A Stolen Eternity
Hospitals were a decidedly terrible place to be. Regardless of whether one was the pony in the bed or the pony sitting beside it, no good had ever come of being stuck in a hospital. The eerie clip-clop of the nurses plodding down the linoleum floors, the sterile aroma that permeated the air, the cardboard-flavored “meals” that the cooks loved to serve…
Yes, Twilight definitely considered hospitals among the top ten worst places to be. Maybe even top five, if one didn’t consider “Celestia’s bad side” an explicit location. Which, of course, she did.
This hospital visit was different than all the other times she had come, though. It was different because this time, she was at fault. The blame for this prolonged visit to the emergency room fell entirely on her shoulders. The unconscious, prone form of the navy-coated, blue-maned former alicorn—with her ragged breathing and charred coat—weighed heavily on Twilight’s conscience.
Twilight chanced another glance down at Princess Luna, scanning over her limp form. She still lived, or so the doctors assured her. And she would continue to do so, although her life would be drastically changed.
She thought back to her own choice of words: former alicorn. Emphasis on the word former.
The area where her horn once stood had since been covered with stitches, its absence immediately noticeable. Her wings, in contrast, remained intact… well, mostly intact. More than a few feathers had burned off, but they would grow back in time. Not that the fact did anything to assuage Twilight’s guilt.
Three nights ago, Nightmare Moon had unwittingly become the first equine test subject for the Elements of Harmony. And Princess Luna, the mare hiding beneath the Nightmare, had paid the price for it. The Nightmare had dispersed just as expected when the beam of magic had made contact, but the Nightmare wasn’t the only thing lost in the rubble of the castle that night.
Somehow, the Elements’ interference had tampered with Princess Luna’s alicorn magic, causing it to reject her body. It physically tore her apart from the inside out, all while Twilight seared her with a concentrated, high-energy, pseudo-laser “friendship beam” at the same time. It was horrible, but the phrase “beating an (almost) dead horse” immediately came to mind every time Twilight recalled the moment.
…If she closed her eyes and listened closely, she could still hear Princess Luna’s screams.
Twilight’s ears splayed. She shifted uncomfortably in her wooden chair, clutching her legs closer to her chest. Then, after a long moment, she heaved heavy, drawn-out sigh.
It had been a rough week, to say the least.
Twilight pursed her lips, her eyes never leaving Princess Luna. All things considered, the mare had made a remarkable recovery so far. Her internal organs had realigned themselves quickly with the assistance of Twilight’s magic. Even the uneven beeping of her heart rate monitor grew more steady by the hour, as did her breathing. Her brain activity had begun to pick up as well. At this rate, the professionals predicted that she would wake from her coma within the next few hours, which was entirely unprecedented in the medical world. After seventy-two hours of being out cold, it was rare that a patient ever awoke. Then again, Luna wasn’t exactly a normal pony in the first place.
The worst part about this whole scenario, however, was that nopony seemed to care. Twilight and Celestia were the only ones to visit Luna, though Celestia did so rather irregularly as she had her royal duties to attend to. Twilight, for her part, had never left the hospital room for longer than it took to use the little mare’s room and grab a cup of coffee or three. She couldn’t bring herself to go home until she knew for sure that Luna was alive and well.
Twilight bit lightly down on her tongue, gaze still lingering on Luna. Injuries aside, the mare looked much different than Twilight had pictured her prior to Nightmare Moon’s return. She seemed to be about Twilight’s height and weight, if not a tad smaller. Her mane was sky blue and her coat a soft navy, as opposed to the royal blue Twilight had imagined. She looked rather young too. Again, she appeared no older than Twilight or any of her newfound friends. Had she crossed paths with Luna in the streets of Canterlot, never in a million years would she have pinned Luna as a former goddess.
…There was that word again, rearing its ugly head: former. It didn’t matter how many times she felt it form on her tongue, it never tasted any less bitter.
In that instant, Twilight wanted nothing more than a chance apologize to Luna. It certainly wouldn’t fix everything, not even a little bit, but it would be a start. She heaved another involuntary sigh; she had, quite literally, vaporized several millennia off this poor mare’s life. If there existed an action more cold and heartless than that, she had no idea what it could be.
Jaw tensed, Twilight leaned forward and gently brushed Luna’s mane out of her eyes.
Luna twitched at her touch.
Twilight’s eyes shot open. Her heart lurched into her throat, and she bit down on her tongue hard. There was no time to let out a yelp of pain, though. All the equipment reading Luna’s vitals had begun to rattle from the unexpected spike in activity.
But after a moment, Twilight realized that it wasn’t just a spike. It was sustained. Luna… Luna was starting to wake up. Like, right now.
Oh.
Oh no.
Twilight sat in perfect silence, unable to formulate any words. She watched the time tick by, scrutinizing Luna. Every ten seconds or so she would twitch another time. Then, after what felt like an eternity, she let out a low groan.
By the time a minute or two had elapsed, still no nurses or doctors had come to respond to the sudden change in Luna’s vitals. Twilight contemplated yelling for assistance, but decided to wait. She didn’t trust herself to speak quite yet.
Eventually, following an even longer and louder groan, Luna’s eyelids peeled open. Eyes glassy and bloodshot, she blinked a few times to clear her vision. With her heart rate monitor still beeping like it was about to explode, she managed to pull herself up into a half-sitting position, leaning heavily against the headboard of the hospital bed.
Luna let out a croak, followed by a few hacking coughs. Frantically, she reached for the glass of water on the table beside her bed and downed the whole thing in less than five seconds.
Then she locked eyes with Twilight.
Twilight tensed up, mouth half open. A sudden realization struck her harder than a freight train. What exactly did somepony say to a mare that they had almost inadvertently murdered? Twilight could only pray that Luna didn’t recognize her as Nightmare Moon’s anonymous assailant. Not yet, at least.
“P-Princess Luna,” Twilight stammered. “I’m so… I-I mean, I don’t—”
Jerked from her stupor by Twilight’s words, Luna’s expression morphed into a scowl. Her jaw clenched and her nose crinkled as she let out a low grumble.
Twilight was reasonably certain her heart had stopped beating altogether. So much for Luna not recognizing her. “I can explain!” she cried.
“Get. Out!” Luna tried to shriek, though the noise came out as more of a pitiful croak than an intimidating command.
Twilight leapt out of her seat, more than happy to oblige. Her knees wobbling underneath the weight of her body, she bolted out of the room, sprinting down the hallway and out of that forsaken hospital room for the first time in who knows how long.
And as she galloped down the corridors faster than any race horse ever had, only one thought managed to coalesce from the depths of her tangled mind:
Welp, that definitely could’ve gone better.
It just so happened that Twilight’s legs carried her to the throne room doors, beyond which she knew sat Princess Celestia. Without a moment of hesitation, she burst through them, disrupting whatever inconsequential proceeding might be going on inside the Day Court.
The doors swung inward, and the whole room fell perfectly silent. The three nobleponies standing before Princess Celestia whipped around and stared at Twilight indignantly, visibly frustrated that a “lesser” pony dared to interrupt anyone as important as them.
A moment of pervasive silence ticked by as everypony stared at one another, confused. It was then that Twilight felt her face flush a deep red, having only just put together why they all were giving her such odd looks. She hadn’t slept in days; she must’ve looked like an absolute crazy pony! No wonder they were all eyeing at her like she’d just dragged herself out of her own grave. To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t all that far from the truth.
Before Twilight could wallow in her self-conscious self-pity any longer, Princess Celestia crossed the room to approach her. Twilight glanced up at her mentor pleadingly, still breathing heavily from the sprint across the castle foregrounds.
Celestia herself looked worse for wear, too. In her few interactions with the princess over the last three days, Twilight had noticed Celestia’s steady decline. With each passing day, she looked more and more tired. She’d never admit it, but Luna’s injury was taking a toll on her mental health just as much as it was Twilight’s.
“Twilight? What’s wrong?” Celestia asked.
“Luna’s awake,” Twilight said flatly, her voice low.
Celestia’s expression flashed to one of surprise for the briefest of moments, only to be replaced by her stoic mask once more. Quickly, she motioned for Twilight to follow her back to the place she had only just fled. Begrudgingly, Twilight fell in step behind Celestia, struggling to keep up with the tall alicorn’s larger strides.
The nobleponies, for their part, simply sat there in disbelief. They watched as the large, oaken doors slammed shut in front of them, leaving them alone to an empty throne room without a single princess’ ear to chew off.
The hospital room was packed by the time Celestia and Twilight reached it. Several doctors and a hoof-ful of aides all tried to tend to the poor pegasus at once. Luna, for what it was worth, seemed to be taking it all in stride, albeit with a firm scowl plastered across her face. Then again, anypony with suction cups and rubber tubes being applied to every inch of their body had every right to be upset.
Upon seeing Celestia, Luna froze. “…Sister,” she began, her strained words silencing the rest of the room, “canst thou please explain what is going on here?”
Twilight made a pointed attempt to position herself behind her mentor, just out of Luna’s line of sight. Sure, hiding behind Celestia wasn’t exactly the most mature thing she could’ve done in that moment, but Twilight had never exactly been the most mature pony anyway.
“You were comatose for three days, Luna,” Celestia explained. “These ponies are only trying to help, I assure you.”
“Comatose…?” Luna questioned, more to herself than anypony else.
“Yes,” Celestia answered softly. “Though the Nightmare is gone now, so you needn’t worry.”
Twilight shrunk further and further into Celestia’s shadow, praying that the circumstances of the Nightmare’s… disappearance wouldn’t arise from this thread of discussion. She wasn’t quite ready to explain exactly what she had done to Luna yet. Again, Twilight knew that she needed to apologize for stealing Luna’s immortality, but there would be time for that later—perhaps once everything finally calmed down some.
“May I speak with Luna alone for a moment?” Celestia asked, turning to the doctors in the room. “I do believe that she and I have some catching up to do.”
All too often, Twilight seemed to forget that Celestia had emotions of her own. Usually she was an impenetrable rock, a living equine statue made entirely of unfiltered wisdom with gallons of herbal tea pumping through her veins thicker than blood. But every once in awhile, the smallest hint of uncertainty, of real equine emotion, would worm its way into her speech. Now was one such time; the tiniest amount of trepidation had laced its way into her words. Perhaps Twilight had imagined it, but it made sense all the same. A thousand years without speaking to a sister whom you had banished to the moon was a situation ripe for breeding contempt. Maybe… maybe Celestia was worried Luna would be upset with her.
It was strangely calming, knowing that Celestia was almost as nervous as she was.
Slowly, the other ponies all scuttled out of the room, leaving the two princesses behind. Twilight lingered in the doorway for a moment, watching as Celestia calmly approached the side of the bed. Luna’s expression remained unreadable.
The two sisters shared a hushed back-and-forth, followed by what looked like an curt apology from Celestia. Luna reciprocated, then Celestia moved in for a warm embrace. The sight brought a smile to Twilight’s lips; maybe a thousand years had been long enough to silence all hostility between them. She hoped it wouldn’t take another thousand years for Luna to forgive her as well.
Lips pursed, Twilight followed the lead of the others and hurried out into the hallway, letting the door close behind her with a soft click. Most of the other ponies had already wandered off to attend to their other duties, but one older doctor remained. He trotted up to Twilight, smiling. She attempted to return the gesture.
“Good afternoon, Miss Twilight Sparkle! How are you doing this fine day?”
Was it afternoon already? Huh.
“As good as I can be, doctor,” Twilight replied, expression level.
He let out a chuckle. “Please, call me Sequoia. What’s a title worth if it’s all you define yourself by, eh?”
Twilight nodded slowly, letting the conversation lull for a moment. She took the opportunity to soak in this stallion’s appearance. He was the quintessential grandfather figure: elderly and soft-spoken. His mane was a gray-white and his coat a dull burgundy. He stood several inches taller than Twilight as well, but not in an imposing way. He seemed to mean well enough, so she motioned for him continue speaking.
“I’m the stallion in charge of this whole operation,” he said, gesturing broadly to the hospital around them, “so I wanted to come over and introduce myself while I had the chance. I’ll be working with you and Princess Celestia personally regarding Luna’s recovery, so if you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or compliments, be sure to hunt me down.”
Twilight’s ears splayed. Why was she being included in the loop? If anything, she should be kept as far from Luna as possible. Clearly Twilight had a history of only making things worse, and she doubted Luna would want her around either.
“Thank you,” Twilight replied. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
He offered her one last smile, then headed off in the other direction. Twilight stood there rooted in her spot, watching him trot away. Once he was out of earshot, she let out her umpteenth sigh for the day, her gaze falling to her hooves and lingering there.
Almost as if on cue, the door to the hospital room pushed open and Princess Celestia trotted out. Twilight glanced up at her, and Celestia smiled.
“Do you mind if I steal your attention for a moment, Twilight?”
“Not at all,” Twilight said.
Celestia pursed her lips, pausing for a moment. “Luna seems to be doing well as of yet, but I believe this whole endeavor—her acclimation to modern society, I mean—will get markedly worse before it gets better.”
Twilight nodded.
“These next few weeks are going to be rather tough for all of us. The past few days have been an uphill battle, to say the least, and that’s even before Luna’s recovery had become part of the equation,” Celestia explained. “The nobles are fed up with being kept in the dark, the citizens of Equestria deserve to know that Luna has returned, and Luna herself… well, it’s all a work in progress.”
Another nod from Twilight.
Celestia paused to formulate her thoughts, searching for the right words. “…I hate to tie you down to Canterlot any longer than I have already, but I must ask. Would you be able to remain here at the castle for the next few weeks? I can handle the public fine, but I need your help to get Luna readjusted. I… I’m not sure that I can handle it all on my own.”
“O-of course, Princess… I would be happy to,” she replied, trying to keep her voice from wavering. It struck Twilight that she probably should’ve mentioned how Luna hadn’t responded too kindly to her presence earlier, but she couldn’t bear to tell the Princess that now. Especially not after Celestia had just admitted she needed help for the first time in Twilight’s entire life.
“Perfect,” Celestia replied. “I had the servants prepare your old room a few nights ago thinking you’d wish to sleep there rather than in the hospital. You can stay there now if you wish. I must head off, though. I have a few loose ends I must attend to before I retire. Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle. We will speak at more length in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Princess,” Twilight said.
Within a matter of moments, Celestia was gone, whisked off to heaven knows where to do heaven knows what. There, in that moment, following what could only be labeled as the most stressful day of her adulthood, Twilight was finally alone with herself. After taking a deep breath to steel herself for the long trek ahead, she began walking, trudging her way toward her old room in the upper left tower.
The seconds bled into minutes, and eventually Twilight reached her destination. She paused before the large, oaken door. Memories of a life long past flooded her: late nights wasted studying, personal lessons with Princess Celestia herself, weeks spent grounded when the guards had caught her paying other students for the privilege of doing their homework… It was almost enough to draw a smile from her. Almost.
Twilight pushed open the door and plodded inside. The room was just as she’d imagined it—perfectly pristine. The bed was made, the books were neatly stacked on the shelves, and the floor was spotless. The thing that stuck out at her the most, however, was her old Smarty Pants doll resting delicately atop the pillow. Princess Celestia must’ve requested someone fetch it from her home, thinking that she would want it here by her side. It was a small gesture, but it meant far more than Twilight could articulate in her current droopy-eyed, sleep-deprived state.
A dopey smile playing across her features, she headed straight for the bed and plopped down, grabbing the plushie and clutching it close to her chest. It wasn’t until that moment, when she could feel the soft, velvety sheets of the bed beneath her, that she realized exactly how tired she was. Upright in a wooden chair hadn’t been the best way to sleep for three nights straight, as it turned out.
She let out an enormous yawn, snuggling deeper into the mass of blankets. Thoughts ran wild in her mind—thoughts of Luna, thoughts of Celestia, and most importantly, thoughts of her friends back in Ponyville.
Twilight felt terrible that she hadn’t spoken to any of them in the days following the incident. She’d been so torn up over the whole predicament that she’d been glued to Luna’s bedside, whereas they had long since returned to their own lives. She’d never even gotten the chance to thank them, either. She especially needed to thank Fluttershy, who had graciously volunteered to watch Spike while she was holed away in Canterlot.
Twilight had met them less than a week ago and she’d already been a horrible friend. She resolved to write them all a letter first thing in the morning; they deserved as much.
With that thought firm in her mind, she let out one last deep breath and closed her eyes, the tendrils of sleep finally reaching out to claim her.
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Very interesting start. I'm looking forward to seeing how Luna reacts to this new arrangement--both with her body and with Twilight.
The second "for" isn't necessary here, but I really highlighted it because I could totally see Twilight doing this. Great line.
You almost make it sound as if Twilight is an alicorn now, with your phrasing. I get the feeling that I'll finally get to add another story to my "Twilight of the stars" shelf!
OK, I'm curious where this will go.
Hope to read more soon
good start, I shall be watching this story
I beg to differ. My argument: Babies.
Interesting, though it will be difficult to explain why the Elements of Harmony injured Luna so severely. Of course, I already have an idea on how I would write this.
We've all thought at some point that as far as reasons go for going to the darkside, petty envy is a pretty bad one. No matter how writers try to fancy it up and make it deeper, it still comes down to a child throwing a apocalyptic temper tantrum.
Something not addressed often however, is how despicable this sort of envy actual is for a character. Luna felt entitled to her subjects love and admiration, never mind that her subjects were each individuals with their own thoughts and feelings. They should have loved her no matter what. See, Luna doesn't see mortal ponies as people, she sees them as objects to be owned. They are her ponies, and they should love their owner indiscriminately not unlike a dog loves its master.
If we go with a head canon that Luna was born an alicorn, this becomes an understandable world-view. After all, if you live only the life of a goddess, it would be hard to see mortals as equals to respect.
Which brings us back to the Elements. See, the Elements saw what Luna's real problem was, and it wasn't the Nightmare, or jealousy towards her sister, it was this inability to relate to the ponies she was supposed to guide, and so, they decided to teach Luna this lesson with tough love.
Stripped of her god-hood, Luna must now come to terms with her mortality and the idea that she's no longer someone special that deserves worship. She will live closer to being a common pony than she ever has before, and will learn their struggles. In so doing she will see the true error of her ways; not just that she hurt her sister, but also the subjects she now understands are just as important.
When she finally learns this, she will ascend once more to an alicorn and become a ruler deserving of her position.
Anyway, onto chapter 2.
7265374 Sounds like the plot to an excellent story. I just wish it actually was a story.
Awesome, I lost it there.