Making Sense
Celestia repetitively scanned her eyes over every word in the book in front of her. Yet, no matter how long she thought for, nothing made sense. Giving up, she let out a sigh, and set the book at the back of the cave.
"Nothing?" the draconequus asked.
"Nothing," she echoed, letting her eyes droop. "None of Starswirl's spells make any sense... why can't he just of told me this whole thing straight-forward?" The alicorn then rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, even though it wasn't visible.
Discord gave a scoff, "Says you."
Celestia turned her gaze to him. "...Meaning?" she prompted him.
"Well, from what you've told me about your oh-so-perfect world, you're not so straight-forward yourself," he explained, a smirk threatening to spread across his face.
"Name one time," she challenged.
Discord gave a surprised look, but cleared his throat. Then, in a poorly-made Twilight voice (probably because he didn't know her very well) he then said,
"But you told me it was just an old mare's tale!"
Then in her voice,
"I told you to make some friends, nothing more."
Celestia blinked. "I'm never telling you my exact words ever again..." she muttered, "okay yes, I'm subtle with Twilight's lessons. I just barely notice myself."
Her humorous tone faded as she started sinking in her own thoughts again. "It's kinda strange..."
"Hmm?" Discord's interest perked, floating over to her. Celestia waited until he was directly above her and began.
"So many ponies look up to me... like I'm their mother. Yet... they don't realize just how flawed I am."
"Pshh. The great Princess Celestia of Equestria? Flawed? Don't play with my intelligence," he gasped, managing to reach his eagle claw up to his forehead.
"That's just it. They're looking up to somepony who doesn't exist. Being a Princess doesn't stop me from being... well, me," she lifted a wing off the ground and looked at her horn.
"I became a Princess because I'm an alicorn. Not because I'm Celestia. I know how to be formal, I know how to teach lessons even, but that's about it. Nothing more, nothing that I should be able to do. Like fight a villain on my own," her mind flashed to when she stood up to Queen Chrysalis, only to be overthrown.
Discord was stuck on how he should reply. "Well... I've never really battled anyone. Yet I personally think I'm a rather good villain."
Celestia raised a brow, not at his vanity, but at his first statement. She then pointed a hoof at herself to correct him.
"I was defending myself... doesn't count. Either way, I don't need to battle everypony around me to be a good villain. You don't need to battle everyone around you to be a good hero... Princess... whatever you prefer."
At first, she was unsure about what he'd said. But thinking about it more deeply, she realized it made sense. Her ponies looked up to her because she was wise and experienced... not because she could defeat every villain around her with one zap of her horn. Twilight loved her like a mother, not a superhero. Luna loved her like a sister, not a role model.
Sure, they may see her that way, but don't love and know her that way.
"Looks like we finally found something in common with each other" she commented, giving the draconequus a smile.
"Oh great, now the universe is going to break."
---
"Enough hiding things from us Princess Cadance, nopony's seen Princess Celestia or Princess Luna for over a week!" A royal guard snarled at the alicorn upon Celestia's throne. "Tell us where they are! You must know."
Cadance panicked. What should she tell them?
"I promise you all, I haven't a clue!" she cried as a spear moved closer to her.
"Maybe Princess Cadance has imprisoned them somewhere, so that she can take over Equestria all for herself!" another guard suggested, giving a harsh glare at her.
"Now that is just ridiculous!" Cadance defended herself, "I'm very happy with just the Crystal Empire as my kingdom. Also, Celestia's job is awful, why in her name would I want it?" She raised a hoof to cover herself from the spear moving all the more closer.
"She's right... Princess Cadance is way too nice to take over Equestria," the guard holding the spear sighed, moving it slightly away from her. Cadance lowered her hoof and gave a grateful look.
"Thank you..."
"She must be the changeling Queen!" he spat as he flung the spear even closer to her, flattening her to the back of the throne.
"Look... err... I know you're worried for your Princesses and all... but don't you think you're getting a tad ridiculous?"
"Silence, Changeling. You may be able to trap Celestia and Luna somewhere, but Princess Twilight will defeat you easily!"
"Actually," another guard pointed out, "she's gone too, according to news from Ponyville."
The stallion with the spear gave an uncertain look. "Oh... Well either way, don't think your changelings can get to us, Chrysalis!"
At this point, Cadance was just annoyed. "You know, Chrysalis had a green aurora. My magic's blue," she said, demonstrating by levitating the spear out of the guards grip and threw it aside. "And you're all just acting like idiots-no offence. I really don't know where Celestia, Luna, or Twilight are right now. Either way, you should be grateful that I'm even taking the time to sit here and do my aunt's job."
The three guards looked rather guilty when she said that, passing on the same feeling to her.
"I'm just as worried as you all are. I don't know when they'll be back. Except... I'm not worried because I need them to lead me, I'm worried about them because they're my family. But family's never leave and never come back without saying goodbye... they're just somewhere right now, figuring out how to get back..."
---
"She should be around here somewhere," Applejack wondered out loud, looking around the barren and dry rock farm. "Aha! There she is."
The farm pony pointed her hoof to a pink figure in the distance, whom was hitting at something on the ground.
"Great!" Twilight grinned. "Come on let's go-" A mouth dragged at her tail, not allowing her to complete her sentence.
"Er... maybe we should approach her more... calmer?" Applejack suggested. Twilight hesitated, then shook her head.
"I want to remind her just how great it feels to be happy. I need her to be her old self again."
The mare gave a doubtful look. "But... Twilight, this is the old Pinkamena. Her happy self was... well... a one time thing. It hardly lasted four sun-hours."
She raised a brow. "But do you know just how long that was?"
Applejack gazed at the ground, then shook her head.
"That could of been a day... a week... a month... we don't know! But either way, it doesn't matter. A personality doesn't just happen like that, Applejack. It was there all along, you just need to activate it. It was just unfortunate that Nightmare Moon deactivated it. And I think I know just how she did it," she explained as she kept trotting towards the pink mare. Applejack trailed behind, but kept up with her.
"Yeah, she almost strangled her and threw her across the room," she said.
"I know... but there's something more. Something that I know Nightmare Moon and Pinkie have in common..."
The farm pony's eyes widened. "Somethin' in common? Who, beside Queen Solar Flare, would have something in common with that monster for a ruler?"
"Like I said, I'll explain everything."
Once Twilight said that, Applejack stopped asking questions, to her relief. They kept trotting towards the alternate Pinkie, slowing their pace as they were mere lengths away.
"Follow my lead," Twilight instructed. The farm pony gave an accepting nod. The alicorn stopped just behind the pink mare, before taking a deep breath to start speaking.
"Um... hello?" she began. A small gasp escaped the mare, before she whipped her head around to face them.
"What?!" she hissed. Her bitter tone made Twilight flinch.
"Erm... you're Pinkamena right?"
"And?" Pinkamena turned her full body toward them.
Twilight nervously rubbed her hoof on her leg. "Help me out AJ," she rasped in her friend's ear, stuck where to go to next. Applejack gave an uncertain look, then took a step forward.
"Pinkamena, the Princess here wants to talk to you," she highlighted the word. The flat-maned pony gave a quizzical look, then moved her eyes up and down at Twilight. Surprise struck her when she noticed the horn and wings both on the same body, but her expression didn't turn into excitement. Instead, it transformed into a burning hatred. Pinkamena pressed her muzzle up to her own, and glared straight into her eyes.
"Yeah? What did I do wrong this time?" she growled. Seeing Pinkie staring at her with nothing but bitterness was rather terrifying.
"Nothing! Nothing at all, you never did anything your whole life!" Twilight gasped.
Though Pinkamena's gaze calmed once she said that, there was still no welcoming atmosphere around her. "Well, I clearly have, haven't I? Though, of course, you wouldn't know what I'm talking about if you're not from here."
Twilight blinked as she moved away from her face. "Actually, I do. Applejack told me all about-" she was stopped by a hoof slamming on her mouth.
"She means, she doesn't rule here, but she knows a heck of a lot of stuff about ya!" Applejack nervously laughed, before leaning to Twilight's ear, "She doesn't like it when ponies talk about that event... her reaction's never great either."
The alicorn gave her a subtle nod before her gaze returned to Pinkie, who was rather confused.
"Where you eavesdropping on the Queens or something? So they like to talk about it for a joke huh?" she grunted.
"...Yeah, let's go with that." Twilight shrugged, "and before you ask, I am indeed here for a reason."
"What reason could that be?" she prompted, not acting all that interested, however. She started playing catch with herself, using a rock as a ball.
"Well, I know I said I don't rule around here, which I don't. And I don't belong here, but I'm stuck here. And I must ask..." she gulped, knowing her reply wouldn't be good, "Equestria clearly isn't doing well right now. Why don't you help?"
Pinkamena's eyes widened. For a few moments, she was stuck for an answer, but then she gave an aggressive huff.
"Did you not just say you knew about what happened?" she growled.
"Yes, I'm totally aware of it. But just because of one small event.... doesn't mean it should stop you from-"
"Listen Princess!" she stuffed her cracked hoof in her mouth to shut her up. "What I've learned is, not matter what I do, no matter how hard I try... all my good deeds go down the drain. The Queen was right about happiness being worthless, because in a world like this, it is! I can't change anything. I tried, I failed. I nearly got killed."
Twilight's eyes glistened, then she gave a sigh when Pinkamena removed her hoof from her mouth. A few moments of silence passed by, and it surprised her when Applejack was the next one to speak.
"Y'all still have your cutie mark though," her voice quaked, like she was scared of something. Pinkamena glanced at the mark on her flank, then returned a burning gaze at the other farm pony.
"I know. I have a useless talent. Thanks for reminding me!" she growled, before turning her back on the two. But Applejack was stubborn, and she wasn't backing down.
"There's no such thing as a useless talent. That's like putting the words 'dark light' together. Pinkie-"
"Don't call me that!" she spat, without even turning around.
"No, Pinkie, I won't. You know you like that name, you like it better than your real name, because it represents you better. The happy you. The optimistic you, why can't y' accept that?" Just by looking at her, Twilight could tell Applejack, though scared of the upcoming reply, knew every word she said was true.
Pinkie's head drooped. Neither of them could tell what her expression was, what impact those words had on her. Until finally, a whimper escaped her.
"I'm scared."
The two other mares stared at her, then at each other. Again, Applejack took the next move.
"We all are though, sugarcube," she put a hoof on her shoulder to make her look up, as if they were close friends already.
Who says they never were...?
"We're all controlled by Queen Nightmare Moon and Queen Solar Flare. But... that doesn't mean we should just accept it. Of course though, we all have. We're not just scared - we're terrified. There have been ponies who have stood up to those two tyrants, many whom we don't even know the name of, since they never succeeded."
"Exactly," Pinkamena sighed.
"I think i know why they failed," Twilight said, trotting up to them both.
"Why?" Applejack blinked.
"...They went alone. They thought they could do it single-hoofed, but I know very well... that's never the way." Twilight knew very well who exactly she was talking about. "That's why I need you," she gave a pleading gaze to them both, "I can't stop Nightmare Moon and Solar Flare alone, alicorn or not."
Pinkamena's face was unreadable. "Why us?"
Twilight chuckled, "Spoilers."
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Dammit Twilight...
Thank you so very much for that Doctor Who reference
Just read through the whole of this in one sitting. This is a fantastic story and my only disappointment is that there isn't more of it to read. Well done writing this, the only issue I can see are grammar errors here and there, but that happens to everyone.
Hey! Your dialogue was much more fleshed out this chapter
You are on the right path.
Wait, how did Pinkie not know this was going to happen? Especially with that one scene where she said exactly why Twilight was there in Equestria Girls?
5084170
Either she was actively ignoring her Pinkie Sense so as not to attract the Queens attention......or Nightmare Moon may have done something to her beyond just tossing her around.
5084170 simple, that power of her's is only in use when she believes she can bring happiness to somepony. THis one doesn't currently believe it so she's currently in Pinkamena mode not Pinkie.
5083856 Woohoo!
5084170 Yep, what Admiral said. With the Pinkie Sense etc, we all say, "It's Pinkie Pie, Don't question it." This ain't Pinkie here.
Even if she did though, I don't think she'd bother with it.
5083825 Eeeee thank chu
amazing story o.0 excited for more :3
and i gave the 100th like :DD
5095428 YEAAAH 100 likes!
5095635 do i get a cookie ? :D
5095681 Yes, here's your cookie!
*Gives cookie*