Fallen Twilight

by Swefn

Pliht hit ælcuht

"Another long morning, and we're still out of coffee," Twilight said to herself, agitated and yawning.

Twilight sat in the silent royal dining room, the morning light gleamed through the tall windows and trailed along the table. Birds faintly sung outside, wind brushed against the windows. She mulled over old transcripts of incomplete spells while eating her pancakes slowly. Though rusty on Old Ponish, she attempted to discern a few words on the first page.

"Éar Bealucræft…Earth magic? Are these supposed to be spells related to the earth, like the ground? Or… these couldn't be spells for Earth Ponies, right?! How could they perform spells without a horn?" She read on. Her eyes traced over each word, trying to comprehend any of it.

Her attention was soon broken by the dining room doors swinging open. She turned to the Princess of the Sun, Celestia, walking through the doors. Each of her steps echoed through the room. Her multi-colored mane was still in somewhat of a mess, and her crown shined in the faint morning light. She mumbled to herself as she floated to the table, subsequently sitting across from Twilight.

"Are you okay, Celestia?" she asked. Her apprehension carried clear.

Celestia straightened her posture, clearing her throat. She pondered a response, then slumped back down into her chair. "If I could go one day without having to deal with angry delegates from another country over trivial fights, I think I'd throw a party out of glee."

Twilight chuckled, imagining what kind of party she'd actually throw. “I didn’t take you for much of a party goer Celestia. You just seem a bit too proper for that” she said, sticking her tongue out at her.

“If I hadn’t pulled you away from your constant studies here in Canterlot, you would have ended up being a hermit yourself!” she gazed through one of the tall windows, “In fact, you never let loose ‘til you made friends with Ms. Diane Pie. She—” Celestia hesitated, her eyes trailed back onto Twilight who sat with a blank expression. “I’m sorry Twilight, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s ok!” Twilight interjected. She sat up straight, her mouth spread slowly to form a weak smile. “You’re right! She was the best at parties wasn’t she?” The magic holding the transcripts up started to flicker.

Celestia nodded slowly as she watched her with apprehension.

“I remember when I first moved to Ponyville. She threw me a ‘welcome to ponyville’ party in my own house! Isn’t that crazy?” Twilight’s bottom lip quivered “L-like how did she even get in my house in the first place?”

Celestia stood up and had begun to make her way towards her.

“Oh and her b-baking skills were through the b-bucking roof!” Her smile was forced wider, tears had begun to pour down her face. “I swear to C-Celestia that m-mare could bake anything!” Her body convulsed. Her hooves pressed into the wooden table hard enough to lift the other end up in the air.

Celestia wrapped her hoof around Twilight, embracing her old student.Twilight sat there, her smile faded. The words spilled from her mouth between gasps of air.

“She…She…She…” Twilight clung onto Celestia, the transcripts fell to the floor. "It's been 40 years!" She exclaimed, her voice cracking with emotion. "Why can't I think about them without bursting into tears? Why can't I accept that they're gone? Why can't I get over feeling empty inside without them?"

She ran her hoof down Twilight's mane. "I'm sure they wouldn't want you to feel like this, Twilight. They loved you, and still do. Even in their passing they are with you. Keeping you strong, always being there for you."

Twilight pulled away, rubbing her face off with the napkin from under her plate. "Sure," she sniffled. “That’s easy for you to say…” said through clenched teeth.

Celestia looked at her, confused at the sudden change in Twilight’s tone. “Pardon me?”

“Of course you can say things like that. It’s not like you’ve been alive for well over a thousand years,” she pushed away from the table forcefully. The table slid across the room, hitting the wall with a loud echoing thud . “You couldn’t possibly understand how I feel! They’re all dead Celestia. They’re dead!” she wailed as she stomped the ground. The ground shook, cracks formed beneath her hoof.

“They…they were my everything…” she trembled to the floor, each word grew heavier than the last, “They made me who I am today…If I knew back then that I would have to watch them go...one by one…"

She weakly stood up and put the transcripts in her saddlebag that hung from her chair, "…I would have never accepted becoming an Alicorn…" And with that, she left the dining area, leaving Celestia alone in the empty room.

"Twilight…I'm so sorry…"

*****

The sun reached its peak, just starting its descent back down. The breeze gently swayed the trees back and forth, as if they were dancing in the wind. The cobblestone path that surrounded the castle shone in the light of the sun. Twilight trotted along the path for the third time today, looking back at the old transcripts, trying to piece them together.

"None of this makes sense!" she said to herself, “These look like they’re supposed to be spells, but with so little to go on all I can do is speculate what this all actually means!” She groaned. "I'm going to have to cross reference this with some of the older transcripts we have in the castle." Defeated, she slumped her head and put the transcripts back into her saddlebag, headed back toward the castle.

The path leading back into the castle lead Twilight through the royal garden. The breeze blew harder, the grass waved like a green body of water. Twilight stopped in her tracks, mesmerized by the beautiful sight. The smell of the summer flowers hit her nose, the sound of chirping birds as they fly by are all she could hear. She sat and watched a little longer, her mane flowing in the wind. In the sky up ahead, she saw beautifully colored butterflies leaving one of the restless trees. All of them in different shapes, sizes, and colors.

But three stood out to hear. Blue bodies with pink wings, they flew together, as if they were dancing in the wind.

---

Do you know why I just love these beautiful birds, Twilight? They're free. They reach heights that I can only wish to achieve. Maybe one day, I'll feel just as free as they are. I'll fly all the way up to the heavens and not be afraid to look down at this beautiful world. When I make it all the way up there, Twilight, will you come fly with me? Maybe the others will come too! All of us can fly through the clouds together, just like those birds way up high.

---

The wind softened. The butterflies drifted away, leaving the birds to sing and play in the garden before Twilight. She wiped a running tear off her face, getting up to walk away. She turned back to look at the garden one more time. "I haven't forgotten my promise. It might be a while, but I'll fly with you girls one day." And with that, she set off to the castle, hoping to find more transcripts to help her solve the mystery of this supposed Earth Magic.

*****

As night fell over Equestria’s sky, Twilight sat in the Canterlot Archives, where the only light that illuminated the shelves of ancient articles, transcripts, and books was the purple glow from Twilight’s horn. She was surrounded by old, delicate transcripts, cross-referencing everything from Alchemy to old stories of magical feats that were written by Earth Ponies at the time. With each page she read, the more confused she became.

“This isn't right!” she said to herself, skimming over one of the many transcripts she had read for the third time in a row. “As far as I know, these should all be fairy tales and exaggerated stories! And even if they're not, none of these scripts describe how this sort of magic works!” She put the transcripts down, and looked up into the skylight above her. She stretched and let out a gentle yawn, the moonlight seeping into the room, smothering Twilight in the soft light of the night sky.

She looked over to her left as a reflection caught her eye. The light shone over the locked bookshelf. Each shelf was lined with books and scrolls that appeared to be older than anything else she’d ever read. Twilight stood up and slowly made her way towards it, carefully eyeing the entrance to the room. As she reached the shelves, it became apparent that the lock was no normal lock. The keyhole wasn't in the shape of a key, but was simply a circular hole.

“What sort of key would unlock this? This doesn't seem conventional...” She spent some time inspecting the lock and chains. Placing her hoof on the lock, she noticed a strange energy that radiated from it. “This magic… it's some sort of protection spell. I can't tell what kind though, It's different from anything I've studied.” She gave the lock a forceful push, sending a shock through her hoof and up her foreleg. She pulled back, wincing at the sudden pain that shot through her. “That wasn't smart...” she groaned.

A few moments later there was a knock at the door. Twilight jumped back away from the bookshelves and quickly grabbed one of the books on the table. Luna stepped in, taking a quick look around until her eyes fell on Twilight.

“Hast thou found what she was looking for?”

Twilight gave her amused look and giggled. “You've been back for almost a hundred years now and you're still talking like it's the tenth century.” Luna made her way towards Twilight, but kept her eyes up at the skylight.

“Just like the moon rises in the night, some things never change. That includes some of my old habits.” Luna looked back down at Twilight, now only a few feet away. “Like how you still fail to get adequate sleep after all these years,” she said, giving Twilight a playful wink.

She looked up at Luna, her mane radiating with magic as it flowed behind her, shining with what looked to be little stars in the beautiful night sky. The air around them was still, filled with the awkward silence between them. She sat down next to Twilight, levitating one of the old transcripts. “Galdorcwide…these are old song spells, very powerful ones at that...though incomplete. What caught your interest in these?”

Twilight shuffled through the transcripts on the table, looking through the pile that had grown into a mountain during her time studying them, until she found the one that troubled her the most.

“This…” she pointed at the top of the page. “Éar Bealucræft. Earth magic. I originally thought it meant spells that had to do with the earth around us, but the more I looked over it, the more I realised these were spells cast by sayings that had nothing to do with dirt or ground. I believe it means spells that can be done by Earth Ponies, but that's impossible…right?”

Luna set the transcript to the side and took a deep breath. “This is something that has not been discussed in over a millenia. Such magic feats were just rumors and tales told to us as foals. Whether or not such tales were true, I do not know myself.” She arose from the floor, glancing up towards the skylight before looking back down on Twilight. “All I can say for now, Twilight, is to not let yourself be consumed by old tales and goose chases. You may have all the time in the world, but time wasted is still time you cannot get back.”

She made her way to the door, taking a moment to look around the room one more time. “If you need me, I shall be in my room to do my nightly duties. Let us hope that I won’t run into any…suggestive dreams tonight. Farewell, Twilight!” And with that, she was gone.

Not a minute later Twilight was back at the mysterious bookshelves, analyzing the old and tattered books and scrolls. She noticed that not a single book had any indication of what they were on their bindings. No titles, numbers, not even a symbol. “That’s weird,” she said to herself, “why wouldn’t any of these be labeled? Hell I label everything I own!”

She covered her mouth to hold back a small laugh, then softly let out a melancholy sigh. “Ya know, I miss having a little sidekick to laugh at all the silly comments I make about myself. I can imagine him now saying, Ya know this is your chance to finally stick your horn in something just to tease me about putting my horn in the lock.” She took a moment to think about her old assistant, then quickly shot up, coming to a sudden realization. “Wait, what if that is the key?!”

Twilight ran to the to the Canterlot Archives’ entrance and made sure no one else was around. She closed the door, locking it behind her. More than ever the books and transcripts called to her. She needed to find out what they held inside. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m about to stick my horn in a lock that might kill me.”

Knowing this was probably one of the poorest decisions she’d made since trying to snatch a Daring Do book from Rainbow Dash, she tilted her head down. “I hope this works.” Her words faltered as they came out. She took a deep breath, and quickly slid her horn into the lock, bracing herself for another shock.

Then nothing. Her horn rested firmly in the key hole, yet the lock did not cease to hold its grip onto the chain. Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Did I do it wrong?” she said as she pulled away from the lock.

“My horn fit almost perfectly, so that's gotta be the way to do it. But is there something else is have to do?” She pressed her hoof to the keyhole. “I'm pretty sure I don't have to turn my horn, that seems like it would be painful at that angle”.

Twilight looked around the bookshelves for clues. She looked for any riddles, symbols, anything that could indicate what to do while putting her horn in the lock. But to no avail. She looked over the lock once more, tracing her hoof over the engraving that decorated it.

“It's an hourglass…” she looked back at the giant hourglass behind her that sat just under the skylight. As the sand reached its end, it flipped back over to start a new. “For as long as I've known it's always kept the same pace. Never stopping.”

She turned back to the lock giving it a long hard stare. She wondered what relationship the lock had with the hourglass. “Could it be time? But what sort of time? The time the lock was put on? No that can't be it… how would I figure that out?”

Twilight gave the hourglass another look, watching the sand slowly drizzle down to the bottom. “I've never seen it end…meaning it could have to do with time not ending, like forever!But from the looks of it, the spell on this lock looks to be way older than either of the sisters. So I'm guessing it'll be in Old Ponish.”

She tilted head, leaning her horn towards the lock. Nervous, she took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing…” She pushed her horn into the keyhole.

“Écnes!”

A bright light filled the room as the ancient magic evacuated from the lock. The lock cracked open, dropping to the floor along with the chain. Twilight jumped with glee. “I did it! I broke an ancient spell!”

After patting herself on the back for breaking the lock, she took a quick look back toward the room’s entrance to make sure no one was trying to come in. The gate on the bookshelf creaked open, causing Twilight to jump back quickly. “For the love of Celestia why do I still jump over the smallest things?”

Twilight opened the gates more, taking a closer look at the transcripts and books. She pulled them out one by one, examining the cover of each book and the outside of each rolled up transcript. Clearing the table, she laid them out one by one. She took careful note of what row they went in, so she can put them back exactly how they were before.

“Given that none of these have any titles, I’ll just have to skim through all of them! Maybe one will have something to do with earth pony magic!” Her horn grew bright with magic as she levitated all the transcripts and books around her. One by one she would rotate them in front of her, she skimmed through each page in a matter of moments. A few would catch her eye, but not what she would be looking for.

Twilight stopped, reading carefully over one of the books. “Capitolas be Éar Bealucræft,” her wings sprung up, “I found it! I can’t believe there would actually be a whole book of lessons still in existence!” She places all of the other transcripts and books back in their respective places, closing the gates and re-sealing the chains and lock. Before she left the room, she looked back up into the skylight.

“Maybe I’ll go for a little walk around the castle tonight. It’s not often I get to enjoy Luna’s sky.”

*****

The air was cool and still. Twilight walked along a narrow path through the beautiful garden she gazed upon earlier that day. The path went through tall hedges that were decorated with rows of flowers. On the other side stood a metal arch with a sign that hung from the top.

Gone but not forgotten.

As she walked through, her eyes wandered over the surrounding gravestones. Each one named with those who had lost their lives protecting Equestria. The path Twilight walked down ran through the middle of the graveyard. When she got to the end, she stood before a row of 5 graves. Each adorned with a symbol made of crystal that represented their respective element.

Twilight opened her bag, to which she pulled 5 flowers from. After wiping away the dirt and debri from the gravestones, Twilight placed a flower against each of them. She sat down, putting her saddlebag to the side.

“So I had another boring day today. Mostly studies and paperwork,” her words receive no response. “Being about a hundred and thirty years old, you’d expect that I get some kind of break. But no, I seem to work harder the older I get!” Still silence.

Twilight’s mouth parted to form a smile, but to no avail. A knot grew inside her chest. She clenched her teeth, her lips turned into a trembling mess. Her body shuddered and and convulsed. “Why?” she wailed, hammering the ground with her hoof.

“All because of these goddamned wings!” She glanced back at her wings. “Why couldn’t I just have lived a normal life? Why couldn’t I have grown old with all of you? Shared my last moments with all of you?” Her breath faltered, tears ran down her mouth. The heaviness she felt in her chest waned.

“Why couldn’t I have just died with all of you? Life isn’t worth living if I can’t have you all with me…” the night sky above started to clutter with clouds, blocking the natural light of the moon. Twilight, mentally defeated, couldn’t bring herself to get up. Her eyes leaked out the rest of her pain.

“Then why not have them with you?”

Twilight jumped up and stepped to the side. She spun around defensively, but no one was there. “Who are you? Show yourself!” she blustered.

“Who am I? You're thinking about it all wrong princess.” the voice mocked. “You should be asking why I'm here.”

Twilight looked around, her eyes darted left and right in search of the ominous voice. “Then why are you here then?”

“I have what you desire, something you cannot refuse.” his voice grew closer to Twilight, causing her to look around her more frantically.

“And what could that possibly be?” she asked hesitantly. The air around her grew cold. The wind blew hard, as if a tornado was forming around her. She could sense something was coming.

“Your dear friends,” he whispered into her ear, his hoof rested on her shoulder.

She jumped to the side, glaring down at the figure that had startled her. He was concealed in a black robe that covered most of his face and body. He appeared to float above the ground, but no shadow fell below him.

“W-what do you mean by my friends?” she tensed up, “you shouldn’t go around talking about someone’s dead loved ones like that.”

“You see, all I want to do is help you. You feel remorse for not being able to grow old with your friends, do you not?”

Twilight dropped her head, her voice drew quiet. “As much as I want them back, that will never happen. They’re gone…forever…”

The stallion pulled a scroll out from beneath his robes, “this, princess, is a spell that can bring them back. But it comes with a cost.” He tossed the scroll towards her.

Twilight hesitated, staring down at the scroll is dissbelief. “And let’s say I believed you, what sort of cost do you mean? My soul or something cliché like that?” She suspended the scroll in the air in front of her. “This looks like it’s written in old ponish as well…”

“Your wings,” he stated blankly.

She dropped the scroll to the ground. “My what?” she exclaimed. “It’s not like I can just pop them off! What are you trying to pull?” Twilight stepped back and glared at him.

“More specifically, to bring your friends back to life, the spell absorbs your alicorn magic. The magic that keeps you immortal will be used to breath life back into your precious friends. Which in turn rids you of your wings. What you wanted in the first place right?” He stepped forward, nudging the scroll to her again. “You could have a normal life with them. Even grow old with them. Just like you wanted.”

Twilight stood there, flabbergasted. Could this be a real spell, she thought to herself. The scroll floated up in front of her, unraveled to reveal the spell inside. “And what do you get out of this?” questioning the old stallion.

“Oh me? Don’t be absurd Princess. This is the least I could offer for such a tormented soul as yours.” A devious smile spread across his face, “but an offer as good as this doesn’t last forever. Now go on, show your friends how much you truly love them.”

“This isn’t right… This sort of magic isn’t morally right…” she took a moment to look at the scroll again. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

He hovered closer to her and picked up the scroll. “Are you saying you would rather let your morals get in the way of finally being with your friends? Do you want to go for the rest of eternity repenting the day you left your friends behind?”

She looked over at her resting friends, If this is what I have to do to finally feel whole again… Twilight took a deep breath and took a moment to clear her mind. “Fine…I’ll do it.”

“Good!” The scroll drifted above her friend’s graves, “Now all you need to do is release your magic into the scroll, and it will do the rest. Though, fair warning, this is going to sting a bit.”

Twilight faced the scroll and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry Celestia, but this is what I have to do.” She focused all of her alicorn magic into her horn, the energy emanated from her body immensely and lifted her off of the ground. Then with one final push, her alicorn magic shot into the scroll. Like a tornado, it was sucked into the scroll. Her wings began to fade. But once her alicorn magic was depleted, the scroll kept pulling.

“What’s going on!” She shrieked as her body began to feel numb.

“Oh, did I say alicorn magic? Silly me. I meant all of your magic!” he exclaimed with a maniacal laugh.

Twilight’s magic dwindled to nothing as her limp body fell to the ground. The scroll only a few feet away. “Why?” she sputtered weakly. She coughed up blood as she gasped for air.

He lowered to the ground and walked over to pick up the scroll, putting it under his robe. “Because, I’m dying. And frankly I would rather live.” He turned around, “oh, before I forget,” the stallion leaned in, putting a hoof to her head. “I didn’t want to give you the satisfaction of being with your friends, dead or alive. So while you’ll never regain your magic again, the spell I created is going to keep you immortal.” he said as he spat on her muzzle.

“Please…” Twilight could barely utter a word as the world around her fell into darkness. All she could see was his impression in the dark as he walked away.

“Thank you for your time princess. Or, should I say, former princess.” his muffled laugh was the last thing she heard before the silence consumed her.

Please…help me…

Comments

[Lord-Commander]

Mhmm... this is rather interesting. The concept of a bitter regretful immortal Twilight isn't something new, but her actually doing something about it feels like a road not many trend on. It seems like this could be a really good story, there's a ton of potential. I'm curious if we'll see descendants of the others along the way, or Flurry Heart, or Spike.

[NotWhoYouThink]

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

[the7Saviors]

And on that night, Twilight learned never to make Faustian deals.

Heh... Faustian...

[the7Saviors]

Also, I love how this dude basically just pops in, steals her magic, and fucks right off. Something about how that whole situation went down just amuses me.

[Starlight Nova]

Hlight foresetten pliht

What's with this gibberish in the synopsis?

[Swefn]

8719791
Old Ponish saying. "Reward Requires Risk"

[TheSpiritWolf12]

The scene and how it played out with Twilight and the unknown pony happened so fast, it just didn't feel right, the same goes for Twilight's reaction to the mention of her friends. It's been almost a hundred years she must have had counseling by that time. If she took the matter of her friend's death in a more mature matter but still kept to the point about resurrecting her friends I would have been very interested in Twilight's character in the story. It's good, the story left me with a good feeling inside, very satisfied, knowing the plot of the story is leading somewhere. I hope to hear more of this story in the near future.