Radiant 2 - Growing Pains
Celestia, Luna, and Twilight enter the crystalline city. The Radiant Empire lives up to its name, the crystals shining brilliantly even without the sun’s direct presence.The snow is covering the town making the city feel like a perpetual Hearth’s Warming. The Crystal Ponies, just regular ponies right now, seem unaffected by the intense cold. How this is the case, is unknown to the trio, as the younger pair shiver in their winter clothes. The older alicorn looks unphased on the exterior. However, she would love nothing more than to get some hot chocolate and sit next to a warm fire at the moment. The trio walk through town with relative ease and the crystal ponies are paying them no mind. However, this changes as they get closer to the town square. When they reach the town’s western square, the group sees a large congregation of ponies approaching them, headed by the spirit pony Uni.
Twilight raises an eyebrow and is about to speak, but, Luna is able to vocalize her words first. “How did you get here before us?” Luna asks, looking incredibly surprised as she points at Unity. “You were in Canterlot when we left! I even made sure of that.” This does earn her a sigh from her mother.
Twilight then says “Luna, mind your manners around Uni, please. She’s only here to help. Although, what’s with all the ponies, Uni? Friends of yours?” Twilight asks the spirit. Uni just smiles and tilts her head, saying simply.
“Oh, just some ponies I’ve been working with. They all want to immigrate to Equestria! More ponies means more harmony which means more spread of Harmony!” Unity happily jumps into the air, doing a backflip and landing perfectly. “I can feel the energy and goodness now!”
Twilight sighs “Geeze, you and your addiction to yourself. Still, I guess that it’s better than the alternative.” Twilight thinks for a moment. Looking at Celestia and Luna. “Alright, you two handle talking to Amore. I’m going to work on the immigration for these ponies. It’ll be a good learning experience for you both.”
Celestia immediately goes pale as a ghost. “Wh- WHAT?! We’ve never even practiced trade deals! And, with all these things we want, how the heck are we gonna get it without your overwhelming… Everything?!” Twilight tilts her head. Celestia is motioning to Twilight fervently as she motions to her mother's body intensely.
Twilight walks up to Celestia and puts a hoof on her shoulder. “I believe in you, Celestia. You and your sister can do this. Besides, I’ll be there in an hour, maybe even less. Just hold down the fort with Amore until I can show up okay?”
Celestia bats the hoof off of her shoulder after a moment. “Do it yourself! I am not going into something this important, this unprepared!” Celestia walks away. Luna chasing after her after a moment. Twilight gives Luna an affirmative nod as permission to pursue her sister. Twilight looks at her hoof after the pair leave.
“Am I a bad mother, Uni?” She asks her close friend.
“No, you just need to work on those moments when you act like a Queen rather than a mother. You can’t be both you know.” She says matter of factly. Twilight is looking onwards at the now distant pair.
“I’ll make it work nonetheless,” Twilight says
“Then things won’t get any better my Queen. Just worse. This isn’t something that can be solved by continually throwing energy at it. Celestia is clearly distraught by your actions this time.” The spirit says pointedly.
Twilight looks at herself, “Maybe I should just talk to her, she might respond better that way.”
“Just give her her space, my Queen, your energy is more suited elsewhere at this moment. She’ll come around eventually. Besides, once Equestria becomes harmonious, you should have all the time in the world to be with your daughter. Eyes on the prize my Queen.” Uni says as she leads Twilight in the other direction.
Twilight simply responds. Still staring at Celestia. “Right. Eyes on the prize.”
Twilight and Uni get to work on informing ponies of what they need to do to immigrate. Due to the lack of trains or large transport, this wasn’t atypical for a visiting monarch to do, as ponies could only travel to other nations in large groups or when they were truly desperate. A visiting dignitary was the best time to be able to travel, especially when the dignitary was an alicorn. Twilight works hard as she writes, but due to the events that occurred, her thoughts drift. Uni noticing this and quietly shortening her friend’s stack of papers. The Eternal Queen stopping altogether lost in her own thoughts.
--One Month after the Coronation of the Eternal Queen--
“Celestia! This isn’t a good idea! Mom will get mad, and I don’t want to know how she punishes her children.” Luna says to her sister, who is currently preparing a very elaborate prank on her new mother, who is completely dead asleep.
“Come on Luna! Twilight is completely dead tired from raising the sun and the moon every day. This is gonna be the only chance we get to prank her before she gets used to it.” Celestia says as she continues rigging the prank. Involving water buckets, feathers, and everything she could think of to make the ultimate prank.
“This isn’t a good idea Celestia… She needs her rest. Please don’t do this to her. She was up all night alone!” Luna says with a childish stomp. The younger sister is angrily looking at her indignant sister.
Celestia stops, her smile fading away as she just stares at the sleeping form of her adopted mother, as if she’s contemplating something. She then says in a very sharp manner with no remorse. “Then you can just leave. I’ll handle this myself.”
Luna stops, stunned. “Sister?”
“Just go, you’ve never had my back in the past anyway,” Celestia mumbles out as she continues preparing her elaborate prank in quiet. Luna drooping and walking out of the room in silence. The eerie air is completely overtaking the room as Celestia works on her “prank.” Her actions are clearly more driven by anger rather than anything else.
“Why didn’t you warn us… Why didn’t you do anything? Why are you trying to replace them?! Why did you become Queen?! Why didn’t not save THEM!” Celestia moves over to Twilight’s table, smashing her hooves on the top of it. “Why didn’t… Why didn’t you help them?” Celestia says as she angrily throws everything off of Twilight’s table. Knowing that the new Queen is too exhausted to wake up. “And why do you only pay attention to Luna? I thought we were friends!” Celestia then kicks the table, activating the trap, running out of the room and leaving the noises of pain behind. Going down the hallway as she tears up, and leaving the castle as quickly as her hooves can take her.
Waking up to such an elaborate and painful trap was not how Twilight expected to start her afternoon. After raising and lowering the sun she usually slept for hours with her magic and energy completely drained. Still, Twilight lifts herself out of the bed and stands. Looking around the room as she begins to take apart the trap piece by piece. Taking the time to restore some form of order to her room. Looking outside at the setting sun Twilight exits the room. Using magic to mask the burns and damage done to her. Whispering to herself, although there is no one nearby, “I’m so sorry…”
The day passed as usual from there, and Twilight proceeded through court, talking with her ponies and going to several meetings. Throughout the entire time, Unity would never leave her side. The spirit being Twilight’s assistant throughout the day and night. Around nightfall though, an additional pony out of Twilight’s friends would join the pair as every night without fail. This time, Sweet Breeze comes by to spend the lonely night with her friend, as the others were too busy this time around to show up. “Oh! Twilight, what happened?” Sweet rushes past Unity, ignoring the spirit as Twilight sits down to prepare for her long night.
“I’m all right F- Sweet, just a little prank from somepony. It’s not a big deal. Just a few burns here and there and wounded pride is all.” Twilight yawns intensely. Closing her eyes for a moment as she takes a deep breath.
That was a mistake. As Twilight's mind relaxes, so do her defenses against her emotions.Tears begin falling down Twilight’s lavender cheeks. Quickly pulling her two friends together in a hug (Uni allowing the hug to happen by quickly solidifying herself), Twilight begins sobbing. “I need to talk to Celestia so badly, but every time I try to I can’t!” Twilight tightens her grip on her friends. Sweet Breeze trying to lightly pat Twilight, but being unable to in the stranglehold.
“Moving the sun and moon just drains me of my energy, not at all like the first time I did it! It was so much easier then. But then again, that was a special situation I guess.” Twilight releases her friends and just sits there.
Unity sighs and mechanically pats Twilight on the back, Breeze doing the same, but keeping her hoof away from the spirit. Unity then says “She isn’t worth the trouble right now. You need to rest more than worry about family.”
Twilight and Breeze look at Unity with some form of anger and disapproval. Breeze speaking up in a sharp yet somehow soft voice, “Family is much more important in this situation! Celestia hates Twilight! They need to make up, Unity! Yes, I know that this isn’t the best use of time at all, but Twilight should at least talk to her!”
Unity leans into the hug, booping Breeze, nose to nose. “If she’s exhausted from both work and talking to family, then who’s gonna do day court? She can’t risk canceling right now since she’s so new at the job and she can’t risk breaking her relationship with Celestia even more. So let’s just let Celestia grow up a little before we try to talk some sense into her. Eyes on the prize, right Queen?”
Twilight sighs and sits back. Her tears drying up as she stares at a nearby window. The one window looking out to where Ponyville will be. “Right. Eyes on the prize.”
Breeze stares at both of them whispering to Twilight when Uni leaves to prepare the guard shift. “I just hope you both agree on a prize.”
Celestia walks with a heaviness to her step through the streets, grumbling to herself. “I hate her so much. Those gifts she gives are just to lower my guard and push me to trust her.” Celestia kicks a nearby flower as she continues walking. Luna is walking in step with her from a distance.
“Celestia…?” Luna says to her sister, the word falling on deaf ears as her sister begins gritting her white and pristine teeth
“I’ll prove to her that I’m more useful than just a simple replacement. I’ll make sure she knows what I stand for and what I believe!” Celestia says to herself, completely shrouded by her own mind, her words attracting a crowd of ponies who watch her in worry. Celestia slows down and droops a small amount, ignoring the ponies “I’ll prove that… I’m worth being proud of too.” She mumbles in a quiet tone as she rushes off ahead her sister.
‘Magic, that’s something Twilight loves! I’ll get even better at it, and I'll prove that I’m worth at least as much as my sister! And I’ll do it all before she finishes with the talks with Amore too! I’ll be the strongest wizard she’s ever seen!’ Celestia thinks to herself as she rushes through the glistening streets. The crystals around her shading a dim light as she runs towards the castle. Her sister following behind in pursuit.
Luna’s following lasting until Celestia takes a hard turn and loses her, causing Luna to look around frantically. “S-Sister? Where did you go? Sister?” Luna turns and rushes around, searching for any sign of Celestia, finding no sign of her even after several passes. Celestia watches her sister from a corner, just out of sight.
“Sorry Luna, but I can’t let you get more ahead,” Celestia mumbles to herself as she silently sends a magical message to Twilight, telling her that she got separated from Luna. Celestia then walking away and entering the castle. Speaking to a guard, Celestia receives directions to the crystal kingdom’s unique and rare collection of magic books. She opens the room, seeing lines upon lines of scrolls and books in various boxes and chests. The guards are allowing her in due to her relationship with Queen Amore, and they leave her to her own devices. They also allow her to use the room as she needs, providing a desk and large amounts of parchments. Celestia immediately gets to studying. Going through scroll after scroll, looking for something new, impressive and excellent to learn. A faint whisper is touching the back of her mind, but Celestia waves it off as nothing. Far too quiet to be heard, but progressively getting louder as she continues stewing in her emotions of distrust, jealousy, and resentment.
“Mommy!” Luna says as she rushes to Twilight, hugging her chest and crashing against her leg. “I was so scared. I was all alone in this place! I couldn’t find Celestia and. And... “ Luna latches onto Twilight’s chest, burying her head into the soft lavender sea.
Twilight softly pats Luna’s back, rubbing it while making a “Shhh” Noise. This gives the filly time to work out what just happened mentally. Although, when Unity makes a motion to Twilight, reminding her that they’re already late for the meeting with Queen Amore, Twilight makes a fairly predictable move. “Hey, sweetie, would you like to come to the meeting with me? You could learn a lot about what you’ll have to do in the future if you do!” Twilight smiles sweetly at Luna, who perks up excitedly and nods. Rarely does Twilight ever invite her to see things. Usually, Celestia is the one that gets to see all the “boring” events.
“Can I ride on your back to the castle though? I don’t wanna get lost again…” Luna says with a soft tone of voice, just barely recovering from her ordeal of being alone for a whole five minutes. Twilight smiles and just scoops up her daughter, giving her a proper piggyback ride. Luna hugging close to Twilight’s flowing mane and leaning into it. “Ready!”
Twilight and Luna then head to the castle. A jaunty tune being played by some street performers. An intense blizzard is starting but becomes background noise to the trio as they walk. Occasionally a small pulse of magic would give a free moment from the blizzard, but generally, the storm rages on without remorse.
Around half way through Twilight looks at Luna. “Hm, we should probably find Celestia. She’ll wanna be there with us right?”
Luna, about to respond, gets interrupted by Uni who says. “No, we are not getting side tracked. We’re already late my Queen and she made her position very clear that she was upset. Let her calm herself down and give her some space. It’s what's best for her.” The transparent mare smiles softly. Warmly saying this without sounding scolding or mean in any way.
Twilight sighs “Maybe you’re right… she always does this anyways. I doubt she wants to come with us. I bet she’s still mad at me. Maybe I can make it up to her later! I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon with her out in the city!” Twilight smiles brightly as she comes up with her plan.
Uni smiles to herself. “As you wish my Queen!” and the trio continue walking. Luna silently worrying about the events to come.
“I dunno. That much land is gonna need something from you Queenie. Look as much as I’d love to give you that land, it’d look bad on me even more than normal if I just gave it away.” Amore, the princess of love, smiles. Her pink coat and multicolored mane are very well done and kept. She is relatively small compared to Twilight, who has grown significantly over the last few months.
The trio and the princess are sitting in a large ballroom. The ceiling significantly towering over them. Potted plants and banners lining the walls and the overhangs. Three guards sit in the room as they defend the royals inside. The castle is purely made of crystal as most of the town buildings are. It is fair to say that any dragon would love this place.
“I’m aware, and we’re willing to provide compensation as usual. Besides it’d be better if you and your ponies don’t starve. We simply don’t have the land to support two nations anymore though. Equestria is going through an upsurge of its population from both in nation births and immigration.” Twilight responds in kind. Luna is happily eating some ice cream at the table. Enjoying the conversation that is occurring and absorbing the information.
Amore thinks and sighs. “Look we want two things. Firstly, we want that you accept the Crystal Empire as a protectorate of Equestria. Moreover, to prove that you will protect us and treat us well, we want you to take care of a little problem we have.” Amore taps her hoof to her head. Thinking fairly hard for the sake of looking smart. “See we have an issue with poachers here in the empire. A lot of Phoenix, Ursa and even wendigos are relentlessly hunted for sport and left to rot. I’ve tried to send guards to stop them, but they aren’t particularly reliable. They get paid off, or worse, join the poachers.” Amore sighs very exaggeratedly, trying to pull a guilt trip on Twilight, which is very obviously working to a significant degree.
“That seems reasonable!” Twilight says almost hopping out of her seat. “I’ll see if I can talk the poachers down or at least scare them off for a while!”
Amore smiles, very pleased with herself as Unity sighs. “All right, I’ll manage writing up the papers for the land transfer then. When Twilight returns with the poachers in custody, we will officially recognize your nation as a protectorate and take the lands we requested. Is that fine?”
Amore nods very excitedly “Yes yes yes! That is perfect! I'll sign immediately on completion, no strings attached.” The unicorn princess almost jumps out of her seat. Not even trying to compose herself as she leaves the room happily. Completely forgetting about the conversation and talks as she leaves to prepare her signing makeup.
Luna says to Twilight. “Told you she was weird, momma. I’ll stay and see if I can find Celestia, she’ll wanna come along to this!”
Twilight nods “I’ll meet you two at the woods then. Come whenever you find her.” Twilight hugs Luna. Nuzzling her filly and giving her a familial kiss on the head before setting her down. Twilight leaving to get the work done quickly.
Meanwhile, Celestia slaving away at the books continues to hear a voice in her head. “This will make her proud.” and “She’ll finally notice you.” The voice slowly getting louder as Celestia throws a scroll and book at the wall in a rage. “AGHHHH there’s no interesting spells here! NONE. All of these are basic, or mom already has seen them!” Celestia looks at the door expectantly. Having been waiting for Twilight or her sister to come and get her for the meeting, where she would begrudgingly go where in reality she’s more than excited to see the legendary event. However, neither came until she was done. Did the event get pushed back?
Finally, Luna enters the library, Celestia slaving away at another book that she sets down as she sees Luna. “Sister! Sorry for running off like that. I thought you were behind me.”
Luna smiles, naive as can be as she says “Oh, it’s okay! Mom let me see the trade event and everything! It was so cool!”
Silence fills the room, Celestia hearing glass shatter that only she could hear. “You… went without me…?” Her excitement of going, even though she wouldn’t have shown it, crushing her. The only target for her anger being the pony in front of her.
Luna tilts her head. Speaking “I thought you didn’t wanna go-” A golden aura envelops Luna. The small filly squeaking as she is thrown out of the archives fluidly. The aura leaving Luna before surrounding the archive doors.
Celestia slams the door on her sister only saying. “Get. Out.” to her. Full of jealousy and spite as she looks around. Finally, following the voice, she had heard for the last several hours.
Following the voice, she heard the approaches a book. The beautiful black book laying on a marble pedestal that is covered by a glass case. “This will beat your sister. I can make you great! You’ll be number one.” Celestia hesitates, the young adult stopping her hoof just above the book. Her aura holding the glass open. “I… I shouldn’t do this.” Just as she turns to move away, the book says one last thing. The words reaching down to the very immortal core that every alicorn has.
“I can make her proud of you.”
Celestia never grabbed a book so fast in her entire life. Before she could even think, a swirl of energy surrounds and cocoons her. The darkness tightly surrounding her before forcing her to her knees as the weight of the magic pushes her down. Feeling no physical pain, Celestia screams out into the darkness, but not a single creature hears it. Luna already running away from the door. Unaware of the events occurring to her sister as she sobs, completely heartbroken by her sister’s actions.
The book flips to its next page.
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Meowshit
9285371
Yea, that's about the reaction my prereaders gave when they read it.
This story is amazing!
Also I'm pretty sure that Uni has an ulterior motive at this point.
Would like more please
Damn.... That cliffhanger
And damn you unity, Twilight could have fixed the problem so many times if not for you
Well. Not sure who Unity really is yet, though I have a few suspicions, but she’s either a villain or such a major screw up bungler that Twilight really ought to see through her bad advice soon.
When was the time you talked to her about how she was feeling? Last time wasn't even a talk.
You kept ignoring obvious signs of concerning behaviour.
It took you this long to finally do that!?
No! Go talk to her!
9290386
No!! You are only going to make it worse!
Twilight! Finding Celestia is more important than a meeting!
.....................
............... remember that question where she asked if she is a terrible mother?
This answers that.
Why should we care about the Windigos? Why are they even here?
9290386