Those Forty Years

by Spell Writer

Unity 5 - The Beginning of the End

Months passed with little fanfare. Celestia, Luna, and Twilight lived their lives, each story recorded neatly in the two sister's book. Stories about their efforts to bring everypony together and return Ponykind to the world stage and several measures of the Pillars of Equestria in defeating and sealing all sorts of monsters. The castle was nearing completion. In fact, it would be complete on the morrow. Twilight sighs in her throne room, looking at the stained glass windows of the various achievements she's made with her daughters, from restoring the yaks to finally shaping up the nobility. Twilight's past few months had been busy compared to the school life that Celestia and Luna got to enjoy. Twilight looks down at Star Swirl, Rockhoof, Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, and Mistmane, each with a focused expression on their faces. Twilight sighed a little. Eternal had long abandoned her after one of their previous arguments, leaving Twilight with her personal thoughts.

Finally, Twilight speaks, "And you're sure Stygian is doing this on purpose? He never seemed to want power to the point of wishing to drain it from you all." Star Swirl raises his head and glares.

"He stole our precious relics, your Majesty. Whatever he may be trying to do is irrelevant. It is either that he is trying to seal us, drain us, or control us. I refuse to allow that to happen. His gravest mistake was bringing us together because we have the ability to oppose him." Star Swirl says with a focused expression. "We just wished to tell you that we were leaving. If we do not return, we have succeeded in our efforts."

Twilight bites her lip while she doesn't know precisely why Star Swirl is missing in the future. She just has a very negative feeling about this entire situation. To her awareness, Star Swirl disappeared long before Nightmare Moon, meaning this would fall perfectly within that timeframe. As Twilight opens her mouth, a voice in her head whispers out. 'Do not meddle fruitlessly.'

"Fine, if you all agree to do this, I will not stop you. However, I am very disappointed in all of you for jumping to conclusions so rapidly." Twilight says as she watches the pillars begin to leave one by one. "None of you learned anything from me, did you? Especially you, Star Swirl." Twilight stands up from her throne, glaring down at the elder unicorn. The leader of the pillars stands headstrong and steadfast against the pressure the Queen radiates from herself. "If you truly go through with this, I will not bail you out, my old friend. I suppose you still have much to learn, even at your age."

"What is advice from one who refuses to accept their own failures? Perhaps you'll have something worth giving me aside your magic one day." Star Swirl says before closing the door behind himself.

Twilight grumbles as she sits on her throne with a deep sigh. "Star Swirl, you better come back so I can REALLY tear you a new one."

But Star Swirl never came back. Neither did any of the pillars. Twilight never heard or found out what happened to them. All she could feel was the forces of friendship and harmony screaming out before everything went silent. "Mm. I hope you're satisfied with your choice, you old grump." Twilight says with a sigh from her balcony. She looked down at the planes behind her, towards the Everfree forest and even Ponyville. Equestria was complete. Today, the flag would be installed on the top of the castle. For everypony other than the royals, it was a glorious day. Canterlot was nearly complete! The walls were built, the royal guard was permitted to roam the city, shops were opening, and everything was going well. However, for the royals and those in the know, the flag being set was the beginning of the end.

Twilight sat down at the breakfast table in the dining room with Celestia and Luna, serving the pair a huge stack of her famous double-decker oat and butter pancakes. "So today is the day, girls," Twilight says as she eats with her family. Celestia and Luna are already wearing their armor. Meanwhile, Twilight herself was wearing just her chest guard.

Celestia and Luna nod. "We're ready! Nothing Unity sends at us will work!" Celestia says with a broad smile, "We've been preparing all this time! Unity won't know what hit her!"

Luna giggles. "Besides, there's no way we can lose. Mom's been practicing with Discord even. There's nothing that can beat us now." The youngest princess says confidently as she finishes her pancakes.

Twilight smiles. "I appreciate your faith, sweetie. I really do." She giggles a little bit before looking down at her plate of food, completely untouched. Twilight takes a few nibbles before taking a deep breath. "Alright. Let's get going, girls. The flag ceremony won't wait forever." Twilight says as she stands up and motions to the door.

Celestia and Luna smile and rush forward to head out the door. Twilight joined them, walking behind them as she said, "I'm sorry, girls." Twilight's horn glows as she swiftly and accurately casts a spell on Celestia and Luna. The pair stumble forward as they fall asleep. However, Luna can resist the effects much more than her sister, speaking as she starts to struggle and sway.

"M-mom? Why?" Luna says as she falls forward a little. Twilight gives Luna a close hug. "W-weren't we good enough?"

Twilight closes her eyes and hugs Luna tightly. "You two are perfect. In fact, you two would be great in the fight. I have no doubt."

Luna whimpers as she struggles to keep her eyes open. Her mother's magic was just too overwhelming for her to resist. "Then... why?"

Twilight hugs tighter as she holds onto both Celestia and Luna. "Because I don't want to see my fillies hurt like last time. Don't worry. Mommy will win. Just for you two." Twilight says with a smile before gently glowing her horn.

Celestia and Luna vanish from the hallway in a soft flash of light. A chuckle rang out from around Twilight now that she was alone. "What a touching moment. I think I'm going to cry!" Discord says with a laugh behind Twilight, who glares at him. "Ah, the love of a mother, willing to abandon every little thing for their children. Even when they know it will endanger many others, hmm~?" Discord says as he makes three plushies, one of each alicorn royal, hug each other.

Twilight glares at Discord. "OKAY, yes, it's true. I sent them away because I didn't want my first-ever kids to get hurt. Is that so wrong?! Sure, I may not have been the mother of the year doing this. Heck, I'm definitely not Queen of the Year either. But is it so wrong to care about my Children?! Unity, your sister, is more dangerous than anything they've ever fought, especially now. You know it just as well as I do." She says as she lets out a little grunt. "Our chances of winning even with them are astronomically low. I won't put my daughters through that. No matter how much they hate me afterward."

Discord chuckles. "Oh, Twilight. How delightfully naughty and, dare I say, evil~. Congratulations on joining the "People that do good because it's convenient for their goals club!" Or the PDGCC!"

Twilight glares. "How is doing this evil?! Sure, it's not good, but I do it out of care for them!"

Discord rolls his eyes, "Does no one understand how these things work? That's simple Twilight Sparkle because it was their choice, and you took it away. Now, rather than being able to talk them out of going." Elsewhere, Celestia and Luna wake up in a familiar place, eyes burning with anger and determination. Discord continuing. "You just made them want to prove that they can stand with you even more."

---

Celestia groans as she wakes up in the middle of some grass, struggling to stand up. "Ugh, I knew setting a wake-up spell on myself was smart." She shakes her head to clear it of the fog that the knockout spell left on her. Celestia sighed a little as she reached over and shook Luna awake. Luna jolted up and twitched.

"MOM!" Luna yelled out as she looked around herself. "Faust as my witness, I am going to spend the 1000 years on the moon just thinking of how to grill into Mom when I see her!" Luna yells out loudly, "Heck, I'll start now!" Luna says as she throws her helmet onto the ground, the helmet slamming deep into the dirt below.

Celestia smiles as she puts her hoof on Luna's shoulder, being silent for a moment. "We'll do that together." She says simply as she starts trotting to the familiar peaks.

Luna looks over to Celestia. "Uh oh. Uh. Sis. Mom did it out of love, you know. Right?" She says nervously.

Celestia nods with her eyes closed, navigating the forest and craggy rocks quickly. "Of course I do, Luna." She curtly says. "Mother likely had this planned out since the beginning. After all, she doesn't do anything like this without a plan."

Luna blinks. "So you aren't mad?" She tilts her head at Celestia.

Celestia giggles. "Oh no, no, Luna. I'm not mad." She says as they reach the crevice that leads into the Kirin village. Celestia's eye twitched. "I am utterly FURIOUS!" She says as she starts running full speed down into the village. "Mother likely never prepared anything. No Kirin backup. Never told the Crystal Empire. She's going to fight Unity alone. Even though she promised she wouldn't try something this stupid. Why mom?! Seriously, you choose NOW to actually act on your maternal instincts? Couldn't you have done that? I dunno? AGES ago?!" Celestia then grinds to a halt, causing Luna to slam into her.

Luna winces a little as she pulls back. "Why'd you stop?" Luna tilts her head.

Celestia's eyes are wide, no longer angry or calculating. There was just... fear. An intense fear. "No. That can't be right. Mom wouldn't."

Luna tilts her head and tugs on Celestia's wing with her magic. "Sister?"

Celestia turns to Luna as she begins to run forward at high speed. "We have to hurry!" Celestia says with a squint in her eyes, rushing forward even faster than before.

Luna rushes behind Celestia, trying to keep up and even having to fly. "Why?! What's going on?! Celestia! Tell me!"

Celestia turns and yells out. "Mom knows she can't win!"

---

Twilight takes a deep breath, repeating an old yet beneficial method of calming herself that Cadence taught her when she was younger. Deep breaths, centering thoughts. Yet her legs continue to shake. There wasn't excitement in her body for the completion of the castle. There wasn't any worry about the fight ahead. The anticipation of everything, however, was tearing herself up inside. Thus far, everything had been to plan. Celestia and Luna were sent far away, and the two hadn't yet relearned teleportation. Luna was close but needed to get there before she could teleport such a long distance safely. Celestia was the only wildcard. While her magic could support a long-distance teleport spell, she would be dangerously low on energy afterward. As long as Celestia didn't see this coming, she'd be stuck and safe, too.

"This plan is totally doomed." She laughs to herself, just saying to no one as she just laughs. After composing herself, she just weakly smiles. "Well, let's get this started."

Twilight walks out to the balcony of the castle. Smiling down at the crowd below her, Twilight begins her speech. "Ponies of Equestria and creatures beyond. Finally, after the devastation brought on by our resident evil villain, ponykind has recovered. Equestria is safe and stable. Finally, Canterlot has returned, and the trains are running again. Equestria is whole once more and stronger than ever. Ponies helping one another and creatures joining us in harmony and love. We are a united nation built on a foundation of love and friendship. As such, I invite you all to celebrate today and be merry and joyful as we again complete the seat of power and government for Equestria. May it never fall and stand the test of time." She shouts as she motions up to the guards above. The flag is carefully placed into its spot on the top of the castle. The Equestrian flag is modernized to have Celestia, Luna, and Twilight on it. Twilight smiles as she watches the cheers and nods from all forms of creatures. From ponies to yaks to dragons, each creature was cheering for the revival of the pony country.

Twilight smiles softly as she enters the castle. Looking over to Moondancer. "Moondancer. Make sure everypony stays safe, okay?"

Moondancer nods and bows. "Of course, what's a personal guard for?" She says with a giggle as she watches Twilight leave. The laugh ended instantly once the door closed. "She seriously thinks I'm not gonna go? Twilight really can be shortsighted sometimes." Moondancer shakes her head as she grabs her armor. "You teach friendship and togetherness, but you try to protect everyone when things get complicated. Not with them or alongside them, but on your own. Well, too bad, Your Majesty. If you wanna try me for treason later... then that's fine." She takes a deep breath as she trots out the door.

---

Unity sighs as she gives her children a hug. She watched the entire event. But now it was time for the end. "Alright, you four. Repose, be good to your father. He may be a little bit of a brick wall at times, BUT that doesn't mean you can be rude. Hearthfire, continue being you, regardless of what Repose or your Father say. I'm proud of you for making your own path. Gentle, I hope to see you again one day, just to squish your cheeks again." She says happily to her family. "Wish me luck, Repose."

Repose giggles. "Good luck, mom! I'll be rooting for you!"

Hearthfire sighs. "I hope you lose mom. You're still crazy." He rolls his eyes. "But, stay alive, alright?"

Gentle Light tilts her head. "Welllll, I'm a filly, so eh? Just come home, momma!"

Twilight and Unity meet each other to the north of Canterlot. Eventually, Cloudsdale would be fully built above them, but it was perfectly and utterly empty right now. Discord appears behind Twilight as Unity prepares herself. Twilight bit the bottom of her own lip. "You still have a chance to live a quiet life with your family, you know. You don't have to do this."

Unity smiles softly at Twilight. "Sorry, your Majesty. But I've come too far and lost too much to stop now. If I could leave and take my family with me, I would. That isn't an option anymore, though. So. If you and my brother wish to prove that Equestria is better off now than under my rule." Unity rears back, materializing her gauntlets on her hooves, the solid metal objects glistening with gemstones and magic. Clearly, they have been improved since the last time they were being used. Unity's stomp is strong enough to shake the earth and jostle Twilight enough to force her to fly. "Show me your resolve."

Twilight takes a deep breath. "Alright. Let's do it then. Discord?"

Discord smirks. "Ah ah~! How are you supposed to ask Twilight~?"

Twilight grits her teeth a little before saying. "Oh mighty spirit of chaos, lend me your strength. PLEASE."

Discord takes a video of the entire thing before tossing the camera off-screen, the poor camcorder floating in the distant abyss now. "OF course! Let's begin!" He then wraps around Twilight, a bright light flashing as the two fuse like Twilight and Unity had before. The result is a much taller Twilight, who exudes intense chaos magic from every aspect of her being.

"OH, I FEEL GREAT! We definitely need to change scenery here, though." Twilight says as she grabs the backdrop and rips it up. Balling it up into paper before tossing it with the camcorder. She then grabs the scene of the nearby mountains, slamming it down on the blank background. The pair of alicorns fall down as their location shifts rapidly, both catching themselves with a quick beat of their wings. "Ooh, and it must be twilight for a fight like this. I mean, it is my name!" She then waves her hoof as the sun and moon instantly shift to the witching hour of the day. "There we go. Now." Twilight stomps with a wild grin on her face. "Let's get this started, sister!"