia during her final years? Or maybe it was just Celestia showing that despite what her student had done, she still cared about her student.
Four centuries ago, though. Twilight frowned. There was something about that timeframe she remembered. Some significant event. She sighed and hit the general history books, hoping to figure it out.
And there it was, about four centuries ago, Celestia fell ill. Celestia never falls ill, but this case she was described as… falling into a deep fugue for several weeks. The fallout was catastrophic. The sun refused to move until a group of unicorns wrestled control of it to cobble together a basic rising and setting. The moon was neglected, causing irregular tides. There was panic in Equestria. There were riots, crime skyrocketed. Ponies thought it was the end of the world.
And then… beyond all that, Griffonstone, already having tense relationships with Equestria, used the unrest to finally launch its attack. Equestria was beset by war from within and without.
Fortunately, Celestia made a sudden recovery two months after the chaos started, and she spent years undoing the damage done.
There was something… Familiar about the date that Celestia returned though. Referencing Aurora Borealis’s book, Twilight’s suspicion was confirmed. It was less than a week after Aurora decided to withdraw from the public eye… never to be seen again.
And when did Celestia and Aurora split up?
Around when she was thirty.
Twilight’s blood ran cold. This isn’t proof the pattern was broken. This is what happened if the student ran away instead of — Twilight gulped — becoming Celestia’s victim. And as a result, Celestia fell ill. Equestria fell into chaos, gripped by panic. Foreign foes took the opportunity to invade. The rebuilding took years for just a few months of her absence…
With a heavy heart, Twilight took the book detailing Aurora Borealis’s life and put it up on the board, completing four centuries of evidence that Celestia needs a student and needs to do… something to that student every fifty years. Or elsewise terrible things befall Equestria.
Something that causes the death of her students, sans a body.
Something one student was able to escape from… only for Equestria to pay the price.
Twilight fell to the ground, her head in her hooves. That was it. Celestia is going to kill me. I’m twenty three now. I have seven… maybe less than seven years!
… No. I am the princess of friendship. If Celestia felt like she had to do this, there must be a reason! A reason that Celestia and I could work through together.
I can do this. Celestia’s not insane. She’s just keeping secrets! Secrets that a fellow princess could understand and work through. In fact, with proper preparation, and maybe application of magical rainbow magic power, I bet I could help figure out what was causing this and prevent it.
I can solve this with the magic of friendship.
All I have to do is get Celestia to confess to whatever it was, and we can work it out.
Together.
…
She looked back at all the work of the night. Eight students, all lost, all gone. One even figured it out… They all failed. They all died.
I definitely still need to check out the Starswirl the Bearded wing after all. I need to ensure that Celestia would definitely listen…
The doors to Celestia’s quarters. Twilight stood in front of these doors many times, in many different states. Her first days were filled with nervous excitement, then eventually the pride of a student who has special privileges to see her tutor.
However, even the prized student was not allowed in without knocking. The door could not be opened if Celestia did not will it.
Twilight raised her hoof up to the door and knocked.
No turning back now.
The door opened silently, and Celestia stood on the other side.
Celestia cocked her head sideways. “Twilight?”
Swallowing roughly, Twilight forced what she hoped was a chipper smile onto her face. “Good morning, Princess Celestia.”
Celestia smiled faintly. It was a very familiar smile. It could easily be called a motherly smile… and only now did Twilight see it for what it was. A mask. Celestia could be feeling anything behind that masked expression. “Good morning, Twilight,” she said, with just a hint of mirth in her voice. “You don’t need to refer to me as Princess, remember.”
“Of course! Of course. I was being silly,” Twilight said with all the forced cheer she could muster. “Good morning, Celestia.”
Celestia paused another moment. “What do you need, Twilight?”
“I’ve been working on a special research project!” Twilight told her, speaking more loudly than she had intended. “I wanted to show it to you now before you got too busy with your daily duties!”
Celestia’s face flickered with concern for a moment, before the mask was brought back up and that gentle smile that she was known for was back on her muzzle. “Of course. Do you have it here?”
Twilight grinned as wide as she could. “Of course!”
“... Lead the way.”
Twilight threw the door to the Histories, Journals and Musings of Mid-level Bureaucrats wing open. Directly inside was her research, which had morphed into a complicated web of connections that now spanned four cork boards and a chaotic collection of books strewn around the room with strings connecting them. “Heeere it is!”
Celestia’s brow furrowed. “Twilight… what is this?”
Twilight giggled. “Silly me! I didn’t explain anything.” She trotted over to the far right side of the chaotic mess and pointed at the first piece of newsprint. “You need to start here, at Sunset Shimmer.”
Celestia stepped carefully between the books strewn about to reach the article on the wall and inspect it. Moving on from it, she inspected the next plaque. She withdrew back and gasped.
Twilight giggled maniacally.
Celestia moved onto the next entry, and the next, and the next, and finally stepped back to survey the entire timeline. “Twilight… this is...”
“That’s right!” Twilight cackled and looked Celestia straight in the eye, a painfully stretched smile on her face. “I found out about all your old students.”
“No…” Celestia had a horrified look on her face. “It’s too soon.”
Twilight snap teleported onto the top of the nearest cork board, and gripped with all her might as she loomed over Celestia. “Too soon for what, Princess Celestia?”
Celestia’s expression hardened. “To talk about this. It’s not time yet.”
“It’s not time?!” Twilight shouted. “You had a student every fifty years and hid it. From me, from all of Equestria! This isn’t even something you should have had to explain to me! This should just be common knowledge!”
Celestia bit her lip and looked outside… where the guards were staunchly looking away.
“They can’t hear us,” Twilight said, touching a book in the center, which glowed violet in response to her touch. “Maybe I should let them, though? Let them know about all your dead students.”
Celestia paused, and without looking at Twilight said, “Go home, Twilight. I will clean this up. We will talk about this later.”
“When?! When will we ‘talk’ about this? Years later? Years of not knowing when you’re going to arrange for my death?”
Celestia started trotting off.
“No! You can’t just walk away from this!”
“Go home, Twilight,” Celestia commanded.
With a frustrated scream, Twilight lit up her horn, and books strewn across the room were levitated up with her magic. Each of them flew open and glowing purple chains of magic erupted from them, wrapping themselves around Celestia. She let out a gasp of shock as a dark black cylinder was levitated out and slid itself onto Celestia’s horn, locking in place.
There was a bang from the outside, from a guard silently charging into a purple magic shield on the door. He banged on the wall, calling out something, but the spell prevented him from being heard. They could not help Celestia from there.
Chained up, and even her magic locked away, Celestia was at Twilight’s mercy.
“Now —” Twilight stepped toward Celestia “— we will have a talk about your past students.”
Celestia’s shocked expression hardened. “Twilight, you don’t know what you’re asking of me. It is not time.”
“No, now is the time.” Twilight stomped on the ground.
“I promise you, you will know in due time but until that day comes you are to put it out of your mind.”
“I tried!” Twilight shouted. “I told myself it was stupid. How could Celestia, the most caring mare in Equestria, be hiding some kind of dark secret? But the evidence was there! Not just one student but many students. All disappeared with alarming regularity!”
Twilight started pacing around Celestia. “And… and now I can’t stop thinking about it. You chose me to be your student. From a very young age. But what did you really choose me for?”
She continued to pace, no longer looking at Celestia. “Each student, ascended to alicornhood. Each student, at the peak of their lives disappeared. At the peak of their magic!”
Twilight stopped, staring at the ground in front of her. Tears began to blur her vision. “Am I… am I just being fattened up? Filled up with alicorn magic so… so you can drain me? Consume my life to keep yours?”
She fell down on her flank, her gaze darting left then right, searching. “Or… or is it related to how you move the sun? That your magic will give out in time. Or-or or some kind of terrible ancient evil that needs the blood of alicorns.”
Celestia’s harsh demeanor fell once more. “Twilight —”
Whipping her body around, Twilight pointed an accusatory hoof at Celestia. “You chose me! When I was a child! For… for death! Or worse! You told me I was your faithful student while planning to destroy me!”
Celestia averted her eyes.
“So tell me! Tell me and… and... and I can stop it! I can use the Elements of Harmony. I can look through Starswirl’s spells! I can make a new spell, just to fix this problem!”
“It doesn’t work that way, Twilight...”
“I’ll make it work that way!” Twilight shouted, her eyes nearly popping out of her head with furor. “I am the Element of Magic! I will figure out a way to avoid this!”
Twilight panted heavily, and sat down in front of Celestia. “So... tell me.” Tears dropped from her muzzle onto the floor.
Celestia swallowed loudly. “Not here.”
“I can fix this, princess. I... I promise!”
“Not. Here.” Celestia brought her eyes up to meet Twilight’s. “Please...”
They stared at each other as the seconds passed, and Twilight lit her horn. The magical chains receded from the books, and the shield protecting the room disappeared. The guards rushed in.
The one with the fanciest armor addressed Celestia. “Princess Celestia! Are you alright?”
“Yes, lieutenant, I am safe.”
The lieutenant sighed in relief. “Good.” He motioned to the rest of the guards. “Apprehend Twilight Spar —”
“No,” Celestia interrupted.
“P-princess?”
“I have this under control, lieutenant.”
The lieutenant eyed the magical damper, still attached to her horn. “Are you sure, princess?”
Celestia looked down to him. “Yes. Seal off this room until I get back from handling matters with my student.”
The lieutenant knelt before her. “At your command, my princess.”
As the guards left the room, Celestia addressed Twilight. “Come with me.”
The trek through the castle felt longer than it ever had been, but they eventually found their way to Celestia’s private quarters.
Twilight had only actually been inside Celestia’s quarters a precious few times. It was her personal room, where she could get away from everything. In fact, only the most trusted of maids and servants were allowed in the room.
It was… surprisingly normal for something one would expect from one of Equestria’s sovereigns. It was nice, for sure, but this was Canterlot castle. Every room was nice. There were no unusual trinkets, or ancient tomes, or anything. Just a simple room, with a desk with papers neatly stacked and some books, and most of them looked like fiction.
The door slammed shut behind Twilight, causing her to jump.
“S-so.” Twilight tried to assert herself. “What do you have —”
“We are not there yet, Twilight.” Celestia said, as she made her way to the back of the room. Sweeping away a painting of Canterlot castle in the back of the room, she pressed her hoof to the wall behind it.
Twilight gasped as the entire wall slid down, exposing a small secret chamber behind it.
The two of them stepped inside, and the panel slid back up. There was a distinct feeling of falling as the chamber itself descended.
The panel slid back down, and in front of her, lit with magical torches, was a long hallway built of simple white marble with many alcoves off to the sides.
Celestia began walking slowly down the hallway, Twilight in tow. The only sound that could be heard was the echo of hoofsteps in the lonely corridor. The alcoves each had a collection of books, photographs, newsprint, scrolls, and other assorted items.
Part of the way down the hallway she started to recognize some of them. Aurora Borealis’s biography sat alongside countless documents and newsprints, as well as a full color painting of herself. Next to that was an alcove for Prism Shade.
“These are… your old students.”
“This is here to honor their sacrifice and to preserve their wisdom. But the public can never know even of their existence. I will need to remove the evidence you had found in the history wing to here, the most secure area in all of Canterlot.”
They passed more alcoves, and finally Celestia stopped at one of the last ones. Inside this alcove was a scroll rack, filled with many many scrolls. Behind them, there was a photograph of a purple alicorn, surrounded by six close friends, with what seemed like an entire town posing around them, from a diminutive purple dragon to bakers to fillies.
She mouthed wordlessly ‘My friendship reports.’
“This, Twilight, is your alcove. All the newspaper records and history books containing your will be moved into this area in the years following your disappearance, so that nopony will remember you. Anything you wrote of value, including personal diaries, will also be stored here, protected by the magic in these very walls that prevent it from decaying, and prevent it from being read or seen by untoward eyes.”
Celestia stepped just a bit more forward, stopping at a pair of lifesize alicorn statues, one having Celestia’s cutie mark engraved on its chest, the opposite alicorn with Luna’s cutie mark on its chest.
“And…” There was a soft clinking noise, and Celestia turned to face Twilight, her horn unadorned, with the magic limiter on the floor behind her. “Those same enchantments prevent any outside magic from working.”
Twilight’s eyes widened and she stepped back. How could she have been so foolish? Believing she was in control of Celestia, a millennia old mare. But this entire time… Celestia had simply been leading Twilight to her doom.
Celestia’s horn lit up, as bright as Twilight had ever seen. “I am... so sorry,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
The torc Celestia wore, a staple that she was never seen without, shone brightly with light.
Twilight fell to her knees as Celestia was consumed by the terrible light. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the… whatever to happen.
Then, the light receded, and she heard a deeper clink.
She cracked an eye open. Taking just a peek.
In the center of the hallway, where Celestia once stood, instead stood a short mare with a pale lilac coat and violet eyes. She smiled at Twilight, showing slight creases around her eyes, betraying her age.
The mare’s horn was glowing with the same violet sheen enveloping the torc that was settling on the Celestia statue.
Her pale blue and white mane was pulled up into a bun.
“C-Celestia?” Twilight managed.
“Sort of,” she said in an unfamiliar voice but a very familiar tone.
The mare turned herself to the torc, giving Twilight a full view of her flank, and of the two wings that fluttered at her side. On her flank was a lighthouse with a magical spark at its peak.
A lightbulb went off in Twilight’s mind. “Wait, I know who you are! You’re Brilliant Beacon, Celestia’s previous student.”
The mare smiled once again, and sat down before Twilight. “Yes. I am Brilliant Beacon. The previous Celestia’s student.”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Beacon closed her eyes. “It has been nearly fifty years since I took up the Mantle of the Sun.”
Twilight felt her stomach slowly return to its place in her abdomen only to discover that it was now made of ice. “So… so you never were Celestia.”
“Twilight… I always was Celestia. At least for your whole life. I gave you every lesson, I led Equestria… I raise the sun every day.. It’s just… what Celestia actually is is not what you think she was.”
Twilight stared at the floor in front of her. “This is-this is… so big. Everything… everything about you was a lie.” She looked up into Beacons eyes, the mistrust and betrayal clear in them. “You lied… to everypony. You lied... to me.”
Brilliant Beacon’s ears fell. “Twilight… you have to understand… nopony can know this. The safety of Equestria depends on it. Celestia has been the pillar of our civilization for as long as anypony knows. Everything we are would fall apart without her.”
Twilight sniffled. “Where… where do I fit into all of this?”
An amused expression appeared on Brilliant Beacon’s face. “Twilight… I’m sure you have guessed by now… You are to be the next pony to bear the Mantle of the Sun.”
Twilight fell down on her haunches, gripping her head in her hooves. She stared at the mare, aghast. “I’m… I’m going to be Celestia…”
Beacon reached out to Twilight, who flinched away at her touch. “Yes… yes you are the one I have chosen for that honor and duty.”
Twilight swallowed. It all fits together now! An unbroken chain of students of Celestia, each inheriting the mantle and faking their own death or disappearance. Then they cover up their very own existence to prevent it from becoming clear what actually happened to future generations… Even Aurora Borealis eventually became Celestia, didn’t she?
“Twilight.”
Twilight jumped up with a start. “Cele — Brilliant… Princess. This is just… so much to take in.”
“I know it is, Twilight. I was in your hooves once.”
Twilight sat down and looked at Brilliant Beacon once more. She smiled a wizened creasy smile at Twilight. Half a century ago this mare was doing what Twilight was doing right now, being Celestia’s student… and handling the earth shattering revelation.
“The Celestia I knew…” Twilight began. “The mare who I trusted above everypony, even myself... the Celestia I loved... never existed! How… how did you handle it? How did you even begin to wrap your mind around it?”
Beacon stood up and leaned down to Twilight, an action that was very familiar from her time as Celestia. “You are in a delicate time, Twilight. Focus on what has not changed. Whether I am Celestia or Brilliant Beacon, I am the mare who has raised the sun for the past half of a century, the mare who has led Equestria and the mare who was your tutor. None of that has changed because I was wearing her face.”
Twilight looked up at Beacon, at those eyes of an unfamiliar color but of a familiar warmth. “... None of that may have changed, but it feels like everything has changed. I’ve changed. I can’t go back to what I was... what we were.”
Beacon’s smile turned somber. “You have a new duty ahead of you. It’s a duty you’ve always had ahead of you… you only know about it now.”
Twilight smiled through her tears. “I’ve always wanted to know everything, haven’t I?”
Beacon’s expression grew tender. “Yes, my faithful student, you have.” The words may have come from Beacon’s lips, but the words were unmistakably Celestia’s.
Beacon levitated the torc upon herself, and in a brilliant shine, much less terrible now that Twilight’s imagination wasn’t in overdrive, resumed the stature of the Princess of the Sun, Celestia.
She began to lead the way out, but Twilight called out to her.
“Before… before we leave, Beacon —”
“Please, use Celestia when I am bearing the mantle.”
“... Celestia. Why… did you scare me so much when I found out about the other students? You didn’t want to tell me.”
Celestia stopped in her tracks.
“You said it wasn’t time yet. Why?”
Facing away from Twilight, Celestia said. “I was hoping not to have to get to that today…” Turning back to face Twilight fully, she continued. “Twilight… you are the only pony who knows that Brilliant Beacon became Celestia. To every other pony, Brilliant Beacon is dead.”
Twilight gasped. “Nopony else knows?”
“My family and friends think I am dead. I told them all that I had died, wearing this mask.”
Twilight fell down on her haunches. “No…”
Celestia’s eyes filled with sadness. “I wanted you to live as much of your life as possible without this knowledge… hanging over your head. I didn’t want… to hurt you with this.”
Twilight stared down. “No… no no.”
A hoof laid down on Twilight’s withers. “Twilight. The day when you will have to assume the mantle isn’t coming anytime soon. It will be a decade or more before that day will come.”
Twilight didn’t look up to meet Celestia’s eyes. “But that day… is coming.”
“And I hoped with all my heart I would allow you to live your life in blissful ignorance until it became necessary for you to know.“
“And… I can’t really turn you down, can I?”
Celestia bit her lip. “You… you could. I would not have much time to find someone else that is suitable to bear the mantle, both in wisdom and in trustworthiness. I wouldn’t be able to train them from a young age… but somepony must exist, in all of Equestria.”
“So there’s no better choice than me.”
“... You would be the best choice, yes. You have already done many great things, more than I had accomplished at your age… your trustworthiness is unquestionable, and you are well on your way to having the wisdom that Celestia needs to have.”
The compliment was as great as any Celestia had ever given her… but it didn’t ease Twilight’s mind.
“I’m going to have to say farewell to all my friends… and they can’t even know?”
“I’m sorry, Twilight. That’s the way it has to be.”
“Are… are you sure? I can’t tell anypony? Not my best friends in the world? My family? Every single one of them is trustworthy. Even Applejack can keep a secret, and that’s not even counting that my brother and sister-in-law are both royalty themselves!”
Celestia shook her head sadly. “What about them, Twilight? Who would you trust with this secret? Who would you ask to stand and weep at your funeral when they knew you lived? Who would you ask to lie to the faces of everypony they knew? Who would you ask to betray family, friends, and those they love?”
She slowly shook her head again. “And who could you trust? If you asked them to lie for you, could any one of them ever trust you again?” She took a long, ragged breath. “Think where mercy truly lies here, Twilight, and remember that one misplaced word could spell the end of Equestria.”
Twilight’s head drew back. “You... you bore the whole burden yourself! You took it all on your own... you were... responsible.” Her eyes stung. “I have… I have to be responsible… for everypony’s sake.”
“I’m so, so sorry, Twilight.”
Twilight sniffled. “No it’s… this is a great honor… isn’t it?” She let out a sob. “I am going to be the most powerful mare alive. Every-everypony will love me, just like they love you.”
A powerful and warm wing wrapped around Twilight.
Twilight bawled. Harder than she ever had before.