Immortalis, Finalis
“Hello Princess.” Twilight said without turning away from the balcony of her old tower room. Behind her, more than a little surprised that Twilight had sensed her presence, Celestia hesitated. Then, with a private smile and a shake of her head, reminding herself never to form any expections concerning the little mare, Celestia strode through the arched doorway.
The open balcony of the Library Tower was one of the few places in Canterlot where one could look out across the open fields and plains to the west (Ponyville is west of Canterlot, right?), up to the rolling hills and colorful treeline that showed the edges of the Apple family orchards. Above the trees, and spanning the length of the horizon, dark stormclouds billowed, flowing endlessly around the now dead Everfree Forest.
The Princess winced at the sight of those clouds, and the faint haze of the constant rain bathing the entire area. In the month since Twilight’s spell had been cast, there had been no end to the drizzle, save the rare moment when the drizzle became a downpour. The captain of Ponyville’s Weather Patrol had been the only one of Twilight’s friends Celestia had met since then, and Rainbow Dash hadn’t been best pleased with the state of affairs dumped onto her back. The white mare chuckled, remembering the soaked pegasus shouldering her way through the crowd of nobles complaining about the various troubles they were having.
Rainbow Dash hadn’t cared who she pushed aside, as long as the silly old goats moved. She had walked up to the throne, shoved an indignant Bootlicker aside with her shoulder, and glared at the Princess. Then, in a loud, clear voice she laid down an ultimatum. “Ponyville is swamped, literally. So either you send every pegasus you can spare to help us save the town, the crops, and the ponies, or you can get off your plot and move the town yourself!”
Her angry words, and their rude delivery, had stunned everypony in the room, not least Celestia herself. The Princess had been fighting to contain an impish grin though, while her Court were trying to mask disgust and scandalization, but that made little difference. Rainbow wasn’t doing it for dramatic effect either, because she immediately started shoving her way back through the crowd, anxious to return to her home before her second in command destroyed the town.
After a few moments of stunned silence, a loud guffaw had sounded through the room, and Spitfire had stepped up, volunteering herself, and her Wonderbolts to assist the town. Not to be outdone, every single noble in the room had immediately crowded in, shouting offers from food to shelter to bits to compensate ponies for their losses. It was touching, to finally see her subjects clamoring to help others, instead of jockeying for position.
Celestia chuckled to herself, and came to stand beside her former pupil. Twilight had accomplished so much in the last few months, from casting spells that nopony had ever dreamed of, to reviving magicks that even she and her sister had almost forgotten. Celestia was truly proud of her student, of her precious little pony.
“Bit for your thoughts?” She said, nudging the little mare lightly with her wing. The touch broke whatever trance Twilight had fallen into while Celestia lost herself in memory, and she jumped a little, turning to face the Princess.
“Oh,” She said, blinking a few times to clear her mind. “I had an idea, and I was trying to figure out whether it’s impossible or not. It isn’t.”
“And the idea was…” She trailed off, smiling as Twilight struggled to return to the land of the living. She could almost see the brilliant little mind trying to pull the mare back into its own murky depths. Celestia chuckled, and trailed her wingtips lightly along the purple flank, tickling the younger mare back to reality.
Twilight giggled beneath the feathery assault, falling over under the force of the attack. She recovered quickly though, and rolled to her hooves before the demonic wings could find a new target. Shaking her head an chuckling, Twilght backed away. “Okay, okay. I give.”
“The idea?” Celestia prompted, menacing Twilight with her wings once more. “Or I will tickle it out of you.”
“I said uncle!” Twilight yelped, jumping back as Celestia advanced. “I was thinking about dreams.”
“Dreams?” Celestia asked, cocking her head to the side. Her lavender eyes still sparkled with mischief, but she lowered her wings, and backed a few steps away. Twilight sighed in relief, but the little mare kept one eye on the Princess as she began to speak.
“You remember the spell I used after everything happened? You and Luna were talking, and I was just there all of a sudden?” Twilight paused, and Celestia nodded politely. The oddity of Twilight’s sudden appearance, while her body was still lying peacefully asleep was something that had quite honestly flown her mind. Seeing the sun suddenly rise without her straining herself to move the heavenly orb was more than a little distracting. “Well, I was wondering what the limits were.”
“I can understand your curiosity,” Celestia began. “But what does this have to do with your idea?”
“What I did then wasn’t much more than a meditation. I cleared my mind, just like you taught me to do before casting a powerful spell. I let myself empty of all emotion, worry, need, even sensations. I was just encapsulated inside my head. Doing it in a dream, when all of my friends are asking me to play Pass the Parcel made it a little bit more difficult, but the premise is still simple.”
Celestia nodded. The Mirror’s Edge, as the particular meditation she had taught Twilight was called, was one of the more complicated meditations, as the entire construct was more than half spell. Fully emptying oneself allowed the mind to expand, filling its confines and then bursting forth. The traditional way to reach that state was to envision a mirror, reflecting you and everything around you in stunning detail. Then, one slowly removed detail after detail, the manifestaions of fears, joys, and anything else that clouds the mind. Soon, only the pony meditating is left in reflected in the mirror, and then they too are clouded in fog as even the sense of self is subsumed by serenity. Complicated, but very effective.
“I finished the meditation, and I was in a sort of mist. It was grey everywhere, but it was moving all around me, over me and past me. Once I got there, all I had to do was to imagine that a spell existed that would let me talk to you. Princess, dreams are more powerful than I think anypony realizes. So much can be accomplished, simply by being sure that they are possible. I imagined the spell, but then I knew it was true, and I suddenly knew exactly what to do. All I needed was to feed power into the spell I basically made up, and poof, I’m talking to you while I’m asleep in another room.”
“That is certainly…” Celestia struggled to find the right words. “Impressive, Twilight. I don’t think even my sister would have been that clever. Were you thinking about what the limits to this ability were? This creativity?”
“In a way.” Twilight said, and Celestia hid her smile. The old Twilight was back; she could see the frenetic light in her amethyst eyes. Twilight was happy, she was learning, she was teaching. If there was any sign that the little mare had been affected by her trials, it was the absence of that spark, the vital essence that made her so engaging. She had been calm, polite, and kind to a fault, but this was the first time since before Twilight had confessed to her that Celestia had seen her pupil so excited.
“It isn’t so much the limits of creativity, I think, as the imagination of the pony in question. I think that as long as you can think of something, no matter how strange, and know it is true, then anything is possible. Princess, if I’m right, if that is how it works, then this would…”
“It would change the face of magic forever.” Celestia ended quietly. The implications were not beyond her, Twilight wasn’t the only scholarly genius present. If this became common knowledge, then it could… but no. Very few ponies had the discipline to achieve that state of inner peace, and that force of character was even rarer in unicorns. Their magical nature made them, and the pegasi, far more flighty and changeable. They just weren’t as naturally gifted at blocking out their own thoughts. “This would certainly make the world a more interesting place.”
“Princess?” Twilight asked, concerned by her teachers sudden silence.
“I’ll be damned.” Celestia muttered to herself, blinking slowly. Her eyes were wide as she looked into the space beyond Twilight, seeing nothing in the physical world. “Discord.”
“What about him?”
“That’s how he does it. Twilight, don’t you see?” Celestia smiled, grinning from ear to ear as she looked at the younger pony. “That’s where his power comes from. I never could figure it out, why he wielded such great, but entirely random powers. He is always in that... that dreamstate. He believes something is true because he wants it, and then click,” She said, tapping one golden hoof to the floor. “He snaps his claws is ‘Make it so.’”
“But,” Twilight’s face scrunched up as she thought. “If he has so much power, why is he so…”
“Random?”
“Not the word I was thinking, but let’s go with random.”
“Twilight, Discord isn’t evil. He is very, very old, and he doesn’t have any morality, but he is a far cry from evil. You’ve stared evil in the face while it tried to kill you. Discord could unmake you, if he wanted, but he hasn’t, and never will. He is completely insane, but he isn’t evil. The sporadic nature of his abilities are more a statement of his mind than anything.”
“That would explain quite a bit.” Twilight admitted. “I never was able to figure out why anypony would think that chocolate milk rain is evil. And Pinkie was right, it was delicious.” Twilight giggled, licking her lips in remembered pleasure. The Draconequess was an excellent caterer.
“I’m sorry for interrupting. You were saying Twilight?”
“Nothing, I was just trying to determine if it were possible to suspend yourself in that dream state.”
“What do you mean?”
“Princess…” Twilight started, then sighed. “Please, can you promise to let me speak? Without interruption?”
“I can.” The confused Princess agreed. With a small surge of energy, Celestia locked the door to the library room, in case of anypony coming in to interrupt whatever it was Twilight was obviously uncomfortable speaking about. With a significantly greater burst of power, she also summoned a hot pot of tea from her study. “Would you like a cup?”
Twilight nodded her thanks, and accepted the teacup hovering before her, smothering Celestia’s golden magic with a film of her own. It was one of the peculiarities of magic, but the more powerful mages had the ability to feel their spells as a physical sensation. For both mares to allow their telekenitic grips mingle around the cup was something extremely, almost embarrassingly intimate, and Twilight was embarrassed enough already. She strengthened her grasp, effectively squeezing Celestia’s spell out, overwhelming it with a small smile.
Celestia smiled in return, and released her spell without a fight. She nodded to Twilight, recognizing the light flush in her cheeks at the touch. Then she settled back to wait, sipping her tea from time to time as Twilight steeled herself to speak.
“Do you remember when this,” She waved a hoof at the clouds surrounding the Everfree Forest. “Started?”
“When you cast the spell?”
“No, I… Right after I left the castle. I told you I loved you, Princess. I meant it, and I meant what I said after that too. It was hard, to admit that to myself, and then to you. I worried about it for weeks, but every time I decided to tell you, I got scared, I kept thinking that you would reject me.”
“Twilight, I would never-“
“Princess, please. Just let me finish?” Twilgiht cut her off, but Celestia nodded agreeably, giving her student a small, apologetic smile. “I was scared you would reject me, up until I actually told you. I was terrified then, but I realized that I needed to know, either way, because living with that hope, and the fear.” She sighed, shaking her head. “It was too much. I needed to know.
“So I told you, and I wasn’t surprised when you didn’t return my feelings. I expected that even if we were star-crossed lovers, that we could never actually be together. I never meant to ask, but… I needed to know all of a sudden, to know whether or not you would love me if you were free.
“I think that was when Her influence started to grow. She is, was, a clever bitch. She saw that my guard was down, and she pounced. Light, I was so stupid. And when you didn’t answer, it just made everything worse. If you had been able to tell me yes or no, then I could accept it. But you weren’t sure of yourself, I could see it in your eyes. So I left, but that planted the idea in my head, Princess. I thought that if I could show you how much I loved you, if I could free you from the sun, then you would return my feelings.
“It took a while for me to think through my plan, but by the time Rarity forced Applejack to propose, I had done it. I’ve known the basics of the Sun and Moon spell since I was a filly, it, well it isn’t really that complicated. All I needed was a huge source of power. I might be able to do it myself, once, but I wouldn’t be able to stand again that day if I did, I needed a permanent solution. Then I remembered the ward I created as a filly, the same one I used on the forest, and everything slid into place. I knew that I could modify the spell, so that it only encompassed the forest, and not an inch more. It… Even though I knew it would mean that everything in the forest would die, I was sure that it was the right thing to do. I had to free you, I had to.”
“Twilight. How could you think that?”
“I don’t know Princess, I really don’t. Thinking back, it sounds so stupid. I really believed it though, then. I’m sure that She had at least something to do with it, but I can’t say that it was wholly Her fault. I was the one who wanted to free you, She just herded me to the method she wanted. Princess, if I hadn’t changed the spell before I cast it, making it feed directly off of her power, then it would have shattered the Mirror, and released who knows how many evils on the world, and brought Her back completely.”
“Acshina was always a master of manipulation.” Celestia said, disgust dripping from her voice. “She was always using everything to her own advantage, pony, gryphons, anything she could get her hands on. I can’t say I blame you for falling prey to her. Even Luna couldn’t resist her completely.”
“That’s no excuse.” Twilight said sharply. Her eyes were narrowed, and she spat the next words. “I was foolish, and weak. I let her in, and I almost ended the world as we know it. If I hadn’t been impossibly lucky, we would all be dead, or worse. I couldn’t bear the pain of what you did to me, so I ripped that part of me out. I was lucky that that part of me is where Acshina was hiding, otherwise…
“It doesn’t matter. There is no point in engaging in hypotheticals what happened is in the past, and I’ve learned my lesson about time travel. In the end, things were less apocalyptic than they might have been, so I guess we should just be happy we are still alive to talk about it. After I excised my emotions though, like I said, She was gone. And with her, the sense of surety. Logically, without the influence of emotions, the plan still made sense. I wasn’t certain though, so I did a little reading.”
Celestia’s teacup had sat, untouched throughout most of Twilight’s narrative. Now though, the Princess took a long sip of the tea. It had cooled considerably while her apprentice had spoken, but it was still a comforting warmth as the spiced cinnamon apple tea flowed down her throat. Twilight paused as well, seeming to remember her own cup with a blush, and quickly taking a sip as well.
“One of the books I read talked about the caverns, and about how the crystal magic worked. But another one was more immediately important.”
“Ah, the Sight?” Celestia guessed. She remembered the book herself, and it would explain why Twilight had come back with a zebra companion. If the mare had been unsure about herself, then it would be natural to consult a seer. She knew enough about the nature of magic to understand that while rare, precognition was easily within the realm of possibility.
Twilight nodded. “I’m afraid I was a little bit less than subtle at the time, both at the Castle in the zebra city. I…” Twilight hesitated. “I assume it was then that you found something in the Castle?”
Celestia winced, berating herself for not expecting the brilliant mare to connect the dots and ask the obvious question. “Yes.” The white mare began. Celestia swallowed, then finished. “I thought I saw you in the Mirror. I freed it, Acshina I mean. I made her a body, and put what I was sure was your soul into it.”
“I thought so.” Twilight said, giving the Princess a small smile. “If you don’t mind, why did you do it?”
Celestia’s reply was immediate. “I couldn’t let you suffer in that hell. I saw… things, Twilight. Horrible things were happening to you, and I could not bear it.”
Twilight nodded her head, obviously hearing the words Celestia wasn’t saying, the riotous emotions that had driven her instant need to save the mare, without thought to the danger. If the Princess didn’t want to say it, then Twilight wasn’t about to make her.
“I got to their capital, and forced Nolux to look into my future. What she said was… less than encouraging. It made me stop and think about what I was doing. I decided I needed to do more research, look into some of the old books. Nolux tagged along, and Pinkie was just randomly in the Castle when I got back.
“There isn’t much more to tell. I looked long enough through the library that I found out what Acshina was, and knew that she was partially free. I changed the spell to drain her power specifically, without damaging the glyphs shielding the Mirror itself, and then the rest of the story you know. Still using the spell to move the sun and moon was something I did more to stop the energy in the crystals from charging until they shattered more than anything.”
“That is… touching.” Celestia said, and grinned at Twilight’s incredulous look. “Not comforting, by any means. In fact, it is more than a little scary the way you were thinking, but it is touching to know what you were willing to do to help me. And I know you truly thought it would free me Twilight.”
Twilight chuckled, then looked out over the balcony again. “Princess?”
“Yes, Twilight?”
“What would you do, if I could live forever?” Twilight whispered, keeping her gaze steady on the far off hills. “Would you love me then, if you never had to lose me? Because what I was thinking about earlier, when you came in, I think I know a way it can be done. I can trap myself in a permanent dream, with Luna’s help. Lock myself inside the dreamworld forever. It would be a kind of immortality. I would never age, never grow sick or weary. Every night, we could be together Princess.”
Celestia was silent, stunned by the words. That was... for anypony other than the prodigy, it would be impossible, inconceivable. The sun goddess felt a pang in her heart, remembering the words that had been asked of her. “Could you do it, though? Can you watch your friends grow old and die? For me? Am I worth that, Twilight? Is immortality really worth it, worth the pain?”
“Celestia.” Twilight said, rounding on her. “You are more important to me than anything else in this world, or the next. No matter what I do, I will have to watch them die. We both know that the more powerful a unicorn is, the longer their lifespan. Even if I don’t do this, I will have to watch as they age, while I stay young for decades, maybe centuries! Is that any less painful?
“If I do this.” She said, and her voice was much softer now. Her eyes were glistening with angry tears, but she cracked her hoof against the smooth marble of the balcony and gritted her teeth. “If I do this, if it works, then I won’t have to watch them fall apart. I could do it now, or in a month, or a decade. When doesn’t matter. I won’t even have to leave my friends, not really. Trapped in that state, suspended in dreams, I would be like your sister. I could travel between dreams, from yours to Rarity’s, even to Fluttershy’s. I could still live with my friends for as long as they lived, but I could be with you. If you love me, then I can give up everything I am now, and trap myself. If you love me, it will be worth it.”
Twilight sighed, and sat on the stone. For a long time, both mares were silent, Twilight waiting for Celestia’s response, and Celestia herself struggling to understand the jumble of emotions the outburst had thrown onto her. Did she love Twilight? She had always loved her as a student, and even as a daughter. Both were far from loving her the way Twilight love her though, and Celestia wasn’t sure she did. When she had seen the mare in the mirror, being tormented by evil, she had been convinced of her emotions. There had been nothing but the basic need to protect her beloved. But was that her? Or was it nothing more than Acshina’s trickery?
The sun had set before either mare spoke. The pale orb of the full moon was peaking out from behind the mountain Canterlot was built upon, and both ponies stopped to look at the beautiful object.
“If you think you can do it.” Celestia began, looking at the moon. She couldn’t look at Twilight now. She couldn’t see the hope and the fear in her little face and keep herself from trying to protect the little filly she had met years ago. “If you think that it is worth it, that I am worth it. Then yes, my love.” She said, turning a brilliant, regretful smile to Twilight. “I would love nothing more than to have you in my life, forever.”
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NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! damn it twilight don't do it!
Am I the only one doubting Celestia's sincerity at the end? I might just be a terrible cynic, but I don't trust it much...
Also, if she's in a permanent dream state...how would she stop her body from decaying. eventually killing her? Can she just force herself to live on through the more or less all-powerful dream state manipulation stuff?
Yay! Celestia is going to let Twilight kill herself! Woohoooooooo
2776922 Don't do it yet. Wait until you're older?
2777015
more long the lines of 'don't do it ever.' i've never liked celestia, so i'm kinda biased when it comes to her being with twilight. or anyone, really. i feel twilight should settle down with someone mortal, and then die happily in her sleep.
Nope, something is going to happen, I can feel it.
-Mis
Why doesn't she use the dream state to turn herself into an alicorn? She did say that if you know that it is possible, then you can make it possible. And then she can use it on her friends.
2777102
Part one, go hog wild. Part two, that's each of her friends' decision.
Is she going to suspend herself and create an actual body like Discord? Or just go in and out of dreams like she said?
2777182
Uh...what?
2777248
Part one, alicorn herself. Part two, alicorn her friends. It was your comment bro.
2777256
Yes , but you made it sound different. The second part I understood, but I didn't understand the first.
Ponyville is south of Canterlot, not west. http://images.wikia.com/mlp/images/1/12/Map_of_Equestria_online_version_2012-08.jpg
2777507
When you literally write "Ponyville is west of Canterlot, RIght?" in a story, you should expect someone to answer.
Hmm interesting. The story is starting to get kind of slow... It's either about to end horribly or a false sense of ending. The story is really good!
Oh lord, my [Grimdark] ending senses are tingling.
I love it when titles for movies or books are said in the actual movie/book, in context.
Anyways. I hope i'm not jumping to any conclusions here, but i really hope that this story doesn't end with a tragedy tag addition. If it's added, it won't stop me, but that means of half the scenarios playing in my head about how this story ends... probably one of the 'bad ends' was right.
2777341
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, its not your fault I was feeling more bitchy than usual. Cookie?
I have some mixed feelings about this chapter. If there isn't something of a twist at the very end of this road, I can't help but think this fate Twilight has woven for herself is a bit... Disappointing? Although she soared as close to the sun as she could, she did not fall, but neither did she truly win if suspension in this dream state is all that there is for her in store.
But this is all, I think, due to this sad and solemn tone you chose for this chapter. From what we saw previously, Twilight can actually manifest corporeally from inside the dream and she gains superpowers. In other words, it'll be even better then it is now. So... Where is the downside? A technicality due to her use of imprecise language and the preconceived notions connected with usage of certain words?
Here's what I'm hoping will happen:
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"I didn't finish my pancakes."
- Twilight lives out her life as your average demigod master race unicorn.
- After a teary "goodbye" with Celestia, she goes to sleep.
- With enough practice dreamcasting spells and whatnot she is back in the full swing of things, walking around Canterlot and whatnot
- One day when Twilight's enjoying a breakfast with Celestia, Luna bursts into the dining hall, tears in her eyes, saying that despite whatever they did to keep Twilight alive, she's dead from old age.
- Twilight drops her daisy sandwich and is confused.
- Twilight, Celestia and Luna go to check on Twilight's actual body.
- Is dead.
-
-
- They all go to finish the breakfast and discreetly throw away the rotten carcass.
- Twilight is very irate over the loss of her favorite fleshbag, and decides to make it rain chocolate.
- Celestia is amused.
- Fin
2780453
I somewhat agree with you. The author just told us that Discord is suspended in a Dream State and that's where his powers are from.
And the Author told us that Twilight is able to manifest physically from the Dream State.
If the Author doesn't do that to Twilight than it's the worlds biggest Anti-Climax since the ending to Sliders. She has to, for the story to make sense, have a physical form built off of her Dream State magics. With her consciousness bound to that Dream Body. Anything else won't make sense and would kill the story.
But yeah the ending you proposed would be funny to see.
What I saw suggested that the meditation was the real grounds for idea. Honestly I cant see why she just doesnt do it awake and stroll around like discord.
I presume that Twilight's immortality plan is similar to what Acshina almost convinced Luna to do to Fluttershy in chapter 15. But that would have been Luna's action, not requiring any skill on Fluttershy's part. So when Celestia thinks that no one other than Twilight has the skill to do it, is that:
* A disagreement beween Celestia and Luna about what is magically possible?
* Acshina lying to Luna about what the effects of the spell would have been?
* Maybe keeping someone else in the dreamworld requires ongoing maintenance by Luna, thus limiting the number of people she can do that to?
This fic is surprisingly mean to Luna, treating her pretty much as merely the low bar to show how great Twilight is and keeping her in an unreachable love for somepony who'll never love her like that.
Its closer to South of Canterlot
7048750
I keep trying to imagine what celestia and twilight are looking at in your avatar pic.