II-XI. The Letter
It was the first time she'd ever taken the train alone, Twilight noticed.
She was on her way to Olympus again for what she hoped would be the last time for a while. She was alone in the car, so she was able to stand, pace, and softly mutter to herself as she studied the book in her hands without worrying of drawing any suspicion from potential eavesdroppers.
It was also the first time she had committed a felony, Twilight observed. Not only had she just committed burglary against one of her best friends, but she was now also committing corporate espionage against that same friend; she was studying the recent business records of Rarity, which were inscribed in a highly ornate, jeweled, purple journal.
"I wish that Rarity were better organized," Twilight muttered. "Her books don't have any rhyme or reason to them...."
Nonetheless, Twilight continued reading on.
As much as she hated to admit it, Twilight was forced to: the nightmare she'd had last night had deeply shaken her. Discord himself hadn't spoken to her, of course; that would be ridiculous. In addition, she highly doubted that the ink-black entity that had called itself "Discord" in her dream was anything like the real, actual Discord of reality. She couldn't deny that her dream-Discord was terrifying, but he had also been... weird. A little too weird.
Why would the omnipotent Lord of the Cosmos feel the need to play petty practical jokes on anyone? Why would the most primordial of all deities be full of jest and childish humor, rather than aloof, stoic dignity?
This was the single greatest reason Twilight didn't buy that she had truly spoken to the spirit of Discord last night: he had not been at all serious. He'd struck Twilight as far closer to the personality of a Harlequin than that of an all-powerful, cruel tyrant. How could such a silly creature invoke the utter and complete dread that Celestia held for him?
Twilight cracked a small smile. Yes, of course that Discord had been a mere figment of her imagination; the more she thought about it, the more certain she was. Celestia was the key. The stained-glass windows, the High Princess's head mounted on a stake, the surreal goofiness of the Chaos-God's personality- it had all been centered around Twilight's fixation on Celestia.
Seeing her mentor's severed head dripping blood onto the ground- what could be a more terrifying image for Twilight? Celestia was the ultimate cornerstone of comfort and safety- not just for Twilight, but for nearly all Beings in the world. On top of that, why had the dream-Discord's cheerful demeanor dropped the instant she'd mentioned Celestia? Discord was, by definition, all-powerful; what reason could he possibly have to fear Celestia, whose finite power was by definition infinitely lesser?
Twilight blushed and shivered; even the dream-Discord's physical molestation of her could be attributed to her thoughts of Celestia. After all, Twilight was intensely attracted to her mentor; every bit as much as she was to Cadance and Spike, in fact, if not more. Twilight was actually a bit annoyed that she'd lived with and studied under two Goddesses; she'd developed a taste for Gods and God-like Beings, it seemed. Twilight had grown accustomed to exceptional beauty, talent, and intelligence within her companions. She smirked as she noted that even Rainbow Dash was a demigoddess, and Twilight wouldn't have been at all surprised if she'd eventually learned that Spike and Sunset were, as well.
But above all, Twilight was convinced of her dream's absurdity by the silliness of Discord's personality. She made a small, scoffing laugh. Discord couldn't be that silly, right?
Twilight flinched.
... could he?
At that moment, Twilight remembered something, which filled her with tremendous fear. Discord had been described in The Elements of Harmony with only three attributes; namely, he was horrifically cruel, tyrannical, and above all insane.
Honestly, Twilight had never paid much attention to that particular last adjective before. After all, evil tyrants were by definition insane, right?
But at that moment, Twilight came to realize that Celestia had always placed as much emphasis as she possibly could on her father's insanity whenever she spoke or wrote about him. She always referred to him as the "Lunatic King," the "Lord of Pandemonium," or "the Mad God." Hell, even the name "Discord" held the definition of "panic induced by madness."
Twilight paled. Now that she thought of it... why had she imagined Discord as having such an absurd persona? If, as she had theorized, her dream of the Dark God had been inspired by her memories and thoughts of Celestia, why hadn't he been, like her, full of dignity and majesty?
Twilight clasped her hand over her mouth, suppressing a retch as she nearly vomited.
She had suddenly realized: Celestia wasn't always entirely regal or stoic, either. In fact, she could often be quite mischievous, and would occasionally show hints of a very childish sense of humor. Like at the Gala a few weeks ago, when the formality had been utterly capsized and all the nobility had fled in panic. Celestia hadn't been upset then; she was delighted. In the face of great chaos, she had expressed only glee.
Much like Discord had within Twilight's dream.
Again Twilight convulsed as she again nearly vomited. If anything, Princess Luna was even more mischievous and wild than Celestia sometimes hinted at being. The Ruler of the Night was also a free-spirited Goddess who could send her soul to visit her subjects' dreams while her body slept.
Just like her father.
There was a rather peculiar practice in the discipline of studying and recording history (as Angels, Humans, and Elves did it): it was the perpetuation of an error that was deliberately and universally repeated. So ubiquitous was this, in fact, that its effects were deeply felt even in modern, everyday parlance and mortal culture.
This academic oddity had to do with the Gods; to be specific, their genealogy. Historians would always, as a show of respectful discretion, deliberately leave pieces of data missing so as never to make the exact structure of the Pantheon's family tree explicit. Parentage among the Gods would therefore always have to be inferred from official records by "reading between the lines."
Discord had no parents. He was eternal; an entity with neither beginning nor end, and as a result he was recorded as parentless in any documents making a thorough discussion of him. Discord was therefore given a unique classification within the hierarchy of the Pantheon; he was the sole occupant of the so-called "Prime Generation" of Gods. Below him were, in order from eldest to youngest: Celestia, Tirek, Poseidon, Sombra, Chrysalis, Seti, Sonata, Demeter, Scorpan, and Horus. These ten Gods made up the Pantheon's First Generation, for they had all been hand-crafted by Discord himself as babes to be his first children. Because of their unconventional births, Celestia and her nine siblings were recorded as having only one parent: Discord, their father.
There was a common misconception- especially among mortal children- that Luna was a First-Generation Goddess, too. In actuality, she was a Second-Generation Goddess, though some made the cheeky argument that she was a "One-and-a-Half" Generation Goddess, because she was the only other member of the Pantheon who could claim Discord as her father.
The definition historians used for the Pantheon's "Second Generation," which Luna occupied alongside Hermes, Crystal, Persephone, and Athena (among others), was that they were "Gods directly sired by at least one First-Generation God, but with no parentage of the Second or later generations." It was carefully emphasized to history students that this categorization was strictly one of pedigree, rather than chronology; the Philosophy-God Kong, for example, was a Third-Generation God because at least one of his parents was a Second-Generation God, even though he was centuries older than Cadance, herself a Second-Generation Goddess in spite of her great youth. However, though Luna was a Second-Generation Goddess, the only parent historically attributed to her was Discord, her mother's identity always left conspicuously blank. The knowledge that her sister Celestia was also, in fact, her mother was only ever passed on orally.
When Twilight had first asked her parents if Celestia was Cadance's mother, her parents had confirmed that she was. Twilight had suspected it since she'd been in diapers, since Celestia had raised Cadance and the two of them seemed to have a parent/child relationship dynamic. Twilight had then asked why Cadance only ever addressed Celestia as her "aunt," which her parents promised to explain to her when she was older.
Shortly before she became Cadance's apprentice, Twilight's parents did as they promised. They explained to Twilight that Cadance exclusively referred to Celestia as her aunt because Celestia was her aunt, as well as her mother. This had initially confused Twilight, but with some slight gentle guidance she was able to deduce that this was because Cadance's parents had been brother and sister, meaning that they were her aunt and uncle as well as her mother and father. Twilight then asked if Poseidon was Cadance's father, which her parents also confirmed. Twilight was proud to have figured that out by herself, though now she had to admit it had been quite easy; after all, Cadance often traveled to Atlantis to visit the Sea-God, and she had shown as much excitement as a daughter eagerly awaiting her father's return home from a war the two times Poseidon had come to visit Camelot himself. Twilight had then asked if any of the other Gods were Celestia's children, to which her parents replied that there were two: Luna, as well as Athena, the Goddess of Civilization.
However, Twilight then asked why Cadance never called Celestia "mother," and why Celestia never addressed Cadance, Luna, or Athena as "Daughter." Her parents had explained that this was a custom of modesty; a euphemistic avoidance so as to never draw attention to the incestuous nature of their conceptions. Twilight's parents said that the reasoning for this was twofold; firstly, it showed sensitivity to the divine First Generation's trauma from their abusive childhoods. Discord had created Celestia and her siblings solely to be his playthings, after all, and it was easy to understand why this would be an extremely painful truth for them to dwell upon. The second reason was to acknowledge the fact that there was a dramatic difference separating the Gods from mortals: there was no genetic danger for offspring the Gods conceived incestuously, which was decidedly not the case for mortal Beings. Because the Gods were physically flawless in every way, they had no need to fear that any children they directly sired would suffer any kind of inherited illnesses or disabilities from them, and therefore the innate disgust and taboo around incest that most mortals possessed simply didn't exist in any of them. Because written histories were solely for the benefit of mortals (Gods had no need for them, as they possessed eternal memories which never decayed), the carnal internal aspects of the Pantheon were always left officially unsaid to discourage mortal attempts to imitate them.
Twilight rushed towards one of the car's trashcans, where she finally vomited the stress and terror out of her body. After she had spit the last bit of bile she could hack out, she took several deep breaths as she reflected on the horrific truth: Discord was Luna's father and her grandfather. His personality could only have been all the more apparent within Luna, as three-fourths of the genes she possessed were his. Twilight had come to the realization that the God the Discord of her dream most reminded her of was Luna, and not Celestia; if she thought logically, this made perfect sense, as the two resembled each other to an uncanny degree.
With an exhausted sigh, Twilight made her way to the train's restrooms to cleanse the remaining acid from her mouth and face. After Twilight shut off the water, wishing she'd brought a toothbrush with her, she gazed at her reflection and thought over all this again as calmly and rationally as she could. Now that she'd had a bit more time to dwell on it, she realized that her dream-Discord had been based on Luna, rather than Celestia, which suddenly caused her dream's creation to make sense again. In addition, why would Discord come to visit her as she slept? He might have been insane, but Discord wasn't stupid; surely he must have known how foolish preemptively gloating that he would soon return would be?
Twilight grinned as she made one more observation: the chant that Discord had recited in her dream sounded unmistakably like a prophecy. There was no way that could have actually happened; after all, if Discord truly were capable of seeing into the future, would he not have avoided becoming Sealed in the first place? Further, wouldn't his current state of being a block of etherial stone prevent him from sending his soul to visit dreams?
However, Twilight flinched as she then remembered Celestia's words: Discord is not like the other Gods. Celestia had made the immensely disturbing suggestion that the God she had defeated millennia ago was not truly Discord, but merely only a part of him. Twilight again felt her flesh become ice-cold as she remembered that the dream-Discord had told her that she, along with all other Beings, was a piece and an extension of Discord; this made sense, Twilight thought, when she distressedly mused that Discord was the God of Chaos in the most primordial and visceral sense of the word; the cosmos, and life itself, are chaos, meaning that Discord's Soul penetrated and infused all creatures and living things, binding them together. Twilight almost fainted at the next resulting conclusion she drew: even Celestia, the good, kind, wise High Princess of the World, was merely a Being whose Soul was but a piece taken from her all-powerful father's fire. The first thing that Twilight had ever learned about Magic was that its purest form was utterly chaotic; Chi and Ether were nothing more than Soul-energy crafted from Mana, the basest form of energy that all things were crafted from. Discord, Twilight concluded with immense despair, was the sadistic God of the Chaos that was Mana, and was therefore the cruel God of Everything.
Twilight's hand slipped over the counter's edge, jolting her back into full consciousness. She shook her head, then took another deep breath. No, that couldn't be the case; after all, if Discord were truly the God of Everything, shouldn't it have been completely impossible for Celestia to defeat him? Couldn't he simply escape his prison in Tartarus now, just by willing the prison around him to crumble and break away?
Perhaps that's what he's doing now.
Twilight slammed her palm against the sink's surface. "Get ahold of yourself, Twilight!" she shrieked. "Stop thinking about it! Discord is imprisoned in the deepest Hell of the pits of Tartarus; that's a fact. If he could escape, he would have done it already; so long as C-Celesia's protecting us, we... we'll be fine...."
Fearful tears welled in Twilight's eyes, as she remembered the tremendous weariness she had seen in the High Princess's eyes.
... Would they...?
Twilight felt the train lurch as it came to a stop. "All off for Olympus! All off for Olympus!"
Twilight stood up straight, turning towards the sound of the conductor's voice. After a moment, she looked down at Rarity's record-book, then she sighed before frowning at it with grim determination. "It's my job to ensure that never happens," she muttered. She then picked up the book and ran out, determined to fulfill Celestia's mission to prevent the return any more Sealed Gods, no matter the cost.
Spike had never felt so ashamed or full of self-contempt as he did now.
He had sat, motionless, on his favorite chair in the Golden Oak Library as five of his best friends furiously shouted at him nonstop for several long minutes. It must have been less than twenty minutes that he endured their screams of betrayed anger, but it felt like at least a thousand.
"... an ASSHOLE, y'know that, Spike?! I've done some shit I'm not proud of, but even I wouldn't stoop this low!"
"We trusted you, Spike! We thought you trusted us! Have we done anything to make you believe you'd need to lie to us?! W-well, I did break my Pinkie Promise-"
"Never mind that, it weren't true to begin with! Tarnation, what were ya thinkin', Spike?! What in your right mind made ya think tellin' us you were foolin' around with yer mentor was a good idea?!"
"Yes, this I'd like to hear," Fluttershy added darkly. "Perhaps Dashie was right to be so suspicious of you two when you came here."
This roused Spike's attention. With a shocked gasp, he looked up at Fluttershy and asked, "Y-you really think that, S-Shy...?"
Fluttershy's expression softened slightly, but Rarity shrugged. "Whatever you two are covering up must be... very serious. After all, flouting statutory rape laws is no small matter, and yet you decided that was the lie you should go with."
"Twi and I aren't doing anything illegal! I swear!" Spike cried tearfully.
"Why won't you tell us what it is, then?!" Applejack barked.
"Because I can't!" Spike sobbed, lifting his palms up to his face. "I just... can't...." he wailed, and the girls felt a little of their sympathy return.
"... Why not...?" Pinkie asked.
Spike shook his head. "I promised not to," he said remorsefully. "I can't tell any of you any more than that. I'm sorry."
Pinkie frowned. "Do you Pinkie Promise you're telling us the truth this time?"
"I'll make an Oath ritual, if you like," Spike replied. "Yes, everything I am telling you girls is completely, honest-to-Celestia the truth. What Twilight and I are here for is not illegal, and the only thing preventing me from telling you what it is is my word I gave that I would not."
The girls continued gazing at Spike for a moment, then Rainbow Dash sighed wearily. "Well, we're at a deadlock, then," she muttered. "I, for one, believe ya, man."
Spike made the tiniest of smiles.
"Still, I ain't gonna let you off the hook yet," Rainbow continued, raising her index finger for emphasis. "You and Egghead Twi have a lot of explaining to do."
Spike tried to speak, but Rainbow hissed, "Shut up. I know you're not allowed to tell us anything, but we're gonna get some fuckin' answers. I'm stayin' right here until your mentor comes back, then I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind."
The other four girls nodded and voiced agreement, prompting Spike to take a few deep breaths. He wasn't out of the woods yet, but at least his friends weren't shouting at him anymore.
Several hours passed, and still Twilight didn't return. One by one, all six young Beings gradually fell into an uneasy sleep, during which time neither a gust of wind nor a knock at the door interrupted their slumber.
Shortly after midnight, a small bell tinkled, awakening Spike. His eyes fluttered open as he turned to the library's letter-basket, which was tied to a string that rang a signalling-bell whenever a weight had been dropped into it. They had just received mail.
Spike groaned, wiped his eyes, and stretched, which stirred the girls on the sofas (and rug, in Pinkie's case) back into consciousness. "Who'd send mail at half to one in the morning...?" Spike muttered as he plodded to the basket.
Upon seeing what laid in the basket, however, a surge of panicked adrenaline instantly brought Spike to full lucidity. His eyes widened, he paled, and he gasped as though emerging from an icy pool. He snatched an envelope from the basket; on its back was written in typewritten letters:
"Addressed to: Spike, Assistant Librarian of the Golden Oak Library, Avalon
From: Twilight Sparkle, currently under the detention of the Olympian Royal Guard in the Dungeon of Camelot, Olympus
This document represents the single written letter its author is allowed to send to any Being of his/her choosing as his/her right guaranteed by law to all detainees in legal custody under the Royal Crown."
"What is it, Spike?" Rarity asked concernedly as Spike urgently ripped the envelope open and shook Twilight's letter out.
"Twilight's been arrested!" Spike wailed, to which all the girl became lucid as swiftly as he had. They all gasped distressedly and gathered around Spike as he unfolded the letter and read its typewritten contents aloud:
"Spike,
Please forgive me. I don't know what's come over me; I was just so terrified. I know my parents and Shining will immediately be told about this, so I decided to use this letter to let YOU know what's going on.
I've been charged with aggravated assault, and if Rarity wants she can accuse me of breaking-and-entering, burglary, and corporate espionage. Tell Rarity that she can, and I will admit guilt to all of them if she does.
I really have no-one to blame but myself for the mess I'm in. The Beings I attacked turned out to be innocent, I stole our friend's property and examined her classified records without just cause, but most of all I made the spectacularly stupid mistake of not turning to you- or anyone else- for help.
Spike, I beg you: do not think for one INSTANT that you have even an inkling of blame for what I've done. You could not have done any better. You honored your promises, kept calm when I couldn't, and always had the right idea to get us out of whatever rut we were in. If anything, I didn't trust you ENOUGH. Perhaps if I'd told you what was going on with me lately, none of this would have happened.
I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I'm certain I will not be permitted to have you as my apprentice any longer. In all likelihood, I'm going to spend several years in prison. Princess Celestia might intercede and give me a lighter sentence than that, but I doubt she will. I deserve whatever punishment I receive, after all.
I'm so, SO sorry for all the heartbreak I've put you through. It's been an unspeakably deep honor to have you as my apprentice, as well as my friend. I could never have had a better one, and whomever your next mentor is will be lucky beyond description. Thanks for everything.
With all my love,
Twilight Sparkle"
A few dried tears had caused some of the ink of the signature to run; the rest of it was now being swiftly ruined by Spike, who had sobbed through the closing words.
Spike lowered the letter, and gazed weepingly out the window in utter silence for a few moments. His five friends gaped at him, all their faces as drenched as his.
With a choked sob, Spike abruptly crouched down and hugged his knees, weeping like a small child into the blue denim of his jeans. His friends were too stunned to speak, but they silently wept as hard as he.
Rarity was the first to act; she rushed to Spike's side and embraced him, wailing, "Of course I won't press charges against Twilight, Spike! Oh, If I'd only known how serious this was, I would've given my book to her in an instant...."
Pinkie let out a sharp, tortured cry. "She d-did tell us how s-serious it was!" she said, wiping some snot from her nose. "She s-said it was a matter of life and death, but we t-treated it like some silly little thing...."
"Aww, damn it all!" Applejack bawled. "How could Ah've been so stupid?! Twi might have her eccentricities, but she wouldn't have been so serious if it weren't a small thing!"
Rainbow Dash trembled, coughed, and fiercely wiped her eyes. "I'm not gonna let Twi do this alone," she growled.
Before the others could say any thing to her, however, Rainbow dashed at the door and flung it open.
"Dashie!" Fluttershy cried, running forward and touching Rainbow's shoulder to stop her before she flapped her wings. "Where are you going?!"
"To Olympus, duh!" Rainbow replied impatiently. "What're you all waiting for?!"
"W-what...?" Pinkie stuttered in astonishment.
"Twi's right; it's not Spike's fault they're in this shit-storm. It's ours. We were the ones who wouldn't listen to her, and didn't do everything we could to help her."
"What are you going to do, Darling?" Rarity interjected.
"I'm gonna go tell 'em that I was an accomplice to the crimes," Rainbow replied without hesitation.
The others' jaws all dropped. "W-what?!" Spike shouted. "B-but, you didn't-!"
Rainbow shrugged, and made a sad grin. "Yeah, I did," she interrupted him firmly. "I've accused you two of bein' in league with whoever's been letting the Sealed Gods out of Tartarus. Twice. I can see now how stupid that was of me; I can see now that you two have done nothing to deserve anything but my undying loyalty."
Rainbow chuckled. "If I hadn't been such a shitty friend, maybe Twilight would have trusted us more. If anything, I'm the one who drove her to do what she did. I'm as culpable for her crimes as anyone, and yet I've never atoned for what I've done to her."
Here Rainbow let out a sincere, full-throated laugh. "Who knows; maybe they'll let us share a cell in the big house, and I'll be able to make it all up to her in there." Her smirk indicated that the "penance" she had in mind wouldn't be a sacrifice or punishment to her in the slightest.
With that, Rainbow flew off, and within seconds Fluttershy lifted off after her.
After the rest sat, stunned for a moment, Pinkie slammed the butt of her right fist into the palm of her left hand. "Dashie's right!" she declared. "We have to be there for Twilight! We weren't there for her when she needed us the most; we have to be there for her now!"
There was no dissent whatsoever among the others; after a few wordless nods of agreement, the six young Beings were at Avalon Station, tickets in hand, boarding the next train to Olympus.
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Good chapter as always, keep it up. 😃
That was Well worth the wait :)
9123359 Gracie.
OH THAT BULL SHIT1 Twilight brought this onherself, not the others! She refused to talk to them or tell them anything! It's all Twilight and Spikes's fault and their dam Teacher, that Twilight a raving lunatic, the tardy bit was bad enough ut what she doen was far worst!
Man worth the wait. I know Spike is getting a lot of heat but he do it out of love for Twilight.
And I can't wait for the mane 6 plus Spike to be on action.
yea for chapter update,
if or one still hope find out twilight is going to be like luna daughter of discord and celesitia but she has no idea and those who do are keep it under wraps
Oh heyyy! This is awesome my dude! Very captivating. Lol I didn't mean to stop in the middle of my work to read all of it, but that's what happened. Great job!
Maybe that's the idea?
Because aloofness is BORING.
Oh you just wait.
Wouldn't be the weirdest thing.
Not necessarily. Palpatine was a tyrant and he was plenty sane.
It's just clicked, hasn't it?
This is getting confusing.
Heh, ironic. A being whose first line in the show was decrying sense makes SENSE.
Discord is the Force. That, is one of the single most horrifying ways of explaining him I've read in a WHILE. And he was pretty horrifying in canon. He could have just brainwashed the Mane 6 then and there, or sent them into space to die, but he made it a GAME. Why? Because it amused him.
Even all powerful gods have some limits or something.
This is why Discord invaded her dreams. To fuck with her head.
This is gonna be a self fulfilling prophecy, isn't it?
Thank you, Rainbow Dash. You are Best Pegasus. (Applejack is Best Earth Pony, and Trixie is Best Unicorn. Fight me.)
Oh FUCK.
...
Right, this is Lesson Zero but BEFORE Discord, right.
... I don't know if I want to laugh, sigh in annoyance or just be sad.
9124333 Aaand the award for best comment so far goes to: this guy. 🎉
🎆
I feel ya, man. Rainbow does NOT handle grief or fear well, does she?
9124348
To be fair, she's still relatively young. Not to mention this is a BIG thing. A couple more near death scenarios/world savings should help her mature.
I'm with Diablo. How is this Twilight's friends' fault??? To the extent that they'd be "accomplices"??? RD is kinda taking the whole guilt thing too far, I think...
Great chapter, hopefully there won't be an 8 month wait for the next
9133314 The second war of the Gods was actually going on during Scorpan's rape-and-pillage tenure. Celestia would have dealt with him much sooner, were it not that Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis were doing the exact same thing, except they were even more powerful, dangerous, and monstrous than him.
9133773
Ah, this was not clear from my reading, and it does give Celestia some extenuation. Unfortunately, it still leaves the question of why Luna (by all information, vastly more powerful than Scorpan, if not as powerful as Celestia) did not act? Or Demeter? Or Poseidon?
Here’s hoping that things get a little easier for Twilight now that her friends are in the loop.
OK I looked the name of spike's dad Prometheus and found that he was a titan and a trickster that stole fire from Zeus (Celestia) and with all the hints we have been given it's pretty obvious that spike and sunset are Celestia's children. Oh he was also punished for eternity so who knows Celestia might have him chained up in dungeon somewhere
Good, Good, Good!
I really am loving this rendition of "lesson zero" it makes Twilight feel much more reasonable, though still in a "panic" mode.