The Princesses of Equestria
The rays of the morning sun spread across the Crystal Kingdom like a golden veil, its light dancing and sparkling off of the crystalline buildings so brilliantly that it sent motes of light shimmering off in all directions until it appeared that the entire kingdom was glowing of its own accord. This went doubly so for the Crystal Castle, and as Skyla stood in the throne room she couldn’t help but look up in awe at the ceiling above her as the light of the sun flitted and danced through the semi-translucent crystal facets. The Castle was not completely transparent by any means, since she couldn’t see out through the walls or anything, but there was no denying that sunlight was affecting how the huge spire looked and it drew Skyla’s attention like a magnet. It looks so beautiful, she thought as her gaze chased the gently shifting lights to and fro. Our castle never did this… everything just looked like regular old rocks. She felt the corner of her lips quirk upward in a smile that probably looked much happier than it felt. Maybe I’d actually feel bad about leaving if my home looked like this…
“Do you like it?”
The voice slid gently through Skyla’s thoughts, and with a startled blink she quickly dropped her gaze to the floor, her cheeks flaring in embarrassment. “O-oh, sorry,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth. “I didn’t mean to get distracted, Your Highness…”
She heard a chorus of chuckles from around her, but Flurry Heart’s laughter made her brow furrow. “Take it easy, Skyla,” said the smaller Princess from her spot on Skyla’s left. “It’s just us here, so you don’t need to be so formal – especially with mom!”
That’s easy for you to say, thought Skyla as her frown deepened. She shifted uncomfortably on her hooves, but after a long moment of silence she let out a sharp sigh and raised her head up once more, her ears drooping slightly against her mane as she offered the pony to her right a small, weak smile that flitted across her lips then disappeared.
“S-sorry… I’m still getting used to the Castle,” she muttered. “Back where I’m from, the Castle doesn’t exactly sparkle… so seeing sunlight do that-,” she gestured at the ceiling with her right hoof, “-is a bit of a new thing for me.” Her wings rustled against her sides. “I meant no disrespect, Your Highness.”
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza laughed gently, and the sound filled the chamber despite its easy tone. “Skyla, please, you don’t have to apologize. It’s one of the Crystal Castle’s unique traits, so we’re used to seeing ponies dazzled by it.” She met Skyla’s gaze with her lavender eyes, and even after a week she had to force herself to meet the Princess’s gaze squarely. “And you can drop the ‘Your Highness’,” Mi Amore added with a wink. “You can call me Cadence – everypony else does.”
“I… I’ll try,” Skyla whispered, her smile returning so slowly she was sure that it was checking for danger before showing up again. Cadence’s own smile grew minutely and she straightened, turning her gaze once again to the ceiling.
“The facets of the Castle are actually designed to reflect sunlight differently at different times of day,” she said. “In the morning and the evening, they send the light up and into the ceiling of the throne room so that whoever is there can still enjoy the sunrise and sunset. Once the sun is at a certain angle in the sky, however, the crystals are cut to simply refract the light and sparkle as brilliantly as they can.” Her gaze returned to Skyla, her smile sparkling as brightly as the Castle around them. “They still reflect a little light up into the throne room, but everything returns to blues and whites instead of the variety of colors in the morning and evening.”
“According to ‘A History of the Crystal Kingdom’, the castle is even made to light up differently for different astrological phenomena, though we haven’t really been here long enough to see any,” said Flurry Heart, and Skyla turned to face her as she puffed up her chest importantly. “I learned all about it in my classes with Sunburst,” she said with a proud smile.
“If it makes you feel any better, Skyla, I know exactly how you feel,” said the last pony standing with them, his voice deep and soothing. “When we first moved in here, I spent a lot of time just watching the light through the crystals.” Prince Shining Armor gave her a soft, easy-going smile. “So no worries, all right? We’re just happy that you like it.”
Skyla’s gaze met Shining’s, and it was a long moment before she could manage a nod. “A-all right,” she said softly. “Thank you… Your Highness.”
“Hey, none of that stuff with me, either,” he chided with a grin. “You can call me Shining Armor, or Shiny, or whatever. Just don’t call me late for dinner!” Shining Armor chuckled at his own joke, and Skyla felt her smile return as Cadence groaned dramatically.
“I’m going to officially change your name to Late For Dinner one of these days just to show you how not funny that joke is,” said Cadence, mirth sparkling in her eyes. Flurry Heart laughed loudly, and Skyla felt a lot of the tension that she’d been carrying around vanish into thin air. They’re so completely different from what I know, she thought as she looked from Cadence to Shining Armor and back again. Mom never smiled, and I only ever heard dad laugh every once in a while, when we were alone… and that was before they started gearing up for war. Her ears drooped slightly, but it only lasted for a moment before she gave her head a slight shake and forced herself to stand up straight, her mouth pressed into a tight line. No. I’m not going to think about that stuff right now, she told herself firmly. I have more important things to worry about.
“So when is Aunt Twilight gonna get here?” asked Flurry Heart, her voice bubbling with excitement. “I can’t wait to tell her that I finished all of the work she assigned me!”
“They should be here soon enough, snowflake,” answered Cadence, who turned and paced away from Skyla to one of the windows that lined the walls of the throne room. “Aunt Celestia told me that they would be leaving Canterlot as soon as the sun was raised, and since they can travel faster in the air than by train they shouldn’t be much longer.”
Flurry stepped up next to Skyla and sat down, her tail curling around her hooves. “Isn’t Starlight coming with them?”
“She’s already here in the Crystal Kingdom,” said Cadence with a glance out the window. “She came a few days ago to spend a little extra time planning with Sunburst.”
Skyla arched an eyebrow at Flurry Heart, and the smaller filly gave her a sharp nod before turning back to Cadence. “Planning for what?” she asked.
“Oh, um…” Cadence pulled back from the window and turned her gaze to Flurry, a smile plastered firmly onto her face, and Skyla felt a pit open up in her stomach as Princess Cadence’s purple eyes darted to her once before she spoke again. “Don’t you worry about it, my little gem – it’s something that’s going on between them. Nothing to worry about, and I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon enough.”
Flurry Heart squinted at Cadence, but after a moment her brow smoothed and she nodded happily, as if that were the end of that… but Skyla felt her stomach twist uncomfortably, and it was all she could do to keep a straight face. She’s lying, she thought gravely, and she’s not very good at it, either.
The sound of hoofsteps in the hallway outside the throne room drew the attention of all four ponies present, and moments later the double doors creaked open just enough to admit one of the Guards for the Crystal Kingdom, a yellow pegasus stallion with a blue mane. His gaze swept the gathered royals and he sketched a quick bow, his wings spreading wide towards the floor.
“Your Highnesses,” he greeted with a smile, “your guests have arrived.”
Cadence sighed, and it was easy to hear the relief in her voice as she turned towards the door. “Oh, good… show them in, Flash.” The Guardspony straightened and nodded before taking a step backwards, his right wingtip catching the edge of the door so that he could pull it open as he moved back and out of the way.
Flurry Heart leaped to her hooves and hurried to stand next to Skyla once more, excitement radiating off of her like heat from the sun. “Are you ready, Skyla?” she whispered. “They’ve decided to do a formal introduction just for you!”
Skyla’s stomach flip-flopped, and she had to swallow hard to force the nervous bile back down her throat. “Yeah… super ready,” she murmured weakly. Every ounce of nervousness that had bothered her last night came roaring back all at once and, as the Guard named Flash took a deep breath, she felt her knees start to shake. I’m so not ready for this…
“Your Royal Highnesses,” proclaimed Flash, his voice booming throughout the room in a most authoritative fashion, “it is with great pride that I announce your honorable guests!” He gestured towards the door with his right hoof. “The Princess of Friendship, Her Royal Highness Twilight Sparkle, and her esteemed student, Starlight Glimmer!”
Skyla’s eyes locked themselves on the open doorway, and her heart pounded in her ears as Twilight Sparkle entered the room with her student walking next to her. In the name of Saint Celestia, it really IS her, she thought weakly as the purple unicorn – no, not unicorn: alicorn – smiled happily up at the group gathered near the throne, her wings shifting along her flanks as the pony identified as Starlight Glimmer whispered to her in hurried tones. Both of them were very pretty, Skyla realized, and as the Princess of Friendship made her way quickly towards her she wondered if the Twilight from her world was as pretty as this one was. This one’s horn is longer, and she’s certainly much thicker through the legs and chest, thought Skyla. Perhaps that has something to do with the alicorn transformation…
The greatest difference between the Twilight Sparkle that Skyla knew and the one that was now striding up the soft purple carpet at her, however, wasn’t anything physical about her: it was the look in her eyes. The eyes that Skyla remembered were cold and calculating, constantly measuring and weighing you as if she could tell your worth in the universe with a single glance; this Twilight’s eyes were full of energy and curiosity, but it was such a warm, friendly gaze compared to what she knew that Skyla felt her shoulders relax even though the other Princess had yet to take her eyes off of her. The pair drew closer to the throne, and Skyla’s ears twitched as Starlight Glimmer’s words drifted to her.
“…and that’s all we could find out,” she finished, her blue eyes darting to Skyla from beneath the tasteful curl in her purple and teal mane. “Sorry we couldn’t do more.”
“You did great, Starlight,” whispered Twilight, and Skyla’s eyes widened at the easy, friendly tone of her voice. She sounds… really nice, actually. Like somepony you’d want to be in charge. Her eyes flitted to Flurry Heart, who was shifting impatiently on her hooves in such a way that it made her tail swish back and forth behind her. I guess I could imagine a pony like this Twilight being a bit silly every now and again, she thought with a smile.
Finally, Flurry leaped forward and ran to the purple Princess, her wings extending from her body in excitement as she threw herself against Twilight. “Aunt Twilight!!” she gushed, her hooves encircling the other alicorn’s neck. “I’m so happy to see you!” Starlight Glimmer took a half step away from the Princess, her muzzle scrunching up as she turned to face forward once again, her ears flattening against her mane as Twilight laughed and wrapped her right hoof around her enthusiastic niece.
“Hi, Flurry Heart,” she greeted as she gave the smaller pony a squeeze. “I’m happy to see you, too!” She held her hug for several long seconds before releasing Flurry and pushing on her chest with a hoof as she arched an eyebrow down at the younger Princess. “But weren’t you supposed to wait until our formal and official introductions were done before you started hugging?” Her lip curved into a knowing, kind smile as Flurry extended her lip in an exaggerated pout.
“But Aunt Twilight, it’s been more than a month since I saw you!” she whimpered. “I couldn’t wait anymore!” She fell back to all four hooves and bounced back a step, her mane bobbing merrily as she did. “I finished all of the work that you gave me, and I even did some extra research into Starswirl’s theories on the Karmic Transference of the Metaphysical!” Her ears stood up proudly as she smiled. “I knew that we’d be covering that soon, so I moved ahead on my own.”
“That’s amazing, Flurry Heart!” said Twilight, her eyes filling with excitement. “I knew you’d be able to handle advanced theory like that at your age!”
Next to her, Starlight cleared her throat. “Yeah, about that – I checked the courses at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and that kind of theoretical magic is usually left for graduate students…”
“Well yeah, for regular students who go through regular school,” scoffed Twilight with a wave of her hoof. “But Flurry Heart is a natural-born alicorn Princess with the blood of the Sparkles running through her veins! She can handle anything!” She turned her attention back to Flurry, her face all but glowing with pride. “So tell me what you thought about the runes that Starswirl postulated would allow a pony to actually harness karmic forces? I mean, when I was going through them I thought that-,”
“Ahem.” Starlight Glimmer cleared her throat forcefully, and Twilight let out a sharp sigh.
“What is it, Starlight?”
Starlight met her gaze then nodded pointedly towards Skyla, who felt her eyes widen as every pony in the room suddenly turned their attention to her. Twilight’s blushed, and with a loud cough she turned back towards the throne.
“A-all right, Flurry Heart, we’ll pick this up in a little bit,” she said lightly as she extended her right wing and ruffled Flurry’s mane with her pinions. “Right now I have to finish my part of the introduction, okay?”
“Okay, Aunt Twilight!” Flurry Heart bounded away and back up to where Skyla stood, her cheeks flushed with pride. Skyla arched an eyebrow at her, but she only received a broad grin from the smaller pony that showed neither remorse nor shame at her actions.
“Told you so,” the younger alicorn whispered, her voice so soft that only Skyla could hear her, and before she could stop herself Skyla felt her lips curve into a disbelieving, incredulous smile. I can’t believe this filly… she’s going to get herself into trouble one of these days. She let out a silent chuckle before turning back to the ponies before her.
Twilight and Starlight crossed the last span of carpet that separated them from Skyla, and as they stopped before her Skyla bent her left front knee, extended her right leg, and stretched out her wings as she bowed low, her pinions lying flat on the stone as she dropped her gaze.
“It is a privilege and honor to meet you, Your Highness,” she greeted formally, her heart beating faster as the realization of what she was doing settled into her. “My name is Skyla, formerly of the Crystal Empire.”
“The privilege is mine,” replied the purple alicorn, and after a moment Skyla felt a hoof touch her own. She raised her head to see Twilight smiling down at her, her eyes full of kindness. “Please rise, Princess Skyla.”
Skyla did as Twilight said, but only long enough to offer her a smile. “I’m afraid my title was left behind with my homeland, Princess Twilight,” she said as she turned towards Starlight Glimmer. “I am not a princess here in the Crystal Kingdom.” She bent her knee and bowed to the unicorn, her wingtips once again touching the floor. “A privilege and honor to meet you,” she intoned again.
“A-and to meet you,” stammered Starlight, and as Skyla rose she met the unicorn’s gaze squarely for the first time. Her eyes were blue, so blue that they made Flurry Heart’s look almost dull, and she was staring openly at Skyla as if she was seeing her for the first time. “You didn’t need to bow to me,” she said quietly. “I’m not a princess.”
“If there was one thing I was raised to do, it is to always give everypony the respect they are due.” She smiled at Starlight. “And here, I believe that everypony is due as much respect as I can give them.”
Twilight and Starlight both dipped their heads low before straightening and moving off to Skyla’s right, towards where Princess Cadence was standing. Skyla watched as they went, and as they did Starlight Glimmer cast her gaze at Skyla one last time before Flash cleared his throat at the door.
“The Princess of the Moon and the Night, Her Royal Highness Princess Luna!”
Now Skyla’s whole body stiffened and she felt her heart begin to pound in her chest as a dark blue alicorn stepped into the room, her mane shifting and shimmering like the night sky. She gave the pony at the door a friendly nod before moving towards the throne, and as she walked Skyla swore she felt the room start to spin ever so slightly. The Princess of the Night wore silver shoes that clicked tastefully as she walked, and at her neck hung a black chest piece that matched the sparkling crown that sat nestled in the twinkling stars of her mane. Her neck was long and graceful, and as she drew closer Skyla noted that she was a good deal larger than Twilight Sparkle; her legs were long and graceful, and as she moved Skyla couldn’t help but think of the moon dancing across calm water, a night passing in peace and serenity. And, as Princess Luna met her gaze, Skyla felt her chest tighten until she felt as if she may never draw breath again, because in the eyes of the Moon Princess she saw the power that she had expected from Twilight: an intangible, undeniable power that made Princess Luna’s brilliant teal eyes all but glow even in the warm light of the rising sun. Skyla was dumbstruck by her quiet, powerful demeanor, and it took her several long seconds to realize that Luna had stopped in front of her where Twilight and Starlight had.
“O-oh, please forgive me,” muttered Skyla, quickly dipping her deepest bow yet to the Princess before her. “Princess Luna, it is a great privilege and honor to meet you today.” She hesitated with her wingtips still touching the floor. “Please f-forgive me for staring at you, Your Majesty…”
“Rise, young mare – you’ve nothing to apologize for.” Her voice was strong, and Skyla had straightened almost before she realized she was doing it. Princess Luna met her gaze again, her teal eyes holding Skyla captive as she smiled. “And I’ve not gone by ‘Your Majesty’ in quite some time – you may forego the use of it here.”
“A-as you wish, Princess Luna,” stammered Skyla. She knew that she was staring at the Princess, and she knew that she was being extremely impolite about it, as well – but right at that moment, she knew that she couldn’t help herself. Here she was, Princess Luna, the Great Calamity, the Nightmare in the flesh, and Skyla was standing mere feet away from her. It was almost too much for the filly to bear, and after several long seconds of silent staring, Princess Luna’s lips curved into a sad smile.
“I can tell by the look in your eyes that my time as Nightmare Moon happened in your world, as well,” she said, her voice soft. “I will admit that I had hoped otherwise, but such things cannot be changed, I suppose.” She let out a gentle sigh before giving Skyla another smile, though she couldn’t quite chase the melancholy from it. “Be that as it may, I look forward to getting to know you, Skyla.” Princess Luna gave her a nod and Skyla returned it as the dark alicorn moved towards where Cadence and Twilight stood, their heads pressed together as they spoke in low tones.
“And finally,” announced Flash from the door, “the Princess of the Sun and the Day, Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia!”
Now Skyla’s head really did swim, and it took everything she had to even stay upright as the doorway was filled with a brilliant alicorn whose coat was so white that she made Flurry Heart’s own coat look dull by comparison. Her very presence defied every bit of logic in Skyla’s mind, and as the Princess of the Sun started towards her Skyla could not believe the amount of magical power that she felt from her. Her golden raiment glimmered in the light from the rising sun, each piece seeming to reflect and amplify her unbelievable brightness: her golden shoes glowed, her neck piece glinted, and her crown shone brilliantly as she approached Skyla, her violet eyes peaceful, serene, and powerful beyond imagining.
Despite telling herself that she would not fall prey to her preconceived notions of these ponies, Skyla could not stop the torrent of stories that she’d heard as a foal from spilling into her mind: stories of Celestia’s courage, her sacrifice and her unwavering desire to keep the ponies of Equestria safe all crashed together in Skyla’s head, and as the white alicorn approached her they grew ever louder. As if to accentuate the validity of those very same stories, the sheer size of Princess Celestia made the much smaller Skyla feel as though she were actively shrinking in her presence, as if the brilliant white light that was Celestia would simply grow brighter and brighter until she was wiped from existence. She’s unbelievably powerful, thought Skyla as the quaking in her knees returned with a vengeance. What Princess Luna keeps tight and contained within herself, Celestia wears as a mantle for all to see… a force of nature, a paragon of magic…
Before Skyla could even hope to gather herself, Princess Celestia had stopped in the same place that the others had, her ethereal multi-colored mane and tail shifting of their own accord. Slowly, Skyla brought her gaze up, up, up until she found Celestia’s eyes… and the smile that the much older, much wiser alicorn offered her made Skyla’s eyes fill with tears.
“Hello, Skyla,” she greeted cordially, her voice as soft as summer grass and warm as spring sunlight. “I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, and I must follow suit with my sister in requesting that you not call me ‘Your Majesty’. It sounds far too stuffy, don’t you think?” She chuckled once before bowing her neck and spreading her massive wings as Skyla had done, though she didn’t let her snow-white wingtips touch the stone beneath her. “It is a privilege and an honor to meet you, Skyla,” she said solemnly.
Skyla’s tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks as she sniffled, fighting desperately to keep a sob from wrenching its way free of her chest. “Th-the privilege and honor are a-all mine, Princess,” she managed to squeak. She bowed her head low and spread her wings wide, this time actually touching her horn to the floor in a show of absolute reverence. “Truly, I am unworthy to be here in your presence, Saint Celestia.” She held her pose longer than she had the others – to show as much respect to this living legend as she could – but to her surprise she heard Celestia chuckle, a sound that drew her horn from the floor and brought her eyes back to the larger alicorn, who smiled down at her from beneath the bangs of her luminous mane.
“Saint Celestia?” she said softly, her lips curving into a smile. “Talk about stuffy names. The Celestia in your world must have a rather big head on her shoulders to ask ponies to call her a Saint.”
“Yes – don’t get any ideas, sister,” said Luna from her position near Cadence, a smile upon her lips, as well. “I may call you many things, but a saint is not one of them.”
Skyla rose to her hooves, her brow furrowed and her eyes still wet with leftover tears. “B-but you are a saint,” she insisted, her words feeling thick and scratchy thanks to the effort she’d used in keeping her crying under control. “Tales of your goodness and virtue are told all through Equestria and even the Crystal Empire! It was your inspirational story that held our countries on course as we went forward without-…”
The words tried to force their way out from between her lips, but at the last possible moment Skyla clamped her teeth onto them and swallowed them whole, cutting her own sentence off. Her lips pressed together into a thin line as Celestia’s gaze narrowed ever so slightly, and Skyla noted that even a minute change to the massive alicorn’s demeanor was enough to make her start to sweat.
“Without what?” asked Celestia, her voice easy and calm. Skyla’s eyes widened and her teeth clenched tighter, holding desperately to the words that sat at the tip of her tongue, begging to be said. You didn’t want to do this right now, Skyla, she reminded herself. You were going to wait until you were talking with Twilight in private before you revealed any crazy information about your home world! Hold on, you idiot..!
As she stared up into the eyes of the Saint of the Sun, however, she knew that she couldn’t lie to her. There was something about Celestia that goaded Skyla towards the truth and, despite her desires to keep things focused at this introduction, the filly knew that she had little choice now. She took a deep, shaking breath before standing up as straight as she could manage. This deserves a proper delivery, at least.
“…without you,” she finished as loudly as she dared. Flurry Heart gasped, and even Celestia looked surprised at the admission.
“Without me?” she repeated. Her lips quirked into a smile again, something that seemed to be a very natural expression for the Princess. “And why would Equestria have to go on without me? Did I retire? Because that would be uncharacteristically lazy of me, despite what Luna might tell you.”
Skyla took another deep breath, her chest tightening against her desire to breathe as the ponies in the room slowly gathered around, including the guard named Flash from the door. Twilight hurried up and took up a spot on Celestia’s right, while Luna took the taller alicorn’s left. Shining Armor and Cadence flanked Twilight and Luna respectively, and Flurry Heart simply strolled up and placed herself right at the hooves of Celestia, her blue eyes as wide as they could possibly be. Flash peaked over Shining Armor’s shoulder, his crested helmet poking up from the side of Shining’s head, and Starlight took up her position to Cadence’s left.
“No, it’s not because you retired,” said Skyla slowly, her wingtips fluttering against her flanks. “It’s… because…” she sighed sharply, “…it’s because you aren’t there.” Skyla brought her eyes back to Celestia’s. “In my world, you are dead, Princess… killed in battle against your sister,” Skyla’s gaze shifted to Luna, “who perished along with you, one thousand years ago.”
Silence greeted her words and, as she watched the faces surrounding her, she saw an incredible myriad of reactions to her news: disbelief, shock, surprise, horror, they all made the rounds and mixed with emotions that Skyla couldn’t even identify as her words sank in, and all of the words in the universe couldn’t have filled the silence that surrounded the group.
“Wow… that sounds terrible,” a previously unheard voice said into the deafening quiet, and as one the group turned to stare at an orange unicorn stallion with soft white markings on his chest and head, who stood on the other side of Starlight Glimmer. The stallion blinked and adjusted his round glasses. “Well it does,” he insisted.
“Oh, also presenting Sunburst,” said Flash, pointing with a hoof at the other stallion. “Sunburst is here too, guys.” Shining Armor let out a coarse sigh and turned a flat-eared glare at the yellow pegasus, who winced and lowered his head in shame. Finally, Twilight gave her head a slow shake, her eyes never leaving Skyla.
“I was going to give us a little more time to talk casually before jumping into the interview process, but I guess this is as good a time as any,” she muttered. She gestured to Sunburst, who hefted a large briefcase in his magic. “Let’s move to a more private room, Skyla. This could take a little bit of time…”
Skyla nodded. “I’m ready to answer any questions you have, Princess Twilight...” her ears flattened against her mane, “…though you probably won’t like the answers to them.”
“Well goodness no,” muttered Celestia. “If I’m dead, I’m not sure that I’ll like this story at all.”
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Celestia is dead in the other verse hmm well shit
I wonder where Spike is, after all he's a big deal in the Empire. Nice into to everyone and an interesting insight to the alt. World. Skyla's ability to sense magic is pretty good, and I have to worry why she got so good so fast. I'm calling it, Starlight is having Sunburst's foal or they are getting hitched.
I have to wonder what's happening in the other world?
Well now, it seems the plot's a-rolling here.
Good chapter. You've done a good job of writing enjoyable characters, and Skyla's quite an interesting protagonist.
Smooth, Flash. Very smooth.
So Celestia is the only thing keeping the ponies of Equestria from going evil. Good to know!
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Yeah, the best part is maybe when Flash is like, "Oh, and Sunburst is here too, I guess. You know, in case anypony cares or something."
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I'm glad you guys are liking it so far! :D I'm having a lot more fun writing this than I thought that I would, so I hope you'll enjoy what happens next! :3
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Awww, you don't wanna see an alt-universe Tyrant Sparkle come rampaging through Equestria as we know it? XP
And you're right about alt-universe siblings -- hopefully Skyla comes to see it that way, too! :3
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I'm always super excited to hear that people like what I have and want more! Hopefully you'll continue to enjoy what happens! :D
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Yup -- alt. universe Celestia is dead. You'll find out more in the next chapter. :D
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Honestly? There's no Spike right now. I'll openly admit that I don't usually like writing Spike, but that aside I don't really have a role for him to fill at the moment. I have a feeling he'll show up later, but for right now (and yes, this is canon to this story) he's sitting back in Twilight's castle, eating sweets while watching the Cutie Map for her. He's basically getting a fun semi-vacation. XD
Aaaaaand as far as your prediction... well, I don't want to give anything away, so I won't dig too deep. I will say, however, that Starlight and Sunburst's relationship is not going to have much to do with the story, and I can tell you that she's not preggers. XD
Also, good pickup on Skyla's ability. It's important. :D
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Hopefully the next chapter will give you enough information about the other world to sate your desire for knowledge! Twilight would be proud of you. X3
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Thank you very much. :D I'm having a really good time writing with all of these different ponies to play off of, and Skyla has been extremely interesting to get to know. She's not going to be the only perspective from which we see the story, but hopefully I'll be able to bring the same level of competence to the others. :3 Plot ahoy!
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Honestly, that part came totally out of left field. It just struck me and was so funny that I couldn't say no to it. I'm glad that you guys liked it! :D I have a feeling that Flash and Sunburst are going to get plenty of opportunities to be funny and/or snarky throughout this story.
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Welllllllllllllllllllll you might be surprised at how good the class can do while the teacher is absent. Read here: dead. The next chapter is going to lay a lot of that out, so I hope you'll enjoy learning a little about an alternate world. :3
7599657 is it bad that in the other verse I declare evil twilight a chaos worshipper and declare exsterminatus against her
You realise Cadance is an adopted niece, right? After she ascended to an alicorn from a pegasus, Celestia felt her enter the starfield like with Twilight.
It will probably be most difficult to persuade Luna not to have one of her guilt fits and assume that every bad thing that happened in Skyla's life is somehow her fault, even though it all happened in a totally different universe.
Y'know... It's hard to imagine Twilight as a passionless, iron-hoofed monarch!
I demand more dad jokes from Shining Armor.
...Shiny that was awful!
There are far worse things for a long-lived Alicorn to be other than dead. She could have been expelled.
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shining is a dad of course he would have dad jokes
Loved this part
It's sad how...beaten down Skyla is. She is a Princess, she's in the presence of her peers and she's acting terrified. This isn't the normal respect given to those slightly above you in the social hierarchy. She's flat out terrified. What in the world has she been through? Her attitude towards Cadence-her own mother-is particularly striking. Did that universe's Cadence make her call her Your Highness? That's disturbing.
Very engaging.
Well you certainly got my attention with this chapter. I look forward to reading more because this has grabbed my interest with an iron clamp and it's not letting go anytime soon. I'll see you next time around and I hope that this story continues as it has with such quality and detail.
Turning the page now,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon
Oh skyla
You went through so much
Some of ut from my own headcanon
But you're safe now
Yes, it sure would be, wouldn't it lol