Sunrise
“Sister…” Luna whispered, coming to stand beside Celestia, staring out the large window. They were at the top of the library tower, with three slumbering mares curled up on Twilight’s bed on the floor below them. Night had long since fallen by the time Twilight was finished telling her convoluted, impossible tale, and the injured mare had been almost unable to speak for yawning by the end.
Princess Luna had disappeared briefly, at about the time that Twilight had spoken of their short meeting, both to avoid the furious glare leveled at her by both Valiant and Celestia, and to raise the moon for the night. The powerful energies of the spell made all three magical ponies groan in pain, the strength of the magic rubbing along raw pathways. It had been agonizing for Luna, at the epicenter of the emanations, to keep her mind focused on completing the spell. When she had finished and walked wearily back to the small circle around Twilight’s bed though, Celestia just nodded her head, obviously feeling that her sister had already been punished enough.
Now, near midnight, the two sister’s stared out of the window in silence. The gleaming light of a billion tiny stares reflected off their eyes, and the sight made Luna smile. How many years had she spent on the moon, staring out into the void? The stars, her stars, had been her only company on that barren rock, and they would always be her dearest, oldest friends. Even more than her sister, the stars had comforted through the centuries, and they were her greatest gift to ponykind. Now, once again, she sought their silent, unwavering support.
“I knew that she was powerful, Luna” Celestia said. Her voice was quiet, but utterly calm. Tilting her head slightly, Luna looked over at her sister. She could see emotions flickering in her starry eyes, one after another, but Celestia’s voice never wavered. “When I first met her, she was in the middle of her exam.”
“Exam?”
“Hm? Oh,” Celestia winced, and smiled apologetically at Luna. “After you left, I set up a school for gifted unicorns. The entrance exams were notoriously difficult, only one or two students a generation were able to pass it. Twilight was… not doing well.
“She was unsure of herself, I could see that. I could see the magic she was trying to do, the sparks were flying from her horn like a fountain. That exam was particularly cruel, she was given a dragon egg to hatch. Nopony expected any of the hopefuls to actually do it, they just wanted to see the power and ingenuity of the test takers. So I didn’t step in, I just watched her from the doorway.”
Celestia chuckled, and a fond smile quirked her lips. She turned back to the window, and sighed happily. For a moment, Luna wished her sister were asleep, so that she could see the memory that made her smile so sweetly. She didn’t push her though, the dark mare just turned to look over her shoulder, searching for their companion while her sister lost herself to memory.
Valiant was, to Luna’s silent delight, curled in a corner nearby, dozing lightly. Her nose was close to her bright blue tail, and the fine hairs floated gently on the soft gusts of her breaths. It was adorable, Luna thought, to see the usually stoic unicorn sleeping like a filly. She never let herself show any kind of weakness in front of her Princess, but Luna thought that she could forgive the poor mare. After all, Valiant hadn’t slept a wink since Luna had spent them all back to Canterlot. The guard captain had stood vigil over Celestia day and night for almost two days straight, and had nearly taken the head off of the page who came to check on the Princess’s recovery. It seemed that the excitement and sleep deprivation had finally caught up to her though.
“You have no idea how cute she was, Luna.” Celestia spoke, still gazing back through time. Princess Luna’s head snapped back to stare at her sister though, and she waited for the rest of the story. “She was a little filly, dropped off by her parents that morning. Orion was so proud of his little girl, and so was Velvet. That their only daughter was able to qualify for the exam at all was an amazing accomplishment, both for her and for them as parents. I could tell that Twilight would do anything to avoid letting them down.
“So she kept pushing. It was like there was a great wall, Luna. A wall that separated her from the world, and she kept attacking it. Those were her own barriers, the ones she cast instinctively almost as soon as she was born. They were so strong Luna, so strong. She couldn’t tear them down, and it was frustrating her. I could see her crying as she tried over and over, and kept failing. Sparks were flying, but nothing was happening.
“One of the things the examiners do is to never show their approval. The sniff, and act like they aren’t impressed at all, no matter what is done. It helps them see how the foals react to stress and fear. I could tell that they were impressed, I could feel the weight of her magic from the door. That alone would have gotten her in, but they still acted disapproving.”
“I’m sure Twilight took that well.” Luna commented drily, thinking back on her limited experience with the young mare.
“Quiet.” Celestia said, matching Luna’s dry tone and smile. She cut her eyes over to her sister, and the smile widened. “Then she got scared. I found out later what caused it, but at the time, we were all shocked. Out of nowhere, there was a bang, and it made everypony jump.”
“What was it?”
“Rainbow Dash. The filly had pushed herself to her limits, and done something unheard of. She was moving at the speed of sound, sister. It was a sonic Rainboom, like the one we saw at her friend’s wedding.”
Luna winced, remembering the thundering sound as the Wonderbolt had shot overhead, an explosion of light bursting over their head as a rainbow trailed in her wake. The sound was terrific, and had made everypony jerk then too. “Oh dear. How did Twilight take that?”
“She broke through the barrier.”
“What?”
“The shock was enough to let her fear and worry fade away. Without the stress, she broke through the barrier and her spell took form. The dragon egg did more than hatch. She cast a time spell, sister, as a filly. The dragon egg hatched, and then aged into an adult in several seconds, hundreds of years in a moment.”
“Light!” Luna gasped. A time spell, of any kind, was one of the most powerful spells in existence. While technically simple, all you were doing was increasing or decreasing the passage of time in an area, the raw power that the spell took was enormous. You could move a small mountain with the energy that only a few minutes of time travel used. To pass centuries was something that she doubted that even she could do without preparations. “She survived that? That must have gotten their attention.”
“Quite. Spike’s head was about three stories above the roof of the tower.” Celestia chuckled. “They were a little busy though. Twilight wasn’t exactly in control anymore though. They were still trying to figure out why they were potted plants now though, so I guess I can forgive them for not taking notes.”
“What did you do?”
“What would you have done? I walked into the room, and threw a shield around her. When it was curbed, her magic receded back into its usual limits, and then I changed everything back to the way it was. Well, almost everything. I couldn’t bring myself to reverse the age spell completely, so I just turned Spike into a newly hatched dragon. Then I told Twilight she was not only accepted, but that I was going to make her my personal student. But you see Luna? DO you see why, no matter how fantastic her story, I can’t disbelieve her? She was casting some of the most powerful magic we know of as a filly. I don’t doubt that if she wanted, and I taught her how, she could move the sun and the moon herself.”
“Yes, but the spell she cast on the Everfree… Sister, that is black magic, evil magic.”
“No, it isn’t Luna. She wasn’t lying when she told you it was a ward.”
“Sister, I know…” Luna hesitated. She was silent long enough that Celestia once more turned her head to look at her younger sister. “I know you love her. Don’t,” She said, seeing Celestia open her mouth to argue. “I know you do. But love or not, sister, that was not some simple ward. Her spell killed everything in the Forest, except for those two.”
Celestia followed Luna’s nodded, seeing the two mares snuggled up on either side of the pale unicorn. Pinkie and Nolux had crawled up on either side of the large bed a few minutes after Twilight had finished her story, and all three of them had fallen asleep in moments, the earthpony and the zebra slowly inching their way closer to their friend as they slept.
“Luna, it was a ward. It was a spell she created as a filly.”
“She used that as a filly?” Luna gasped, horrified. “And you didn’t stop her.”
“I did,” Celestia snapped, turning to face Luna fully for the first time since they had left Twiight’s bedside. “I made her swear never to use it again Luna. But it wasn’t designed to kill, Twilight made it to power spells.”
“How?”
Celestia sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know, Twilight never explained the mechanics to me. From what I have seen though, it absorbs any kind of energy that strikes it, and anything inside it. She used it for the first time on Midsummer’s Night, she said it was a present for me. She made a small bubble with the ward, and then told me to wait.” Celestia smiled, remembering. “It was amazing. As soon as the wind picked up, the little ball started to get bigger and bigger. It was taking in the energy of the wind, the force of it hitting the outer layer, and the heat of the air moving. It got bigger and bigger, and I could see little drops of water forming on it. They froze after a second, and fell to the ground as little, perfect raindrops of ice. They were beautiful. We didn’t know what would happen to something living, until a bee flew into it. It died instantly, and froze and fell to the ground. Really, we were lucky, it was only a few feet from where we were, Light only knows what would have happened if it had touched us.”
“But then why would she use it again. If it isn’t black magic, then it is the next thing to it. And this time, she knew that it would kill whatever was in its path.”
“I think… I think she knew that. I think that she did that on purpose. By then she had to know about Her, and she would have figured out the Mirror. Luna, she is so smart, it’s scary sometimes. I think she built the ward as another layer of defense, something to stop any part of Acshina from escaping. It would drain the energy leaking from the Mirror, and anything that touched the barrier. It’s the perfect prison, one for her body, and the other for her power.”
“Oh.” Luna murmured, thinking about it. It was an elegant solution, she had to admit. The energy flow would never be able build up enough to penetrate the thick barrier before the ward itself absorbed the energy. Twilight had finally trapped that beast for good. As much as she hated to admit it, Luna couldn’t deny that even as horrible as it was to kill the Forest, it was better than letting that beast loose ever again. Only the tiniest portion of her power had seeped into Luna a thousand years ago, and it had nearly destroyed Equestria by creating Nightmare Moon.
Both mares fell silent again, turning back to the stars. The moon was beginning to run low on the horizon, and Luna knew that they would need to raise the sun soon. Before she could suggest that they leave the tower, and return to their own towers, something occurred to her.
“Celestia. You said that the ward was draining the power?”
“Yes, of course. What of it?”
“It cannot take much power to maintain the ward, even on such a scale. So where is all the excess magic?”
“I can answer that.” A soft voice spoke, and both alicorns started in surprise. They turned as one, and looked at the little unicorn who had silently appeared behind them. Taking a quick glance over the balcony, Luna inhaled sharply. There was no doubt that Twilight was standing only a few feet away from them. She was also lying peacefully on the bed.
“Don’t worry, I’m still asleep.” The Twilgiht beside them said. “This isn’t really me, it’s a projection of my mind. Kind of like a walking, talking dream.”
“But how-“
“I’ll explain later, Princess.” The Twilight image said, bowing to the startled black mare.
Celestia was surprised as well, but she had long ago stopped trying to anticipate just what her student could do. Instead, she cleared her throat and said, “What is it you wanted to say, Twilight?”
“Oh, just that I was going to explain how the ward worked, on a larger scale. You see, I found something beneath Equestria.”
“The Crystal Empire.” Both alicorn’s said, nodding. Twilight nodded too, smiling.
“Of course you two know it. Anyway, we all know that the Empire died out a long time ago. Their tunnels though, are still fully functioning.”
“You used the gem magicks?” Celestia said, taking her time as she connected the dots. “You were storing the magic for something?”
“Am storing,” Twilight corrected gently. Her dark purple eyes were glowing with excitement as she continued to lecture. “I know you probably remember this, but I’d like to refresh your memory on a few points. There are two kinds of gems, prisms and lenses. A prism is a gem that only stores energy, in amazing quantities. Even a small prism can store as much energy as most unicorn’s use in their lifetimes. Well, the Crystal Caverns as made almost entirely out of prisms. Even almost empty, there was so much power that it could rival one of you.
“The second kind of gem though, is the important one. A lens stone works just like a glass lens, which is where the glass gets its name. It can focus and direct an amazing amount of power into a single spell, or towards a single point. You can even, with a lot of practice, link the lenses, sending energy across enormous distances almost instantly, which is what makes up the rest of the caverns.”
“Okay,” Luna said, obviously growing impatient. “So you are storing the magic? It will take centuries, or millennia, but that is only a temporary solution, Twilight. What are we going to do when the caverns are full.”
“I thought of that.” Twilight grinned, in her element. “I set up one focus, the one underneath the zebra plains, to do something else. It’s a conduit, the focus of a spell.”
Celestia smirked, seeing her sister roll her eyes at the unicorn’s dramatic pause. Eventually, the alicorn took pity on her sister, and asked her student softly. “What spell?”
Instead of answering, Twilight grinned broadly. The smile lit her face like a Canterlot night, and both mares smiled in return. Then, with evident pleasure, she nodded her head, pointing her horn between the alicorn’s, and out the window behind them. A window that showed the eastern horizon. A window that showed a rising sun.
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Woot! What a great early surprise! Awesome chapter!
maybe we should stick you on a plane for long periods of time more often.
“She was unsure of herself, I could see that. I could see the magic she was trying to do, the sparks were flying from her horn like a fountain. That exam was particularly cruel, she was given a dragon egg to hatch. Nopony expected any of the hopefuls to actually do it, they just wanted to see the power and ingenuity of the test takers. So I didn’t step in, I just watched her from the doorway.”
Nay, 'tis not truthful.
i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg78/evalana/blog%202/mlpfim_ep2351.png
You might say that Twilight was just making up that part where Celestia was standing outside of the tower, but I guess that they had talked about it before.
“Quite. Spike’s head was about three stories above the roof of the tower.” Celestia chuckled. “They were a little busy though. Twilight wasn’t exactly in control anymore though. They were still trying to figure out why they were potted plants now though, so I guess I can forgive them for not taking notes.”
Only Orion and Velvet Heart had gotten turned into potted plants. As it is, I don't know why they should be scribbling down on paper, either. In addition to that, you really should get some "thoughs" out of there.
Nice chapter!
So then Twilight raised the sun... While she was sleeping. Since neither sister noticed and there was no magical discharge around Twilight, I'm guessing the spell is at least partially autonomous, thus putting the royal sisters out of business.
To be honest, I was expecting her to grow a pair of wings, but I guess raising the friggin' sun is a good enough assertion of her equality and worthiness to Celestia.
Now kiss.
Night had long since fallen by the time Twilight was finished telling her convoluted, impossible tale, and the injured mare had been almost unable to speak for yawning by the end.
I would really would have wanted to hear this part. Twilight and Celestia can finally talk after all this running around and....it's skipped past entirely. Pity. There's a lot of stuff that's been said and done and needs resolving. I don't know about anyone else, but if I were Twilight, I'd be pretty bitter about being rejected by Celestia only for her to - almost immediately afterward - embrace my evil doppleganger. That had to hurt on several different levels. I would love to hear Celestia explain, in her own words, how that could come to pass.
The synopsis rings all the right bells. I hope the story gets finished soon, so I can actually read it.
Does this mean I have to buy you plane tickets all the time?
2744988 I kind like how the explanation was handled seeing as it implies that Twilight only talked about what happened and that would have been retelling the whole fic. Now don't get me wrong I also think that both her and Celestia need to sit down and talk about their feelings, but I doubt that Twilight will be bitter seeing what she did to protect Celestia and it was never mention that she stop loving her. Also remember that the main reason of why she did all of what she did was because she is convince that Celestia rejected her because she wasn't good enough so she planed to prove her that she was by raising the sun on her own( I think)....... Or at least that is what I concluded after reading this chapter
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she is convince that Celestia rejected her because she wasn't good enough so she planed to prove her that she was by raising the sun on her own
Yes that's true, but she was wrong. Celestia was willing enough to embrace the fake Twilight, long before any proof of being good enough came along. And, going forward, Twilight's going to be under the impression that the only way her love can be returned is to constantly be doing something super impressive. That's already led to some disturbing stuff and is likely to get her killed down the line. She's not the sort to rest on her laurels or wave off self-doubt. Worse, let's say she discovers that something is wrong with those sun-raising crystals down the line: does she shut them down and lose Celestia's love? This is a very bad and very dangerous basis for a relationship and needs to be dealt with ASAP.
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Aah but that is why they need to talk to each other about their feelings don't they? I beat that both Twilight and Celestia know that they screw up one way or another; Twilight by casting her feelings aside wile working with dark artifacts; and Celestia by rejecting Twi without even trying to consider/think what she herself felt for the unicorn making her an easy target to fool by the doppelganger. Unlike in the beginning both character have grown, Twilight the most so I don't think things will go so out of hand as you are describing, unless the worst case scenario happens.
Next please.
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I'm sorry. I eated them because somepony made me cry.
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I just want another chapter.
Now that’s clever. It’s like I always say, magic, energy, tools and weapons, even simple words, none of these things are inherently evil or dark in nature, it is intent that defines.
There is nothing more satisfying to my mind than the fate Twilight bestowed on Acshina here.