Flashback I: Awakening
Canterlot Castle
17 years before the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration
Celestia
It seemed like an ordinary day at first to Celestia, wake up, raise the sun, eat breakfast, run the country, eat lunch, yell at nobles, eat dinner, raise the moon, sleep, then repeat for a few centuries.
She was in the middle of a session of her Court of the Sun, mediating a land dispute between the city of Manehatten and the city of Baltimare when suddenly her crown glowed slightly and heated up, alerting Celestia to the predetermined signal.
That could only mean one thing.
It was time.
“Gentlecolts,” Celestia interrupted, the two stallion mayors stopped their presentations and looked up at her expectantly. “I will have to need you both to reschedule this for another time, something more important has come up that needs my immediate attention.”
Before either could protest, Celestia swiftly addressed her seneschal, Quick Quill, who was standing amongst a fortress of bureaucratic papers at the foot of the dais on which her golden throne sat.
“Ms. Quill.”
“Yes, your Highness?” the mare intoned dutifully.
“Reschedule all of today’s and tomorrow’s appointments and events for another time, close the castle to public visitations for the same duration, and then inform Captain Wheeler that I will be in my chambers and that I must not be disturbed for anything short of invasion.”
As Quick Quill opened her mouth to answer, her brow scrunching in question, Celestia didn’t hear what her seneschal was about to say for she had already charged her magic, her long slender horn rippling with magic, and with a flash of gold the throne room was replaced by her personal chambers.
Her niece was awake.
Celestia quickly enchanted her door to hold back any visitors and to alert her to anyone trying to get in before she trotted quickly over to a large painting of herself and Starswirl the Bearded which hung right next to her bed. Many a rare visitor to her private chambers had wondered if the sun princess had had a fleeting fancy with the ancient stallion. While Celestia had cared for Starswirl a lot since he had been one of her greatest friends that was not the reason for why the portrait was there. Moving the painting off of the wall with her magic, Celestia was greeted by a blank wall.
At least, that is what other ponies were supposed to see, but Celestia knew better since she was the one to have set up the camouflaged barrier over the tunnel entrance in the first place.
Wasting no more time dilly-dallying, Celestia dispelled the conjuration and quickly stepped into the large and barely lit downward staircase that led deep underneath the castle, even deeper than the dungeons. It would have been faster to teleport, but Celestia had enchanted the underground chambers to repel all magical modes of teleportation, the only way to get there was by physically entering the tunnel after breaking through numerous protective wards that would have alerted Celestia to an intruder the moment they were touched by anyone but her.
Descending quickly, her golden hooves tolling sweetly like ancient bells on the stone steps, Celestia allowed a true and genuine smile, something that hadn’t grace her face in ages, break through the normally unbreakable serenity she held up for her subjects.
Who wouldn’t be happy to finally meet a new family member? After all, this one had been in a coma for almost a thousand years.
Finally, she arrived at her destination after traveling down the winding staircase.
Anypony that knew the princess and had visited her private chambers always berated her politely for never pursuing her own interests or hobbies. They could only see the governmental works that always cluttered her desk and swallowed her work area, if they had seen this secret chamber, those well-wishers would have gaped at her “hobbies" in shock.
The underground chamber was very wide and twice as long, lit by numerous chandeliers that glowed with magic crystals instead of flame. Wall to wall there were books and memoirs that made up her own private library. Hundreds of old and new tomes, some of which she had written herself, filled the antechamber. Alongside the bookshelves were sculptures she had hoof-made, some were the likeness of old friends long gone and some were of herself, her sister and niece in what she imagined as happy scenarios when the nightmare was finally over. Celestia was also fascinated by new magic and newly discovered sciences, so she had built a fully stocked laboratory to suit both magic and scientific needs. Her time exploring other worlds with Starswirl had given her a taste of adventure and a fascination with magic and sciences. This chamber was just too sacred to her for it to be cluttered with dull government papers and forms, and so she squirreled away her “me” stuff down here where she could sit quietly and have fun on occasion.
Of course, those were all secondary to the true purpose of the chamber.
Celestia, with a spring in her step that made her feel centuries younger, almost tip-toed on her hooves to the large crib that held the now de-activated homeostasis pod. Peering over the edge, her hopeful eyes looked down into the cradle.
Two large purple eyes stared back.
Twilight was awake.
The small lavender unicorn looked up at her aunt with wide eyes and a small smile, her stubby horn gently parted her purple mane and her tail swished back and forth in delight at the other pony’s presence. Lifting up a small hoof, Twilight booped Celestia’s muzzle and giggled uncontrollably in a squeal of happiness.
Grinning like a filly that saw Santa Hooves on Hearth’s Warming Eve, Celestia reached down into the crib and picked up the laughing filly. Tears of joy ran down her face uninterrupted as she had eyes only for the beautiful foal in her hooves.
She wasn’t alone anymore.
For centuries she had watched over her sister’s daughter as she slept in a peaceful coma, hiding her away from those that would try to take advantage of her niece’s predicament. Patiently waiting for the day she would wake up and finally meet her.
“Hello little one!”
“Aaahhbbbbbba b aba!!” Twilight wiggled her ears and babbled at her in return with unmatched glee.
“It’s nice to meet you too Twilight! I’m Aunt Tia!” The sun princess was glowing with happiness, joy overfilled her soul with a wondrous warmth. She could feel the years of loneliness, depression, and regret fade away from the absolute love she had for the filly she held to her chest.
Gently, like a cloud descending to the earth, Celestia laid down and placed the tiny unicorn filly in between her forelegs. Twilight struggled cutely to stand up once she was on the ground, but could only roll over and laugh at the white face that filled her vision.
The sun alicorn leaned down closer to Twilight and put her two forelegs in front of her face, hiding it from the foal.
“Where’s auntie?”
The sun princess could here Twilight burble in question at the alicorn’s disappearance.
“Here she is!” Celestia was rewarded by Twilight clapping her hooves in delight and giggling at her aunt’s antics. Celestia reached down with a hoof and tickled Twilight’s belly, causing happier giggling to bubble out of the little foal.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr…
Twilight shriveled up in discomfort, her face contorting into a slightly pained expression as her stomach growled. Celestia realized that the foal was probably hungry after not eating for almost a millennium. Reaching out with her magic again, she quickly grabbed some milk from her private kitchen (she baked her own cakes too!) and gave it to Twilight, who grabbed onto the bottle with her small hooves and quietly suckled on it, her eyes closing as she peacefully sipped.
While Twilight was preoccupied on the padded floor, Celestia levitated a couple of diapers over to her for when the foal finished eating, just simply delighted in takeing care of the little one.
When Twilight finished, Celestia burped her and put the diaper on Twilight for when she would need it. Finishing that, she laid Twilight back on the floor and watched her.
Twilight looked like she was a tad uncomfortable with the undesired diaper but quickly lost interest and her wide eyes traveled about the room in exploration of her new environment. To Celestia’s delight, Twilight lifted up a hoof and pointed at her.
“MMMMmmmmm.”
“What is it Twilight?”
“MMMMmmmma!”
Celestia then realized that Twilight was not pointing at her, but something behind her head on the ceiling. Turning her head slightly, she tried to glimpse what it was that had caught the foal’s attention and looked up at the ceiling.
Her sister’s cutie mark glared angrily back at her.
“MMmaamma!”
Mama
And just like that, the happiness that had filled Celestia blew away like a fragile spider web in a hurricane with the innocent reminder of her sister’s absence.
Twilight wanted her mother.
Guilt welled up inside Celestia as she continued gazing at the mural. In some of her spare time she had decorated the chamber with different pictures, one of which was a likeness of her sister’s mark that she had painted almost directly above the cradle where Twilight had slept. Celestia remembered that it was very early on that a foal memorizes and recognizes their mother’s cutie mark. It was a psychological impression to bond mother and foal, much like voices and smells.
For a moment, Celestia felt just the tiniest twinge at the thought of Twilight wanting Luna instead of her.
Was she…jealous of Luna?
As Twilight continued pointing at the mural and babbling in foalish gibberish, Celestia turned over that errant thought over and over again in her head, as if it were a book or fact she had to re-read because she didn’t believe it at first.
If Celestia were to be honest with herself, she realized, she did indeed harbor some jealousy against her sister.
Why not? Luna had given birth to a beautiful and adorable filly, children among alicorns were extremely rare. Their innate magic was so powerful that conception was almost impossible, also hindering the already small chances was that their gene structures were generally incompatible with the other pony races because an alicorn was all three. In the time when alicorns numbered in the hundreds, Celestia’s parents had been alicorns and therefore it had been a much simpler process. But after a great cataclysm or war, Celestia didn’t know which she had been barely three when it had happened, the number of alicorns had been reduced to two, her and Luna. That was the time period in which the unicorns controlled the sun and moon and the tribes were still separate. After Discord, Celestia and Luna had been given the throne out of gratitude and reverence from the original Equestrian Confederation.
Celestia still didn’t know who Twilight’s father was, and the fact she wasn’t even aware of any romantic interests Luna had revealed to her how much she had not realized or known about her sister in the time preceding the night Celestia had to banish her.
Celestia felt…angry suddenly. Why does Twilight want Luna? Luna abandoned her and took on the mantle of Nightmare Moon in her selfish ambition, almost killing her own daughter in the process with the ambient dark magic that poisoned her. Celestia had cared and watched over Twilight for almost a thousand years while her mother whittled away on the moon for her crimes. Granted, Twilight had never been conscious during that time period, but shouldn’t she show Celestia just a bit more love and attention towards her and not the mother that left her behind?
“TTtttttttiiii…” Twilight interrupted her internal rant with another boop on the large alicorn’s muzzle.
Celestia looked down with a reluctant but gentle smile that replaced the frown that had started forming on her face.
“What now little one?”
Twilight looked back up at her and tilted her head to the side as if in question. She then proceeded to roll over from laying on her back to laying with her legs folded up underneath her. Twilight then struggled to stand on her hooves and Celestia looked on in amazement as the foal took her first steps toward her.
“TTttiiiiaa!”
Twilight had said her name.
Celestia’s smile became more genuine as she gently encouraged Twilight to walk, prodding her with her muzzle here and there. Twilight struggled and fell a few times, but she eventually made it to Celestia’s side where she huddled underneath one of her large white wings. The little unicorn foal then curled up cutely and a gentle snoring could be heard as Twilight closed her eyes and fell asleep, pressing herself up against Celestia’s side and snoozing under her wing.
And in that moment, Celestia became ridden with guilt, self-loathing seeping through cracks in her psyche and drowning her in misery.
She shouldn’t be jealous of Luna, but she couldn’t help it. It was wrong for Celestia to feel so happy when she was stealing precious moments that should have been Luna’s, not hers. She felt like a thief that had stolen priceless crown jewels, for she had witnessed possibly Twilight’s first word and probably her first time walking too. And it was not Luna’s name Twilight spoke, it was hers.
I…am a horrible sister.
Celestia had originally thought that she would raise Twilight herself, here at the castle once she woke up. The sun princess had envisioned both of them waiting and hoping for Luna to return and be restored to them. But in that moment, Celestia knew that had to change.
I can’t raise her…
Celestia couldn’t very well put Twilight back into the homeostasis pod. That was only so that Twilight could remain safe and secure while in her coma, as the pods were designed to work. Putting a healthy foal in one would stunt their growth and damage them both physically and mentally.
But Celestia couldn’t live with herself if she stole the role of mother from Luna, not when she had caused her sister so much pain already. She knew that even if she tried to raise her, her jealousy would unconsciously make her biased and Twilight would eventually come to love her more than some unknown mare in the moon if she grew up under Celestia.
Did Twilight deserve being caught between the two of them?
No. Of the three of us, she is innocent and deserves not to be tangled up in our mistakes.
Another thing was that since Celestia had taken Twilight’s pegasus and earth pony magics to heal her, Twilight had lost her alicorn immortality which was sustained by the innate balance of the three races. She would age normally, only being able to retain and control unicorn magic, and then she would eventually die.
Did Celestia want to put on Twilight the pressure of being a crippled, former alicorn with the weight of being the niece and daughter of the two most powerful alicorns ever?
She’ll be happier not knowing.
What then, was she supposed to do?
Canterlot Castle
3 days later
Celestia
She hated herself.
In the days since Twilight’s awakening, Celestia prepared for the inevitable separation that had to take place.
That didn’t mean she would enjoy it.
The couple in front of her in her throne room however, did not notice her internal struggling as they could only see the unbreakable calm she had painstakingly developed and held up for countless centuries.
The two ponies in front of her were Night Light, a stallion, and Twilight Velvet, a mare, both of whom were married and minor nobility of the Armor Clan here in Canterlot.
Years ago, Celestia had set up a program in which young orphans of military casualties in peaceful times or deceased nobility were set up here in a wing of the castle. It was then encouraged for noble families to adopt these young foals. Fortunately, only the most caring and trustworthy nobility adopted because the bad nobility only believed in blood heirs.
Celestia had discreetly sent a letter through one of her offices to the couple before her with an anonymous plea to adopt a certain young unicorn foal. Forging birth certificates and I.D. information was easy since she was the head of the government. Celestia had looked for potential families to adopt her niece and these were the most promising candidates as these two were well-respected and liked, and they also had a foal named Shining Armor that was relatively four years older than Twilight.
That brought her to the here and now.
“Your highness,” Twilight Velvet said. “We would gladly take little Twilight into our home. Night Light and I have a few questions first though before we leave.”
Celestia struggled to maintain her mask of goodwill, finding it harder and more difficult each passing moment as she gazed at her niece sleeping soundly in the other mare’s hooves.
“Yes?” She questioned. “What troubles you my little pony?”
Velvet and Night Light looked back at each other in the universal language of spouse speak before looking back up at her. It was Night Light who spoke this time.
“There wasn’t much about Twilight or her parents in that brief you gave us. Do you know anything more about her parents?”
Too much.
“No” she lied. “A clerical error in the Stalliongrad area where they lived ensured that much of her personal history and her families were lost. She was placed in the royal orphanage here and we try to find all our orphans homes very quickly.” Celestia always felt sick lying to her subjects. Such deception she usually associated with Discord, not herself.
Velvet piped up, shifting uncomfortably as if the princess intimidated her.
“What should we tell Twilight then when she grows older? She’s bound to ask once we tell her she’s adopted when she gets old enough."
There it is, the poisoned dart in the raisin tart.
Celestia took a deep breath that when unnoticed by her audience before continuing.
“Must you tell her from the moment you take her in? Don’t lie to her surely, but treat her no differently than you would as if she were your own. She’ll probably find out and then just tell her the truth, you don’t know and neither do I. Tell her that she came from a small family that had a…incident. That much is true I assure you. She will have a happier childhood without worrying about who her real parents are, she’ll be able to handle it when she’s an adult.”
I’ve never lied so much in my life. Sun preserve me.
The two unicorns in front of her seemed satisfied with this and nodded their heads in agreement.
“Thank you your majesty,” Night Light said “That’s everything. Thank you so much for telling us of this wonderful opportunity. We’ll be on our way.”
With that they both turned around and started trotting towards the exit on the far side of the room before Celestia stopped them with a gentle call.
“Oh wait, there is one more thing.”
The unicorns faced her again as she descended the dais, pulling out what first appeared to be a very old rag.
Velvet cocked her head and an eyebrow traveled up into her mane as she studied the object in the princess’s magical grip.
“Is that doll a…donkey?”
Celestia looked down at the doll and saw why Velvet would think that. It was brown and plushy with two button eyes and looked very old and worn, which it was.
After Luna was banished and Celestia had found Twilight, she had pulled out a few toys from the room in the old castle in hopes of preserving them for Twilight later on. This particular doll was originally a small plushy of Luna herself, but age had worn away the horn and wings and brown replaced the blue color. When Celestia was packing some things for Twilight as she got ready to give her to Velvet and Night Light, she repaired the doll as best she could, minus the horn and wings, and had placed patches over the moon cutie marks that had faded and torn with time.
Once again, Celestia couldn’t tell them the truth.
“Yes it is.” She lied.
An awkward pause.
“It was a gift from Twilight’s mother.” Finally, a slice of truth in the web of lies.
“Did her mother give it a name?” Night Light asked.
“Yes…it was…Smarty Pants if I recall correctly.” That wasn’t entirely a lie. Luna could get pretty snarky when she was riled up and tended to over explain things sometimes.
“Anything else your highness?” Velvet said “We left Shining at home, we must get back soon.”
Celestia shook her head and looked away in shame as she waved a foreleg at the door.
“No, that is all. Thank you for coming.”
Unnoticed by the two unicorns carrying Twilight as they left the hall, Celestia’s lower lip started trembling and tears broke through the dam that she had been keeping up during their meeting. She watched in growing sadness and ever increasing amounts of shame as she watched them take Twilight away.
As they left the room, the large doors gave an ominous boom like the gavel in a court room, finalizing the deception.
She was alone again.
She laid down on the floor and let the tears flow, for she had just given away the one thing she knew could make her happy.
Did I just give my own niece, the only thing I have left of my sister, to a pair of almost complete strangers?
It was for the best.
Right?
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dude, awersome story so far... except for blinding fluttershy anyhow i hope to see some more soon... peace!!!
So darn cute!
Oh boy- we've gone from reading about the maiming of ponies, to the heartwarming/heartbreaking scene of an adorable foal.
Oh well
c'est la vie...
Not bad, not bad at all.
Why is it that people think Alicorns are immortal, their NOT for Pete sake
nice! more soon please.
Even the writers are unsure if the comics are canon. As for what I think of the comics: they are a paradox. They are not canon, yet somehow are. I consider them non-canon because there is no in-between for me.
yes the comics are cannon. They are Pinkie cannon
hopefully that gets a laugh, other than that thanks for the chapter, and yeah filly twilight is far too cute for her own good.
Aww this was so cute... Yet so sad.... Keep up the work! Also the comics are said to be considered cannon unless they mess with the direct timeline. I also cant wait for some more back story's like this!
Yaaaay! I found this work a while ago and hadn't seen it update until now! I'm glad to know that you're still working on this fascinating story! Please keep up the good work!
Awwwww!
I'm not sure if the bit about foals imprinting on their mother's marks is encouraging, or saddening.
On the one hand she might remember Luna and instinctively trust her as her mother... on the other hand, she might have imprinted on Velvet or Celestia in the absence of Luna... I really hope the former, less muss and fuss that way.
I would recommend avoiding the question entirely: treat the comics as canon except where they are directly contradicted by the show, or it is inconvenient for the purposes of telling your story.
This chapter felt much rougher than I recall the previous chapters being; did you not go over it as carefully before posting, or am I perhaps misremembering?
Roughness aside, this was a very touching look at Twi's awakening and, I suspect, sets the stage for some future plot details. I look forward to seeing where the story goes. Allons-y!
4252122 Keep in mind that Luna's cutie mark is inverted and slightly different as Nightmare Moon.
Wonderfull work polaris, once again i am wondering how this story is not as big as It should be.
I really like the way you tie in twilights "family" into the mix , i hope to see more amazing work in the future.
-Star
4252474 This is most likely me being stupid and not reading something right as normal but did nightmare moon kill celestia or simply knock her out?
4252474 was she nightmare by the time Twilight imprinted though? If not...well...oops?
Mmm I do indeed want to see what happens next.
I'm a great fan of Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon included but blinding Fluttershy is almost unforgivable! ...Almost.
That was awesome. Extremely well written and it played my emotions so well.
4251800
If Alicorns aren't immortal, explain how Celestia and Luna have been alive for thousands of years.
I ve the current CelestiaxSombra story line in the comics.
4251800 We haven't exactly seen one die/be near death yet. So how do we know they aren't?
How could celestia throw twilight away and think that was a good idea? Plus she knows Luna is coming back in 17 years all she's doing is making this more complicated when luna returns.
Typos that should have been caught.
Tale versus tail. One is a story, the other a body part.
“There wasn’t much about Twilight or her parents in that brief you gave us. Do you know anything more about her parants?”- The first one is correct, the second is obviously not.
4754249 this is amazingly typical move of Celestia in these types of stories. She thinks that without the pressure of the court Twilight would be happier. and sadly it always comes back to bite her in the flank. Celestia truly shows the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
4252474 No i thought is only changed color. I switched it in Night;s Children to show a difference between Luna Nightmare Moon and Darkmoon Nightmare Moon.
That felt rushed and a little out of character, considering Celestia's past actions. Still, if one excuses the lack of buildup and assumes lot of internal arguments and rationalizing on Celestia's part it does make sense.
5055052
You seem to be making some invalid assumptions. Celestia's actual motivation seems to be guilt over the thought of stealing her Sister's daughter and taking the love that Luna would have received from her daughter. I.e. it feels wrong to be Twilight's surrogate mother considering her own actions in banishing Luna. Also, there is the issue of explaining where the Princess got a unicorn foal and any court nonsense/mud slinging that might arise. You know, people claiming some kind of improper liasion or that Celestia stole somepony's child, which wouldn't be helped if Twilight should remember Luna as her mother and start talking about some her and describing a second princess, etc... -- Nothing in the chapter regarding this transfer of guardianship seems to be about Twilight and court, much less about Twilight's benefit. If anything the actions are for Celestia's benefit. Also, of course her judgment would be flawed. Most people have certain blind spots and failings when it comes to family and close friends.
Its funny that auntie Celestia is nicknamed "Tia", seeing as in spanish "tia" means Aunt :D
The sun princess could here Twilight burble in question at the alicorn’s disappearance.
hear
just simply delighted in takeing care of the little one.
taking
Optional:
1.
But after a great cataclysm or war, Celestia didn’t know which she had been barely three when it had happened, the number of alicorns had been reduced to two, her and Luna.
But after a great cataclysm or war, Celestia didn’t know which; she had been barely three when it had happened; the number of alicorns had been reduced to two, her and Luna.
Or simply reformulating it; it's pretty long.
2.
and they also had a foal named Shining Armor that was relatively four years older than Twilight.
Either
and they also had a foal named Shining Armor that was approximately four years older than Twilight.
or
and they also had a foal named Shining Armor that was four years older than Twilight physically.
depending on what you want to emphasize.
Wow, Celestia is a dick
4251800 Celestia lived for at least a thousand years. Luna took a thousand year nap in the moon. Those are cannon facts.
On Celestia we know she was wake those thousand years because if she took a muti century nap in would have been mentioned somewhere.
Luna is a little more if'e she could have been in supended animation while on the moon.
So until Cadence was introduced the only two alicorns we knew about appeared to be ageless. Cadence of course grew from the time she foul sit Twilight to her marriage so she appears to be fully mortal.
This is awesome but soooo sad.
4335422
In my personal opinion, I consider them to be ageless not immortal since they are not gods.
Mientras no sean muy largos están bien estos capítulos
9492633
One doesn't have to be a god to be immortal FYI.