6 The Spell Casting
The King and Queen had watched the sun drawn down out of the sky from the vantage point of a tower on the palace, looking down as Celestia’s yellow aura laid it to rest for another day, a day they now knew they would never see.
Luna’s horn glowed blue and reached silently out to the moon, retrieving it like a favourite toy to put it back in pride of place in the night sky where it belonged.
They shared one last kiss and walked down to meet the others waiting for them in the Great Hall.
The King strode confidently across the floor to meet his two daughters and Clover, his hoofsteps echoing around the eerily empty hall.
“You know, I can still feel the atmosphere of that wonderful party just like everypony was still here; it’s quite uncanny.”
“Events that happen in a place leave a signature, Sire” explained Clover, “This signature is very strong and it’s also fresh. That’s why we’re here to perform the spell casting.”
“Have you decided then?” the King asked his daughters, already knowing the answer, but wanting to look them in their eyes for any signs of doubt.
He felt his wife close beside him and could feel a tremor in her hindleg rubbing up against his.
“Yes Papa” said Celestia, stepping forward, “With your permission, Sir, I am prepared to accept the responsibility.”
The formality of her response shook the King, but he didn’t show it, keeping instead his eyes locked on hers. He was skilled at reading other ponies and could see she was speaking truly.
“Luna” he summoned, “Do you concur with your sister?”
The blue alicorn stepped forward beside her sister, “Yes Papa, I do, with your permission.”
“Very well, so be it. Equestria will be gifted with two wise rulers who will provide peace and prosperity for their subjects; their future is in safe hooves” pronounced the King in sealing their decision, “What must we do now, Clover, my dear friend?”
“We must stay within this room now Sire, and absorb the energy we first encountered when the magic formed at the party. At midnight, the magic will return and the spell will be cast.
Conversation was muted, an air of expectation hanging heavily all around. Clover went to take his position on the stage where he had been struck by the magic before and began to enter a meditative state. The others followed respectfully to the positions where they had been on that night, each alone with their thoughts and fears. The King and Queen shared one last lingering look, each admiring what they saw in the other, not just a passion and a love undimmed by the years, but the strength to perform a duty that would see them parted forever.
As the hour approached, a mist started to form in the room and Clover’s eyes turned moonstone white.
Faint traces of auras flowed from the empty places where guests had been and converged onto the stage, just as they had before.
Without further warning, there was a flash and a pulsing mass surrounded the two Princesses and the Mage who began to speak in a strange unearthly voice.
“Celestia, Princess of the Sun, do you accept the gift of immortality and all that entails?”
The white alicorn paced uneasily and looked around catching the eye of her father who smiled back reassuringly.
“I do” she replied.
“Luna, Princess of the Moon, do you accept the gift of immortality and all that entails?”
“I do” she replied after only a short pause.
“I call upon the parents of the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon to enter and complete the spell” summoned the voice from Clover.
The King reached over to offer a forehoof as his wife rose to join them. He looked her in the eye and saw she was crying; he was too.
“I love you” he said as they walked together into the swirling vortex of magical energy.
Clover’s horn lit brightly, its aura reaching out to the souls of the King, the Queen and their two daughters, draining the life force from the parents and feeding its energy, magnified many times over through the power of the spell into their daughters.
In acting as the vessel through which the young alicorns were being made immortal, Clover was being the instrument of their parents’ deaths. He knew it had to be this way, but even though he was in a deep meditative trance his eyes still wept, wept for the loss of two foals who had first drawn Equestria together, wept for the loss of two good and faithful friends who had walked willingly in to sacrifice themselves for their daughters and the whole of ponykind.
Suddenly the spell dissipated, and the bright light vanished leaving them all together on the stage, like the aftermath of a slapstick comedy act; three standing looking dazed and two laying down.
“Wow! Has it happened?” asked Celestia.
“Papa?” called Luna tentatively, “Papa?”
She looked down and saw him on the floor and immediately bent down to him.
“Papa! Wake up!” she cried, rocking him gently.
Celestia saw her mother in the same state and tried to revive her too, hugging her tightly.
Clover watched in great sadness as realisation began to dawn over the two young mares.
Luna hugged her father dearly and cried so hard she thought she would die. Right at that moment, she wished she could.
Celestia rose and stomped over to Clover.
“Bring them back!” she demanded.
“I cannot” he replied, “The spell is irreversible.”
“You knew!” she screamed, her face contorting in agony, “They knew too, didn’t they?”
“Would you feel better if I said no?” he replied sadly, “Honestly?”
Celestia crumpled at her knees wailing pitifully at her loss but recoiled as Clover tried to lay a gentle hoof on her for support. Instead she picked up her tear soaked head and looked for her mother, then staggered over to lie with her and give warm hugs to her cooling body.
Long after tears had run dry, Luna looked over to Clover.
“They gave their lives for us” she croaked through her dry throat.
Celestia pricked up her ears at the sound of her sister’s voice and raised her head to listen.
Clover had stayed with them, unsure of what they would need or even what he could do. He just felt it was his place to stay until they had cried out the immediate shock of their grief.
“One way or another, that’s what all parents do” he said, “It’s an unwritten, unspoken agreement that they took seriously because they wanted what was best for you. It was also the best choice for Equestria, so their decision was the best for you and the best for Equestria. The fact they never tried to dissuade you even though they knew they would die, shows how much they loved you.
Be true to their values and remember them fondly.”
He turned to leave and give them space to grieve in peace.
“Who is in charge now?” asked Celestia, red rings round her eyes betraying the tears she had shed.
“You are, your Majesties” replied Clover.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Bronyxy · 1.1k words · 17 2 · 940 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.105 seconds
Total duration
1,111 users online
1,940,162 hits today, 2,156,967 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
-sees S1 Princes Luna on the cover- -happy sigh <3
9293241
It would be wrong any other way my friend.
Thanks for noticing!
9293246
Your welcome =3
I want to know from you: am I not wrong for loving Princess Luna's S1 Design a whole lot more than her S2 Onwards Design? ^^;
9293302
I was building up to it through the story, but I was crying as I wrote it.
9293249
I think both designs (and also that of NMM) suit the different phases of her development. In this case I was writing about a young Luna who had only just come of age, and as such this was the right design to choose, in the same way as my choice for a pink maned (and slimmer!) Celestia. I think the later Luna design is especially beautiful, but would have liked to have seen more of the S1 design for a fairer comparison. Perhaps future episodes could have flashbacks to her earlier life?
If I can flip the question back to you; Sunset Shimmer is a great character, but which is better, her pony or her EQG persona (I see you have both on your avatar ...)?
9293355
Ok
Pony Sunset Shimmer for me <3
Tears here, Tears there, Tears everywhere, the floodgates have been open :(:(:(:(:(:(:(
9293359
He was leaving them to give them space to grieve while he went to start taking care of the legal formalities. I was at pains to point out that Clover was a close family friend, and as such would not leave the young mares without support; he just wanted to give them a little space.
9293371
I can't choose!! <3
9293385
ok X3
9293373
It does get increasingly tragic when it dawns slowly what the real cost is going to be, especially as Celly and Lulu are not being told the whole truth. I was crying as I wrote it, because I knew how it was going to end.
9293418
That's a really difficult question and also very personal too, but I'll try and do my best.
Many people, especially guys are taught to suppress their feelings, and some cultures are more supportive than others in allowing people to be open about their emotions. Under these conditions it must be very hard to express yourself through any medium, including writing, so some writers are always going to be facing an uphill struggle trying to articulate emotions they have been conditioned not to feel.
In this case, I had an outline as to how the story would develop and I followed a method acting philosophy to imagine how I would feel as each of the major characters, and tried to write the emotion I felt from their perspective; the King doing what he felt was right and hiding his feelings right up to the end while trying to reassure everypony through bad jokes, the Queen less worried about her own mortality than her children being barren, Luna being attentive to the feelings of others and eager to please, Celestia exploding at Clover when she finds too late they've not been told the whole truth, and Clover who knew how it would play out but kept calm throughout. Some of those perspectives were very emotional and as I wrote, I felt their pain, so sure, I cried.
I hope this has helped.
9293511
Why not try the method acting approach that I adopted in this story and consider all the influences on an individual character and see how they would react in a dramatic situation, then repeat the process from another character's perspective and see how it turns out? When you compare the outcomes, you'll find you have a covered a broad spectrum of emotions.
I hope it works for you.
Good luck!
Interesting little back story for the Princesses. Makes you wonder if undealt with grief or guilt might have played a small part in Luna's later tragedy with NMM. Poor Clover, well, at least the Princesses didn't rage out and send him to Tartarus, or worse. Thumbs up for sure.
9294348
Yes, you make a good point; Luna spends more time on her own than her sister, so had more time to dwell on the residual grief and guilt - it had to have been a factor. As for Clover; at least he didn’t end up in a vat of cake mix!
Thanks for your support!
Nicely done! This is just the kind of headcanon/backstory tale that I really like to read (and write)!
Who says a sad story can't be good? So long as the sacrifice the characters make is for a good cause, and well-motivated, as it is here.
I do wish we could have seen and learned a little more about the King and Queen themselves (even their names!), but fair's fair, this is about Celestia and Luna's coming of age, so it makes sense that they're the focus.
If I can make one other suggestion, the opening is a little prose-heavy; the story proper doesn't really get going until the King starts speaking in the second chapter (but then again, there's a lot of backstory to work in here... suggestion: maybe work it in as flashbacks, or conversations between the nobles at dinner.)
9300508
Thank you for your kind words and constructive comments.
There is surprisingly little canon lore about where Celestia and Luna came from and whilst this does allow free rein to develop your own ideas, it also means you can begin to contradict other established headcanon ideas very easily! So, to me, picking names for the King and Queen was only likely to distract from their role in the story, which was self-sacrifice.
As you say, there is a lot of backstory to work in, so I hoped this approach would be palatable along the lines of "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters ..." but it was a coin toss!
Thanks for your support and I hope you can stop by again soon!
Okay. That was legitimately one of, if not, the best backstory for Celestia and Luna have ever read! Both the concept and the self-sacrifice tie into the theme of the show perfectly! I wouldn’t even be mad if this was the canon story, because I think it’s actually what Lauren Faust had in mind, when it came to Celestia and Luna’s backstory with the Castle of the Two Sisters.
9676679
That's some of the highest praise I've ever received - thank you so much!
The story did resonate with me too, and I'm so pleased you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thanks for your kind words!
good story and my house is now flooding with my tears