Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Revelations
Shining Armor was not having a good morning.
It wasn’t thanks that fact that he had been awoken before dawn, that was par for the course when you were a royal guard. It wasn’t because he had been put on escort detail to Princess Celestia for a trip to Ponyville, that would have allowed him to see his sister. It wasn’t the fact that he had to put on his ceremonial armor, which still fit him pretty well despite putting on a few pounds since he worn it last. It wasn’t even the fact that his presence was completely unneeded since the being he was protecting could arguably be called a god that was the cause of his bad morning.
No, it was the fact that halfway to the quaint little burg, Shining Armor had to watch the house his sister lived in explode.
Then, Princess Celestia left everyone behind and zoomed off to Ponyville on her own while Shining Armor was left standing in a chariot for an agonizing twenty minute ride. On top of which, when he did land, the place where everyone said Twilight, who thankfully survived the explosion because she wasn’t home as according to eyewitnesses, was at the center of a mana storm that either sent every unicorn in town running in terror or made them pass out in fright. Oh, and of course when he DID arrive at the shop where Twilight was, Princess Celestia had FORBIDDEN him from entering the building while something with enough magic to turn everything to dust from Manehattan to Vanhoover was apparently throwing a temper tantrum!
It was only ten agonizing minutes after everything had calmed down that Princess Celestia had finally given him permission to approach the boutique ‘in a respectful manner’.
So he walked up to the building all prim and proper, then dropped the act and pounded on the door before issuing demands. “This is the royal guard. We know you’re in there, open up!”
Inside the unicorn's kitchen, Twilight opened the door and moaned in embarrassment when her big brother leaped into the room and after taking a look around, grabbed the purple unicorn and zipped over to the wall before putting her behind him as well as a shield around the both of them. “Princess Rainbow Dash, I’m asking you to please remain calm.”
“PRINCESS?” Applejack and Pinkie yelled.
Rarity put her couch back on all fours and got into position. “You’re a princess Rainbow?”
“No!” Rainbow exclaimed.
Twilight answered at the same time. “Yes.”
“I’m not a princess!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she looked over to Twilight.
“Actually, I think you are now,” Twilight cut in after she stepped out from behind Shining Armor. “See, with the horn, wings, and-”
Shining Armor put a hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “Don’t argue with the princess. If the princess says she’s not a princess, then don’t call her a princess.”
“…Okay…now Ah’m confused,” Applejack mumbled.
Pinkie gasped. “I thought you were Applejack. Hey, did anypony know that Applejack had a twin sister? And while we’re on the subject of new ponies, who’s the pony in the shining armor?”
“Shining Armor,” Twilight supplied before her brother looked back at her.
“What?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, I was telling her your name.”
“Yeah, I wanna know the shinning armor pony’s name,” Pinkie said.
“HIS NAME IS-”
“Captain,” a voice all the ponies in the room knew spoke up, making Twilight bite her tongue in startlement. The last thing she wanted was for Princess Celestia of all ponies to see her friends like this! “Do you deem it safe for me to come in now?”
“...Yes.”
As the co-ruler/deity of Equestria made her way into Rarity’s kitchen, the owner of the establishment looked at the mess it had become since Rainbow Dash’s…event. The mare’s face became pale at the fact her goddess was seeing her pride and joy in such a state. “Oh sweet Celestia.”
“Yes?” the alicorn asked, at which point Rarity probably noticed her goddess just noticed her abusing Her name in such a way, and dove back onto her couch.
There was a brief moment of silence at the sight, and then…
“Hi Captain, my name’s Pinkie Pie!” the pink pony said as she offer her hoof in friendship.
“…how did she get in my shield?” Shining Armor mumbled to his sister.
“Shhh! The amount of impossible problems I can work on in the back of my mind and still function enough to carry on a conversation is only one, and I’m still calculating he odds for the firstborn of every member of Rainbow’s family having the exact same hairstyle.”
Applejack leaned over to whisper in Rainbow Dash’s ear. “Why is Celestia here? You don’t suppose you and her really are related, do ya?
“Oh for the love of,” Celestia mumbled before she looked around at each pony while belting out an answer to each of their questions. “His name is Shining Armor. No need to be embarrassed Rarity. The odds are actually one hundred percent Twilight, and yes.”
“Awwww, I didn’t ask about my horn in time,” the blue alicorn moaned while Rarity recovered from her fake fainting spell.
The purple unicorn frowned at Celestia’s words. But how could you always…wait…” Twilight’s brain processed the last word her teacher had said before she looked over to the white alicorn. “You mean you really ARE Rainbow Dash’s mother?”
“Well, down I go again,” Rarity mumbled before she fell back onto her couch.
“WHAT?” Celestia exclaimed in a rare moment of suprise. “No! I’m…” she sighed and looked around the room. “Can we please get some semblance of order here. And where’s Fluttershy?”
“Probably hiding under her bed since Rainbow Dash blew up Twilight’s house,” Applejack informed the princess.
Rainbow Dash frowned at Applejack. “I didn’t do that!”
“Yeah, that one was my fault,” Twilight confessed before Celestia’s horn lit up to start cleaning everything.
-And so a few minutes later-
“Okay so, how the hay did I get this thing on my head? Uh, Princess.” Rainbow Dash demanded politely as she could once they were put back to normal, remembering to add the princess at the last second. “And what’s all this manure about you being my mom? Dad took pictures of me right after I was born, and you sure as hay weren’t in them!”
Rarity looked around at her shop. “The floors have even been cleaned. I don’t know whether to be amazed or embarrassed,” she mumbled to herself as she shook her head in denial of her words. “Princess Celestia cleaned my kitchen floors.”
With Rarity out of commission, Twilight filled in the mare’s usual role. “Rainbow Dash! Manners!”
“Then shouldn’t you be calling her Princess Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked Twilight.
“I’m not a princess!”
“Yes you are,” Twilight, Shining Armor, and Celestia corrected her at the same time. The latter continued to add, “and no Rainbow Dash, you are not my daughter. You’re actually my great-great-great…you know, I’m not going to say all those. You’re my 50th great-granddaughter.”
The entire room went deathly silent at the declaration. All the little ponies just gaped open-mouthed at Celestia’s news, then they looked back and forth between Celestia and Rainbow Dash.
“What?” the rainbow alicorn finally mumbled. “But…how?”
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “What? I gotta tell you too?” she asked. “Okay, once upon a really, really long time ago in the kingdom that we’re standing in now. Princess Celestia had this really itchy itch that needed a special kind of scratching.”
“PINKIE!” Twilight shrieked. “You do not talk about that-gah! I don’t even know where to begin with how wrong that is!”
Celestia chuckled. “It’s quite alright Twilight. But I think I’ll tell the story, if you don’t mind Ms Pie.”
“Does your story have zombies?” she asked.
“Um…no,” Celestia told Pinkie with confusion on her face. “But I’d still like to tell it all the same.”
“Weeeeelllllllll okay,” Pinkie agreed. “But mine woulda been better. It has zombies.”
With that, Celestia cleared her throat and began. “Before Discord and Nightmare Moon, during the first hundred years of our life, Luna and myself had no idea we were to live as long as we have. We were simply born into this world, the children of the rulers of the unicorn tribe.”
Twilight frowned in confusion, then raised her hoof. “Wait…I thought you and Luna were born after the three tribes united.”
“We were,” Celestia told her with a nod of her head. “But just because the three tribes had agreed to unite and settle in Equestria, it did not mean that all tribes were considered equal. Earth ponies still toiled in the fields, and pegasi still served as a military force while the unicorns still used their control of the sun and the moon to lord over everything. If anything, the pegasi had been reduced in status from when the three tribes were separated, as they served as weather farmers and were required to live on the ground with the other ponies.”
“Say what?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Why the hay did you make pegasi live on the ground?”
The question made Celestia shake her head. “You misunderstand, I was alive at this time, but I did not rule. I was a simple filly living in my parents castle with Luna and my elder sister.”
“ELDER SISTER?” most of the ponies in the room shouted.
“You had a…but…there’s no…there’s another royal alicorn sister?” Twilight sputtered.
Celestia sadly hunger her head and shook it. “No. My elder sister Andromeda was a unicorn. Although, perhaps that is not giving her enough credit. She was the most powerful unicorn of hr time, the most powerful in generations in fact. Perhaps even approaching Twilight in raw power.” Then the goddess closed in on herself. “My poor sister, why couldn’t that have been enough?” she whispered.
“But…how would your older sister be born a unicorn while both you and Princess Luna be born alicorns?”
“Well you see Twilight, when a unicorn king and a unicorn queen get together-”
“Don’t even start Pinkie,” she warned.
“It probably has to do with the circumstances of our birth,” Celestia mumbled just loud enough to hear. “Andromeda was conceived before the royal family moved into the castle above The-well, that‘s not really important.” She cleared her throat and got back on track. “The point is, the three tribes were hardly equal. Then I was born, a creature with traits of all three races. And for obvious reasons, everything changed.”
The smaller ponies at the table shared a confused look. This time, it was Rarity who spoke up. “What reasons?”
“Right…I keep forgetting Luna and I managed to eliminate racism twelve hundred years ago,” Celestia mumbled to herself. It had been a gradual process, but Celestia’s long term plan paid off in the end. She hated to think what might have happened if they had gone with Luna’s ‘mind control a generation’ solution.
“Race what?” Applejack asked.
“I think I know the kind of race she‘s talking about,” Rainbow Dash told her. “It’s when ponies tie their back legs together and-”
“Racism is the idea of a pony tribe being more important than the others based on nothing but birth,” Celestia explained dryly before Rainbow could finish embarrassing herself. “The most extreme cases didn’t even take the different abilities of the tribes into account.”
Twilight scrunched up her face. “Well that’s stupid! Sure, each different type of pony has a natural inclination towards certain things when it comes to our jobs, but we’re all ponies. And so what if Rainbow can-”
“Pretty much do all our jobs now?” Applejack asked.
“Okay, bad example,” Twilight admitted. “”So what if Pinkie can’t teleport-”
“Then how’d she get inside my shield?”
Twilight banged her head on the table and didn’t bother looking up. “Just continue with the back-story.”
“Anyway,” Celestia said between snickers over her student's reaction. It had been a long time since she had such a conversation with the little pony, and the goddess had found her protege's responses a breath of fresh air. “At the time, nearly all the unicorns, and many members of the other tribes had come to believe that unicorns were superior to the other tribes. This mostly stemmed from the fact that after a central government was formed, a generation of studies were conduced on the different types of magic among the tribes, allowed unicorns to make spells to move the clouds and grow plants. These spells in turn negated the pegasi’s and earth ponies’ greatest contributions to Equestrian society. So, while the unicorns could make do without the other two tribes, the unicorn’s council of thirteen were needed to raise the sun and the moon. Put simply, unicorns believed they were were better because they had horns.
“Then I was born, a horned pony with the wings of a pegasus, and as we eventually came to learn, the strength of an earth pony. After the accusations of infidelity were answered with a paternity spell, my mother forbade them from declaring me some type of mutation and tossing me out the nearest window. Then came the questions of if I would ever be a…useful winged-unicorn.”
Rarity frowned. “Why? Certainly your wings could have been nothing but an asset. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience.” Although, the memory of that little event did make her give Rainbow Dash an apologetic look. They had grown a bit closer since Cloudsdale, but Rarity had to admit, making a ballroom dress for the pony who saved her life hardly seemed to even the score.
Celestia nodded at the question. “At the time, many of the scholars thought my magic would be divided between the three aspects of my race. I would be the weakest of unicorns. This would have been a shameful mark to my family with Andromeda being the strongest unicorn in several years, and the fact back then a unicorn’s level of magical power was what gave them status thanks to the existence of the Council of Thirteen.”
The thought of everyone actually considering Celestia weak made Twilight giggle. “But it was fun when you showed them wrong.”
Once again, sorrow filled Celestia’s voice as she regarded her student. “No, it was one of the worst days of my life.”
The foal Celestia skipped down the castle’s hallway as she hummed a song to herself. The song had no real words, having just been invented by the filly, but it helped show the ponies around her just how happy she was at the moment after hearing the good news. It was still supposed to be a secret, but she heard Mommy and Daddy talking to the royal alchemist about the new child on the way. She was going to have a new sister soon!
Well, she hoped it was a sister, but Celestia supposed that a brother would be okay too. Either way, Celestia promised herself she would play with her new sibling every day. They could dress up, and have tea parties, and play dollies, and fly together… Oh please have wings too little sister.
But even if she didn’t, Celestia would still play with her like she was always asking to play with Andromeda…who never wanted to do anything fun.
“HOW DARE YOU BRING ME THIS YOU LOUSY DIRT CLOPPER!” Andromeda’s voice echoed through to the hallways a as Celestia heard a metal tray strike stone and clatter to the ground. A second later, Celestia stuck her head in the room where the noise had come from to see her sister looking down at one of the 'mud ponies' as she called them. She really didn't understand the reasoning behind the term. After all, the ponies with no wings or horns worked in the earth whether it had rained or not. Mud had nothing to do with it.
“B-But Princess, you asked for snozberries,” the earth pony servant stuttered as he cowered from the princess‘s wrath.
Celestia watched in confusion as the pink unicorn with the golden mane and cutie mark that looked like a pentagram stood over the dark gray earth pony with her horn surrounded by a blue glow. With a tiara upon her head, Andromeda was in all her regal glory, positioned over the meek servant.
“But sister, you like snozberries,” she pointed out. They were her sister's favorite treat, next to those apples that didn't grow on pines, no matter what their names said. Celestia really didn't understand the reason for their name either, now that she thought about it.
On the far side of the room, Andromeda looked back at her sister with a barely hidden sneer. “I ordered you not to call me that,” the princess said.
Celestia giggled and trotted into the room. Andromeda never used her name in private, it was always ‘you’ or ‘child’ and ‘moo-tation’. The last one always made the filly smile. It was her secret nickname that only her sister called her when they were alone.
With Celestia around, Andromeda abandoned her torment of the servant and motioned for him to run away with an inclination of her head. Once they were alone, the turned to her younger sister and frowned. “What do you want mutation?”
“Let’s go flying!” Celestia said.
In response, Andromeda rolled her eyes. “I have no wish to share a sky chariot with you.”
“No, just us,” Celestia corrected her sister as she flapped her wings and held a hovering position. “Come on, I’ll carry you. It’ll be fun!”
Andromeda looked the young filly up and down with an apprehensive eye. “You may be freakishly large for a six-year-old, but there is no possible way you could support my weight even if I desired to accompany you.”
To Celestia, the solution was simple. “I’ll use my horn,” she said before a golden glow enveloped Andromeda.
“Bah you ignoramus of a child,” the unicorn grumbled before she tilted her head as if to focus the magic of her horn. A blue glow surrounded her horn and…her legs began to kick as she was lifted into the air by her little sister’s magic.
Andromeda’s face became one of deep concentration, then strain, and slowly gave way to fear as Celestia brought her big sister closer without even noticing the older unicorn’s struggles. By the time Celestia had walked over to the room's window, Andromeda had taken on a panic as she kicked wildly in a futile attempt to escape the powers of the young goddess.
“C-Celestia stop this!”
The young filly ignored her sister’s begging and opened the window. “It’ll be fun, I promise!”
“No Celestia please, put me-”
“Weeeeeeee!” the filly shouted as she jumped out the window with her sister in tow.
“I flew two circuits around the castle while carrying my big sister, with her fighting me all the way and me completely oblivious to her struggling,” Celestia continued. “By the time we returned, everyone in the castle and the village surrounding it had seen the humiliating sight of my sister being marehandled by a being fifteen years her junior. Nopony else except my parents found out it hadn’t been at Andromeda’s request, the townsponies thought it was simply two sisters having some fun. And even after that, I didn’t learn that I was so much more powerful than my big sister until several year later.
“Still, the damage was done. Andromeda was terrified of me, and when Luna was born, she became even worse. She thought we were going to take her future throne away from her…that we were going to completely destroy pony society thanks to our wings and magical strength.”
Celestia took a deep breath and shook her head. “And ironically, thanks to her…that’s exactly what we did.”
The statement had Twilight trying to come up with an explanation. “But…how? I don’t understand. Okay, so unicorns thought they were better than everypony else, and all the unicorns thought you were part pegasus. But if your parents and sister where unicorns, then why would they think you would turn against your family?”
“Two reasons,” she said. “The first was that I just didn’t understand their ideas about automatic superiority of unicorns. Although unicorns had developed spells to grow crops quickly and control the weather, they still couldn’t fly like a pegasus, and quick-grown food never tasted right. Added to that was my love of flight, and my young mind just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“The second came later when I was old enough to take an interest in stallions. He was Morning Mist…the pegasus I fell in love with,” Celestia explained before a wistful smile spread across her face. “He was a weatherpony who specialized in light morning showers. He was gentle, and kind, and funny…and he had a way of looking at the world that made it seem so beautiful. He didn’t care about tribe or social status. He would greet everypony he met with a smile and an open mind.”
As Celestia’s eyes began to water, Rarity levitated a tissue over to Celestia, who took it with her magic and wiped her tears away. “Thank you,” Celestia said as the purple haired unicorn inclined her head and Celestia continued her story. “After a month of morning meetings in secret, I knew mother and father would never agree to our relationship. So I followed Morning to an earth pony chapel where my sister and our handmaidens acted as witnesses to our union. All three tribes were joined under that roof. Then, Luna and I bid our maids farewell, and we went to live our lives in secret.”
“You just...ran away?” Rainbow Dash asked in surprise as she tried to wrap her mind around what her ancestor was saying. It seemed a little...cowardly to her, not to mention shameful. The unicorns had been abusing their positions over the other tribes, and the alicorns, the beings whose whole lives revolved around making sure everypony in Equestria was treated fairly just...ignored it and left.
Celestia smiled at the other alicorn's anger and nodded. “I was twenty five at the time. I had grown old enough to see the darkness in my home, and fully taken my power as an alicorn. By myself, I was more powerful than my parents, my sister, and all the council combined. With Luna, no one could hope to touch us. And by leaving, Andromeda would hold onto her throne. It was the best solution to all the ponies involved.”
Twilight frowned at the missing piece of the puzzle. “But you eventually took over the country. What happened?” She assumed that Celestia had seen how miserable the other ponies were and finally decided to take action. While she understood that her mentor had also been young once, the thought of Princess Celestia not helping another pony in need just...didn't make sense to her.
“The same thing that happens to all wives, Twilight,” Celestia replied. “I became pregnant. And that scared my big sister more than I ever could. She found out, and decided to end the threat that was my bloodline to secure her own child’s claim to the throne.”
“But that makes even less sense!” Applejack exclaimed as she quickly voiced her reasoning. “You woulda had yer hooves full with yer foal.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie agreed. “And a little filly would have you and your husband too busy to take over a kingdom, even with Princess Luna for a babysitter.” She knew from personal experience just how much trouble little babies could be.
The purple unicorn gasped. “She thought you were going to have an alicorn foal.”
Celestia smiled at her student and nodded for her to continue, watching as Twilight put the pieces together in her mind before voicing them. “But it obviously wasn’t or we would have known about her. I’m guessing since Rainbow Dash is your great-granddaughter by several generations, then it stands to reason that your original foal was also a pegasus like the father. But even if your child was a pegasus, if alicorn pregnancies are anything like unicorn pregnancies, then you couldn’t of used your magic during the final month!”
“Actually Twi, it’s that way with all ponies,” AJ corrected her. “Unicorns just have the most showy magic so its easier to notice.”
“And that’s why all pegasi spend their last month on the ground,” Rainbow added. “The clouds-walking magic we have tends to give out at the worst possible times.”
Celestia nodded. “In my last month of carrying my daughter, Andromeda staged a plot to overpower and slay both me and my child before my lineage could become a threat. She gathered an army and sent them towards the farm the three of us had built for ourselves. But that was just a distraction for her to personally creep in and do the deed. I still don’t know if our old handmaidens were working for Andromeda when we learned of the threat, or if they were merely her pawns that alerted us to what was just a distraction. Luna left to deal with the army, and left me alone with Morning Mist.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked.
“Whether by chance, or fate, I had the unfortunate circumstance of Andromeda arriving while I was at my most vulnerable; during labor...
“Breathe and push Tia, just remember to breathe and push!”
The white goddess did as instructed as she kept her eyes on her husband for support. Only a shade darker than herself, Morning Mist’s mane was a deep blue like the ocean. Although fit for a pegasus, he was only half her full height, something he took in stride with an occasional quip about his wife’s plot that she could only roll her eyes at. It wasn't her fault she had such a big plot!
“I…Tia I think I can see the head! I can see our foal’s head!”
Celestia laid her head back down on the custom bed Luna had built for the couple as a wedding present and began another sequence of breathing followed by a push. The pain was agonizing, but it was nothing beside the fact that she would soon be able to greet her first child.
“Oh maker her hair, it’s so beautiful T-”
The sound of a door slamming open cut Morning Mist off, but Luna’s customary greeting did not follow. Celestia started to look up and see if her sister was injured, but a wave of pain interrupted the goddess and kept her head on the blanket. Sheer willpower kept her from crying out in pain, but the pain left her unable to offer greetings to Luna.
“You! What are-Urk!”
A voice Celestia hadn’t heard in years slithered into her ears. “Ah that’s better. I do so hate it when you sky farmers look at your betters with…well, when you look at us at all really.”
Dread filled the alicorn's body at the new voice. It was different, but recognizable. However, her mind was only on the other pony in the room. “Morning? MORNING!” Celestia shrieked.
“It’s late afternoon actually,” Andromeda’s voice corrected her. “And I doubt he can hear you. I drove those daggers rather deep into his eyes. I think there’s actually a bump on the other side of his head where they impacted.”
The pain in her body was swallowed up by the pain in her heart, and even that quickly gave way to rage. Celestia clenched her teeth and seethed. “Sister? What did you? How could you?... You…I‘ll make you pay for you have done!” she finally shrieked as the emotions swirled through her like an emotional torrent.
A hoof touched Celestia’s face, and the visage of her sister filled the goddess’s vision. “I rather doubt that! You can’t even move, can you?” she asked before a laugh escaped her lips.
“Oh how perfect this is Mutation!” Andromeda exclaimed. “You know, I had all these plans. I was going to let you try and run away and chase you across the fields. I was going to fling you around a bit like you used to do to me, do you remember that Mutation? When you humiliated me above the skies of Trottingham? Do you know the plebeians still sing that song about that day? I cut out their tongues! Feed their foals to bears, and still, STILL THEY MOCK ME BECAUSE OF YOU!"
“I only did that once!” Celestia cried out in terror. “And I apologized when I learned how it scared you! All my life, I have never done you any harm! Luna and I have both left the palace and abandoned our titles! Why do you persist in this? What true harm have we ever done to you?”
“YOU WERE BORN!” Andromeda screeched into her larger sister's face, the unicorn's expression a twisted expression of rage. “You and that other freak you call sister! Once you had left the palace, I had poisoned mother to ensure another one of your kind would never draw breath! But that wasn’t enough, was it? You had to lay with-with THIS!”
Celestia heard the sound of Andromeda’s hoof impacting flesh, and winced as her husband’s corpse was struck. “And now another one of you…monsters is about to enter the world! How many will you breed? How many more of YOUR KIND WILL YOUR CHILDREN MAKE?” the princess screamed into Celestia’s ear.
“But I won’t let that happen. I’ll secure the future of my Blueblood and our entire tribe when I will kill your abomination before it leaves the womb!”
"Luna will-"
"Come home to find your husband missing and that you have died in childbirth. I remember little Luna's temper. If she believes that was what truly happened, then she'll think your dear husband botched the birth and decided to get away before she returned. By the sun and moon, if I'm lucky, she'll even think your kind can't bear children, and solve the problem for me."
The threat to her foal's life made the goddess freeze, despite the pain. And just like that, panic overtook Celestia’s mind. “No…not my child! Please, I will do anything you wish. I will swear serve you faithfully for the rest of my days as a scullery maid if you will it. Just please, PLEASE DO NOT HURT MY BABY!”
Andromeda’s hoof patted Celestia on her head. “Oh, if only I could believe you. But one day the child would grow up and decide I needed to be dealt with, or you would see an opportunity and strike me down.”
“But now that you mention it…the timing of this moment does present itself with an opportunity,” Andromeda told the alicorn. “I am still a bit worried so what our youngest will do once she finds your body…but, oh now there's an ideeeeeeaaaaa!
"Okay, new plan. I’m not going to kill you Mutation. I’m going to cut off your wings, and your horn. It’s obvious that all your magic is going to the monster inside you right now, so I don’t have to worry about any…eruptions. Then a quick stab into your gut to ruin your womb, a little healing magic and…hmm, I‘d better gouge out your eyes while I‘m at it to make sure you don‘t get any more ideas.”
Celestia gulped as an image filled her mind. She was alone, mutilated and chained in a tower, while Luna wore a collar around her neck and served as Andromeda’s personal slave. “You…you said you can’t risk it. You said… If I would one day rise up, you know Luna isn't as gentle as me. She's impulsive. If she found out about this, she would strike you down in an instant in a fit of rage!”
The mocking laughter that came from her older sister made Celestia cringe. “Oh sister we know our youngest hasn’t the spirit for such a thing. The way I saw her trot after you when we were younger. That little twit isn’t smart enough to see two inches past her own muzzle. You're right about her brashness, but she would lick my hooves and call it divine nectar if I were to threaten you without ever bothering to even try and think of a rescue plan.
"Oh my, I just realized! She'd be my little slave! Oh-hohohohoho how I like the sound of that! Kiss my hooves Luna! Eat my manure Luna.What's that you stupid whore? You want me to beat you? Oh how fun! Yes, I do like the idea of making her my pet! With a special collar to wear that changes color with her mood. That way, I know just when to make sure she knows her place! Yes, what fun we shall have.
Another wave of emotional pain washed over Celestia at the prospect of her sister being made to do such things because of Celestia's current weakness. “Luna!”
Andromeda laughed. “She-”
“Is right outside the door,” the dark mare’s voice cut through the air.
Andromeda’s voice went dead, and Celestia could feel her elder sister’s hoof begin to quake with fear. Slowly, her head turned towards the voice. “L-Luna.”
The dark goddess stepped through the doorway of small house, and seemed to suck most of the light from the room with her very presence. Her usual joyous greeting held none of its usual mirth, but was flat and as dark. “Hizah dearest sister. Rejoice in my return. Let us crack open a barrel of cider, and I shall regal you with tales of mine conquests, while thou do the same.”
“B-But my guards, the army,” Andromeda quivered.
“I flung your guards into the horizon before they were alerted to my presence. They should be halfway to the sun by now,” Luna told her with a tilted head. “Did you know Tia and I could do that? Travel to the sun? I rather enjoy the moon myself. As for your army…their shield lasted a whole ten seconds before I blew through it and turned them to stone. I was rather impressed.”
The princess gulped. “Luna…please listen.”
“Yes, little elder sister?” Luna asked as she came all the way into their home, and her eyes fell upon Morning Mist‘s body laying in the corner. A small whisper escaped her lips. “…brother?”
Then, Luna became enraged.
“You,” she seethed at Andromeda.
Celestia’s eyes darted around as she felt an impossible build up of mana in the area. The home that she shared with her husband and sister trembled under the weight of a power that threatened to tear the very fabric of reality apart. “Sister-”
“YOU DID THIS!” Luna shouted right as her power erupted. The roof of and their little home was torn away, and Celestia watched as the walls of her home fell apart. “YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! You killed the only stallion who could make Tia smile brighter than me! I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!”
Celestia’s ears rung from Luna’s words. It wasn’t simply that her sister was shouting, the mare’s very speech was infused with her magic, her presence. She saw the darkness take Andromeda. It crept up from the floor and washed over the small unicorn, threatening to swallow her up into the same dark abyss from wherever it had come from. The mare’s mouth was open in a scream, but no sound come out.
Then, right before the darkness could cover her completely, Andromeda was able to say one last thing. “Please…stop. You, you can't do this to me. I...sister, we are family.”
“Then I shall treat you in the same manner that you have treated us,” the dark alicorn said.
“No. Do not kill her Luna.” It was soft, barely a whisper, but it was hard all the same.
The darkness froze, and Luna turned to Celestia. “Tia. Since the day I met him, never have I seen your husband, my brother, do an unkind thing to any stallion, filly or foal. And this MONSTER killed him! Let me take our vengeance upon her. There is no need for you to sully your hooves with the act.”
“No.”
“WHY? For what she has done, for what she was about to do-”
Celestia didn’t allow herself to be effected by the raging tempest of power that swirled around her sister. Despite it’s terrifying effect on Luna’s voice, eyes and mane, she didn’t shy away as her little sister seemed to warp the area around them with nothing more than her willpower and stray thoughts.
“I do not wish for my child to come into this world surrounded by death,” Celestia wept. “Please Lulu…I can’t take holding her in much longer. Take me away from here. Take me away from this.”
Then, after looking between the unicorn and the alicorn, the Goddess of the Night flung her oldest sister away with a cry of rage, and gathered the one she loved an a protective aura of magic. With Celestia next to her, she regarded Andromeda one last time while their elder sister cowered in the dirt. “Know that there is no place you can hide from me little unicorn. I have grown since we parted ways and found who I am. I am a creature of the dark night. There is no shadow that can hide you from me, no dark pit to offer sanctuary. No matter how you try to hide, I will find you. And when you close your eyes tonight, I will be waiting for you in your dreams as well.”
An hour later, half travel and half resumed labor and Celestia let out a final cry of pain that reverberated through the inn's room the sisters had gained admittance to for the promise of future labor as she gave one last push. Another voice joined her own. A new voice, one that she had never heard before.
Relief, joy, wonderment, it all flooded through her as she fought to turn her body and get Luna in view. “Is…is that?”
“Oh she is beautiful sister!” Luna exclaimed as she finished cleaning the foal, thankful for the training offered by the local town's midwife in how to deal with such a situation. “It is as if she is the sky itself, with a rainbow upon her head! Sister look upon your daughter, Look upon my niece!”
The white goddess propped herself up and took in a breath as she took the child in her now returned magic. Then, she frowned at the unexpected oddity. “No horn…she’s a…pegasus?”
Luna smiled while she wrapped the child in swaddling. “Well it seems she does favor her father in that respect, yes.”
“Then it would seem Andromeda was worried for nothing,” Celestia mumbled. “Funny. The child was already showing her head. Had she but bothered to look, Andromeda would have seen that there is no threat of our kind replacing all of the pony tribes.”
“No, not from this little one. However, I am another story,” Luna told her sister as her face darkened.
“Luna-”
“I will not let this go sister!” the dark goddess said through clenched teeth. “She threatened us with slavery and death! She killed Morning Mist! She was even going to kill little…oh sister, a name!”
She looked over to the little filly, then back to Celestia. “Hurry and give my niece a name so that I might give proper introduction!”
“A name?” Celestia asked. “Oh! Oh yes! A name…let’s see…”
Celestia looked the child over, and could only think of one to go with her looks. “Hello, my darling little Aurora.”
As Celestia's story concluded, all of the ponies at the table looked on in shared wonder at the princess who had just shared an unknown piece of their history. Although the goddess had tears falling down her eyes once again, not a single pony drew attention to it, out of both understanding and respect.
“Aww, I was hoping that it would be Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie whined.
“Pinkie, how in the hay could Celestia’s daughter and Rainbow Dash be the same pony?” Applejack asked. “I’ll say, it is a might odd that they had the same mane and all-”
Rainbow Dash took a moment to cut in. “Not really, all the firstborn kids in my family have a rainbow mane, remember?” she said before looking over to Celestia. “But Princess, what does this have to do with me becoming an alicorn?”
“Oh for crying out loud,” Twilight grumbled. “Dash, anypony can become an alicorn if-”
“Twilight manners, the Princess is speaking,” Rarity told her.
Celestia sighed as she took hold of her emotions again. “Well, there’s not much else to tell in depth.”
“No more flashbacks? Awww I was hoping to see the big fight between Luna and all those mean unicorns.”
The strange comment had Celestia blinking in confusion, but she managed to regain her bearings faster than the others. “Well, Luna did end up having to do something about the unicorn nobility. Since she had already decimated the royal army, the unicorns tried to stop us the only way they could think of: they dropped the moon on the inn we were staying at.”
“…what?” Twilight managed to say. The thought of the unicorns actually doing something like that was just…nuts. In a fit of curiosity several months ago, Twilight had actually calculated just how large the moon was. If it had actually fallen on Equestria, then she didn’t think there would have been a country left!
“It didn’t work of course. Although, they came quite close to actually killing us,” Celestia said. “Luna managed to rip control of the moon away from the unicorn council. Then, before they could try the same with the sun, I counterattacked the palace and removed the unicorn council and my family from power. Shortly after that, I took control of the sun myself and bound it to me.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “But…wait. Your cutie mark…you mean to tell me you didn’t get your cutie mark till you were over twenty five?”
In response, Celestia let out a giggle. “Oh Twilight of course not. I caused the sun to set when I was a filly, and Luna raised the moon that same night. It was just one of those foolish things children do while looking for their special talent. Honestly, I was a little disappointed.”
“Disapoi-YOU RAISED THE SUN WHEN YOU WERE TWELVE YEARS OLD!” Twilight shouted. “You did something it took more than a dozen unicorns to do, BY YOURSELF! HOW COULD YOU BE DISAPPOINTED?”
Celestia shrugged. “I was twelve. I wanted a flying cutie mark. Magic wasn‘t really my thing. Or was I into colts by then? It’s been awhile. I can’t really remember.”
Twilight just gaped at the sun goddess and most powerful magical being in the world. “Flying…cutie…mark?”
Since it seemed Twilight had gone catatonic, Rainbow Dash sat a little higher up in her chair and took up the conversation. She didn't see the reason Twilight was so freak out. Flying cutie marks were awesome. “So then what happened?”
“Well, Luna and I took over the government and either banished or imprisoned anyone who resisted,” Celestia continued. “I replaced the unicorn nobility with a new group of lower ranking unicorns and abolished the laws that forbade pegasi from living in cloud homes and others that said earth ponies had to work as farmers or in some food industry. And I named Aurora my heir to the throne.
“Then…well, remember my explanation about racism?” she asked rhetorically. “Not many unicorns liked the idea that a pegasus was supposed to be next in line for the throne and there was a small string of rebellions that needed to be put down. These were a little harder than when Luna and I took over. Tying ourselves to the celestial bodies, it severely limited the amount of power we could use for other magic while in...mortal...ahem, anyway.
“It was about the time that we finished consolidating power that I noticed a disturbing fact. Aurora had grown into a full woman, but both Luna and I were still in our prime when we should have been approaching our twilight years.”
Rarity nodded in understanding. “You noticed your immortality.”
“Yes, as did everypony else,” Celestia added. “It helped stop some of the dissatisfaction among the unicorns. There was no need worrying about a pegasus taking the throne if the current rulers were never going to die.
“But I didn’t care about that. I all saw was the fact that in just a few short decades, I would have to watch my daughter grow old and die. I couldn’t take it. I threw myself into magical research. If I had immortality, then there must have been a way to give it to my children. I scoured the land to find the secret of my own immortality, to find a way to make my daughter an alicorn.”
Applejack cringed. “Ah think Ah can see where this is goin.”
Celestia ignored the comment and continued on. “After many years of searching the land, I finally discovered the reason for my and my sister’s birth. Ironically, it was right under our muzzles. From there, I had to learn why it didn’t change every child born…or conceived, on castle grounds into an alicorn. After that came several years to try and recreate the process on a fully grown pony, and it was only after three decades of hard work that I finally went to see her.”
“It took you thirty years to create the alicorn ascension spell?” Twilight asked.
The question was answered with a shake of Celestia’s head. “Longer actually if you add in the searching. By then, Aurora had moved out of the palace. I don’t blame her, I had barely talked to her in favor of my research for several years, and life at the castle had been…hard for her.”
“How?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, living in a castle must have been super neato!” Pinkie Pie added.
Celestia sighed and shook her head. “Racism, remember? Oh, no one was fighting any wars over it anymore, and nopony would openly decry another based on his or her tribe, but it still existed, especially in the government. Cracking down on it simply made it more covert, and the ponies with irrational hatred in their hearts even more determined to hold onto their beliefs.”
“But wasn’t your daughter super-duper nice?”
“Yes Pinkie, she was the most loveable pegasus who ever lived,” Celestia assured her with a wistful smile that only a mother talking about her daughter could have. “Aurora had something…special about her. She was the best flyer of her generation. The Sonic Rainboom was her invention. But that wasn’t what made her special.
“She was amazing in a way that inspired others. Aurora made the impossible possible, and then made everyone think that they could do impossible things too. That is what the nobility hated about her. I could make all the laws I wanted and give every opportunity to pegasi and earth ponies that it allowed, but she gave them hope and the power to believe in themselves.
“But it…it was more than just that. Aurora could…she could change a pony’s life with nothing more than a few words. It was like…like she had a touch of destiny about her, one that she could share with everypony she saw.”
Twilight smiled in realization. “Dash has it too, doesn’t she? Like when I was taking my entrance exam. Her Rainboom is what let me pass.”
“Or led me home,” AJ added.
“It gave me my inspiration,” Rarity said.
“It filled me with such super awesome happiness that I just couldn’t contain it all,” Pinkie shouted.
“Yeah okay we know all that!” Dash exclaimed. “Wait, is that why I got this thing?” She tapped her horn. “Because I did a Rainboom when I was a filly? That was years ago! Why didn’t you show up then?”
Celestia flinched at the accusation. “Yes, about that. It took me a few days to get Twilight settled in. But I left for Cloudsdale at the end of the week to look for you. Of course I kept a genealogical record of my family, so I knew you had been born. But until then, I had no reason to look for you.”
“Geee thanks Grandma,” the other alicorn mumbled. “Don’t bother to visit my dad or his mom only cause they were just hardworking weatherponies instead of super stars.”
Twilight looked over to Dash and frowned. “Rainbow Dash!”
“You misunderstand,” Celestia said as she tried to console her great-granddaughter. “At first I tried to keep in contact with all my child’s children. But…whenever I do, it never ends well for them. I don’t know if has to do with some type of curse, or just my lot in life, but before Luna returned, whenever I met with one of my children… Do you remember what happened during the junior flyers competition that I came to watch when you were a filly?”
Rainbow Dash flinched. “Uh…you saw that?”
“Saw what?” AJ asked.
Dash scratched the back of her head nervously. It wasn't the type of thing she like to talk about. “It’s sort of like the young flyers competition, only for little fillies and colts. I was in the middle of my routine and I thought I heard someone call my name. So then I turned my head and…ran strait into a pole at full speed.”
Celestia closed in on herself. “I did call out…and teleported down to catch you before you hit the ground when you fell out of the stadium. When I brought you to the doctors, they said you were lucky to be alive. If you had flown into the pole and struck your neck or your face anywhere else, then it would have been the end of you. As it was, you only suffered a broken collar bone that I healed with my magic before leaving you in peace.
“The news frightened me. It was the first time in years I had visited one of my kin, and it nearly ended in your death Rainbow. Whatever curse I believed to be under, it would appear it still keeps me from seeing my family on a whim. To be honest…a part of me even blames myself for the library.”
Twilight frowned at the rather large hole in Celestia’s logic. “But you’ve been to Ponyville plenty of times. “You were here just a few weeks ago!”
“For you Twilight,” Celestia said as she attempted to explain. “Not for Rainbow.”
When she noticed her descended frown at the news, the goddess immediately tried to placate her. “I do try and help my descendents when I can. I send a job offering through the channels if they’re in need of work…or make sure a transfer request is approved. Even when it’s to a little out of the way town on the edge of a wild forest that is too out of the way for a talented pegasus.”
“Okay so…wait, back the story up a second,” Dash said as she raised her hooves. “Before you started talking about your foal, you said you failed to make a spell that turns ponies into alicorns. But I got this horn.”
Celestia smirked. “I never said I failed, I just stopped working on it.”
“But-”
“I had worked out most of the kinks and was finally ready to use the magic to give my daughter what I thought she needed,” the sun goddess explained. “I found her living in a small cottage near what is today Las Pegasus with her family. She was over fifty years old by then, retired from politics, and the sight of her face being older than mind terrified me to death. I flew up to her, babbling about how I had finally found a way to save her from old age.
“Aurora didn’t take the news well. She was furious with me for even suggesting it. Like me, she had no desire to stay the same while everyone around her withered and died. While I had squandered the past several years looking for a…cure to death, she had been out living them. She had son, who had a wife with foal on the way. I had been there for my daughter’s wedding, but on the day she had come to tell me she was with child I had…I hadn’t even bothered to let her in my laboratory because I didn’t want to waste time talking about childish things.
“So when I offered the spell to her, she asked if it could also giver her children and grandchildren eternal life. But…I couldn’t. The spell I had designed was meant to work solely on her, and her alone. I had never even considered making someone else an alicorn. So, like the idiot I was, I didn’t talk to her, I didn’t try to make up for the decades that I had ignore her needs. I just assured her that I would find a way to do just that as I left.
“Another decade passed. I discovered a method that would work on other ponies besides just Aurora. It was taxing and experimental, but I knew it would at least expand her family's lifespan threefold. I hoped that would be enough, and I returned to my daughter’s cottage to tell her of my success… I found her gravestone waiting for me out back. The sight of it crushed me. I had finally found a way for us to be together, only to find Aurora was beyond my reach.”
The other ponies remained silent while Celestia’s eyes misted and she muttered quietly to herself for several minutes. Then, after drying her tears, she took in a deep breath and continued. "The rest of the family wanted nothing to do with me. I might have been the ruler of their land and the progenitor of their line, but I was also the mother who abandoned her daughter. To many I was kind and just, but to my grandfoals...I was just another uncaring unicorn; if a giant one with wings.
“I returned to the castle Luna and I shared, and came out of my bedchambers after several days of mourning. Then, for the first time in a generation, I took a look at my nation. Luna was never one for politics, and in my absence, several things we had worked to undo had started trying to creep their ways back in. The tribes were once again on unfriendly terms, and corruption had found its way into our government.
“For a short time I thought that my spell of ascension was the answer,” Celestia said before a pause. “But…I quickly learned that giving everyone a pair of wings and a horn were not a solution to the problems we faced. Besides, such a solution was impossible. In order to give the status of an alicorn, it…takes something from me. And the time it takes to recover is exponential. I could not simply hand it out to everypony like candy.
“So I created a spell that would search for worthy candidates. They had to have been tested and willing to defend their fellow ponies from whatever might threaten them. They had to view our people as one whole, not three separate groups. And finally, they had to have a full understanding of themselves, as well as well as the a full understanding of their connections with others. They would be the ones to lead this world into a new age of enlightenment. But…as any of you who knows your history might surmise, I did not find a single worthy candidate among all my people. Not for many, many centuries.”
Celestia, once again wrapped up in her mask of perfect serenity despite the topic she had been discussing a moment ago, watched a Twilight visibly counted off the requirements. Her student mouthed the words ‘Nightmare Moon’ and ‘Discord’ during the explanation. “And Cadence faced that witch, so that was how she met the criteria, and nopony thinks any other groups is better than the others, but the last two,” she said to herself before her eyes widened at the last one, and she looked over to Dash. “Cadence understood love, but…wait…you’re telling me you actually understand all the facets of the magic of friendship?”
“Thank you for sounding so surprised,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned before chuckling at herself and lightening up. “But yeah. And it wasn’t something that just happened. I mean, I sat down and wrote my letter to Princess Celestia. But, I just wrote about what happened, and what was on my mind and…well, more ideas kept coming and I just didn’t stop.”
Then Celestia took up the conversation. “Ah, so that was the letter you were mumbling about when we met upon the celestial plain. I’ve always found writing things down helps me organize my thoughts.”
Rainbow Dash blinked in confusion. “Oh…so, that wasn’t a dream? That starry corridor thing?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight nearly yelled as she slammed her hooves down on the table. “You mean you actually wrote down your thoughts up until the moment you ascended?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“That…that makes it the single most important document in the history of pony!” Twilight exclaimed with a frantic tone quickly building. “Do you know what this means? With that, we…we could revolutionize our society! We could usher in a new golden age of harmony. Princess, I’ve got to read that friendship report!”
“I never actually got it,” Celestia informed her.
“Then its still at your house?” Twilight asked the rainbow alicorn.
Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head. “Yeah…about that. Remember when I came over to your library this morning and I was talking to Spike?”
All the color drained from Twilight Sparkle’s face and her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks. “No…nonononononononono!” she repeated before her body slumped forward and she banged her head on the desk over and over again. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
Shining Armor, who had been respectfully silent this whole time while the Princess addressed the Elements, stepped toward to wrap his little sister in a levitation field and stop her from hurting herself. “Twily!”
She turned to her brother, tears running down her face. “It’s my fault Shinning. We had something that might have changed the world, and it‘s my fault it‘s gone.”
“Why’s that sugarcube?”
Rainbow Dash filled her in. “She thought the horn on my head was fake and tried to pull it off with her magic.”
“So that’s what caused the-” Rarity paused in mid sentence. “But a magical surge from a horn shouldn’t have done nearly as much…right, alicorn. Never mind.”
“No need to beat yourself up Twilight. The whole thing was an accident. Not your fault,” Rainbow told her.
“BUT IT WAS MY FAULT!” Twilight wailed. “I cast that spell on you.”
“Again, not your fault, your unicorn float spell-”
“Not that spell! The other one!” Twilight shouted. When everypony’s faces showed none of them were following her, the purple unicorn broke free from her brother’s grip, dropped to the floor and quickly got back into her spot. She took a deep breath, and began her confession.
“Look…this Mare Do Well plan we-I mean, I had,” Twilight said as she paid everything out with her hooves. “I had calculated that even with a charming enchantment cast on the costumes to get everypony’s attention, there was still a good chance that Dash would be able to outshine us if something happened. Not to mention the fact that there was no guarantee that there would be any problems that needed heroics to fix. So I cast a spell to…fix that.”
Rainbow Dash frowned in confusion as she looked over to her friend. “What?”
Pinkie Raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “What spell Twilight?”
“It was a bad luck spell,” she explained.
Celestia let everyone in the room mull over the information for a minute. Most of them reacted the same way, with a mixture of confusion, shock, and concern. Rainbow Dash however, just stared at the mare with a blank expression on her face. The princess of the day chuckled and shook her head. “Twilight, there’s no such thing as a bad luck spell.”
“Yes there is! I learned it from the same book as Want-It-Need-It, and Charm!” Twilight told her before alicon's face became confused at her personal names for the three ancient spells. “Okay well, those weren’t their real names. But they sound better than Possession, Obsession, and Ruination.”
Those names, Celestia recognized. She had seen the effects of the first only a few weeks ago in Ponyville, with Possession, a spell that made an object so desirable that a pony would do anything to possess it. At the time, Celestia had just chalked up the event to Twilight’s natural genius. It was not the first time she had seen a unicorn ‘invent’ a spell that had been around for years, but forbidden to learn even by her personal students.
She took a deep breath, and forced herself to stay calm.
The fact Twilight knew their actual names meant that she had actually learned them. She knew their limits and their purposes. Then there was the part where Twilight had knowingly cast Ruination upon one of her friends. That fact made it feel as if Celestia’s own heart had been ripped out by her student.
It was just like…
No! Celestia assured herself. Twilight is not Sunset Shimmer! Her former student had been demanding, insubordinate, and egotistical in the extreme. She had knowingly practiced dark magic and became obsessed with power.
Twilight was different! She is brave and kind…although the use of the Ruination is starting to suggest otherwise. Celestia paused in her thoughts. I shouldn’t have foregone her punishment when I was here last.
The fact that she had apparently been using the magic to try and teach a lesson, if in a foolish way, helped ease Celestia’s mind. But at the same time, the fact that Twilight had cast the spell in the first place could not be ignored. The fault lays with me, not her. I avoided even mentioning dark magic to Twilight in our lessons in hopes to avoid introducing her to the temptation. It was something she needed to set right.
Channeling her magic into her horn, Celestia looked over to Rainbow Dash and examined the curse Twilight had placed upon her.
“Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked in response to the sun goddess’s actions.
The words went ignored as Celestia examined her student’s handiwork. The spell that surrounded the other alicorn had built itself up to the point the catastrophe that the spell would cumulate in promised to be massive. Judging by its size, Rainbow Dash had already seen the destruction of her reputation, her self-worth, her dreams…and Celestia had a feeling that the calamity that happened earlier today was what destroyed the mare’s ultimate achievement. Which meant that the spell was now in its final hours.
But…shouldn’t the spell have put a stop to Rainbow Dash’s ascension then? Celestia asked herself. There was no way the magic of a curse like Ruination would allow such an achievement for its target. The enormous oddity perplexed her.
Still, she used her magic to wash away the curse surrounding Rainbow Dash, and took a deep breath before addressing the group. “I have taken care of the lingering magic surrounding you Rainbow Dash.”
“Umm, thanks?” she asked, obviously not understanding what was going on.
“Shinning Armor,” Celestia spoke before looking to the stallion. An order formed in her mind, but never made it to Celestia's lips. Oh no, I…I can not ask him to arrest his sister. But then what could be done? Celestia knew Twilight needed to be punished, needed to face consequences for her actions. But she did not, no she just could not bring herself to bring Twilight the pain such harsh actions as imprisonment would cause.
She took in another breath to help her focus. “As Twilight’s home has been destroyed, she will be returning with us to Canterlot for…a short while,” Celestia lied. At the moment, she was unsure if Twilight would ever be leaving the city again.
“Rain-no, Princess Rainbow Dash, you will accompany us as well,” the goddess told her granddaughter. “We will be needing to plan your coronation. Say your goodbyes and collect your things. We will be departing within the hour.”
“Say what?”
Celestia let the little ponies work through their surprise as she considered what to do. When it eventually came to Rainbow Dash’s reluctance to leave her home, Celestia had to speak. “You are a princess of Equestria now Rainbow Dash, and have responsibilities to be fulfilled.”
“I can’t just pack up and leave in the middle of the day!” she exclaimed. “Thunderlane just up and ran off this morning and we’ve only got one pegasus as a backup on the weather team.”
“Your body guard returned with me this morning, we met him on the way here,” Celestia explained.
“Body guard?” all of the ponies asked.
Celestia sighed and shook her head at her slip. It seemed all the craziness around the town was affecting even her. “After you freed my sister from Nightmare Moon, I had a royal guard assigned to each of you in case something were to happen. I also informed them not to interfere with your lives, or inform you of their presence.”
Then came Twilight Sparkle’s reaction to her decision. “P-Princess? I know I shouldn’t have done what I did. But…look at what’s happened! Rainbow Dash is an alicorn! She would never-okay, she might not have ever ascended if I hadn’t used those spells.”
I forgot how good she is at reading when I’m in a bad mood, the goddess thought to herself. “Yet here we are Twilight. I had thought you had learned that the ends do not justify the means during our time together,” Celestia told her sternly. “It would seem you are in need of some remediation.”
“Y-You mean, magic kindergarten?” Twilight squeaked.
Oh for the love of…you make one empty threat and she remembers it for the rest of her life. Celestia looked away from her student as an idea came to her and she had to hide her smirk. Twilight could think that way all the trip back to Canterlot. Dreading her punishment for more than half an hour would be a nice warm-up for when Celestia did manage to think of something fitting for the little pony.
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Damn Celestia...thats just evil....but effective
3.bp.blogspot.com/-_b86BIkTvss/UVOV2CM8qbI/AAAAAAABXTk/5XsMDMTqR-w/s1600/annoyed_princess_twilight_sparkle_by_teammagix-d5tqm41.jpg
Still best pony
damn thats cruel
muahahahahahahaha. awesome, evil punishment
This story is actually fairly incredible. I love the creativity that went into filling the gaps in the canon knowledge. You've also done quite a good job of giving me that simultaneously good and bad feeling when a story character keeps getting their life in deeper and deeper shit. Nice work!
Celestia, that evil poneh....
I mean just LOOK AT HER!!!
DAT EVIILLLLL FACE 
100 years Dungeon!
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XD
Everyone on earth is related in one way or the other if you go back 50 generations.
Of course, this is Equestria, but I'm just putting that out there.
Ha! Brilliant! Absolutely. Bloody. Brilliant! That made my day, in case you couldn't tell.
I AM SO CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5746945 good... good.................
ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON, EH!!!!
Bloody Exposition
That's exactly what I was thinking, Twilight.
as well
Twilight answered at the same time. “Yes.”
Did you forget Shining Armor or just meant to say " Twilight answered 'yes'"
well fuck. lol
ouch that had to hurt
Now this is just... incredibly dark and sad. Dammit, I don't know why I am so sad about Rainbow loosing that report thanks to the bitchy Twilight and her ultimate reliance on OP magic >_>
Is there a chance that the work can be restored in the latter chapters, even if partially?
Should have probably arrested Twilight, this time she went too far... Waaaaay too far. Hm, or what if becoming an alicorn is part of a bad luck for Rainbow? Since she doesn't want it and all the responsibilities? In any case, awfully sad about the loss of the report :/
This Celestia actually gets to the point and gets things done, it seems.
I like it!
7375518
Agreed that that is an ouch!