All's Right With The World

by Dusty Tome

Chapter Five

All's Right With The World

Written by Dusty Tome and FanOfMostEverything

Chapter Five

⁂❧⁂

Morning came swiftly, bringing with it the bustle and noise of the kingdom. Birds called in flight over bright spirals and steaming smokestacks. Children played amongst brass tubes and oaken posts, the Seraph children buzzing about on small wings, chasing the others around, playing ball with the stronger Oread boys and girls, with the little Magi using their magic to amaze new friends and even a few adults who sat watching them play.

The sunbeams brought life and energy to everywhere they touched, except for a large guest room on the first floor of the castle. Twilight curled up further, pressing the pillow over her ears down harder, trying to block out the screaming of children and birds, the bustle of servants and carts going by, all of it like nails being driven into her mind through her ears. Finally she bolted up, unable to take it any further.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” She screamed, begging the powers that be to give her even a few more minutes of silence. The windows flashed with a violently shining purple light. She threw on her clothes, pulling on her dirty boots and plated coat, before slipping on her sword sheath. She was still glowering and glimmering with violet energy as she stalked through the halls of the castle, searching for the dining hall. Servants ran from her when she approached them to ask where her goal was, and the more weak-hearted of them fainted on the spot. To be honest, it was just making her even more pissed, adding to an already aggravating morning.

She finally found her quarry after searching the lower halls for almost an hour. In front of her were the double doors to the royal dining hall, made obvious by the heavenly scents slipping out from between them. Reaching out a brilliantly shining hand, she gripped the doorknob, only to be stopped when the door flew outward, hitting her in the face. Behind the door, with a frozen laugh still etched on her face, was Pinkie Pie. She started backing up, intent on going anywhere else, when a hand shot up and snapped its glowing fingers. When the light died down a little, Twilight Sparkle was left standing where the smouldering remains of the door used to be, an arcane wind whipped her hair around, blowing her coat outwards. “Pinkamena Diane Pie. You get three seconds to run.”

Rarity coughed from within the dining hall. “Twilight, dear, not that I want to distract you from your murderscape, but you seem to be slightly more... luminescent than before.”

Twilight looked towards Rarity, her marks glowing like lanterns and a faint aurora dancing above her shoulders. The air around them suddenly became heavy and oppressive. It grew increasingly hot and arid as Twilight crept closer, causing Rarity to cough lightly.

Twilight suddenly stopped, nose in the air, sniffing slowly. The pressure lifted as she stalked towards the table like a hungry lioness. “There it is. Breakfast. Finally, I found you,” she purred, almost lovingly. “I missed you.” As she ate, the gathered guests, the king included, watched in a mix of confusion, abject horror, and amusement. The king was fighting a losing war with Pinkie over who would laugh first, while Luna seemed to almost be arguing with herself on whether she should go and talk to Twilight. Finally, though, the young deity mustered up the courage to talk to her.

“Twilight, A word, if I may?” Luna asked, sitting across from the girl. When Twilight murmured agreement over a large amount of eggs and a generous helping of bacon, Luna continued. “It appears that you are going through an enormous amount of internal turmoil, causing the magic in your body to spiral into chaos, and giving you mood swings. Is there anything I can do to help you? Aside from you glowing like a bonfire, you also incinerated a rather large and thick set of metal and oaken doors. I’m concerned about what may be happening to you.”

Twilight swallowed her food, glaring at Luna over her glass of orange juice, before draining the glass and setting it down. She cleared her throat and decided to speak honestly. “You know, I don’t know about this, any of this. Gathering bloodlines and fighting demons, I don’t get it, and I don’t think I want to be a part of it. Besides, you only need the others, Morkai-whatever-his-face probably already opened the magic side of the seal, and he only needs the others. As long as you have them, then he can’t use them. Frankly, I just want to go home and sleep. I don’t know if you noticed at all, but I’m not exactly cut out for all this ‘hero’ business.” She stopped to sigh. “You’re a Goddess, that much I accept, but I refuse to believe that any of this has to do with me in any capacity. You’re welcome in my home, Luna, as are Rarity and Pinkie, and Scoddri, I suppose, but I don’t think I will be going on some suicidal adventure. This isn’t just some story, I can’t just leave my home, journey across the map, gather up a party of people, then come back and fight an ancient evil. That’s just ridiculous. Next thing you know, I’m gonna walk into a cave looking for dragons and some old man is gonna give me a sword. Sorry, but I don’t think this is a journey I want to be a part of.” She shook her head and stood up, placing her hands behind her head and stretching.

Luna watched her meander away, before loudly clearing her throat. “What if I told you that it was possible to speak to your parents again? To be able to see those that you lost, even just once more?”

Twilight stopped cold, the glow on her arms pulsing quicker and brighter, matching her heartbeat, as she whirled to face Luna again. When she faced the Goddess, her eyes were wide and a single tear ran down her cheek, quickly evaporating under the magic that radiated off of her. “What did you say?”

“I said, Twilight, that there is a place that can let you visit with your parents again. It is likely that we will venture near it in our travels. Stopping there may give us a chance to rest. They would likely love to see you again too.”

“You shut your mouth, right now.” Twilight’s voice was calm, but her marks and eyes glowed like the sun and her hair whipped about in an unfelt wind. “You do not get to use them against me. How dare you attempt to bring them into your mess? You and yours started all of this. It has absolutely nothing to do with me. I don’t care if you are a Goddess, you don’t ever use my family against me. I will rip off your wings and burn you to ashes where you stand if you so much as mention them again, do I make myself perfectly clear, Goddess?” She turned and began walking away, before turning back to face Luna slightly, “You never should have shown your face to me. Rot in Tartarus.”

And like that, she vanished.

Twilight Sparkle sat on the roof of the castle, nestled between the pillars of the marble belfry, hugging her knees to her chest and weeping openly. She looked up to see the sun cresting softly, fluffy white clouds drifting lazily across an ocean of neverending blue, and birds flitting here and there. Another loud sob wracked her thin frame, causing her to draw her knees tighter to her chest and shift back into the shade, the echoes of Luna’s words still echoing in her ears.

“She doesn’t mean anything by it you know. She doesn’t really understand what she did wrong.” The voice sighed, “After all, her only family is immortal and trapped. I, on the other hand, well, I see where you’re coming from, and what you mean. By the way, you really could have used the couch, it’s been in the corner there for a little while now.”

Twilight looked up to see Scoddri sitting in a chair, a leather-bound book in one hand, and a wine glass in the other.

“Do you know what becoming immortal entails, Twilight? Losing everything. Once you lose all that you were, and you let go of all that you held dear, then you can be reborn. I never asked for immortality, for power, or any of the things that came with either. It was all thrown into my face, given without my consent. I know how you feel, having your family brought up casually like that. Ah! Don’t go off on me just yet. You see, before all the mess with Tirek and the dark legions, I was a farmer. I carved out a simple life, raising my two daughters with my wife. I was happy. I was content.” Scoddri paused for a moment, a wistful smile on his face.

It soon became a scowl. “When Tirek first struck, I lost my youngest daughter, Immolia. I fought the darkness back long enough to get my family to safety and bury her before joining the fight. When I came back, I didn’t know what had happened to me. I watched as my wife turned old and grey, dying in my arms. I raised hundreds of grandchildren, seeing each of them live full, happy lives, before I buried them too. It crushed my soul, tore my heart out and killed me, each and every time.”

Scoddri shook his head. ”But Luna didn’t become immortal. She always was that way. She has never married, never given birth, never loved any but her sister and her mother. She never had to face the loss that you, I, and every other human on this planet has. She may come off as unfeeling and arrogant at times, but really, she’s still just a child. And I pity her. She may never face that loss, and may never become like us. Don’t fault a child for the inability to understand a pain she never has felt.”

The king drained the glass, holding out the book. “This is for you. It is a compendium of all of my knowledge of magic, metals, and places in this world. Even if you do stay, you may find it useful. Don’t stay out here too long, Miss Sparkle; lunch should be coming soon.”

Twilight took the heavy book, watching as the king stepped away into nothingness before turning back to the sky before her. Something he had said shook her. Maybe she needed to go, at least to see her parents again. She wasn’t sure, but she felt it. Whatever fleeting feelings she had for Luna were just that, fleeting. She wasn’t doing this for the Goddesses. If she was going, it was for herself.

She made her way back to the dining hall, choosing to take the long way. Telekinesis wasn’t enough to make her fly, but it certainly let her drop from the roof of the palace without fear. After Twilight landed, she traced her fingers along the curvature of her lines, still unsure why she was still glowing. She wasn’t actively casting anymore; indeed, she had still been glowing long after she had blinked away from the Goddess. She felt the magic in them, a sense of hot and cold at the same time, and she formulated an idea.

Twilight stopped in the courtyard, summoning a crystal of ice in her left hand and a ball of fire in her right. Noticing the glow surrounding her dimming, she put more power into the evocations, causing an interesting change. The ice around her fake arm shaped itself into a shimmering snake wrapping itself around her arm, leading to a large wing made of the same glimmering ice. The fire billowed out, forming an intimidating halberd of dark purple flames and the same wing effect on her other shoulder. Curious, Twilight Sparkle brought the ice covered appendage up to touch the flaming halberd.

A moment later, there were two things going on inside Mariam Mare’s head: she wasn’t paid enough for her job, and the castle was being attacked. The explosion seemed to have come from the courtyard, shaking loose plaster and dust from every surface, knocking glasses over, and cracking the window beside her. She thought about reacting for a second, before remembering that in addition to the king, both the Goddess Luna and Pinkie Pie were in the castle. While she wasn’t too concerned with the king or Goddess, she realized that Pinkie being in the vicinity almost always led to an explosion of some sort, and continued to read her book.

Twilight groaned, sitting up in what appeared to be a large crater. She realized she was sitting and covered in very cold water, and used her magic to flash the water into steam. After teleporting up to the lip, she blinked slowly. The trees that had previously been ringing the courtyard had been thrashed. Half of them were scorched, some still burning, while the other half were covered in a very thick layer of frost and snow.

A slow clap heralded Scoddri’s appearance. “Well, well, color me impressed Sparkle-butt, I rather like the new look of the courtyard, but I’m probably going to be in the extreme minority. Fortunately, I’m king. Allow me to fix that for you.”

Twilight looked to where he was gesturing, gasping in surprise. Just below her elbow, nothing was left of her prosthetic. She watched in surprise as the arm began to reform before her eyes; even the locket joined the rest of the parts melding back together. She looked up to thank the king, but he was already gone. Instead, her gaze fell upon the last person she wanted to see at that particular moment, Luna.

Luna spoke before Twilight could do more than glare. “Twilight, I know how I must have sounded, and I truly apologize. It was shortsighted on my part, speaking so freely of the pain in your soul. But even if you truly do not forgive me, at least allow me to help you understand and control your magic, lest you hurt more than just your arm next time.” She looked past Twilight, eyes widening in shock at the devastated courtyard. “Come with me Twilight, this is more serious than I had originally thought.”

In a flash of shimmering blue light, they were gone.

When Twilight cleared her eyes, she looked around. They were in some kind of pearlescent cave, surrounded by glowing writing and statues. Pearlescent. Yes, that was the word. It was like being inside a giant, hollowed-out pearl, or maybe in an egg full of gentle rainbows and silvery glyphs. The statues all followed ancient styles, but they almost looked freshly chiseled. There was a serene tranquility to the ambient magic, a sense of the peace that was a prelude to sleep.

“Where are we? Underneath Altenneera?” Twilight asked, marvelling at the massive space.

“This is my space, my magical sanctuary if you will. It is a place to hone my magic and meditate. Welcome, Twilight Sparkle, to the moon.”

“M-moon? The hell are we- what are- what?” Twilight trembled with surprise. “Do you eat here too?”

“Actually, yes, sometimes. Celestia always brought me bananas for some reason.” Luna shrugged, before turning back to Twilight. “Now, without fear of harm or damage, show me what you did earlier. I enchanted your arm when we teleported here, so it should withstand most anything.”

Twilight nodded and focused her magic the same as before, this time not touching the flames. Luna walked around her, silently examining. When she had come full circle in front of Twilight, she nodded and spoke evenly. “Twilight Sparkle, Mother told me of a day when you would be born. She spoke of a day when one would be born to wield both the cold mercy of the moon and the blazing fury of the sun. Now I know, for certain, that it is you. You are destined to tip the scales in this long war. If you do not believe me, focus your magic on that statue.”

Twilight did as she was told, and easily ripped the statue from it’s mooring. Shattering it in her grip, she turned back to Luna, who was staring at the rubble with a gaping mouth. Twilight coughed into her hand. “Uh, sorry. Was that supposed to happen?”

“Twilight, I… I actually don’t have words for this. Everything here is enchanted to only respond to my lunar might.” Luna sighed. ‘Maybe we need to work on your control first, then we can move from there.”

“Don’t you think you’re forgetting something, Luna?” Scoddri’s teasing voice came from nowhere and everywhere.

Twilight groaned. “What do you want?”

“I just think she owes you an apology. Really, Lulu, playing the dead parent card was downright tacky. And that’s coming from a man with an entire closet reserved for his plaid.”

“She doesn’t have to—”

Luna held up a hand. “No, Scoddri is right. I have found his counsel to be strange at times, but he has never led me astray when it mattered.”

Twilight sighed, a headache already creeping across her brow, “Listen, Luna, I am sorry for how I worded what I said, but I don’t need to be manipulated with memories of them. Scoddri already told me the pain of immortality, and how you never learned the hurt of loss. I don’t fault you, but my threat still stands. I’ve killed full grown dragons for less.”

“And I am deeply sorry Twilight. I never meant to dredge up painful memories, nor manipulate you in any way. I was just trying to offer you a chance at closure, a chance for even five more minutes with your family. It’s what I would want, what I do wish for with Mother and Tia. I’m sorry.”

“There, we apologized,” Twilight crossed her arms. “Now leave us alone!”

“Fine, fine. Excuse me for making sure you two aren’t trying to smite one another or something. I could’ve sworn I was a king, but going by the respect I get around here…” The voice trailed off, grumbling good-naturedly.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief. “Now, what was that about control?”

“As of now, you are little more than a walking embodiment of magic. With all of the magic and emotions in your soul, coupled with the celestial magics, you pose the greatest danger to those around you. Basic control of high level magic starts with balance.”

The Goddess and the girl practiced, and talked for a long while, comfortable in the space between them.

The king smirked a bit and closed the door through which he’d poked his nose, leaving the two of them to their devices and turning back to the intricate chessboard on his table. The board was set up as though a game had been in progress, but left for a century. Pieces were missing or covered in thick layers of dust, but none were in the starting position, save the white queen, king, and bishops, and the black king and queen. He picked up the white queen, and moved it forward two spaces.

“Well, that’s my move. Time to make yours, monster.”

⁂❧⁂

Author's Note:

Ten points for references!

Comments

[michaelb958]

“Celestia always brought me bananas for some reason.”

I'm only indirectly aware of the whole bananas meme, but I nonetheless see what you did there.

“...was downright tacky. And that’s coming from a man with an entire closet reserved for his plaid.”

Sounds about right for DiscScoddri.
(Yes, I've read Scion of Chaos, why do you ask?)

[Dusty Tome]

6146799 Beam me up Scoddri!
Dammit Jim, Im a god of chaos not a doctor.

[TDR]

It does start slow to build. Not so much the back story but Twilight's place in it, or even current location. It gets explained a little more once Rarity shows up, but so far Twilight's exact placement in the world is vague.

This isn't exactly a JRPG sort of reveal. More of a ' the chars know what's going on and as soon as the information becomes relevant for them to go over it you will know too.' sort of set up. A good plan , but not every one has the patience for that.

Still not at all bad. A fair balance of humor and Dark.

Of course right now I'm only up to Luna's arrival, which has amused me. Though in my minds eye i can't help picture Jer'rahd showing up throwing a blanket over the princess before carting her off yelling 'nope' at Twilight.

[Dusty Tome]

6314063 Jer would have an even rougher time with this Luna, She's more of a harem keeper type.

[Permanganate]

Hmm. I don't think this story has very much to do with its tagline of "When the Goddesses need Twilight Sparkle's help battling an ancient evil, will she respond with courage, or will she turn her back on the Goddesses who wronged her?". She "turned her back" for literally one sentence, and then started kissing Luna. Not exactly a conflict.

I read another couple of chapters to see if anything else happened, but nothing did (the argument about Twilight's parents is more about Luna being inhuman than what she's done) so yes, it seems like that was it; the central premise of the plot occurred in one sentence and a kiss, in chapter 3. What?