Epilogue: The Lost Family
Child of Misery
By Nebula Star
Epilogue: The Family Lost
***
“So how's that form working out for you, Spike?" Celestia asked as he laid down in front of the fire in the Princesses' sitting room, sporting his new younger form. He was just slightly larger than the average pony, but with a lithe, almost aggressive looking build. He could still balance on two legs just fine, but preferred standing on all fours. As he'd wanted, he still had his wings, folded tightly against his sides. Unlike his full adult form, his scales weren't black, but were once again purple, though it was a darker shade than it had been before. His spines were still a slightly darker shade of green as well.
It had been just over a week since Achlys had been defeated, and though Discord had once again been released from his stone prison, for the third time, things were finally starting to settle down in the city. He'd been rather cross with Luna, not because of being imprisoned, but because he'd missed seeing the look on Celestia's face when Luna, as Nightmare Moon, had confronted her.
With things getting back to normal though, Spike had come with Twilight to visit the princesses as well as her family.
Spike grinned, stretching his wings before folding them again to his sides. “Well, I'm getting a lot more attention from the mares around Ponyville.”
Luna laughed. “I'll bet. Even I'll admit, you are quite the handsome young drake.”
His grin broadened. “But otherwise it's been pretty nice. I can reach most of the shelves in the Library now without using the ladder. And I can keep up with the others now without getting winded.” He looked over at Twilight mischievously. “I do miss riding Twilight around.”
Twilight snorted. “Yeah, that would look pretty awkward now. Not to mention I doubt I could carry you for long anyway.” Her eyes widened realizing what she'd said. “Not that you're overweight!” she added quickly. “You're actually quite hansom...” Her face became a few shades darker as she trailed off, biting her lower lip.
He just grinned understandingly. She was still getting use to her assistant's sudden jump in maturity.
“Well that's good to hear,” Celestia said smiling. “Just tell me if you have any problems, and if you feel like you're started to grow too big again, I'll gladly recast the spell.”
“Twilight already locked my age, so that shouldn't be a problem.” Spike told her waving his claw dismissively. “But thanks.”
“Locked?” Celestia repeated, confused. “How?”
“Uh, yeah, that's actually why I wanted to see you both. You see, I... well, it seems the Tree of Harmony gave me a bit more than just a life and body of my own,” Twilight told them, sounding a little nervous about how they were going to react. “I think it also gave me Achlys's knowledge as well as her power.”
“Really?” Celestia asked, sounding stunned.
Twilight nodded. “After you transformed Spike, I realized that I knew some age spells as well... Seventeen different age spells, that do everything from making somepony age in reverse, or simply changing their age, to locking a pony, or dragon, at a certain age. And that's just the beginning.
“When I really started thinking about it, I realized that I suddenly knew so much more about magic than I had ever imagined, and not only that but I found I had far more power at my disposal to apply that knowledge.”
“That's incredible,” Celestia said softly, then smiled. “But I can't think of a better pony than you to be entrusted with that kind of power.”
Twilight blushed. “Thanks. But, I'm worried; the Tree of Harmony has only ever given us just what we'd need for the challenges we've faced. I'm scared of what might be coming that the tree believes I'll need this power...”
“That is a worrisome thought.” Luna agreed softly and Celestia nodded as well.
“But try not to dwell on it, Twilight,” Celestia advised. “Just as you said, the tree gives us what we'll need to face the challenges that come our way. So I'm sure if something does come up, we'll be able to handle it.”
“I hope so. In any case I know so much more now; it's going to take me some time just to sort through it all. And I've already 'remembered' a lot of spells that... well, I don't think I'll ever use, and a few I'd never want to.” Twilight grimaced as she thought of what a few spells she'd remembered where meant to do.
“I understand your concern, Twilight. Achlys wasn't really one to be held back by morals. Don't be afraid to use the knowledge, though. I trust your judgment.” Celestia looked over at her sister. “I am curious, however, with all that knowledge, do you think you could change Luna back to normal?”
Twilight thought for a moment, searching through her new-found knowledge. “Well, the change in appearance is a side effect of the strengthening of her bond to the dream realm.” She looked over at Luna. “Unfortunately, your bond to the dream realm is naturally stronger toward the nightmare side. That's why you can draw more power from nightmares than other dreams. And also why your appearance is more on the, well, darker side. Anyway, if your bond to the dream realm were to be changed back to the way it was, that would change you back. That's the only way I can think of.”
“No,” Luna said simply causing Celestia to look over at her.
“Luna, don't you want to be changed back to normal?”
“Not if means giving up this power,” Luna told her simply.
Celestia gave her an admonishing look. “Luna, you don't need it.”
“This is my choice, Tia. I'm not going to give up this power.”
“But you had a hard enough time getting ponies to accept you before, it will be even worse now...”
Luna looked at her coldly. “Then I will deal with it.”
“But...”
“There is nothing inherently evil about this power!” Luna cut her off. “I can do a lot of good with it. I may not need it, but I want it, and I'm willing to pay the price. This. Is. My. Choice.”
“Luna...” Celestia took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “Twilight, are you sure there's no side effects from strengthening Luna's dream bond?”
Twilight looked between them. “Well, from what I know now, dream magic is harmony and chaos. Luna's connection being more toward the nightmare side of dreams lets her draw more power from chaos. At the same time though she wouldn't be able to control it without the harmony she can wield as well. Only Discord can, well, not control, but wield pure chaos. But by mixing the two together it essentially tames the chaos, so in the end it's just magic energy for her to control. It shouldn't have any affect on her or her behavior aside from appearance. So, no, there shouldn't be any side effects.”
Celestia sighed, having hoped there would be a danger, some reason to convince Luna to let Twilight change her back.
“Are you sure about this though, Luna?” Twilight asked. “I mean, you're right, it's your choice. But ponies are definitely going to be nervous to be around you looking like that. If you want, you could use an illusion spell.”
She shook her head. “No, an illusion would cause more problems than it's worth. If I were ever caught, ponies would assume I was trying to hide something far more sinister. I know that this appearance will make ponies scared of me again, but I'm willing to deal with that. It's better that I be open and honest about it. They will get use to my appearance in time.”
Twilight slowly nodded. “Well, alright... If you change your mind though, I can reverse it any time.”
“I'll keep that in mind. So, you come across anything fun or interesting in your new knowledge?” She asked to change the subject.
Twilight laughed. “Oh, plenty. One of the most interesting things though is an imprisonment spell that I think must have been what they used to hold the alicorns of the Imperium. I bet when Starswirl and the mortal coalition started imprisoning the other alicorns that she did some research on the spell they were using. Except... I don't see why it took Achlys so long to break it...”
“You have that backwards.” Spike told her. “Achlys was the one who taught the mortals the imprisonment spell.”
Twilight looked at him surprised. “But why would she teach them how to imprison alicorns?”
He laughed. “Because she didn't care about them and she could have broken out of that spell in a couple weeks, tops. That spell was used on the rest of the Imperium, not her. Haven't you wondered why I was imprisoned with Achlys? They believed the alicorns could reincarnate themselves and so thought they had to imprison them, but that wouldn't have protected me. So why did they? Why do you think they didn't just kill me?”
“Actually, I never did think about that,” Celestia said thoughtfully. “But that's true. Why didn't they just kill you?”
Spike smiled. “Starswirl was very clever, and yes, Twilight, I met him quite a few times.” Twilight's eyes bugged out but Spike went on before she could say anything. “He knew where the spell had come from, Achlys had taught it to him herself. He knew very well that it wouldn't hold her for long. So when they finally did go after and capture Achlys, they first captured me. Starswirl then modified the imprisonment spell and made it to draw on my magic to imprison Achlys. Dragon magic is far more raw and untamed, more elemental, than pony magic. By using my magic in the imprisonment spell, he made it far less predictable and far more difficult to break without being able to sense magic. So it wasn't so much that I was imprisoned with Achlys, as it was that I was a part of the prison.”
Twilight tapped her chin with one hoof thoughtfully. “That is clever...”
Spike nodded. “Starswirl was the only mortal I know of that ever managed to earn Achlys's respect.”
“And you're going to tell me all about him, right?” Twilight said with a grin.
He laughed. “I'll tell you about him later. But you know, most the things you know him for are things he did after Achlys and I were imprisoned. He lived another eight hundred years after all.”
“Yeah, I've always wondered how he lived so long. Do you know?”
“He was what they called back then a half-blood unicorn, or a wingless alicorn,” Spike explained. “Basically he was enough alicorn to have extended life and very powerful magic, but he was not truly immortal, and of course, no wings.”
“I never knew that was possible,” Twilight said softly.
Celestia laughed slightly. “Actually, Twilight, that's what I thought you were when I first made you my student. That's why I believed you could become an alicorn. I wasn't completely accurate, but obviously close enough, since you did ascend.”
Twilight sighed and nodded. “Yeah...”
Celestia looked over at her noticing the odd tone in her voice and smiled understandingly. “Nervous about later?”
Twilight nodded, lowering her eyes to the floor.
Reaching out with one wing, Celestia gently touched her shoulder. “They'll understand, Twilight.”
“I hope so.”
~~~
“Are you sure you want to do this, Twi?” Spike asked softly as they made their way along the streets of Canterlot. Luckily nopony they'd passed had made the connection between Spike as he was now and the full size black dragon that had helped the usurper take over the city only a little over a week before.
Twilight looked over at him and sighed heavily. “It would be so easy just to keep it all a secret, wouldn't it.” Since they had already let slip that Twilight had been killed before her resurrection the princess's had made public that Twilight had been killed and then reborn through the Tree of Harmony. But as for Twilight's true origin, that they were keeping a closely guarded secret.
“But they deserve to know the truth.” She looked up and saw their destination ahead. Her family's home... at least, the home of the ponies she'd believed to be her family from her earliest memories.
“Twi, they're still your family, you know...” Spike said as if he knew what she was thinking then put his wing around her hugging her to his side. As he was a bit bigger than her now, it was surprisingly comforting.
“Twily!”
A small smile touched her lips for a moment as she recognized the voice of Shining Armor. Looking up she saw him and Cadence standing in front of the house waiting for her.
“Spike, is that you!?” Cadence gasped as Spike refolded his wing. “Look at you!”
“Yeah, no kidding, Spike. That's quite a growth spurt!” Shining agreed then turned back to Twilight catching her in an embrace. “It's good to see you, Twily. We were horrified when we heard what happened.”
Twilight sighed, “Yeah...”
He stepped back and looked at her concerned. “Is something wrong?”
She nodded. “I'll tell you inside.”
Shining and Cadence exchanged worried looks then glanced at Spike as if to see if he had the answer.
“Let's get inside.” Spike told them.
Shining nodded and opened the door, clearly wanting to know what was wrong. “Mom, dad, they're here.”
“Twilight!?” A mares voice came from just inside. The moment Twilight stepped inside, she found herself being crushed in her mother's hooves. “You're really alright! Celestia told us what happened.” Twilight hugged her back.
“I'm alright now,” she assured Twilight Velvet. “The Tree of Harmony brought me back. I'm alright...” Guiltily she realized Velvet was trembling. Knowing what she was there to tell them, how much it would hurt them... Twilight almost lost her nerve right then.
“It's good to see you're alright, Twilight.” A new voice said and Twilight looked up over Velvet's shoulder to see Night Light entering the room from the kitchen. He didn't hesitate in joining his wife embracing both Twilights. After a moment though he released them again. “Well, let's not keep them standing in the door, hun.
“Yes, sorry, come on in.” Velvet said smiling as she stepped back, letting Twilight pass and Spike was finally able to enter as well.
Velvet let out a gasp seeing him, “Spike? Is that you?”
He smiled. “Yeah, it's me. Good to see you, Velvet.”
“Wow, Spike, you've really grown lad,” Night Light said surprised as well.
He smirked. “Actually this was really kind of a downgrade, but I asked for it, so it's okay.”
“Downgrade?” Night Light asked raising a brow.
“We'll explain later,” Twilight told him softly. “For now, can we all sit down. I have something I need to tell you all.”
“What's wrong, Twilight?” Velvet asked looking concerned. “Is it about what happened?”
“Yes...” Twilight said lowering her eyes to the floor. “You'd better sit down, this won't be easy for you to hear.”
Velvet stared at her worried, for a few moments more, then reluctantly nodded and took a seat on the living-room couch with Night Light. Shining and Cadence appropriately took the love seat, leaving the chair across from them for Twilight, though she doubted she could sit still just then. Spike decided to curl up in front of the fire place though there was no fire. Twilight just moved to the center of the room in front of them all. She took a deep breath looking around at them, terrified of how they'd react but knowing deep down that she had to tell them.
“Spike.”
He nodded, knowing what she wanted. Raising one fore-claw, he began making a circular motion in the air and as he did, the air around his claw began to glow with his magic focusing into an orb at the center. Finally he tossed the orb up into the air and it burst, flooding the room with the spell which caused the air to shimmer briefly then faded away completely.
“What was that!?” Shining exclaimed.
“A ward against eavesdropping. We don't have to worry about being overheard now, it blocks sound and all forms of magical surveillance. Nopony alive could get through my spell, except for Twilight. Not without me knowing anyway.” He grinned proudly.
“But when did you learn that kind of magic? I thought your fire breath was the only magic dragons had!”
“I'll explain later,” Spike told him. “For now, you'd better just listen to Twilight.”
All eyes turned to Twilight then and she took a deep breath thinking of how to begin. “What Celestia told you was the truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. What she didn't tell you, is that she had encountered Achlys before.
“Twenty-four years ago, Achlys attacked Canterlot along with her black dragon, Deimos. They were weak at the time, having just escaped from their imprisonment, so Celestia and the guard were able to drive them off. Celestia wasn't willing to let them roam freely through Equestria, however. She took three hundred of the Royal Guard and went after her, chasing her down. In the end, Celestia nearly defeated Achlys, but she got away, and only Celestia came back alive...”
“Are you talking about the Fetlock hills incident?” Shining asked.
Twilight nodded, she'd asked Celestia about every detail of what had happened.
“I've never heard of it before.” Cadence said glancing at Shining.
“You would have been just a foal at the time,” Night Light told her. “Most don't like to talk about it much because almost everyone in Canterlot lost someone in that battle. I lost two friends myself...”
Twilight winced. How could she not have realized that Night Light or Velvet might have known someone Achlys had killed?
“I only know about it because they teach all the recruits about it to show that the princesses are not all powerful. You'd be surprised how many recruits come in believing they'll never be in any real danger because the princesses will protect Equestria,” He glanced at Twilight then seeming to realize he'd interrupted. “Sorry, so the Fetlock hills incident was the first time Celestia fought Achlys?”
Twilight nodded. “Achlys was badly wounded, but managed to escape with the help of the black dragon, Deimos. She knew she'd need time to recover, years, possibly even decades, and she needed to remain hidden; she couldn't afford to have Celestia find her. So she devised a plan to hide herself in plain sight, where nopony would ever suspect.
“She transformed herself into a unicorn foal, and placed herself in the care of a loving family. She altered public records and implanted memories into their minds of a pregnancy and birth that never happened. Once everything was arranged, she created an artificial soul from a fragment of her own that she placed in control of her body as a mask for her to hide behind...” Twilight took a deep breath, not daring to look at any of them. “That artificial soul, was me.”
“What!?” Shining breathed.
“No! That can't...” Velvet gasped. “What are you saying, Twilight?”
Twilight didn't open her eyes. She was afraid of seeing the pain she knew her words were bringing all of them. “I'm not really your daughter, you never had another foal after Shining.”
“That's impossible! I remember...!”
“Achlys implanted those memories in your mind along with everypony around you.” Twilight told her, tears in her own eyes.
“Twily, this can't be true...” Shining said softly as Night Light tried to comfort Velvet while struggling with the news himself.
“It is... I'm sorry; I thought that you deserved to know the truth,” She kept her eyes closed and her head down, still unable to bring herself to look at them.
For a few moments the room was silent, the only sound that of Velvet, clearly in tears. It tore at Twilight's heart, but she knew deep down that she couldn't have been happy keeping the truth from them. “I'll let you have some time to think...”
She went to leave, but before she could even reach the door, Velvet leaped forward and threw her hooves around her.
“No!” She cried, clinging to Twilight. “I don't care if it's true! I don't care! It doesn't matter where you came from, you're still my daughter!”
“But...”
“It doesn't matter!”
“Mom's right.” Shining said, making her look up at him in surprise. “It doesn't matter where you came from, you're still our Twily.”
“But I...”
“Are you going to tell us that all the years we grew up together, all the times we spent together as a family, that they're all fake memories as well?”
“Well, no, after everything was in place, Achlys didn't interfere anymore.” Twilight admitted.
“See, you're still our Twily, and you always will be.” Shining said as he joined Velvet embracing her.
“I... I thought you'd be angry...” Twilight said softly.
“Why would we be angry with you?” Velvet asked. “Did you know...?”
“No! I had no idea she was there until she woke up...”
She smiled. “Then there's no reason we should be angry with you,” she said firmly, giving Twilight a squeeze. “I don't care if the memories of your birth are fake; they're real enough for me. And it's all the memories that come after that are most important, anyway.”
“But, I...”
“Twilight, listen to your mother,” Night Light told her, smiling as he joined the rest of the family, followed closely by Cadence.
Twilight smiled then opened her wings, wrapping them around her family as much as she could, tears rolling down her cheeks for the joy in her heart.
“Well I guess Celestia gets to say 'I told you so.'” Spike said with a grin, still lying in front of the fireplace.
“Spike, get over here!” Cadence said with a laugh, “You're a part of this family too!”
He laughed but got to his feet. “Alright, but Twilight's going to owe me for dragging me into all this mushy stuff.”
Twilight just looked up at him as he wrapped his wings around them all and smiled, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks. “I thought I'd lost my family...” She whispered softly giving in to the embrace.
“We'll always be your family, Twilight,” Velvet told her firmly. “Nothing will ever change that.”
With a sniff, Twilight wrapped her hooves around Velvet and tightened her wings around her father and brother. She knew who she was, and who she would always be. She was Twilight Sparkle, and she was home.
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Comma between :lithe" and "almost"
Put "as well" at the end of the sentence.
comma after "grinned"
Comma after "well"
:eyeroll:
Handsome, not hansom. That "d" isn't silent, yknow.
most of the shelves
"riding Twilight around" just looks weird to me. I'd say use "I do miss riding around on Twilight's back".
comma before "confused"
comma after "them"
comma after "asked"
Twilight grimaced as she thought of a few spells she'd remembered were meant to do
Unfortunately, your bond
Comma before "Worried"
comma before "leaving"
Probably should be a period instead of a comma.
"Twlight, listen to your mother," Night Light interrupted, smiling as he said it. He then joined the rest of the family
Also, Blue Mage is a true Blue Mage. Calling it even if I'm obviously wrong.
5167128
Well I guess that's what I get for doing my editing pass on my lunch break at work. Thanks again for pointing out those errors.
I don't know of a canon character named Blue Mage, so no, that's not who it is.
No, not Blue Mage as a canon character, I mean the FF job Blue Mage.
Also, when you say this was your spectulation on what was in the box, were you saying that it was literally Twilight herself in there, or the power necessary to revive Twilight as a completely separate being from Achlys with the latter's power and knowledge due to the mixing and such?
5169938
Mainly the power to revive Twilight. The whole idea of Twilight being a part of Achlys actually came later. The starting idea was that Twilight would die somehow early in the story, then the box would contain the power to bring her back.
And let me guess: Achlys isn't dead yet and she's going to free the other imprisoned alicorns. Or they're going to escape by themselves.
Where is the sequel to this thing?
7384514
Well, even if she were still alive, there's no way she would free the other alicorns. She's very proud of being an alicorn; in fact, she's so proud that she sees any alicorn that doesn't dedicate their lives to mastering their powers as an alicorn and living up to their full potential, as a disgrace. Which basically includes every other member of the Alicorn Imperium as well as pretty much every alicorn alive, save one.
As for the sequel, it's in the works and I've got about 4 chapters written, but I wanted to be a bit further along before I started posting it. In addition there's also a prequel planned that I've just got the summary for right now. That one will be focused on Achlys and her role in the purge. I'm planning a little different style of storytelling for that one, since it will have to cover multiple decades.
7385124 So her ego is so inflated that stops just shy of a god complex? Also, how many chapters are you planning to make before uploading the story?
Well, it was good, I have to say it...
If the main OCs in this story and the sequel were voiced, what would they sound like?
9106586
That's always hard to describe. Most the time it's easiest to compare them to a well known celebrity. Unfortunately I am horrible at remembering celebrity's names... I just remember the characters.
In this story, there's just Achlys and Diemos really and Diemos is really just an older Spike. But that would still make quite a difference in his voice, being an adult. It would be far deeper with only hints of his younger voice.
As for Achlys, I actually always imagined her sounding a lot like Tempest Shadow did, though this was well before the movie. The arrogance she showed, along with hints of amusement at her enemies failings were very close to how I imagined Achlys.
In Blue Mage I added Vele'Rekaj and Captain Feather. For Captain Feather, I haven't really thought about it much, She's a relatively new character and one that's going to have multiple incarnations in different stories going forward. Thinking about it; she'd sound a lot like Riza Hawkeye from the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series. (The English dub, I don't do subtitles...)
As for Rekaj; sticking with Fullmetal, he'd sound a lot like Roy Mustang, but with a bit more playful of an attitude.
Well that was a very nice story.
Great story! I just recently came across the new one yesterday. I got some catching up to do😁
A wonderful read from start to finish.
I really thought Twilight was lost until... yeah, no spoilers. Lol