Safe

by Princess_Celest1a

The Story

Twilight shivered as she stood under the shadow of the enormous mountain. She had walked all the way to the base of the mountain, but now it was obvious to her that the only way to reach the top of the mountain was to fly. Twilight had considered trying to walk up, but the dark overhangs and the craggy edges made it near to impossible to climb. “It’s a good thing I have wings now.” thought the Alicorn, “Although I cannot fly very well yet, at least I am able to fly at all!”

Twilight hesitantly unfolded her wings. She started to beat them slowly, but then quickly flapped faster. She rose off of the ground a few meters, but then she started to lose control. “No,” thought Twilight, “I have to do this, for the Princess.” She rose up higher, still a little crooked. With sheer force of will, the young Princess started to fly up the mountain. She hit some of the ledges a few times, as well as almost flipping herself over, but she eventually came to a much bigger ledge.

Twilight landed on the platform, and soon found that there was a cave in front of her. “Perhaps that is where the Princess has gone!” she thought excitedly. She trotted into the cave, noting that is was very damp and that there was a strong draft. Twilight shivered.
“P-princess?” Twilight’s inquiry was met by sobs coming from the middle of the cavern. Twilight rushed forward into the cave to see a sobbing Celestia on the ground.
“Go away, my faithful student.” said Celestia in a voice hoarse from tears.
“But I want to help you! I’m really worried!” said Twilight desperately.
“My dear Twilight,” started Celestia, “please leave me. It is not your problem, or your struggle.”
“It matters to me, Princess.” said Twilight. She walked closer to Celestia, “What’s going on? What happened in your past?”

Celestia sobbed. “I will tell you, if you insist.”
“Yes Princess. Let me help you.” said Twilight with compassion.
“Well,” started Celestia, “it all happened, or rather started happening, a couple years after I had to banish Nightmare Moon. At first, it was just a random occurrence, a pony going mad, a pony having to be locked up because he or she was a danger to society; then it became more widespread. Mares and stallions everywhere were losing their mind, whether that meant hurting themselves or other ponies.”

Celestia sighed a heavy sigh. “Back in those days, I was mostly alone in the castle, except for a beautiful, earth pony mare. We were the best of friends. Her name- her name was Sapphire Dust. She had a gorgeous blue mane that seemed to shimmer like the jewel she was named after. Her coat was a royal purple. Anyway, we were best friends, so as soon as I realized that something was going wrong, she was the first I confided in.”

“Eventually, this ‘epidemic’ started to get out of control. Ponies left and right were hurting themselves and others. I knew I had to figure out what was going on. I flew down to Ponyville, and that was when I saw the tendrils. I knew they would lead to something evil; the question was, what? I told Sapphire it was too dangerous for her to come along, but she insisted on keeping me company, bless her heart. We followed those black tendrils for days, I sometimes walking with Sapphire, and Sapphire sometimes riding on my back. We followed them until the tendrils were so big they were taller than the trees. We knew we were getting close.”

“Suddenly, we stumbled upon Zarta, although we didn’t know that was what it was called at the time, obviously. Anyway, Zarta turned out to be an enormous, black mass, punctuated with bolts of electricity. Those horrid black tendrils came out of all sides of that beast. Sapphire and I both agreed that Zarta must somehow get inside ponies minds; somehow push them into insanity. I decided to try to magically attack Zarta. I told Sapphire to stand back, and I used my magic to attack Zarta. My magic did nothing except attract that monster’s attention; it shot one of its tendrils at me, and I instinctively ducked. The tendril, h-however, still f-found a mark; it grabbed poor, dear, S-sapphire.”

At this point, Celestia completely broke down into tears. Twilight couldn’t believe the Princess was actually crying. She walked up closer to Celestia and tried to give her a hug of comfort. Celestia reacted by pulling Twilight into a tight hug, and not letting go. Twilight nuzzled Celestia’s warm fur.
“Whenever you’re ready, Princess.” said Twilight softly. Celestia took took a deep breath, and launched back into her story.
“T-the tendril took Sapphire closer and closer to its core. I wanted to stop it so badly, but I was in shock. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. When Sapphire hit the blackness of Zarta, her face when blank. It was like she wasn’t even there. That serenity only lasted a few seconds- then she started to scream.”

“That brought me out of my trance. I raced towards Zarta, not thinking for a minute about what could happen to me. Sapphire had been encased in what looked like a black bubble, I tried to get through, but it was impossible. Sapphire kept screaming on the top of her lungs, obviously scared to death of what was happening in her mind. Then, everything was quiet. When I looked into her eyes, I could tell she could see me. ‘Sapphire.’ I said desperately, ‘I-I love you.’ Sapphire managed to smile through the pain. ‘I’ve always loved you too. Too bad it’s too late now.’ I panicked, telling her to calm down, trying frantically to find a way to get her out. Then, she started to scream again.”

“Her blood curdling screams continued for a few minutes, and then Zarta released her. I then watched in a sick kind of wonder as Zarta started to shrink, almost as if it was sated. As if it was full. It retracted its tentacles, and disappeared. I knew in my heart it would be back, but I couldn’t worry about that now. I walked back with Sapphire, but she didn’t talk. She was emotionless. Then, one morning I woke up to find her missing. I searched everywhere for her, then walked over to the stream we had camped by. There, I found h-her corpse floating in the water; she had obviously killed herself. I was broken.”

Celestia started crying hard, soaking Twilight’s mane.
“I’m so sorry.” said Twilight, trying hopelessly to comfort her ruler, “It will be okay. It will all be okay.” Celestia cried softly a for a little longer, then fell asleep in Twilight’s embrace.

Author's Note:

Wow, that was a long wait. Sorry guys. Thanks for the favorites! Well, we finally get to see what happened to Celestia. It made me sad just writing this, but I hope you enjoy. Please review, I really appreciate it!

Comments

[Princess_Celest1a]

4201350 thank you! I hope you like the new chapter!

[LunarEclipse53]

I love it! I hope the other chapters are quicker

[Princess_Celest1a]

4316062 thank you so much! I hope so too, haha. I just am really busy with school and stuff but I am trying to find time to work on it. Yay!

[LunarEclipse53]

4319410 no problem!
"I hope that we come into the chapter again soon!" Luna yells
Yeah so... Luna broke the fourth wall... Be right back
*runs off to fix the wall and get Luna back in equestria*