Her Most Faithful Students

by Equimorto

Celestia's Box

"Twilight? ...Twilight? ...TWILIGHT!"

Twilight fell out of the bed she was in. She got up from the ground, still a little dizzy, and laid eyes on the terrible teacher who'd woken her up. "What is it?" she distractedly asked, looking around and trying to understand where she was.

The room was round, dimly lit, floor, walls and ceiling made out of large blocks of green-grey stone. Other than the white bed she'd woken up in and a single candle near the wall it was bare of any furniture. A closed, wooden door of pale brown with black metallic inserts the only visible entrance.

"Well, you seemed interested in knowing more about my previous students, so I thought I'd show you something." Celestia walked up to the door and turned to Twilight, motioning for her to follow behind.

Twilight did not want to know more about Celestia's previous students. In fact, she would have gladly unlearned the notion of just how poor of a job the older alicorn had done as a teacher, and gone back to admiring her. But she couldn't. She could only hope she wouldn't turn out like her predecessors. She silently walked up to Celestia.

The white alicorn opened the door and entered a dark corridor, grabbing the candle with her to light the way.

"What is this place?" Twilight asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

Celestia kept walking, answering without turning around. "This is where I keep all information on my previous students. Letters, spells they developed, portraits of them I'd commissioned, accounts of their activities. I haven't visited it much after I started teaching to you, since I used to come here when I had no one to teach to, so forgive me if the place is a little unkempt."

The pair reached another door, similar to the last one, and Celestia opened it. They entered a large room, and the candle held in the alicorn's magic floated to light a series of others near the walls, illuminating the interior.

Twilight began to walk around, admiring the place. The walls were lined with portraits of other unicorns, only a couple of which she recognised. There was one of Sunset Shimmer, one of Radiant Hope, one she identified as Diode Branding, the white stallion's blond mane matching his golden eyes, and many more she couldn't identify. On each side of the room was another door, save for the far one relative to where she'd entered, which had a small altar with a black metal box on top, flanked on each side by a black metal pole holding a torch.

The purple alicorn stopped underneath a painting of a pale yellow stallion with a long grey mane.

"Ah, Blank File!" Celestia commented, walking closer. "He took on the habit of narrating things after he decided to try to take over the throne. And he destroyed most of his research so I couldn't use it, too. He was a rather entertaining one to fight, if only he had decided to come back to my side..."

Twilight took a moment to look at the unicorn's cutie mark, a black quill writing on a scroll, then moved on to the next painting.

"That's Thermal Shock," Celestia said, looking at the dark orange unicorn with a spiky brown mane. "Then there's Golden Shield, Blueblood-"

"Wait, he was one of your students?" Twilight asked, staring at the familiar face of the white unicorn.

"Well, not really, no." Celestia rubbed the back of her neck, smiling sheepishly. "He was, but in another universe, one where I picked him instead of you. I spied on that with one of the mirrors. He didn't do too good of a job. Though to his credit, he did manage to reform my sister."

Twilight cocked her head tot he side, somewhat confused.

Celestia resumed in her listing of her previous students. "There you have Emerald Sword, and then Midnight Twinkle, Dreamweaver, White Pearl, Black Oceans, Full Moon, Wizard Crown, Rising Star, Black Diamond, Eagleheart, Bright Eyes, Surface Tension, Whiplash, Orion, Short Circuit, Instant Crush, Losfer Words, Fire Dance, Southern Cross, Halcyon Days, Gamma R-"

"Where have they all gone?" Twilight interrupted, looking at her.

Celestia looked back. "Well, some of them ran away, like Sunset or Hope, and some of them disappeared without a trace. But most of the rest I had to personally deal with."

Twilight bit her own lip, nervous about what she was about to ask. "So, I noticed there aren't many statues in the gardens, and I was wondering, well..."

Celestia looked at her, briefly confused, then started to laugh. "Oh, sorry," she added shortly after, stopping. "No, if that's what worries you, I didn't turn all of them to stone, and I certainly didn't shatter them afterwards. Diode was a special occurrence, I had to deal with him in a more roundabout fashion because of his powers and I wasn't able to do things the usual way."

Twilight laughed a bit too, relaxing a little and giving a small sigh of relief. "So what happened to them?" she cheerfully asked.

"They're in that box over there," Celestia said, pointing towards the far end of the room.

"Oh..." Twilight stared at the black metal box on the pedestal. "So you mean they're all there?"

Celestia nodded. "Exactly. It's amazing what containment spells allow you to do."

Twilight swallowed and began to walk closer to the box. "Has... anypony ever gotten out?"

Celestia walked at her side. "Oh, thankfully no, it would be a complete disaster! Imagine the chaos that would ensue from just one of them being let loose on Equestria once again, let alone the possibility of someone else following them outside if they found a way out."

"And you've never tried talking to them?" Twilight asked, increasingly nervous.

"No. They had their chances back then, and I don't trust that taking one out wouldn't give me problems. And unlike Discord, they aren't worth the risk."

The two finally reached the pedestal, and Twilight got a better look at the box, an intricate pattern, similar to a snake's skin, engraved in the slightly curved cover ominously reflecting the flickering light of the torches in many different angles. A small lock was part of the structure itself, and the corners extended into four short claw-shaped extremities that held the base slightly above the pedestal. Lastly, two horn-like pieces of metal were on the sides, seemingly used to hold and move the thing.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Twilight asked.

"Of course it is," Celestia replied, placing a hoof over the box, "this box is easily the safest thing in the whole country!" She gave it a smack to emphasize her point.

The box fell to the ground because of that, and the cover clicked open. A barely visible green mist began to flow out, then with a flash of light the box jumped up into the air and a violent gust of wind and smoke started to pour from it. There was another flash of light, and suddenly the room became filled with confused unicorns looking around.

"I told you guys we had to pull the cover!" one of them shouted, though no one paid attention to her.

"And so, the prisoners were finally freed from the... imprisonment? No, no. Excuse me. And so, the... Winter, what's that other word for prisoners?" asked a yellow stallion Twilight recognised.

"Shut up, Blank, and focus on something important! I think we're out for real!" a mare with a blue mane replied.

Unicorns all around the room began, after the initial shock, to teleport away, Twilight unable to do anything in the confusion.

"Finally," one of the lasts to leave, a stallion of a deep black with a white mane, said while staring at Celestia, "finally I'll have my revenge!"

After a few more seconds, only the two alicorns were left in the room.

Twilight stared at Celestia, wide-eyed, her mouth hanging open.

Celestia stared at the now empty room for a couple of seconds. She soundlessly opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally taking a deep breath and speaking. "That might be a problem."

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

so what we should have had was

external-preview.redd.it/cxMtCPi94EInfebQj56clN8MCFbLaLyPpSwvorNmVQ8.jpg?width=1024&auto=webp&s=73b2740f7abfcb086327ae9a6d8dc668904a9dc1

but instead we got
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/3/29/859942__safe_artist-colon-frontsevens_edit_derpy+hooves_princess+celestia_derp_derplestia_face+swap_female_mare_open+mouth_pegasus_pony_simple+backgrou.png

which led to
external-preview.redd.it/oPgj_KZOvMo89DHK5LAFsE4507yjKONptqDRuYblap0.jpg?width=574&auto=webp&s=6fbbdf88db9900a8e22953191db5a0942d674efc

does that about sum it up?

[flutterboot]

H’oh boyo here we goes

[badninja]

Well what did Celestia expect to happen after she tempted fate so hard. I hope Twilight will be able to redeem some of them like she did Sunset. Then again she could use Sunset’s help.

[Phoenix Nebula]

... damnit Celestia! Look at the mess you made that Twilight now has to clean up!

[aline1]

I am sort of amusingly wondering what Starswirl and Luna's reaction would be to the revelation that twilight is Celestia's only student that didn't go evil at some point well as long as you exclude that lesson zero business...

Also that a whole bunch of them had just escaped.

[Xanderfox]

9375667
Isn't that what always happens? Celestia seals someone away and Twilight has to be the one to actually convince them to not be evil anymore? Luna, Discord, Sunset Shimmer, Radiant Hope... Hmmm and Starswril taught Celestia and Twilight has had to cleanup his messes. Ahh so it's all Starswirl's fault for not teaching Celestia to finish the job and now Twilight is stuck doing clean up!

[Phoenix Nebula]

9375696
I feel that's the jist of the plot for most of the show. Someone f**ks up and twilight being the only competent one has to fix it.

[Inugami]

Hah
you know what i think 'might' happen?
Like only a few of them are any real threat, but all they each want is something so mindlessly petty or nonsensical that Twilight will have to wonder what the fudge made Celestia put them in the box in the first place.
Edit:
Also i FREAKING love how, in my mind, Celestia Slaps the box like she would a brand new car stating how amazing it is just to break it.

[Pause]

9375696
Not really.

People just love putting everything on Celestia, alone.

[Vaguely Demented]

There’s the incompetence we all know and shudder at.

[Raistlin]

9376015

I know it's a comedy fic, but this Celestia is portrayed as an insane, serial abuser: breaking her students into monsters, and getting rid of them when they are too problematic to be useful anymore like discarded toys (save the ones who managed to escape, as Sunset did). After that, she just pick another.

She doesn't bother trying to reform or even talking to them because "they aren't worth the effort", unlike Luna or Discord.

Also, Celestia counts Twilight as her only success. After watching her adventures and the lack of useful assistance from her mentor, I would sat she didn't ascended "thanks to" Celestia, but in spite of her.

[Vaguely Demented]

9376838
I’d view it as more that her methods will only work with people with a neurotic obsession for her approval. Anypony else will just go mad and aim for revenge.

[Raistlin]

9376850

Or maybe Twilight wasn't a neurotic mess before her period under Celestia.

[Vaguely Demented]

9376896
Also a distinct possibility.

[MLPMihail]

pandora's box :)

[Eroraf86]

Wat?

[lazyreader19]

God dammit Celestia

[FanOfMostEverything]

I'm not usually one for comically inept Celestia, but I'll keep an eye on this story.

[Dream Dusk]

Welp... this can be a good material to use in Sunst shimmer stories.

[Moosetasm]

"—He was a rather entertaining one to fight—"

This makes me think she was training challengers to keep herself amused... leading me to award her: one point evil.

"They're in that box over there," Celestia said, pointing towards the far end of the room.

At first, I thought this was going to be a; “no, silly, I didn’t turn them to stone and shatter them! I disintegrated them!” But instead we got her storing evil to be released later, which results in: one point incompetent.

"That might be a problem."

...
...
One more point for incompetent.

Well, best 2/3, puts this Celestia at incompetent. At least that’s better than evil, right? Right?

Fun story so far.

[Dustcan]

He didn't do too good of a job. Though to his credit, he did manage to reform my sister."

Technically he didn't. He reformed NMM. Which is actually more impressive.

[Abel DuStable]

Wow, Celestia.

Just... Wow.

You'd think after all of this time she would know better than to tempt fate by striking a container that imprisons hundreds of villainous high-level tier Unicorns.

[Slk]

I guess somebody saw Return of the living dead.
"This thing was made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers!"

[Anachronon]

"Are you sure it's safe?" Twilight asked.

"Of course it is," Celestia replied, placing a hoof over the box, "this box is easily the safest thing in the whole country!" She gave it a smack to emphasize her point.

The box fell to the ground because of that, and the cover clicked open...

I can’t!

[Teikan]

why didn 't anyone attack right away ?