A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria

by Riclo

Chapter 1 | Broken

Author's Note:

This story is a sequel to one I had made over four years ago, HOWEVER, it is not necessary to read that in order to read this one (It's pretty bad anyway.) I actively made sure that anyone can just read this without needing to read the previous story for any important context, so you don't have to worry about that. Everything you'd need to know should be explained by the second chapter. You won't be missing out on anything, don't worry, and it's not gonna be a huge clusterfuck of information either because nobody wants to take all that in. It'll be nice and simple.

One more thing I'll mention before this gets too long: Because the original story is so old, it takes place during the Season 1-2 era of MLP, so maybe this story will work as some type of nostalgic flashback to ye olden days of 2012-2013 and HiE's were a big thing. (I was one of the originals! I guess.) So that means Twilight is still a unicorn, the elements of harmony are still a thing, Discord was the one and only ultimate baddy and all that stuff.

Twilight Sparkle's POV

Everything was black. Did I fall asleep? Where was I? What was I doing? I couldn't remember much of anything for some reason. The only word I kept hearing in my mind was Duston... Something had happened with him.. I knew that much, but what was it? My mind felt too numb and sluggish to remember exactly what though, but whatever it was, I knew that it had to have been bad. I just knew it somehow.

I kept hearing noises in the very distant background, but I couldn't recognize what they were-- it was like my mind was blank and unfocused. I couldn't recognize anything or do much of anything really, as if I had fallen into some kind of deep sleep. As more time went by, however, the noises began to get louder and a little more recognizable. They sounded like faint voices and the pattering of hooves, as if I was surrounded by other ponies, but who were they? I didn't feel any hostile or threatening emotions towards the voices I heard, so with just that knowledge alone I was able to conclude that they must not have been enemies of any kind.

My curiosity to find out just what was going on urged me to slowly start waking up, encouraging me to discover what these noises were, where I was, what was going on, whatever happened to Duston-- all of the questions that were plaguing my mind. My thoughts felt like they were becoming clearer and more focused, where in an instant I suddenly found myself remembering just what had happened. I fiercely awoke from my slumber and bolted up-right in the bed, gasping and widening my eyes as the thoughts in my head merged with my actions in real life.

"Duston!!" I shouted, hastily glancing around the blindingly bright room. My first reaction was to squint my eyes, which were blinded by the sudden bright lights of what appeared to be... a hospital?

"Hey, she's up guys." I heard the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash call out. I blinked multiple times, trying to make out the figures in my vision, when I noticed a sudden pink blur spring up in-front of me.

"Finally! You've been out for almost a whole day Twilight! I didn't know ponies could sleep that long, at least not--"

"Pinkie, give'er a chance to wake up first." The distinct voice of Applejack interrupted. "She looks worse than I do after ah've been workin' all day straight in the summer."

"Oh, whoops." Pinkie replied as she backed away. By this time my vision had mostly cleared, and I looked around to see all of my friends surrounding me-- Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. I didn't waste any time in speaking up though because I was eager for some answers.

"Where's Duston?" I quickly asked as I slowly recalled bits and details of what exactly had happened. I hoped that what I was remembering wasn't true or that it was just a dream-- maybe I was even imagining things the wrong way. To my worst dismay, however, a sudden eerie silence followed after I asked that question, which only made my fears so much worse. I stared at the blank gazes my friends were giving back at me, which didn't help at all to calm the rampant thoughts in my head, until eventually Rarity decided to speak up.

"Twilight, darling. Duston is..."

"He's not around anymore." Applejack finished with a dull tone of voice. I simply stared back at her with wide eyes, and I could feel my lips start quivering as that fact was unwilling to be believed to me. That couldn't be true.

"No, no that's not true.. th-that was all just a dream!" I hastily replied in denial. I was already starting to feel tears well up in my eyes, and I gripped the covers on my bed tightly with my hooves. They all only stared at me in response-- all with the same sorrowful expression-- which was only making me feel worse and worse with each passing second. Had that really happened to the person who I had inadvertently gotten so close to..? "Please say it was all just a dream!! Please!"

"Twilight.." Applejack started, trying to think of any words to say to help comfort her friend.

"We'll get Discord back for this Twilight." Rainbow spoke up. "I don't care how good he is at hiding. I'll find him and I will make sure that he pays for this! I won't let him do this to you and get away with it-- I'll make sure he doesn't fake his death twice in a row." Rainbow spoke up with confidence and determination in her eyes. I only nodded faintly in response; I was barely able to think straight. I felt myself begin to cry, so I covered my face with my hooves, sinking down further into the bed and closing my eyes. I then felt something start petting my mane, but I didn't bother looking to see who it was because I just didn't care at the moment.

"Now now Twilight... it's okay. He was a very good person and we all miss him very much." I heard Fluttershy's soft voice whisper in her attempts at trying to comfort me. I didn't bother responding however, and kept quietly crying into my hooves as she continued. "All of your friends are going to be here for you, Twilight. I can't imagine what you must be going through right now.. so we all want to help you as much as we can."

"Yeah!" I heard Pinkie Pie speak up. "Because that's what friends are for! Don't worry Twilight-- I'll make it my number one goal to make you feel better." Despite the sadness I was experiencing, I couldn't help but smile a little as I listened to all the kind words I was hearing. I un-covered my hooves from my face, looking at all my friends.

"..Th-thank you all so much. I can't describe how much this all m-means to me.. But..." I trailed off as I let my head tilt downwards. "...I think I just need some time alone right now."

"Ah understand. This all must be hard on ya." Applejack responded, giving her head a small nod. "C'mon everypony lets do what she asked. We'll all wait outside the door for ya, so don't hesitate to call us when yer ready."

"Thank you, again." I replied as I watched them begin heading towards the door. They opened up the door, and each one of them walked out one by one until the entire room was empty and silent-- save for the constant beeping of the heart monitor and faint buzzing sounds of other equipment, but I couldn't think about those other sounds right now. I let myself curl up in a ball as I quietly started to cry more. I still couldn't believe he was dead.. I didn't want to believe it-- I almost couldn't. I had never had anyone close to me die before-- let alone right in-front of my own eyes-- and I didn't know how else to manage it.

I closed my eyes again and continued to sob quietly into my hooves; every thought of Duston would only make me break down crying even more. Just knowing that every single memory I had of him, ever since I had accidentally brought him into this world to the party that was only last night-- just knowing that he was dead now was almost unbearable. I didn't know what to do now. In-fact, what was there to do? Was there anything to even look forward to anymore? Sure I've read the phrase 'You never realize what you have until it's gone.' in a couple books, but to actually experience it was something I never would've imagined feeling like this. I never knew how important Duston was to me until now, and now I'll never ever get to see him again...

I never even got to say goodbye.

---

I slowly found myself beginning to awaken, so I opened my eyes, where it took me only a couple seconds to realize that I must've fallen asleep. I looked around, only to find myself still in the hospital bed. How much time had passed? I scanned the room, and my eyes eventually came across a clock hanging on the wall: 4:39 PM. Not like that was much use to me anyway-- I didn't know what time it was when I had originally fallen asleep.

Slowly, however, the events of the previous day started to fill my head again, leaving me in a somewhat saddened and depressed state. We had just gotten back from that party Pinkie Pie was throwing celebrating that we thought we had defeated Discord, but by the time the party was over and me and Duston were making our way back to my library, that's where.. it happened. I felt a little better than before I had fallen asleep, but every thought of Duston would only add to the sadness. I sighed out in a slow exhale as I tried to think of other things. If my mind served me right, all of my friends should still be waiting for me somewhere outside the door.

I groaned and slowly began to sit up from the bed. It was then I realized just how sore I actually was-- most of my muscles seemed to be aching quite a bit. Had the spell I had cast really taken that much out of me? Either way, it didn't matter right now. I slowly began to place my hooves on the floor, feeling its cold surface as I made my way over to the door. Once I approached it, I placed my hoof on the handle, before turning it and gently pushing the door open. I poked my head outside to see the rest of my friends all seated in individual chairs. Pinkie Pie was the first to notice me, as shown by her ears perking up and her head quickly turning to face me.

"Twilight!" She excitingly exclaimed, jumping up from the chair and bolting over to me. "You're finally up! How'd you sleep?? Did you have any bad dreams? I hope you didn't!"

"I'm fine Pinkie, thanks for asking." I replied, smiling a tiny bit at her enthusiasm. "I hope I didn't keep you all waiting for too long."

"Oh not at all! We would've stayed here forever if you wanted us to! Well, maybe not forever because once it's late enough I think visiting hours end, so then we'd be forced to leave, but if it wasn't for that then we'd stay here as long as you wanted us to!"

"I appreciate that Pinkie." I replied.

"Do ya feel any better Twi?" Applejack inquired, walking up to me.

"A little." I answered. "I could be better obviously, but I'm sure I'll be able to take care of myself."

"That's good on ya. If ya ever need anything don't forget ta give us a holler."

"I won't." I responded with a small nod. I glanced over at all my other friends before continuing. "So.. when can I leave?"

"Nurse Redheart said she has to check you before you leave, to make sure you're okay and such." Fluttershy responded. "I'll go let her know you're up."

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary." I heard another mare spoke up. I looked in that direction to see Nurse Redheart, who had seemingly appeared out of no-where. "It would be rather irresponsible of me if I let other ponies roam around aimlessly, am I correct?"

"I suppose so." Fluttershy replied. Redheart just laughed slightly before looking at me.

"You're free to go Twilight. Just try not to do any strenuous activities for the rest of the day, and if you start to feel lightheaded or nautious, come back so I can see what the cause is. Okay?"

"Will do." I responded, giving her a slight nod.

"Great! The exit is just this way." She proceeded to begin walking off, with me and the rest of us following her. After turning through a few hallways and rooms, I found myself approaching the exit door. Redheart walked ahead and opened the door to hold it open for us.

"Thank you for the help." I stated as I made my way out the door.

"No problem-- I'm just doing my job. I hope you all have a wonderful day!" Redheart replied, waving goodbye to us as we left. Once we were all out of the building, I turned to my friends.

"Well... I'm gonna go head off to the library. If any of you guys wanna see me I'll be over there." I exclaimed. They all looked at me with amused faces, though, which only made me confused. "What's so funny?"

"Twilight, you blew your library up! Remember?" Rainbow asked, who had taken to hovering slightly above the ground with her wings.

"Yeah you did something that made the whole place go boom!" Pinkie chimed in.

"..I did?" I replied quietly, taking me a couple seconds to remember what had happened-- the spell I had cast had blown the whole place up. "Oooh right, I remember now... wait, what about all my books?? Are they all fine??" I quickly asked as suddenly the thought of all those books reached my mind. "I had almost all of the rare and super-hard-to-find Starswell The Bearded books! And all those letters Princess Celestia sent me, and--"

"Princess celestia told us all she was re-sending ya everythin' you had." Applejack interrupted, stopping my rant.

"She did? Oh thank Celestia." I replied, breathing out a huge sigh of relief. "If I had lost all of those too, I... I don't know what I would've done."

"She also said she's rebuilin' yer house too, and payin' it with all her own bits. She wants ya to try bein' more careful next time."

"I'll tell her I'll try my best then." I responded.

"We all agreed you can stay at my place until your house gets rebuilt." Fluttershy replied. "I hope the animals won't be too much of a bother to you.."

"They won't, don't worry about that." I replied, before looking around and noticing the absence of a particular figure. "...Wait, where's Spike? Shouldn't he be here with all of you?"

"Oh, he's asleep at my house." Fluttershy answered. "The poor guy stayed up all night worried for you.. He only lasted until around noon watching over you before falling asleep next to your bed, so I decided to bring him back and tuck him in my guest bed. I'm sure he wants you to see him."

"Aww... He didn't need to do that. Can I go see him?"

"Of course you can." Fluttershy replied, before beginning to walk off in the direction of her house with the rest of us following. Eventually after several minutes of walking we arrived, and we went over the small bridge, stepping up to the house's door. Fluttershy proceeded to open it, before walking inside, allowing the rest of us to follow through. She then headed upstairs to the direction of her guest bed, where I saw Spike fast asleep on the bed. I smiled a little, before trotting up to him, placing my hoof on him and shaking him gently.

"Hey. Hey Spike, it's me." I stated. I felt a little bad for waking him up, but I knew he must've wanted to see me really badly.

"Twilight..?" He muttered as his eyes slowly starting to open up. He then looked in my direction, when his expression suddenly turned into one of surprise. "Twilight!" He exclaimed, quickly sitting up from the bed. "You're up!"

"Yes, I'm finally up Spike." I was taken by surprise when he suddenly hugged me, and I couldn't help but smile in response, wrapping my hooves around him and gently hugging him in return.

"I was so so worried about you Twilight-- I thought you'd never wake up! Are you sure you're okay??" He asked, pulling back and looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine Spike. You don't need to worry." I answered, looking back at him. "Fluttershy said you stayed up all night looking after me."

"She did? I, well.. I was just worried." He responded sheepishly and with a little embarrassment.

"There's no need to be embarrassed Spike. That means alot to me." I replied, giving him a little nuzzle before smiling. "It just shows you really are my number one assistant."

"Well.. Yeah I guess." He smiled nervously. "I'm glad you're okay and all, but.. what am I doing in Fluttershy's house?"

"I brought you here when you passed out." Fluttershy softly replied. "I thought about bringing you with us when the hospital opened back up, but I was sure you needed your sleep... Please don't be mad at me or anything! I was just trying to be thoughtful."

"It's fine! I'm not mad. Honestly I could care less now that I know Twilight's fine." He replied. "I mean I was really worried there for a second."

"I could see that." I responded with my head perked up slightly. "If it's not too much trouble though, I think I'm gonna walk around outside for a bit to maybe clear my head a little. Is that fine with you all?"

"Oh not at all! Take your time." Fluttershy replied.

"Yeah. You must still be really depressed about what happened." Spike added.

"Right.." I responded with a short sigh. "I'll see you all some other time I guess."

"Okay dokie lokie! I'll set up a party for you to try and make you feel better!" Pinkie replied.

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary. I'm not really feeling like participating in a party right now."

"Oh.. so I'll throw it some other time then! I hope you have fun on your walk!"

"Me too." I replied, before walking out of the room and out of the house. I exhaled slowly as I closed the front door behind me, and then I breathed in the fresh outside air as I began to make my way forwards. I stared blankly ahead of me and didn't pay too much attention to my surroundings as I tried to recollect my thoughts. Was Duston really dead...? I still couldn't fully believe it.

The atmosphere of Ponyville still seemed to be mostly the same as I found myself approaching the town, but it did little to effect my depressed state of mind. I did, however, take a few moments to perk my head up and take a look at all of the ponies minding their own business as they trotted along the stone pathways. Time obviously wouldn't stop for me to let myself wallow in sadness-- not like I would want such a thing anyway. I knew that I needed to stay as optimistic as possible for my own good, but I was finding it to be surprisingly difficult as depressive, unhealthy thoughts continued to invade my mind. Part of me wished that I had payed more attention to books that went over how to deal with this kind of thing.

Before long, the ruins of my library caught my attention as it stood out from the rest of Ponyville's otherwise not totally destroyed buildings. My head perked up as I approached the ruins of the hollowed out tree, and I couldn't help but wince slightly at the sight of all of those books littered everywhere and with pages blown out of them.

'I really hope Celestia isn't too upset about replacing all of those... I should really try to control myself better next time.'

I stepped closer to the wreckage of where the front door was hanging off of its hinges, and I walked inside, feeling broken wood and scattered pages against my hooves. I made my way over to a noticeable clearing where my discharged spell must've made contact, and I looked around, before turning my body and facing towards the door again. I felt myself begin to relive the memories of what had happened that unfortunate night, and I trembled as I heard the gunshot clear as day in my mind. I really didn't want to think about it, but doing so would hopefully clear my head a little.

I sat down and stared at the open door-way-- right where Duston had been standing-- and I felt my breathing get faster. I had seem him die right in-front of my eyes... I swallowed and could already feel tears welling up in my eyes. It hadn't even been that long and I was already regretting doing this to myself, but if there was one thing I had read before, it was that bottling up emotions wasn't healthy-- and I wanted to do everything possible to make this easier in the long-run. I continued to stare at the blown open doorway as I winced once again, and a short gasp followed when I noticed the blood splattered against it and the floor for the first time. I felt my body shiver as I curled up in a ball with the sun shining down on me.

'Why would Discord ever do such a terrible thing..? Why....?'

I sobbed quietly to myself as I laid there surrounded by the remains of my own library. This continued for several long minutes-- I really wasn't keeping track of the time-- until I eventually felt mostly satisfied with my crying. One thing, however, wasn't adding up... and it came to my mind rather abruptly and stood out sorely. I opened my eyes, looking back towards the doorway and narrowing my eyebrows.

'Discord...'

I got up and slowly made my way over towards the doorway, peering through it, when my eyes suddenly widened as a realization struck me. It wasn't Discord-- it was Klade, Duston's younger brother! I blinked, playing through the memories in my mind once again to make sure that I wasn't just mis-remembering something, but I knew for sure that it had to have been Klade. I could very distinctly remember seeing him standing outside at the door way and also the one who I fired the spell at. He was the one talking and had then shot Duston dead.

'But... Why would he kill his own brother??? That doesn't make any sense! Unless it really was Discord.. But Klade said he killed Discord... Wait....'

My eyes widened further as I thought back to when Discord supposedly been defeated. Klade was the only one who confirmed it-- no one else had actually seen him die. Was he lying to us? If he was, what would he even have to gain after helping us for so long? With a strong yearning for answers, I quickly began to run off in the direction of Klade's house, and hopefully before anything else bad happened.

By the time I finally arrived I was panting rather profusely, and I stood by the door for a few moments to catch my breath. When I felt that I had regained enough composure, I lifted my hoof to knock, but then stopped myself. If he really did turn against us, then knocking probably wouldn't be the best idea, especially if he was presumably willing to kill his own brother. Looking across the front-side of the house, I walked over to one of the windows, carefully peeking inside. From what I could see, there was no one inside, and I couldn't hear anything either that would indicate that the house was occupied. Making my way back over to the front door, I slowly and quietly began to open it, before stepping inside.

I remained silent as I closed the door behind me as softly as I could, and I carefully trotted forward, looking around at some of the strange objects inside. I could recognize some things, such as the couch that was backed up against one of the walls, but not others-- more specifically the large and thin black rectangle that was positioned at the opposite wall. I assumed they were things that existed back on the world that he came from, but I didn't know if they were dangerous or not, so I made sure to keep my distance just to be safe.

As I walked forward, I saw another room straight ahead of me and a hallway extending from the wall to my left. I made sure to peek into the hallway first before walking forward into the next room, and after short observation, I concluded that this new room was the kitchen. The next room even further from that appeared to be a dining room, but I still found no trace of Klade.

I backtracked and proceeded to make my way down the hallway: A bathroom on the left, a bedroom on the right, and yet another bedroom further down on the left. Aside from consisting of strange objects of which I didn't know what they did, I soon found that the house appeared to be empty of any inhabitants. Since I wasn't able to find Klade by looking, I decided to speak up just to make sure.

"Klade!? Are you here?" I called out, only to not have a response. I took one last look in all of the rooms again before deciding to call out one more time with a louder voice. After still not getting a response, I exited the house feeling satisfied that he wasn't here.

'I know Rainbow Dash is pretty close to him so she might have an idea of where he's at or if he's been acting weird lately; She might still be at Fluttershy's with everyone else. I better go talk to her, and hopefully before he does something to her. That would be horrible!' Feeling a new sense of worry, I ran off towards Fluttershy's cabin.

I arrived after several minutes, panting and out of breath again, only this time I felt a little lightheaded. I stopped in-front of the front door and let myself lean against it as I tried to regain my composure without getting too dizzy. 'Nurse Redheart said I was supposed to be resting... I really shouldn't be disobeying doctor's orders! But this is important.' Deciding that I shouldn't run anymore, I pushed open the door, with the thought of knocking having not even crossed my mind as I was too concerned about Rainbow Dash. I quickly trotted inside only to see Spike helping with some animals.

"Twilight! You're back!" He greeted, smiling at my arrival but then looking concerned when he saw the state that I was in. "Hey are you alright Twilight? You don't look too good."

"I'm fine Spike-- where is everypony? Did you see Rainbow Dash?" I asked, trotting forward and looking around the room.

"They all left shortly after you did. Well, except for Fluttershy, she's just outback right now." Spike answered. "Why? What's the matter?"

"I need to talk to Rainbow Dash. It's important." I replied. "Did they say where they were going?"

"I think they all just went back to do their busywork." He answered once again.

'Rainbow could be anywhere then. Hopefully I can spot her outside somewhere.' I quickly turned around to head back outside, but I stopped myself to turn my head and look back at Spike. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure! Just let me go tell Fl--" He was interrupted by my magic as I levitated him up onto my back, and my face scrunched up as I felt it to be surprisingly strenuous to use my horn-- something else I probably shouldn't be doing either. "..Or nevermind then." Spike concluded as I stepped back outside and closed the door behind us with my hooves instead of my magic. Once outside, I quickly began making my way towards Ponyville, making sure to keep my head up and my gaze glued to the sky in hopes of spotting Rainbow Dash.

By the time I had reached all the way to the town square I still hadn't seen any sign of her, which worried me more, but I couldn't deny that having trouble finding Rainbow was usually a pretty normal thing. I continued my search until I came across Sugarcube Corner, and then an idea popped into my head as the sight of it reminded me of someone peculiar. 'Pinkie Pie! She should be able to find her in an instant.' I hastily made my way over to the candy-designed building and stepped in. Upon looking inside, I found Rainbow Dash to already be there and talking to Pinkie. I felt some relief to see that nothing had happened to Rainbow, and I quickly began trotting over to her.

"Rainbow!" I called out, walking around the tables and chairs until I approached where she was talking with Pinkie.

"Oh hi Twilight!" Pinkie greeted in her usual high-pitched and cheery voice. "Are you hungry? You've gotta be after being asleep for so long!"

Now that Pinkie had mentioned it, I was actually pretty hungry, but I didn't have time for that right now. "Not right now Pinkie. I wanted to ask Rainbow, or rather, both of you actually: have either of you seen Klade?"

"Klade? Hmm... Not since yesterday night at the party!" Pinkie replied. I then turned to look at Rainbow.

"Same. I actually went by his house earlier this morning to see if he wanted to check up on you in the hospital, but he wasn't there." Rainbow spoke up. Her expression suddenly changed to one of concern however when a thought struck her mind. "Wait a minute, why are you asking Twilight? Do you think something happened to him too??"

I shook my head. "Not really. Well, kind of. I think I should probably ask this first though: Why does everyone seem to think that Discord is the one who um.. killed Duston?"

"Because only he could do something so evil!" Rainbow quickly replied. "He's a piece of shit and if I knew where he was I'd kick his flank right now!"

"Now that you bring it up Twi, I think we all kind of just assumed it was Discord." Pinkie added. "But why's that so important? You don't think it was someone else, do you? Is there another baddy out there who's even worse than Discord??"

"Well, it's just that.." I started, playing through the memories in my mind yet again just to make sure I wasn't getting anything wrong. "..It was Klade who killed Duston. I was there and I saw it happen right in-front of my eyes." The two looked at me with blank expressions for a few seconds before Rainbow was the first to speak up.

"Oh come on Twilight, Klade would never do something like that-- he's too cool. You don't seriously think he'd kill his own brother, do you? I'm sure it was just Discord disguised as him! Or maybe he messed with your head, I don't know."

"See, that's what I thought too!" I replied. "But then the more I thought about it, the more it began to make sense... I mean, Klade was the only one who confirmed to us that Discord had died. None of us actually saw it happen-- he could have very well been lying to us! He always was kind of a weird one, and even Duston kind of agreed with me on that."

"I think you're overthinking things way too much Twilight." Pinkie responded. "I used to do that alot too, and it's super duper unhealthy! You just think and you think and you think and then your mind goes all bonkers. It's happened to me before!" I then turned to look at Rainbow, who had been silent for longer than what I would consider normal. Eventually however she chimed in.

"I don't know Pinkie... Back when we were all in Hayseed Swamps, Discord told me a bunch of things about Klade and how he was secretly working for him. I didn't believe it all for very long though-- Klade convinced me otherwise-- but... it just can't be true. It wouldn't make any sense." Rainbow got up from her chair. "I'm gonna go find Klade so I can find out what's going on. I know Klade and I know he wouldn't betray us."

I nodded lightly at Rainbow. "If you find him, I want to talk to him too." Rainbow affirmed my request, and then lifted herself up off the ground with her wings, zooming out the front doors. I watched her before turning to look at Pinkie. "What do you think, Pinkie?"

"You wanna know what I think? I think you need to eat something! I heard your stomach rumble not once, but twice so far!" She replied. "Do you want cupcakes? I'll go make them for you lickity-split!"

I sighed softly, but I couldn't deny that Pinkie was right, even though I really hadn't planned on eating yet. "No, I'm not really in the mood for sweets. I'll take just a Dandelion Sandwich with Hay Fries for now."

"Okay Dokie Lokie! What about you Spike?"

"Huh? Oh uh.. just cupcakes please!"

"Alrighty! I'll be right back!" Pinkie responded before dashing into the kitchen. I proceeded to sit down on the chair where Rainbow just was in, breathing out a sigh as I watched Spike get off my back and sit down across from me. I stared at him blankly for a few seconds before speaking up.

"What do you think, Spike? You've been awfully quiet about the whole thing."

"Well, I don't know what to think Twilight! I never knew Klade that well." He replied. "And even if I did, I'd still find it really unlikely that he'd kill his own brother. That's just weird!"

"You'd think so, but you have to remember that they are both from an entirely different world too. Their culture could be alot different there in ways that we can't even imagine."

"Now I think you're stretching things too Twilight. I mean, no offense or anything.. but I think Pinkie is right here. Besides, isn't family supposed to be an important part of pretty much any culture?"

"Well, yes, it is." I sighed again. "I'm sorry Spike, I'm sure I'm acting totally irrational right now. I guess it's just kind of hard for me to think straight."

"Don't push yourself too hard Twilight. You should take a few days off! Or something."

"I guess so..." It was right then that Pinkie came zooming back to the table, placing a tray with my sandwich and fries in-front of me, and then placing several cupcakes in-front of Spike.

"Here you go guys! I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." Pinkie replied, before dashing off back into the kitchen. Knowing that Spike was right, I decided to just try and focus on the food and not too much else for the time being.

---

Meanwhile in Canterlot...

Princess Luna's POV

The evening was soon approaching, and I was feeling eager to head to my bedchambers for the day, even though there were still a couple more tasks that needed to be done. There was no one around in this particular section of the Canterlot Castle, so I was free to not have to hide my exhaustion as I let my head droop and my body walk slowly across the marble floors. My attention was soon captured when I noticed a figure off in the distance in my peripheral vision, and I perked my head up to see that it was my sister Celestia. We soon approached, and she was the first to speak up.

"Good evening Luna."

"Evening, Tia."

We both walked past each other, having only just acknowledged each other's presence. After only making a few steps past her, however, a sudden thought occurred to me. Since Celestia was right here, I decided to ask while it was currently on my mind.

"Tia," I spoke, stopping my walk and turning my head to look at her. "Do you have a moment?"

"Yes, Luna. What is it?" She responded, turning her body to face me, to which I did the same.

"There has been something that I have been meaning to ask you for quite some time now, but I have not been able to, so I would like to now while I have not forgotten."

Celestia nodded slightly. "You can ask me anything you want to Luna."

"Of course." I paused for a second before continuing. "I am referring back to when we helped Queen Chrysalis, and you said that you needed to send Duston and Klade back to their original world afterwards. This confused me... you said that you were worried about the Equestrian public's opinion. But why? Surely that would not have been a problem."

"You're correct." Celestia replied. "At least, not by the point: Everyone already knew of them. That was a mistake by my part."

"Oh. But.. surely you knew of that at the time. Why did you bring it up, then?"

"Because there's more to it than that." Celestia exhaled, which caused me to quickly interrupt.

"I do not mean to intrude in any means; it is simply something that has been on my mind."

"No it's quite alright, you should know anyway." Celestia responded. "If you haven't already noticed, humans are extremely powerful when it comes to magic-- maybe even stronger than Discord's type of magic. Because of this, I have made sure not to let any of them stay since my reign. This has happened before-- many times actually-- and I've made sure to it that each time they get sent back. Usually it's done fairly quickly, and thus isn't a problem. This time, though.. well you already know the rest."

"I see..." I stayed quiet for a few seconds, taking in what Celestia had said before continuing. "They have helped greatly in our fight against Discord, however. They are valuable assets."

"Yes, that's true. However, I still worry, especially with Klade. He seems to be fully aware of his power and is using it to his complete advantage, which is the exact type of scenario that I am worried about. He's been creating all sorts of strange things all in the area surrounding Ponyville, of which I don't even know what most of them do, but I can only assume that they are all very dangerous. Not to mention that he's essentially been using Equestria as his playground and then tossing his literings into the Everfree Forest."

"So then what do you suppose we do, Tia?"

"I don't know. Even if Klade is doing all of this for benevolent means right now, I still worry about the future and if he ever realizes just what type of power he holds in this world. I don't consider him responsible for his power-- Duston maybe, but he's no longer with us, and I never knew him well enough to make an accurate judgement anyway. The most we can do for right now is watch him closely and hope for the best. If I see any signs that he's attempting to overthrow Equestria or do anything malevolent, I will take action immediately."

I nodded my head lightly, feeling inclined to agree with what my sister was saying. "I understand. Thank you for explaining to me, Tia."

"You don't have any need to thank me for things like this. It's important to ask and make sure we have a proper understanding of everything."

I nodded again, and then after a short moment we both continued on our ways.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

How many chapters long will this story be?

[Riclo]

8598455
I'm expecting it to at least get over 100k words. I don't expect you to believe that though because that's a huge number, but to make it a little more believable, the previous story over on fanfiction.net did get up to a little over 90k words and completing this story is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I've already got a nice headstart on the chapters for this one and I've been putting a serious effort into working on it for the past few months.