The Phantom of Canterlot

by Azure Drache

Future plans

The cold night air wafted past Twilight’s legs as she was carried through the growing darkness. She was being carried away by Burning Snowflake, the infirmary having long since passed out of sight.

Twilight wasn’t able to see much through the cracks of her eyelids on their way through the castle, but she was sure they were heading away from the center of the antimagic field.At least that is what she assumed from the sudden drop in temperature, the turns they were making, and the lights of guard fires.
“Where are we going?” she asked, attempting to be heard over the howl of the wind. But, when she didn’t get an answer, she repeated her question, this time louder.

“I’m just looking for a good spot to drop you.”

As the gray mare spoke, Twilight noticed that Burning Snowflake seemed to be having trouble carrying her. Her wings were flapping far faster than what she would expect, nearly twice as quick as wings of a normal pegasus would.

“Are you alright? Really, I can walk. Just place me back on the ground.”

“No, I am fine. We are almost there anyway.”

Indeed, after only half a minute, they began to descend. Instinctively, Twilight extended her legs in preparation for landing. Burning Snowflake still warned her though before placing her on the ground and landing a few hoofsteps away herself.

“Come on, filly, we don’t have time to waste.”

“Stop calling me ‘filly’, I am a mare,” Twilight corrected. Though her complaint lost a little bit of its weight when she found that she was having an issue with placing one hoof before the other without falling to the ground.

“You can claim that once you’re no longer in the double digits.”

“Urg, you really could stand to be a little more kind, you know?”

“Says the mare who tried to find me when I made it painfully obvious that I didn’t want to be found.”

Before Twilight could reply, Burning Snowflake cut her off with a raised hoof.

“I really don’t have time for that now, just move forward a little bit and you’ll be out of the range of my field.”

Swallowing an annoyed reply, Twilight did as she was told, slowly moving forward a few steps, only for nothing to happen.

Twilight turned her head back towards Burning Snowflake. “Are you sure we are at the edge of the field? I don’t feel any difference.”

“You are right on the edge, just two steps and you are out.”

“If you say so… “ Twilight breathed in and braced herself for the pain that had been promised as she stepped forward.

One step.

Nothing happened.

Two.

Again, nothing.

Step three…

Still nothing.

“So much to your, eeeeek!” A heavy shock ran through Twilight’s head. Like the sparks of a firework, her magic came flooding back, leaving points of searing pain all throughout the channels that made up the magical circuitry of her body.

“Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch!” Twilight yelled as she tried to step back.

“No filly, you aren’t backing out now,” Burning Snowflake said as she hastily walked to Twilight’s side, pushing her forward with her shoulder. “I told you it would hurt.”

Twilight whimpered, “You didn’t say it would be this bad.” She groaned and then her left foreleg gave in.

“Back on your hooves, filly. If you stop now, you have to go through it all over again, you need to be out of the field completely.”

“I am trying!”

Burning Snowflake quickly placed a hoof under Twilight’s belly and lifted her up. “Keep trotting.”

Slowly, Twilight limped forward. “You could have just dropped me outside and it would be over already.”

“I could have done that, but that could have put you into shock. I simply thought it would be better for your magic to flow through your body slowly instead of in one heavy blow.” She looked at Twilight's back. “But don’t expect me to explain everything that I do in the future.”

Twilight was about to reply, but was cut off by a heavy shiver when her body completely left the field. Sweat formed on her forehead as an intense heat began to course through her, starting from her horn before it streamed down her head, spine, and finally through her limbs.

“I think… I see what you mean,” Twilight said through gritted teeth.

“It will only last a few seconds.”

“How do you know?”

“You are not the first creature who’s experienced this.” Snowy removed her hoof from Twilight’s belly and stepped aside, causing the princess to sink to the ground. “I’ve seen the light version of what you’re going through a few times already.”

Out of breath, Twilight did her best to reply, still her words came out slow and delayed. “Didn’t you say… that only alicorns get this problem?”

“We only spoke about ponies, not creatures in general.” Snowy shook her head. “And no, we won’t be discussing this further.” She looked at Twilight as she heavily panted. “The next thing should be a feeling of great cold, leading to total exhaustion.”

“I am looking forward to it…” Twilight’s words dripped with irony.

“You will be fine, don’t worry,” Snowy said, lying down into a comfortable position, letting her gaze hang on Twilight.

After a minute or two had passed, Twilight spoke again.

“Didn’t you say you were in a hurry? There is no need to keep watching me go through… this.”

“I still have a few minutes, it will take them at least half an hour to get here.”

Twilight’s ear perked up. “Who?”

“Them.”

“Who are they?”

“You will see soon.”

“Why not tell me now? As you said, there’s more than enough time.” The alicorn stretched out her wings a bit and fanned some air to herself.

A little smile formed on Snowy lips. “The impatience of the youth.”

“Could you stop talking as if I was a little foal? Please?”

“You are nearly seven hundred years younger than me, how else should I refer to you? Besides, no one complains when Celestia refers to ponies that way.”

“That's different!”

“How so?”

“Celestia rules Equestria, she is a princess,” Twilight said. “And ponies adore her.”

“Well, I am not an alicorn,” Snowy said, stretching her wings out in a way that made her feathers clear to see in the moonlight. “Growing a horn, however, isn’t a big deal for me. I can make one if I wish.” Closing her wings again, Burning Snowflake continued, “Being adored, mhh, as you know, nopony is adored by everyone, but that being said, there are some ponies who adore me.”

“We both know that is something different.”

“Oh is it?”

Both mares exchanged a look.

“Anyway,” Snowy continued, “the main point is that she is ruling Equestria, while I prefer to stay out of the spotlight.”

“The main point is that you shall stop calling me filly.” Twilight brushed away a drop of sweat.

“I…” Snowy hesitated for a moment. “I shall consider it in the future.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That was a very sudden change of mind. What are you up to?”

“We don’t have the time for arguing.” Snowy looked into the distance. “I have some serious questions before I leave and I need honest answers from you.” She blinked. “We can argue later.”

“Questions?” Twilight repeated before looking in the same direction as Snowy. In the distance, the silhouette of Neighagra Falls could be seen, besides that, there wasn’t anything that Twilight thought was worth of the other mare’s interest . After a second look, she returned her gaze to Burning Snowflake. “What questions?”

“First I need your promise that you will answer honestly.”

“Why would I lie in the first place?”

“So you promise?”

Something in Snowy’s body language had changed. Twilight couldn’t place a hoof on it due to the lack of light, but something was different than a second before.

“Not so fast,” Twilight said. “You have questions, and so do I.” Twilight wiped her forehead to remove the sweat that had built up. The heat was finally gone, replaced by a refreshing coldness. “This way, we both can get what we want.”

Snowy’s facial expression suddenly went from interested to unfavorable.

Twilight pushed herself up so that she was now sitting on the grass. “That way everything would be fair.”

“I already know what you want to know, filly. You want the same thing all the others want to know.” Snowy snorted. “Knowledge of the past. You want to know about things that are none of your business. There are reasons that information isn’t public.”

“I…”

“Spare me your excuses,” Snowy interrupted. “Only Snowflakes seek me out to say hello or find out more about the family.” She rose and turned around. “I can count the number of ponies who found me and didn’t ask about attaining immortality or power over the last two hundred years on my primaries,” she said before stretching out a wing, revealing five long feathers.

“Well,” Twilight retorted, “I wasn’t looking for you to say hello, that may be true, but I wasn’t seeking you to find your way to immortality either.” The feeling of coldness had grown more intense, causing her to shiver. “And while I may be tempted to ask you about some of your wisdom, right now, I am more interested in knowing about you and what you’ve been doing, specifically, from your perspective on what your family’s told me.”

“And why should I tell you any of that, filly?” Snowy said contemptuously over her shoulder. “You already made it quite clear what you think about what I do.”

“Reasons, and the truth,” Twilight replied at once, she had expected that question to come. “The stories your family told me about you left a lot of things unclear, while other things put you in quite a bad light.” She let her gaze stay on the back of Snowy’s head. “If you want answers from me, I want some from you in return.”

Snowy let out a low ‘hmm’ and raised an eyebrow. And for the first time, something like a hint of respect mixed into her gaze, but Twilight wasn’t too sure if that was what she really saw. “Fine,Twilight, I’ll tell you about what I’ve done.” She turned back to her and lifted a hoof. “As long as it doesn’t require me to reveal secrets that don’t belong to me, or pertain to not only me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’ve witnessed a few things that are not for everyone to know, and a few secrets I know about are still relevant today. They could cause some ponies trouble if they got into the wrong hooves. So this is my offer; if your question only affects me, I will answer honestly, if it affects somepony else too, I will only reveal what I should.”

“Fair enough.” Twilight nodded.

“Then it is settled,” Snowy said. “I will start, since I am older.” She settled into a more comfortable sitting position. “First question…”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you straight?”

“Uhm,” Twilight looked confused, “what do you mean?”

“Mare or stallion, what is it for you?”

Twilight spun her head back and her jaw dropped for a second. “Beg your pardon?”

“Are you into mares or stallions, not that hard of a question,” Snowy said.

“Uhm… uhm, well,” Twilight’s cheeks reddened, “that's quite a direct question.”

“So? Honest answer?”

“Yeah, um, right.” Twilight blinked. “You just caught me a bit off guard, it’s a rather indiscreet question.”

“You don’t say.”

“Okay, okay, alright, straight, stallions for me.” She crooked her head. “But why do you wanna know that?”

“Is that your first question for me?” Snowy raised an eyebrow.

“What? No! Of course not, I was just curious as to why you want to know.”

“Then go ahead and ask your first question, we don’t have all day.”

Still, it took Twilight a moment to decide what she should ask first. There was simply so many possible questions, but in the end, she made the decision.

“Climber mentioned you may have murdered somecreature.” Twilight’s voice got serious. “Have you?”

“Yes.”

“So you did kill some creature...” Twilight repeated upset. “That, that is horrible!”

“You asked if I murdered somecreature, that is different from killing somecreature, you know.”

“What?”

“Killing can be in self-defence, by happenstance, or by an accident. Murder, on the other hoof,” Snowy swiftly sliced through the grass with her hoof, “murdering is on purpose, an action you are focused on, it is your goal to kill the victim.”

Twilight was stunned by this revelation. She had known that the answer could be yes, but the emotional coldness of the other mare shocked her even more. “So that is the reason your family doesn’t know for sure if you murdered somecreature or not, because you are indeed a murderer and don’t want them to know.”

“No,” Snowy shook her head, “my family just don’t know everything about the story to the full extent, seven hundred years of life can’t be told over a fire and a warm tea. Compassion was the only one who knew my full story, he decided what got passed along to the next generation and what didn’t. I only made sure some facts didn’t get messed up over the centuries.”

“And made sure no one found out the truth about your crimes,” Twilight added.

Snowy just shook her head. “You call them crimes, I call it necessary.”

“Murdering is never necessary! There is always a better option, and, there is no reason that justifies murdering somecreature!”

“And you are absolutely sure about that?”

“One hundred percent!”

“So if you could save everyone you love, all the ponies close to you, your friends or your family, by taking one life, the life of a thief, an evil genius, a murderer himself, you would not take it?”

“I would not! You can’t weigh lives against each other! That is wrong!”

“It is the right thing to do.” Snowy snorted. “I’m not talking about killing someone innocent, it was either him or her. I had to make the decision and I did.”

“Who did you know that was so important that you would allow yourself to make that decision?”

“Sherlay,” Snowy looked away for a moment and took a deep breath, “it was Sherlay who I saved.” Her gaze wandered back to Twilight. “And to answer your next question, it was the pony you know as Mory Arty who I murdered.”

“That’s not true,” Twilight interjected in confusion, “Mory Arty died at…” She paused, remembering what Climber had told her. “So you’re telling me that not only did Sherlay survive, but he did too?”

“Sadly, yes,” Snowy answered. “If he hadn’t, I would not have been forced to murder him myself.” She gave Twilight a longer look before her gaze wandered to the horizon above the Neighagara falls. “I see, you need me to explain this.” She sighed. “Well then, the short version, he and Sherlay were rivals as you know from the books, but it didn’t stop there. First, he tried to seduce her so that they could have brilliant foals, and when that failed, he tried to scare her away so she wouldn’t interfere with his plans anymore.” Snowy shook her head with a little smile. “As if that would ever work on her. Anyway, they fought each other for years, his wits against hers, it was… I don’t know how to describe it, but it was something worth witnessing for sure. But with the years passing by, like you read in Oatsen’s books, the situation got more serious, so serious in fact that at one point he tried to kill my love.”

Snowy stood up and turned around.

“It’s like your read in Oatsen’s books, they fought above that platform and both fell into the depths. They both survived. Still, his attempt to kill her that day was real, and from that moment on, it was clear that it was going to be him or her. It wouldn’t be enough to place him in prison, he was clever enough to kill her anyway. If not by his hooves, then one of his henchponies would do it for him. As long as he was alive, somepony would have found a way to free him, if he hadn’t already escaped. His intelligence was on the same level as Sherlay’s.” Snowy’s voice got just a bit quieter. “So I took it into my own hooves. I found him, and made sure an incident like the one at the waterfall would never happen again. I was not willing to risk that someday Mory Arty succeeded.”

“I… I don’t know what I should say,” Twilight said, “I… I find it wrong what you did, though…”

“Don’t bother, we don’t have the time for this anyway. You wanted an answer and you got one, so my turn again.” She turned back to Twilight. “Second question, are you up for an arranged marriage, not now, but in the future?”

“W… wha…” Twilight stuttered. “Where did this question come from? One moment we’re talking about the murder of a pony, the next you ask me if I am available for an arranged marriage.”

“Yes.”

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “no, I am not. A marriage is a serious thing between two ponies in love, we’re not in the old days anymore. If I marry somepony, it will be my choice, and mine alone.”

“That makes things a bit more complicated.” Snowy nodded, thinking. “Though, maybe it just depends on the offer.”

“No! I am not going to be bribed!”

“We will see about that.” Snowy shrugged. “I will come up with something if needed.” She inhaled deeply. “Not my first time making two ponies fall in love. Anyway, your turn.”

“I am not so sure if I really want to hear more answers.” Twilight jawned. “And I am a bit concerned that you are so interested in my love life.”

“If you want to pass…”

“No! No… just… fine, okay.” Twilight straightened up. “Why?”

“Hmm?”

“What is the reason for whatever it is that you are doing? Why do you do what you do? Hiding here, still, even hundreds of years after you last took part in Equestrian history. What changed?” She made a gesture including all of the castle and its surroundings. “According to your own story, for nearly three hundred years, you were hiding here, buried in the annals of history, forgotten by the rest of the world. And yet you made sure ponies knew about you if they only looked up the history of the Snowflakes. What is your reason?”

“A good question, a really good question,” Snowy replied. “You remember what I said to Climber? About the groups with different interests acting against our castle?”

Twilight brought the discussion between him and Snowy before her inner eye. “Yes,” she said after a moment. “Yes, I do.” A small yawn escaped her lips.

“Good, that is your answer. My existence is not a secret, at least not in certain circles. The wrong individuals know about me, individuals who are mighty, with influence, and the same will to do what is necessary that I have. I learned very late about them, but they barely noticed me at first. But over the centuries, the conflict got out of hoof. Imagine it like a game of cards, you can’t let the opponent know what you have.”

“Wait a moment,” another, longer yawn interrupted Twilight’s question, “didn’t you say these groups were harmless, otherwise you wouldn’t let them roam around in your castle at all?”

“Harmless for my family, or for anypony alone, but in the greater picture, they are quite a threat to Equestria and my personal plans. So you know, there are secrets that they must not know of, and hiding here, where they don’t know if I am actually here, or on their very close doorstep already, that gives me the advantage I need.”

“So you’re telling me this is all just a game of cat and mouse?”

“Kind of, but with far higher stakes. You must know, some of these groups want to harm Equestria in general, not individuals, but the country itself. While I and my associates try to let it prosper. Of course these groups would tell a different story about it, but that is only natural.”

“You’re telling me there are groups dedicated to harming Equestria on purpose? Not with the intention to take over like Discord or Chrysalis?” She blinked.

“Yes, that is what I am talking about. You very well may encounter them yourself one day if you start to take over the role of a princess more and more. I am sure Cel…” Snowy’s head spun around, once more in the direction of the mountains. “Ah, well, looks like our time is already up. Unfortunate, I had a few more questions, but they must wait it seems.”

“Huh?” Twilight looked in the same direction. “What are you talking about? I see nothing. And I have a lot more questions too.”

“If everything goes as planned, we will meet again. But for now, I must hurry.” Snowy spread her wings and hovered up into the air, staying there for a moment. “I’ll send someone to collect you, that way when you wake up, you will be back in the castle.”

“When I wake up? What do you mean by that?” She yawned once more and suddenly her eyelids felt like they weighed several tons. “I am... not tired. And where… “she yawned,” are you going?”

“It is always like this, once your magic is back you fall like a stone and sleep for the next few hours, trust me on that. Anyway, I have work to do.” And with those words, Snowy took off into the air.

“You can’t… urg.” Twilight shook her head, but Snowy was already gone. “That was some encounter, that’s for sure.” She watched the other mare for a moment before her gaze wandered back to the mountains, and to her surprise, there was now a tiny spot in the air, but it was quickly increasing in size.

Before Twilight gave in and fell into a deep slumber, she identified the object to be an airship. A huge one, she tried to read the name written on the hull, but it was too far away to make out.

“That must be them,” Twilight thought, already sinking to the ground.

Author's Note:

Well, took me a while to write this, but my good friend Schattendrache voluntered to edit it for me, so I had to eventually, right?

You also can thank him for Snowy being a bit more nice and friendly than originally intendet in this chapter. He mentioned that people may start to dislike her, despite the facts I told about her already in earlier chapters, means people only see this chapter and think of her as a villain. Because of that, I spoke with him about this dialogs a lot and changed them to a more friendly tone.

*Update: ON 29.12.2019 this chapter was overedited by Everfreepony. She spotted a few errors in it still and after Schattendrache said it was okay with him, she overedited it for me.

Comments

[Azure Drache]

10177467
Not everybody had the skill like you to write a featured story place 1#

[Azure Drache]

10177853
Thank you🐉